UTTAR PRADESH

Uttar Pradesh is a state located in the northern part of India. With over 180 million people, it is India’s most populous state, as well as the world’s most populous subnational entity.

Uttar Pradesh covers a large part of the highly fertile and densely populated upper Gangetic plain. It shares an international border with Nepal and is bounded by the Indian states of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar. The administrative and legislative capital of Uttar Pradesh is Lucknow and the financial and industrial capital is Kanpur. The state’s high court is based at Allahabad. It is home to many historical cities, including the tourism capital of India, Agra.

Uttar Pradesh has an important place in the history of ancient India; in those times it was sometimes divided between petty kingdoms or formed important part of larger empires that arose on its east or west, including the Mauryan, Gupta and Kushan empires.

Uttar Pradesh can be divided into two distinct hypsographical regions:

* The Gangetic Plain, including the Ganga-Yamuna Doab, the Ghaghra plains, the Ganga plains and the Terai – highly fertile alluvial soils and flat topography (slope 2 m/km) broken by numerous ponds, lakes and rivers.

* The Vindhya Hills and plateau in the south – hard rock strata; varied topography of hills, plains, valleys and plateau; limited water availability.

The state’s climate is generally humid subtropical, but variations exist due to difference in altitudes.

MINERAL RRESOURCES

Important mineral occurring in the state are coal in Singrauli coalfields, Sonbhadra district; diaspore and pyrophyllite in Hamirpur, Jhansi, Lalitpur and Mahoba districts. Naini area of Allahabad district contains high quality silica sand, an important source of glass sand containing 98% SiO 2 and a very low Fe 2O 3. It is found in Shankargarh, Lohargarh in Allahabad district and also Bargarh in Banda district.

Other minerals that occur in the state are andalusite and calcite in Mirzapur districts; bauxite in Banda and Lalitpur districts; china clay and dolomite in Banda and Sonbhadra districts; feldspar in Jhansi district; fireclay, limestone and potash in Sonbhadra district; ochre in Banda district; Granite in Banda, Lalitpur and Mahoba districts; iron ore (hematite) and rock phosphate in Lalitpur district; and talc/steatite/soapstone in Hamirpur, Lalitpur and Jhansi districts.