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India

India — page 1
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCING INDIA LAND OF CONTRASTS CLIMATE India is the seventh largest country in the world It covers 1 2 square million acres 3 million sq km of south Asia and is a land of huge contrasts The world's highest mountain range the Himalayas lies in the far north In the south the flat fertile Indo Gangetic Plain stretches from Pakistan in the west to Bangladesh in the east The plain is made up largely of the Ganga or Ganges River basin The Great Indian or Thar Desert forms a southern extension of the plain that stretches into Pakistan Peninsular India juts out into the Indian Ocean and has a landscape of mountain ranges and hills India's climate varies from region to region The mountainous north has freezing winters while the Thar desert is very dry and the tropical south is lush and wet India is described as having a monsoon climate which means the seasons depend on the direction of the wind From mid June to early October winds from the Indian Ocean carry moisture across India and bring rain Between November and February dry winds blow in from the interior of Asia From March to June and in October there is le wind A CHANGING COUNTRY The population of India is growing rapidly It reached 1 2 billion in 2012 By contrast when India achieved independence from colonial rule in 1947 the population was just 350 million Once poor and undeveloped India has been one of the fastest growing economies in the world Since the 1990s it produces more goods and services every year However while some people have become very wealthy poverty remains a great problem An estimated quarter of population live on less than 67 a day The town of Darjiling formerly Darjeeling is in the Himalayas The highest mountain in India Kanch mjunga can be the background