ADVANTAGES and disadvantages of LATITUDINAL AND LONGITUDINAL EXTENT FOR INDIA
Answers
The latitudinal extent of India is 6 Degree 45 Minutes North to 37 Degree
6 Minutes North
The latitudinal extent of India’s Mainland is 8 Degree 4 Minutes North to
37 Degree 6 Minutes North
Its implications are-
i. The tropic of cancer (23 Degree 30 Minutes North) divides
India into nearly two equal parts. The southern half lies in
the hot tropical zone whereas the northern half lies in the
warm temperate/ sub tropical zone.
ii. Temperature generally decreases with increasing latitude.
The tropical part (peninsular India) of India being near to the
equator has warm and tropical climatic conditions with no
distinct winter. The sub tropical part (northern India) has a
more or less extreme climate i.e. hot summers and cold
winters. This variation in climate from warm Kerala to cold
Kashmir is mainly due to large latitudinal extent.
iii. The difference in the duration of day and night also
increases from South to North. It is less than one hour
difference (about 45 minutes) at Kanyakumari but reaches
nearly 5 hours in the extreme north of Kashmir.
The longitudinal extent of India is 68 Degree 7 minutes East to 97 Degree 25
Its implications are-
i. India’s longitudinal extent places it almost in the middle of
ii. The longitudinal extent of India is about 30 Degrees for every
the eastern hemisphere. It occupies the south central
peninsula of Asia at the head of the Indian Ocean.
15 Degrees of longitudinal difference, there is a
corresponding time difference of one hour. As a result of this
variation, Arunachal Pradesh is nearly 2 hours ahead of
Gujarat in local time. In order to avoid this difference of 2
hours, 82 Degree 30 Minutes longitude has been selected as
the standard meridian of India. This meridian gives the
Indian Standard Time (IST) and passes through Mirzapur near
Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh