Uttarakhand - Department of Land Resources

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Uttarakhand is located between 28 o 43' – 31 o 27' N latitudes and 77 o 34' – 81 o 02' E
longitudes. The river Tons separates the state from Himachal Pradesh in the northwest,
whereas the river Kali separates it from Nepal in the east. The greater
Himalaya is the northern boundary of the state and is also the international border
with China (Tibet). Foot-hills in the south are bound by Uttar Pradesh. Starting from
the foot hills in the south, the state extends upto the snow-clad peaks of the Himadri
making the Indo-Tibetan boundary. The region, being situated centrally in the long
sweep of the Himalaya, forms a transitional zone between the per-humid eastern
and the dry to sub-humid western Himalaya. Uttarakhand became the 27th state of
the Republic of India on 9 November 2000. Historically, Uttarakhand is believed to
be the land where Vedas and the Shastras were composed and the great epic, the
Mahabharata, was written.
The average annual rainfall of the state, as recorded is 1,547 mm. With an altitudinal
variation ranging from 200m to more than 8,000m above mean sea level. The
climate of the state is quite harsh particularly in winter when temperature goes
occasionally below freezing point in many of the subdivisions of the state.
The state of Uttarakhand, embodying the Kumaon and Garhwal Himalayas with a
geographical area of about 53,485 sq. km, supports a human population of
84,79,562 (Census 2001) persons. The state, also comprising two administrative
divisions - Garhwal and the Kumaon, consists of 13 districts–Dehradun, Uttarkashi,
Chamoli, Dehradun, Pauti Garhwal, Tehri Garhwal, Rudraprayag, Haridwar (in
Garhwal Division), Almora, Pithoragarh, Nainital, Bageshwar, Champawat and
Udham Singh Nagar (in Kumaon Division). It is further divided into 46 tehsils, 73
towns, and 95 development blocks, 7541 Gram Sabhas, and 671 Nyay Panchayats
and 16826 inhabited villages. The population constitutes 0.83% and 21.40% of the
total population of Indian Republic and Indian Himalayan Region (IHR), respectively.
Within an altitudinal variation ranging from 200 m to more than 8000 m above msl,
the state comprises five lithotectonically and physiographically distinct subdivisions
namely, the Outer Himalaya comprising the Tarai and Bhabhar, Sub-Himalayan belt
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