Indian States & UTs Mixed Quiz: Set 19

The correct answer is B, Godavari. The Kaleshwaram project lifts water from the Godavari in the north of Telangana and carries it in stages through pump houses, tunnels and reservoirs to the drier districts of the plateau, which lie at a higher level than the river. It is described as a multi stage lift scheme of very large size and was opened in 2019. The Sriram Sagar project at Pochampad stands on the same river.

Option A, the Krishna, is the other great river of the state and carries the Nagarjuna Sagar and Srisailam dams, both shared with Andhra Pradesh, so it is the natural wrong answer. Option C, the Tungabhadra, is a tributary of the Krishna flowing mainly through Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Option D, the Penna, flows through Andhra Pradesh and does not serve Telangana.

The correct answer is C, 1973. The state was created on 1 November 1956 under the States Reorganisation Act with the name Mysore State, and it was renamed Karnataka on 1 November 1973, a day now observed every year as Karnataka Rajyotsava. Option A is wrong because 1956 is the year of formation, not of the renaming, and the question asks only for the change of name; mixing the two is the standard trap in this topic. Option B is wrong because nothing happened to the name of the state in 1960; that year saw the division of Bombay State into Maharashtra and Gujarat. Option D is wrong because by 1980 the state had carried its present name for seven years, and no renaming took place in that year.

The correct answer is B, Bengaluru. ISRO has its headquarters at Antariksh Bhavan in Bengaluru, which also holds the U R Rao Satellite Centre and the ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network. Bengaluru is in addition the seat of the Indian Institute of Science, founded in 1909, of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and of Bharat Electronics Limited. Option A is wrong because Thiruvananthapuram holds the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, where launch vehicles are developed, and the Thumba equatorial rocket launching station. Option C is wrong because Hyderabad holds the National Remote Sensing Centre, which is an ISRO centre but not the headquarters. Option D is wrong because Ahmedabad holds the Space Applications Centre and the Physical Research Laboratory. The question asks for the headquarters and not for any centre, so each of the other three cities is a real ISRO location and still the wrong answer here.

The correct answer is B, 1969. Madras State was created on 1 November 1956 under the States Reorganisation Act, and the change of name to Tamil Nadu took effect on 14 January 1969 under the Madras State Alteration of Name Act. Option A is wrong because 1956 is the year the state was formed under its old name, and confusing formation with renaming is the standard trap in this topic. Option C is wrong because 1973 is the year Mysore State was renamed Karnataka, a neighbouring state, which is why that year is offered here as a distractor. Option D is wrong because 1996 is the year the capital city Madras was renamed Chennai, a change of the city's name and not of the state's. Pairing 1956, 1969 and 1996 correctly settles most questions from this part of the syllabus.

The correct answer is C, the Pallavas. Mahabalipuram or Mamallapuram, the port town of the Pallavas on the Coromandel coast, carries the rock cut Pancha Rathas and the relief called Arjuna's Penance from the reign of Narasimhavarman I, and the structural Shore Temple from that of Narasimhavarman II, Rajasimha; the group was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1984. Option A is wrong because the Cholas, who came later, built at Thanjavur, Gangaikonda Cholapuram and Darasuram. Option B is wrong because the Pandyas ruled from Madurai and are known for rock cut shrines in the far south. Option D is wrong because the Nayakas of Madurai belong to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and are known for the gopurams of the Meenakshi temple and the palace of Tirumalai Nayak. At Mahabalipuram the relief of the descent of the Ganges, popularly called Arjuna's Penance, is the largest open air rock relief in the country.

The correct answer is D, Blackbuck. The blackbuck, called Krishna Jinka in Telugu, is the state animal of Andhra Pradesh. It is an antelope of open grassland and scrub; the male turns dark brown to black with age and carries long spiral horns, while the female stays fawn coloured and usually hornless. It is among the fastest Indian animals and is protected under Schedule I of the Wild Life Protection Act of 1972. Punjab and Haryana also carry the blackbuck as their state animal. A is wrong because the mithun, a domesticated bovine of the hills, is the state animal of Arunachal Pradesh and of Nagaland. B is wrong because the ox is a domestic draught animal and is not named as any state animal. C is wrong because the one-horned rhinoceros is the state animal of Assam, where Kaziranga protects most of its population. Exam tip: blackbuck for Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana; rhinoceros for Assam; mithun for Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland.

