Geography Quiz: Mountain Passes and Hill Stations of India

The correct answer is B, Himachal Pradesh. The Rohtang Pass lies on the Pir Panjal range in Himachal Pradesh and connects the Kullu valley with the Lahaul and Spiti district. Because the pass is closed by snow for several months each year, the Atal Tunnel, about nine kilometres long, was built beneath it and opened in October 2020 to keep Lahaul connected through the winter on the Manali to Leh route. Option A is wrong because the important passes of Uttarakhand are Mana, Niti and Lipulekh, all routes towards Tibet. Option C is wrong because Sikkim has Nathu La and Jelep La, which cross into the Chumbi valley. Option D is wrong because Arunachal Pradesh has Se La, Bomdi La, Diphu and Pangsau passes. A useful memory hook is that Rohtang and Banihal both cross the Pir Panjal and both now have tunnels under them.

The correct answer is B, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The Palakkad Gap, also called the Palghat Gap, is about thirty kilometres wide and lies between the Nilgiris to its north and the Anaimalai hills to its south. It carries the main rail and road links between Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu and Palakkad in Kerala, and it also lets the south-west monsoon and strong summer winds blow inland, which is why the Coimbatore side lies in a rain shadow and supports large wind farms. Option A is wrong because the Karnataka and Goa border crossing of the Ghats is served by passes such as the Anmod and Chorla ghats, not the Palakkad Gap. Option C is wrong because the Maharashtra and Karnataka section of the Ghats has no gap of this size. Option D is wrong because the Kerala and Karnataka link runs through the Wayanad or Thamarassery ghat section.

The correct answer is A, Sikkim. Nathu La lies on the Sikkim border and crosses into the Chumbi valley of Tibet; it was an important wool and trade route, was closed after the 1962 conflict and was reopened for border trade in 2006. Jelep La, also in Sikkim, is the second route into the same Chumbi valley. Option B is wrong because Himachal Pradesh has Rohtang, Baralacha La, Kunzum La and Shipki La, the last being its designated border trade point. Option C is wrong because Uttarakhand has Mana, Niti and Lipulekh, the last being the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage route. Option D is wrong because Arunachal Pradesh has Se La and Bomdi La on the Tawang route and Diphu Pass at the India, China and Myanmar tri-junction. Remembering that both Sikkim passes end in La and lead to the Chumbi valley makes this pair easy.

The correct answer is B, the Banihal Pass. The Banihal Pass crosses the Pir Panjal range and is the historic gateway from Jammu into the Kashmir valley. Because the pass closes with snow, the Jawahar Tunnel was driven beneath it and opened in 1956, giving Jammu an all-weather road link with Srinagar. Option A is wrong because Zoji La lies on the far side of the valley and carries the road from Srinagar towards Dras, Kargil and Leh; a separate tunnel project is being built there. Option C is wrong because the Pir Panjal Pass is the name of the old saddle on the Mughal road and does not carry the Jawahar Tunnel. Option D is wrong because the Burzil Pass is the old route from the Kashmir valley towards Gilgit and lies well to the north. In short, Banihal for the Jawahar Tunnel and Rohtang for the Atal Tunnel.

The correct answer is B, Mount Abu. Mount Abu is the only hill station of Rajasthan and stands on an isolated block of the Aravalli range in the Sirohi district; Guru Shikhar, at about 1,722 metres, is the highest peak of the Aravalli and lies here, and the Dilwara Jain temples are nearby. Option A is wrong because Pachmarhi is in Madhya Pradesh, in the Satpura range, and is called the Queen of the Satpura, with Dhupgarh as the highest point of the range. Option C is wrong because Saputara is the only hill station of Gujarat, in the Dang district on the Sahyadri. Option D is wrong because Netarhat is in Jharkhand on the Chota Nagpur plateau and is called the Queen of Chota Nagpur. All four are peninsular hill stations, which is exactly why they are grouped as distractors.

The correct answer is A. The Mountain Railways of India World Heritage site is made up of three lines added in stages: the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway in West Bengal, inscribed in 1999, the Nilgiri Mountain Railway in Tamil Nadu, added in 2005, and the Kalka to Shimla Railway in Himachal Pradesh, added in 2008. Options B, C and D are all wrong because each replaces one of these three with the Matheran Hill Railway in Maharashtra or the Kangra Valley Railway in Himachal Pradesh. Both are genuine narrow gauge hill railways and both have been proposed for the list, but neither forms part of the inscribed site. A quick way to hold the correct set is to note that it takes one line from the eastern Himalaya, one from the Nilgiris in the south and one from the western Himalaya.

The correct answer is B, the Ladakh range. Khardung La lies on the Ladakh range just north of Leh and carries the road from Leh into the Nubra valley and on towards the Siachen area, which makes it one of the most strategically used high passes in the country. Option A is wrong because the Pir Panjal range, further south-west, carries the Banihal and Rohtang passes. Option C is wrong because the Zaskar range lies between the Great Himalaya and the Indus valley and is crossed by passes such as Fotu La on the Srinagar to Leh highway. Option D is wrong because the Karakoram range lies still further north and carries the Karakoram Pass, the old caravan route from Ladakh to Yarkand in Xinjiang. The order from south to north, Pir Panjal, Great Himalaya, Zaskar, Ladakh and Karakoram, sorts these passes quickly.

The correct answer is B, Shimla. Shimla, in Himachal Pradesh, was made the summer capital of British India in 1864, and the Government of India moved there from Calcutta and later Delhi every hot season; the narrow gauge Kalka to Shimla Railway that serves it was added to the Mountain Railways of India World Heritage site in 2008. Option A is wrong because Darjeeling, though served by the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway inscribed in 1999 and known as the Queen of the Hills, was the summer capital of the Bengal Presidency, not of British India. Option C is wrong because Mussoorie in Uttarakhand has no such railway and was never the summer capital. Option D is wrong because Ooty, served by the Nilgiri Mountain Railway, was the summer capital of the Madras Presidency.

The correct answer is B, Pithoragarh. The Lipulekh Pass lies in the Pithoragarh district of the Kumaon division and has long been the traditional Indian route for the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage, as well as an old trade crossing into Tibet. Option A is wrong because the Chamoli district carries the Mana and Niti passes, the Mana Pass lying beyond Badrinath. Option C is wrong because Uttarkashi is the district of Gangotri and the upper Bhagirathi and does not contain Lipulekh. Option D is wrong because Tehri Garhwal is a district of the lower Garhwal Himalaya, known for the Tehri dam on the Bhagirathi, and has no international pass. Candidates should note that all the major passes of Uttarakhand, Mana, Niti and Lipulekh, open towards Tibet, since the state shares no other international boundary of this kind.

The correct answer is B, the Karakoram Pass. The Karakoram Pass crosses the Karakoram range north of the Nubra valley and was the crucial crossing on the centuries-old caravan route that carried pashmina wool, silk and tea between Leh and Yarkand in Xinjiang. Option A is wrong because Chang La is the pass crossed on the road from Leh to the Pangong lake and is not a route out of India. Option C is wrong because Zoji La connects the Kashmir valley with Dras, Kargil and Leh and is an internal rather than a trans-frontier pass. Option D is wrong because Baralacha La lies in Himachal Pradesh on the Manali to Leh highway, connecting Lahaul with Ladakh. The Aghil Pass, lying beyond the Karakoram Pass, was the next crossing on the same old route and is occasionally asked as an alternative answer.

The correct answer is B, Matheran. Matheran, in the Raigad district of Maharashtra, is an eco-sensitive hill station where motor vehicles are not allowed within the town; visitors walk, ride horses or use hand-pulled carts, and the Matheran Hill Railway, a narrow gauge line from Neral, is the classic way to reach it. Option A is wrong because Lonavala, on the Mumbai to Pune route near the Bhor Ghat, is fully open to road traffic. Option C is wrong because Panchgani, near Mahabaleshwar in the Satara district, is an ordinary road-served hill town. Option D is wrong because Mahabaleshwar, the best known Sahyadri hill station and the source region of the Krishna river, is reached by road. The vehicle ban at Matheran is the single fact that makes it an examination favourite.

The correct answer is A, Nashik and Pune. The Thal Ghat, also called the Kasara Ghat, is the climb by which the road and railway from Mumbai reach Nashik and continue towards central India, while the Bhor Ghat is the climb by which the Mumbai to Pune road and railway cross the Sahyadri, passing Khandala and Lonavala. Option B is wrong because it simply reverses the correct pairing, which is the commonest error in this question. Option C is wrong because Surat lies north of Mumbai on the coastal plain and needs no ghat crossing at all. Option D is wrong because Kolhapur lies far to the south in the Krishna basin and is not reached through either of these two ghats. Both ghats are in Maharashtra and are distinct from the Palakkad and Shencottah gaps of the far south.