India – Location — Class 11 Geography

This chapter examines India's location, size and neighbours. The mainland extends from Kashmir in the north to Kanniyakumari in the south, and from Arunachal Pradesh in the east to Gujarat in the west; India's territorial limit extends 12 nautical miles into the sea. The southern boundary reaches up to 6°45′ N latitude in the Bay of Bengal. The latitudinal and longitudinal extents are each roughly 30 degrees, but the north-south distance (3,214 km) is greater than the east-west distance (2,933 km) because longitudes converge towards the poles. The standard meridian of India is 82°30′ E, and Indian Standard Time is ahead of Greenwich Mean Time by 5 hours and 30 minutes; the 30-degree longitudinal spread causes a two-hour time difference between the easternmost and westernmost parts. With an area of 3.28 million sq km, India accounts for 2.4 per cent of the world's land surface and is the seventh largest country. The Himalayas, Hindukush, Sulaiman ranges and Purvachal hills, with the Indian Ocean to the south, form the Indian subcontinent (Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and India). India has a coastline of 6,100 km on the mainland and 7,517 km including the island groups (Andaman and Nicobar, and Lakshadweep). Sri Lanka and Maldives are island neighbours in the Indian Ocean. (Refer to the map in the NCERT textbook.)