Lakes, Dams and Waterfalls of India: Complete List

The correct answer is D, the Pancheshwar Main Dam. It is the centrepiece of the Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project, planned on the Mahakali river, which forms part of the boundary between India and Nepal, and it is to be built and operated jointly by the two countries under the Mahakali Treaty for power, irrigation and flood control. Option A, the Tehri Dam, stands on the Bhagirathi in Uttarakhand and is the tallest dam in India, but it lies well inside Indian territory. Option B is wrong because the Son is a tributary of the Ganga flowing through Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar, nowhere near the Nepal border. Option C, the Rajghat Dam, is on the Betwa river on the border of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, an interstate rather than an international project.

The correct answer is A, Maithon. The Maithon dam is built across the Barakar, a tributary of the Damodar, in Jharkhand, and is one of the reservoirs of the Damodar Valley Corporation, so it has nothing to do with the Kaveri. The other three are all on the Kaveri and should be memorised together. Option B, Mettur in Tamil Nadu, holds back the Stanley Reservoir and is the main storage for the Kaveri delta. Option C, Kallanai or the Grand Anicut, was built by the Chola king Karikala to divert the river into the delta channels and is the oldest water-diversion structure in India still in use. Option D, Krishna Raja Sagara in Karnataka, was built near Mysuru with Sir M. Visvesvaraya as the engineer, and the Brindavan Gardens lie below it.

The correct answer is C, Telangana. The Kaleshwaram project lifts water from the Godavari near the confluence of the Godavari and the Pranahita and carries it through a chain of barrages, pump houses, tunnels and canals to the drier districts of Telangana; it is described as a multi-stage lift irrigation scheme rather than a single storage dam. Option A is wrong because Kerala’s largest irrigation and power works are on the Periyar, such as the Idukki arch dam. Option B is wrong because Gujarat’s major project is the Sardar Sarovar on the Narmada. Option D is wrong because Maharashtra’s best-known works are Koyna on the Koyna river and Ukai lies in Gujarat on the Tapi. For this topic remember the pairing of state, river and type of structure, since that is exactly what the question tests.

The correct answer is B, Karnataka. Jog Falls is formed by the Sharavathi river where it drops off the edge of the Western Ghats in the Shivamogga district of Karnataka, and it falls in four separate streams traditionally named Raja, Rani, Rocket and Roarer. It is a segmented fall rather than a single plunge, and its flow depends on releases from the Linganamakki reservoir upstream. Option A, Uttarakhand, is a Himalayan state whose famous water features are glaciers and the sources of the Ganga and Yamuna rather than plateau-edge falls. Option C, Jharkhand, does have falls such as Hundru and Dassam on the Chota Nagpur plateau, but not Jog. Option D, Sikkim, has small Himalayan cascades. Remember that Karnataka also has Kunchikal on the Varahi, which is counted as the highest waterfall in India.

The correct answer is B, Kunchikal Falls. Formed by the Varahi river in the Shivamogga district of Karnataka, it is counted as the highest waterfall in India, falling in a long series of steps through rocky terrain; because it lies within the catchment of the Mani dam, its full flow is seen mainly in the monsoon. Option A, Jog Falls on the Sharavathi, is the most famous and most visited waterfall in the country and is often given as the answer by students who confuse fame with height, but it is lower than Kunchikal. Options C and D, Rakim Kund and Kevti, are both falls of the Kaimur range in Bihar and are much smaller. Two more superlatives are worth learning: Nohkalikai in Meghalaya is the tallest plunge waterfall, and Chitrakote on the Indravati in Chhattisgarh is the broadest.

The correct answer is B, Wular Lake. It lies in the Kashmir valley, is fed by the Jhelum, and is the largest freshwater lake in India; it acts as a natural flood absorber for the valley and is a designated wetland of international importance. Option A, Chilika in Odisha, is the largest brackish water lagoon in the country, not a freshwater lake, and the words brackish and freshwater are the whole trick of this question. Option C, Sambhar in Rajasthan, is the largest inland saline lake and a major source of common salt. Option D, Vembanad in Kerala, is the longest lake in India and part of the backwater system, but its water mixes with the sea and it is not classed as a freshwater lake. Keep the four superlatives apart: largest freshwater, largest brackish lagoon, largest saline and longest.

