States, Capitals and Boundaries of India: Exam Notes

The correct answer is A, Assam. Dispur, a locality within Guwahati, became the capital of Assam in 1973 after Shillong, the earlier capital, went to the newly created State of Meghalaya. The Assam secretariat and the legislative assembly function from Dispur, while Guwahati remains the commercial centre and the seat of the Gauhati High Court. Option B is wrong because the capital of Meghalaya is Shillong, which it inherited from Assam. Option C is wrong because the capital of Nagaland is Kohima, while Dimapur is its largest city and railhead. Option D is wrong because the capital of Tripura is Agartala, which lies close to the Bangladesh border. The question is a standing favourite because four north-eastern capitals look interchangeable to a candidate who has not revised them as pairs.

The correct answer is B, Punjab and Haryana. Chandigarh was built as the new capital of Punjab after Partition, and when Haryana was carved out of Punjab in 1966 the city was made a Union territory serving as the capital of both States. It is the only city in the country that is a Union territory and the capital of two States at the same time. Option A is wrong because the capital of Himachal Pradesh is Shimla, with Dharamshala as its winter capital. Option C is wrong because Delhi is the National Capital Territory and its capital is New Delhi, not Chandigarh. Option D is wrong because the capital of Rajasthan is Jaipur. The city was planned by the architect Le Corbusier, a detail often asked in the same paper.

The correct answer is B, Himachal Pradesh. Shimla is the capital of Himachal Pradesh, and Dharamshala in the Kangra valley was declared its second or winter capital, where a session of the State assembly is held. Option A is wrong because Uttarakhand works from Dehradun and has declared Gairsain, in the Chamoli district, its summer capital. Option C is wrong because the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir has Srinagar as its summer capital and Jammu as its winter capital, a pair that candidates often transfer wrongly to Himachal Pradesh. Option D is wrong because Sikkim has a single capital, Gangtok. Keep the four hill arrangements separate: Shimla with Dharamshala, Dehradun with Gairsain, Srinagar with Jammu, and Gangtok alone. Himachal Pradesh itself was made a full State in 1971, and its assembly meeting at Dharamshala is meant to serve the Kangra and Chamba side of the State.

The correct answer is C, West Bengal. The India and Bangladesh boundary runs through five States, and of these West Bengal has by far the longest stretch, since Bangladesh lies along its southern and eastern sides. Bangladesh is also the country with which India shares its longest land boundary. Option A is wrong because Assam has a comparatively short stretch along its south-western side. Option B is wrong because Tripura, although it is almost surrounded by Bangladesh on three sides, is a small State and its border is shorter than that of West Bengal. Option D is wrong because Meghalaya has a moderate stretch along its southern edge. Note that West Bengal is also the only State touching three countries, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. The five States along this boundary are worth listing in order from west to east, as West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram, because papers often ask how many States border Bangladesh.

The correct answer is B, Odisha. The Tropic of Cancer crosses India through eight States, namely Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Tripura and Mizoram, and Odisha is not one of them because it lies to the south of the line. Option A is wrong because Jharkhand lies on the line and is part of the list. Option C is wrong because Tripura is on the line, which is why its climate is reckoned as tropical in the fullest sense. Option D is wrong because Chhattisgarh is also crossed by the line in its northern part. A simple way to recall the eight is to move from west to east: Gujarat and Rajasthan, then Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, then Jharkhand and West Bengal, and finally Tripura and Mizoram.

The correct answer is D, Assam. India shares its boundary with Myanmar through four States, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram, and Assam is not among them, because it is shut off from Myanmar by Nagaland and Manipur. Option A is wrong because Nagaland has a long eastern border with Myanmar. Option B is wrong because Manipur borders Myanmar on its east and south, with Moreh as the main trade point. Option C is wrong because Mizoram touches Myanmar on its east and south. Assam is the State that shares boundaries with the largest number of Indian States in the region, which is probably why it is placed in such questions. Remember the four as the letters A, N, M and M. A second point worth holding is that the Moreh and Zokhawthar crossings on this boundary are the recognised trade points, and the Indo-Myanmar boundary runs along hill ranges rather than a river.

