Haryana Mixed Quiz: Set 3

Nardak is the old name for the high, fertile tract of the Karnal, Kaithal and Kurukshetra belt, lying above the flood plains on old alluvium and now among the most productive wheat and rice land in the country.

Haryana came into being on 1 November 1966 under the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966, when the Hindi-speaking districts of the old Punjab were formed into a new state, the hill areas went to Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh was made a union territory to serve as capital of both Punjab and…

Brahma Sarovar is the great tank at Thanesar in Kurukshetra district, and with the Sannihit Sarovar nearby it is the centre of the bathing fairs held there, especially at the solar eclipse and during Gita Jayanti.

The Ghaggar rises in the Shivalik hills of Himachal Pradesh and comes into Haryana through Panchkula district in the extreme north-east, then turns south-west across Ambala, Kaithal, Fatehabad and Sirsa before passing into Rajasthan as the Hakra.

Karoh Peak stands in the Morni hills of Panchkula district, in the Shivalik belt at the northern edge of the state, and rises to about 1,467 metres.

Panchkula lies in the Shivalik foothills at the north-eastern corner of the state.

The crocodile breeding centre at Bhor Saidan lies in Kurukshetra district and breeds the marsh crocodile, the mugger. Kurukshetra also holds the Chhilchhila Wildlife Sanctuary, a wetland for migratory birds, and the deer and blackbuck enclosures at Pipli, so the district appears more than once in this chapter.

These were Haryana's first two wetlands recognised under the Ramsar Convention as wetlands of international importance, both in 2021. Sultanpur is in Gurugram district and Bhindawas, the largest wetland in the state, is in Jhajjar district and is filled by overflow from the Jawaharlal Nehru canal.

The National Capital Territory of Delhi lies within the eastern arm of Haryana, which encloses it on three sides, while Uttar Pradesh lies on the fourth.

Karoh peak, 1,467 metres, stands in the Morni hills of Panchkula district, where the Shivalik ranges enter Haryana in the extreme north-east.

Surajkund is an amphitheatre-shaped tank in the Aravalli hills near Faridabad, and it is traditionally ascribed to Suraj Pal, a ruler of the Tomar line that held the Delhi region before the Chauhans.

Most scholars identify the Ghaggar, with its dry continuation the Hakra in Rajasthan and Pakistan, with the Saraswati of the Rigveda, and the neighbouring Chautang with the Drishadvati.

The Shivalik belt of Panchkula and Yamunanagar carries dry deciduous forest with sal, khair, shisham and sain, while the Aravalli spurs of the south and the dry south-west carry thorn forest of kikar or babool, khejri, ber and dhak.

Rausli is the loam of the central Haryana plain, a balanced mixture of sand, silt and clay.

Kalesar in Yamunanagar district is the one place in Haryana with a genuine sal forest, a Shivalik type of dry deciduous forest mixed with khair, shisham, sain and semul, with chir pine on the higher slopes.

Bhindawas Wildlife Sanctuary is a man-made wetland in Jhajjar district, filled by overflow water from the Jawaharlal Nehru canal. It is the largest wetland in Haryana, was recognised as a Ramsar site in 2021, and hosts a long list of migratory waterbirds each winter.

The commission headed by Justice J. C. Shah was appointed in 1966 to work out the division of Punjab, and on its recommendation the Hindi-speaking districts were formed into Haryana, the hill districts went to Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh became a union territory.

The Western Yamuna Canal draws its supply from the Hathnikund barrage in Yamunanagar district and carries Yamuna water across Karnal, Panipat, Rohtak, Jind and Hisar, making it the backbone of irrigation in northern and central Haryana.

Where canal water has been applied for decades without matching drainage, the water table creeps up towards the surface. Capillary action then draws water upward, it evaporates in the dry heat, and the dissolved salts it carried are left behind as the white crust of kallar or reh.

This is the law under which state governments declare national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, conservation reserves and community reserves, and under which species are listed in schedules for protection.