Geography Previous Year Questions (PYQ) with Answers

The correct answer is B, Bhopal. Bhopal stands at about 23.3° North, so of the four cities it lies nearest to the 24° parallel. Bhopal is the capital of Madhya Pradesh, and the Tropic of Cancer, at 23½° North, runs across the state just to the north of the city, which is why this belt of latitude is linked with Bhopal in examinations. A is wrong because Patna, the capital of Bihar, lies near 25.6° North, more than one and a half degrees away. C is wrong because Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh, lies near 21.2° North, almost three degrees to the south. D is wrong because Dispur, the capital of Assam, lies near 26.1° North and is the farthest of the four from the given latitude. One degree of latitude is about 111 km on the ground, so these differences are large. Exam tip: the Tropic of Cancer crosses eight states — Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Tripura and Mizoram.

The correct answer is B, Puducherry with its units at Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe, and Yanam. Puducherry is the only Union Territory spread over both coasts of India. Puducherry and Karaikal lie on the east coast within Tamil Nadu, Yanam lies on the east coast in Andhra Pradesh, and Mahe lies on the west (Malabar) coast within Kerala. All four were French settlements; they came to India in 1954 and formally became part of India in 1962. Option A is wrong because the Andaman and Nicobar Islands lie only in the Bay of Bengal, on the eastern side. Option C is wrong because Lakshadweep lies only in the Arabian Sea, off the Kerala coast. Option D is wrong because Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu lie only on the western side, near Gujarat and Maharashtra. Exam tip: Puducherry has four districts in three states: Puducherry and Karaikal (Tamil Nadu), Yanam (Andhra Pradesh) and Mahe (Kerala).

The correct answer is C, Jaisalmer. A khadin is a long earthen embankment built across the lower end of a sloping field, so that rainwater running off the higher rocky ground collects behind it. The water soaks into the soil during the monsoon, and in winter crops such as wheat and gram are grown on the moist bed without any further irrigation, while wells below the bund also get recharged. The system is credited to the Paliwal Brahmins of Jaisalmer, who developed it around the 15th century, and it suits the district's stony, sloping land and very low rainfall. It is one of the best examples of runoff farming in the Thar. Option A is wrong because Nagaur is not the home of the khadin system. Option B is wrong because Bikaner is known for other rainwater structures, such as the kund and the kui. Option D is wrong because Pali, on the eastern side of the Luni basin, is not where khadins developed. Exam tip: khadin, Paliwal Brahmins, Jaisalmer; kund and tanka store rainwater; kui taps seepage water.

The correct answer is D, A-iv, B-i, C-ii, D-iii. The Rapti rises in Nepal, flows past Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh and joins the Ghaghra, which then meets the Ganga. The Tista, or Teesta, rises from glaciers in Sikkim, cuts through the Darjeeling hills and joins the Brahmaputra, known there as the Jamuna, in Bangladesh. The Hiran is a small tributary of the Narmada that joins it from the north in Madhya Pradesh. The Purna rises in the Ajanta hills of Maharashtra and joins the Godavari; do not confuse it with another Purna that joins the Tapi. Option A is wrong because it sends the Tista to the Narmada and the Purna to the Brahmaputra. Option B is wrong because it links the Rapti with the Brahmaputra and the Hiran with the Godavari. Option C is wrong because it makes the Rapti a tributary of the Godavari. Exam tip: Rapti–Ghaghra, Tista–Brahmaputra, Hiran–Narmada, Purna–Godavari, and a second Purna joins the Tapi.

The correct answer is A, A-ii, B-iii, C-iv, D-i. The Gobi is a cold desert of Asia spread over Mongolia and northern China, and it is famous for its dinosaur fossils. Patagonia lies in southern Argentina in South America; it is a rain-shadow desert, dry because the Andes block the moist westerly winds coming from the Pacific. The Great Victoria Desert is the largest desert of Australia, stretching across Western Australia and South Australia. The Kalahari covers most of Botswana and parts of Namibia and South Africa, in southern Africa. Paper setters like Patagonia because it lies on the eastern side of its continent, while most hot deserts lie on the western margins, next to cold ocean currents. Option B is wrong because it puts the Gobi in Australia and Patagonia in Asia. Option C is wrong because it places Patagonia in southern Africa and the Victoria Desert in South America. Option D is wrong because it gives every desert the wrong continent. Exam tip: Gobi–Asia, Patagonia–South America, Great Victoria–Australia, Kalahari–southern Africa.

