India is located in South Asia and has a diverse landscape that includes the Himalayan mountains, the Thar Desert, and coastal regions. It has a population of over 1.3 billion people and is the largest democracy and second most populous country in the world. India shares land borders with Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar and maritime borders with Sri Lanka. It is a diverse country with over 20 official languages and many major religions. India has 28 states and 8 union territories and its capital is New Delhi.

1. THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
INDIA―Facts and Figures
 India is one of the oldest civilizations of Earth.
 India is the largest democracy in the world.
 India is the 6th
most industrialised counties in the world
 India was the 6th
nation in the world to achieve nuclear power.
 India was the 6th
nation in the world to reach space.
 With population of 139 crores (2021 estimated), India is the 2nd
most populated country of the World.
 Life expectancy in India is 69.9 years.
 Crude mortality rate in India in 7.35 per thousand.
 Infant mortality rate in India is 28 per thousand
 With an area of 3.82 million kilometres India is the seventh largest country of the World.
 India has land frontier of 15,200 kilometres.
 India has a coast line of 7,500 kilometres.
 India is located in the northern hemisphere and extends from latitudes 8°4' to 37°6' north, and longitudes
68°7' to 97°25' east.
 India has rich endowment of natural resources. The main physical divisions of India are:
o Himalayan mountains covered with snow and containing forests, wildlife and perennial rivers.
o Indo-Gangetic plain, which are included in one of the world’s greatest stretches of flat alluvium and
most densely populated areas.
o Deccan Plateau, which is a source of Indian mineral wealth ranging from coal to uranium.
o Eastern and Western Ghats (coastal areas), home of tropical rain forests and Indian spices
o Thar desert which complete India’s geographical and cultural diversity.
 There are more than 1,700 languages and dialects in India. India is home to people of different religions,
race and creed.
 India has 28 states and 8 union territories.
INDIA―Physical
Land and the People
 India is situated on the south-central peninsula of Asia.
 India contains two groups of islands i.e. Lakshadweep in the Arabian Sea and Andaman & Nicobar Islands
in the Bay of Bengal.
 India occupies almost 2.42 percent of the total land area of the world.
 Russia, Canada, China, United States of America, Brazil and Australia are larger is size than India.
 India is 3,214 kilometres from North to South and 2,933 kilometres from East to West.
Physical Background
 India borders Afghanistan and Pakistan in the North West, China, Bhutan and Nepal in the North, Myanmar
and Bangladesh in the East.
 Sri Lanka is situated towards the South of India and separated by a narrow channel of sea formed by the
Palk Strait and the Gulf of Mannar.
 Himalayas act as natural border of India towards North. Indian Ocean divides India from the rest of the
world in South.
 The longitudinal direction covered by India is so vast, that it leads to the time difference of two hours
between the extreme points in east and west.
 India is divided into two nearly equal parts by the Tropic of Cancer.
 In addition to Himalayas, India has Aravalli, the Vindhyachal, the Satpuras, the Eastern Ghats, and the
Western Ghats.
India and Neighbours
 India gives highest priority to its neighbours. India understands that peaceful existence in India is
impossible without peaceful relationships with the immediate neighbours.
 India clearly understands that peaceful and prosperous South Asia will contribute significantly
towards prosperous India.
 India uses a policy of asymmetric engagement for strengthening the relationships and creating new avenues
of growth and security.

2.  Indian foreign policy encourages both bilateral SAARC related engagements with neighbours.
Countries that share borders with India.
Bhutan: 600 kms (West Bengal, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam)
Myanmar: 1643 kms (Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh)
Nepal: 1758 kms (West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim and Uttarakhand)
Pakistan: 3323 kms (Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and J&K)
China: 3380 kms (Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and J&K)
Bangladesh: 4097 kms (Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura and West Bengal)
Afghanistan: 106 kms (J&K)
Sri Lanka: 400 kms (maritime border)
INDIA―About Indian States
List of Indian States and Union Territories and Their Capitals
STATES
State
(Year of
Establishment)
Capital Area
(in
km2
)
Districts
/Admn.
divisions
Population Population
Density
(per km2
)
Literacy
Rate%
Sex
Ratio
Official
Languages
Largest Cities
Andhra
Pradesh
(1956)
Hyderabad
(till 2024)/
Amaravati
(proposed)
2024
onwards
160,
205
13 4,93,78,776 67.66* 992* Telugu Visakhapatna
m,
Vijayawada,
Guntur
Arunachal
Pradesh
(1987)
Itanagar 83,7
43
17 1,382,611 17 66.95 920 English Itanagar
Assam (1975) Dispur 78,4
38
33 31,169,272 397 73.18 954 Assamese Guwahati,
Silchar,
Dibrugarh,
Nagaon
Bihar (1935) Patna 94,1
63
38 103,804,637 1,102 63.82 916 Hindi Patna, Gaya,
Bhagalpur,
Muzaffarpur,
Biharsharif
Chhattisgarh
(2000)
Raipur 135,
191
27 25,540,196 189 71.04 991 Chhattisgar
hi
Raipur, Bhilai
Nagar, Korba,
Bilaspur, Durg
Goa (1961) Panaji 3,70
2
2 1,457,723 394 87.4 968 Konkani Panaji
Gujarat (1960) Gandhinaga 196, 33 60,383,628 308 79.31 918 Gujarati Ahmedabad,

