Introduction India is a country of great geographical extent. It sprawls from the snowy ranges of the Himalayas in the north to the shores of the Indian Ocean in the south. It belongs to Asia which is the largest continent of the world. It forms a part of south Asia and is separated by the Himalayas from the rest of the continent. It encompasses vast areas of diverse landmasses. In the north are the lofty Himalayas, parts of which are permanently ice-covered, To the south of Himalayas is the Grest Indo-Gangetic Plain Which is well-known for its fertile soils, The westem part of this vast plain is the Thar Desert. South of this plain is the Peninsular India comprising of the uneven plateau which is surrounded by Eastern ‘Coastal Plain in the east and Western Coastal Ptain in the west. Indian landmass gets an abundance of sunshine from the tropical sun and splashing rains from the monsoons. These are two most important climatic factors for the Indian people. Due to its vastness and diversities, India is considered to be a subcontinent as it possesses all the characteristics of a seatinent. India extends from 8° 4° north to 37° 6° aoeth latinade and 68° 7" east to 97° 25° east longitude. Thas, its latitudinal and longirodinal extent is about thimty degrees. Away from the mainland of India, the southemmost point of the country in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Pygmalion Point or Indira Point is located at 6° 45° north latitude. Its north- south extent from Indira Col_in Kashmir to Kanniyakumari is 3.274 km while its east-west width from the Rann of Kachachh to Arunachal Pradesh is 2,993 km Pig. 1.1). The latinadinal extent of India is about oif-third the angular distance between the ‘Equator and the North pote and its longitudinal extent is aboat one-twelfth of the circumference of the Equator. The longitudinal difference between ‘Sourashtra in the west and Arunachal Pradesh in the ‘east is about 30°, The earth moves around its axis through 360° in 24 hours. Thus, a difference of 1° longitude will make a difference of 4 minutes in time. Therefore the difference of local time between Swurashira and Arunachal Pradesh is 30 x 4 = 120 minutes or 2 hours. Since Arunachal Pradesh is towards the east, it will have sunrise about two hours, bafoes the sunrise Saurashtra. Thus, the sun is quitehigh tee Arunachal Pradesh while SUH eis for te fst up of the st ati has ite own impact. Rainfall, temperate NDTA—A COMPRE<{——— eee —— y with latude. The differe ‘and the shortest day in Rua hereas this difference ave. eas and vegetation var between the longest hardly 45 minutes * OST LATITUDE 9778" INDIA. LOCATIONAL SETTING 5INTRODUCTION large a8 4 hours in Leh and Ladakh. The difference tween the longest and the shortest day increases vyjah latitude: With an a seventh largest co Fig. 1.2) of 32,87,263 sq kin, India is the old, (Table 1.1 and 17.035.200 9.984 670) 9.596560 Set ee {ies ROR 3287263" Source : Dorling Kinderslay World Atlas, 2010, pp. 186-206 * Date for India has deen taken from Statistical Abstract, Inia, 2007, p. 5. Figures regarding area of India includa the area under unlawful occupation of Pakistan and China, This area includes 78,114 sq km under illegal occupation of Pakistan, 5,180 sq km illegally handed over by Pakistan to China and 37.555 sq km under illegal occupation of China. ( India accounts for about 2.4 per cent of the total Seface area of the world. India is nearly 13 times as large as Great Britain, the country which ruled aver us for about two centuries. Many of the Indian states are larger than several countries of the world. s ‘The peninsular tableland juts into the Indian Dean for a distance of about 1,600 km. ) Russian Federation Canada [BB one Lakh sq. km ‘The Tropic | nf the country dividin heing about 15° fram E me portion is very broad and the area to the Tropic af Cancer is nearly twice the area which Ties to the south of i, The enormous width of India is often forgotten, being overshadowed by the more popular fact of its Kength, We arc habitual of expressing the sion of the country a8 ‘from Kashmir to Kannivakumart’ and not from “Rana of Kachchh to Arinachat Pradesh’. The east-west extent of India is almost equal te the combined longitudinal extent of Spain, France, Germany, Helgium, the Netherlands and Poland. South of 22° north latinude. the country tapers off over $00 km into the Indian Ocean as a peninsula and divides this acean into two arms—the ‘Arabian Sea in the west anc the Bay of Bengal in the east. Ti is natural to look upon India as being divided into northern temperate and southern tropical lands by the Tropic of Cancer. Thus the temperate part of the country should he twice as much as its tropical part But India has always been treated as a tropical country for two widely different reasons. The reasons are those of physical and cultural geography. The country is separated from the rest of Asia by a ‘mountain wall forming an insulated compartment. Its climate is dominated by the tropical monsoons and the temperate air masses are restricted by the mountain chain. Further, although the night teroperatures in January at several places in Punjab may come down to the level of those prevailing in temperate lands, yet clear skies and intense insolatiot raise the day temperatures to « topical level, so the the cntire arca south of the Himalayas 1s cessentiall FIG. 1.2. Seven largest countries of the world