Indian States & UTs Mixed Quiz: Set 10

The correct answer is B, the Narmada. The Sardar Sarovar Dam stands on the Narmada in Narmada district of Gujarat, is the largest irrigation and power project of the state and carries canals into Saurashtra and Kachchh; the Statue of Unity was built nearby at Kevadia. Option A is wrong because the dam on the Tapi in Gujarat is the Ukai dam, near Surat. Option C is wrong because the Dharoi dam stands on the Sabarmati, the river that flows past Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad. Option D is wrong because the Kadana dam is on the Mahi. Learn the four pairs together, Sardar Sarovar on the Narmada, Ukai on the Tapi, Dharoi on the Sabarmati and Kadana on the Mahi, because matching questions use exactly these four.

The correct answer is B, Kerala. Kolathunadu, Valluvanad and Thekkumkoor were small medieval kingdoms, or swaroopams, of Kerala. Kolathunadu, ruled by the Kolathiri rajas, lay in north Malabar around present-day Kannur; Valluvanad spread over the Palakkad and Malappuram area and is remembered for the Mamankam festival at Tirunavaya; Thekkumkoor lay in the Kottayam region and was absorbed by Travancore under Marthanda Varma in the eighteenth century. Before unification, Kerala was split among such chiefdoms along with Travancore, Cochin and Calicut, and the present state was formed on 1 November 1956 from Travancore-Cochin and the Malabar district of Madras. Option A is wrong because Karnataka's old kingdoms were the Kadambas, Hoysalas and Vijayanagara. Option C is wrong because ancient Bihar was home to Magadha, Anga and Videha. Option D is wrong because Gujarat was ruled by the Solankis of Anhilwada and the Chaulukyas. Exam tip: names ending in nadu or koor in this list point to the medieval chiefdoms of Kerala.

The correct answer is C, 1849. Punjab was annexed by Lord Dalhousie at the close of the Second Anglo Sikh War, after the battles of Chillianwala and Gujrat, and the young Maharaja Dalip Singh was pensioned off. Option B is wrong because 1846 is the year of the Treaty of Lahore, which ended the First Anglo Sikh War: Punjab lost the Jalandhar Doab and had to accept a British resident, but it was not yet annexed, and the Treaty of Amritsar of the same year made Gulab Singh the ruler of Jammu and Kashmir. Option A is wrong because 1839 is the year Maharaja Ranjit Singh died, which opened the decade of instability that led to the wars. Option D is wrong because 1856 is the year Awadh was annexed on the ground of maladministration.

The correct answer is D, Tripura. The Manikya dynasty ruled Tripura for centuries, and its kings all took the title Manikya. Their history is recorded in the Rajmala, a chronicle in Bengali verse first compiled in the fifteenth century under Dharma Manikya. The Ujjayanta Palace at Agartala, built by Radha Kishore Manikya at the beginning of the twentieth century, was their seat and now houses a state museum, and the lake palace Neermahal was raised by Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya, the last ruling king, after whom Agartala's airport is named. The princely state signed the merger agreement and joined the Indian Union in October 1949. Option A is wrong because Gujarat was ruled by the Solanki or Chaulukya line. Option B is wrong because Rajasthan had the Sisodia, Kachwaha and Rathore houses. Option C is wrong because Manipur was ruled by the Ningthouja or Meitei dynasty. Exam tip: Manikya means Tripura, its chronicle is the Rajmala, and it merged with India in 1949.

The correct answer is C, 9 November 2000. On that day the Uttar Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000 came into force and separated the Garhwal and Kumaon hill districts from Uttar Pradesh to form the twenty seventh state of the Union, then named Uttaranchal. Option A is wrong because 1 November 2000 is the foundation day of Chhattisgarh, created out of Madhya Pradesh. Option B is wrong because 15 November 2000 is the foundation day of Jharkhand, carved out of Bihar; the three states of 2000 are asked together and their order is Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand. Option D is wrong because 1 January 2007 is the date on which the state was renamed Uttarakhand, not the date on which it was created. Nityanand Swami became its first Chief Minister.

The correct answer is C, Lakshadweep. With an area of only about 32 square kilometres, Lakshadweep is the smallest Union Territory of India. It is a group of 36 coral islands in the Arabian Sea, of which only ten are inhabited, and its capital is Kavaratti. Being coral atolls, the islands are tiny and low lying, which is why the total land area stays so small even though the lagoons and waters around them stretch very wide. Option A is wrong because Daman and Diu covers about 112 square kilometres, more than three times Lakshadweep, and since 2020 it is part of the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. Option B is wrong because Ladakh is the largest Union Territory by area. Option D is wrong because Jammu and Kashmir is also far larger and is the Union Territory with the biggest population. Exam tip: Lakshadweep is the smallest by area, Ladakh the largest.

