Subject - India & World Geography
Chapter : Land and the People

Introduction

• India has a unique culture and is one of the oldest and greatest civilizations of the world. It stretches from the snow-capped Himalayas in the North to sun drenched coastal villages of the South, the humid tropical forests on the south–west coast, the fertile Brahamputra valley on its East to the Thar desert in the West .It covers an area of 32,87,263 sq .km. it has achieved all–round socio–economic progress during the last 63 years of its Independence. India is the seventh largest country in the world and ranks second in population. The country stands apart from the rest of Asia, marked off as it is by mountains and the sea, which give her a distinct geographical entity. Bounded by the Great Himalayas in the north, it stretches southwards and at the Tropic of Cancer, tapers off into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal on the east and the Arabian Sea on the west.

• Lying entirely in the northern hemisphere, the mainland extends between latitudes 8°4’ and 37°6’ north longitudes 68°7’ and 97°25’ east and measures about 3,214 km from north to south between the extreme latitudes and about 2,933 km from east to west between the extreme longitudes. It has a land frontier of about 15,200 km. The total length of the coastline of the mainland, Lakshadweep, Islands and Andaman & Nicobar islands is 7,516.6 km.

Physical Background

Countries having common border with India are Afghanistan and Pakistan to the north-west, China, Bhutan and Nepal to the north, Myanmar to the far east and Bangladesh to the West Bengal. Sri Lanka is separated from India by a narrow channel of sea formed by the Palk Strait and the Gulf of Mannar. The country can be divided into six zones mainly North, South, East, West, Central and North–east zone. It has 28 states and seven union territories.

Physical Features

• The mainland comprises four regions, namely, the great mountain zone, plains of the Ganga and the Indus, the desert region and the southern peninsula.

• The Himalayas comprise three almost parallel ranges interspersed with large plateaus and valley, some of which, like the Kashmir and Kullu valleys, are fertile, extensive and of great scenic beauty. Some of the highest peaks in the world are found in these ranges.

• The plains of the Ganga and the Indus, about 2,400 km long and 240 to 320 km broad, are formed by basins of three distinct river systems-the Indus, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra. They are one of the world’s greatest stretches of flat alluvium and also one of the most densely populated area on the earth.

• The desert region can be divided into two parts – the great desert and the little desert. The great desert extends from the edge of the Rann of Kuchch beyond the Luni river northward. The whole of the Rajasthan-Sind frontier runs through this. The little desert extends from the Luni between Jaisalmer and Jodhpur up to the northern wastes. Between the great and the little desert lies a zone of absolutely sterile country, consisting of rocky land, cut up by limestone ridges.

• The Peninsular Plateau is marked off from the plains of the Ganga and the Indus by a mass of Mountain and hill ranges varying from 460 to 1,220 metres in height. Prominent among these are the Aravalli, Vindhya, Satpura, Maikala and Ajanta. The Peninsula is flanked on the one side by the Eastern Ghats where it is generally from 915 to 1,220 metres, rising in the places to over 2,440 metres. Between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea lies a narrow coastal strip, while between Eastern Ghats and the Bay of Bengal, there is a broader coastal area. The southern point of plateau is formed by the Nilgiri Hills where the Eastern and the Western Ghats meet. The Cardamom Hills lying beyond may be regarded as a continuation of the Western Ghats.

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River Systems

• The river systems of India can be classified into four groups viz., (i) Himalayan rivers, (ii) Deccan rivers, (iii) Coastal rivers, and (iv) Rivers of the inland drainage basin. The Himalayan rivers are formed by melting snow and glaciers and therefore, continuously flow throughout the year. During the monsoon months, Himalayas receive very heavy rainfall and rivers swell, causing frequent floods. The Deccan rivers on the other hand are rainfed and therefore fluctuate in volume. Many of these are non-perennial. The Coastal streams, especially on the west coast are short in length have limited catchment areas. Most of them are non-perennial. The streams of inland drainage basin of western Rajasthan are few and far apart. Most of therm are of an ephemeral character.

• A few rivers in Rajasthan do not drain into the sea. They drain into salt lakes and get lost in sand with no outlet to sea. Besides these, there the desert rivers which flow for some distance and are lost in the desert. These are Luni, Machhu, Rupen, Saraswati, Benas, Ghaggar and others.

Climate

The climate of India may be broadly described as tropical monsoon type. There are four seasons: (i) winter (January-February), (ii) hot weather summer (March-May); (iii) rainy south-western monsoon (June-September) and (iv) post-monsoon, also known as north-east monsoon in the southern Peninsula (October-December). India’s climate is affected by two seasonal winds – the north-east monsoon and the south-west monsoon. The north-east monsoon commonly known as winter monsoon blows from sea to land after crossing the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. The south-west monsoon brings most of the rainfall during the year in the country.

Flora

• India is rich in flora. Available data place India in the tenth position in the world and fourth in Asia in plant diversity. From about 70 per cent geographical area surveyed so far, over 46,000 species of plants have been described by the Botanical Survey of India (BSI), Kolkata. The vascular flora, which forms the conspicuous vegetation cover, comprises 15,000 species.

• With a wide range of climatic conditions from the torrid to the arctic, India has a rich and varied vegetation, which only a few countries of comparable size possess. India can be divided into eight distinct-floristic-regions, namely, the western Himalayas, the eastern Himalayas, Assam, the Indus plain, the Ganga plain, the Deccan, Malabar and the Andamans.

Fauna

The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), with its headquarters in Kolkata and 16 regional stations is responsible for surveying the faunal resources of India. Possessing a tremendous diversity of climate and physical conditions, India has great variety of fauna numbering over 90,000 species. Of these, protista number 2,577, mollusca 5,072, anthropoda 69,903, amphibian 240, mammalian 397, reptilian 460, members of protochordata 199, pisces 2,546, aves 1,2232 and other invertebrates 8,329

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