Geography of Punjab
Introduction: Punjab is located in the northwest of India surrounded by Pakistan on the west, the Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir on the north,Himachal Pradesh on its northeast, and Haryana and Rajasthan to its south.Roughly triangular in shape, the states extend from 29degree 30N to 32degree 32N latitude and 73degree 55E Logitude.Its small and compact size(50362 sq. km: 1.54% of the country’s total graphical area)lends easy accessibility to all parts of the state a fact that has great significance from the point of view of socio-economic development and defense. its average elevation is 300m from the sea level.Most of the land of Punjab is fertile plain but one can find the south-east region being semi-arid and desert landscapes. A belt of hills extends along the notheast at the foot of the Himalayas.
Physical Features: Although at the macro-regional level, the Punjab plain is predominantly flat and featureless land, it reveals a lot of diversity of relief when viewed from micro–regional levels. The whole Punjab region may be divided into the following landform types: 1. The Shivalik Hills 2. The Plains
1.The Shivalik Hills: The region covers the outer range of Shivalik hills and is approximately 6 to 10 Kms in the width running along the easter border of the state. The Shivalik region covers the easternmost areas of four districts-Rupnagar, Nawanshahr, Hoshiarpur,and Gurdaspur. It run like a wall, N-w to S-E, separating the Himalayas from the plains means separating the Sirsa and Una valley of Himachal Pradesh from the plains. The slope of hills is gentler towards the Punjab plains than the side that faces the Himachal Pradesh.
2.The Plains: The Punjab plain is a part of the great Indo-Gangetic plain that is a synclinal basin formed by the elevations of Himalayas. The Punjab plain lies between 180-300 metres above sea level. The land slopes from east to west. The gradient is much more in the east than in the west. The region covers nearly 70% of the total area of the state.
1.Majha(Upper Bari Doab)
2.Doaba(Best Jaladharb Doab)
3.Malwa plains
Majha(upper Bari Doab): Spreads over 4 districts: Gurdaspur,pathankot,Amritsar and Tarn Taran. It is bounded by river in the west and River Beas in the east and Sutlej in the south.
Doab(Best Jalandhar Doab):is a triangular area between river Beas in the north-west,River Satluj in the south.it slopes south-westward.The region is almost flat. The region has very fertile and mature soils.
Malwa Plains:The region lies between river satluj in the north and river Ghaggar in the south.The areas slopes south-westwards.Malwa plains cover the largest part of punjab.The region spreads over 14 districts: Ferozepur,fridkot,Fazilka,Bathinda,Barnala,Sangrur,Mansa,Patiala,Mohali,Moga,muktsar,Ludhiana,Rupnagar and Fatehgarh sahib.
Soils:In Punjab, the soil characteristics are influenced to a very limited extent by the topography vegetation and parent rock.The variation in soil profile characteristics is much more pronounced because of the regional climatic differences. Punjab is divided into three distinct regions on the basis of soils types.The regions are: South-Western Punjab Central Punjab and Eastern Punjab Punjab falls under seismic zones II, III, and IV Zones II and III are referred to as low damage risk zone while zone IV referred to as high damage risk zone. The three major seasons in punjab are summer,rainy, and winter.
ClimateThe three major seasons in Punjab are:summer, rainy and winter.The climate of the plains is excessively hot and dry between April and August with temperatures as high as 49centigrate.The rains of the monsoon season begin at the end of june and continue till august.
DrainageThe Indian Punjab was left with only three rivers Sutlej,Beas and Ravi after partition.Sutlej rises on the north slope of the himalayas in lake Langa in south western Tibet and crosses Himachal Pradesh before beginning its flow throgh the Punjab plain near Nangal.
, The state has number of small medium and large scale industrial units. Major industries in the state include metals manufacturing textiles hosiery yarn sports goods hand tools bicycles and light engineering goods.
AgriculturePartap Singh Karion hit the nail right on its head when he said,’we have no culture we have agriculture.Agriculture is indeed the backbone of Punjab’s economy.
Canal System and Multipurpose projects in Punjab Punjab are served with an excellent canal network. The total length of canals and the distributaries in the state is about 4600 kilometers.
Upper-Bari Doab Canal(UBDC)It takes off from river Ravi at Madhopur.It was constructed by Maharaja Ranjit Singh and later renovated and extended during the early days of the British Raj in 1859. It is divided into three principal branches: the main branch, Kasur branch and abrasion branch.
Best Doab canal area between the rivers beas and the Sutlej has only one canal system.It is the best doab canal which takes off the right bank of the river Sutlej at ropar.
Sirhind CanalThis canal system is one of the biggest in the country. It irrigates vast areas in mansa Muktsar Bhatinda fridkot firozepur sangur barnala patiala and ludhiana district.
Bhaskara CanalThe biggest landmark in the Punjab irrigation system is the bhakta canal with its headworks at Nangal. It is a part of the Bhakra Nangal project that is India’s biggest multipurpose river valley scheme.
Makhu CanalA barrage at harike across the river satluj,nearly 3 km below the confluence of rivers Beas and satluj has been constructed.The work started in 1950 and the crank became functional in 1958.
Shah Nahar Canal: This canal takes off from the left bank of the river beas about 6.5 km downstream of the pond dam.It provides water to the semi hilly areas of Himachal Pradesh and the adjoining areas of the Hoshiarpur district in Punjab.
Harike Wildlife SancturyIt is situated on Amritsar-Firozpur road. The area of the sanctuary is 86 sq km.It is a Ramasr site ramasar convention is a convention on wetlands of international importance adopted in irnian city of ramasar in 1971 and came into force in 1975 of international importance.
Industry:
The absence of basic raw materials and great distances involved to transport coal to the state have been the two major geographical impediments in the development of industrial sector especially the basic and heavy industry.Major factors for the growth of small and medium industrial units are the excellent transportation facilities social fracture government polices including lucrative for the new business.
Power:
The progress in the economy is proportional to the availability of power.Punjab gets its power supply from three resources. These are its own hydro and thermal projects which contribute about 52% of the total supply. common pool projects mean that several states have pooled their resources for the development of these projects and are sharing the power according to their investment like the bhakta Nangal project.