Geography of Haryana

Haryana has the Shivalik hills in the north and a range of Aravalli hills, in South West which runs through southern Delhi and the Gurgaon district up to Alwar. There are some high ridges running from the north-west to south-east with numerous spurs branching out in all directions. These hills are known as the Morni and Tipra ranges. They belong to the outer ranges of the Himalayas. The important rivers are Yamuna, the Saraswati and the Ghaggar. Several small streams flow through the state they are the Markanda, the Sahibi and Indori. Yamuna is the most important river in the state. It has its source in the hills at Kalesar and is the source of irrigation for large tracts in the districts of Ambala, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Hissar and Rohtak through the western Yamuna canals. 

The rainfall in the region is low and erratic except in parts of the Karmal and Ambala districts. The rainfall is unevenly distributed during the year except for two well marked seasons. One is the monsoon period lasting from the middle of June to the end of September on which autumn crop and spring sowing depend and the other is the winter rains which occur from December to February, benefiting rabi crop. The state occupies a fertile tract of river plain and is the "bread basket of the nation," with irrigation canals and modern crop technology producing nearly a quarter of India's wheat, along with millet, rice, corn, sugar cane, and cotton, and one-third of its milk and dairy foods. Soil is formed almost entirely of alluvium. The state is situated towards the depressions of the rivers Ganges and Indus. It is a broad level plain standing nearly on the watershed between the basins of the two rivers. Machine tools, electrical goods, cement, paper, and bicycles are manufactured in Haryana. Passing through Haryana are the Northern Railroad and the Grand Trunk Road, the most famous highway in India. Described by Rudyard Kipling in his novel Kim, it stretches 2,000 kilometers from all the way to Calcutta.