Indian States & UTs Mixed Quiz: Set 31

The correct answer is A, Great Nicobar. Indira Point lies at the southern tip of Great Nicobar, the largest island of the Nicobar group, and marks the southernmost land point of the Republic of India, a little above six and three quarter degrees north. It was earlier called Pygmalion Point and was partly submerged when the land subsided during the earthquake and tsunami of December 2004.

Option B, Little Nicobar, lies to the north of Great Nicobar and does not reach as far south. Option C, North Sentinel, is in the Andaman group far to the north and is famous as the home of the uncontacted Sentinelese. Option D, Middle Andaman, is in the middle of the Andaman group. A related point worth remembering is that Kanyakumari is the southernmost point of mainland India, while Indira Point is the southernmost point of the country including its islands.

The correct answer is B, Barren Island. This small uninhabited island in the Andaman Sea, north-east of the territorial capital, carries the only confirmed active volcano in India and in the whole of South Asia. It has erupted repeatedly in recent decades, and because the island has no permanent population the eruptions cause no loss of life.

Option A, Narcondam Island, is the most tempting wrong answer, because it too is a volcanic island of the same arc, but its volcano is dormant; Narcondam is better known as the only home of the Narcondam hornbill. Option C, Car Nicobar, is the administrative centre of the Nicobar district and lies just south of the Ten Degree Channel, but it has no volcano. Option D, Little Andaman, lies north of that channel and is known for the Onge tribe. Remember the pair: Barren is active, Narcondam is dormant.

The correct answer is C, 1968. Auroville, the city of dawn, was inaugurated on 28 February 1968. It was founded by Mirra Alfassa, the French-born disciple of Sri Aurobindo whom followers call the Mother, and planned by the French architect Roger Anger as a township where people of every nation could live together; the Matrimandir stands at its centre.

Option A, 1926, is the year the Sri Aurobindo Ashram was founded in the town itself, a different institution that examiners pair with Auroville to create confusion. Option B, 1947, is Indian independence, which did not touch the French settlements. Option D, 1985, is the year Pondicherry University, a central university, was established. Remember the sequence: Aurobindo arrives in 1910, the Ashram in 1926, Auroville in 1968 and the university in 1985.

The correct answer is C, Mahe. Mahe is the smallest of the four regions of Puducherry, about nine square kilometres on the Malabar coast, and it is completely surrounded by the Kannur district of Kerala. The Mahe river, also called the Mayyazhi, runs through it, and Malayalam is its official language. The French took it in 1725.

Option A, Karaikal, lies on the Coromandel coast and is surrounded by Tamil Nadu; the French acquired it in 1739. Option B, Yanam, is an enclave in the Godavari delta of Andhra Pradesh, where Telugu is the official language. Option D, Ariyankuppam, is not a separate region at all; it is a commune inside the Puducherry region itself, best known for the Arikamedu archaeological site beside it. The pairing worth memorising is Puducherry and Karaikal in Tamil Nadu, Yanam in Andhra Pradesh and Mahe in Kerala.

The correct answer is B, Sri Vijaya Puram. The Government of India announced in September 2024 that the capital of the union territory would be renamed Sri Vijaya Puram, replacing a name that came from the colonial period. The new name was explained as a tribute to the islands' part in the freedom struggle and to the maritime history of the region.

Option C, Swaraj Puram, is close to Swaraj Dweep, which is the new name of Havelock Island given in 2018, so it is a well designed distractor. Option A, Shaheed Nagar, echoes Shaheed Dweep, the new name of Neil Island from the same 2018 decision. Option D, Netaji Nagar, echoes Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Dweep, the new name of Ross Island. Keep the four renamings separate: the capital is Sri Vijaya Puram, and Ross, Neil and Havelock are Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Dweep, Shaheed Dweep and Swaraj Dweep.

The correct answer is B, Article 214. It states plainly that there shall be a High Court for each state, and the following articles complete the scheme: Article 215 makes every High Court a court of record, Article 216 leaves the number of judges to the President, Article 217 provides for their appointment, and Article 231 allows a common High Court for two or more states or union territories. Option A is wrong because Article 124 establishes the Supreme Court of India and provides for the appointment of its judges. Option C is wrong because Article 226 confers on a High Court the power to issue writs, which is a power of the court and not the provision creating it. Option D is wrong because Article 239 deals with the administration of union territories by an Administrator appointed by the President.

The correct answer is B, Andhra Pradesh. Yanam is a small region of about seventeen square kilometres in the delta of the Godavari, surrounded by Andhra Pradesh, and Telugu is its official language. The French held it from the eighteenth century until the transfer of 1954.

