PHYSIOGRAPHY - Brilliance College Karakoram mountains contain the Siachen, which is the world's largest mountain glacier. Extend from the Pamir, east of the Gilgit River, 600 km long

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PHYSIOGRAPHY India is the largest country in

the Indian subcontinent lyingentirely in the Northern Hemi-sphere.

The mainland extends from lati-tude 8°4’ north to 37°6’ northand from longitude 68° 7’ eastto 97°25’ east.

The southernmost point in In-dian territory, the Indira Pointis situated at 6°30’ north in theNicobar Islands.

India stretches 3,214 km fromnorth to south and 2,933 kmfrom east to west.

The total length of the main-land coastline is nearly 6,100km and that of the land frontieris about 15,200km. The totallength of the coastline includ-ing that of the islands, is about7,500 km.

With an area of about 32,87,263sq.km., India is the seventhlargest country in the world,accounting for about 2.4% oftotal world area.

The northern most point of thecountry lies in the state ofJammu and Kashmir and it isknown as Indira Col.

Administrative Divisions At the time of Indian indepen-

The Indian mainland can be divided intofive physiographic units namely

i. The Great Mountains of the Northii. The North Indian Plainsiii. The Peninsular Plateauiv. The Coastal Plainsv. The Islands

INDIAN GEOGRAPHY

“Fastest Continent”

India is entirely contained on the Indian Plate, a major tectonic

plate that was formed when it split off from the ancient continent

Gondwanaland. About 50 to 55 million years ago, in the Eocene

epoch of the Cenozoic Era, the plate collided with Asia after

covering a distance of 2,000 to 3,000 km (1,243 to 1,864 miles),

having moved faster than any other known plate. India is thus

referred to as the “fastest continent.” This is causing the

Eurasian Plate to deform, and the India Plate to compress at a

rate of 4 mm/yr (0.15 in/yr).

dence, the country was dividedinto hundreds of small statesand principalities.

The princely states were reor-ganized on the linguistic basisin 1956 to form 14 states and 6union territories.

Now, the Indian Union con-sists of 28 states, 6 union terri-tories and one national capitalterritory (Delhi).

In 23 states, the legislature isunicameral. Bihar, Jammu andKashmir, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh have

bicameral legislatures. Legis-lative power is distributed be-tween Parliament and state leg-islatures.

Northern Mountains The mountains of the north are

young fold mountains. The Himalayas are the most

prominent among thesemountain ranges. Besidesthis, the trans-Himalayanranges and the hill ranges ofPurvachal are the importantunits.

The Himalayas It is one of the youngest

mountain systems in the worldand comprise mainlysedimentary rocks.

The Indus valley in Kashmirand the Brahmaputra valley inArunachal Pradesh areaccepted as the western andthe eastern limits of theHimalayas in India.

The Himalayan region isconsidered the largest snowfield in the world outside thepolar ice caps.

The Himalayan chain measuresabout 2,500 km from west to eastand width of this fold systemvaries between 150 and 400km.

According to the platetectonics theory, the Indianplate moved northwards and itsforward edge penetrated belowthe southern edge of theTibetan plate. This resulted inthe folding and uplift of theHimalayas.

The Himalayas consist of threeparallel ranges.(i) The southernmost range,

called the Siwalik is thelowest.

(ii) The ranges lying north ofthe Siwalik are known asthe middle Himalayas orthe Himachal.

(iii) The northernmost rangesof the Himalayas, known asthe Himadri, are the high-est with an average heightof more than 6,000 metresabove the sea level.

The Himadri contain some ofthe world's highest peaks.

Mt. Everest (8848 m) in Nepalis the world's highest peak.

Neighbours of India India shares her borders with China (Chinese Tibetan Autonomous

Region), Nepal and Bhutan in north, Pakistan and Afghanistan innorth-west and Myanmar in east.

Bangladesh forms almost an enclave within India on the eastern side. In the south, on the eastern side, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk

Strait separate India from Sri Lanka. The boundary between India (Arunachal Pradesh) and China is known

as McMohan Line. The boundary line between the imperial India and Afghanistan is

known as Durand Line. The boundary between India and Pakistan is known as Radcliff Line. India is surrounded by the Indian ocean on its three sides, thus it is

a subcontinent. The Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea are its twonorthward extensions. India and its neighbours Pakistan, Nepal andBhutan are known as the Indian sub-continent.

The northern most tip, where the boundaries of China, India, Paki-stan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan meet is known as ‘Wakh Corridor’.

Kanchenjunga in Sikkim is thehighest peak of the Himalayasin India. (8598 m).

Highest Mountain Peak in In-dia is K2 (8611 m).

It is in Pak occupied Kashmir. The northernmost Himalayan

ranges are called the Great orInner or Central Himalayas(Himadri). Beyond this rangelies another range called theTethys or the TibetanHimalayas beyond which liesthe structural zone called theIndo-Tsangpo Suture zone.

To the south of the CentralHimalayas lies the secondmajor range, the Lesser orLower or Middle Himalayas orHimachal. It is separated fromthe Great Himalayas by thestructural zone called the MainCentral Thrust Zone.

The Himalayan rivers have cutdeep gorges in the Himachal.

In the Lesser Himalayas, slate,limestones and quartzites arethe dominant rocks.

The southernmost range ofthe Himalayan system is calledouter or sub-Himalayas or Si-waliks. In between the outerHimalayas and the lower Hima-

Mount Everest orSagarmatha, the highest

mountain peak (8,850 m) in theworld belongs to Himadri. Otherimportant peaks of this range areKanchenjunga (8,598m),

Makalu (8,481m) andDhaulagiri (8,172m).

The Himalayas is the high-est mountain range in theworld and also the young-est mountain range.Longest Mountain Range isAndes in South America.


layas lies the main boundarythrust. This valley zone isknown by the name of doonsand duars.

The abode of snow Mountains between the Indus

and the Brahmaputra are called'the Himalayas' meaning 'theabode of snow.'

Ladakh Range lies to thesouth of the Karakoram Rangebetween the Indus and itstributary the Shyok River andextends upto Mustang inTibet, over a distance of about1,000km. The Trans-Himalayan Kailas Range is anoffshoot of this range andMount Kailas (6,500m) is thehighest peak in it.

Zaskar Range lies south of theLadakh Range and the GreaterHimalayas lie to its south. It isoften considered the westernpart of the Greater HimalayanRange. The Nanga Parbat(8,126m) marks it culminationin the north-west. Kamet(7,756m) is the highest peak.

The Himalayas are known forsome of the beautiful valleys ofthe world. The Kashmir valley

N A M E LO C AT IO N D IS TA N C E

P unjab H imalaya B e tw een Ind us and S a tluj 5 6 0 k m

K umao n H imalaya B e tw een S a tluj and K a li 3 2 0 k m

N ep a l H imalaya B e tw een K a li and Tista 8 0 0 k m

A ssam H imalaya B e tw een Tista and D ihang 7 2 0 k m

The Himalayas are regionally divided into PunjabHimalayas, Kumaon Himalayas, Nepal Himalayas,

Assam Himalayas.

is a classical example. It is right-ly described as 'paradise on theearth'.

The other important valleys areKulu and Kangra in HimachalPradesh.

The doons in the Kumayun Hi-malaya of Uttar Pradesh arealso well known.

The Brahmaputra marks theeastern-most geographical lim-it of the Himalaya.

Mountains along the eastern

boundary of India are calledPurvanchal.

Nanga Parbat in Kashmir andNandadevi in U.P. are the othertwo important peaks of the Hi-malaya.

KARAKORAM RANGES The mountains extending between the Pamir plateau and

the Indus river in Kashmir are known as the Karakoram. The Karakoram mountains contain the Siachen, which is

the world's largest mountain glacier. Extend from the Pamir, east of the Gilgit River, 600 km long

and the average width - 120-140 km. Ancient name was Krishnagiri. Trans Himalaya, originally a part of Eurasian plate. Abode of largest glaciers in India. Siachin, Baltoro, Biafo, and Hisper glaciers. World’s second highest peak (in India): K2 or Godwin

Austen (8611m). Other Important Peaks:Gasherbrum I or Hidden Peak, Broad

Peak and Gasherbrum II. The Siachin Galcier occupying the Nubra valley is about

75 km long and it is considered the largest glacier outsidethe polar areas.

Peninsular Plateau(The Deccan Plateau)

It extends over eight Indianstates and encompasses a widerange of habitats, coveringmost of central and southernIndia.

It is separated from theGangetic plain to the north bythe Satpura and VindhyaRanges, which form itsnorthern boundary.

The Eastern Ghats and theWestern Ghats constitute itseastern and westernboundaries, respectively.

The river Narmada, whichflows through a rift valley,divides the region into twoparts: the Malwa Plateau in thenorth and the Deccan Plateauin the South.

The northern part of theplateau is occupied by the

Aravalli Ranges in the west,Malwa region in the centre andthe Chotta Nagpur Plateau inthe east.

The Deccan Trap representsthe core of the plateau regionand it is in this part that theoldest rock systems of Indiaare found. This region is madeup of crystalline rocks.

The plateau region includes anumber of other minormountains besides the Aravalliand the Eastern and WesternGhats. They include theVindhyas and Satpuras inCentral India.

The Satpuras, which liebetween the rivers Narmadaand Tapi, have several hillsincluding the Rajpipla Hills inMaharashtra, and the MaikalRange and Pachmarhi Hills inMadhya Pradesh.

The Western Ghats separatethe Deccan Trap region fromthe Western Coastal Plainwhile the Eastern Ghats liebetween the Eastern CoastalPlain and the Deccan Trap.

The Western Ghats form acontinuous range from southto north and the highest rangeof this region is often called theSahyadri.

Kashmir : Burzil and Zoji-la Himachal Pradesh : Bara Lacha-la, Shipki-la. Uttaranchal : Thanga-la, Niti-la, Lipu-Lekhla Sikkim - Nathula, Jelepla Khybar pass is the most famous pass which leads

from Peshwar to Kabul. South of Khybar pass is the Gomal Pass (it is in

Pakistan). The Bolan Pass leads from Kandahar to Quetta. The Purvachal Hills in the north-east consist of

the Patkai-Bum, the Garo-Khasi-Jaintia andLushai Hills.

Vindhya mountains cut off the northern plain fromthe south.

The Peninsular mountains include The WesternGhats (The Sahyadris), The Eastern Ghats, TheSatpura Range and The Aravallis.

The Western Ghats runs along the west coastfrom the south of Tapti r iver valley toKanyakumari.

The Eastern Ghats are irregular hill ranges thatstretch from northern Orissa to the Nilgiris inTamil Nadu across the coastal Andhra.

The Satpura range extends from the Narmadavalley in the north to the Tapti valley in the south.

The 800 km range Aravallis stretching from thenorth-east to the south - west of India sepa-rates the semi-desert regions of Rajasthan fromthe fertile Udaipur and Jaipur regions.

Aravallis is the oldest mountain range in India. Sahyadri hills is a part of the Western Ghats.

Nilgiris is also a part of Western Ghats. Nilgiri isknown as the Blue Mountains.

The southern most tip of Eastern Ghats is calledCardamom Hills.

The Western Ghats and Eastern Ghats meet atNilgiri Hills.