The correct answer is C, Gujarat. Gujarat has the longest coastline of any Indian State, because its shore runs along the Gulf of Kachchh, the Saurashtra peninsula and the Gulf of Khambhat, which gives it a deeply indented outline and many ports, including Kandla and Mundra. Option A is wrong because Tamil Nadu, although it has a long eastern shore from Pulicat to Kanniyakumari, comes after Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. Option B is wrong because Andhra Pradesh has the second longest coastline among the States. Option D is wrong because Maharashtra, with the Konkan coast and the port of Mumbai, is shorter still. Among the Union territories the Andaman and Nicobar Islands have a longer coastline than any mainland State, which is a separate fact papers sometimes test.

The correct answer is B, India and China. The McMahon Line was drawn at the Simla Convention of 1914 and is the boundary India recognises with China in the eastern sector, running along the crest of the hills north of Arunachal Pradesh. China does not accept it, which is the root of the dispute in that sector. Option A is wrong because the India and Pakistan boundary is the Radcliffe Line, with the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. Option C is wrong because the India and Nepal boundary is an old treaty boundary with no such name, though the Sugauli Treaty of 1816 fixed much of it. Option D is wrong because the Pakistan and Afghanistan boundary is the Durand Line of 1893. Learn the four lines together, since papers mix them in one question.

The correct answer is B, Uttar Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh touches eight States, namely Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar, and in addition the Union territory of Delhi, which is the largest number for any State. Option A is wrong because Madhya Pradesh, though central, touches five States and is the usual second guess. Option C is wrong because Assam touches seven States and is the answer when a question is restricted to the north-east; this closeness is exactly why it is offered here. Option D is wrong because Maharashtra touches six States and one Union territory. When a question asks about the Union territory with the most State neighbours instead, the answer changes, so read the stem carefully. Another useful pair is that Sikkim and Goa border the fewest States, and Andhra Pradesh and Telangana now border each other where a single State once stood.

The correct answer is C, Arunachal Pradesh. Itanagar, named after the Ita fort in the area, became the capital when Arunachal Pradesh was a Union territory and continued as the capital after it became a State in 1987. Option A is wrong because the capital of Mizoram is Aizawl. Option B is wrong because the capital of Manipur is Imphal, known for its Kangla fort and the women market called Ima Keithel. Option D is wrong because the capital of Nagaland is Kohima, the site of a decisive battle of the Second World War. A quick drill for the north-east is to say the pairs aloud: Itanagar, Dispur, Imphal, Shillong, Aizawl, Kohima, Agartala and Gangtok. Arunachal Pradesh is also called the land of the rising sun and was known as the North East Frontier Agency before 1972, a fact set beside its capital in many papers.

The correct answer is B, Uttarakhand. Gairsain, in the Chamoli district of the Garhwal hills, was declared the summer capital of Uttarakhand, a long-standing demand of the hill districts, which held that a capital in the plains at Dehradun left them neglected. Option A is wrong because the second capital of Himachal Pradesh is Dharamshala, and it is a winter capital, not a summer one. Option C is wrong because Sikkim has only one capital, Gangtok. Option D is wrong because Arunachal Pradesh is governed from Itanagar alone. Note the pattern in such questions: a hill State places its second capital higher up for the summer, while a State whose main capital is already in the hills, such as Himachal Pradesh, moves down for the winter.

The correct answer is D, Nagaland. India touches China through Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh, and Nagaland is not on that boundary; its international border is with Myanmar. Option A is wrong because Sikkim touches China along the Nathu La and Jelep La passes in the Chumbi valley region. Option B is wrong because Himachal Pradesh touches Tibet along the Spiti and Kinnaur districts, with the Shipki La pass. Option C is wrong because Arunachal Pradesh has the longest stretch of this boundary, along the McMahon Line. Candidates confuse Nagaland with Sikkim in such lists because both are small and mountainous, so fix each with its neighbour: Sikkim with China, Bhutan and Nepal, and Nagaland with Myanmar alone. Ladakh, which carries the longest stretch of this boundary in the western sector, is a Union territory and not a State, so a question that asks only about States leaves it out.