Indian States & UTs Mixed Quiz: Set 9

The correct answer is B, Jawaharlal Nehru. Shanti Van, the forest of peace, lies north of Raj Ghat on the bank of the Yamuna and marks the place where the first Prime Minister of India was cremated in 1964. The set of memorials along this stretch is asked as a matching question, so each name has to be tied to its leader.

Option A, Mahatma Gandhi, is remembered at Raj Ghat, the simple black stone platform that is the best known of these memorials. Option C, Lal Bahadur Shastri, is remembered at Vijay Ghat. Option D, Indira Gandhi, is remembered at Shakti Sthal, while Rajiv Gandhi's memorial is Veer Bhumi and Charan Singh's is Kisan Ghat. Learning the five pairs together is the quickest way to answer any version of this question.

The correct answer is B, 1 May 1960. On that day the bilingual State of Bombay was divided under the Bombay Reorganisation Act, 1960 into a Gujarati speaking Gujarat and a Marathi speaking Maharashtra, so both states share their formation day. Option A is wrong because 1 November 1956 is the day the States Reorganisation Act came into force, which created states such as Kerala and Karnataka but kept Bombay bilingual. Option C is wrong because 1 April 1936 is the day Odisha was carved out as a separate province, a favourite distractor in this set. Option D is wrong because 15 August 1947 is Independence Day, when Gujarat was still part of Bombay Province and the princely states of Saurashtra and Kachchh were separate. The Mahagujarat movement was the agitation that led to the division.

The correct answer is C, five. Maharashtra has five of the twelve Jyotirlingas, which is more than any other state: Bhimashankar in Pune district, Trimbakeshwar near Nashik, Grishneshwar near the Ellora caves, Aundha Nagnath in Hingoli and Parli Vaijnath in Beed. Trimbakeshwar is also one of the four sites of the Kumbh Mela and the source of the Godavari, while Grishneshwar stands beside the Ellora caves, so the two great sites of the state sit together.

Option A, two, and option B, three, understate the number and are the usual guesses. Option D, seven, overstates it. For comparison, Madhya Pradesh has two, Mahakaleshwar at Ujjain and Omkareshwar, while Gujarat has Somnath and Nageshwar, Uttarakhand has Kedarnath, Uttar Pradesh has Kashi Vishwanath and Jharkhand has Baidyanath, which together with Maharashtra's five make up the twelve.

The correct answer is B, 1 November 1966. On that day the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966 came into force: Haryana was created as a separate state, the hill districts such as Kangra, Kullu and Shimla were transferred to Himachal Pradesh, and Chandigarh was made a Union Territory to serve as the capital of both Punjab and Haryana. The Punjabi Suba movement had demanded a state on a language basis and the Shah Commission drew the boundary. Option A is wrong because 1 November 1956 is the day the States Reorganisation Act came into force, when PEPSU merged into Punjab but Haryana did not exist. Option C is wrong because 1 May 1960 is the day Bombay State was divided into Gujarat and Maharashtra. Option D is wrong because 1 November 2000 is the formation day of Chhattisgarh, not of any Punjab settlement.

The correct answer is B, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. The statue stands 182 metres tall at Kevadia, now Ekta Nagar, near the Sardar Sarovar Dam on the Narmada, and it was unveiled on 31 October 2018, the leader's birth anniversary; the name recalls his work in integrating the princely states. Option A is wrong because Gandhi, though born in Gujarat at Porbandar, is commemorated there by Kirti Mandir and by the Sabarmati Ashram, not by this statue. Option C is wrong because the tall statues connected with Dr Ambedkar stand elsewhere and none of them is this one. Option D is wrong because no statue of this scale commemorates Nehru. Ask yourself three things together in such questions: the person, the height of 182 metres and the place, Kevadia on the Narmada.

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, Sutlej. Bhakra is a concrete gravity dam on the Sutlej in the Shivalik gorge at Bhakra, and the lake behind it is the Gobind Sagar. With the Nangal barrage downstream it forms the Bhakra Nangal project, a multipurpose scheme shared by Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan that supplies irrigation water and hydro power. Option A is wrong because the Beas is dammed at Pong, whose reservoir is the Maharana Pratap Sagar. Option B is wrong because the Ravi is dammed at Ranjit Sagar, also called the Thein Dam. Option D is wrong because the Ghaggar is a seasonal stream of the Shivalik foothills, often identified with the Vedic Saraswati, and carries no project of this size. Remember the pairs: Sutlej to Bhakra, Beas to Pong, Ravi to Ranjit Sagar.

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 D, January 2021. Maharashtra began its Jail Tourism scheme on 26 January 2021, Republic Day, at the Yerawada Central Jail in Pune, making it the first state in the country to open a working prison to visitors. The idea is to let people see the cells where freedom fighters were held, so the scheme was launched in the year that marked the 75th anniversary of the Indian National Army trials and the run-up to Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav. At Yerawada visitors are shown the yard linked to Mahatma Gandhi and the cell associated with Lokmanya Tilak and other leaders, on payment of a small fee. Options A, B and C are wrong because they name later months of 2021, while the launch was tied deliberately to Republic Day at the start of the year. Exam tip: Jail Tourism — Maharashtra, first in India, 26 January 2021, Yerawada Central Jail, Pune.

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, Gujarat. Gir lies in the Junagadh region of the Saurashtra peninsula and is the last place where the Asiatic lion survives in the wild; the lion is the state animal of Gujarat. Option A is wrong because Rajasthan is known for the tiger reserves of Ranthambhore and Sariska and for the Keoladeo bird park at Bharatpur. Option B is wrong because Madhya Pradesh has Kanha, Bandhavgarh and Kuno, and Kuno has been discussed as a second home for lions, which is the reason this option looks attractive. Option D is wrong because Maharashtra has Tadoba and Melghat, both tiger reserves. Along with Gir, remember the Wild Ass Sanctuary in the Little Rann of Kachchh and the Blackbuck National Park at Velavadar.

The correct answer is B, 70. The Delhi Legislative Assembly has seventy seats, all filled by direct election, and the Council of Ministers may not be larger than a tenth of that strength, which means at most seven ministers including the Chief Minister. Delhi also elects seven members to the Lok Sabha and its assembly elects three members to the Rajya Sabha.

Option A, sixty, is the strength of the assemblies of Goa, Manipur, Tripura, Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh, which is why it feels plausible. Option C, ninety, is the strength of the Chhattisgarh assembly and close to that of Haryana. Option D, forty, is the strength of the Sikkim assembly and of Puducherry's elected members. The pair to fix in memory is Delhi seventy seats and seven Lok Sabha members.

The correct answer is B, Beas and Sutlej. Harike, also called Hari ke Pattan, was formed by a barrage built where the Beas joins the Sutlej, and it is the largest wetland of northern India. It was listed as a Ramsar site in 2002, along with Kanjli and Ropar in the same state, and the Indira Gandhi Canal, which carries water to the deserts of Rajasthan, takes off from the Harike barrage. Option A is wrong because the Ravi and the Beas do not meet inside Indian Punjab. Option C is wrong because the Ghaggar drains the south eastern corner of the state and is not a tributary of the Sutlej there. Option D is wrong because the Chenab lies in Pakistan after leaving Jammu and Kashmir and never meets the Ravi in India.

The correct answer is B, Ahmednagar. Kalsubai stands in the Sahyadri range in the Ahmednagar district, at about one thousand six hundred and forty six metres, which makes it the highest point in Maharashtra, and a small temple at the summit draws a steady stream of trekkers along the route from Bari village. The range here is the Sahyadri, the local name of the Western Ghats, which UNESCO inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2012.

