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East-West Extent of Main Land India (Including Pak occupied Kashmir-POK): 68° 7′ E to 97° 25′ E longitude
South-North Extent of Main Land India: 8° 4′ N to 37° 6′ N latitude
- The southern most point of the country is the Pygmalion Point, or Indira Point (6° 45' N).
- North-south extent from Indira Col in Kashmir to Kanyakumari is 3,214km.
- East-west width from the Rann of Kutchh to Arunachal Pradesh is 2,933km.
- With an area of 32,87,263 km2, India is the seventh largest country in the world.
- India accounts for about 2.4% of the total surface area of the world.
- The 82°30‟ E longitude is the standard time meridian for India.
- East-West time difference is nearly 2 hrs. (A difference of 1° longitude will make a difference of 4 minutes in time. ~30 x 4 = ~120 minutes or ~2hours).
- Tropic of Cancer passes through the middle of the country dividing it into a northern temperate part and a southern tropical part.
- The temperate northern part is nearly twice the area of the tropical part in the south. But still India is considered a tropical country because:
- Dominance of tropical monsoon climate.
- Himalayas block the cold temperate air masses from the north.
INDIAN STATES & UTs
- Politically, India is divided into 28 states and 9 union territories.
- Tropic of Cancer passes through 8 states: Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Tripura and Mizoram.
BOUNDARY SHARING OF STATES
- Uttar Pradesh shares boundary with maximum number of states and UTs – 8 states and 1 UT of Delhi.
- 7 states touch Assam & Chhattisgarh.
- 6 states touch Maharashtra and Karnataka.
- Meghalaya and Sikkim share boundary with only one state each.