CLASS – VI Social Science Chapter Name: Our Country: India

General Instructions:
1. Read the NCERT Geography Textbook Ch-7 ‘Our Country- India’.
2. Take printout of the Question-Answers given below and save them in a file.

Q1. Name the major physical divisions of India.

Ans. The major physical divisions of India are:
i. The Himalayas
ii. The Northern Indian Plains
iii. The Great Indian Desert
iv. The Peninsular Plateau
v. The Coastal Plains
vi. Islands – The Lakshadweep Islands and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

Q2. ‘India shares its land boundaries with 7 countries.’ Name them.
Ans, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka.

Q3. Which two major rivers fall into the Arabian Sea? Ans.
Narmada and Tapi.

Q4. Name the delta formed by the Ganga and the Brahmaputra.
Ans. The Ganga and the Brahmaputra forms the world’s largest delta, the Sundarbans delta.
Q5. How many states and Union Territories are there in India? Which states have a common capital?
Ans. There are 28 states and 8 Union Territories in India. States like Haryana and Punjab have a common
capital i.e. Chandigarh and Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have a common capital i.e. Hyderabad.
Q6. Describe the geographical extent of India.
Ans. i) India has an area of about 3.28 million sq.km.
ii) The north-south extent from Kashmir to Kanyakumari is about 3200 km.
iii) The east-west extent from Arunachal Pradesh to Kuchchh is about 2900 km.
iv) The lofty mountains, the Great Indian Desert, the Northern Indian Plains, the uneven plateau surface
and the coasts & islands present a diversity of landforms.

Q7. Mention the political and administrative division of India.

Ans. India is a vast country. Hence for administrative purpose, it is divided into 28 states and 8 union territories.
a. Delhi is the capital of India.
b. The formation of states has been made on the basis of language.
c. Rajasthan is the largest state while Goa is the smallest.
d. These states have been further into districts.
Q8. State the location, latitudinal and longitudinal extent of India.
Ans. i) India is located in the Northern Hemisphere.
ii) The Tropic of cancer (23.50 degrees North) passes almost halfway through the
country. iii) From south to north, India extends between 84-degree North and 37°6’N
latitudes. iv) From west to east, India extends between 68° 7’E and97°25’E longitudes.
Q9. Write a short note on the Indian Peninsular.
Ans. i) The Peninsular Plateau lies to the south of the Northern Plains.
ii) It is triangular in shape and is surrounded by oceans on three sides. iii) It is rocky and uneven. iv) The
main rivers of peninsular India are Narmada, Tapi, (west flowing rivers that drain into the Arabian sea,
Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri (east flowing rivers that drain into the Bay of Bengal). v) The
plateau is rich in minerals like coal & iron-ore.

Q10. Why is Lakshadweep known as a coral island?

Ans. Lakshadweep islands are located in the Arabian Sea. Corals are skeletons of tiny marine animals called
polyps. When the living polyps die, other polyps grow on top of their hard skeletons. They grow higher and
higher and thus form coral islands.
Q11. What are Plains? How are Northern Indian Plains formed?

Ans. Plains are large stretches of level and flat land. The Northern Indian Plains lie to the south of the
Himalayas. These are formed by the alluvial deposits laid down by the rivers – the Indus, the Ganga, the
Brahmaputra and their tributaries.
Q12. Name the Great Indian Desert. Write a short note on it.
Ans. i) The Great Indian Desert, also known as ‘Thar Desert’ lies in the western part of India.
ii) It is a dry, hot and sandy stretch of land. iii) Due to
less rain, this land has very little vegetation.

Q13. Why do a large number of people live in the Northern Plains?

Ans. Large number of people live in Northern Plains because:
i.It has flat, fertile land for agriculture.
ii.Water is easily available.

iii.Developed mans of communication and

transport. iv.Plains have favorable/moderate
temperature.

Q14. Distinguish between Western and Eastern Ghats. Ans.

Western Ghats
1. They form the Western boundary of peninsular
plateau.
2. They are continuous, broader and called as
Sahyadri.
3. There height varies from 1000 m to 1600 m.
Eastern Ghats
1. They form the Eastern boundary of peninsular
plateau.
2. They are broken and uneven.
3. There height varies from 300 to 900 m.

