Indian States & UTs Mixed Quiz: Set 6

The correct answer is B, Muskmelon. Durgapura Madhu is a muskmelon variety, and it takes its name from the Durgapura research farm of the agricultural research institute at Jaipur in Rajasthan, where it was developed. Hot dry summers and light sandy soils suit melons, so Rajasthan grows them on river beds and in field plots as a summer crop, and Durgapura has released a small family of melon varieties that carry the farm's name, Durgapura Madhu and Durgapura Meetha among them. Madhu is grown for its sweet flesh and is popular in the Jaipur, Tonk and Bharatpur belt. State exams usually ask such questions the other way round too, pairing a variety with its crop, so the name itself is the clue to learn. A is wrong because watermelon is a separate crop with its own varieties such as Sugar Baby and Arka Manik. C is wrong because rose is a flower crop. D is wrong because cucumber varieties, like Poona Khira, carry other names. Exam tip: Durgapura Madhu and Durgapura Meetha are muskmelon varieties from Durgapura, Jaipur.

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 A, Pachmarhi. Pachmarhi lies in the Satpura range and is the only hill station of Madhya Pradesh. Dhupgarh, the highest point of the state, rises near it, and the Satpura National Park and the Pachmarhi Biosphere Reserve lie around it. The place is also known for its caves and waterfalls, and it is sometimes called the queen of the Satpura.

Option B, Amarkantak, is a pilgrim town on the Maikal range and the source of both the Narmada and the Son, but it is not counted as the hill station of the state. Option C, Maheshwar, stands on the bank of the Narmada and was the capital of Ahilyabai Holkar. Option D, Orchha, lies on the Betwa and was the seat of the Bundela rulers, known for its palaces and cenotaphs. None of these three is in the Satpura heights.

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 B, Karnal. The National Dairy Research Institute at Karnal is the country's premier institution for research and teaching in dairy science, working on milk production, breeding, processing and animal health, and it is a deemed university under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. Haryana is a natural home for it because of the Murrah buffalo, prized across India for its milk yield.

Option A, Hisar, holds the Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes and the Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, which makes it a strong distractor. Option C, Rohtak, holds Maharshi Dayanand University and the Pandit Bhagwat Dayal Sharma health sciences university. Option D, Ambala, is known for its cantonment and its scientific instruments industry. Pair Karnal with dairy and Hisar with buffaloes and agriculture.

The correct answer is C, Shah Commission. The commission headed by Justice J. C. Shah was appointed in 1966 to decide how the Punjab should be divided on a linguistic basis, and its report fixed which districts and tehsils would go to Haryana, which would remain with Punjab and which would form Chandigarh and the hill areas transferred to Himachal Pradesh. The Punjab Reorganisation Act of 1966 gave effect to it.

Option A, the Dhar Commission of 1948, examined the demand for linguistic provinces soon after independence and advised against it. Option B, the commission under Fazl Ali, produced the report of 1955 that led to the States Reorganisation Act of 1956. Option D, the Sarkaria Commission of the 1980s, examined relations between the Union and the states and has no connection with the formation of Haryana.

The correct answer is C, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. The Delhi Metro was the first metro and rail based system in the world to be certified by the United Nations for earning carbon credits, because its regenerative braking returns electricity to the grid each time a train slows. It also built solar plants at its stations and depots and uses rainwater harvesting and green buildings, which is why it is described as the first completely green metro.

Option A, the Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway, and option B, the Singapore Mass Rapid Transit, are both older and efficient systems but did not take the carbon credit route first. Option D, the London Underground, opened in 1863 and is the oldest underground railway in the world, which makes it the natural trap for a candidate who reads first as oldest. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation itself was set up in 1995 and its first stretch opened in December 2002.

The correct answer is C, 2000. Chhattisgarh became a separate state on 1 November 2000, taking sixteen districts from the eastern part of Madhya Pradesh, with Raipur as its capital. Two other states were created in the same year, Uttarakhand out of Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand out of Bihar. After the division Madhya Pradesh lost its place as the largest state of India by area and became the second largest, after Rajasthan.

