Haryana Location and Physical Divisions: Extent and Plains

The correct answer is B, 44,212 square kilometres. Haryana covers 44,212 square kilometres, about 1.34 per cent of the area of India, which makes it one of the smaller states by size even though it is among the most urbanised and the most productive per hectare in the country.

Option A, 38,863 square kilometres, is the area of Kerala. Option C, 50,362 square kilometres, is the area of Punjab, the state from which Haryana was carved out in 1966, and it is the commonest wrong answer here because candidates remember that Punjab kept the larger share. Option D, 55,673 square kilometres, is the area of Himachal Pradesh, which also received hill areas of the old Punjab in the same reorganisation. The three figures are worth learning as a set, since questions often ask which of the successor states is the largest.

The correct answer is C, 27 degrees 39 minutes north to 30 degrees 55 minutes north. Haryana lies between these parallels and between 74 degrees 28 minutes east and 77 degrees 36 minutes east longitude. Its position far north of the Tropic of Cancer and far from the sea explains the state's continental climate, with very hot summers and cold winters.

Option A, 23 degrees 52 minutes to 30 degrees 24 minutes north, is the latitudinal extent of Uttar Pradesh. Option B, 24 degrees 20 minutes to 27 degrees 31 minutes north, is the extent of Bihar and lies well to the south-east. Option D, 29 degrees 30 minutes to 32 degrees 32 minutes north, is close to the range of Himachal Pradesh, the hill state to the north, and is the usual distractor for candidates who overestimate how far north Haryana reaches. Fix the pair as roughly 27 and a half degrees to 31 degrees north.

The correct answer is B, 1 November 1966. Haryana came into being on 1 November 1966 under the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966, when the Hindi-speaking districts of the old Punjab were formed into a new state, the hill areas went to Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh was made a union territory to serve as capital of both Punjab and Haryana.

Option A, 1 November 1956, is the date of the States Reorganisation Act, under which Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka took shape; the shared day of the month is what makes it a trap. Option C, 1 May 1960, is the date Bombay State was divided into Maharashtra and Gujarat. Option D, 15 August 1966, is not the date of any state's creation and is offered only because the day is familiar. Remember 1 November 1966 together with the Punjab Reorganisation Act and the Shah Commission.

The correct answer is A, Karoh peak in the Morni hills. Karoh peak, 1,467 metres, stands in the Morni hills of Panchkula district, where the Shivalik ranges enter Haryana in the extreme north-east. Morni is the state's only hill resort, and the whole belt around it is the highest and wettest part of Haryana.

Option B, Dhosi hill in Mahendragarh, is an isolated Aravalli hill in the south, well known in the Puranic tradition but only a few hundred metres high. Option C, Tosham hill in Bhiwani, is another low Aravalli outcrop in the sandy south-west. Option D, the Delhi Ridge continuing into Faridabad, is the worn northern end of the Aravalli and is lower still; candidates pick it because the Aravalli is the famous range of the state's south. Hold the pairing Karoh, 1,467 metres, Morni hills, Panchkula, Shivalik.

The correct answer is C, Yamuna. The Yamuna flows along the eastern boundary of Haryana with Uttar Pradesh and is the only river of the state that carries water throughout the year, because it is fed by Himalayan snow. The Western Yamuna Canal, which irrigates much of the eastern plain, is drawn from it at Tajewala in Yamunanagar district.

Option A, the Ghaggar, is the largest river of the state in length within Haryana, but it is seasonal: it rises in the Shivalik, swells in the monsoon and ends in the Ottu weir near Sirsa. Option B, the Markanda, is another Shivalik stream, violent in the rains and dry for the rest of the year. Option D, the Sahibi, rises in the Aravalli of Rajasthan, flows past Rewari towards Delhi and is also seasonal. The rule to carry into the exam is simple: in Haryana only the Yamuna is perennial, every other river is rain-fed.

The correct answer is A, the Ottu weir near Sirsa. The Ghaggar enters Haryana from the Shivalik, flows south-west past Kaithal and Fatehabad and is checked at the Ottu weir in Sirsa district, from which canals take its water; beyond that point its dry bed continues into Rajasthan, where it is lost in the sand. It is a river of the old Indus drainage, not of the Ganga system.

Option B is wrong because the Ghaggar flows away from the Yamuna, on the other side of the water divide that crosses Haryana. Option C, the Sutlej, belongs to the Indus system too, but the Ghaggar never reaches it; the two are separate rivers of the plain. Option D, the Najafgarh drain, is the lower course of the Sahibi, a river of southern Haryana, and is the sort of plausible answer that catches a candidate who confuses the state's two seasonal systems. Remember Ottu weir, Sirsa, Ghaggar.

