Latitudinal and Longitudinal extent

• Longitudinal and latitudinal extension of India is almost the same but their distance is a bit different on land because distance between two longitudes reduces towards poles while distance between two latitudes remains uniform. Therefore, the expansion along east-west longitude is less in comparison to north-south.
• The actual distance from east to west is 281 km which is less than the actual distance from north to south extent. Thus, the mainland of India is quadrangular in shape.

Impact of Latitudinal Extension

• The Tropic of Cancer divides India into two parts as Southern India and Northern India. Southern part lies in the Tropical Zone and the northern part lies in the Subtropical Zone. So, India is extended between two zones Tropical and subtropical.
• The difference between the duration of the shortest and longest day of year increases as one moves from Southern latitude to Northern latitude.
• There is a difference of 45 minutes between shortest day and longest day in Kerala while a composite difference of 5 hours is found in Leh (Jammu and Kashmir).
• Due to the long distance from the equator, the northern part of India receives less heat from the Sun and the climate is colder than southern India. Whereas, the southern part of India (mainly Kerala and Tamil Nadu) is near to the equator due to which it receives more heat from the Sun. This results in diversity of flora and fauna in our country.

Impact of Longitudinal Extension

• 82° 30' East longitude passes through Naini, Allahabad. This longitude is also called Indian Standard Time.
• The Indian Standard Time divides the country into two halves. It passes almost through the middle of the country. It passes through 5 states of India which includes Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.
• There is a general understanding among the countries of the world to select the standard meridian in multiples of 7°30' E.Hence 82° 30' has been selected as the Standard Meridian of India.
• Due to the Indian Standard Time (IST), watches show the same time everywhere in India. Sun rises in the east in Arunachal Pradesh 2 hours ahead of Gujarat (Kutch).

There is a 30° longitudinal difference between Eastern point Kibithu (Arunachal Pradesh) and Western Point Gaur Mata (Gujarat). So, there is a difference of 2 hours (30°×4 minutes - 120 minutes) between these two points.

• There are some countries which have large east-west extensions due to which they have more than one standard meridian such as the USA has 7 time zones, Russia has 11time zones etc.
• The north-eastern people of India are demanding new time zone i.e. Chaibagaan Time Zone.