GK Preimer 4

Land and the People

INDIA is one of the oldest civilisations in the world with a kaleidoscopic variety and
rich cultural heritage. It has achieved all-round socio-economic progress during the
last 60 years of its Independence. India has become self-sufficient in agricultural
production and is now the tenth industrialised country in the world and the sixth
nation to have gone into outer space to conquer nature for the benefit of the people. It covers an area of 32,87,2631 sq km, extending from the snow-covered Himalayan
heights to the tropical rain forests of the south. As the 7th largest country in the world,India stands apart from the rest of Asia, marked off as it is by mountains and the sea,which give the country a distinct geographical entity. Bounded by the Great Himalayas in the north, it stretches southwards and at the Tropic of Cancer, tapers off into theIndian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal on the east and the Arabian Sea on the west.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 between the extreme latitudes and about 2,933 km from
east to west between the extreme longitudes. It has a land frontier of about 15,200 km.
The total length of the coastline of the mainland, Lakshadweep Islands and Andaman
& Nicobar Islands is 7,516.6 km.

PHYSICAL BACKGROUND

countries having a common border with India are Afghanistan and Pakistan to the
north-west, China, Bhutan and Nepal to the north, Myanmar to the east and
Bangladesh to the east of West Bengal. Sri Lanka is separated from India by a narrow
channel of sea formed by the Palk Strait and the Gulf of Mannar.

PHYSICAL FEATURES

The mainland comprises four regions, namely, the great mountain zone, plains of the
Ganga and the Indus, the desert region and the southern peninsula.
The Himalayas comprise three almost parallel ranges interspersed with large
plateaus and valleys, some of which, like the Kashmir and Kullu valleys, are fertile,
extensive and of great scenic beauty. Some of the highest peaks in the world are found
in these ranges. The high altitudes admit travel only to a few passes, notably the Jelep La and Nathu La on the main Indo-Tibet trade route through the Chumbi Valley,
north-east of Darjeeling and Shipki La in the Satluj valley, north-east of Kalpa
(Kinnaur). The mountain wall extends over a distance of about 2,400 km with a
varying depth of 240 to 320 km. In the east, between India and Myanmar and India
and Bangladesh, hill ranges are much lower. Garo, Khasi, Jaintia and Naga Hills,
running almost east-west, join the chain to Mizo and Rkhine Hills running northsouth.
The plains of the Ganga and the Indus, about 2,400 km long and 240 to 320 km
broad, are formed by basins of three distinct river systems - the Indus, the Ganga and
the Brahmaputra. They are one of the world’s greatest stretches of flat alluvium and
also one of the most densely populated areas on the earth. Between the Yamuna at
1 Provisional as on 31 March 1982
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Delhi and the Bay of Bengal, nearly 1,600 km away, there is a drop of only 200 metres
in elevation.
The desert region can be divided into two parts - the great desert and the little
desert. The great desert extends from the edge of the Rann of Kuchch beyond the Luni
river northward. The whole of the Rajasthan-Sind frontier runs through this. The
little desert extends from the Luni between Jaisalmer and Jodhpur up to the northern
wastes. Between the great and the little deserts lies a zone of absolutely sterile country,consisting of rocky land cut up by limestone ridges.
The Peninsular Plateau is marked off from the plains of the Ganga and the
Indus by a mass of mountain and hill ranges varying from 460 to 1,220 metres in
height. Prominent among these are the Aravalli, Vindhya, Satpura, Maikala and
Ajanta. The Peninsula is flanked on the one side by the Eastern Ghats where average
elevation is about 610 metres and on the other by the Western Ghats where it is
generally from 915 to 1,220 metres, rising in places to over 2,440 metres. Between the
Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea lies a narrow coastal strip, while between Eastern
Ghats and the Bay of Bengal there is a broader coastal area. The southern point of
plateau is formed by the Nilgiri Hills where the Eastern and the Western Ghats meet.
The Cardamom Hills lying beyond may be regarded as a continuation of the Western
Ghats.

GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE

The geological regions broadly follow the physical features and may be grouped into
three regions: the Himalayas and their associated group of mountains, the Indo-
Ganga Plain and the Peninsular Shield.
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, now
presenting some of the most magnificent mountain scenery in the world, was under
marine conditions about 60 crore years ago. In a series of mountain-building
movements commencing about seven crore years ago, the sediments and the basement
rocks rose to great heights. The weathering and erosive agencies worked on these to
produce the relief seen today. The Indo-Ganga plains are a great alluvial tract that
separate the Himalayas in the north from the Peninsula in the south.
The Peninsula is a region of relative stability and occasional seismic
disturbances. Highly metamorphosed rocks of the earliest periods, dating back as far
as 380 crore years, occur in the area; the rest being covered by the coastal-bearing
Gondwana formations, lava flows belonging to the Deccan Trap formation and
younger sediments.