The correct answer is A, Chavundaraya. The figure of Gommateshwara, also called Bahubali, stands about fifty-seven feet high on Vindhyagiri hill at Shravanabelagola in Hassan district and was raised by Chavundaraya, a minister and general of the Western Ganga kingdom, towards the end of the tenth century. It is anointed in the Mahamastakabhisheka ceremony once in twelve years. Option B is wrong because Krishnadevaraya was a Vijayanagara emperor of a much later age, associated with Hampi. Option C is wrong because Vishnuvardhana was the Hoysala king who built the Chennakeshava temple at Belur. Option D is wrong because Pulakeshin II was the Chalukya ruler of Badami who defeated Harshavardhana, and he built no monument at this Jain centre. Shravanabelagola is the chief Jain pilgrimage centre of the south, and the hill facing Vindhyagiri, called Chandragiri, carries still older Jain temples and inscriptions.

The correct answer is B, 2014. Parliament passed the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act in 2014, and the appointed day fixed under the Act was 2 June 2014, the date on which Telangana came into being as the twenty-ninth state. The Act also settled how the assets, the services and the river waters of the two states would be divided and allowed Hyderabad to serve as the common capital for not more than ten years.

Option A, 2015, is a year after the Act and is the year often confused with it because the new state completed its first year then. Option C, 2012, falls in the period when the demand was still being examined; the Srikrishna Committee had reported in 2010 and no Act had yet been passed. Option D, 2016, is later still. Hold the chain in mind: agitation in 1969, party formed in 2001, committee in 2010, Act and statehood in 2014.

The correct answer is C, the Kaveri. The Kallanai, called the Grand Anicut by the British, was built across the Kaveri near Tiruchirappalli by the early Chola king Karikala, and it still spreads the river's water across the delta of Thanjavur, which is why that delta is called the rice bowl of Tamil Nadu. Option A is wrong because the Vaigai, the river of Madurai, carries the Vaigai dam of the twentieth century and no ancient anicut of this kind. Option B is wrong because the Thamirabarani flows through Tirunelveli in the far south and is associated with the Papanasam dam. Option D is wrong because the Palar, which enters the state from Karnataka and passes Vellore, is a seasonal river. On the Kaveri the Mettur dam and its Stanley Reservoir are the modern works.

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 B, Vijayanagara. Hampi in Vijayanagara district, on the south bank of the Tungabhadra, was the capital of the Vijayanagara empire founded in 1336, and its ruins, including the Virupaksha temple and the stone chariot of the Vittala temple, are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Option A is wrong because the Hoysala capital was Dwarasamudra, the modern Halebidu, where the Hoysaleswara temple stands. Option C is wrong because the Chalukyas of Badami ruled from Badami and built the monuments at Aihole and Pattadakal. Option D is wrong because the Rashtrakutas ruled from Manyakheta, the modern Malkhed in Kalaburagi district, and are remembered in Karnataka for the Kailasa temple they cut at Ellora in present Maharashtra. Hampi lies in Vijayanagara district, which takes its name from the empire, and the Tungabhadra guarded the capital along its northern side.

The correct answer is B, to divert water into the Hooghly and flush silt from the approach to Kolkata port. The Ganga splits in West Bengal, with the main stream going into Bangladesh as the Padma and the Bhagirathi and Hooghly running south past Kolkata. The Hooghly was silting up and the port becoming hard to reach, so the barrage at Farakka was built to send a guaranteed flow down that channel. Option A is wrong because the barrage is not a hydroelectric project. Option C is wrong because the Dooars tea gardens lie far to the north and are not served by it. Option D is wrong because flood control on the Damodar is the work of the Damodar Valley Corporation set up in 1948, a different project that candidates often confuse with this one.

The correct answer is B, 39. Tamil Nadu elects 39 members to the Lok Sabha and 18 to the Rajya Sabha, and its Legislative Assembly has 234 seats; the Legislative Council was abolished in 1986, so the legislature is unicameral. Option A is wrong because 28 is the number of Lok Sabha seats of Karnataka, a neighbouring state, and this swap is the usual trap. Option C is wrong because 42 is the strength of West Bengal, and in the south Andhra Pradesh has 25 and Kerala 20. Option D is wrong because 48 is the number of seats of Maharashtra, which is second only to Uttar Pradesh with 80. The Union Territory of Puducherry, which lies inside Tamil Nadu, sends one member of its own to the Lok Sabha. These seat totals have not changed since the delimitation of 1976 was frozen, so they are safe facts to memorise.