Important passes of Himalayas

The PeninsularPlateau (also called the

The Deccan Plateau) is alarge plateau in India. DeccanPlateau is divided into threemajor units – the Western Ghats,the Eastern Ghats and the

Deccan Trap. The DeccanPlateau lies south of the

Indo-G ange ti cplain.


The Western Ghats areconnected to the EasternGhats by the Nilgiri Hills (BlueMountains). South of theseare the Annamalai Hills(Annaimudi is the highest peakin the peninsular region) whichare separated from the formerby the Palghat Pass.

Two branches of theAnnamalai Hills are known asthe Palani Hills and the Yelagiri(Cardamom) Hills.

The Sivasamudram Fall, theGokak Fall and the MahatmaGandhi Fall are importantwaterfalls in this area.

The most important waterfallformed by the Narmada is theDhuandhar Falls near Jabalpur.The river flows through marblerocks in this region and hencethe Dhuandhar Fall is alsocalled the Marble Falls.

The Aravallis due to erosionover a long period of time theirheight has been reduced andthey can be considered relictmountains.

River Chambal is the mostimportant river originatingfrom the eastern slopes of theAravallis.

The Luni and the Sabarmati arethe most important rivers risingfrom the Aravallis and flowingin a westerly direction.

The dry north-western part ofRajasthan is part of theextensive Thar Desert thatextends into Pakistan.

East of Aravalli range, the areais less dry and there are lowerhills like Bundi Hills. Chambaland its tributaries flow through

this part draining southeasternpart of Rajasthan.

The Thar Desert merges intothe Rann of Kutch. Much ofthe Rann is a sandy area andparts of it are marshy.

The rocks of the Deccan Trapare rich in deposits of a varietyof minerals. Granite, basalt,gneiss and quartzite are themajor rocks besides somelimestone and sandstone.

Some of the richest depositsof manganese are found inMadhya Pradesh. Iron andgold are seen in Jharkhand andKarnataka respectively.

The Western Ghats mark thewestern boundary of theDeccan Plateau and theyseparate the plateau from thecoastal plain. The famousPalghat, Borghat and Thalghatare important gaps thatfacilitate passage over thisbarrier.

The Aravallis are one ofthe oldest fold mountainsin the world. The highestpeak of Aravalli range isGuru Shikhar near Mt.

Abu (1,158m) inRajasthan.

The Anai Mudi, the highestpeak, is 2,695 metres above thesea level. Udagamandalam is awell known hill station of thesouth located in Tamil Nadu.

Plains of India The vast plains of north India

are alluvial in nature and thewestern most portion isoccupied by the Thar Desert.

The plains of south India i.e.,coastal plains are also alluvialto a large extent.

The northern plain is known asthe Ganga-Brahmaputra plainand is divided into smallerunits like the western plain,eastern plain, Bihar plain,Bengal plain and Brahmaputraplain.

Northern Plain This plain lies to the south of

the northern mountain wall andstretches in the shape of an arcfrom the western most part ofthe country to theBrahmaputra valley in the east.

Indo-Gangetic plain is one ofthe most extensive stretches ofthe alluvium in the world.

The Indo-Gangetic Plains alsoknown as the Northern Plainsand The North Indian RiverPlain encompassing most ofnorthern and eastern India, themost populous parts ofPakistan, parts of southernNepal and virtually all ofBangladesh.

The areas that are parts of theplains are as follows-Bangladesh, Assam, Bihar,Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab,Rajasthan, Tripura, Uttar

The Western Ghats are known by

different local names. In

Maharshtra and Karnataka they

are called Sahyadri. Further

south, they are called the Nilgiris

in Tamil Nadu. Still further south,

along the Kerala and Tamil Nadu

border, they are known as

Anaimala and Cardamom Hills.

Pradesh, West Bengal, Nepal,Madhesh, Punjab, Sindh,Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya,Jharkhand, Orissa, Balochistan, North-West FrontierProvince, Kashmir region.

The total length of thenorthern plain is about 2,400kmand the width varies from 145to 480 km.

Western Plain The western part of the

northern plain is also called theIndus plain or Punjab plain.

It slopes gently towards westand extends into Pakistanthrough Punjab.

The plain is drained by theIndus and its tributaries. Thatpart of the plain that extendsin India is drained into theArabian Sea by the rivers -Sutlej, Beas and Ravi,tributaries of the Indus thatjoin the main stream afterentering Pakistan. The Indianpart of the plain is also calledthe Punjab and HaryanaPlain.

Streams carrying water onlyduring the rainy season andwith their beds choked withboulders are called chos inPunjab.

The water becoming sub-surface in this zone emerges onthe surface in lower areasdown stream and producesmarshy conditions. Suchmarsh areas in Punjab arecalled mand.

The only river that remainsperennial in its upper coursein Haryana is Ghaggar. Thisstream is lost in the dry area inRajasthan.

Eastern plain It comprises the flood plain

and the delta plains of theGanga and the Brahmaputra.

It is customary to divide thispart into the Ganga plain andthe Brahmaputra plain.

An important division of theplain is made in terms of thekhadar and the bangar zones.The term khadar refers to thenew alluvium and the bangarto the old alluvium.

The lower part of the plainadjacent to the rivers that isprone to frequent floods iscalled khadar.

Bangar soils frequently havebeds of kanker or hard pans.

The western part of the plain,from Haridwar to Aligarh iscalled Upper Doab and fromAligarh to Allahabad is calledthe Middle Doab.

The northern part of Ganga-Yamuna Doab and UttarPradesh is covered byRuhelkhand Plain. This partis drained by Ghaghra, Raptiand Gomti rivers.

The plain is characterized bystreams that flow as sub-surface channels in dryseason. This area is called thebhabhar or the ‘bhabar zone’.

The marshy region at the footof the Himalayas is called theterai zone. Much of this zonehas been drained out andreclaimed for agriculture.

The foot hill zones of theeastern plain in the northernparts of West Bengal and stilleastward are occupied by theBengal Duars and AssamDuars.

Coastal Plains The coastal plains separate the

peninsular plateau from the sea. The inner margins of the plains

are marked by the Eastern andthe Western Ghats thatseparate the Deccan plateauregion from the coastal lowlands.

The Eastern and the WesternGhats that separate the Deccanplateau region from the coastallowlands.

The plain along the Bay ofBengal coast is called theEastern Coastal Plain and theone extending along theArabian Sea coast of India iscalled the Western Coastalplain.

The Eastern coastal plain ofIndia stretches along the Bayof Bengal from riverSubernarekha to KanyaKumari.

The northern part of this plainis often called the Utkal plain,the middle one is the AndhraCoastal Plain and thesouthern most part is called theTamil Nadu Coastal Plain(also called the Coromandelcoastal plain).

The rivers flowing into the Bayof Bengal from the plateauregion have contributed to theformation of this coastal plain.

Part of the plain that lies in theupper course of the rivers iscalled the upper plain and thepart in which lie the deltas ofthe rivers, is called the lowerplain.


The major rivers flowingthrough the Eastern CoastalPlain are the Mahanadi, theGodavari, the Krishna and theKaveri. The delta regions ofthese rivers are very fertile andsupport high densities ofagricultural population.

The western coastal plainforms a narrow strip of landalong the western coast ofIndia. It stretches from Gujaratto Kerala. The Western Ghats

forming the inner marginof this plain are a muchhigher mountain rangethan the Eastern Ghatsthat are more of a seriesof discontinuous hills.

The rivers flowing downthe escarpment like slopeof the Western Ghats arerapid streams and they donot form any deltas.

The northernmost part of

this plain is called theGujarat coastal plainand the southernmost,the Kerala coastal plain.In between these twosections lie KonkanCoastal Plain in thenorth and the MalabarCoastal Plain to theSouth.

The Islands Besides the mainland, India has

two groups of Islands namelythe Andaman and Nicobar Is-lands in the Bay of Bengal andthe Lakshadweep Islands in theArabian Sea.

Andamans consists of a north-ern cluster of 204 small islandsand Nicobar islands consistsof a southern cluster of 19 Is-lands.

Ten degree channel separatesAndaman from Nicobar.

Port Blair is the capital of

Andaman & Nicobar Islands. The southernmost tip of India,

Indira point is in Great Nicobarislands which is the biggestisland in Nicobar group.

The Lakshadweep in the Ara-bian sea comprises of a groupof 36 islands, about 300km tothe west of Kerala coast.Only 10 of the islands are in-habited.

Kavarathi is the capital ofLakshadweep.

New Moore Island lies in Bayof Bengal near West Bengalalso belongs to India.

Coco Islands North ofAndaman belong to Myanmar.

The Andaman and Nicobar Is-lands are close to the Indo-Australian Plate Boundary.

Barren Island became active in1991 after being (inactive) forover two centuries.

Minicoy islands is separatedfrom Maldives by 8o channel.

RIVER SYSTEM OF INDIAThe river system of the country can be classified on the basis of their origin in to two categories:

i. The Himalayan Rivers and ii. The Peninsular riversThe Himalayan riversThe Himalayan rivers has threeprincipal systems1. the Indus system2. the Ganga system and3. the Brahmaputra system1. Indus system

It is one of the largest riversystems in the world. RiverIndus rises from KailasRange in the Tibetan Plateauregion and is joined by anumber of tributaries inJammu and Kashmir.

The most important tributariesof Indus include the Sutlej, theChenab, the Ravi and the Beasthat join it after entering intoPakistan.

Sutlej is the largest amongstthe tributaries of Indus.

After flowing through Pakistan,Indus falls into Arabian Sea.

River Indus is an antecedentriver as it is considered as olderthan the Himalayas.

River Sutlej rises beyond theHimalayas and has cut a gorgethrough the Central HimalayanRange.

The Ravi is the smallest riverof Punjab and is well-known asthe 'River of Lahore.' It risesnear the Rohtang pass in the

Kulu hills of HimachalPradesh.

The Chenab is the largest ofIndus tributaries. It has a totallength of 1,800 km in India.

The Jhelum, an importanttributary of the Indus flowingthrough the state of Jammu andKashmir (Srinagar Valley is thevalley of the Jhelum) rises in aspring at Verinag.

The Beas rises at Beas Kundnear the Rohtang Pass inHimachal Pradesh.

2. Ganga System

It is the largest drainagesystem of India carrying therun off of about 25 percent ofthe total land area of thecountry.

The River Ganga is the long-est river (2640 km) in India. Itssource is at Gangotri glacier inthe Himalayas.

Ganga, the main stream, isconstituted by two major headstreams, the Alakananda andBhagirathi. These twoheadstreams of the Ganga joinat Devprayag.

The source of the Alakanandais near the Tibetan border andthat of the Bhagirathi nearGangotri.

The Ganga is joined by theYamuna near Allahabad.

Yamuna, Gomti, Ghagra,Gandak, Ramganga, Son,Chambal, Betwa and Ken arethe main tributaries of Ganga.

Ganga flows through UttarPradesh, Bihar, West Bengal

and Bangladesh and finally en-ters into the Bay of Bengal.

Ganga is known by the name‘Padma’ in Bangladesh.

The river has been declared asIndia's National River.

It has been considered the ho-liest of all rivers by Hindus.

Some of the most importantHindu festivals and religiouscongregation (worship) suchas the Kumbh Mela everytwelve years atMedia:Allahabad and theChhath Puja.

