Geography Quiz: Islands of India: Andaman, Nicobar and Lakshadweep

The correct answer is A, Little Andaman and Car Nicobar. The Ten Degree Channel runs along the tenth parallel of north latitude and is the dividing line between the Andaman group and the Nicobar group; Little Andaman is the southernmost island of the Andaman group and Car Nicobar the northernmost of the Nicobar group, so the channel lies between them. Option B is wrong because North Andaman and Middle Andaman are not divided by a named channel at all; together with South Andaman they form the single landmass called Great Andaman. Option C is wrong because the water between Great Nicobar and Sumatra is the Great Channel, also called the Six Degree Channel, which is India's maritime boundary with Indonesia. Option D is wrong because Minicoy is separated from the Maldives by the Eight Degree Channel, and from the rest of Lakshadweep by the Nine Degree Channel.

The correct answer is B, Indira Point. Indira Point stands at the southern end of Great Nicobar in the Nicobar group and is the southernmost point of the territory of India; it was known earlier as Pygmalion Point and as Parson Point. Option A is wrong because Kanyakumari is only the southernmost point of the Indian mainland, not of Indian territory, and students lose the mark by confusing the two phrasings. Option C is wrong because Minicoy is the southernmost island of Lakshadweep in the Arabian Sea, which lies well to the north of Indira Point. Option D is wrong because Point Calimere, or Kodikkarai, is a headland on the Tamil Nadu coast in the Palk Strait area, known for its bird sanctuary, and is nowhere near the southern limit of Indian territory.

The correct answer is B, Barren Island. Barren Island lies in the Andaman Sea to the east of Middle Andaman and carries the only active volcano in India and in South Asia; it has erupted several times in recent decades. Option A is wrong because Narcondam Island, also volcanic and also east of Great Andaman, carries a dormant volcano, and is remembered instead as the only home of the Narcondam hornbill. Option C is wrong because North Sentinel Island is known for the Sentinelese, an uncontacted tribal community, and has no volcano. Option D is wrong because Baratang, between Middle and South Andaman, has mud volcanoes and limestone caves; a mud volcano is a vent of gas and slurry and is not a volcano in the igneous sense, which makes it a favourite distractor.

The correct answer is C, North Andaman. Saddle Peak rises to about 732 metres in North Andaman and is the highest point of the whole union territory; a national park of the same name surrounds it. Option A is wrong because the highest point of Great Nicobar, and of the Nicobar group, is Mount Thullier at about 642 metres, which is a common pairing in matching questions. Option B is wrong because South Andaman carries Port Blair and Mount Harriet, now called Mount Manipur, which is much lower than Saddle Peak. Option D is wrong because Little Andaman, lying south of the Duncan Passage, is low and flat compared with the northern islands. Remember the pair Saddle Peak with North Andaman and Mount Thullier with Great Nicobar.

The correct answer is C, only II. Statement II is correct: the Lakshadweep Islands are atolls, each a ring of coral enclosing a lagoon, raised on a submarine ridge in the Arabian Sea, and they are the only coral island group of India. Statement I is wrong because the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are of tectonic origin; they are the exposed crests of a submerged fold mountain chain that continues the Arakan Yoma of Myanmar towards Sumatra, which is why they are hilly and why volcanic islands occur among them. Option A is wrong because it accepts the false claim about the Andamans. Option B is wrong for the same reason, since statement I cannot be true. Option D is wrong because statement II is a settled fact of Indian physical geography.

The correct answer is A, Kavaratti. Kavaratti is the administrative headquarters of Lakshadweep and the seat of its administrator. Option B is wrong because Androth, though the largest island of the territory by area and the one nearest the mainland, is not the capital. Option C is wrong because Agatti is remembered for carrying the only airport of Lakshadweep, which makes it the island most aspirants wrongly promote to capital. Option D is wrong because Minicoy is the southernmost island of the group, separated from the rest by the Nine Degree Channel and distinguished by the Mahl language written in the Thaana script. Keep three pairs apart for this territory: Kavaratti the capital, Androth the largest, Agatti the airport. Lakshadweep, with an area of only about 32 square kilometres, is the smallest union territory of India, and its ten inhabited islands are administered from Kavaratti by an administrator appointed by the President.

The correct answer is C, Swaraj Dweep. In 2018 three islands of the Andaman group were given Indian names to mark the hoisting of the tricolour by Subhas Chandra Bose in these islands: Havelock Island became Swaraj Dweep. Option A is wrong because Shaheed Dweep is the new name of Neil Island, not Havelock. Option B is wrong because Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Dweep is the new name of Ross Island, which lies off Port Blair and holds the ruins of the old British administrative headquarters. Option D is wrong because Vijay Dweep is not among the three names announced; it is a plausible-sounding invention of the kind paper setters add as a fourth option. The three pairs to fix are Ross, Neil and Havelock with Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Shaheed and Swaraj.

The correct answer is A, South Andaman and Little Andaman. The Duncan Passage is the stretch of sea that separates Little Andaman from South Andaman, that is from the southern end of Great Andaman. Option B is wrong because Car Nicobar and Little Nicobar lie within the Nicobar group and the water between them carries no such famous name in the examination syllabus. Option C is wrong for the same reason; Great Nicobar is separated from Indonesia, not from Little Nicobar, by a named channel, the Great or Six Degree Channel. Option D is wrong because the water between North Andaman and the Coco Islands, which belong to Myanmar, is the Coco Channel. Learn the sequence from north to south: Coco Channel, Duncan Passage, Ten Degree Channel, Great Channel.

The correct answer is C, Shompen. The Shompen live in the interior of Great Nicobar and, with the Nicobarese, are of Mongoloid stock; both belong to the Nicobar group. Option A is wrong because the Jarawa live in the western parts of South and Middle Andaman and are of Negrito stock. Option B is wrong because the Onge are a Negrito community of Little Andaman, which is part of the Andaman group even though it lies south of the Duncan Passage. Option D is wrong because the Sentinelese live on North Sentinel Island in the Andaman group and are the most isolated of the six communities. The division to remember is simple: Great Andamanese, Onge, Jarawa and Sentinelese in the Andamans, Nicobarese and Shompen in the Nicobars.

The correct answer is B, Majuli. Majuli lies in the Brahmaputra in Assam, is the largest river island of India, and is the historic centre of the Vaishnavite satras founded in the tradition of Srimanta Sankardeva; it has also been constituted as a district of Assam. Option A is wrong because Sagar Island lies in the Hooghly mouth in West Bengal and is a deltaic island famous for the Gangasagar Mela, not a river island of this size. Option C is wrong because Divar is a small island in the Mandovi in Goa. Option D is wrong because Srirangapatna is an island town in the Kaveri in Karnataka, associated with Tipu Sultan and with the Ranganathittu bird sanctuary nearby, but it is far smaller than Majuli.

The correct answer is C, Minicoy. The Nine Degree Channel runs along the ninth parallel of north latitude and separates Minicoy, the southernmost island of Lakshadweep, from the Laccadive and Amindivi islands to its north. Minicoy is also culturally distinct: its people speak Mahl, a form of Dhivehi, written in the Thaana script, which is why it is often asked about. Option A is wrong because Kavaratti, the capital, lies north of the channel with the main cluster. Option B is wrong because Kadmat, known for its lagoon and diving, also lies in the northern cluster. Option D is wrong because Bangaram is an uninhabited atoll of the same northern group. South of Minicoy lies the Eight Degree Channel, which divides India from the Maldives.