The correct answer is B, Pacific and Indian Ocean. The Southern Oscillation is a see-saw in air pressure between the tropical eastern Pacific and the Indian Ocean: when pressure is high over one, it is low over the other. Sir Gilbert Walker, head of the India Meteorological Department, identified it in the 1920s while trying to forecast the monsoon, and it is measured by the pressure difference between Tahiti in the Pacific and Darwin in northern Australia. When pressure over the eastern Pacific becomes lower than over the Indian Ocean, El Niño tends to develop and the Indian monsoon often weakens, which is why the two are studied together as ENSO, the El Niño Southern Oscillation. Option A is wrong because the partner of the Pacific in this see-saw is the Indian Ocean, not the Atlantic. Option C is wrong because the Pacific, the key player, is missing from this pair. Option D is wrong because option B describes the pattern correctly. Exam tip: Southern Oscillation, Pacific and Indian Ocean, Tahiti–Darwin pressure, found by Gilbert Walker.

The correct answer is C, Gorges. In its upper course a river flows fast down steep slopes, so it cuts downward into the rock more than it spreads sideways. This vertical erosion makes deep, narrow valleys with steep sides: V-shaped valleys and, where the rock is hard, gorges. Waterfalls and rapids also belong to this young stage of a river. A famous example is the Indus gorge in the Himalayas, and the Narmada flows through a marble gorge at Bhedaghat near Jabalpur. A is wrong because oxbow lakes form in the lower course, when a loop of a meander is cut off from the main channel. B is wrong because meanders, the wide loops of a river, form in the middle and lower course, where the land is gentle and the river swings sideways. D is wrong because floodplains form in the lower course, where the river spreads out and leaves silt during floods. Exam tip: upper course, V-shaped valley, gorge and waterfall; lower course, meander, oxbow lake, floodplain and delta.

The correct answer is D, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka. The Nilgiri Hills, the 'Blue Mountains', rise where the borders of these three states meet, at the junction of the Western and Eastern Ghats. Their highest peak is Doddabetta (2,637 m), near Ooty (Udhagamandalam) in Tamil Nadu. The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, set up in 1986, was India's first biosphere reserve and covers parts of all three states. The hills are home to the Toda tribe and the Nilgiri tahr. A is wrong because Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh lie in the Himalayas, which are young fold mountains far to the north. B is wrong because the Gujarat-Rajasthan-Haryana belt is the region of the Aravallis, among India's oldest fold mountains, but they are not the Nilgiris. C is wrong because Assam, Nagaland and Tripura are in the north-east, far from these southern hills. Exam tip: the Nilgiris join the Western and Eastern Ghats at the Tamil Nadu-Kerala-Karnataka tri-junction; the highest peak is Doddabetta.

The correct answer is C, Cherrapunji and Mawsynram. Both are in the East Khasi Hills of Meghalaya and each gets well over 1,080 cm of rain in a year. The Bay of Bengal branch of the south-west monsoon enters a funnel-shaped valley south of the Khasi Hills, is forced to rise sharply and pours its moisture on the windward slopes. Mawsynram, about 15 km west of Cherrapunji (Sohra), is usually counted as the wettest place on Earth, with an average near 1,187 cm. A is wrong because Mahabaleshwar in Maharashtra and Neriamangalam in Kerala are rainy places in the Western Ghats but get far less rain. B is wrong because Gangtok is the capital of Sikkim and Amboli is a Maharashtra hill station, and neither comes close to that total. D is wrong because Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh and Agumbe in Karnataka, called the 'Cherrapunji of the South', also receive much less. Exam tip: the wettest pair is Mawsynram and Cherrapunji, both on the windward side of Meghalaya's Khasi Hills.

The correct answer is C, 14°N. In the summer months the tropical easterly jet stream blows over peninsular India at about 14°N, some 15 km above the ground, and it moves from east to west. It appears only after the subtropical westerly jet has withdrawn north of the Himalayas and the upper air circulation over India has reversed, and it helps the south-west monsoon burst and keep going; it is strongest over the southern peninsula and the Arabian Sea. Option A is wrong because 24°N crosses central India, well north of the jet's summer core. Option B is wrong because 30°N is roughly where the subtropical westerly jet sits over the northern plains in winter, not where the easterly jet blows. Option D is wrong because 28°N is near the latitude of Delhi, again a winter westerly position. Exam tip: in winter the subtropical westerly jet lies at about 25°N to 30°N south of the Himalayas, and in summer the tropical easterly jet lies at about 14°N over the peninsula.