The Ganges Basin drains1,000,000-square-kilometre(390,000 sq mi) and supportsone of the world's highest den-sity of humans.

Only two rivers, the Amazonand the Congo, have greaterdischarge than the combinedflow of the Ganges, theBrahmaputra and the Surma-Meghna river system.

Sutlej, Beas, Ravi, Chenab and

Jhelum are the five tributaries of

Indus. Mount Kailash in Tibet is

the source of Indus river. It falls

into the Arabian sea.

In Hindu tradi-tion Triveni Sangam

is the "confluence" ofthree rivers, two physicalrivers Ganga, Yamuna, andthe invisible or mythicSaraswati River. The site isnear Allahabad, India. A placeof religious importance

and the site for historicKumbh Mela held ev-

ery 12 years.


3. Brahmaputra systemBrahmaputra is the thirdmajor antecedent river ofIndia flowing from theHimalayan region towardsthe northern plains.

The 2,688 km Brahmaputra islonger than the Ganges, butonly one third of the riverpasses through India.

Brahmaputra originates fromthe Manasarovar lake inWestern Tibet. It flows for along distance parallel to theHimalayan ranges in aneasterly direction. Here, it isknown as the Tsangpo.

It takes a southward turn andenters India in easternArunachal Pradesh under thename Dihang.

When it enters Bangladesh, itis named as 'Meghna.'

The Ganga and theBrahmaputra join inBangladesh and form theextensive delta of Sunderbans.It derives the name from theSundri tree that grows widelyin this region.

Mahanadi systemIt drains a large part of Orissa. The Mahanadi is one of the

major rivers of peninsular pla-teau region flowing into Bayof Bengal.

The Seonath, the Hasdeo andthe Mand join it from the northand the Jonk joins from south.

The river forms its delta in theCuttack district of Orissa be-fore flowing into the Bay ofBengal.

Godavari System Godavari is the largest among

the rivers of the Peninsular In-

dia. The source of the river liesin the Nasik district of Maha-rashtra and it traverses over acourse of more than 1,400km.It is commonly known as ‘Vrid-dha Ganga’.

Krishna System It is the second largest east

flowing system of the penin-sular region.

The river rises in WesternGhats near Mahabaleshwarand flows in a north-easterlydirection to Divi in AndhraPradesh. It is commonlyknown as ‘Dakshina Ganga’.

Kaveri system The river Kaveri is the most

southerly among the major riv-ers of the peninsular regionflowing into the Bay of Ben-gal.

It rises in the Brahmagiri Hillsin Coorg district and flows to-wards the coast.

It descends from South Karna-taka Plateau to the Tamil NaduPlains through the famousSivasamudram waterfalls.

Peninsular riversIt is a river that flowsthrough the peninsularpart of a country.( a penin-sula is a patch of land cov-ered by water on three sidesand connected to a land onthe fourth side)

Peninsular rivers (The Deccanrivers) are generally rainfedand comprises the rivers ofpeninsular India. They areshorter and seasonal in nature.

River Godavari is the largestriver system (1465 km long) of

peninsular India. It rises fromTrambak in Nasik district in theWestern Ghats.

Rajahmundry, is the largestcity on the banks of Godavari.

The Peninsular rivers are gen-erally rain-fed and, therefore,fluctuate greatly in volume. Avery large number of them arenon-perennial.

Peninsular rivers contribute 30percent of the total outflow inIndia.

The major Deccan rivers arethe Godavari, Krishna, Cau-very, Pennar, Mahanadi, Damo-dar, Sharavati, Netravati, Bhar-athapuzha, Periyar, Pamba,Narmada and Tapti.

There are three major rivers –Narmada, Tapti and Sabarmatiflowing into the Arabain seafrom the Peninsular region.Narmada and Tapti are themajor west flowing rivers ofIndia. They drain into the Gulfof Cambay in the Arabian Sea.

The river Narmada rises in theAmarkantak plateau, flowsthrough a rift valley and makesa number of waterfalls. TheMarble Falls near Jabalpur isa famous fall on this river.

The Tapti (Tapi) rises nearBetul district. The Parna,flowing from the GawilgarhHills, is the most importanttributary joining the Tapti nearBhusawal.

Satpura Mountain range liesbetween Narmada and Tapti.

The Sabarmati rises in theAravallis in Rajasthan andflows into the Gulf of Cambayin Gujarat.

River Krishna rises from thenorth of Mahabaleswar in the

Name Length Originates Ends in Passes through(km) from

Ganga (Bhagirati) 2,507 Gaumukh Bay of Bengal Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and W.Bengal

Yamuna (Jamuna) 1370 Garhwal in Yamunotri Bay of Bengal Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh

Brahmaputra 2,850 Chemayung-Dung glacier, Bay of Bengal North Eastern states of Indiabetween lake Manasarovarand Mount Kailash

Kaveri(Dakshina Ganga" or 765 Hills of Coorg, Karnataka Bay of Bengal Karnataka and Tamil NaduGanges of the south)Godavari 1,465 Trimbakeshwar near Nasik Bay of Bengal South-easterly direction, through

Hills in Maharashtra Maharastra and Andhra PradeshKrishna 900 Near Mahabaleshwar in Bay of Bengal Maharastra, Karnataka and Andhra

MaharashtraNarmada 1,300 Amarkantak hill in Arabian Sea Maharastra, Madhya Pradesh and

Madhya Pradesh GujaratTapti 724 Pachmari, Madhya Pradesh Arabian Sea Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat

Gomti 805 Himalaya Range of Nepal Bay of Bengal Uttar Pradesh

Ghaghara Shivalik mountain range of Disappears into Haryana, Punjab and RajasthanHimachal Pradesh the Thar Desert

Mahanadi 860 Satpura Range Bay of Bengal Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa andMaharashtra

The Main Rivers in India

Western Ghats. It enters intothe Bay of Bengal. Krishnabasin forms the third largestriver basin in India.

River Cauvery rises from theBrahmagiri hills in the Coorgdistrict of Tamilnadu. It isknown as Dakshina Ganga.About 55 percent of theCauvery basin lies inTamilnadu, 41 percent inKarnataka and three percent inKerala.

The Cauvery water DisputeTribunal gave its final verdictin 2006. It ordered Karnatakato release 192 TMCFT water toTamil Nadu every year.

River Pennar rises in the Kolardistrict of Karnataka.

River Damodar is called as"Sorrow of Bengal andJharkhand", because of fre-

Sunderban

The world’s largest delta, Sunderbans is formed by the Ganges

and Brahmaputra in West Bengal and Bangladesh, in the Bay of

Bengal. The Sundarbans is the largest single block of tidal halo-

phytic mangrove forest in the world. The forest lies in the vast

delta on the Bay of Bengal formed by the confluence of the

Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers across southern

Bangladesh and West Bengal. It became inscribed as a UNESCO

world heritage site in 1997.

quent flood. Sabarmati rises from the Jai

Samand lake of Udaipur,Rajasthan.

The Luni originates fromAnnasagar in the Aravallis andends on the Sahni marshes,North of Rann of Kutch.

The Third river system is alsocalled the ‘Rivers of InlandDrainage Basins’ which con-sists of small rivers in the

sandy areas of Rajasthan. Some of Peninsular rivers such

as Narmada and Tapti form es-tuaries. Other rivers such asMahanadi, Godavari, Krishna,Cauvery form deltas.

Drainage of the TharDesert Region The greater part of Rajasthan

and Gujarat is dry land, whichforms a part of the Thar desert.


Difference between the Himalayanand the Peninsular Rivers

Rivers such as Indus, Sutlej, Brahmaputra etc., are antecedentrivers i.e., they are older than the landforms over which theHimalayan rivers flow.

Due to their sources in the snowfields, the Himalayan riversare perennial and carry large amounts of water. Their erosionalcapacity is immense and they carry large amounts of silt.

Most of the rivers of the peninsular plateau are consequentstreams and they follow the general slope of the plateau region.Their valleys are well developed and they do not change theircourse frequently.

Further, the peninsular rivers are seasonal in character as theyare rainfed.

Due to a lesser amount of flow, the hydroelectricity generationpotential of the peninsular rivers is much lower than theHimalayan rivers.

The Thar Desert (also knownas the Great Indian Desert), isa large, arid region in thenorthwestern part of the Indiansubcontinent.

The Cholistan Desert adjoinsthe Thar desert spreading intoPakistani Punjab province.

It is an area of internal drainageand the only river rising orflowing through this territory

is the river Luni. The river Luni rises in the

Aravalli Ranges and enters theArabian Sea through the Rannof Kutch.

For most of the year, Luni isdry.

Important lakes in IndiaChilka (Orissa)Sambar (Rajasthan)Pulicat (Andhra Pradesh)Vembanad (Kerala)Wular (J & K)Dal (J & K)Uday Sagar (Rajasthan)Pushkar (Rajasthan)Loktak (Manipur Hills)Bhimtal Lake (Nainital)Roopkund Lake(Uttaranchal)Osman sagar lake(Andhra)

Lakes The largest fresh water lake

in India: Lake Kolleru

(Andhra Pradesh). Wular is thesecond largest fresh water lake.

The largest saltwater lake :Lake Chilka (Orissa)

The second largest salt waterlake is Sambhar in Rajasthan.It is the largest inland salt lakein India.

Dal Lake is famous for houseboats.

The lakes of India generallyclassified as fresh water andbrakish lakes.

MULTI-PURPOSE RIVER VALLEY PROJECTS India stands fifth in the world

after Congo, Russia, Canadaand the United States in po-tential of water power re-sources.

Damodar River Valley projectwas the first multi-purpose rivervalley project in Free India.

The project-irrigates half a mil-lion hectares of land in WestBengal and parts of south-eastBihar.

The Bhakra Nangal Project isan example of water manage-ment on scientific lines on thelargest scale.

The project serves the statesof Himachal Pradesh, Punjab,Haryana, Rajasthan and theNational Capital Territory ofDelhi.

Indira Gandhi or RajasthanCanal is the longest irrigationcanal in the world

Indira Gandhi Canal Project inRajasthan utilized water ofSatluj, Beas and Ravi to irrigatenorth-western parts of thecountry

The Kosi project in Bihar hasbeen taken up in cooperationwith Nepal.

Its main aim has been to con-trol floods brought by the riverKosi, known as the 'River ofSorrow' for north Bihar.

The main canal is taken offfrom Hanumannagar barrageon the Kosi.

Another important joint ven-ture of India and Nepal is theGandak Project.

The Hirakud dam in Orissa isthe longest dam in the world.

The Tungabhadra Projectserves Karnataka and Andhra

Pradesh. The Nagarjunasagar project

is built on the river Krishna inAndhra Pradesh irrigates8,67,000 hectares of land.

The dam has been named afterthe Buddhist scholarNagarjuna.

The Chambal project helps ir-r igate parts of MadhyaPradesh and Rajasthan.

The project consists of GandhiSagar Dam in MadhyaPradesh, and Kota Barrage andJawahar Sagar Dam inRajasthan.

Hydel power projects In the year 1902 the first water

power house was set up on theriver Kaveri at Sivasamudramin Karnataka.

