Demographics of India
Geography
India is located in the south of Asian continent. The country is bordered by the Arabian Sea to its west, the Bay of Bengal to its east and the Indian Ocean to its south. India lies to the north of the equator between 8.4 and 37.6 degrees north latitude and 68.7 and 97.25 degrees east longitude. The total land area of India is 2,973,190 sq km measuring 3,214 km from north to south and 2,933 km from east to west. It shares land boundaries worth 15,200 km and the coastline is 7516.5 km long. Forested land constitutes 21.6 percent of the total land area.
Politically, India is divided into 28 states, six federally administered union territories and a national capital territory. The political divisions generally follow linguistic and ethnic boundaries rather than geographic transitions. It is difficult to generalize India’s climate. India’s huge size sees climatic conditions in Kashmir having little relation to that in the extreme south. Climate in India ranges from tropical in the south to a temperate climate in the north. Parts of India in the Himalayas have polar climate.
The fertile Indo-Gangetic plain occupies most of northern, central and eastern India, while the Deccan Plateau occupies most of southern India. To the west of the country is the Thar Desert, which consists of a mix of rocky and sandy desert. India’s east and northeastern border consists of the high Himalayan range. India is particularly rich in a variety of natural resources. Along with 56 percent arable land, it has significant sources of Coal (fourth-largest reserves in the world), Iron ore, Manganese, Mica, Bauxite, Titanium ore, Chromite, Natural gas, Diamonds, Petroleum, Limestone, Thorium (world’s largest along Kerala’s shores).
Petroleum is found off the coast of Maharashtra, Gujarat and in Assam, but meets only 40 percent of India’s demand. Increasing amounts of natural gas are being discovering regularly especially off the coast of Andhra Pradesh. Uranium is mined in Andhra Pradesh and gold in the Kolar Gold Fields in Karnataka.