Differentiate the causes of landslides in the Himalayan region and Western Ghats. (Answer in 150 words)

Landslides in both regions reflect gravity acting on unstable slopes, but their geological setting, rainfall regime and human pressures differ.

Himalayan region

• Young, tectonically active folded mountains contain fractured rocks, steep relief and active faults.
• Cloudbursts, intense monsoon rain, snowmelt, freeze-thaw action and earthquakes trigger failures.
• Road cutting, hydropower tunnelling, deforestation and unplanned construction destabilise slopes.

Western Ghats

• Older plateau escarpments generally have more stable formations, though deeply weathered basalt, laterite and charnockite can fail.
• Short-duration high-intensity monsoon rainfall saturates soil and raises pore-water pressure.
• Quarrying, plantation expansion, hill cutting and settlement pressure amplify natural susceptibility.

Himalayan landslides are more strongly linked to tectonics and glacial processes; Western Ghats failures are commonly rainfall-weathering and land-use driven. Hazard zoning and slope-sensitive development are essential.