Tata Hydro electric scheme wasintroduced in the western ghatsof Maharashtra to furnishpower to the city of Mumbai.

In Tamil Nadu, Pykara was thefirst water power station.

In the north, Mandi powerhouse was the first to be de-veloped in the Himalayan re-gion. The next one to be takenup was the Upper Ganga Ca-nal Hydroelectric Grid System.

The Rihand project is the larg-est manmade lake in India onthe borders of MadhyaPradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

The Koyna project inMaharashtra is on the eastflowing tributary of theKrishna. Its capacity is 880MW. It feeds power toMumbai-Pune industrial re-gion.

The Sharavathy project inKarnataka is located at the Jog

Falls, the highest in India. Its total capacity is 891 MW. It

feeds Bangalore industrial re-gion and is also taken to thestates of Goa and Tamil Nadu.

The Sabarigiri project in Keralahas an installed capacity of 300MW while the Idukki projecthas a capacity of 390 MW.

The Balimela project in Orissahas an installed capacity of 360MW and in Gujarat UkaiProject has a capacity of 300MW.

In Jammu and Kashmir SalalHydel Power project provideover a thousand MW of power.

Tehri Hydel Power project is ajoint project of the Govt of In-dia and Uttaranchal. Tehri Hy-dro Development Corporationwas set up in 1988.

Narmada Valley DevelopmentAuthority (NVDA), is an or-ganization of Govt. of M.P.constituted for planning wa-ter resources development inNarmada basin

Narmada is the fifth largestriver in India and largest westflowing river of Indian penin-sula originating from Maikalaranges at Amarkantak inMadhya Pradesh

DAM and RIVERBhakranangal Dam ............. SutlejHirakud ...................... MahanadiTehri Dam ................ BhageerathiUri Power Project ............. JhelumNagarjunasagar Dam ....... KrishnaKosi Project .........................KosiKoyna Project ................. Krishna


PROJECT RIVER STATE PURPOSE

Bhakra Nangal MultipurposeProjectBhakra dam: One of the highestgravity dam in the world.Govind Sagar Lake (H.P.) is areservoir.

Sutlej(A tributary of Indus)

Joint venture of Punjab,Haryana and Rajasthan.

Irrigation, hydro electricity

Thein Dam project Ravi (A tributary of Indus). Punjab Irrigation, hydroelectricity.

Dulhasti project Chenab (A tributary of Indus) Jammu and Kashmir Part of the programme ofcascade development forirrigation..

Salal project Chenab (A tributary of Indus). Jammu and Kashmir Irrigation

Beas project Beas (A tributary of Indus). Joint venture of Punab,Haryana and Rajasthan.

Hydro electricity

Sharda Sahayak Project Ghagra (left bank tributary ofGanga).

Uttar Pradesh Irrigation

Ramganga multipurpose project Chuisot stream near Kalabagh Uttar Pradesh Irrigation, hydroelectricity.

Banasagar project Son M.P., Bihar and U.P. Irrigation

Rihand S cheme Rese rvo ir :Govind Ballabh Sagar (U.P.).

Rihand Uttar Pradesh Hydroelectricity for thedevelopment o f southeastern industrial region ofU.P.

MULTI-PURPOSE PROJECTS

• Garland Canal Project linked Peninsular rivers of South India and Himalayan rivers through Canals.• The Farakka Barrage Project is designed to serve the need of preservation and maintenance of the

Kolkata Port by improving the regime and navigability of the Bhagirathi-Hoogly river system.• The Grand Anicut also known as the Kallanai, was built by the Chola king Karikala Cholan in AD

26. It is considered as one of the oldest water-diversion or water-regulator structures in the world,which is still in use.

• Uttar Pradesh occupies the First place with the total length of rivers and canals as 31.2 thousandkm, which is about 17 percent of the total length of rivers and canals in the country. Other statesfollowing Uttar Pradesh are Jammu & Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh.

Upper Krishna Project Krishna Karnataka Irrigation (Almatti dam isbeing constructed).

Tungabhadra multipurposeproject.

Tungbhadra (A tributary ofKrishna)

Joint venture of AndhraPradesh and Karnataka.

Irrigation, hydroelectricity.

Ghatprabha project Ghatprabha (A tributary ofKrishna).

Andhra Pradesh andKarnataka


Malprabha project Malprabha (A tributary ofKrishna).

Karnataka Irrigation

Bhima project Bhima Maharashtra Irrigation

Mettur project Cauvery Tamil Nadu Hydroelectricity

Shivasamudram scheme Cauvery Karnataka Hydroelectricity

Kundah project Kundah Tamil Nadu Hydroelectricity

Sharavati Project Sharavati (near Jog falls) Karnataka Hydroelectricity

Chambal project(Gandhi Sagar Dam (M.P.,Rana Pratap Sagar and JawaharSagar Dam or Kota Dam.

Chambal (a tributary ofYamuna).

Raja sthan, MadhyaPradesh.


Kakrapara Project Tapi Gujarat Irrigation

Ukai project Tapi Gujarat Irrigation

Sardar Sarovar Project Narmada Gujarat, M.P., RajasthanMaharashtra.

Irrigation, hydroelectricity

Tawa project Ta wa ( A t r ib ut a r y o fNarmada).

Madhya Pradesh Irrigation

Mahi project (Jamnalal BajajSagar)

Mahi Gujarat Irrigation

Matatila project Betwa Uttal Pradesh, MadhyaPradesh.



INDIAN CLIMATE The nation has four seasons:

winter (January and February),summer (March to May), amonsoon (rainy) season (Juneto September), and a post-monsoon period (October toDecember).

The climatic conditions in In-dia are affected the most by thetropical monsoon. Due to theoverwhelming influence of thetropical monsoon on Indianclimate, India is called a tropi-cal country.

Indian climate is greatly influ-enced by the presence ofHimalayas in the north andthe Indian Ocean in the south.

The climate of India is mon-soonal type, fed up by two rainbearing winds.

Latitude and the monsoonwinds are the major factors af-fecting the Indian climate.

The Tropic of Cancer dividesIndia into two almost equal cli-matic zones namely the north-ern zone and the southern zone.

Thunder storms cause upto 25cm of rainfall along the Keralaand Karnataka coasts andabout 10 cm. in the interior ofSouth India. Such rains arecalled 'Cherry Blossoms' inKarnataka where they proveimmensely beneficial to coffeeplantation. They are called as'Mango Showers' in SouthIndia, due to their salutary ef-fect on mango crop.

The normal date of the onsetof the rains is 20th May in

Andaman & Nicobar Islandsand by the end of June, it isusually established over mostof the country.

Normal duration of the mon-soon varies from 2 to 4 months.

The Trans-Himalayan andGreater-Himalayan regions,Drass and Kargil of Ladakh re-gion are the coldest regions inthe country.

Mawsynram in Meghalaya(1141 cm) is therainiest place in the world.

Jaisalmer in westernRajasthan is the driest place inIndia which receives the low-est rainfall.

El-Nino is a complex weathersystem that appears once inevery 3 to 7 years bringingdrought, floods and otherweather extremes to differentparts of the world. El-Nino isused in India for forecastinglong range monsoon rainfall.

Monsoon India receives 90% of the total

rainfall from monsoons. Mon-soons are the seasonal windswhich blow during six monthsof summer from ocean to landand for the six months of win-ter from land to sea.

On the basis of monsoonalvariations there are four sea-sons in India namely the cold(winter) season (December toFebruary), the hot (summer)season (March to May), thesouth west monsoon (the rainyseason) (June to September)and the season of retreatingmonsoon (October to Novem-ber).

The South West Monsoonforms the main monsoon sea-son in India (June to August).

The North East Monsoon (Oc-tober - November) brings rainmainly to Tamil Nadu.

The North - East Monsoonsare comparitively minor mon-soons confined to a smallerarea of the country. They arethe winds blowing out from thelandmass of north-western In-dia towards the Indian Ocean.

Monsoon is a wind system ofthe tropical regions underwhich the direction of thewinds is reversed seasonablyand it results in summerrainfall and dry winters.

During the summer season, thewinds blow from sea to thecontinents so that the moistwinds cause rainfall in thisseason.

During winter, the direction ofthe winds is reversed so thatthey blow from continentstowards the sea.

The onset of monsoon in Indiaimplies the onset of thesoutheast monsoon (windsblowing from the Indian Oceanto the Indian subcontinent) inthe beginning of the summerseason so that the monthsfrom June to mid-September arerainy.

The south-west monsoonwinds are replaced fromOctober onwards by thenorth-east monsoon blowingfrom the continental areatowards the sea to the south.Hence the winter seasonremains by and large dry.

Seasons The climatic year of India can

be divided into four seasons:the hot dry season, the hot wetseason, the cool dry seasonand the cool wet season.

Hot Dry Season : It is markedby the r ising temperatureduring the latter half of themonth of March. The highesttemperatures in the south areexperienced in April and in thenorthern plains in May andJune.

This part of the year is markedby a dry spell and the north-western parts of the countryexperience hot, dry windscalled loo.

Hot Wet Season : The troughof low pressure over the Indo-Gangetic plain causes theequatorial winds of oceanicorigin to move over to India.

This is the onset of southwestmonsoon and also thebeginning of the hot wetseason.

The peninsular landmass ofIndia divides the southwestmonsoon winds into twobranches, one each blowingfrom the Arabian Sea and theBay of Bengal.

The Arabian Sea branch firststrikes the Western Ghats andcauses heavy rainfall in theWestern Coastal Plains.

On the eastern side of theGhats, the rainfall is much lowerdue to the rain-shadow effectsof the Ghats and interior TamilNadu remains dry during thisseason.

The direction of the windsduring this season over theBay of Bengal is modified bythe presence of the lowpressure over the Ganga Valleyand the physical barrier of theArakan mountains. Hence theirdirection over this regionbecomes south-easterly.


Cool Dry Season : This seasonlasts from mid-September tomid-December. It is the periodof retreating south-westmonsoon in India.

The period is characterized bylow temperature, low northerlywinds, clear skies and lowhumidity.

Although the season isdominated by subsistenteasterly or northeasterly windsover the peninsula, windsgenerally blow from a westerlydirection in the northern partof the country.

Cool Wet Season : By October,the southwest monsoonwithdraws from most parts ofIndia and the northeastmonsoon establishes itselfover the entire area from whichthe southwest monsoon haswithdrawn.

The western remains dry up tothe end of November in mostparts.

The western disturbances arecyclonic systems that developin the belt of the westerlywinds and they bring unsettledweather in their wake. Thesedisturbances cause rain orsnowfall in Jammu and Kashmirand north Indian Plains andbreak the dry spell. This periodof the year is called the cold-wet season.

The winds blowing towardsTamil Nadu from the northeastpick up some moisture as theyblow over the Bay of Bengaland they cause rainfall in TamilNadu and parts of AndhraPradesh due to the obstructionposed by the Eastern Ghatsand the eastern face of theWestern Ghats.

Rajasthan and Gujarat regionsremain dry during this seasonalso.

Climatic Regions The wettest areas in the

western coastal plain and partsof Assam fall under thecategory of tropical rainforestclimate. This region receivesmore than 400 cm of rainfalland Mawsynram nearChirapunji, which receives thehighest average annualrainfall in the world, lies here.

