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How To Study Maps for UPSC IAS

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How To Study Maps for UPSC IAS

India
Neighbours:
Learn about all the India's neighbouring countries. Make a note of various Indian
states which share their boundaries with such neighbouring countries. Give relatively
more importance to countries of Indian Subcontinent.
Study thoroughly India map for oceanic region around the peninsular part of India
and the islands in the Indian Ocean. For example: Extent of Andaman and Nicobar
Islands, Countries closest to Lakshadweep Islands, Various channels – 10 degree, 9
degree, etc.

 
Lines:
Study the important latitude and longitude lines on the India map. For example, you
must study the states through which Tropic of Cancer passes.
Make a note of di erent states and places through which Indian Standard Meridian
(i.e the longitude of Indian Standard Time) passes.
Also, you must study ‘concept based’ lines, nature of coastlines, etc. For example:
Division of India on the basis of 10°C isotherm.

States:
You should be able to draw political map (an outline) of India by hand (Very
important for Mains Paper GS I and GS II). Learn about which states share
boundaries with which other and how many states.
 Study all the important cities on India map. You should be able to point them and
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also be able to locate which city is to the
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Make a note of important cities which were in news recently. Ex. Kasargod in Kerala
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came into the global limelight, after excessive use of the pesticide Endosulfan.
You should be able to identify the eastern/western/northern/southern extents of the
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states and UTs. Whenever a new state is carved out from the existing territory of
India, the subsequentPowered
changes in the state
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Rivers:
Note down - Origin, Sources, Flow routes and tributaries of all the rivers in India. For
example, question asked in Prelims on River Teesta needed such information to
correctly arrive at an answer.
Identify left bank and right bank tributaries of major rivers. You should draw rough
diagram on a blank paper for each important river drainage basin.

Lakes:
You should be able to point out lakes on political map and also identify which states
share any particular lake.
Also, many lakes have certain unique features. Make a separate list of such lakes. For
Example: Wular Lake (Jammu & Kashmir) is one of the largest fresh water lakes in
Asia.

Mountains/Glaciers:
Note down the extent and important peaks of all the mountain ranges i.e. both -
Himalayan and Peninsular. You should be able to draw the full mountain range on a
India political map and show the highest peak for it.
Study locations of various glaciers which are to the north of the Vindhyas. Also,
various rivers originating in these mountain rangers/ glaciers should be noted.
Study various gaps/passes, national parks, ora, fauna, states etc. lying within the
geographical spread of such mountain ranges.
Adopt a comparative approach for the Western Ghats and Eastern Ghats mapping.

Natural Vegetation:
The great diversity in the Indian natural vegetation should be studied in context of
variation in the climate across India.
Make a note of spatial distribution of a particular type of forest across India. For
example: Rainfall de cient areas of Rajasthan – Thorny Shrubs and no forest.
National Parks:
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You should be able to locate Updates
all the important national
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sanctuary, biosphere reserves, etc. and also their extent across states.
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Important Places: No Yes

You should be able to identify all the important places in India, including pilgrimages,
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world heritage sites, nuclearmedium=box&source=hco3ib00z)
power stations, ports, plateaus, wetlands, mineral rich
locations, etc and also other important physiographic features nearby.

World
Lines on the Maps:
Study the important latitude and longitude lines on the world map (like Tropic of
Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn, Arctic Circle, Equator). Note the countries through which
each of the lines pass.
Also, study the International Date Line, Prime Meridian and which countries fall on
which side. (Update such information from the current a airs magazine).

Physiographic Features:
Note all the important physiographic features that you come across in the NCERTs
and standard geography/history/economy books. NCERTs have many relevant maps
and you must study all of them.

From Current A airs:

For any important recent news, check out the required location on the Atlas maps.
Learn about the National boundaries and bordering nations. For example, if Syria is
very much in the news, you should be able to tell which country shares border with
which other countries in West Asia. Also, you should know which countries border
Mediterranean sea, or other nearby seas. etc.

Practice:
You should purchase blank Political India maps from market. First learn to draw guidelines
on such blank map. You can use Latitude 76 °E, latitude 92 ° E, Indian Standard Meridian
and Tropic of Cancer as guidelines for mapping work. With the help of these guidelines,
start plotting important places/features (which are already asked by UPSC in previous year
papers) on your blank Political India maps. This method will help you to learn which
important place/feature lies in which state/s. When you get comfortable with Political
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Maps then repeat the above process on ‘blank Physical India’ maps. You can create your
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master record of all such Physical India maps. Value addition can be done by writing one
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liner unique quality / feature about the entry on the map itself. You can adopt the method
mentioned above for World Maps also.
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Drawing Schematic Maps of India/World:
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Search for a small size India Physical (Blank) map outline in google. By using it as a
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reference map, try drawing India map outline on a blank page. You must divide your map
outline in 4-5 parts. Then practice each part separately. When you are comfortable in
drawing all parts of India map then you can start drawing complete India map outline.
Start from the top i.e Jammu & Kashmir and then draw map in clock-wise direction. You
can adopt similar method for World Maps also.
Note to Students:
Studying maps is not an additional burden and can be done as recreational work during
your study breaks. Mind maps of India and world will make study of large portions of
current a airs, geography, world history, economy etc. very intuitive and they will aid
greatly in understanding. Map work is not useful in scoring easy marks in the prelims, but
being able to draw good maps and locating important places/features will be very useful,
especially in GS-1 Geography/History and GS-3 Economy.
Good Luck!

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