The correct answer is C, 25 January 1971. The State of Himachal Pradesh Act, 1970 came into force on that day and Indira Gandhi inaugurated the new state at Shimla, with Dr Yashwant Singh Parmar as its first Chief Minister. Option A is wrong because 15 April 1948 is the day about thirty princely hill states were merged into a chief commissioner province, which the state marks as Himachal Day, not as statehood. Option B is wrong because 1 November 1956 is the day the unit became a Union Territory under the States Reorganisation Act, 1956. Option D is wrong because 1 November 1966 is the day the Punjab Reorganisation Act transferred the Punjab hill districts to Himachal Pradesh, nearly doubling it while it was still a Union Territory.

The correct answer is B, Punjab and Haryana. Chandigarh was planned in the 1950s as the new capital of Punjab after Lahore went to Pakistan. When the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966 split the state, the city was not divided: it was made a Union Territory administered by the Centre and left to serve as the capital of both the successor states. The two states also share a single High Court, the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which sits at Chandigarh. Option A is wrong because the capital of Himachal Pradesh is Shimla, although Punjab's hill districts went to that state in 1966. Option C is wrong because Jaipur is the capital of Rajasthan. Option D is wrong because Srinagar and Jammu are the seats of the Jammu and Kashmir administration.

The correct answer is A, Kachchh. Dholavira stands on Khadir island in the Rann of Kachchh and is known for its careful division into citadel, middle town and lower town, its series of stone water reservoirs and the so called signboard of large Harappan letters. Option B is wrong because the Dangs is the forested hill district of southern Gujarat, the home of Saputara, with no Harappan city. Option C is wrong because Saurashtra has its own Harappan sites, such as Rojdi and Rangpur, and Lothal lies north east of it, but Dholavira is in Kachchh. Option D is wrong because Charotar is the fertile tract around Anand and Nadiad, known for dairying rather than for archaeology. Remember the two famous pairs, Lothal for the dockyard and Dholavira for the reservoirs.

The correct answer is C, Gandhinagar. It is a planned city laid out in numbered sectors on the bank of the Sabarmati and named after Mahatma Gandhi, and it took over as capital after the state was formed. Option A is wrong, though it is the commonest mistake: Ahmedabad was the first capital of the new state and is still its largest city, its commercial centre and the seat of the Gujarat High Court, but not the capital. Option B is wrong because Surat, on the Tapi, is the centre of diamond polishing and textiles and was an important port of the Mughal period. Option D is wrong because Vadodara, the old Baroda of the Gaekwads, is a major industrial and cultural city but never the capital of the state. The pair to remember is first capital Ahmedabad, present capital Gandhinagar.

The correct answer is C, Anandpur Sahib. On Baisakhi in 1699 Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Guru, initiated the Panj Piare there and founded the Khalsa, giving it the five articles of faith. The Takht Keshgarh Sahib at Anandpur Sahib marks the spot, and the Hola Mohalla fair is still held there. Option A is wrong because Amritsar holds the Harmandir Sahib and the Akal Takht but not the founding of the Khalsa. Option B is wrong because Talwandi Sabo holds Damdama Sahib, where Guru Gobind Singh later prepared a recension of the Guru Granth Sahib. Option D is wrong because Kartarpur is associated with Guru Nanak, who spent his last years there; the Kartarpur corridor from Dera Baba Nanak leads to that shrine across the border.

The correct answer is C, 1911. At the Delhi Durbar held on 12 December 1911, King George V, who had come to India for his coronation durbar, announced that the capital of British India would be moved from Calcutta to Delhi. The reasons were that Delhi lay closer to the centre of the empire's Indian territories and had been the seat of earlier rulers, and that Bengal had become the storm centre of the national movement after the partition of 1905.

Option A, 1877, was the durbar at which Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India, held under Lord Lytton during a famine. Option B, 1903, was Lord Curzon's durbar for the coronation of Edward VII. Option D, 1919, is the year of the Rowlatt Act, the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms, and no durbar was held then.

The correct answer is A, Nainital. When the state was formed in 2000 its High Court was established at Nainital, the old summer headquarters of the hills, while the seat of government went elsewhere. Option B is wrong because Dehradun is the working capital of the state and the seat of the Secretariat and the Assembly, but not of the High Court; Uttarakhand is a standard example of a state whose High Court is not in its capital, alongside Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Option C is wrong because Haridwar is a pilgrim city and one of the four Kumbh Mela centres, with no High Court. Option D is wrong because Gairsain, also called Bhararisain, in Chamoli district was declared the summer capital in 2020 and holds no court.

The correct answer is A, Buldhana. Lonar Lake lies at Lonar in the Buldhana district of the Vidarbha region. It was formed when a meteorite struck the basalt of the Deccan trap, which makes it one of very few crater lakes anywhere formed in basaltic rock, and both its water and its ecology are of interest to scientists. It has been designated a Ramsar site as a wetland of international importance.