Q15. Differentiate between Eastern Coastal Plains and the Western Coastal Plains. Ans.
 Eastern Coastal Plains Western Coastal Plains
1. They are broad. 1. They are narrow.
2. They are directed by a number of rivers. 2. They have two main rivers.
3. The rivers form delta. 3. The rivers form estuaries.
4. They lie between Bay of Bengal and Eastern 4. They lie between Arabian Sea and Western
Ghats. Ghats.

*Estuaries and their surrounding wetlands are bodies of water usually found where rivers meet the sea.

Q16. Explain the physical features of India.

OR
Describe the three main parallel ranges of Himalayas.
Ans. India is marked as a diversity of physical features:
1. In the North are the lofty snowcapped mountains- Himalayas: It means the abode of snow: the
Himalayan mountains are divided into three main parallel ranges:
a) The Northern most in the great Himalayas or Himadri. The world's highest peaks are located here.
b) The middle Himalayas or Himachal lies to the South of Himadri. Many popular hill stations are
located here.
c) The Shivaliks is the Southernmost range.
2. The Northern Indian plains lie to the south of the Himalayas.
3. These are generally level and flat. These are formed by alluvial deposits laid down by the rivers. These
river plains provide fertile land for cultivation.

Q17. Which two island groups are a part of India? Mention their location.
Ans. There are two groups of islands which are a part of India, also known as Island neighbors of India.
1. Lakshadweep Islands
• are located in the Arabian Sea.
• These are coral islands located off the coast of Kerala.

2. Andaman and Nicobar Islands

• Lie to the southeast of the Indian mainland in the Bay of Bengal.
• They comprise about 550 islands.
These islands are actually the peaks of submerged volcanic mountains

Q18. What does the word ‘Himalaya’ mean? Ans.

Him + alaya means ‘the abode of snow’.

Q19. What is the Standard Meridian of India?

Ans. The local time of longitude of 82°30'E has been taken as the Indian Standard Time. This meridian or
longitude is also termed as the Standard Meridian of India.
 The Indian States and their Capitals

At Present India now has 28 States and 8 Union Territories. The erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir has
been bifurcated into two Union Territories (UT) of J&K and Ladakh. The newly formed union territories have
been formed under a reorganization act passed by the Parliament on 5-6 August 2020. At present India has 8
Union Territories.
India has a total of 28 states and 8 union territories. The 28 Indian States and their capitals are as follows.
The Indian States and their Capitals

State Name Capital

Andhra Pradesh Amaravati

Arunachal Pradesh Itanagar

Assam Dispur

Bihar Patna

Chhattisgarh Raipur

Goa Panaji

Gujarat Gandhinagar

Haryana Chandigarh

Himachal Pradesh Shimla

Jharkhand Ranchi

Karnataka Bengaluru

Kerala Thiruvananthapuram

Madhya Pradesh Bhopal

Maharashtra Mumbai

Manipur Imphal

Meghalaya Shillong
Mizoram Aizawl

The Indian States and their Capitals

State Name Capital

Nagaland Kohima
Odisha Bhubaneswar

Punjab Chandigarh

Rajasthan Jaipur

Sikkim Gangtok

Tamil Nadu Chennai

Telangana Hyderabad

Tripura Agartala

Uttar Pradesh Lucknow

Dehradun (Winter)
Uttarakhand
Bhararisain (Summer)

West Bengal Kolkata

Since 26th January 2020, India had 8 union territories. The U.T Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli have
become a single union territory.
On August 5, the central government had also announced the abrogation of the special status given to Jammu
and Kashmir under Article 370 and its division into two Union Territories i.e. UTs of Jammu and Kashmir, and
Ladakh.
With the merger of Daman and Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, the number of UT's have come down to
eight.

Union Territories Name Capital

Andaman and Nicobar Islands Port Blair

Chandigarh Chandigarh

Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu Daman

Delhi New Delhi

Srinagar (Summer) Jammu

Jammu and Kashmir
(Winter)

Lakshadweep Kavaratti

Puducherry Pondicherry

Ladakh Leh

CH-7 ‘OUR COUNTRY- INDIA’

Q1. On an outline map of India, mark the following.

(a) Tropic of Cancer
(b) Standard Meridian of India
(c) State in which you live
(d) Andaman Islands and Lakshadweep Islands
(e) Western Ghats and Eastern Ghats
 DELHI

LAKSHAADWEEP ANDAMAN AND

ISLAND NICOBAR ISLANDS
Political Map of India (States and Union Territories), India and its Neighbors
Major Physical Divisions of India