3. r 024 Surat,
Vadodara,
Rajkot,
Bhavnagar
Haryana
(1966)
Chandigarh 44,2
12
22 25,353,081 573 76.64 877 Haryanvi Faridabad,
Gurgaon,
Rohtak, Hisar,
Panipat
Himachal
Pradesh
(1971)
Shimla 55,6
73
12 6,856,509 123 83.78 974 Hindi Shimla
Jharkhand
(2000)
Ranchi 79,7
14
24 32,966,238 414 67.63 947 Hindi Dhanbad,
Ranchi,
Jamshedpur,
Bokaro Steel,
Mango
Karnataka
(1956)
Bengaluru 191,
791
30 61,130,704 319 75.6 968 Kannada Bangalore,
Hubli and
Dharwad,
Mysore,
Gulbarga,
Belgaum
Kerala (1956) Trivandrum 38,8
63
14 33,387,677 859 93.91 1084 Malayalam Trivandrum,
Kochi,
Kozhikode,
Kollam,
Thrissur
Madhya
Pradesh
(1956)
Bhopal 308,
245
51 72,597,565 236 70.63 930 Hindi Indore,
Bhopal,
Jabalpur,
Gwalior,
Ujjain
Maharashtra
(1960)
Mumbai 307,
713
36 112,372,972 365 82.91 946 Marathi Mumbai,
Pune, Nagpur,
Thane, Pimpri
and
Chinchwad
Manipur
(1947)
Imphal 22,3
27
16 2,721,756 122 79.85 987 Meiteilon
(Manipuri)
Imphal
Meghalaya
(1970)
Shillong 22,4
29
11 2,964,007 132 75.48 986 English Shillong
Mizoram
(1972)
Aizawl 21,0
81
8 1,091,014 52 91.58 975 Mizo Aizawl
Nagaland
(1963)
Kohima 16,5
79
11 1,980,602 119 80.11 931 English Dimapur
Odisha (1948) Bhubanesw
ar
155,
707
30 41,947,358 269 73.45 978 Oriya Bhubaneswar,
Cuttack,
Brahmapur
Town, Raurke
la, Puri Town
Punjab (1966) Chandigarh 50,3
62
22 27,704,236 550 76.68 893 Punjabi Ludhiana,
Amritsar,
Jalandhar,
Patiala,
Bathinda
Rajasthan(194
8)
Jaipur 342,
239
33 68,621,012 201 67.06 926 Hindi Jaipur,
Jodhpur,
Kota, Bikaner
, Ajmer
Sikkim (1975) Gangtok 7,09
6
4 607,688 86 82.2 889 Nepali Gangtok
Tamil Nadu
(1969)
Chennai 130,
058
32 72,138,958 555 80.33 995 Tamil Chennai,
Coimbatore,
Madurai,
Tiruchirappall
i, Salem
Telangana
(2014)
Hyderabad 114,
840
10 3,52,86,757 310 66.46% 988 Telugu,
Urdu
Hyderabad,
Warangal
Tripura (1956) Agartala 10,4
86
8 3,671,032 350 87.75 961 Bengali &
Kokborok
Agartala
Uttar Pradesh
(1937)
Lucknow 240,
928
75 199,581,477 828 69.72 908 Hindi Lucknow,
Kanpur,
Ghaziabad,
Agra,

4. Meerut
Uttarakhand
(2000)
Dehradun 53,4
83
13 10,116,752 189 79.63 963 Hindi Dehradun,
Hardwar,
Haldwani
and Kathgoda
m, Rudrapur
West Bengal
(1947)
Kolkata 88,7
52
23 91,347,736 1,029 77.08 947 Bengali Kolkata,
Haora,
Durgapur,
Asansol,
Siliguri
Union Territories
Andaman and
Nicobar
Islands (1956)
Port Blair 8,24
9
3 379,944 46 86.27 878 English Port Blair
Chandigarh
(1966)
Chandigarh 114 1 1,054,686 9,252 86.43 818 Punjabi Chandigarh
Dadar and
Nagar
Haveli Daman
and
Diu (2020)
Daman 603 3 585764 970 90.51 846 Konkani,
Marathi
and
Gujarati
English
Daman
Silvassa
Delhi (1952) Delhi 11,2
97
9 16,753,235 11,297 86.34 866 Hindi,
Punjabi
and
Urdu
Delhi
Lakshadweep Kavaratti 32 1 64,429 2,013 92.28 946 English Kavaratti
Puducherry
(1954)
Pondicherr
y
479 4 1,244,464 2598 86.55 1038 Tamil,
English
Ozhukarai,
Puducherry
Jammu and
Kashmir
(2020)
Kashmir
(summer)
Jammu
(Winter)
2222
36
20 12541302 56 85.70 889
Urdu,
Kashmiri,
Hindi, Dogri
Srinagar,
Jammu,
Udhampur,
Kathua
Ladakh
(2020)
Leh 5914
6
2 290492 4.6 90.29 919 Tibetic
Leh
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