The correct answer is C, Odisha. Chilika lies along the coast of Odisha, separated from the Bay of Bengal by a long sand bar, and its mixture of fresh and sea water supports one of the largest wintering grounds for migratory birds in the subcontinent as well as a population of Irrawaddy dolphins. It was the first Indian wetland to be placed on the Ramsar list. Option A, Andhra Pradesh, shares Pulicat, the next largest lagoon, with Tamil Nadu and also has Kolleru between the Krishna and Godavari deltas. Option B, West Bengal, has the Sundarbans wetlands but no lagoon of this kind. Option D, Tamil Nadu, holds the southern part of Pulicat, and the confusion between Chilika and Pulicat is the usual reason a student loses this mark.

The correct answer is B, the Bhagirathi. The Tehri dam stands in the Tehri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand, just below the point where the Bhilangana joins the Bhagirathi, and it is the tallest dam in India; it supplies power, drinking water and irrigation, and its construction submerged the old town of Tehri. Option A, the Alaknanda, is the other headstream of the Ganga and meets the Bhagirathi at Devprayag, but the dam is not on it. Option C, the Mandakini, joins the Alaknanda at Rudraprayag and is associated with Kedarnath rather than with any large dam. Option D, the Yamuna, carries other projects such as the Lakhwar and the Tajewala headworks. Remember the sequence of superlatives: Tehri the tallest, Hirakud among the longest and Bhakra the highest gravity dam.

The correct answer is A, Loktak Lake. Loktak in Manipur is covered with phumdis, floating mats of soil and decaying vegetation thick enough to walk on, and the southern part of the lake was declared Keibul Lamjao National Park, the only floating national park in the world and the last natural home of the sangai or brow-antlered deer. Option B, Kolleru in Andhra Pradesh, lies between the Krishna and Godavari deltas and is important for birds but has no such formation. Option C, Ashtamudi in Kerala, is a backwater lagoon named for its eight arms and is a Ramsar site. Option D, Pangong Tso, is a high-altitude brackish lake in Ladakh that extends across the Line of Actual Control into Tibet. Loktak also carries a hydroelectric project, which has changed the lake’s water level and affected the phumdis.

The correct answer is B, the Bhakra Dam. Bhakra is built across the Sutlej at the Bhakra gorge on the border of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab, is the highest straight gravity dam in India, and the lake it holds is named Gobind Sagar after Guru Gobind Singh. With the Nangal barrage downstream it forms the Bhakra Nangal project, which supplies power and canal water to Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. Option A, Hirakud on the Mahanadi in Odisha, is among the longest dams in the world and its reservoir carries its own name. Option C, Nagarjuna Sagar on the Krishna, holds the Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir, named after the Buddhist scholar Nagarjuna. Option D, the Rihand dam in Uttar Pradesh, impounds Govind Ballabh Pant Sagar, the largest man-made lake in India by area, and the similar names make this the trap of the question.

The correct answer is B, Rajasthan. Sambhar lies west of Jaipur in a shallow depression with no outlet to the sea; water that flows in can only evaporate, leaving behind the salt that has made the lake a major source of common salt for centuries. It is a Ramsar site and a feeding ground for flamingos in winter. Option A, Gujarat, has the Rann of Kachchh, a salt marsh rather than a lake, and questions often use it as a distractor for exactly this reason. Option C, Madhya Pradesh, has the Bhojtal or Upper Lake at Bhopal, a large freshwater body. Option D, Haryana, has the Sultanpur wetland, important for birds but small. Remember the pairing of the three salt-related features: Sambhar the saline lake, the Rann a salt marsh and Chilika a brackish lagoon.