India is a vast country with an area of 3.28 million square km, accounting for about 2.4% of the world's total area. It stretches between latitudes 8°4'N and 37°6'N and longitudes 68°7'E and 97°25'E. India has a long coastline of 7516.6 km and shares land borders of over 15,200 km. The latitudinal and longitudinal extents of India influence factors like the duration of daylight and time differences across the country. The standard meridian of 82030'E was chosen as it passes centrally through India.
India is a vast country with an area of 3.28 million square km, accounting for about 2.4% of the world's total area. It stretches between latitudes 8°4'N and 37°6'N and longitudes 68°7'E and 97°25'E. India has a long coastline of 7516.6 km and shares land borders of over 15,200 km. The latitudinal and longitudinal extents of India influence factors like the duration of daylight and time differences across the country. The standard meridian of 82030'E was chosen as it passes centrally through India.
India is a vast country with an area of 3.28 million square km, accounting for about 2.4% of the world's total area. It stretches between latitudes 8°4'N and 37°6'N and longitudes 68°7'E and 97°25'E. India has a long coastline of 7516.6 km and shares land borders of over 15,200 km. The latitudinal and longitudinal extents of India influence factors like the duration of daylight and time differences across the country. The standard meridian of 82030'E was chosen as it passes centrally through India.
India is a vast country with an area of 3.28 million square km, accounting for about 2.4% of the world's total area. It stretches between latitudes 8°4'N and 37°6'N and longitudes 68°7'E and 97°25'E. India has a long coastline of 7516.6 km and shares land borders of over 15,200 km. The latitudinal and longitudinal extents of India influence factors like the duration of daylight and time differences across the country. The standard meridian of 82030'E was chosen as it passes centrally through India.
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Chapter-1
India-Size and Location
Assignment Q.1 “India is a vast country.” Support the statement with the facts.
i. India is a vast county. Lying entirely in the Northern hemisphere the main land extends between latitudes 8°4'N and 37°6'N and longitudes 68°7'E and 97°25'E. ii. The land mass of India has an area of 3.28 million square km. iii. India’s total area accounts for about 2.4 per cent of the total geographical area of the world. iv. India is the seventh largest country of the world. v. India has a land boundary of about 15,200 km and the total length of the coast line of the mainland including Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep is 7516.6km.
Q.2 What is the difference between Indian mainland and Indian Union?
i. Indian mainland comprises of the main Indian landmass (from Jammu & Kashmir to Kanyakumari) where Indian Union comprises of the main Indian landmass and the two island groups (Andaman Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep).
Q.3 Mention the latitudinal extent of India. Explain its significance.
i. The latitudinal extent of India is between latitudes 8⁰4′N and 37⁰6′ N.
ii. The significance of latitudinal extent of India is as follows: - iii. The latitudinal extent of India influences the duration of day and night. iv. From the values of the latitude, it is understood that the southern part of the country lies within the tropics and northern part lies in the sub-tropical zone.
Q.4 What is the longitudinal extent of India? What are its implications?
i. The longitudinal extent of India is between longitudes 68⁰7′ E and 97⁰25′ E.
ii. The longitudinal extent is responsible for the two hours time difference between the easternmost and westernmost parts of our country. iii. Due to its longitudinal extent, India has chosen a meridian that is centrally located (82 ⁰30′E) as its standard meridian.
Q.5 What is subcontinent? Why India and its adjacent countries are called Indian subcontinent?
i. A subcontinent is a distinctive geographical unit that stands out distinctively from the rest of the continent. ii. India and its adjacent countries ( Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Maldives) together form the Indian subcontinent.
Q.6 Why 82⁰30′ E has been selected as the Standard Meridian of India?
i. It is selected as Standard Meridian to avoid time lag of two hours from Arunachal Pradesh to Gujarat. As the local time differs by 4 minutes at every longitude., it would create a lot of confusion for India as our longitudinal extent is about 30⁰ ii. It is needed to maintain uniformity of time in India. iii. India has selected 82⁰30′ E Longitude as its Standard Meridian as it passes centrally through India ( Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh).Hence equidistant from East and West.
Q.7 Why does the east west extent appear to be smaller than the north-south extent?
i. This difference is based on the fact that the distance between two longitudes decreases towards the poles where as the distance between two latitudes remains the same everywhere.
Q.8 Why is the difference between the duration of day and night hardly felt at Kanyakumari but no so in Kashmir?
i. The day and night are nearly of the same duration at the equator i.e – 12 hours day and 12 hours night. ii. As Kanyakumari is quite near the equator at 8°4'N the day-night difference is hardly one hour there, and therefore, the duration of day and night is hardly felt at Kanyakumari. iii. On the other hand, as we move away from the equator to the poles the variations in duration of day and night become greater. Kashmir is over 30° away from the equator and located in temperate zone. So the difference in duration of day and night is more there (almost of 5 hours).