RIVER SYSTEMS

The river systems of India can be classified into four groups viz., (i) Himalayan rivers,(ii) Deccan rivers, (iii) Coastal rivers, and (iv) Rivers of the inland drainage basin. The Himalayan rivers are formed by melting snow and glaciers and therefore,continuously flow throughout the year. During the monsoon months, Himalayas
receive very heavy rainfall and rivers swell, causing frequent floods. The Deccan
rivers on the other hand are rainfed and therefore fluctuate in volume. Many of these
are non-perennial. The Coastal streams, especially on the west coast are short in
length and have limited catchment areas. Most of them are non-perennial. The streams
of inland drainage basin of western Rajasthan are few and far apart. Most of them are
of an ephemeral character.
The main Himalayan river systems are those of the Indus and the Ganga-
Brahmaputra-Meghna system. The Indus, which is one of the great rivers of the
world, rises near Mansarovar in Tibet and flows through India and thereafter through
Pakistan and finally falls in the Arabian sea near Karachi. Its important tributaries
flowing in Indian territory are the Sutlej (originating in Tibet), the Beas, the Ravi, the Chenab and the Jhelum. The Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna is another important
system of which the principal sub-basins are those of Bhagirathi and the Alaknanda,
which join at Dev Prayag to form the Ganga. It traverses through Uttaranchal, Uttar
Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal States. Below Rajmahal hills, the Bhagirathi, which
used to be the main course in the past, takes off, while the Padma continues eastward
and enters Bangladesh. The Yamuna, the Ramganga, the Ghaghra, the Gandak, the
Kosi, the Mahananda and the Sone are the important tributaries of the Ganga. Rivers
Chambal and Betwa are the important sub-tributaries, which join Yamuna before it
meets the Ganga. The Padma and the Brahmaputra join at Bangladesh and continue
to flow as the Padma or Ganga. The Brahmaputra rises in Tibet, where it is known as
Tsangpo and runs a long distance till it crosses over into India in Arunachal Pradesh
under the name of Dihang. Near Passighat, the Debang and Lohit join the river
Brahmaputra and the combined river runs all along the Assam in a narrow valley. It
crosses into Bangladesh downstream of Dhubri.
The principal tributaries of Brahmaputra in India are the Subansiri, Jia Bhareli,
Dhansiri, Puthimari, Pagladiya and the Manas. The Brahmaputra in Bangladesh
receives the flow of Tista, etc., and finally falls into Ganga. The Barak river, the Head stream of Meghna, rises in the hills in Manipur. The important tributaries of the river are Makku, Trang, Tuivai, Jiri, Sonai, Rukni, Katakhal, Dhaleswari, Langachini,
Maduva and Jatinga. Barak continues in Bangladesh till the combined Ganga—
Brahmaputra join it near Bhairab Bazar.
In the Deccan region, most of the major river systems flowing generally in east
direction fall into Bay of Bengal. The major east flowing rivers are Godavari, Krishna,Cauvery, Mahanadi, etc. Narmada and Tapti are major West flowing rivers.
The Godavari in the southern Peninsula has the second largest river basin
covering 10 per cent of the area of India. Next to it is the Krishna basin in the region,while the Mahanadi has the third largest basin. The basin of the Narmada in the
uplands of the Deccan, flowing to the Arabian Sea, and of the Kaveri in the south,
falling into the Bay of Bengal are about the same size, though with different character and shape.
There are numerous coastal rivers, which are comparatively small. While only
handful of such rivers drain into the sea near the delta of east coast, there are as many as 600 such rivers on the west coast.
A few rivers in Rajasthan do not drain into the sea. They drain into salt lakes
and get lost in sand with no outlet to sea. Besides these, there are the desert rivers
which flow for some distance and are lost in the desert. These are Luni, Machhu,
Rupen, Saraswati, Banas, Ghaggar and others.

CLIMATE

The climate of India may be broadly described as tropical monsoon type. There are
four seasons: (i) winter (January-February), (ii) hot weather summer (March-May);
(iii) rainy south-western monsoon (June-September) and (iv) post-monsoon, also
known as north-east monsoon in the southern Peninsula (October-December). India’s
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climate is affected by two seasonal winds - the north-east monsoon and the southwest
monsoon. The north-east monsoon commonly known as winter monsoon blows
from land to sea whereas 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.