The tropical savanna climatecovers most of the peninsularregion except for the semi- aridzone east of the Sahyadris. Inthis region, the temperatureremains above 18.20C and therange of temperature is alsohigh. It is seasonal in character.

Tropical and sub-tropicalsteppe climate extends overlarge areas in Punjab, Haryana,Kutch, parts of the Gangeticplains and some parts of thePeninsular region. Temperaturein this region falls below 180Cin the winter season but mayrise above 300C in summer.

Tropical semi-arid steppeclimate covers the rain-shadow area of the Sahyadris

and parts of Maharashtra.Temperature remains between200C and 23.80C.

Parts of Kutch and the westernparts of Rajasthan are includedin the category of tropicaldeserts. It receives a rainfall ofless than 25cm and thetemperature may rise up to500C.

A humid subtropical climatewith dry winters covers mostof the northern plains fromPunjab to Assam along theHimalayas.

The Himalayas and theKarakoram Range are includedin areas identified as having amountain climate. Here, thetemperature and rainfall varyaccording to altitude and theaspect of the slopes.

SOILS IN INDIAAlluvial Soil

Alluvial soil contributing thelargest share, is formed by thedeposition of sediments by riv-ers in the interior parts of Indiaand by the sea waves in thecoastal areas of the country.

Alluvial soil is the best agri-cultural soil because

The Indian Council of AgriculturalResearch has divided the Indian soils into 8

categories. Alluvial soil, Black soil, Red soil, Later-ite soil, Forest soil, Arid and Desert soil, Saline and

Alkaline soils, Peaty and organic soils. Black soils(29.69%), Alluvial soils (22.16%), Red and

yellow soils (28%).

(i) They contain a variety ofsalts derived from Hima-layan rocks.

(ii) They are light and porous,therefore easily tillable.

(iii) They are good for canalirrigation because of highwater table and an easilypenetrable stratum.

Alluvial soils are suitable forcultivation of almost all kindsof cereals, pulses, oil seeds,cotton, sugarcane and veg-etables.

Alluvial soils are rich in pot-ash and poor in nitrogen andorganic matter.

Immature soils with weak pro-files – Azonal

Alluvial soils are devoted tothe cultivation of wheat rice,pulses, sugarcane, jute, oil-seeds, fodder etc.

Black Soil Black soil is found largely in

the Deccan plateau. Black soil is suitable for the

cultivation of cotton and there-fore it is called black cotton soil.

Also known as regur soils. Regur soils varies in colour

from black to chestnut brown. Black soils are rich in iron, lime

and aluminium content. Black soils have high moisture

retention capacity.

Red Soil Red soil is formed by the

weathering of ancient meta-morphic and crystalline rocks.

They are airy and need irriga-tion support for cultivation.Red soil is suitable for the cul-tivation of pulses and coarsegrains.

Red soils are poor in nitrogen,phosphorus, potassium andorganic matter.

They are more suitable for thecultivation of rice, ragi, to-bacco and vegetable.

The colour is red because ofthe presence of iron oxides.

Mainly found in the Peninsu-lar India and hilly states ofNorth East India.

Laterite Soil Laterite soils are formed by the

weathering of laterite rocks.Laterite soils are deficient innitrogen. They are chieflyfound in Karnataka, Kerala,Madhya Pradesh, Orissa andMalabar areas.

These soils are agriculturallyunimportant because of inten-sive leaching, low base ex-change capacity and theiracidic nature.

These are the typical soil of thetropical regions with heavyseasonal rainfall and alterna-tive dry season.

These soils provide valuablebuilding materials.

Forest Soil Forest soils are formed by the

deposition of organic matterderived from forests. They arerich in organic matter and hu-mus. They are found mainly inPunjab, Karnataka, Manipurand Jammu & Kashmir.

These soils are used for plan-tations of tea, coffee, spicesand fruits.

Arid and Desert Soils Arid and Desert soils are

formed under arid and semi arid

conditions in the north -west-ern parts of the country. Theyare rich in phosphate thoughpoor in nitrogen.

These soils often have a highsoluble salt content and verylow humus content.

These soils are made fertile byadding gypsum.

Saline and Alkaline Soils Saline and Alkaline soils are

salt impregnated and infertile.These soils are found espe-cially in the dry tracts of thenorth.

Peaty soils Peaty soils are developed un-

der humid conditions as a re-sult of the accumulation oflarge amounts of organic mat-ter. These soils are highly sa-line and rich in organic matter.

This soil is found in Kottayamand Alappuzha districts ofKerala, where they are calledkari.

When the rain cease they areput under paddy cultivation.

It also occurs in the northernBihar, Southern Uttaranchal(Almora district) and coastalareas of West Bengal, Orissaand Tamil Nadu.

Soil erosion andConservation

Soil erosion by water, wind andtillage affects both agricultureand the natural environment.

Soil erosion is just one form ofsoil degradation. Other kindsof soil degradation includesalinisation, nutrient loss, andcompaction.


Soil erosion means removal ofthe top layers of the soil at arate higher than the rate of ac-crual of new fertile top part ofthe soil is removed.

Soil conservation is a set ofmanagement strategies for pre-vention of soil being erodedfrom the earth’s surface.

The most common methods ofsoil conservation include affor-estation, contour cultivation,keeping land covered by cropsand other plants, mulching,construction of embankmentsand flood channels and scien-tific methods of cultivationkeeping in view landform char-acteristics.

Cultivation on the steep slopesand excessive grazing shouldalso be avoided.

NATURAL VEGETA-TION (Forests)

Natural vegetation in India var-ies from region to region dueto variations in climatic condi-tions, soil types and relief fea-tures.

Some major types ofvegetation found in Indiaare Evergreen forests,Deciduous forests, Dryforests, Hill forests andTidal forests.

Nearly 19.39% of the totalland area in India is under for-est. The National Forest policyhas laid down a target of rais-ing the area under forest tonearly 33.3%.

Tropical Evergreen forests aredense forests of luxuriantgrowth found in areas whererainfall ranges between 200 to300 cm. eg; Western Ghats andsub-Himalayan regions.

Dry Tropical forests are mostlyprevalent in regions with anannual rainfall of 90 to 130 cm.

Swamps or Littoral forests arealso called tidal forests whichoccur in and around the tidalcreeks and along the deltas ofr iver Ganges, Mahanadi,Krishna and Godavari.

Alpine forests cover the alpineareas in the Himalayas, at aheight of 2880 m to 3700m.

Siwaliks are covered with tropi-cal moist deciduous flora suchas sal and bamboo.

Planting of trees is known asafforestation.

Deforestation is the destruc-tion of trees.

Forests also help to preventsoil erosion and land slides. Itmaintains the ecological bal-ance and provides forest prod-ucts such as timber and indus-trial raw materials. Forestshelps to protect wild life andrare species of trees and plants.

Madhya Pradesh has the larg-est area under forest amongthe Indian states.

Haryana has the least areaunder forest.

Arunachal Pradesh has thelargest percentage of area un-der forest.

India provides about 8% of theworld’s hardwood and ranksthird after Brazil and Indone-sia.

Mangrove forests are found inthe coastal plains.

The forests on the Gangesdelta in Bengal are called

Sunderbans after the sundaritrees in these forests.

Evergreen forests (Tropical)are found in the Western ghatsand Sub-Himalayan region.They provide hardwood liketeak, rosewood, ebony etc.

Social forestry aims at notonly providing fuelwood,fodder and other forest prod-ucts, but also to meet the re-quirement of ecological bal-ance through large scale affor-estation on community landsand waste lands.

Energy plantations are plan-tations of softwood and grassto meet the energy needs ofhouseholds.

World Environment Day :June 5.

Government of India adopteda forest policy in 1952 and fur-ther modified it in 1988. Ac-cording to new forest policy,the Government willemphasise sustainable forestmanagement.

Forest policy aimed at 1. bring-ing 33% of geographical areasunder forest cover, 2. maintain-ing environmental stability, 3.conserving natural heritage ofthe country, 4. checks soil ero-sion, 5 increasing forest coveretc.

Out of a total of 593 districts,187 have been identified astribal districts. The tribal dis-tricts account for about 59.8%of total forest cover of the coun-try.

The National Commission onAgriculture (1976) classifiedsocial forestry into 3 catego-ries - Urban forestry, Rural for-estry, Farm forestry.

INDIA’S WILD LIFE India,a country of diverse wild-

life & it is the second largestcountry on the planet to havesuch diverse life forms.

India is home to several wellknown large mammals includ-ing the Asian Elephant, Ben-gal Tiger, Asiatic Lion, Leop-ard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhi-noceros.

Other well known large Indianmammals include ungulatessuch as the rare Wild AsianWater buffalo, common Do-mestic Asian Water buffalo,Nilgai, Gaur.

India displays significantbiodiversity. One of eighteenmegadiverse countries, it ishome to 7.6% of all mammalian,12.6% of all avian, 6.2% of allreptilian, 4.4% of all amphibian,11.7% of all fish, and 6.0% ofall flowering plant species.

The wild life reserves of Indiaare of two types - the Wild lifesanctuaries and Nationalparks.

Presently, the country has 490Wildlife Sanctuaries, 96 Na-tional Parks and 27 Tiger Re-serves.

Wild life protection in Indiawas given statutory statuswith the adoption of the Wild-life (Protection) Act, 1972 byall the Indian states exceptJammu and Kashmir.

Keibul Lamjo is the only float-ing National Park in the coun-try, is located in Manipur inLoktak Lake.

Trade in endangered speciesis subject to strict rules underthe Convention on Interna-

tional Trade in EndangeredSpecies (CITES) of wild floraand fauna, to which India is asignatory.

Some of the endangered spe-cies are Asiatic Lion, OneHorned Rhinocerous, Hangul,Royal Bengal Tiger, Wild Assetc.

The Animal Welfare Board ofIndia was established in 1962.Research programmes in wild-life are carried out by the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradunand the Salim Ali Centre forOrnithology and Natural His-tory, Coimbatore.

Project Tiger is the centrallysponsored scheme launchedon April 1, 1973 to save the ti-

National Parks

India’s first national park (an IUCN category II protected area) was

established in 1935 as Hailey National Park, now known as Jim

Corbett National Park. By 1970, India only had five national parks.

In 1972, India enacted the Wildlife Protection Act and Project Tiger

to safeguard the habitats of conservation reliant species. Further

federal legislation strengthening protections for wildlife was

introduced in the 1980s. There are 96 national parks. All national

park lands encompass a combined 38,029.18 km², 1.16% of India’s

total surface area.Biosphere Reserves

Biosphere reserves are multipurpose protected area topreserve the genetic diversityin representative eco system.So far fourteen biospherereserves have been set up.They are:Nilgiri, Nanda Devi, Nokrek,Great Nicobar, Gulf ofMannar, Manas, Sunderbans,Similipal, Dibru Saikhowa,Dehong Debang,Panchmarhi, Kanchenjungaand Agasthyamala andAchanakmar Amarkantak.

World's rarest monkey, the goldenlangur typifies the precarious survival

of much of India's megafauna.

National animalRoyal Bengal TigerNational aquatic animalDolphinNational birdIndian PeacockNational treeBanyan tree

Wildlife Institute of India (WII) isestablished in 1982. It is an interna-tionally acclaimed Institution, whichoffers training program, academiccourses and advisory in wildlife re-search and management.


gers from extinction on India.It has become the most suc-cessful conservation venturesin modern history.

