Contents of the Chapter:

• Intoduction
• Fauna
• Physical Features
• Demographic Background
• River System
• Census

• Quick Facts
• Floristic Regions 8 MCQs for Final Practice

• Flora
• MCQs for Final Practice

Introduction

• India has a unique culture and is one of the oldest and greatest civilizations of the world. It covers an area of 32,87,263 sq. km. India has become self-sufficient in agricultural production and is now the tenth industrialised country in the world and the sixth nation to have gone into outer space to conquer nature for the benefit of the people.

• As the 7th largest country in the world, India stands apart from the rest of Asia. 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 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 high altitudes admit travel only to a few passes, notably the Jelep La and Nathu La on the main Indo-Tibet trade route through the Chumbi Valley, north-east of Darjeeling and Shipki La in the Satluj valley, north-east of Kalpa(Kinnaur).

• The mountain wall extends over a distance of about 2,400 km with a varying depth of 240 to 320 km. In the east, between India and Myanmar and India and Bangladesh, hill ranges are much lower. Garo, Khasi, Jaintia and Naga Hills, running almost east-west, join the chain to Mizo and Rkhine Hills running northsouth.

• 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.

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 ko Kuchch beyond the Luni river northwawrd. The whole of the Rajasthan-Sind frontier runs thrugh this. The little desert extends from the Luni between Jaisalmer and Jodhpur up to the northern wastes. Between the great and the little deserts lies a zon 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 average elevation is about 610 metres and on the other by the Western Ghats where it is generally from 915 to 1,220 metres, rising in places to over 2,440 metres. The Cardamom Hills lying beyond may be regarded as a continuation of the Western Ghats.

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 main Himalayan river systems are those of the Indus and the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna system.

• The Indus, which is one of the great rivers of the world, rises near Mansarovar in Tibet and flows through India and thereafter through Pakistan and finally falls in the Arabian sea near Karachi. Its important tributaries flowing in Indian territory are the Sutlej (originating in Tibet), the Beas, the Ravi, the Chenab and the Jhelum.

• The Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna is another important system of which the principal sub-basins are those of Bhagirathi and the Alaknanda, which join at Dev Prayag to form the Ganga. It traverses through Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal states. Below Rajmahal hills, the Bhagirathi, which used to be the main course in the past, takes off, while the Padma continues eastward and enters Bangladesh.

• The Yamuna, the Ramganga, the Ghaghra, the Gandak, the Kosi, the Mahananda and the Sone are the important tributaries of the Ganga. The Padma and the Brahmaputra join at Bangladesh and continue to flow as the Padma or Ganga. The Brahmaputra rises in Tibet, where it is known as Tsangpo and runs a long distance till it crosses over into India in Arunachal Pradesh under the name of Dihang.

• Near Passighat, the Debang and Lohit join the river Brahmaputra and the combined river runs all along the Assam in a narrow valley. It crosses into Bangladesh downstream of Dhubri. The principal tributaries of Brahmaputra in India are the Subansiri, Jia Bhareli, Dhansiri, Puthimari, Pagladiya and the Manas.

• The Brahmaputra in Bangladesh fed by Tista etc., finally falls into Ganga. The Barak river, the Head stream of Meghna, rises in the hills in Manipur. The important tributaries of the river are Makku, Trang, Tuivai, Jiri, Sonai, Rukni, Katakhal, Dhaleswari, Langachini, Maduva and Jatinga. Barak continues in Bangladesh till the combined Ganga—Brahmaputra join it near Bhairab Bazar.

• In the Deccan region, most of the major river systems flowing generally in east direction fall into Bay of Bengal. The major east flowing rivers are Godavari, Krishna, Cauvery, Mahanadi, etc. Narmada and Tapti are major West flowing rivers. The Godavari in the southern Peninsula has the second largest river basin covering 10 per cent of the area of India.

• 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 are the desert rivers which flow for some distance and are lost in the desert. These are Luni, Machhu, Rupen, Saraswati, Banas, Ghaggar and others.

The entire country has been divided into twenty river basins/group of river basins comprising twelve major basins and eight composite river basins. The twelve major river basins are : (1) Indus, (2) Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna, (3) Godavari, (4) Krishna, (5) Cauvry, (6) Mahanadi, (7) Pennar, (8) Brahmani-Baitarani, (9) Sabarmati, (10), Mahi, (11) Narmada dn (12) Topi. Each of these basins has a drainage area exceeding 20,000 sq. km.

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 (BS1), 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.

Floristic Regions

The Western Himalayan region extends from Kashmir to Kumaon. Its temperate zone is rich in forests of chir, pine, other conifers and broad-leaved temperate trees. Higher tip, forests of deodar, blue pine, spruce and silver fir occur. The alpine zone extends from the upper limit of the temperate zone of about 4,750 metres or even higher. The characteristic trees of this zone are high-level silver fir, silver birch and junipers.