The correct answer is C, Kali and Teesta. The Himalayas, about 2,400 km long, are divided from west to east into regions marked by river valleys, and the Nepal Himalayas lie between the Kali in the west and the Teesta in the east. This is the highest stretch of the whole range and holds Mount Everest as well as Kanchenjunga on the Nepal–Sikkim border. The Kali forms the border between Uttarakhand and Nepal, and the Teesta flows through Sikkim before entering West Bengal. Option A is wrong because the Sutlej and the Dihang together cover almost the whole range and do not mark any single section. Option B is wrong because the land between the Sutlej and the Kali is the Kumaon Himalayas. Option D is wrong because the land between the Teesta and the Dihang is the Assam Himalayas. West of the Sutlej, up to the Indus, lie the Punjab Himalayas, also called the Kashmir and Himachal Himalayas. Exam tip: Indus–Sutlej Punjab, Sutlej–Kali Kumaon, Kali–Teesta Nepal, Teesta–Dihang Assam.

The correct answer is C, Hindan. The Hindan rises in the Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh, flows south past Ghaziabad and joins the Yamuna near Greater Noida, on its left bank. The Yamuna is the longest tributary of the Ganga; it rises at the Yamunotri glacier and meets the Ganga at Prayagraj. Its left-bank tributaries, such as the Hindan, the Rind and the Sengar, come from the plains between the Yamuna and the Ganga. Its right-bank tributaries come from the south, from the Malwa plateau and Bundelkhand. Option A is wrong because the Chambal, which flows through the ravines of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, joins the Yamuna from the right. Option B is wrong because the Ken, which flows through Panna in Madhya Pradesh, is a right-bank tributary. Option D is wrong because the Betwa, rising near Bhopal, also joins the Yamuna from the right, near Hamirpur. Exam tip: Yamuna right bank: Chambal, Sind, Betwa, Ken; left bank: Hindan, Rind, Sengar.

The correct answer is C, (ii) (iii) (i) (iv). The Kaveri rises at Talakaveri in the Brahmagiri hills of Kodagu in Karnataka; the Sabarmati begins in the Aravalli hills of Mewar in Udaipur district of Rajasthan; the Tapti rises near Multai in Betul district, on the Satpura range of Madhya Pradesh; and the Damodar starts on the Chhotanagpur plateau of Jharkhand. An easy way to check: the Tapti and the Narmada are the two big west-flowing rift-valley rivers of central India, while the Damodar, once called the Sorrow of Bengal, is a river of the eastern coal belt. Option A is wrong because it sends the Kaveri to the Satpuras and the Tapti to the Mewar hills. Option B is wrong because it puts the Kaveri in the Mewar hills and the Sabarmati on the Chhotanagpur plateau. Option D is wrong because it links the Kaveri with Chhotanagpur and the Damodar with the Satpuras. Exam tip: Kaveri–Brahmagiri, Sabarmati–Mewar, Tapti–Multai on the Satpuras, Damodar–Chhotanagpur.

The correct answer is C, a-iii, b-i, c-ii, d-iv. Gua and Noamundi, in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand, are well-known iron ore mines of the Singhbhum–Keonjhar belt, which feeds steel plants such as the one at Jamshedpur. Balaghat district in Madhya Pradesh has the Malanjkhand copper mine, one of India's largest open-cast copper mines. The Amarkantak plateau, where the Narmada and the Son rise, has rich bauxite deposits, the ore of aluminium. Nellore district in Andhra Pradesh is a leading mica belt of India, along with Koderma in Jharkhand and Bhilwara in Rajasthan. Option A is wrong because it gives copper to Amarkantak and bauxite to Balaghat. Option B is wrong because it places iron ore at Amarkantak and bauxite at Gua and Noamundi. Option D is wrong because it puts iron ore at Balaghat, copper at Gua and Noamundi, and mica at Amarkantak. Exam tip: Gua–Noamundi iron ore, Malanjkhand (Balaghat) copper, Amarkantak bauxite, Nellore and Koderma mica.

The correct answer is B, Nilgiri Hills. The Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats meet in the Nilgiri Hills, near the point where Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka come together. The Western Ghats run as an almost unbroken wall along the west coast, while the Eastern Ghats are broken into separate hills by rivers such as the Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri that flow into the Bay of Bengal. The Nilgiris hold Doddabetta (2,637 m), their highest peak, and the hill station of Udhagamandalam (Ooty). The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, set up in 1986, was India's first biosphere reserve. Option A is wrong because the Cardamom Hills lie further south, along the Kerala–Tamil Nadu border, and belong to the Western Ghats alone. Option C is wrong because Mudumalai is a national park and tiger reserve on the slopes of the Nilgiris, not the meeting point. Option D is wrong because the correct answer, the Nilgiri Hills, is among the options. Exam tip: the two Ghats meet at the Nilgiris; the highest peak of peninsular India is Anamudi (2,695 m) in the Anaimalai Hills.