At present Madhya Pradeshwith 912 tigers tops the statewith greater number of Tigers.Madhya Pradesh is known asthe tiger state of India. M.Pwas followed by Uttar Pradesh

There are about 2546 species of fishes (about 11% of the world

species) found in Indian waters. About 197 species of amphibians

(4.4% of the world total) and more than 408 reptile species (6% of

the world total) are found in India. There are about 1250 species of

birds from India (12% of the world species). There are about 410

species of mammals known from India which is about 8.86% of the

world species.in 1992.

Today, there are 39 Project Ti-ger wildlife reserves in India.

Project Elephant waslaunched to protect the wildlife and elephant population.

Most of India's rhinos todaysurvive in the Kaziranga Na-tional Park.

A wild life week is observed in

the first week of October ev-ery year.

Flora of India The Flora of India is one of the

richest of the world due to awide range of climate, topog-raphy and environments in thecountry. There are over 15000species of flowers in India.

Lotus, National Flower of India

AGRICULTUREIN INDIA

Crops in India can be classi-fied into subsistence crops,commercial crops, plantationcrops and horticulture crops.

India's total geographical areais 328.7 million hectares ofwhich 140.8 million hectares isthe net sown area, while 192.80million hectares is the grosscropped area.

Agriculture contributes about17.8% to national Gross Do-mestic Product (GDP) andnearly 16% to export earnings.

Types of Cultivation1. Sedentary Cultivation2. Crop rotation3. Shifting cultivation4. Mixed cropping5. Relay cropping6. Terrace cultivation7. Mixed farming

Operation flood I waslaunched in 1970, which aimedat capturing a commandingshare of the liquid milk mar-ket.

A centrally sponsored Com-

India is the world’s largest producer of milk, cashew nuts, coco-

nuts, tea, ginger, turmeric and black pepper.

It also has the world's largest cattle population (281 million).

It is the second largest producer of wheat, rice, sugar, groundnut

and inland fish

It is the third largest producer of tobacco.

India accounts for 10% of the world fruit production with first

rank in the production of banana and sapota.

Crop season in India can be classified into threesuch as Kharif, Rabi and Zaid.

Kharif (rainy) crops are sown in June/July and harvested inSeptember / October. Rice, Jowar, Bajra, Ragi, Maize, Cottonand Jute are the important Kharif crops.

Rabi (winter) crops are sown in October/ December and har-vested in April/ May. Wheat , Barley , Peas, Rape-seed, Mustardand Grams are the important Rabi crops.

Zaid (Summer) crops : Zaid crops are grown in the short peri-ods after the harvest of the Kharif and Rabi crops. Sown inApril, May and June. Products are mostly fruits and vegetables.

Green Revolution To increase yield per hectare

government of India intro-duced a programme calledGreen Revolution.

The Green Revolution (first)was launched in 1967-68.

The second Green Revolutionwas launched in 1983-84.

Father of Green Revolution -Dr. Norman Borlaug

Father of Green Revolution inIndia - Dr. M.S. Swaminathan

Green Revolution focused thedevelopment of high-yieldingvarieties of cereal grains, ex-pansion of irrigation infrastruc-ture, and distribution of hybrid-ized seeds, synthetic fertilizers,and pesticides to farmers.

Punjab pioneered green revo-lution among the other statestransforming India into a food-surplus country.

Areas of CultivationTemperate Himalayan RegionEastern Himalayan Region &Western Himalayan Region.The Eastern Himalayan RegionAssam, Sikkim and Mishmi HillsThe Western Himalayan RegionKulu, Kangra and Kashmir Valleys,Garhwal, Kumaon and Simla HillsNorthern Dry RegionPunjab, Haryana, Delhi, Gujarat,Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West-ern Madhya PradeshEastern West RegionWest Bengal, Orissa, Bihar,Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, TamilNadu, Chattisgarh, Assam,Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura andMizoram.Western Wet RegionKerala, KarnatakaSouthern RegionParts of Madhya Pradesh, AndhraPradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra,Gujarat, Karnataka and UttarPradesh

ICARIndian Council of Agri-

cultural Research (ICAR) isan autonomous body under

the Ministry of Agriculture.Headquarters: New Delhi. Thecouncil is the apex body for co-ordinating, guiding and man-aging research and educa-

tion in agriculture in-cluding horticul-

ture.


Crop Areas of ProductionBarley Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya PradeshCotton Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya

Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana,Tamil Nadu, Karnataka.

Jute West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Orissa,Tripura

Groundnut Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Andhra PradeshMustard &rape seed RajasthanSunflower Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh,

KarnatakaPulses Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh,

Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Karnataka,Andhra Pradesh.

Coffee Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, AndhraPradesh.

Rubber Kerala, Tamil Nadu, KarnatakaSilk Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra

Pradesh, Assam, Bihar (tassar)Tobacco Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka,

Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Bihar.Cardamom Karnataka, Sikkim, Kerala, Tamil NaduCashewnut Kerala, Andhra PradeshCastor seed Gujarat, Andhra PradeshChillies Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, OrissaCloves Kerala, Tamil Nadu, KarnatakaCocoa Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil NaduGinger Kerala, MeghalayaPepper Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil NaduPoppy Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, PunjabRagi Karnataka, Tamil NaduSaffron Jammu and KashmirBanana Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, KeralaPineapples Assam, Meghalaya, West Bengal,

TripuraMango Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh,

Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu.Apple Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir,

UttaranchalArecanut Kerala, Karnataka, Assam, Meghalaya,

Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.Coconut Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra

Pradesh, Goa.Grapes Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh,

Karnataka, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh,Himachal Pradesh

Orange Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu,Meghalaya, Sikkim.

Turmeric Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Bihar,Orissa, Maharashtra.

Rashtriya Krishi Vikas YojanaTo achieve 4% annual growth during the

11th Five Year Plan a new scheme namelyRashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) waslaunched during 2007-08. The funds under thescheme are provided to the states as 100%grant by the Central Government. The broadobjectives of RKVY is to incentives the stateto increase public investment to achieve 4%growth rate in agriculture and allied sectors inthe 11th Five Year Plan. The States have beenprovided flexibility and autonomy in the proc-ess of selection, planning, approval and ex-ecution of schemes.

White Revolution The White Revolution

in the country has beenachieved by means ofOperation Flood. It wascarried out in threephases.Operation Flood I .... 1970 - 1981Operation Flood II ... 1981 - 1985Operation Flood III ... 1985 - 1996.

White revolution launched to increase the qualityand quanity of milk and dairy products.

The Father of the White Revolution in India isDr. Varghese Kurien. He is also known asMilkman of India.

States first in productionSaffron .......................................... Jammu KashmirTea ............................................... Andhra PradeshSpices Garden ............................................. KeralaCoffee ................................................... KarnatakaSandalwood .......................................... KarnatakaCotton ...................................................... GujarathTobacco ....................................... Andhra PradeshPlantain ............................................. MaharashtraWheat .............................................. Uttar PradeshSugar cane ....................................... Uttar PradeshPaddy Crop (Rice) .............. West Bengal & AndhraCoriander ............................................... Rajasthan

mand Area DevelopmentProgramme was launched in1974-75 with the main objectiveof improving utilization of irri-gation potential and optimizingagricultural productivity.

Irrigation in India can be clas-sified into Wells, Tanks andCanals.

Wells account for about 48%of the total irrigated area in thecountry.

Tanks account for about 10%of the total irrigated area, areused in Central and SouthernIndia.

NABARDNABARD (National Bank forAgriculture and Rural Devel-opment) is set up as an apexDevelopment Bank with amandate for facilitating creditflow for promotion and devel-opment of agriculture, small-scale industries, cottage andvillage industries, handicraftsand other rural crafts. It is anapex development bankbased in Mumbai,Maharashtra. It was estab-lished on 1982.

National Food Security Mission

'National Food Security Mission', has been launched from 2007-08

to increase the production of rice by 10 million tons, wheat by 8

million tons and pulses by 2 million tons by the end of the Elev-

enth Plan (2011-12). The National Food Security Mission will have

3 components (i) Rice (ii) Wheat & (iii) Pulses. The Mission is

functioning under the control of Ministry of Agriculture.

Punjab is known as the Granary ofIndia or India’s bread-basket.

Punjab (Land of the five rivers) is one of the most fertileregions on earth. The region is ideal for wheat-growing.Rice, sugar cane, fruits and vegetables are also grown.It pro-duces 14% of India’s cotton, 20% of India’s wheat, and

9% of India’s rice. The Firozpur District is the largestproducer of wheat and rice in the state.

Green Revolution .................................. High Yielding Variety of SeedsWhite Revolution ............................................ Milk & Dairy productsSilver Revolution ....................................................... Egg and PoultrySilver Fibre Revolution ............................................................ CottonYellow Revolution ................................................................ Edible OilBlue Revolution .................................................................... FisheriesPink Revolution ...................................................................... PrawnsGolden Revolution ................................................................... HoneyGolden Fibre Revolution .............................................................. JuteBrown Revolution ..................................................................... Cocoa

Animal Resources. India has the largest number

of livestock in the world.. The rearing of various animals

and obtaining different prod-ucts from them is called ani-mal husbandry.

The Central Semen Productionand Training Institute atHessarghatta is one of thepremier organisation in thecountry engaged inmultiplying high pedigreeanimals.

Sericulture Natural silk is produced from the cocoons of the silk worms. Rearing

of silkworms and production of silk from them is called sericulture. Sericulture is the biggest village industry in India after handloom and

khadi. India is the second largest silk producer in the world. Karnataka is the leading producer of silk in India. Bihar and Jharkhand are the leading producers of tasar silk. India has the unique distinction of being the only country producing

all the five kinds of silk – Mulberry, Eri, Muga, Tropical Tasar andTemperate Tasar.

Mulberry silk is the most popular variety in India, contributing morethan 87% of the Country’s silk production.

Cultivation of mulberry plants is referred to as Moriculture.


MINERALRESOURCES

India's major mineral resourcesinclude Coal (third-largest re-serves in the world), Iron ore,Manganese, Mica, Bauxite, Ti-tanium ore, Chromite, Naturalgas, Diamonds, Petroleum,Limestone and Thorium(world's largest along Kerala'sshores).

India's minerals range fromboth metallic and non-metallictypes. The metallic mineralscomprise ferrous and non-fer-rous minerals while the nonmetallic minerals comprise min-eral fuels, precious stones,among others.

India produces 89 minerals outof which 4 are fuel minerals, 11metallic, 52 non-metallic and 22minor minerals.

India also exports iron ore, ti-tanium, manganese, bauxite,granite, and imports cobalt,mercury, graphite etc.

India ranks 3rd in production

ONGCOil and Natural Gas Corpora-tion Limited (ONGC) (incorpo-rated on 23 June 1993) is astate-owned oil and gascompany in India. It was setup as a commission on 14August 1956. It contributes77% of India's crude oilproduction and 81% of India'snatural gas production. Indiangovernment holds 74.14%equity stake in this company.

of coal & lignite, 2nd in bar-ites, 4th in iron ore, 5th in baux-ite and crude steel, 7th in man-ganese ore and 8th in alu-minium.