The eastern Himalayan region extends from Sikkim eastwards and embraces Darjeeling, Kursenng and the adjacent tract. The temperate zone has forests of oaks, laurels, maples, rhododendrons, alder and birch. Many conifers, junipers and dwarf willows also grow here.

The Assam region comprises the Brahamaputra and the Surma valleys with evergreen forests, occasional thick clumps of bamboos and tall grasses.

The Indus plain region comprises the plains of Punjab, western Rajasthan and northern Gujarat. It is dry, hot and supports natural vegetation.

The Ganga plain region covers the area which is alluvial plain and is under cultivation for wheat, sugarcane and rice. Only small areas support forests of widely differing types.

The Deccan region comprises the entire table land of the Indian Peninsula and supports vegetation of various kinds from scrub jungles to mixed deciduous forest.

The Malabar region covers the excessively humid belt of mountain country parallel to the west coast of the Peninsula. Besides being rich in forest vegetation, this region produces important commercial crops, such as coconut, betel nut, pepper, coffee, tea, rubber and cashewnut.

The Andaman region abounds in evergreen, mangrove, beach and diluvial forests.

The Himalayan region extending from Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh through Sikkim, Meghalaya and Nagaland and the Deccan Peninsula is rich in endemic flora, with a large number of plants which are not found elsewhere.

• The flora of the country is being studied by BSI and its nine circle/field offices located throughout the country along with certain universities and research institutions. Ethno-botanical study deals with the utilisation of plants and plant products by ethnic races.

• About 1,336 plant species are considered vulnerable and endangered. About 20 species of higher plants are categorised as possibly extinct as these have not been sighted during the last 6-10 decades. BSI brings out an inventory of endangered plants in the form of a publication titled Red Data Book.

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 89,000 species. Of these, protista number 2,577, mollusca 5,070, anthropoda 68,389, amphibia 209, mammalia 390, reptilia 456, members of protochordata 119, pisces 2,546, aves 1,232 and other invertebrates 8,329.

The great Himalayan range has a very interesting variety of fauna that includes the wild sheep and goats, markhor, ibex, shrew and tapir.

• The mammals include the majestic elephant, the gaur or Indian bison–the largest of existing bovines, the Indian antelope or black-buck – the only representatives of these genera. Rivers and lakes harbour crocodiles and gharials, the latter being the only representative of crocodilian order in the world.
• The salt water crocodile is found along the eastern coast and in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

DEMOGRAPHIC BACKGROUND

Census

• The Census of India 2001, is historic and epoch making, being the first census of the twenty-first century and the third millennium. It reveals benchmark data on the state of abundant human resources available in the country, their demography, culture and economic structure at a juncture, which marks a centennial and millennial transition.

• Census 2011 is the 15th Census of India since 1872. It was held in two phases:
• Housing listing and Housing Census (April to Sept. 2010) and

• Population Enumeration (9th to 28th February 2011). Reference Date was 0.00 house of 1st March 2011. In snow bound areas the Population Enumeration was conducted from 11th to 30th September 2010. However, the general trends of census (provisional) 2011 are being mentioned as follows:

• Population: Persons – 1210.2 million; Males – 623.7 million; and Females – 586.5 million.
• Density of Population 2001-2011: Density in 2001:325 and density in 2011: 382, difference being 17.5% (density is defined as the number of persons per sq km.)

• Gender composition of Population 2011: Overall sex ratio of the National level has increased by 7 points since census 2001 to reach 940 at census 2011. This is the highest sex ratio recorded since census 1971 and a shade lower than 1961.

• As per provisional population totals of census 2011, literates constituted 74 per cent of thei total population aged seven and above and illiterates form 26 per cent. Literacy rate has gone up from 64.83 per cent in 2001 to 74.04 per cent showing an increase of 9.21 percentage prints. It is encouraging to note that out of total of 217,700,941 literates added during the decade, females, 110,069,001 outnumber male 107,631,940 literates.

Sample MCQ:

1. Consider the following statements:

1. India is the 6th largest country in the world.
2. It lies entirely in the northern hemisphere.
3. The total length of the coastline of the country is 7,516.6 km.

Which of the above statements is / are correct?

1. 1 & 2 only
2. 1 & 3 only
3. 2 & 3 only
4. All of the above.

2. Consider the following statements:

1. The Yamuna, Ramganga, Ghaghra and Mahananda rivers are the important tributaries of the Ganga.
2. Subansiri, Jia Bhareli, Dhansiri and Manas are the important tributaries of Brahmaputra.
3. Makku, Trang, Tuivai and Pagaldiya are the important tributaries of river Barak.

Which of the above statements is / are correct?

1. 1 & 2 only
2. 1 & 3 only
3. 2 & 3 only
4. All of the above