GS1Indian heritage and culture, history and geography of the world and society
Physical geography of the world
Syllabus: Salient features of world's physical geography.
Current affairs on this topic 5
- Monsoon 2026 ends 12.6% below normal, India's weakest season since 2015 1 October 2026
A dry June, a strong El Niño and a late rally: how did India end up with a 'deficient' monsoon?
- El Niño, heat deaths and why parched Maharashtra cannot declare drought yet 24 September 2026
Crops are wilting, but the drought manual says wait. Why?
- Monsoon begins withdrawing from west Rajasthan with 43% of India's area rain-deficient 20 September 2026
The monsoon is leaving on time, but 15% short. What decides when it 'withdraws', and what comes next?
- Study finds rapid Himalayan erosion releases CO2 through pyrite oxidation 13 September 2026
Mountains are said to pull carbon out of the air as rocks weather. In the upper Indus, the balance runs the other way.
- UN General Assembly backs the Equal Earth map to show Africa's true size 6 September 2026
On a Mercator map Africa looks about as big as Greenland. It is about 14 times bigger. Does that matter?
Previous-year questions 3
- 2017 · GS1 · 15 marks What characteristics can be assigned to monsoon climate that succeeds in feeding more than 50 percent of the world population residing in Monsoon Asia?
- 2015 · GS1 · 12.5 marks How far do you agree that the behaviour of the Indian monsoon has been changing due to humanising landscape? Discuss.
- 2014 · GS1 · 10 marks Most of the unusual climatic happenings are explained as an outcome of the El-Nino effect. Do you agree?