Option A, Odisha, is a common trap because it also lies on the eastern coast north of Andhra Pradesh, but no part of Puducherry falls in it. Option C, Telangana, was carved out of Andhra Pradesh in 2014 and is landlocked, so it could not contain a coastal delta enclave. Option D, Tamil Nadu, does surround two regions of the territory, Puducherry and Karaikal, but not Yanam. The complete list is worth repeating: Puducherry and Karaikal in Tamil Nadu, Yanam in Andhra Pradesh, Mahe in Kerala.

The correct answer is B, Zoji La. Zoji La lies on the Srinagar–Leh highway between Sonamarg and Drass and is the gateway from the Kashmir valley to Ladakh; the Zojila tunnel is being built beneath it to keep the road open through winter. Option A is wrong because the Banihal pass is on the Pir Panjal and connects Jammu with the Kashmir valley, with the Jawahar Tunnel of 1956 running below it. Option C is wrong because Khardung La lies north of Leh and connects Leh with the Nubra valley on the way towards Siachen, so it is within Ladakh. Option D is wrong because Chang La connects Leh with Pangong Tso and the Changthang plateau, again a pass inside Ladakh and not the entry from the valley.

The correct answer is C, Shompen. The indigenous communities of this territory fall into two racial groups. The Great Andamanese, Onge, Jarawa and Sentinelese of the Andaman group are of Negrito descent and are among the oldest surviving human populations outside Africa. The Shompen and the Nicobarese of the Nicobar group are of Mongoloid descent, and the Shompen live in the forested interior of Great Nicobar.

Option A, Jarawa, live in the western parts of South and Middle Andaman and are Negrito. Option B, Onge, are found on Little Andaman and are Negrito. Option D, Great Andamanese, were once spread across the Andaman group and are Negrito; their numbers are now very small. Remember the simple division: four Negrito tribes in the Andaman group and two Mongoloid communities in the Nicobar group, with the Sentinelese of North Sentinel Island still uncontacted.

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, the Madras High Court. All four regions of Puducherry, including Mahe in Kerala and Yanam in Andhra Pradesh, come under the Madras High Court, which sits at Chennai. Article 241 of the Constitution lets Parliament extend the jurisdiction of a High Court to a union territory, and that is how the arrangement works.

Option A, the Kerala High Court, has jurisdiction over Kerala and over Lakshadweep, but not over Mahe, even though Mahe is physically inside Kerala, which makes this the most tempting distractor. Option C, the Andhra Pradesh High Court at Amaravati, covers only that state and not the Yanam enclave within it. Option D does not exist; Puducherry has no High Court of its own. Among the union territories only Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir have their own High Courts.

The correct answer is A, 13 April 1919. It was Baisakhi day, and a crowd had gathered in the walled Jallianwala Bagh at Amritsar to protest against the Rowlatt Act and the arrest of local leaders. Troops under General Reginald Dyer blocked the narrow entrance and fired without warning until their ammunition ran out. Rabindranath Tagore renounced his knighthood in protest, and the Hunter Committee was appointed to inquire into the firing. Option B is wrong because it moves the date a month back; the Rowlatt satyagraha began in the spring but the Bagh firing was in April. Option C is wrong because 1922 is the year of the Chauri Chaura incident, which led Gandhi to suspend the Non Cooperation Movement. Option D is wrong because 1930 is the year of the Dandi March and the Civil Disobedience Movement.

The correct answer is B, 1896 and 1906. The jail was built at Port Blair over those ten years in the shape of a wheel, with seven wings radiating from a central watchtower and a total of 693 cells. Each cell held one prisoner, and the wings were set so that the back of one faced the front of the next, making communication between prisoners impossible; hence the name cellular. It was declared a national memorial in 1979.

Option A takes the year of the revolt of 1857, after which the islands were first used as a penal settlement, but the jail building itself came four decades later. Option C, 1911 to 1921, covers the period when many revolutionaries including Veer Savarkar were actually serving their terms there, which is why it tempts candidates. Option D falls in the years just before the Japanese occupation of the islands during the Second World War. Fix 1896 to 1906 for construction and 1979 for memorial status.

The correct answer is A, Chamoli. The movement began in 1973 at Mandal in Chamoli district, when villagers stopped a sporting goods firm from felling ash trees, and it is remembered above all for Reni village in the same district, where Gaura Devi led the women who embraced the trees in 1974. Chandi Prasad Bhatt of the Dasholi Gram Swarajya Sangh organised the first protests. Option B is wrong because Almora, in Kumaon, was a centre of the Chand rulers and of later social reform, not of Chipko. Option C is wrong because Tehri Garhwal is linked with Sunderlal Bahuguna and the anti Tehri dam campaign. Option D is wrong because Pithoragarh, the border district, had no part in the first protests. Chipko won a fifteen year ban on green felling in the higher Uttarakhand Himalaya, and the Appiko movement of Karnataka followed it in 1983.

