My notes

• The purpose of the story is to ease basic concepts related to India and this we do through a hypothetical village called Palaspor
• Farming is the primary occupation whereas industry is secondary in Palaspor
• Electricity powers all activities in Palaspor and is sourced from Palaspor
• The latitudinal extension of India is from 8°N to 37°N
• The longitudinal extension of India is from 68°7'E to 97°25'E
• The most southern point of India is Kanyakumari
• The sun rises two hours earlier in the eastern part of India as compared to the western part, but the watches show the same time
• This happens because India follows a single time zone, which is two hours behind the eastern part of the country
• There is a time difference of two hours between Gujarat in the west and Arunachal Pradesh in the east of India
• Tuesday


  4/6/24
• The sun rises two hours earlier in Arunachal Pradesh as compared to Gujarat in the west but the watches show the same time
• The eastern most longitude of India is 97°25'E in Arunachal Pradesh
• The western most longitude of India is 68°7'E in Gujarat
• The longitudinal distance is about 30°. It means about 30 longitudes pass from east to west through India
• There is a time difference between two consecutive longitudes
• The time difference between Arunachal Pradesh and Gujarat is 30x4 that = 2 hours
• Watches show the same time because the time along the standard meridian of India (82°30'E) is taken as the standard time for the whole country
• Location and size of India

  • India lies entirely in the Northern hemisphere
  • The main land extends between latitudes 8°4'N and 37°6'N and longitudes 68°7'E and 97°25'E
  • The tropic of cancer (23°30'N) divides the country into almost two equal parts
  • To the Southeast and southwest of the mainland lie the Andaman and Nicobar islands and the Lakshadweep islands in Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea respectively
• Standard meridian


  A standard meridian is used to avoid confusion of time. It is the time of the central or standard meridian of a country. Each meridian has its own local time which varies from place to place.
• India's standard meridian (82°30'E) runs north-south through nearly the middle of the country and runs past Mirzapur town in UP
• India is a large country that extends east-west for about 30° of longitude, which means 30 meridians give as many different local times at any given point of time
• To avoid confusion and chaos, the central meridian 82°30'E is accepted as the standard meridian of India and the local time of this meridian is taken as Indian Standard Time (IST)
• The earth rotates on its axis in 24 hours, covering 360°. Each degree of longitude covers 4 minutes.
• Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) refers to the zero degree longitude (London)
• The central meridian 82°30'E is 330 minutes or 5 hours 30 minutes ahead of GMT
• India's central location at the head of the Indian Ocean is considered of great significance as it connects the countries of Europe in the west and the countries of East Asia, providing a strategic central location to India
• The Deccan Peninsula protrudes into the Indian Ocean, thus helping India to establish close contact with West Asia, Africa and Europe from the western coast and with Southeast and East Asia from the eastern coast