Geography of India and the World
Geography of India and the World tests physical features, climate, rivers, soils, agriculture, industries and map awareness. Questions often require you to locate a feature, match a crop to a region, or explain a monsoon pattern.
Core areas
- India's location: Tropic of Cancer passes through eight states; standard meridian 82°30'E gives IST.
- Relief: Himalayas, Indo-Gangetic Plain, Peninsular Plateau, coastal plains, islands.
- Rivers: Himalayan rivers are perennial; peninsular rivers are rain-fed. The Ganga, Brahmaputra and Indus are Himalayan; Godavari, Krishna, Kaveri and Narmada are peninsular.
- Climate: southwest monsoon (June–September), retreating monsoon, winter and summer seasons.
- Soils and crops: alluvial, black (regur), red, laterite; rice, wheat, cotton, sugarcane, pulses.
- World: continents, oceans, major straits, longest river (Nile), largest desert (Sahara), largest ocean (Pacific).
Worked example
Which river is called the Sorrow of Bihar? The Kosi, because it shifts course and floods north Bihar. Reasoning: the name is a flood clue, not a length clue; do not confuse it with the Damodar, once called the Sorrow of Bengal.
Traps
- Confusing east-flowing and west-flowing rivers.
- Placing a crop in the wrong state; cotton is not a Kerala staple.
- Mixing IST with GMT.
- Confusing longest, largest and deepest features.
- Forgetting that the Tropic of Cancer passes through Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Tripura and Mizoram.