The correct answer is C, 2014. Telangana came into being on 2 June 2014 under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, becoming the twenty-ninth state of the Union, and Hyderabad was to serve as the joint capital of both states for a transitional period while Andhra Pradesh built its new capital at Amaravati. Option A is wrong because 2000 is the year three other states were created, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand, which is why it is a favourite distractor. Option B is wrong because 2011 is the year of the last census and of the renaming of Orissa as Odisha. Option D is wrong because 2019 is the year the Andhra Pradesh High Court began work at Amaravati and the year Jammu and Kashmir was reorganised into two union territories.

The correct answer is B, Chalukyas of Badami. Pattadakal on the Malaprabha river was a ceremonial centre of the Chalukyas of Badami, who built there a group in which the northern nagara style and the southern dravida style stand side by side, the Virupaksha temple being the largest. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the same dynasty built the cave temples at Badami and the experimental temples at Aihole. Option A is wrong because the Hoysalas built at Belur, Halebidu and Somanathapura, whose ensembles were inscribed separately in 2023. Option C is wrong because the Kadambas ruled from Banavasi and are the earliest dynasty native to Karnataka, but Pattadakal is not theirs. Option D is wrong because the Western Gangas held Talakad and are linked with Shravanabelagola.

The correct answer is A, Kullu. The Great Himalayan National Park lies in the upper Beas basin of Kullu district and was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2014 for its alpine biodiversity; it protects the western tragopan, the monal and the Himalayan brown bear. Option B is wrong because Chamba holds the Kalatop Khajjiar sanctuary and the Chamera dam, not this park. Option C is wrong because Kinnaur holds Reo Purgyil and the Nathpa Jhakri project, while Pin Valley National Park lies in the Spiti part of Lahaul and Spiti. Option D is wrong because Sirmaur holds Renuka lake and the Simbalbara National Park. Nanda Devi with the Valley of Flowers is the other Himalayan natural site on the list. The Kalka Shimla railway is the cultural World Heritage Site of the state, listed among the Mountain Railways of India.

The correct answer is A, the Nilgiri tahr. The Nilgiri tahr, a wild goat found only on the higher slopes of the Western Ghats in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, is the state animal of Tamil Nadu, and the Mukurthi national park and the Anamalai hills are its strongholds. Option B is wrong because the gaur or Indian bison is the state animal of Goa and of Bihar, though it does live in the forests of Tamil Nadu. Option C is wrong because the blackbuck is the state animal of Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab. Option D is wrong because the Indian elephant is the state animal of Kerala, Karnataka and Jharkhand, and is the national heritage animal of India. The state bird of Tamil Nadu is the emerald dove, its tree the palmyra palm and its flower the glory lily.

The correct answer is B, Shivanasamudra. The hydroelectric station built at Shivanasamudra on the Kaveri in 1902 was the first of its kind in Asia, and its power was carried to the Kolar Gold Fields, then one of the deepest mining operations in the world, over what was at the time the longest transmission line in the country. Option A is wrong because Jog on the Sharavathi is famous for its waterfall and has later generating capacity, but it was not the first. Option C is wrong because Linganamakki is the reservoir built much later on the Sharavathi to regulate water for the Sharavathi generating stations. Option D is wrong because Hosapete is the site of the Tungabhadra dam, an irrigation and power project of the years after independence.

The correct answer is B, Nilgiri. The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, notified in 1986, was the first biosphere reserve in India and spreads across Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka, taking in Mudumalai, Mukurthi, Bandipur, Wayanad and Silent Valley. Option A is wrong because the Gulf of Mannar, also in Tamil Nadu, came later and holds a different distinction, that of being the first marine biosphere reserve in the country. Option C is wrong because the Sundarbans reserve in West Bengal was notified in 1989 along with several others. Option D is wrong because the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve in Uttarakhand was notified in 1988. Harder papers test the order of the early reserves, so Nilgiri in 1986, Nanda Devi in 1988 and Sundarbans and Gulf of Mannar in 1989 should be remembered as a sequence.

The correct answer is B, Kaveri. The Krishna Raja Sagara dam, usually shortened to KRS, stands across the Kaveri near Mysuru and was built under the direction of Sir M. Visvesvaraya during the reign of Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV, after whom it is named; the Brindavan Gardens lie below it. Option A is wrong, and is the trap in this question, because the dam is named after a king called Krishnaraja and not after the Krishna river; the Krishna carries the Almatti dam in the north of the state. Option C is wrong because the Sharavathi carries the Linganamakki dam and makes the Jog Falls. Option D is wrong because the Malaprabha is a tributary of the Krishna, with its own dam at Navilutheertha, and it flows past Pattadakal.