Iron Ore is the backbone ofmodern civilisation. Varieties ofiron ore:Magnetite - the best qualityof iron ore and contains 72%pure iron.Haematite - contains 60 to 70%pure iron.Limonite - contains 40 to 60%pure iron.

Jharkhand has the largest re-serves accounting for about25% of the total reserves ofiron ore in India.

India’s richest haematite de-posits are located inBarabilkoira valley in Orissa.

The Bailadila mine is the larg-est mechanised mine in Asia

from where iron ore is exportedto Japan through Vishakhapatnam.

Japan is the biggest buyer ofIndian iron ore.

India has the second largestmanganese ore reserves in theworld after Zimbabwe.

India is the fifth largest pro-ducer in the world after

India has the world’s largest reserves of Iron. India is the largest producer of mica in the world. India possesses the largest reserves of monazite known in the world. India ranks third in the world in the production of manganese.

Minerals Areas of ProductionAntimony Punjab, Karnataka, Rajasthan, BiharAsbestos Karnataka, RajasthanBeryllium Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Andhra PradeshBarytes Andhra Pradesh, MaharashtraDiamonds Madhya Pradesh (Panna mines)Graphite Orissa, Rajasthan, Andhra PradeshGranite Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra PradeshMagnesite Tamil Nadu, UttaranchalMarble Rajasthan (Makrana)Nickel Orissa, Jharkhand, Tamil NaduRock Salt Gujarat, Himachal PradeshSea Salt Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra PradeshSulphur Tamil NaduTin Bihar, Jharkhand, RajasthanCoal Jharkhand, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, OrissaLignite NeyveliGold Andhra Pradesh (Ramagiri), Karnataka (Kolar, Hutti)Gypsum Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, GujaratSilver Karnataka (Kolar), Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Tamil NaduChromite Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Manipur, Orissa, Tamil

NaduDolomite Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Orissa, Gujarat, Karnataka, West Bengal, Uttar

Pradesh, Uttaranchal, MaharashtraThorium Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra PradeshUranium Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh.Ilmenite Tamil Nadu, KeralaRock phosphate Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh.

Brazil,Gabon, South Africa andAustralia.

The main reserves are foundin Karnataka, followed byOrissa, Madhya Pradesh,Maharashtra and Goa.

Orissa is the leading producerof manganese in the state.

Raniganj (West Bengal), Jharia(Bihar), Singrauli (MadhyaPradesh) and Korba(Chhattisgarh) are the majorcoal fields in India.

Marble is found largely inRajasthan.

Leading salt producer in Indiais Gujarat. It produces 60% ofsalt of the country.

State with the largest mineraldeposit is Jharkhand.

Jharkhand is the state withhighest mineral output in India.

Chottanagpur plateau is therichest mineral belt of India.

India’s contribution to goldproduction across the world isless than one percent (0.75%).

Karnataka is the largest pro-ducer of gold followed byAndhra Pradesh.

Geological Survey of IndiaGSI, established in 1851 is a

government organization in In-dia for conducting geologicalsurveys and studies. It is one ofthe oldest of such organizationsin the world. There are two geo-logical parks maintained by GSI.Saketi Fossil Park, Saketi,Himachal Pradesh and NehruPark , Hyderabad, AndhraPradesh. The park displays lifesize figures of dinosaurs like T-Rex.


Major Cement companiesAmbuja cement, Aditya Cement,JK Cement and L & T Cement.

Steel CompaniesSteel Authority of India (SAIL),Bbilai Steel Plant, Durgapur SteelPlant, Rourkela Steel Plant, BokaroSteel Plant.

There are mainly three goldfields in India:Kolar gold field in KarnatakaHutti gold field in KarnatakaRamgiri gold field in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh

Silver is mainly produced fromZawar mines of Udaipurdistrict in Rajasthan.

Orissa has the largestdeposits of Nickel.

Lignite also known as browncoal. It is a lower grade coaland contains about 40 to 55%carbon.

It is found in Rajasthan,Neyveli of Tamil Nadu, Assamand Jammu and Kashmir.

Jharia in Jharkhand has beenrecognised as the store houseof the best metallurgical coalin the country.

Coal India Ltd produces thelargest quantity of coal in In-dia followed by SingareniCollieries Comp Ltd.

Assam is the oldest oil produc-ing state in India.

Digboi in Assam is the oldestoil well of India.

Natural gas fields areAnkleshwar and Cambay inGujarat, Bombay high andAssam.

The first successful oil well wassunk at Digboi in 1889.

Bombay High is the offshoreoil field located in the coast ofMaharashtra.

Oil Refineries with the largestrefining capacity-Reliance Petroleum Ltd,JamnagarIndian Oil Corp Ltd, Koyali

Bauxite is exported to countriessuch as China, Korea, Ukraine,Saudi Arabia.

India has the world's largestdeposits of coal. Bituminouscoal is found in Jharkhand andBihar and Ranigunj in WestBengal. Lignite coals are foundin Neyveli in Tamilnadu.

Coal has been described as thebridge into the future.

India ranks third in the worldafter China and USA in coalproduction.

The Panna diamond belt is theonly diamond producing areain the country, which coversthe distr icts of Panna,Chatarpur and Satna in MadyaPradesh, as well as some partsof Banda in Uttar Pradesh.

Bauxite deposits are found inwestern Bihar, southwestKashmir, Central Tamilnadu,and parts of Kerala, U.P,Maharastra and Karnataka.

With the recent spurt in worlddemand for chromite, India hasstepped up its production toreach the third rank among thechromite producers of theworld.

Recent discoveries of Krishna-Godawari off-shore basin andRava field will have bigconstribution in the field ofgas production in India.

Non - Metallic Minerals Jharkhand is the leading pro-

ducer of mica. Bihar, Rajasthanand Andhra Pradesh also pro-

duce mica. Japan (19%) and USA (17%)

are the major buyers of ourmica.

Limestone with more than 10%magnesium is called dolomite,when the percentage rises to45, it becomes true dolomite.

Iron and Steel industry is thechief consumer of dolomite.

About 90% dolomite reservesare concentrated in MadhyaPradesh, Chattisgarh, Orissa,Gujarat, Karnataka, WestBengal, Uttar Pradesh andMaharashtra.

Rajasthan is the largestproducer of Asbestosfollowed by Andhra Pradeshand Karnataka.

Gypsum is mainly used inmaking ammonia sulphatefertilizer and in cementindustry. Rajasthan is themain producer followed byJammu and Kashmir.

Major deposite of magnesiteare found in Uttranchal, TamilNadu and Rajasthan.

Jharkhand is the largestproducer of Kyanite in Indiafollowed by Maharashtra andKarnataka.

In Sillimanite production,Orissa contributes 55.87% ofthe total production, followedby Kerala and Maharashtra.

Diamond is found at Panna inMadhya Pradesh.

In salt production, rock salt istaken out in Mandi district ofHimachal Pradesh. Sambharlake in Rajasthan producesabout 10% of annual production. And Gujarat coastproduces nearly half of oursalt.

Air India Limited, Airports Authority of IndiaArtificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation of India (ALIMCO)Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Limited (BPCL)Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL), JharkhandBharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), Andhra PradeshBharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML)Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), BangaloreBharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL)Bharat Refractories Limited (BRL)Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL)Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Limited (BHAVINI)Biecco Lawrie LimitedBramhaputra Valley Fertilizer Corporation Limited (BVFCL), AssamBroadcasting Engineering Corporation of India Limited (BECIL)Cement Corporation of India Limited (CCI)Central Coalfields Limited (CCL)Central Cottage Industries Corporation of India LimitedCentral Mine Planning and Design Institute Limited (CMPDI)Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC)Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS)Coal India Limited (CIL), KolkataCochin Shipyard Limited, KeralaContainer Corporation of India Limited (CONCOR)Cotton Corporation of India Limited (CCI), MaharashtraDredging Corporation of IndiaEducational Consultants India Limited (EDCIL)Engineers India Limited (EIL)Ennore Port Limited, Tamil NaduExport Credit Guarantee Corporation of India Limited (ECGC)FCI Aravali Gypsum and Minerals India Limited (FAGMIL)Ferro Scrap Nigam Limited (FSNL)Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Limited (FACT), KochiFood Corporation of India (FCI)Garden Reach Ship Builders and Engineers Limited (GRSE)Gas Authority of India limited (GAIL)Goa Shipyard LimitedHandicrafts and Handlooms Export Corporation (HHEC)Heavy Engineering Corporation Limited (HEC)Heavy Water Board (HWB)Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), BangaloreHindustan Antibiotics Limited (HAL), MaharashtraHindustan Copper Limited (HCL), KolkataHindustan Insecticides Limited (HIL)Hindustan Latex Limited (HLL), TrivandrumHindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL)Hindustan Newsprint Limited, KeralaHindustan Machine Tools Limited (HMT), BangaloreHindustan Shipyard Ltd, VishakhapattanamHospital Services Consultancy Corporation (I) Limited (HSCC)Housing and Urban Development Corporation Limited (HUDCO)India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO)Indian Airlines Limited (IA)Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), New DelhiIndian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC)Indian Rare Earths Limited, MumbaiIndian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA)Indian Telephone Industries Limited (ITI)Instrumentation Limited, Kota, RajasthanIRCON International LimitedKonkan Railway Corporation Ltd, Navi MumbaiKudremukh Iron Ore Company Limited (KIOCL)

Lubrizol India Limited (LIL)Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL)Manganese Ore (India) Limited (MOIL)Mazagon Dock Limited, MumbaiMECON LimitedMetro Railway, KolkataMineral Exploration Corporation Limited (MECL)Minerals and Metals Trading Corporation Limited (MMTC)Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited (MIDHANI)MSTC LimitedMumbai Railway Vikas Corporation Limited (MRVC)National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO), OrissaNational Buildings Construction Corporation Limited (NBCC)National Fertilizers Limited (NFL), Noida, UttarpradeshNational Film Development Corporation (NFDC), MumbaiNational Handloom Development Corporation Limited (NHDC)National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Limited (NHPC)National Insurance Company Limited (NICL)National Mineral Development Corporation Limited (NMDC)National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC)National Projects Construction Corporation Limited (NPCC)National Research Development Corporation (NRDC)National Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporatioin(NSFDC)National Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporation(NSTFDC)National Small Industries Corporation Limited (NSIC)National Textile Corporation Limited (NTC)National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC)Neyveli Lignite Corporation Limited (NLC), Tamil NaduNorth Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO)Northern Coalfields Limited (NCL)Nuclear Fuel ComplexNuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL)Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC), DehradunOil India Limited (OIL), New DelhiPawan Hans Helicopters Limited (PHHL)Power Finance Corporation LimitedPower Grid Corporation of India Limited (POWERGRID)Power Trading Corporation of India Limited (PTC)Praga Tools LimitedProjects and Development India Limited (PDIL)Pyrites, Phosphates and Chemicals Limited (PPCL)RailTel Corporation of India LimitedRailway Electrification Project Circle (REPC)Rajasthan Atomic Power Station / ProjectRashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers Limited (RCF), MumbaiRashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL)RITES Limited, Gurgaon, HaryanaRural Electrification Corporation LimitedSemiconductor Complex Limited (SCL)Shipping Corporation of India Limited (SCI), MumbaiSouth Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL)Sponge Iron India Limited (SIIL)State Trading Corporation of India Limited (STCI)Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL)Telecom Factory, BSNLTelecom Stores OrganisationTelecommunications Consultants India Limited (TCIL)Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL)Water and Power Consultancy Services (India) Limited (WAPCOS)Western Coalfields Limited (WCL), Nagpur,Maharashtra

List of Public Sector Undertakings of India


Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is a quasi governmental institu-tion for drawing up standards for the products of Indian industry.It was established in 1947.