Option A, Satara, holds Mahabaleshwar, where the Krishna rises, and the hill station of Panchgani. Option C, Raigad, is the district of Shivaji's capital fort and of the Konkan coast. Option D, Nashik, is where the Godavari rises at Trimbakeshwar and where several other Sahyadri peaks stand, which is why it is a strong distractor. The peak itself, however, is in Ahmednagar district.

The correct answer is A, the Gulf of Kachchh in Gujarat, where the Marine National Park was the first of its kind in India, protecting coral reefs, mangroves, sea grass, sponges and a rich bird life across a group of islands. Option B is wrong because the Gulf of Mannar off Tamil Nadu is famous as a biosphere reserve with great marine diversity, and it is the option most often chosen by mistake. Option C is wrong because the Gulf of Khambhat, on the other side of the Saurashtra peninsula, has heavy tides and silt and holds no marine national park. Option D is wrong because the Gulf of Aden lies between Yemen and Somalia, outside India altogether. Keep the pairing clear: first marine national park in the Gulf of Kachchh, marine biosphere reserve in the Gulf of Mannar.

The correct answer is C, Ahmad Shah Abdali of Afghanistan. The Third Battle of Panipat was fought in January 1761 between the Maratha army, led by Sadashivrao Bhau with Vishwasrao, and the Afghan ruler Ahmad Shah Abdali, who had the support of the Rohillas and the Nawab of Awadh. The Marathas were heavily defeated, a blow that checked their advance in the north and eased the way for other powers.

Option A, Babur, fought the First Battle of Panipat in 1526 against Ibrahim Lodi and founded the Mughal empire. Option B, Nadir Shah, invaded India in 1739 and sacked Delhi, but his battle was at Karnal, not Panipat. Option D, the English East India Company, was not a party to any battle of Panipat, although it gained from Maratha weakness afterwards. The Second Battle, in 1556, was between Akbar's forces under Bairam Khan and Hemu.

The correct answer is B, Guru Ram Das, the fourth Sikh Guru, who founded the settlement around the sacred tank that gave the city its name. Option C is wrong, though close: Guru Arjan Dev, the fifth Guru, completed the Harmandir Sahib and installed the Adi Granth in it in 1604, but the city itself was his predecessor's foundation, and examiners set these two against each other. Option D is wrong because Guru Hargobind, the sixth Guru, raised the Akal Takht facing the Harmandir Sahib and gave the community its martial turn. Option A is wrong because Guru Angad Dev, the second Guru, is remembered for standardising the Gurmukhi script, not for founding Amritsar. Maharaja Ranjit Singh later covered the shrine in gold, which is why it is known as the Golden Temple.

The correct answer is A, Patan. Rani ki Vav, the queen's step well, was built in the Solanki period on the bank of the Saraswati at Patan, is carved in seven descending storeys with hundreds of sculptures, and appears on the hundred rupee note. Option B is wrong because Modhera, not far away, has the Sun Temple of the Solankis with its own tank, but the World Heritage step well is at Patan. Option C is wrong because Champaner Pavagadh, inscribed earlier in 2004, is an archaeological park of mosques, temples and fortifications near Vadodara. Option D is wrong because Dholavira, inscribed in 2021, is the Harappan city in Kachchh known for its reservoirs. Patan is also the home of the Patola double ikat sari, which makes the town doubly examinable.

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, the Solankis, also called the Chalukyas of Gujarat, who ruled from Anhilwad Patan and built the temple to Surya at Modhera with its stepped tank, assembly hall and sanctum aligned so that light falls within it. Option A is wrong because the Rashtrakutas of the Deccan are remembered for the rock cut Kailasa temple at Ellora. Option C is wrong because the Palas ruled Bengal and Bihar and are associated with Buddhist monasteries such as Vikramshila and with the Pala school of art. Option D is wrong because the Gaekwads were Maratha rulers of Baroda in a much later period and had no part in the temple. The Solanki period is also the period of Rani ki Vav, so the two monuments are often paired in a question.