Geography of India

What the official syllabus says

HCS Preliminary Examination, Paper I: General Studies:

Indian and World Geography.

In Geography, emphasis will be on Geography of India. Questions on the Geography of India will relate to physical, social and economic Geography of the country, including the main features of Indian agricultural and natural resources.

Topics in detail

The Commission puts the weight on India, and names physical, social and economic geography and agriculture and natural resources. Study each area with a map.

Physical geography of India

• Location, extent, neighbours and the Standard Meridian
• Physiographic divisions: the Himalayas (ranges, passes, regional divisions), the Northern Plains, the Peninsular Plateau, the Indian Desert, the Coastal Plains and the Islands
• Drainage: Himalayan and Peninsular river systems (Indus, Ganga, Brahmaputra; Narmada, Tapi, Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna, Kaveri), lakes and river disputes in outline
• Climate: the monsoon mechanism, seasons, distribution of rainfall, western disturbances, cyclones
• Soils: alluvial, black, red, laterite, arid and mountain soils; soil erosion and conservation
• Natural vegetation and forest types; wildlife; national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and biosphere reserves

Natural resources

• Water resources: surface and groundwater, multipurpose river valley projects, rainwater harvesting
• Mineral resources: iron ore, manganese, bauxite, copper, mica, limestone; their main belts
• Energy resources: coal, petroleum and natural gas, hydroelectricity, nuclear power, solar and wind energy
• Land resources and land use; wasteland and desertification

Agriculture

• Cropping seasons (kharif, rabi, zaid) and cropping patterns
• Major food crops (rice, wheat, millets, pulses) and cash crops (sugarcane, cotton, jute, oilseeds, tea, coffee): conditions of growth and main producing regions
• Irrigation: canals, wells and tube wells, tanks; micro-irrigation
• The Green Revolution and its effects; the White, Blue and Yellow revolutions
• Animal husbandry, dairying, fisheries and horticulture
• Agricultural problems: land holdings, soil health, water use, marketing

Economic geography

• Industries and their location: iron and steel, cotton textiles, sugar, cement, fertiliser, automobile, information technology
• Industrial regions and corridors
• Transport: roads (national highways, expressways), railways and dedicated freight corridors, ports, inland waterways, airways, pipelines
• Trade and communication in outline

Social geography

• Population: size, distribution, density, growth, sex ratio and literacy as per Census 2011
• Migration, urbanisation and urban settlements; rural settlement types
• Tribes, languages and religions: distribution

Natural hazards and disasters

• Seismic zones of India and major earthquakes
• Floods and droughts: flood-prone and drought-prone regions
• Tropical cyclones of the east and west coasts; landslides and cloudbursts in the Himalayas
• Heat waves and cold waves; disaster management bodies (NDMA, state authorities, NDRF)

Map work

• States and their capitals; neighbouring countries and the states bordering each
• Important mountain peaks, passes, rivers and their tributaries, dams and lakes
• National parks, tiger reserves and biosphere reserves on the map
• Major ports, industrial centres and mineral belts

Overlaps

• World geography and its physical basics are on World Geography.
• The geography of the state is on Haryana: Geography.
• Resources, industrial location and geophysical phenomena return in Mains General Studies I; agriculture and irrigation in Mains General Studies III.