Hinglish

Framing the Neighbourhood

Class 7 Social Science · Chapter 14: India and Her Neighbours · NCERT Exploring Society: India and Beyond section 14.1

Learn

When Kabir hears "neighbour", he thinks of the family next door. For a country, the traditional idea is a nation sharing a land border. In that sense India's neighbours are Pakistan and Afghanistan in the northwest, China's region of Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan in the north, and Bangladesh and Myanmar in the east. India's land boundary runs over 15,100 km through deserts, plains, forests, mountains, marshes and river valleys.

India is also a maritime nation, with sea on three sides and a coastline of about 11,100 km. A maritime neighbour is linked to us by a shared sea, even without a land border: Sri Lanka and the Maldives are closest, and Iran, Oman, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia are part of the wider neighbourhood. The Indian Ocean carries half the world's container ships and two-thirds of its oil. India's peninsula reaches deep into it, linking Southeast Asia, West Asia and Africa and letting India send quick disaster relief. Working together across a region is regionalism.

Explore: land or sea?

  1. Sort each country.

Remember

  • Land neighbours share borders; maritime neighbours are linked across the sea.
  • India's long coastline and central place in the Indian Ocean make her a regional link.

Quick check

Which country is India's maritime neighbour?

  1. Sri Lanka
  2. Nepal
  3. Bhutan
  4. Afghanistan
Answer

Sri Lanka. Myanmar is both: it shares a land border and a sea boundary.

Think about it

Is a country that shares no border still a neighbour? Why?

One answer

Yes, if the sea links them: shared waters mean shared trade, culture, weather and disasters like tsunamis, so they must cooperate like neighbours.

Practice

Practise with fresh questions at three levels (easy, medium, hard), some answered hands-on, with hints and worked answers. Get 4 of your last 5 right to finish the topic.