|
Uttaranchal became the 27th state of the
Republic of India on the 9th of November
2000 . The State is carved out of Uttar
Pradesh. It occupies 17.3% of India 's
total land area with 51,125 sq. km. It
has a population of about 6.0 million at
94.4 per sq. km. It borders Tibet ,
Nepal , Himachal Pradesh.
It lies North West of the state of Uttar
Pradesh. Uttaranchal is a part of the
Western Himalayan ranges starting from
the Shivalik foothills to Greater
Himalayas with Tibet as its northeastern
border. In the northwestern corner of
the state is Himachal Pradesh, while
Haryana celebrates its union with the
newly formed state with a gentle kiss.
The state is surrounded by Uttar Pradesh
for most of its western and southern
boundary. Broadly, Uttaranchal can be
divided into two main parts, mountainous
and hilly regions, foot hills and Bhabar
and Tarai region of plains. The total
geographical area of Uttarnachal
(excluding Hardwar) is 51, 125 sq. kms.,
making border with Himachal Pradesh in
extreme West, Tibet-China in North,
Nepal in East and the plains districts
of Uttar Pradesh in the South. The hilly
part of Uttaranchal constitutes 98% of
total reporting area, out of which alone
forest area constitutes approximately
70% per cent and agriculture area is
approximately 11 per cent. The rest 19
per cent area comes under miscellaneous
categories. From the administration
point of view Uttaranchal is divided
into 13 districts (4 being constituted
only in 1997), 39 tehsils and 89
development blocks .
Apart from the Tarai region in the
Shivalik foothills, the entire state of
Uttaranchal is a part of the Himalayan
ranges. At 7,817 m above sea level,
Nanda Devi in the district of Chamoli is
the highest point in the state. The
region has many glaciers, passes,
meadows, and trekking routes with
several major rivers like the Ganga and
Yamuna originating from here. A major
part of this Himalayan state comes under
rainforests and alpine forests that are
home to some of the highly endangered
wildlife species.
The state has two distinct climatic
regions: the predominant hilly terrain
and the small plain region. The climatic
condition of the plains is very similar
to its counterpart in the Gangetic
plain-that is, tropical. Summers are
unbearable with temperature going over
the 40°C mark and a lot of humidity.
Winters can be chilly with temperatures
going below 5°C at times. The Himalayan
region has Alpine conditions
characterized by cold winters with
snowfall for quite a long time, good
rainfall in the monsoon, and mild
summers. This climate also provides the
state with its only livelihood, i.e.,
tourism.
How to access Bhutan ?
......
|
