| Gist of INDIA YEAR BOOK: 2020 Contents Land & The People ........................................................ 01-05 National Symbols .......................................................... 06-08 Polity ........................................................................... 0913 Agriculture ................................................................... 14-18 Culture & Tourism ......................................................... 19-27 Basic Economic Data ..................................................... 28-31 Commerce ................................................................... 32-37 Communications & Information Technology ....................... 38-51 Defence ....................................................................... 52-58 Education .................................................................... 59-70 Energy ......................................................................... 71-77 Environment ................................................................. 78-91 Finance ..................................................................... 92-107 Corporate Affairs .......................................................108-111 Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs ........................112-121 www.iasscore.in | Gist of INDIA YEAR BOOK: 2020 1 Land & The People Physical Features The mainland comprises four regions, namely, the great mountain zone, plains of the Ganga and India at a Glance: the Indus, the desert region and the southern Geographical Area: 32,87,263 sq. peninsula. Km (seventh largest country in the The mountain wall extends over a distance of world) about 2,400 km with a varying depth of 240 to Latitude & Longitude: the mainland 320 km. extends between latitudes 8°4’ and 37°6’ north, longitudes 68°7’ and In the east, between India and Myanmar and India 97°25’ east. and Bangladesh, hill ranges are much lower. Distance: from north to south: Garo, Khasi, Jaintia and Naga Hills, running almost about 3,214 km between the east-west, join the chain to Mizo and Rakhine Hills extreme latitudes and about 2,933 running north-south. km from east to west between the extreme longitudes. The plains of the Ganga and the Indus, about Land frontier of about 15,200 km. 2,400 km long and 240 to 320 km broad, are The total length of the coastline of formed by basins of three distinct river systems— the mainland, Lakshadweep Islands the Indus, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra. and Andaman and Nicobar Islands is 7,516.6 km. The desert region can be divided into two parts— the ‘great desert’ and the ‘little desert’. Bordering Countries: Afghanistan and Pakistan to the north-west, The great desert extends from the edge of the China, Bhutan and Nepal to the Rann of Kutch beyond the Luni river northward. north, Myanmar to the far East and The whole of the Rajasthan-Sind frontier runs Bangladesh to the east. Sri Lanka is through this. separated from India by a narrow channel of sea formed by the Palk The little desert extends from the Luni between Strait and the Gulf of Mannar. Jaisalmer and Jodhpur up to the northern west. Divided into six zones mainly north, The Peninsular Plateau is marked off from the south, east, west, central and north- east zone and It has 29 states and plains of the Ganga and the Indus by a mass of seven union territories mountain and hill ranges varying from 460 to 1,220 metres in height. Prominent among these are the Aravali, Vindhya, Satpura, Maikala and Ajanta. Notable Passes: The southern point of the plateau is formed by the Jelep La and Nathu La on the main Nilgiri Hills where the Eastern and the Western Indo-Tibet trade route through the Ghats meet. Chumbi valley, north-east of Darjeeling and The Cardamom Hills lying beyond may be regarded Shipki La in the Satluj valley, north- as a continuation of the Western Ghats. east of Kalpa (Kinnaur) www.iasscore.in 1 Gist of INDIA YEAR BOOK: 2020 | Geological Structure The geological regions broadly follow the physical features and may be grouped into three regions: the Himalayas and their associated group of mountains, the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Peninsular Shield. The Himalayan mountain belt to the north and the Naga-Lushai mountain in the east, are the regions of mountain-building movement (by compression of sediment and basement rocks) The Indo-Ganga plains are a great alluvial tract that separates the Himalayas in the north from the Peninsula in the south. The Peninsula is a region of relative stability and occasional seismic disturbances (igneous, metamorph and Deccan Trap formation). River Systems The river systems of India can be classifi ed into four groups viz., Himalayan rivers Deccan rivers Coastal rivers Rivers of the inland drainage basin. 2 www.iasscore.in | Gist of INDIA YEAR BOOK: 2020 The Himalayan Rivers are formed by melting snow and glaciers and therefore, continuously fl o w throughout the year. The main Himalayan river systems are those of the Indus and the Ganga- Brahmaputra-Meghna system. The Deccan Rivers on the other hand are rain-fed and therefore fl uctuate in volume. Many of these are non perennial. In the Deccan region, most of the major river systems fl owing generally in the east fall into Bay of Bengal. The major east fl owing rivers are Godavari, Krishna, Cauvery and Mahanadi. Narmada and Tapti are major west fl owing rivers. The Godavari in the southern Peninsula has the second largest river basin covering 10 per cent of the area of India. The Coastal streams, especially on the west coast are short in length and have limited catchment areas. Most of them are non-perennial. The streams of inland drainage basin of western Rajasthan few rivers in Rajasthan do not drain into the sea. These are Luni, Machhu, Rupen, Saraswati, Banas, Ghaggar and others. The entire country has been divided into 20 river basins/group of river basins comprising 12 major basins and eight composite river basins. The 12 major river basins are : (1) Indus, (2) Ganga- Brahmaputra-Meghna, (3) Godavari, (4) Krishna, (5) Cauvery, (6) Mahanadi, (7) Pennar, (8) Brahmani- Baitarani, (9) Sabarmati, (10) Mahi, (11) Narmada and (12) Tapti. Each of these basins has a drainage area exceeding 20,000 sq. km. The eight composite river basins combining suitably together all the other remaining medium (drainage area of 2,000 to 20,000 sq. km) and small river systems (drainage area less than 2000 sq. km) for the purpose of planning and management. Climate/Seasons The climate of India may be broadly described as tropical monsoon type. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) designates four offi cial seasons: Winter, from December to early April. Summer or pre-monsoon season, lasting from April to June (April to July in north-western India). Monsoon or rainy season, lasting from June to September. The season is dominated by the humid south-west summer monsoon. Post-monsoon season, lasting from October to December. In north-western India, October and November are usually cloudless. India’s climate is affected by two seasonal winds—the north-east monsoon and the south-west monsoon. The north-east monsoon commonly known as winter monsoon blows from land to sea. The south-west monsoon brings most of the rainfall during the year in the country. Flora India is rich in fl ora. From about 70 per cent geographical area surveyed so far, over 46,000 species of plants have been described by the Botanical Survey of India (BSI), Kolkata. The vascular fl ora, which forms the conspicuous vegetation cover, comprises 15,000 species. India can be divided into eight distinct fl oral regions, namely, the western Himalayas, the eastern Himalayas, Assam, the Indus plain, the Ganga plain, the Deccan, the Malabar and the Andamans. The western Himalayan region extends from Kashmir to Kumaon. Its temperate zone is rich in forests of chir, pine, other conifers and broad-leaved temperate trees. Higher up, forests of deodar, blue pine, spruce and silver fi r occur. The eastern Himalayan region extends from Sikkim eastwards and embraces Darjeeling, Kurseong and the adjacent tracts. The temperate zone has forests of oaks, laurels, maples, rhododendrons, alder and birch. The Indus plain region comprises the plains of Punjab, western Rajasthan and northern Gujarat. It is dry, hot and supports natural vegetation. www.iasscore.in 3 Gist of INDIA YEAR BOOK: 2020 | The Ganga plain region covers the area which is alluvial plain and is under cultivation for wheat, sugarcane and rice. The Deccan region comprises the entire table land of the Indian Peninsula and supports vegetation of various kinds from shrub jungles to mixed deciduous forests. The Malabar region covers the excessively humid belt of mountain country parallel to the west coast of the Peninsula. Besides being rich in forest vegetation, this region produces important commercial crops, such as coconut, betelnut, pepper, coffee, tea, rubber and cashewnut. The Andaman region abounds in evergreen, mangrove, beach and diluvial forests. Owing to destruction of forests for agricultural, industrial and urban development, several Indian plants are facing threat of extinction. About 1,336 plant species are considered vulnerable and endangered. BSI brings out an inventory of endangered plants in the form of a publication titled ‘Red Data Book.’ Faunal Resources India is very rich in terms of biological diversity due to its unique biogeographical location, diversifi ed climate conditions and enormous ecodiversity and geodiversity. India’s