Uttar Pradesh: Geography and Environment

What the official syllabus says

UPPCS Preliminary Examination, Paper I: General Studies-I:

India and World geography: Physical, Social, Economic geography of India and the World.

General Issues on Environmental ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change - that do not require subject specialization.

Note: Candidates are expected to have general awareness about the above subjects with special reference to Uttar Pradesh.

Topics in detail

Location and extent

• Location in north India; area of about 2.41 lakh sq km, fourth among the states by area
• Neighbours: Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar; international border with Nepal
• Administrative divisions: 18 divisions (mandals) and 75 districts; capital Lucknow; seat of the High Court at Prayagraj

Physiography

• Bhabar and Terai belt below the Shivalik foothills (Saharanpur to Maharajganj)
• The Ganga plain: Bhangar (older alluvium) and Khadar (newer alluvium); upper, middle and lower plain; the Ganga-Yamuna doab
• The southern plateau: Bundelkhand upland and the Vindhyan region (Mirzapur, Sonbhadra), with the Kaimur range

Drainage

• The Ganga: entry into the state at Bijnor, course past Kanpur, Prayagraj and Varanasi
• Northern tributaries: Ramganga, Gomti, Ghaghara (Saryu), Sharda, Rapti, Gandak
• Southern tributaries: Yamuna and its tributaries (Chambal, Sindh, Betwa, Ken), Son and Rihand
• The Triveni Sangam of the Ganga, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati at Prayagraj; lakes and taals
• Floods in the eastern districts; drought in Bundelkhand

Climate

• Tropical monsoon climate; seasons; rainfall decreasing from east to west; loo in summer; cold waves and fog in winter
• Climate change and weather forecasting issues in the state

Soils, minerals and water

• Soils: alluvial (Bhangar, Khadar), Terai soils, Bundelkhand soils (parwa, mar, kabar, rakar), usar (saline and alkaline) lands and their reclamation
• Minerals: limestone, coal (Singrauli field in Sonbhadra), silica sand (Prayagraj), bauxite, rock phosphate and pyrophyllite (Lalitpur), sandstone
• Irrigation: Upper and Lower Ganga canals, Eastern Yamuna canal, Sharda and Sharda Sahayak canals, tube wells; dams such as Rihand (Govind Ballabh Pant Sagar), Matatila and Rajghat on the Betwa; groundwater depletion

Forests and wildlife

• Forest types: tropical dry and moist deciduous forests, Terai grasslands; social and agro-forestry
• Dudhwa National Park (Lakhimpur Kheri); tiger reserves: Dudhwa, Pilibhit, Ranipur (Chitrakoot), and Amangarh (Bijnor) adjoining Corbett
• Wildlife sanctuaries: Katarniaghat, Kishanpur, Chandraprabha, Kaimur, Hastinapur, National Chambal Sanctuary (gharial, shared with Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan), Sohagi Barwa, Suhelwa
• Bird sanctuaries and Ramsar sites: Nawabganj, Sandi, Samaspur, Parvati Arga, Saman, Sarsai Nawar, Sur Sarovar, Bakhira, Haiderpur wetland, Upper Ganga River (Brijghat to Narora)
• State symbols: Barasingha (state animal), Sarus crane (state bird), Ashoka (state tree), Palash (state flower)

Environmental issues

• Ganga and Yamuna pollution: industrial effluents (tanneries of Kanpur), sewage; Namami Gange
• Air pollution in the cities of the National Capital Region and the Indo-Gangetic plain
• Land degradation: usar lands, ravines of the Chambal and Yamuna, soil erosion in Bundelkhand
• UP Pollution Control Board and its functions

Population and settlements

• Census 2011: the most populous state (about 19.98 crore people); density, sex ratio and literacy compared with India
• Rural and urban population; major cities (Lucknow, Kanpur, Ghaziabad, Agra, Varanasi, Meerut, Prayagraj); urbanisation
• Regions of the state: western UP, Rohilkhand, Awadh, Purvanchal, Bundelkhand

Overlaps

In the Main Examination the geography, natural resources, national parks, pollution and climate of the state are General Studies VI.