Earth Science Journals

Description of the country:

India is the seventh largest country in the world in terms of area which makes it an obvious place to have vast geographical features. It lies on the Indian Plate, a northern portion of the Indo-Australian Plate. The Indian subcontinent is surrounded by three different water bodies and is easily recognisable on the world map. India’s longest border is with Bangladesh while the shortest border is with Afghanistan. India can be divided into four physical divisions. They are: 1) The Northern Mountains 2) The North Indian Plain 3) The Peninsular Plateau 4) The Coastal regions and Islands. The Himalayan Mountains form the northern mountain region of India. They are the highest mountain ranges in the world. The North Indian plain is also called the Gangetic plain.

Geography of the country:

Geographically, India is the seventh largest country of the world with an area of 32,87,263 sq km. India accounts for about 2.4 per cent of the total surface area of the world. India has 15106.7 Km of land border running through 92 districts in 17 States and a coastline of 7516.6 Km [6100 km of mainland coastline + coastline of 1197 Indian islands] touching 13 States and Union Territories (UTs). The southernmost point of the country is the Pygmalion Point or Indira Point is located at 6° 45′ N latitude. North-south extent from Indira Col in Kashmir to Kanniyakumari is 3,214 km. East-west width from the Rann of Kachachh to Arunachal Pradesh is 2,933 km.

Status of economy, research and development:

India is a developing country and the economy is a mixed economy where the public sector co-exists with the private sector. India is likely to be the third largest economy with a GDP size of $15 trillion by 2030. The economy of India is currently the world’s fourth largest in terms of real GDP (purchasing power parity) after the USA, China and Japan and the second fastest growing major economy in the world after China. Indian economy growth rate is estimated to be around seven to eight percent by year 2015-16. Aligning with the Make in India agenda of the Government, the Department has initiated a programme to promote development of advance manufacturing technologies in the country.

Status about the different subjects in which extensive research is going on:

The areas include robotics and automation, nano-materials, precision manufacturing, etc. UV Imaging Telescope developed by Indian Institute of Astrophysics is one of the payloads on ASTROSAT which has been recently launched by ISRO. Telescope has started giving images and calibration is being done by ISRO. The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) is a planned, eighteen story, astronomical observatory and extremely large telescope to be built on the summit of Mauna Kea in the state of Hawaii. The telescope has government-level support from several R&D spending nations: China, Japan, Canada and India. The observatory and telescope are expected to be operational on Mauna Kea by 2024. India belongs to the select group of countries who have developed indigenous nuclear technology. India is among the few countries which have developed ballistic missiles. In the field of space science, India has the capability to launch GSLV satellite. India's achievements in the field of IT and software are recognized all over the world. Scientific research conducted in India by Indian citizens have transformed the way the world works, from healing and eradicating lethal diseases to understanding the world. Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam is remembered as a great scientist, an inspirational leader and an extraordinary human being. As a scientist, Kalam made an effort to develop the Polar SLV and SLV-III projects between the 1970s and 1990s. Both of which proved to be success. Numerous earth journals are published from India with good reputation. Several leading Institution in the country including Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad.