Land and the people
1. Land and the People |
Overview:
“INDIA is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend and the great grandmother of tradition. Our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only.”—Mark Twain
- 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 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.
- 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 and about 2,933 km from east to west. It has a land frontier of about 15,200 km. The total length of the coastline is 7,516.6 km.
Geographical Background |
- 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 northeast zone. It has 28 states and nine union territories.
Physical Features:
The mainland comprises four regions:
Great mountain zone |
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Plains of Ganga & Indus |
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Desert region |
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Southern peninsula |
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Geological Structure:
The geological regions broadly follow the physical features. The geological regions may be grouped into three regions:
Himalayan mountain belt |
The Himalayan mountain belt to the north and the Naga-Lushai mountain in the east, are the regions of mountain-building movement. Most of this area was under marine conditions about 60 crore years ago. In a series of mountain building movements, the sediments and the basement rocks rose to great heights. The weathering and erosive elements worked on these to produce the relief seen today. |
Indo-Ganga plains |
It is a great alluvial tract that separates the Himalayas in the north from the Peninsula in the south. |
The Peninsula |
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River Systems:
- The river systems of India can be classified into four groupsviz., Himalayan rivers, Deccan rivers, Coastal rivers andRivers of the inland drainage basin.
- The entire country has been divided into 20 river basins/group of river basins comprising 12 major basins and 8 composite river basins.
- 12 major river basins: It has a drainage area exceeding 20,000 sq. km. Ex. Indus, Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna, Godavari etc.
- 8 composite river basins: It has a combines rivers with a drainage area of 2,000 to 20,000 sq. km. and small rivers drainage area less than 2000 sq. km for the purpose of planning and management. Ex. Subarnarekha, rivers between Mahanadi and Pennar etc.
Himalayan rivers |
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Indus:
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Ganga:
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Brahmaputra:
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Deccan rivers |
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Coastal Rivers |
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Inland Rivers |
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Climate/Seasons:
The climate of India may be broadly described as tropical monsoon type. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) designates four official seasons:
Winter |
From December to early April, coldest months are December and January. |
Summer or pre-monsoon season |
For western and southern region: from April to June, the hottest month is April For North western Region: from April to July, May is the hottest month. |
Monsoon or rainy season |
From June to September, dominated by the humid south-west summer monsoon. Monsoon rains begin to recede from North India at the beginning of October. South India typically receives more rainfall. |
Post-monsoon season |
From October to December, in north-western India, October and November are usually cloudless. |
- The Himalayan states, being more temperate, experience two additional seasons: autumn and spring.
- Traditionally, Indians note six seasons, each about two months long based on the astronomical division. These are the spring, summer, monsoon, early autumn, late autumn and winter.
- Effect of Winds on climate: 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 land to sea.
- South-west monsoon known as summer 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 at the tenth position in the world and fourth in Asia in plant diversity.
- With a wide range of climatic conditions from the torrid to the arctic, India can be divided into eight distinct floristic regions.
- The flora of the country is being studied by the Botanical Survey of India (BSI), Kolkata.
- BSI brings out an inventory of endangered plants in the form of a publication titled ‘Red Data Book.’
- India can be divided into eight distinct floristic regions
Western Himalayas |
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Eastern Himalayas |
It extends from Sikkim eastwards and embraces Darjeeling. It is rich in oaks, laurels, maples, rhododendrons, alder and birch. |
Assam |
It comprises the Brahmaputra and the Surma valleys with evergreen forests, occasional thick clumps of bamboos and tall grasses. |
Indus plain |
It comprises the plains of Punjab, western Rajasthan and northern Gujarat. It is dry, hot and supports natural vegetation. |
Ganga plain |
It 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. |
Deccan |
It comprises the entire table land of the Indian Peninsula and supports vegetation of various kinds from shrub jungles to mixed deciduous forests. |
Malabar |
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Andamans |
It abounds in evergreen, mangrove, beach and diluvial forests. ? |
Faunal Resources:
- India is very rich in terms of biological diversity due to its unique biogeographical location, diversified climate conditions and enormous ecodiversity and geodiversity.
- According to world biogeographic classification, India represents two of the major realms (1. the Palearctic and 2. Indo-Malayan) and three biomes (1. Tropical Humid Forests, 2. Tropical Dry/Deciduous Forests and 3. Warm Deserts/Semi-Deserts).
- The Wildlife Institute of India divides the country into ten biogeographic regions: Trans- Himalayan, Himalayan, Indian Desert, Semi-Arid, Western Ghats, Deccan Peninsula, Gangetic Plain, North-East India, Islands and Coasts.
- Within only about 2 % of world’s total land surface, India is known to have over 7.50 % animals species of the world.
Demographic Background |
Census |
Census 2011 was the 15th census of its kind since 1872. The Final Population data was released on April 30, 2013. |
Population |
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Population Density |
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Sex Ratio |
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Literacy |
Kerala also occupies the top spot in the country both in male literacy with 96.1 per cent and female literacy with 92.1 per cent. On the contrary, Bihar has recorded the lowest literacy rates both in case of males (71.2 per cent) and females (51.5 per cent). |
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