The correct answer is B, Puducherry. Arikamedu stands on the bank of the Ariyankuppam river a few kilometres south of the territorial capital. Excavations there have produced Roman amphorae, glassware, rouletted ware and beads, and the site is generally identified with the port of Poduke listed in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. Mortimer Wheeler dug it in 1945 and Jean-Marie Casal continued the work.

Option A, the merged union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, has a Portuguese rather than a Roman or French past and no site of this kind. Option C, Lakshadweep, is a group of coral atolls with no ancient urban site of this importance. Option D, Chandigarh, is a planned city built after independence to a plan by Le Corbusier, so it has no ancient trading port. Pair Arikamedu with Puducherry and with Roman trade.

The correct answer is B, Bilaspur. The Bhakra Dam stands at the Bhakra gorge in Bilaspur district, impounds the Gobind Sagar and is the tallest concrete gravity dam in India; the old town of Bilaspur was submerged by the reservoir and a new town built above it. Jawaharlal Nehru called Bhakra a temple of modern India. Option A is wrong because Kinnaur holds the Nathpa Jhakri project, the largest hydel station on the Sutlej in the state. Option C is wrong because Mandi holds the Pandoh dam on the Beas and the Shivratri fair. Option D is wrong because Una, carved out in 1972, is a low lying district with no major dam. Pong on the Beas lies in Kangra. Bhakra Nangal is a joint project of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, and the Gobind Sagar is named after Guru Gobind Singh.

The correct answer is C, 30 December 1943. During the Japanese occupation of the islands in the Second World War, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose visited Port Blair and hoisted the tricolour there, claiming the islands as the first Indian territory freed from British rule. He gave the Andaman group the name Shaheed and the Nicobar group the name Swaraj, words that were revived in 2018 for Neil Island and Havelock Island.

Option A, 26 January 1943, is picked because of Republic Day, which has no connection with this event. Option B, 21 October 1943, is the day the Provisional Government of Free India, the Azad Hind government, was proclaimed at Singapore, an important date but a different one. Option D, 15 August 1944, uses the Independence Day date and is a pure distractor. Remember 21 October 1943 for the Azad Hind proclamation and 30 December 1943 for the flag hoisting at Port Blair.

The correct answer is B, 30. The Puducherry Legislative Assembly, constituted under the Government of Union Territories Act, 1963, has thirty directly elected seats. The Central Government may in addition nominate up to three members, so the house can reach a strength of thirty-three. Puducherry is one of only three union territories with a legislature, the others being Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir.

Option A, twenty, does not match any of these houses. Option C, forty, is the strength of the Goa Legislative Assembly, which candidates often transfer to Puducherry because both are small former European possessions. Option D, seventy, is the strength of the Delhi Legislative Assembly, the other union territory with a Chief Minister, and is the most frequent wrong answer. Remember the trio: Delhi 70, Goa 40, Puducherry 30 elected.

The correct answer is C, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Dweep. Ross Island, which had been the administrative headquarters of the British in these islands before an earthquake damaged it, was renamed after Netaji in 2018 to honour his visit and his claim of the islands as free Indian soil. The island lies close to the capital and is known for its ruined colonial buildings.

Option A, Shaheed Dweep, is the new name of Neil Island. Option B, Swaraj Dweep, is the new name of Havelock Island, the best known tourist island of the group. Option D, Sri Vijaya Dweep, does not exist; Sri Vijaya Puram is the new name of the capital town, announced separately in September 2024. The three 2018 renamings and the 2024 renaming of the capital are asked in both directions, so learn each pair carefully.

The correct answer is B, Francois Martin. When the French East India Company obtained the fishing village of Pondicherry in 1674, Francois Martin was placed in charge and is counted as its first governor. He laid out the settlement that grew into the capital of the French possessions in India.

Option A, Joseph Francois Dupleix, came much later; he was governor general of French India from 1742 and is remembered for making Pondicherry the centre of French power and for his rivalry with the English in the Carnatic Wars, which ended with the French defeat at Wandiwash in 1760. Option C, Robert Clive, was an English, not French, official, the victor of Plassey in 1757. Option D, Francis Day, was the English factor who secured the site of Madras and built Fort St George from 1639. Keep Martin for the founding and Dupleix for the height of French power.