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The Locational and Spatial Setting

India is a land of great physical and socio contrasts marked by unity in
diversity
It is a country of great geographical extent and distinctive character often
described as a subcontinent
India has diversified physiographic conditions with a variety of landforms
like snowcapped Himalayan mountains on the north, Indo Gangetic plains
in the middle, number of plateaus, desert on the west and the coastal plains
on the Indian Ocean shores.
Indian sub continent is intersected by great rivers namely the Ganga, the
Brahmaputra, the Godavari and the Krishna
India has a distinctive monsoon type of climate.
The Tropic of Cancer runs half way through the country.
The southern half experiences hot tropical climate and the northern half
experiences warm temperate Zone.
A variety of soils like Alluvial, Black, Red and Laterites are distributed.
There is a great diversity in animal, crop and mineral production.
Historically, India has always been a land with people of many religions.
India is a home of diversity of cultures under the influence of different racial
and religious groups.
The name India is derived from the great river the Sindhu or the Indus.
The great Indian Peninsula is situated in the southern part of continent of
Asia.
The two arms of the Indian Ocean are the Arabian Sea on the south west
and the Bay of Bengal on the south east.
Geometrically, the country lies between 84 376 north latitudes and
687 9725 east longitudes.
India has thirty degrees of latitudinal extent from north to south and the
same amount of longitudinal extent from east to west.
Indias total geographical area is 3.28 million km2
North to south, India covers a distance of about 3214 kms as against 2933
kms from east to west.

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The snowy land of the Himalayas formed the northern boundary, the hot and
sunny Kanyakumari on the south, the salty marshes of the Rann of Kutch on
the west and the Virgin forests in the east.
Arunachal Pradesh state gets the earliest sunrise than Dwarka in Gujarat.
In India, the sun rises two hours earlier in the easternmost part of Arunachal
Pradesh then Gujarat.
Indian standard time is based on the 8230 east longitude.
Indian standard time is 5 hrs ahead of the Greenwich Mean Time.
India has a land frontier of 15200 kms and a coastline of 7516.6 Kms.
The countries which share a common land frontier with India are Pakistan,
Afghanistan, China, Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
The line dividing India and Pakistan is known as Radcliff line
To the east of Bhutan, the crest of Himalayas acts as the dividing line
between the Indian and Chinese realms known as Mac Mohan line.
The Andaman and Nicobar island chain in the Bay of Bengal and
Lakshadweep island cluster in the Arabian Sea forms the parts of Indian
Territory.
The nearest neighbor across the ocean water is Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka is separated from India by Gulf of Mannar and Palk Strait.
At present, India is a union of 28 states and 7 Union Territories.
Rajasthan is the largest state in terms of area whereas Goa is the smallest.
Andaman and Nicobar islands form two major groups in the Bay of Bengal,
located between 10 and 14N latitudes.
Andaman and Nicobar have an area of 8249 km2 of which Andaman Islands
extend up to 6408 km2 and Nicobar Islands extend up to 1842 km2.
Out of 247 groups of islands only 36 are inhabited.
The Great Nicobar with an area of 862 km2 is the largest island in this group
and lies closest to the equator.
The entire island in the Arabian sea are of coral origin.
The Lakshadweep Island with a total area of 35 km2 are situated between 8
and 11N latitudes.
In the Eight Degree channel lies the Minicoy island with an area of 4.5 km2.
The Pamban Island located between India and Sri Lanka has a rocky surface.

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Practice Bits
1. India is a -
a) Continent b) Sub-continent
c) Island d) None of these

2. In the matter of population India takes ___ place.

a) first b) second c) third d) fourth

3. In extent, India takes __ place.

a) fourth b) fifth c) sixth d) seventh

4. From north to south India covers a distance of about -

a) 2800 km b) 3000 km c) 3200 km d) 3400 km

5. From east to west India covers a distance of about -

a) 2400 km b) 2600 km c) 2800 km d) 3000 km

6. The countries that share the common land frontiers with India are
a) four b) five c) six d) seven

7. The Indian states that have frontier with Bangladesh are -

a) four b) five c) six d) seven

8. The largest state in terms of area in the India union is -

a) Rajasthan b) Madhya Pradesh
c) Andhra Pradesh d) Uttar Pradesh

9. The state that has the longest coastline is -

a) Andhra Pradesh b) Tamil Nadu
c) West Bengal d) Maharashtra

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10. The largest island in terms of area is -

a) Andaman & Nicobar b) Daman & Diu
c) Lakshadweep d) Delhi

11. The smallest island in terms of area is -

a) Chandigarh b) Delhi
c) Lakshadweep d) Daman & Diu

12. The capital of Nagaland is -

a) Dispur b) Kavarathi c) Shillong d) Kohima

13. The head quarters of Daman and Diu is -

a) Panaji b) Daman c) Silvassa d) Diu

14. The headquarters of Andaman and Nicobar islands is -

a) Panaji b) Itanagar c) Port Blair d) Aizwal

15. The state where the sun rises first in India is -

a) Arunachal Pradesh b) Mizoram
c) Nagaland d) Asom

16. This longitude serves as the Indian Standard time -

a) 76o E b) 82o E c) 82o 30 E d) 82o 30W

17. The latitude that passes nearly midway across the country is -
a) Equator b) Tr. of cancer c) Tr. of Capricorn d) None of these

18. The state that has both summer and winter capital is -
a) Asom b) Himachal Pradesh
c) Jammu Kashmir d) Andhra Pradesh

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19. The difference between Greenwich time and Indian Standard time is -
a) 5 hours b) 5 hours c) 6 hours d) 6 hours

20. If the sun rises at 5a.m. in Arunachal Pradesh, the sun rises in Gujarat
at -
a) 5 am b) 6 am c) 7 am d) 7.30 am

Key
1. B 2. B 3. D 4. C 5. D 6. D 7. D 8. A 9. A 10. A
11. C 12. D 13. B 14. C 15. A 16. C 17. B 18. C 19. B 20. D

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