National Productivity Council (NPC) is an autonomous bodyformed to inculcate productivity in industries, established in 1958.

Uranium deposits occur inJadugoda of Singhbhum andHazaribagh districts ofJharkhand.

Thorium, a likely future substi-tute for Uranium as a fissionmaterial in atomic reactors, oc-curs in considerable quantitiesas ThO2, in the beach sands ofKerala coast.

Monazite deposits of commer-cial value are found in about 160kms between Cape Comorinand Kollam in Kerala.

Thorium is also derived frommonazite. Zirconium is alsofound in Kerala coast.

Uranium compounds occurs inSinghbhum - copper belt ofJharkhand, Aravalli's and cen-tral Himalaya.

MAJOR INDUS-TRIES IN INDIA

The first Industrial Policy wasbrought in 1948.

Major industries include tele-communications, textiles, juteand sugar industries, chemi-cals, food processing, steel,transportation equipment, ce-ment, mining, petroleum, ma-chinery, information technol-ogy enabled services and phar-maceuticals.

Some of the major items manu-factured in India are comput-ers, communication equipment,broadcasting and strategicelectronics, television sets,

microwave ovens, and wash-ing machines.

Industry accounts for 28% ofthe GDP and employ 14% ofthe total workforce.

The Industrial policy adoptedby the Government of Indiaenvisages a mixed economy,i.e., the co-existence of publicand private sectors.

Textile Industries includes cot-ton, jute, wool, silk and syn-thetic fibre textiles. It accountsfor 24.6% in total exports.

Cotton textiles is the oldestindustry in India. It has thelargest number of workersemployed in an industry.

Kanpur is famous for textilesand clothing, large moderntanneries, leather works andshoe manufacturing.

Sholapur is famous for impor-tant textiles based on cottongrown in local regur soils.

The first modern cotton textilemill was established in Bombayin 1851.

Dharwar Belgaum are knownfor cotton textiles, railway andgeneral engineering goods.

The first modern cotton millwas established in 1818 atGhoosury (West Bengal).

The first jute mill was startedin 1855 at Rishra near Kolkata.

The modern woollen textile in-dustry was started with theestablishment of Lal Imli atKanpur in 1876.

Ludhiana produces 90% of

woolens in India and is alsoKnown as the Manchester ofIndia.

Tirupur has gained universalrecognition as the leadingsource of hosiery, knitted gar-ments, casual wear and sports-wear.

India is the only country pro-ducing all the five known com-mercial varieties of silk, viz.Mulberry, Tasar (Tropical),Oak Tasar, Eri and Muga.

Karnataka is the largest pro-ducer of silk. Second positiongoes to West Bengal.

First modern silk factory - wasset up at Howrah in 1832.

India is fifteenth in servicesoutput. It provides employ-ment to 23% of work force, andit is growing fast.

In 2009, seven Indian IT firmswere listed among the top 15technology outsourcing com-panies in the world.

In 1870, the first steelindustry,‘Bengal Iron Com-pany’ was set up at Kulti, WestBengal.

Three integrated steel plantswere set up at Bhilai, Durgapurand Rourkela. Later two moresteel plants, at Bokaro andVishakhapatnam, were set up.Private sector plants, of whichthe Tata Iron and Steel Com-pany (TISCO), Jamshedpur isthe biggest.

Bhilai plant was set up in col-laboration with Russia on theKolkata - Nagpur Railwayline in the Durg distr ict(Chhatisgarh).

Rourkela steel plant in Orissawas set up under the secondfive year plan in associationwith Germany.

Industry Area of ProductionWoollen textiles : Punjab, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Jammu and KashmirCopper smelting : (Khetri) Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, MaharashtraHeavy machinery : Ranchi,Visakhapatanam, DurgapurMachine tools : Bangalore, Pinjore, Kalamassery, Hyderabad, SrinagarHeavy electricals : Bhopal, Hyderabad, Tiruchirapalli, Haridwar.Railway equipment : Chittaranjan (electric engines), Varanasi (diesel engines), Jamshedpur and Bhopal

(electric engines), Integral Coach Factory Perambur (Tamil Nadu), Rail CoachFactory, Kapurthala (Punjab)

Shipbuilding : Visakhapatnam, MumbaiCars : Mumbai (Fiat), Calcutta (Ambassador), Gurgaon (Maruthi)Buses, trucks : Chennai, MumbaiJeeps, tempos, trucks : Mumbai, Pune, GurgaonTwo-wheelers : Pune, Mumbai, Faridabad, Chennai, Mysore, Ludhiana, TirupatiCycles : Mumbai, Asansol, Sonipat, Delhi, Chennai, Jalandhar, LudhianaTractors : Faridabad, Pinjore, Delhi, Mumbai, ChennaiFertilisers : Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, Andhra PradeshPharmaceuticals : Hyderabad, Rishikesh, Gurgaon, Chennai, MuzaffarpurPesticides : Delhi, AlwayeCement : Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan,

Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand.Leather goods : Agra, Kanpur, Mumbai, Calcutta, Delhi.Glass : Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, West BengalPaper : West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Maharashstra, Karnataka, Madhya

Pradesh, Bihar.

Bokaro, the biggest plant inAsia was set up under thefourth five year plan in asso-ciation with the Russian Gov-ernment. It is located inJharkhand.

The public sector steel plantsare managed by the Steel Au-thority of India (SAIL). SAILwas established in 1973.

India is now the eighth largestproducer of steel in the world.

The first on-shore steel plantin India was setup atVishakhapatnam.

Indian Aluminium CoporationLtd was formed in 1937.

BALCO came into being in1965, NALCO in 1981.

Aluminium companies with thehighest sales in descendingorder - HINDALCO, NALCO,INDAL, MALCO.

Indian Copper Corporationwas set up in 1924 which wastaken over by Hindustan Cop-per Ltd (established in 1967),in 1972.

Presently, there are four zincsmelters in the country -Alwaye (Kerala), Debari andChanderi (Rajasthan) andVishakha patnam (AndhraPradesh).

Among the Third-World coun-tries, India is a major exporterof heavy and light engineeringgoods. The engineering indus-try has shown its capacity tomanufacture large-size plantsand equipment for various sec-tors like power, fertilizer, andcement.

Heavy Engineering Corpora-tion Ltd was set up at Ranchi(Jharkhand) in 1958.

Kirloskar Brother Ltd is thepioneer company in themaufacturing of machine tools.

Hindustan Machine Tools(HMT) is the largest manufac-turer of machine tools in thecountry.

Locomotives: Chittaranjan Lo-comotive Works, Diesel Loco-motive Works (Varanasi), TataEngineering and LocomotiveWorks (Jamshedpur).

The Integral Coach Factory atPerampur near Chennai wasset up in 1955 with Swiss col-laboration.

Top four automobile compa-nies with the highest sales:Tata MotorsMaruti Udyog Ltd.Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.Ashok Leyland Ltd.


In medium and heavy commer-cial vehicles, Tata Engineeringand Locomotive Company(TELCO) is the leading pro-ducer.

There are four main centres ofship building industry atVishakhapatnam, Kolkata,Kochi and Mumbai.

Hindustan Shipyard Ltd,Vishakha patnam set up in1941, is the first ship buildingyard in the country to receiveISO-9001 certification.

Cochin Shipyard Ltd, Kochiwas incorporated in 1972. Italso manufactures ships forIndian Navy.

Mazgaon Dock at Mumbaibuilds cargo ships, passengerships, dredgers etc. for Indiannavy.

The first aircraft industry wasset up at Bangalore in 1940under the name of HindustanAircraft Ltd. Later, HindustanAircraft Ltd was merged intoAeronautics India Ltd in 1964to form Hindustran Aeronau-tics Ltd, Bangalore.

Major companies in integratedrefining and marketing areHPCL, BPCL and IOC.

Godavari - Krishna delta isknown for local tobacco, sug-arcane, rice, oil, cement andsmall textiles.

The industry associated withsports materials mainly locatedat Agra, Meerut (UP),Ludhiana, Jalandhar (Punjab)and Delhi.

Pinjore in Haryana and Jalahalliin Bangalore are associatedwith watch industry.

Moradabad is famous for

brass utensils with engravingand polishing.

Indian Explosives factory islocated at Gomia in Hazaribagh(Jharkhand).

First fertilizer plant was set upat Ranipet of Tamil Nadu in1906.

First public sector fertilizerplant is at Sindri (Jharkhand).

The first super-phosphate fac-tory was set up at Ranipet inTamil Nadu in 1906.

India is now the third largestproducer of nitrogenous fertil-izers in the world.

Fertilizer companies with thehighest sales are - NationalFertilizer Ltd, Tata ChemicalsLtd, Rashtriya Chemicals &Fertilizers Ltd.

The first successful attemptwas made in 1912 - 13 when theIndian Cement Co Ltd set up aplant in porbander (Gujarat).

The Indian Cement industry isthe second largest in the worldafter that of China.

Madhya Pradesh andChhattisgarh, are the leadingproducer of total cement pro-duction in India.

Leather industry is divided intotwo parts - tanning and leathergoods.

For tanning, Kanpur, (1st tan-nery centre), Chennai, andKolkata are three largest Cen-tres.

The Central Leather ResearchInstitute at Chennai is the larg-est of its kind in the world.

Uttar Pradesh is the leadingproducer of glass in India fol-lowed by West Bengal andMaharashtra.

Firozabad in Agra district isthe largest producer of glass.

The first synthetic rubber fac-tory was started in Bareilly in1955.

The first successful effort wasmade in 1870 with the settingup of the Royal Bengal PaperMills at Ballyganj near Kolkata.

The important centres for pa-per products are Lucknow,Titagarh, Raniganj, Pune,Naihati etc.

Maharashtra is the largest pro-ducer of paper followed byAndhra Pradesh, Gujarat.

Uttar Pradesh has the largestnumber of paper mills.

Paper companies with the high-est sales are Ballarpur Indus-tries Ltd, Orient Paper & Indus-tries Ltd and Tamil Nadu News-print & Paper Ltd.

West Bengal is the leadingstate in paper manufacturing.

In India, Jharkahand is thelargest producer of Lac (50%),followed by Madhya Pradeshand Chhattisgarh. India is thelargest exporter in the world.

Lac is obtained from an insectnamed Cerria lacca wihich liveson trees.

Sugar Industry is the secondlargest agro-based industry inIndia after cotton textile indus-try.

India is the largest sugar pro-ducing country with over 15%share of the global output.

India is world’s largest pro-ducer of sugarcane and sugaras well.

Maharashtra is the largestsugar producer followed byUttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

Documents

PHYSIOGRAPHY - Brilliance College Karakoram mountains contain the Siachen, which is the world's largest mountain glacier. Extend from the Pamir, east of the Gilgit River, 600 km long