Chapter -1 Land and the people
- Area of India = 32,87,263 km2
- 7th largest in terms of area and second largest in terms of population.
- India in northern hemisphere of earth between latitude 80 4’ and 3706’ North, longitude 680 7’ and 970 25’ East.
- Distance between Northern-most and southern-most point = 3,214 km and eastern and western most points= 2,933 km.
- Length of land frontier =15,200 km
- Length of coastline = 7,516.6 km
- Countries sharing border in the
- North-west- Afghanistan and Pakistan
- North – China Nepal and Bhutan
- East –Myanmar and Bangladesh
- South – Palk strait separates from Sri Lanka.
- Total =29 state and 7 Union Territory.
- The main land comprises four regions –
- The great mountains, zone
- Plains of Ganga and Brahmaputra
- The Desert region
- The southern peninsula.
Note – Other data related geography covered in geography section.
Climate/Season –
- Indian climate =Tropical monsoon type
- The meteorological department of India (IMD) declares four seasons i.e.-
- Winter – from December to early April
- Summer or pre monsoon – from April to June
- Monsoon – from June to September
- Post monsoon – October to December
- Traditionally Indian note six seasons, each 2 months long in a year i.e.-
- Spring (Vasant)
- Summer (Grishma)
- Monsoon (Varsha)
- Early Autumn (Sharada)
- Late Autumn(Hemanta)
- Winter (shishira).
-
Indian climate effected by 2 seasonal winds i.e.
- The north east monsoon
- The south west monsoon(bring most of the rainfall)
FLORA
- India rich in flora have 9th position in world and 5th in Asia in plant diversity.
- 70% geographical area surveyed in India so far over 46000 species described by Botanical survey of India (BSI) Kolkata.
- BSI brings out an inventory of endangered plants in the form of a publication titled “RED DATA BOOK”.
FAUNA
- 2 % OF Worlds land area in india have over 7.50% of species of animals in the world.
- Accounts for 92037 species
- 61375 insects alone.