India Facts – Nature

India is one of the oldest civilizations in the world, spanning a period of more than 4,000 years, and witnessing the fusion of several customs and traditions, which are reflective of the rich culture and heritage of the country. It has achieved all-round socio-economic progress during the last 64 years of its Independence. India has become self-sufficient in agricultural production and is now one of the top industrialized countries in the world and one of the few nations to have gone into outer space to conquer nature for the benefit of the people. It covers an area of 32,87,263 sq. km, extending from the snow-covered Himalayan heights to the tropical rain forests of the south. As the 7th largest country in the world, India stands apart from the rest of Asia, marked off as it is by mountains and the sea, which give the country a distinct geographical entity. Bounded by the Great Himalayas in the north, it stretches southwards and at the Tropic of Cancer, tapers off into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal on the east and the Arabian Sea on the west.

Lying entirely in the northern hemisphere, the mainland extends between latitudes 8° 4' and 37° 6' north, longitudes 68° 7' and 97° 25' east and measures about 3,214 km from north to south between the extreme latitudes and about 2,933 km from east to west between the extreme longitudes. It has a land frontier of about 15,200 km. The total length of the coastline of the mainland, Lakshadweep Islands and Andaman & Nicobar Islands is 7,516.6 km.

India Facts – General

Valley of Flowers National Park

Biodiversity Profile

• With only 2.7% of the land area, 4% of fresh water, 17% of human and 18% of livestock population, India holds 11th rank in club of 16 mega bio-diverse country, accounts for 7 – 8 % of the recorded species of the world.
• One of the eight recognized Vavilovian centres of origin and diversity of crop plants, having over 300 wild ancestors and close relatives of cultivated plants.
• India ranks among the top ten species-rich nations and shows high endemism.
• India has ten bio-geographic zones and has four global biodiversity hotspots (Eastern Himalaya, Indo-Burma, Western Ghats and Sundaland).
• Varied edaphic, climatic and topographic conditions have resulted in a wide range of ecosystems and habitats such as forests, grasslands, wetlands, deserts, and coastal and marine ecosystem Himalayan ecosystems.
• Mangroves in India account for 3% of the global total with rich species diversity. Sunder bans is the largest congregation of mangrove forest in the world.
• Wetland ecosystems ranges from high altitude cold desert to hot and humid wetlands in coastal zones with rich flora and fauna. 115 wetlands and 40 lakes identified under national program and 25 wetlands of international importance under Ramsar Convention.
• House 16 major forest types and 251 subtypes occupying 23.81 % (or 78.37 m ha) of country’s geographical area. Deforestation has largely been halted. Decadal (1995 – 2005) gain is 3.15 m ha. India is one of the few countries to have a robust & scientific system of periodic forest related assessments feeding into government policy & management plans.
• India’s ¼ of the total forest cover is under PA management (102 – national parks, 515 wildlife sanctuaries, 47 tiger reserves and 4 community reserves).

 

Mountains

• Himalayas
• Aravalli
• Eastern Ghats
• Western Ghats

Major Rivers

• Himalayan River Systems
  • Ganges River System
  • Yamuna
  • Son
  • Gandak
  • Indus River System
  • Jhelum
  • Chenab
  • Ravi
  • Beas
  • Sutluj
  • Brahmaputra River System
• Peninsular River System
  • Mahanadi
  • Godavari
  • Krishna
  • Cauveri

Deserts : 200,000 km² about 1/3 cultivable
Forests : 770,100 km² about 23.4% of total area
Flora : The Flora of India is one of the richest in the world. 45,000 different plant species (including fungi and lower plants) have been described. It is thought that there are over 15,000 species of flowering plants in India.

Lotus, the national flower of India.                                               Banyan, the national tree of India.

National Parks and Wildlife
Sanctuaries

• 102 National Parks
• 515 Wildlife Sanctuaries
• 47 Tiger Reserves (Project Tiger)
• 16 Biosphere Reserves
• 4 Community Reserves

Fauna

• 89,492 different Species:
  • Insects: 59,353
  • Fishes: 2,546
  • Amphibians: 240
  • Reptiles: 460
  • Birds: 1,232
  • Mammals: 397