Chhattisgarh GK: Formation, Minerals and Culture

The correct answer is A, 1 November 2000. Chhattisgarh was carved out of Madhya Pradesh under the Madhya Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000, becoming the twenty-sixth state of India and the first of the three states created that year. Option B is wrong because 9 November 2000 is the formation day of Uttarakhand, then named Uttaranchal, separated from Uttar Pradesh. Option C is wrong because 15 November 2000 is the formation day of Jharkhand, separated from Bihar, and that date was chosen as the birth anniversary of Birsa Munda. Option D is wrong because 1 November 1956 is the date on which the States Reorganisation Act came into force and several states, including Madhya Pradesh in its older form, were reconstituted on linguistic lines. Fix the order of the year 2000 as Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand.

The correct answer is C, Madhya Pradesh. The eastern districts of Madhya Pradesh, long known as the Chhattisgarh region, were separated under the Madhya Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000. Option A is wrong because Bihar was the parent state of Jharkhand, created on 15 November 2000 under the Bihar Reorganisation Act. Option B is wrong because Odisha, although it borders Chhattisgarh on the east and shares the Mahanadi with it, lost no territory in this reorganisation. Option D is wrong because Uttar Pradesh was the parent state of Uttarakhand, created on 9 November 2000, although Uttar Pradesh does touch the northern tip of Chhattisgarh. The three parent and child pairs of the year 2000, namely Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, and Bihar and Jharkhand, are asked repeatedly.

The correct answer is B, Bilaspur. When the state was formed in 2000 the High Court was established at Bilaspur, so the capital and the seat of the High Court are in different cities, a split the examiner likes. Option A is wrong because Raipur is the capital of the state and the seat of the government and the Legislative Assembly, with Nava Raipur Atal Nagar built beside it as the planned new capital city, but it does not house the High Court. Option C is wrong because Jagdalpur is the principal town of the Bastar region, known for Bastar Dussehra and as the base for Chitrakote Falls, not for the judiciary. Option D is wrong because Durg is an industrial district and the location of the Bhilai Steel Plant. Remember the pairing: Raipur governs, Bilaspur judges.

The correct answer is C, the Indravati. Chitrakote Falls is in the Bastar region on the Indravati, a tributary of the Godavari, and its broad horseshoe curve, the widest fall in India, earns it the name Niagara of India. Option A is wrong because the Mahanadi is the main river of the central plain, rising at Sihawa in Dhamtari district; it is the lifeline of the state but does not carry this fall. Option B is wrong because the Shivnath is the longest tributary of the Mahanadi and flows through the plain without such a drop. Option D is wrong because the Hasdeo is another Mahanadi tributary, better known for the coalfield and the dense forest along it. Keep the second waterfall of the state in mind too: Tirathgarh, which is on the Kanger river inside Kanger Valley National Park.

The correct answer is B, Dantewada. The Bailadila range in Dantewada district holds some of the finest haematite iron ore in the world, mined by the National Mineral Development Corporation, and the name is said to come from the hump of an ox, which the range resembles. Option A is wrong because Korba is the coal and power district, with large thermal stations and the BALCO aluminium smelter, which makes it the power capital of the state. Option C is wrong because Durg is where the Bhilai Steel Plant stands; it consumes iron ore rather than producing it. Option D is wrong because Raigarh is associated with coal mining and with the Raigarh gharana of Kathak, not with Bailadila. The clean pairing to memorise is Bailadila for iron ore, Korba for coal and power, Bhilai for steel.

The correct answer is C, Kanger Valley National Park, in the Bastar region. The park is unusual because it protects limestone caves as well as forest: Kutumsar and Kailash are its best known caves, and it also holds the Tirathgarh waterfall on the Kanger river and the hill myna, the state bird. Option A is wrong because Indravati National Park lies in Bijapur district along the Indravati and is known as a tiger reserve and a refuge of the wild buffalo, the state animal. Option B is wrong because Guru Ghasidas National Park is in the north of the state and is named after the founder of the Satnami sect. Option D is wrong because Sanjay National Park lies in Madhya Pradesh, the area from which the Guru Ghasidas park was separated at reorganisation.

The correct answer is A, Teejan Bai. She is the best known performer of Pandwani, the sung narration of the Mahabharata, which has two styles, Kapalik and Vedamati, and she carried the form from village gatherings to stages abroad; she has received the Padma Shri, the Padma Bhushan and the Padma Vibhushan. Option B is wrong because Ritu Verma is also a noted Pandwani singer of the state but has not been given the Padma Vibhushan. Option C is wrong because Habib Tanvir of Raipur was a towering figure of Indian theatre, who built Naya Theatre on the folk form Nacha and wrote Charandas Chor, but he belongs to theatre rather than Pandwani. Option D is wrong because Minimata was a political figure, the first woman member of Parliament from the region, and not a performer.

The correct answer is C, the Soviet Union. The Bhilai Steel Plant in Durg district was built with Soviet collaboration and began production in 1959; it is run today by the Steel Authority of India and is known above all for the long rails it supplies to Indian Railways. Option A is wrong because West German collaboration built the Rourkela Steel Plant in Odisha, the first of the public sector plants of that era. Option B is wrong because British collaboration built the Durgapur Steel Plant in West Bengal. Option D is wrong because the Soviet Union, not Japan, was the partner here, although Japanese assistance came later to other Indian industry; the Bokaro Steel Plant in Jharkhand was also built with Soviet help. The three plants of the Second Five Year Plan, Rourkela, Bhilai and Durgapur, are asked as a set with their partner countries.

The correct answer is B, Veer Narayan Singh. The zamindar of Sonakhan opened grain stores for a famine stricken countryside during the revolt of 1857, was arrested for it, and was hanged at Raipur, which is why he is honoured as the first martyr of Chhattisgarh. Option A is wrong because Gundadhur led the Bhumkal rebellion of 1910 in Bastar against forest and revenue policy, half a century later. Option C is wrong because Birsa Munda led the Munda rising in the Chotanagpur region of present day Jharkhand at the close of the nineteenth century, and the state of Jharkhand was formed on his birth anniversary. Option D is wrong because Pandit Sundarlal Sharma was a social reformer and the pioneer of the demand for a separate Chhattisgarh, not a figure of 1857.

The correct answer is B, tin. The Bastar belt carries cassiterite, the primary ore of tin, and Chhattisgarh is the only state in the country from which primary tin ore is mined, which makes it a favourite one-line fact for objective papers. Option A is wrong because copper comes chiefly from Jharkhand, from the Singhbhum belt, as well as from Madhya Pradesh at Malanjkhand and from Rajasthan at Khetri. Option C is wrong because zinc comes overwhelmingly from Rajasthan, from the Zawar and Rampura Agucha mines, where it occurs with lead. Option D is wrong because lead likewise comes mainly from Rajasthan, as zinc and lead ores are found together there. Chhattisgarh is better known for iron ore from Bailadila, coal from Korba and large deposits of bauxite, dolomite and limestone, but the tin fact is the one that distinguishes it.