Day 31 of the cycle · National

India

India occupies the greater part of the Indian subcontinent in South Asia, bordered by Pakistan to the north-west, China, Nepal and Bhutan along the Himalayan north, and Myanmar and Bangladesh to the east. Its coastline runs along the Arabian Sea to the west, the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Indian Ocean to the south, making it the seventh-largest country in the world by area.

Few countries hold as much geographic variety within one border. The Himalayas form a wall of high peaks across the north, giving way to the wide Indo-Gangetic Plain, the arid Thar Desert in the west, and the raised Deccan Plateau across the centre and south, flanked by the Western and Eastern Ghats. Beyond the mainland, the coral islands of Lakshadweep sit in the Arabian Sea and the forested Andaman and Nicobar Islands rise from the Bay of Bengal.

New Delhi, the national capital, lies within the National Capital Territory of Delhi on the banks of the Yamuna River in the north of the country. It serves as the seat of the central government and, together with the wider Delhi metropolitan area, is among the largest urban regions in India.