ABSTRACT
India is a country of vast diversity, both biological and cultural. Located in the Asian continent at the junction of the bio-geographic provinces of Africa, Eurasia and the Orient (Gadgil 1991), India is bounded on the north by the Himalayas-the most fragile and the highest mountain system in the worldon the south-west by the Arabian Sea and on the south-east by the Bay of Bengal. As a result, India has a multitude of climates, soil types and ecosystems. It also has an astounding diversity of languages, religions and cultures.