Option B, Chandrapur, is the district of the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve. Option C, Solapur, has the Nannaj sanctuary known for the great Indian bustard and the temple town of Pandharpur nearby. Option D, Jalgaon, lies in Khandesh on the Tapi and is known for bananas. All four are Maharashtra districts, so the pairing of the lake with Buldhana is the fact being tested.

The correct answer is B, Dharamshala. Dharamshala, the headquarters of Kangra district and the seat of the Tibetan government in exile, was declared the second or winter capital of Himachal Pradesh in 2017, while Shimla remains the capital and the seat of the High Court. Option A is wrong because Mandi, called the Varanasi of the hills for its temples and its Shivratri fair, is only a district headquarters. Option C is wrong because Solan, known for mushrooms and its brewery, is a district town on the Kalka Shimla line. Option D is wrong because Bilaspur, the princely state merged in 1954, is known for the Bhakra Dam and the Gobind Sagar, not for any capital status. The pattern of a second capital also appears in Maharashtra and Uttarakhand.

The correct answer is B, Chandela. The Khajuraho group of monuments in Chhatarpur district was built by the Chandela rulers of Bundelkhand between the tenth and the twelfth century. The temples are built in the Nagara style, standing on a high platform with a curving tower over the sanctum, and the Kandariya Mahadeva is the largest of them. The group was placed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1986.

Option A, the Paramara dynasty, ruled Malwa from Dhar and is linked with king Bhoja and with the Bhojeshwar temple at Bhojpur. Option C, the Bundela rulers, came much later and built Orchha on the Betwa, with its palaces and cenotaphs. Option D, the Holkars, were the eighteenth century Maratha rulers of Indore, and Ahilyabai Holkar ruled from Maheshwar on the Narmada. Only the Chandelas match Khajuraho.

The correct answer is B, Giddha. Giddha, also spelt Gidda, is the women's folk dance of Punjab, danced in a ring to the clapping of hands and to boliyan, short verses sung by the dancers themselves. Option A is wrong because Bhangra is the men's harvest dance, performed to the dhol and associated with Baisakhi, and it is the usual distractor in this pair. Option C is wrong because Jhumar is a slower men's dance of the Sandalbar tradition, danced in a circle. Option D is wrong because Luddi is another men's dance, marked by a swaying movement of the head and body in celebration of a victory. Kikli, danced by girls in pairs with crossed hands, is the other women's form, and Malwai Giddha belongs to the men of the Malwa tract.

The correct answer is B, Devprayag. Devprayag in Tehri Garhwal district is the last of the Panch Prayag, and below it the united stream is known as the Ganga; the Bhagirathi comes from the Gangotri glacier at Gaumukh and the Alaknanda from the Satopanth and Bhagirath Kharak glaciers. Option A is wrong because Rudraprayag is where the Mandakini, which drains the Kedarnath valley, joins the Alaknanda. Option C is wrong because Karnaprayag is the confluence of the Alaknanda with the Pindar, which rises from the Pindari glacier. Option D is wrong because Vishnuprayag is the first prayag, where the Dhauliganga meets the Alaknanda near Joshimath. Nandprayag, on the Nandakini, is the fifth of the set. All five prayags except Devprayag lie in Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts, and examiners test the river name against the town name, so learn the pairs Dhauliganga with Vishnuprayag, Nandakini with Nandprayag, Pindar with Karnaprayag, Mandakini with Rudraprayag and Bhagirathi with Devprayag.

The correct answer is D, Shipki La. The Sutlej, which rises from the Rakshastal near Mansarovar in Tibet, crosses into India at Shipki La in Kinnaur district, and it is the longest river of Himachal Pradesh, carrying the Bhakra, Nathpa Jhakri and Kol Dam projects. Option A is wrong because the Rohtang Pass on the Pir Panjal connects Kullu with Lahaul and Spiti and is now bypassed by the Atal Tunnel. Option B is wrong because Baralacha La in Lahaul lies on the Manali Leh road near Suraj Tal. Option C is wrong because the Kunzum Pass joins the Lahaul valley with Spiti. The Sutlej is the only one of the Indus tributaries that cuts through the Greater Himalaya in this way. The Sutlej is called Satadru in the Vedas and Langchen Khambab in Tibet, and below Bhakra it leaves the state for Punjab.

The correct answer is C, 117. The Punjab Vidhan Sabha is a single chamber house of 117 elected members, the strength fixed for the state after the reorganisation of 1966 and the delimitation that followed; Punjab has no Legislative Council. The state also returns 13 members to the Lok Sabha and elects 7 to the Rajya Sabha. Option A is wrong because 90 is the strength of the Haryana assembly, the state created out of Punjab in 1966, which is why it is offered here. Option B is wrong because 105 belongs to no northern state assembly of this set and is a pure distractor. Option D is wrong because 126 is the strength of the Assam assembly. Articles 170 and 171 of the Constitution govern the size of assemblies and councils.