Class IX – India – Size and Location

Ans. Northern hemisphere

Ans. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands lie to the south-east and the Lakshadweep islands lie to the south-west of the mainland of India.

Ans. The land mass of India has an area of 3.28 million square km.

Ans. The latitudinal and longitudinal extent of India is about 30.

Ans. It helps India to establish close contact with West Asia, Africa and Europe from the Western Coast and with Southeast and East Asia from the eastern coast.

Ans. India’s distance from Europe has been reduced by 7000 km.

Ans. China

Ans. Pakistan’s land boundary is surrounded with India’s land boundary in north-west.

Ans. Pakistan

Ans. Sri Lanka is separated from India by a narrow channel of sea formed by the Palk Strait and the Gulf of Mannar.

Ans. Sri Lanka and Maldives.

Ans. From Gujarat (68°7’E) to Arunachal Pradesh (97°25’E), there is a time lag of two hours due to vast longitudinal extent. Hence, 82°30’E passing through Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh, has been selected as the Standard Meridian of India. Time along the Standard Meridian of India is taken as the Standard Time for the whole country. It avoids confusion which could have been created due to following of different local times.

Ans. (a) The latitudinal extent of India is 8°4’N and 37°6’N.

(b) The day and night are nearly of the same duration at the equator. As Kanyakumari is quite near the equator at 8°4’N the day-night difference is hardly one hour there, and therefore, the difference in duration of day and night is hardly felt at Kanyakumari.

On the other hand, as we move away from the equator to the poles the variations in duration of day and night become greater. Kashmir is over 30° away from the equator and so the difference in duration of day and night is more there and we feel that difference.

Ans. (i) India had established trade, cultural and political relations with southeast Asian Kingdom in Burma, Thailand, Indonesia, Malay Peninsula, Cambodia and Vietnam.

(ii) Hinduism and Buddhism both spread to these states from India.

Ans. (i) India shares its land boundaries with Pakistan and Afghanistan in northwest, China (Tibet), Nepal and Bhutan in the north and Myanmar and Bangladesh in the east.

(ii) Our southern neighbours across the sea consists of the two island countries, namely Sri Lanka and Maldives.

(iii) Sri Lanka is separated from India by a narrow channel of sea formed by the Palk Strait and the Gulf of Mannar while Maldives Islands are situated to the south of the Lakshadweep Islands.

Ans. (i) Before 1947, there were two types of states in India – the provinces and the princely states.

(ii) Provinces were ruled directly by British officials, who were appointed by the Viceroy.

(iii) Princely states were ruled by local hereditary rulers, who acknowledged sovereignty in return for local autonomy.