The correct answer is C, Mizoram. The NCERT Class 11 geography book describes Mizoram as the 'Molassis basin', made up of soft, unconsolidated deposits. Molasse is a geologists' word for soft sediments washed down from rising mountains and laid down in a basin; in Mizoram these young rocks were later folded into the north–south ridges of the Purvanchal hills that run along India's eastern border. Because the rocks are soft, the hills of Mizoram are prone to landslides in the monsoon. The Purvanchal also includes the Patkai hills, the Naga hills and the Manipur hills, and the Barak is an important river of Manipur and Mizoram. A is wrong because Tripura is not the state given this name. B is wrong because Assam is mostly the flat Brahmaputra valley. D is wrong because the Meghalaya plateau, with the Garo, Khasi and Jaintia hills, is an old block of hard rock that belongs to the Peninsular plateau. Exam tip: NCERT line: Mizoram = 'Molassis basin'; Meghalaya = detached part of the Peninsular plateau.

The correct answer is D, Brahmaputra river. National Waterway 2 is the Brahmaputra from Dhubri to Sadiya in Assam, a stretch of 891 km declared in 1988. It carries cargo and passengers through the Brahmaputra valley and connects with Bangladesh through the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol route. National Waterway 1, the Ganga–Bhagirathi–Hooghly system from Haldia to Prayagraj, is the longest at 1,620 km. The waterways are developed and run by the Inland Waterways Authority of India, headquartered at Noida. A is wrong because the West Coast Canal with the Champakara and Udyogmandal canals in Kerala is National Waterway 3. B is wrong because the East Coast Canal with the Matai river, in Odisha and West Bengal, is part of National Waterway 5. C is wrong because the Kakinada canal belongs to National Waterway 4, which links the Godavari and Krishna rivers with canals from Kakinada to Puducherry. Exam tip: NW-1 Ganga (Haldia–Prayagraj), NW-2 Brahmaputra (Dhubri–Sadiya), NW-3 West Coast Canal (Kerala).

The correct answer is C, 2, 1, 4, 3. Going from north to south, the order is Aravalli, Vindhya, Satpura and then Ajanta. The Aravalli Range runs across Rajasthan in the north-west and is among the oldest fold mountains in the world. South of it, the Vindhya Range stretches across central India and marks the northern edge of the Narmada valley. The Narmada flows west through a rift valley between the Vindhyas and the Satpura Range, and the Tapi flows along the southern side of the Satpura. The Ajanta Range, famous for the Ajanta caves, lies further south in Maharashtra, between the Tapi and Godavari basins. A is wrong because it puts Ajanta north of Satpura. B is wrong because it places Vindhya north of Aravalli. D is wrong because it makes both of those mistakes. Exam tip: Aravalli → Vindhya → (Narmada) → Satpura → (Tapi) → Ajanta.

The correct answer is A, Andhra Pradesh. Andhra Pradesh lies on the east coast of India, so its shoreline faces the Bay of Bengal. Its coast runs from the border of Odisha in the north to Tamil Nadu in the south, and the Godavari and Krishna rivers build rich deltas on it before entering the sea. The states with a coast on the Bay of Bengal are West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, along with the union territories of Puducherry and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The stretch of the east coast in Andhra Pradesh is often called the Northern Circars, while the southern part in Tamil Nadu is the Coromandel Coast. B is wrong because Karnataka lies on the west coast and faces the Arabian Sea. C is wrong because Kerala also has its coast on the Arabian Sea, not the Bay of Bengal. D is wrong because Telangana is a landlocked state with no coastline at all. Exam tip: east coast states from north to south, West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu; Telangana has no sea coast.

The correct answer is B, Local winds. Land and sea breezes blow over a small coastal area and change direction every day, so they are local winds. By day the land heats up faster than the sea, the warm air over the land rises, and cooler air moves in from the sea as a sea breeze. At night the land cools faster, so the breeze blows from the land towards the sea as a land breeze. NCERT groups winds into three kinds: permanent, seasonal and local. Another local wind is the loo, the hot and dry wind of north India in summer. A is wrong because a cyclone is a large low-pressure storm system, not a daily coastal breeze. C is wrong because seasonal winds, like the monsoons, change direction with the seasons, not between day and night. D is wrong because permanent winds, such as the trade winds and the westerlies, blow in the same direction all year round. Exam tip: permanent, trade winds and westerlies; seasonal, monsoons; local, land and sea breeze and loo.