Geography for BPSC Prelims

Question comes from three sections of Geography in BPSC Prelims.

1. Indian Geography
2. World Geography
3. Bihar Geography

Majority of questions come from Indian Geography and Bihar Geography. We will see each topics which are important from Prelims perspective. Only important points are discussed here which will help you to fetch good marks in Geography section of BPSC prelims.

Topics for Geography BPSC Prelims:

Geography of India:

Size and Location of India:

India has a quadrilateral shape.

It lies in the North-Eastern hemisphere.

Between 8 degrees 4′ North and 37 degrees 6′ North Latitudes and 68 degrees 7′ East and 97 degrees 25′ East Longitudes.

Tropic of Cancer divides the country into two equal halves. The tropic of Cancer is located at 23 degrees 30′ North latitude. It passes through 8 states of India: Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Tripura, and Mizoram.

The Northern half of India is sub-tropical whereas the southern half is Tropical.

IST or the Indian Standard Time is selected as 82 degrees and 30′ East longitude. This place is located in Naini, Allahabad. It is 5 hours 30 minutes ahead of the Greenwich Mean Time GMT (0 degree longitude).

The 82 degrees 30′ East longitude passes through Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Praadesh, Chattisgarh, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.

Total Geographical area of India is 32,87,263 square KM. which is 2.4% of the world’s area.

India is the 7th largest country in terms of area. Top countries in decreasing order are Russia > Canada > China > USA > Brazil > Australia > India and so on.

If you travel from the northernmost point of India to the southernmost point i.e. North to south, you have to cover a distance of 3214 KMs.

If you travel from the westernmost point of India to the easternmost point i.e. West to East, you have to cover a distance of 2933 KMs.

The land frontier of India is 15200 KMs. The coastline is 6100 Kms. When the island territory of India is added the coastline boundary becomes 7516.6 Kms. Therefore, the total boundary of India is 15200 KMs (land boundary) and 7516.6 KMs (coastline including island) adds upto 22716.6 KMs.

Border length of India with Neighbouring countries and states’ border:

Bangladesh – 4096.7 KMs. Five states share border with Bangladesh: Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura and West Bengal.

China – 3488 KMs. Five states share border with China: Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Sikkim and Uttarakhand.

Pakistan – 3323 KMs. Four states share border with Pakistan: Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Rajasthan.

Nepal – 1751 Kms. Five states share border with Nepal: Bihar, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal.

Myanmar – 1643 Kms. Four states share border with Myanmar: Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland.

Bhutan – 699 Kms. Four states share border with Bhutan: Arunachal, Assam, Sikkim and West Bengal.

Afghanistan – 106 Kms. Only Jammu and Kashmir share border with Afghanistan.

Important points of India:

Southernmost Point: Indira Point. Also known as Pygmalion Point. It is located in Great Nicobar Island at 6 degrees 4′ North latitude.

Southernmost point on Mainlad is Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu.

Northernmost Point: Indira Col. It is situated in Jammu and Kashmir.

Westernmost Point: Guhar Moti. It is in Kutch, Gujarat.

Easternmost Point: Kibithu. It is located in Arunachal Pradesh.

Top States of India in terms of Area:

1. Rajasthan: 342239 square KMs.
2. Madhya Pradesh: 308245 square Kms.
3. Maharashtra: 307713 Square Kms.
4. Uttar Pradesh: 240928 Square Kms.
5. Jammu and Kashmir: 222236 Square Kms.

Top Districts of India in terms of Area:

1. Kutch district in Gujarat: 45652 Square Kms.
2. Leh district , Jammu and Kashmir: 45110 square Kms.
3. Jaisalmer district in Rajasthan: 39313 square Kms.
4. Bikaner district in Rajasthan: 28466 square Kms.
5. Barmer district in Rajasthan: 28393 square Kms.

Top states with largest coastline in terms of Area:

1. Andaman and Nicobar: 1962 Kms.
2. Gujarat: 1600 Kms.
3. Tamil Nadu: 974 Kms.
4. Andhra Pradesh: 972 Kms.
5. Maharashtra: 720 Kms.

Important International Boundary Lines:

1. McMohan Line: Between India-China.
2. Radcliff Line: Between India-Pakistan.
3. Durand Line: Between Pakistan-Afghanistan. Between India-Afghanistan prior to partition.

Important Channels of India:

1. Indira Point-Indonesia: Great channel.
2. Little Andaman-Car Nicobar: Ten degree Channel.
3. Minicoy-Lakshadweep: Nine degree Channel.
4. Maldives-Minicoy: Eight Degree channel.
5. India-Sri Lanka: Gulf of Mannar.

Maritime Boundaries of India:

1. Inland Water: Zone inside baseline.
2. Territorial Seas: Zone extending 12 nautical miles from baseline. (1 nautical mile = 1852 m).
3. Contiguous Zone: Zone extending 24 nautical miles from the baseline.
4. Exclusive Economic Zone: Zone extending 200 nautical miles from the baseline. (When the water area between two countries is less than 400 nautical miles rules for Exclusive economic zone changes.)
5. High Seas: Area beyond Exclusive Economic Zone. All countries have equal rights of exploration in the high seas area.

Foreign Enclaves in possession of India:

At the time of India’s independence foreign enclaves or possessions were made a part of India. They are:

Chandranagore, Mahe, Yanam, Pondicherry, Karaikal. These enclaves were under French Possession.

Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, and Goa. These were in possession of Portuguese.

Some Important Facts:

1. Tripura is the Indian State which is surrounded by three sides from Bangladesh.
2. Border between Tripura-Bangladesh is called Zero Line.
3. Jammu Kashmir shares the largest boundary(1225 Km) with Pakistan.
4. Indian Subcontinent includes India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan combined.
5. Number of Indian States that share boundary with neighbouring countries is 17.
6. UT of Puducherry includes: Mahe(Kerela), Karaikal, Puducherry(Tamil Nadu) and Yanam(Andhra Pradesh).
7. Total number of States in India = 28.
8. Total number of Union Territories in India = 8.
9. Indira point and the Equator is 876 Kms apart.

That’s it for this post. Next important topics are discussed in other posts. Find Geography most important topics for BPSC from Blogs section of this website. The next topic is Physiography of India.