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Nagpur Plateau includes the states of Jharkhand, and parts of Odisha, Bihar and

Chhattisgarh.

It is rich in minerals like coal, iron, mica and manganese. Important coal mines are

present in Giridih (Bihar), Jharia (Jharkhand) and Raniganj (West Bengal). Two
of India’s largest steel plants are located at Bokaro and Bhilai. Panna in Madhya

Pradesh has diamond mines. Many parts of the Chota Nagpur Plateau are covered
with forests.

The Deccan Plateau: Look at the large areas south of

the Satpura Mountains. This is the Deccan Plateau.
It is bound by their Western and Eastern Ghat. It

covers parts of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh,
Odisha, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana,

Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

There are a number of rivers in the area. The Satpura Mountains

Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri flow from west to east and fall into the
Bay of Bengal. This is because most of the land in the Deccan Plateau slope from

west to east.

The Narmada and Tapi rivers flow from east to west and fall into the Arabian sea.

The rivers in the Deccan Plateau are not fed by melting snow, like the rivers of

the Northern Plains. They are fed by rain. Therefore, they have very little water
during the summer months. If the rainfall is not good, they may even dry up during

summers. Such rivers are called seasonal rivers.

The rivers in the region flow much faster than

the rivers of the Northern Plains. Since the land
is uneven, they form a number of waterfalls. The

Jog falls, on the Sharavati river in Karnataka, is
one of the highest waterfall in India.

Jog falls
Rivers like Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri form deltas before flowing into the Bay

of Bengal. These areas are especially good for rice cultivation. Large parts of the

Deccan Plateau have black soil, where cotton and sugarcane grow very well. Dams
have been built on many of these rivers, for examples, the Nagarjuna Sagar Dam is
on the river ‘Krishna’. These dams store water for irrigation and provide electricity.

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