India as a Geographical Unit UPSC

India as a Geographical Unit

• Geographical Extent: 8° 4′ N to 37° 6′ N latitude and 68° 7′ E to 97° 25′ East longitude. 
• Northen most point–Indira col, Siachen glacier in karakoram range.
• Easternmost Point – The tiny town of Kibithu in Arunachal Pradesh.
• Westernmost Point –GhuarMoti, located in the Kutch District of Gujarat.
• Southernmost Point – Indira Point in Great Nicobar Island in the Andaman Sea.
• kanyakumariis southernmost in Indian mainland. 
• India has 15106.7 Km of land border and a coastline of 7516.6 Km.

India is 7th largest country in world

India and its border with other countiries

• Border between India and Pakistan & India and Bangladesh is called 'Redcliffe line'
• Border between India and China , India and Bhutan & India and Nepal is called 'McMohan line'
• Border between India(PoK) and Afghanistan is called 'Durand line'.

Indian states bordering other countries:-

• Bangladesh

- West Bengal , Assam , Meghalaya , Tripura and Mizoram.

• China

- Ladakh , Himachal Pradesh , Uttarakhand , Sikkim and Auranchal Pradesh.

• Pakistan

- J&K , Ladkah , Punjab , Rajasthan and Gujarat.

• Nepal

- Uttarakhand , Uttar Pradesh , Bihar , West Bengal and Sikkim.

• Myanmar

- Mizoram , Manipur , Nagaland and Auranchal Pradesh.

• Bhutan

- Sikkim , West Bengal , Assam and Auranchal Pradesh.

• Afghanistan

- Ladakh(PoK).

Apart from this, India shares Maritime border with Sri Lanka (through Palk stait) and Maldives (through 8° Channel).

Tropic of cancer lies at 23.50° North in India passes through 8 states and nearest cities to it are:- 

1. Gandhinagar (Gujarat) - 23.10N

2. Jaipur (Rajasthan) - 26.55N

3. Bhopal (M.P) - 23.16N

4. Raipur (Chattisgarh) - 21.16N

5. Ranchi (Jharkhand) - 23.11N

6. Kolkata (W.B) - 22.34N

7. Agartala(Tripura) - 23.51N

8. Aizawl (Mizoram) - 23.36N

Indian Standard Time:

GMT +05:30 or 82.5° longitude East of Greenwich passing through Mirzapur of Uttar Pradesh is Indian Standard line which passes through 5 states of

India:- 

1. Uttar Pradesh

2. Madhya Pradesh

3. Chhattisgarh

4. Odhisa

5. Andhra Pradesh

Note:- India meeting point of Tropic of cancer and IST line is at

the Sanjay Gandhi National Park forest land of Chattisgarh.

India as a tropical country:

The temperate part (north of Tropic of Cancer) is twice

the area of tropical part.

But India has always been treated as a tropical country for two different reasons – physical and cultural:

Physical Reasons:

The country is separated from the rest of Asia by Himalayas. 

Its climate is dominated by the tropical monsoons and the temperate air masses are blocked by Himalayas. 

Entire area south of Himalayas is essentially tropical from climatic point of view: 

Although the night temperatures in winter at several places in North India may come down to the level of those prevailing in temperate lands, yet clear skies and intense insolation raise the day temperatures to a tropical level. 

Cultural Reasons: 

• Settlements, diseases, agricultural and primary economic activities are all tropical in nature. 

• Hence, It is primarily because of Himalayas that India is a tropical country.