Option A, 1956, is the year Madhya Pradesh itself was formed under the States Reorganisation Act, on 1 November. Option B, 1972, is the year Meghalaya, Manipur and Tripura became full states. Option D, 2014, is the year Telangana was separated from Andhra Pradesh. Note that both the formation of Madhya Pradesh and the creation of Chhattisgarh fall on 1 November, which is the detail a paper setter uses.

The correct answer is B, 1 May 1960. On that day the bilingual Bombay State was divided into Maharashtra and Gujarat under the Bombay Reorganisation Act, 1960, after the Samyukta Maharashtra movement had pressed for a separate state for Marathi speakers. The day is observed every year as Maharashtra Day, and Gujarat Day falls on the same date.

Option A, 1 November 1956, is the day the States Reorganisation Act came into force, which created many states on a linguistic basis but left Bombay State bilingual, and it is the commonest wrong answer here. Option C, 1 April 1936, is the day Odisha was carved out as a separate province. Option D, 1 November 2000, is the day Chhattisgarh was created. Only 1960 belongs to Maharashtra.

The correct answer is B, the 36th Amendment. Sikkim became the twenty-second state of the Indian Union on 16 May 1975 through the Constitution (Thirty-sixth Amendment) Act, 1975, which placed it in the First Schedule as a state and added Article 371F for special provisions relating to it.

Option A, the 35th Amendment of 1974, is the near miss: it gave Sikkim the intermediate status of an associate state of the Union, a status no other unit has ever held, and that arrangement lasted less than a year. Option C, the 42nd Amendment of 1976, is the wide-ranging amendment that added the words socialist, secular and integrity to the Preamble and the Fundamental Duties. Option D, the 44th Amendment of 1978, undid much of the 42nd and moved the right to property out of the Fundamental Rights.

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 A, Vaishali. It was the capital of the Licchavi clan, the leading member of the Vajji confederacy, and its assembly of clan heads is the reason it is described as one of the earliest republics in the world. Mahavira was born at Kundagrama near Vaishali, and the second Buddhist Council was held there. An Ashokan pillar with a lion capital still stands at the site.

Option B, Rajgir, was the capital of Magadha under Bimbisara and Ajatashatru and the venue of the first Buddhist Council, but it was a monarchy. Option C, Sasaram, in Rohtas district, is known for the tomb of Sher Shah Suri. Option D, Bhagalpur, is the old Anga country, the site of Vikramshila and the Gangetic dolphin sanctuary. Only Vaishali carries the republican tradition.

The correct answer is A, Panna. The Panna belt in Madhya Pradesh holds the only working diamond mines of India, and the town gives its name both to the diamond field and to the Panna National Park, which lies on the Ken river beside it. Diamonds occur there in kimberlite pipes and in the gravels of streams, and the output is small but it is the sole regular source in the country.

Option B, Malanjkhand in Balaghat district, is a large copper deposit, one of the biggest in India, not a diamond field. Option C, Singrauli, sits on a coalfield and is known for its thermal power stations, which is why it is sometimes called the energy capital of the country. Option D, Katni, is known for limestone and for its position as a railway junction. Keeping Panna for diamonds and Malanjkhand for copper apart is the point of the question.

The correct answer is B. The Battle of Haldighati was fought in June 1576 in the hills near Gogunda in Mewar between Maharana Pratap of Mewar and the Mughal army sent by Akbar under Man Singh of Amber. Neither side destroyed the other; Pratap withdrew into the hills and carried on a long resistance from there, and his horse Chetak is part of the story every paper repeats.

Option A describes the Battle of Khanwa of 1527, where Babur defeated Rana Sanga after the first battle of Panipat. Option C refers to the earlier Mewar and Malwa conflicts in which Rana Kumbha took part, commemorated by the Vijay Stambha at Chittorgarh. Option D refers to the Rathore rulers of Marwar and the later conflict with Aurangzeb, including the war of succession after Jaswant Singh's death. Fixing 1576 to Haldighati and 1527 to Khanwa settles the commonest confusion.

The correct answer is C, 90. The Haryana Vidhan Sabha has ninety elected seats, and the state has a single chamber, so there is no Legislative Council. Haryana sends ten members to the Lok Sabha and five to the Rajya Sabha, and these three numbers, ninety, ten and five, are worth learning together because papers ask any one of them.

Option A, seventy, is the number of seats in the Delhi Legislative Assembly. Option B, eighty one, is the strength of the Jharkhand Assembly. Option D, one hundred and seventeen, is the strength of the Punjab Assembly, the state from which Haryana was separated, which makes it the most tempting wrong answer here. The number of Assembly seats in a state is fixed by delimitation and has not changed for Haryana for many years.

The correct answer is B, Madan Mohan Malaviya. He raised the funds and pushed through the legislation for Banaras Hindu University, which was founded at Varanasi in 1916 and became one of the largest residential universities in Asia. Malaviya was also a president of the Indian National Congress more than once, and he is remembered as Mahamana.

Option C, Annie Besant, is a near miss with a real connection: her Central Hindu College at Varanasi became part of the new university, and she worked closely with Malaviya, but the founder named in every record is Malaviya. Option A, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, founded the college at Aligarh that grew into Aligarh Muslim University. Option D, Lala Lajpat Rai, was a leader of the Punjab and was among those behind Punjab National Bank, not this university.

The correct answer is A, the Sixty-ninth Amendment Act of 1991. It inserted Articles 239AA and 239AB into the Constitution, renamed the union territory of Delhi as the National Capital Territory of Delhi and gave it a legislative assembly and a council of ministers, with the arrangement coming into force in February 1992. The assembly can legislate on the State and Concurrent Lists except on public order, police and land.

Option B, the Seventy-third Amendment of 1992, added Part IX and gave constitutional status to panchayats. Option D, the Seventy-fourth Amendment of the same year, did the same for municipalities, and the two are often confused with this one because their dates are close. Option C, the Sixty-first Amendment of 1988, lowered the voting age from twenty-one years to eighteen. Only the Sixty-ninth deals with Delhi.

The correct answer is C, Nagpur. Mumbai is the capital of Maharashtra, but Nagpur was given the status of the second capital under the Nagpur Pact when Vidarbha joined the new state, and one session of the state legislature is held there every year, usually in winter, which is why it is called the winter capital. Nagpur also has the Zero Mile marker and the Deekshabhoomi.

Option A, Pune, was the seat of the Peshwas and is the cultural and education centre of the state, but it holds no capital status. Option B, Nashik, is known for the Kumbh at Trimbakeshwar, its grapes and the currency press. Option D, Kolhapur, is the city of the Mahalaxmi temple and of the Kolhapuri chappal. Each is a major city, but the second capital is Nagpur.

The correct answer is B, Gwalior fort. The fort at Gwalior stands on a steep sandstone hill and has been called the Gibraltar of India for its strength. Man Singh Tomar built the Man Mandir palace within it in the late fifteenth century, and the fort also holds the Sas Bahu temples, the Teli ka Mandir and early Jain rock carvings. The tomb of the musician Tansen, one of the nine jewels of the court of Akbar, is in the same city, and the Tansen Samaroh is held there.

Option A, the fort inside Bandhavgarh National Park, is an old hill fort but carries no such title. Option C, Asirgarh in Burhanpur district, guarded the route into the Deccan and was called the key to the Deccan, a different phrase. Option D, Mandu, is a fortified city of the Malwa sultans, known for the Jahaz Mahal and the tomb of Hoshang Shah, the earliest marble building in India.

The correct answer is A, Panipat. The national campaign Beti Bachao Beti Padhao was launched from Panipat on 22 January 2015 to check the decline in the child sex ratio and to promote the education of girls. Haryana was chosen for the launch because its sex ratio, recorded at 879 females for every thousand males in the Census of 2011, was among the lowest in the country, and districts of the state were among the first taken up under the scheme.

Option B, Gurugram, is the industrial and technology centre of the state but not the launch site. Option C, Kurukshetra, is associated with religious and cultural events such as the Gita Jayanti Mahotsav. Option D, Sonipat, holds several universities but had no part in the launch. Panipat is the answer, and the same city is also known for handloom furnishings and for the three historic battles fought on its plain.