India's landscape organised into five major physical divisions, and the river systems that drain them.
India is divided into five major physiographic units: the Himalayan Mountains (youngest fold mountains, source of perennial rivers); the Northern Plains (fertile alluvial plains formed by the Indus-Ganga-Brahmaputra systems); the Peninsular Plateau (India's oldest and most stable landmass, rich in minerals); the Coastal Plains (narrow western coast vs wider eastern coast, differing due to the Western Ghats' proximity to the sea); and the Islands (Andaman & Nicobar — volcanic/tectonic origin, and Lakshadweep — coral origin).
India's rivers fall into two categories: Himalayan rivers (Indus, Ganga, Brahmaputra) — perennial, snow/glacier-fed, and prone to shifting course due to young, unstable geology; and Peninsular rivers (Godavari, Krishna, Kaveri, Narmada, Tapi) — rain-fed and seasonal, flowing over the older, more stable plateau. Most peninsular rivers flow east into the Bay of Bengal, except the Narmada and Tapi, which flow west into the Arabian Sea through rift valleys.
APPSC tests matching rivers to their basin type (Himalayan vs Peninsular) and the east-vs-west flow direction anomaly of Narmada/Tapi — this pairs directly with the site's existing 'Rivers & Irrigation Projects' (AP-specific) coverage.
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