The correct answer is B, Aravalli. The low, broken, rocky ridges of Gurugram, Nuh, Faridabad, Rewari and Mahendragarh are the worn northern end of the Aravalli, the oldest fold mountain system of India, which continues into Delhi as the Ridge. These are the oldest rocks in Haryana and the source of its quarrying and of the small seasonal streams of the south.

Option A, the Shivalik, is the youngest range and lies at the opposite end of the state, in the north-east around Panchkula, Ambala and Yamunanagar. Option C, the Vindhya, and option D, the Satpura, are ranges of central India in Madhya Pradesh and do not reach Haryana at all. The contrast worth fixing is that Haryana touches both the oldest and the youngest mountains of India, the Aravalli in the south and the Shivalik in the north-east, with the alluvial plain between them.

The correct answer is B, the south-west, over Sirsa, Hisar and Bhiwani. Along with Fatehabad and Mahendragarh, these districts form the bagar belt, where sand carried in from the Thar makes dunes and sandy soil, rainfall drops to about 30 centimetres and no perennial stream flows. The belt was turned into farmland only after the Bhakra canals brought water to it.

Option A, the north-east, is the Shivalik hill belt, the highest and wettest part of the state. Option C, the east around Karnal and Panipat, lies in the fertile nardak and bangar plains watered by the Western Yamuna Canal, the heartland of the Green Revolution in Haryana. Option D, the south-east around Faridabad and Palwal, lies in the Yamuna plain with Aravalli outcrops, not in sand. Match the four belts to the corners: Shivalik north-east, plain through the middle, bagar south-west and Aravalli south.

The correct answer is B, Nardak. Nardak is the old name for the high, fertile tract of the Karnal, Kaithal and Kurukshetra belt, lying above the flood plains on old alluvium and now among the most productive wheat and rice land in the country. These local names are standard answers in Haryana papers because they describe real differences in soil and drainage.

Option A, bagar, is the sandy semi-desert of the south-west, the opposite kind of land. Option C, bet, also called khadar, is the new alluvium inside the flood plains of the Yamuna and the Ghaggar, renewed by silt and liable to flood. Option D, dahar, names the low, badly drained patches that hold water in the rains and turn saline as the water table rises. Learn the set together: bangar, khadar or bet, nardak, dahar and bagar, each with the tract it belongs to.

The correct answer is B, Delhi. The National Capital Territory of Delhi lies within the eastern arm of Haryana, which encloses it on three sides, while Uttar Pradesh lies on the fourth. This is why so much of the National Capital Region falls in Haryana districts such as Gurugram, Faridabad, Sonipat and Jhajjar, and why the state's southern towns have grown so fast.

Option A, Chandigarh, lies on the Haryana and Punjab border and is a union territory serving as capital to both states, but it is not enclosed by Haryana alone. Option C, Himachal Pradesh, is a full state to the north of Haryana, far larger in area, and option D, Rajasthan, is the state on its southern and western side, the largest state of India. Only Delhi fits the description, and the fact is asked in almost every Haryana paper.

The correct answer is A, the Shah Commission. The commission headed by Justice J. C. Shah was appointed in 1966 to work out the division of Punjab, and on its recommendation the Hindi-speaking districts were formed into Haryana, the hill districts went to Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh became a union territory. The division took effect on 1 November 1966 under the Punjab Reorganisation Act.

Option B, the Fazal Ali Commission, is the States Reorganisation Commission of 1953, whose report led to the States Reorganisation Act of 1956, a decade before Haryana. Option C, the Dhar Committee, was the Linguistic Provinces Commission of 1948, which advised against reorganising states on language alone. Option D, the Mandal Commission, dealt with reservation for backward classes and has nothing to do with state boundaries. Keep the chain: Shah Commission, Punjab Reorganisation Act 1966, Haryana on 1 November 1966.

The correct answer is B, Haryana. A low, almost imperceptible divide runs through Haryana, roughly from the Shivalik near Ambala and Kurukshetra down to the Aravalli ridge near Delhi. Streams east of it flow into the Yamuna and so into the Ganga system, while those west of it, the Ghaggar and its tributaries, belong to the old Indus drainage and die out in the sands of Rajasthan.

Option A, Punjab, lies wholly within the Indus basin, drained by the Sutlej, Beas and Ravi. Option C, Rajasthan, has the largest inland drainage area of any state, but the Indus and Ganga divide does not run through it; its own divide is the Aravalli. Option D, Uttar Pradesh, lies wholly in the Ganga basin. The fact worth remembering is that Haryana is the meeting ground of the two great river systems of northern India, which is also why the state has so little surface water of its own and depends on canals.