India

Country-Profile

  • Population: 1392 Million
  • Capital:New Delhi
  • Area: 3.3 million sq. km
  • Major Language: Hindi
  • Life Expectancy: 70 years [65.8 years (Males); 68.1 years (Females)]
  • Currency: Rupee

Geography

Located in the northern hemisphere, India is a south-Asian country with a total area of about 3.3 MSqKm making it the largest peninsula and the seventh-largest country in the world. India shares her border with Pakistan in the northwest; China, Nepal, and Bhutan in the north; and, Myanmar and Bangladesh in the northeast. The geographical coordinates of India are between 8°4’ and 37°6’ latitudes north of the Equator, and 68° 7’and 97° 25’ longitudes east of standard meridian. India can be divided into four regions: the great mountain zone, plains of the Ganga and the Indus, the desert region, and the southern peninsula.

Population and land use

The population of India was 1,392 Million in mid-2019 according to Population Reference Bureau. India accounts for 18% of the world population. The average population density was 367 inhabitants per Sq.Km. As per the landuse statistics of 2013-14, 141.4 Mha were the net sown area, and 200.9 Mha was the gross cropped area with a cropping intensity of 142%. The net sown area works out to 43% of the total geographical area. India is one of the ten most forest-rich countries of the world. It occupies about 7,08,273 Sq.Km. of the country. The Thar Desert, also known as the Great Indian Desert, is a large arid region in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent that covers an area of 200,000 Sq.Km. and forms a natural boundary between India and Pakistan.

Climate and rainfall

Most of India falls in the tropical zone. It has four seasons: winter (December-February), summer (March-June), southwest monsoon season (June-September), and post-monsoon season (October-November). In India, surface winds undergo a complete reversal from January to July. In winter, dry and cold air from the northern latitudes flow southwest (northeast monsoon), while in summer, warm and humid air originates over the ocean and flows in the opposite direction (southwest monsoon). While Mawsynram (nearby Cherapunji) located in the Meghalaya State in India, is the wettest place in the world, it receives an annual rainfall of 11,871 mm. The average precipitation of the country, however, is about 1105 mm per year. In some states, the temperature in summers rise up to 45°C and minimum temperature decreases could be as low as 15°C. In winters, the average temperature is about 10-15°C. The highest temperature recorded in India so far is 50.6°C in Alwar, Rajasthan. The lowest temperature was recorded in Kashmir at -45°C.

Food and agriculture

The majority of the population of India is engaged in agricultural activities, and agricultural land accounts for nearly 57% of the total land area of the country. In India, the total cultivable area is 169 Mha. Of the 267 million people engaged in agriculture, 32% are women. The major cereals grown in India are rice, wheat, maize, bajra (spiked millet), barley, jowar (great millet), and ragi. India is the world’s second largest producer of Rice, Wheat and other cereals. The production of food grains of 285 MT was achieved during 2018-19.

Irrigation and drainage

Irrigation development has enabled diversification of cropping patterns with crops grown all year round. The expansion of irrigation has not only directly enabled yield increases, it has also facilitated high input, high-yielding agriculture involving the use of chemical fertilizers and high-yielding varieties of wheat rice and maize. The food grain production has increased from about 50 MT in 1951 to 285 MT in 2018-19. Although irrigated crop yields have increased considerably, they are still low compared to those of other countries. The drainage works had also been undertaken on about 5.8 Mha, which was 12% of the irrigated area. On the eastern Ganges plain, investment in surface drainage would probably have a larger productive impact, and at a lower cost, than investment in surface irrigation. The Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) is responsible for laying down policy guidelines and programmes for the development and regulation of the country’s water resources. The ministry’s technical arm, the Central Water Commission (CWC), provides research support for water

Water resources

India accounts for about 4% of the world’s water resources. The two main sources of water in India are rainfall and glacial snowmelt from the Himalayas. Although snow and glaciers are poor producers of freshwater, they are good distributors as they yield at the time of need, in the hot season. Indeed, about 80% of the river flow occurs during the four to five months of the southwest monsoon season. For planning purposes, the country is divided into 20 river units, 14 of which are major river basins, while the remaining 99 river basins have been grouped into six river units. Annual renewable groundwater resources are an estimated 432 BCM, of which around 90% or 390 BCM are considered overlap between surface water and groundwater. As per CWC study (2019), the water resources of the country (Surface water plus groundwater) is assessed as 1999 BCM.

River basins

The river system in India is classified into four groups - Himalayan rivers, deccan rivers, coastal rivers, and rivers of inland drainage. The river system in India has been divided into twelve major basins and eight composite basins. The Himalayan rivers (Ganges, Brahmaputra, Indus) are formed by melting snow and glaciers as well as rainfall and, therefore, are perennial rivers. As the Himalayan region receives heavy rainfall during the monsoon period, the rivers swell and cause floods.The rivers of the deccan plateau (with larger rivers such as Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna, Pennar and Cauvery draining into the Bay of Bengal in the east, and the Narmada and Tapi flowing into the Arabian Sea in the west), make up most of the southern-central part of the country, are rainfed and fluctuate in volume. Some of these rivers are non-perennial.The coastal rivers, especially on the west coast, south of the Tapi, are short with limited catchment areas.

Water policies

India adopted the first National Water Policy in 1987. It was revised in 2002 for the planning and development of water resources at the national level. The policy stresses the need for river basin-based planning of water use. The National Water Policy 2002 seeks a participatory approach for water resources management to optimize the upkeep of the irrigation system and promote the efficient use of irrigation water. The participation of farmers in irrigation management is based on the creation of water user associations (WUAs). In 2012, the National Water Policy was again updated.