CHAPTER-1 INDIA-LOCATION (POINTS TO BE REMEMBER)

CHAPTER-1 INDIA-LOCATION POINTS TO BE REMEMBER 

• The mainland of India, extends from Kashmir in the North to Kanyakumari in the South and Arunachal Pradesh in the East to Gujarat in the West.
• India’s territorial limit further extends towards the sea upto 12 nautical miles (about 21.9 km) from the coast.
• Our southern boundary extends upto 6°45' N latitude in the Bay of Bengal.
•  If you work out the latitudinal and longitudinal extent of India, they are roughly about 30 degrees, whereas the actual distance measured from North to South extremity is 3,214 km and that from east to west only 2,933 km.
• From the values of latitude, it is understood that the southern part of the country lies within the tropics and the northern part lies in the sub-tropical zone or the warm temperate zone.
• From the values of longitude, it is quite discernible that there is a variation of nearly 30 degrees, which causes a time difference of nearly two hours between the easternmost and the westernmost parts of our country.
• There is a general understanding among the countries of the world to select the standard meridian in multiples of 7°30' of longitude. That is why 82°30' E has been selected as the ‘Standard Meridian’ of India. Indian Standard Time is ahead of Greenwich Mean Time by 5 hours and 30 minutes.
• India with its area of 3.28 million sq. km accounts for 2.4 per cent of the world’s land surface area and stands as the seventh largest country in the world.
•  The size of India has endowed her with great physical diversity. India has the presence of lofty mountains in the North; large rivers such as Ganga, Brahmaputra, Mahanadi, Krishna, Godavari and Kaveri; green forested hills in North East and South India; and the vast sandy expanse of Marusthali.
• Bounded by the Himalayas in the North, Hindukush and Sulaiman ranges in the North West, Purvachal hills in the North-East and by the large expanse of the Indian ocean in the South, it forms a great geographic entity known as the Indian subcontinent. It includes the countries — Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and India.
• The Himalayas, together with other ranges, have acted as a formidable physical barrier in the past.
• Except for a few mountain passes such as the Khyber, the Bolan, the Shipkila, the Nathula, the Bomdila, etc., it was difficult to cross it.
• Peninsular part of India extends towards the Indian Ocean. This has provided the country with a coastline of 6,100 km in the mainland and 7,517 km in the entire geographical coast of the mainland plus the island groups Andaman and Nicobar located in the Bay of Bengal and the Lakshadweep in the Arabian Sea.
• India is located in the south-central part of the continent of Asia, bordering the Indian ocean and its two arms extending in the form of Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. This maritime location of Peninsular India has provided links to its neighbouring regions through the sea and air routes.
• Sri Lanka and Maldives are the two island countries located in the Indian Ocean, which are our neighbours. Sri Lanka is separated from India by the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Strait.