Haryana GK: Formation, Geography, History and Facts

The correct answer is B, 1 November 1966. On that day the Hindi speaking districts of the former Punjab were separated to form Haryana, which became the seventeenth state of India, while Chandigarh was made a union territory serving as the capital of both states. The day is observed every year as Haryana Day, and 1966 is the single most asked fact about the state.

Option A, 1 November 1956, is the day the States Reorganisation Act came into force, which reshaped many states but not Haryana. Option C, 1 May 1960, is the day Bombay State was divided into Maharashtra and Gujarat. Option D is the date of independence itself. Candidates often confuse 1956 with 1966 because both fall on 1 November, so the decade must be remembered carefully.

The correct answer is C, Shah Commission. The commission headed by Justice J. C. Shah was appointed in 1966 to decide how the Punjab should be divided on a linguistic basis, and its report fixed which districts and tehsils would go to Haryana, which would remain with Punjab and which would form Chandigarh and the hill areas transferred to Himachal Pradesh. The Punjab Reorganisation Act of 1966 gave effect to it.

Option A, the Dhar Commission of 1948, examined the demand for linguistic provinces soon after independence and advised against it. Option B, the commission under Fazl Ali, produced the report of 1955 that led to the States Reorganisation Act of 1956. Option D, the Sarkaria Commission of the 1980s, examined relations between the Union and the states and has no connection with the formation of Haryana.

The correct answer is B, Bhagwat Dayal Sharma. He took office as the first Chief Minister when the state was created on 1 November 1966, and Dharma Vira was its first Governor. Sharma later served as Governor of other states as well, and a medical university at Rohtak carries his name, which is a useful way to fix the fact in memory.

Option A, Bansi Lal, became Chief Minister later and is remembered for the electrification and irrigation drive in the state, but he was not the first. Option C, Devi Lal, was Chief Minister in the nineteen seventies and eighties and afterwards Deputy Prime Minister of India. Option D, Rao Birender Singh, was the second Chief Minister of Haryana, which makes him the closest trap in this question. The order to remember is Sharma first, then Rao Birender Singh.

The correct answer is A, Hisar. Rakhigarhi lies in the Hisar district on the dry bed of an old river course, and its mounds spread over a larger area than any other Harappan site in India, which makes it the biggest in the country. Excavations there have brought out planned streets, drains, a granary, bead workshops and burials, and the skeletons found in its cemetery have been used for studies of the ancestry of the Harappan people.

Option B, Fatehabad, holds Banawali, another important Harappan site of the state, and is the usual trap. Option C, Bhiwani, is near Mitathal, a smaller site of the same civilisation. Option D, Rohtak, has no major Harappan site, although Khokhrakot there has yielded remains of later periods. Remember the pairing Rakhigarhi with Hisar and Banawali with Fatehabad.

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 A, Karoh Peak. Karoh stands in the Morni hills of Panchkula district, in the Shivalik range along the northern edge of the state, and is the highest point in Haryana. The Morni hills are the only real hill area of the state and are visited as a small hill station near Chandigarh, with the Tikkar Tal lakes close by.

Option B, Dhosi Hill, is an extinct volcanic hill in the Aravalli range on the border of Mahendragarh district, associated with the sage Chyavana, but much lower than Karoh. Option C, Tosham Hill in Bhiwani district, is a rocky Aravalli outcrop known for inscriptions and quarries. Option D is not a recognised name at all. The north of the state is Shivalik and the south is Aravalli, and the highest ground is in the north.

The correct answer is B, black francolin, known locally as the kala teetar. It is a ground bird of the fields and scrub of the plains, recognised by its dark plumage with white spots and its loud call from the edge of a crop field. Along with it, the blackbuck is the state animal of Haryana, the peepal the state tree and the lotus the state flower.

Option A, the Indian peacock, is the national bird of India and also the state bird of some other states, which makes it the commonest wrong answer here. Option C, the great Indian bustard, is the state bird of Rajasthan and is now very rare. Option D, the sarus crane, is the state bird of Uttar Pradesh. State symbol questions are answered by learning the whole set of four for the state, since papers ask them in rotation.

The correct answer is C, Gurugram. Sultanpur National Park lies at Sultanpur village in Gurugram district on the road to Jhajjar and is a shallow wetland where large numbers of birds gather in winter, among them flamingos, pelicans, storks and many kinds of duck. It was first notified as a sanctuary and later upgraded to a national park, and in 2021 it was also declared a Ramsar site of international importance.

Option A, Jhajjar, holds the Bhindawas wildlife sanctuary, the other Haryana wetland declared a Ramsar site in the same year, so it is the closest trap. Option B, Yamunanagar, holds Kalesar National Park in the Shivalik foothills, known for sal forests and leopards. Option D, Karnal, has no national park but is known for the National Dairy Research Institute.

The correct answer is A, Faridabad. The fair is held each February at Surajkund near Faridabad, beside the old stepped reservoir ascribed to the Tomar ruler Surajpal, from which the place takes its name. It brings together craftspeople, weavers and folk performers from across India and from partner countries, with one Indian state and one country featured as themes each year, and it has grown into the best known cultural event of the state.

Option B, Panchkula, is known instead for the Yadavindra or Pinjore Gardens, a Mughal garden of the time of Aurangzeb. Option C, Kurukshetra, holds the Gita Jayanti Mahotsav at the Brahma Sarovar, a religious and cultural festival of a different kind. Option D, Rewari, is known for brass work and for its railway heritage steam locomotive shed, not for this fair.

The correct answer is B, Karnal. The National Dairy Research Institute at Karnal is the country's premier institution for research and teaching in dairy science, working on milk production, breeding, processing and animal health, and it is a deemed university under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. Haryana is a natural home for it because of the Murrah buffalo, prized across India for its milk yield.

Option A, Hisar, holds the Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes and the Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, which makes it a strong distractor. Option C, Rohtak, holds Maharshi Dayanand University and the Pandit Bhagwat Dayal Sharma health sciences university. Option D, Ambala, is known for its cantonment and its scientific instruments industry. Pair Karnal with dairy and Hisar with buffaloes and agriculture.

The correct answer is C, 90. The Haryana Vidhan Sabha has ninety elected seats, and the state has a single chamber, so there is no Legislative Council. Haryana sends ten members to the Lok Sabha and five to the Rajya Sabha, and these three numbers, ninety, ten and five, are worth learning together because papers ask any one of them.

Option A, seventy, is the number of seats in the Delhi Legislative Assembly. Option B, eighty one, is the strength of the Jharkhand Assembly. Option D, one hundred and seventeen, is the strength of the Punjab Assembly, the state from which Haryana was separated, which makes it the most tempting wrong answer here. The number of Assembly seats in a state is fixed by delimitation and has not changed for Haryana for many years.

The correct answer is A, Panipat. The national campaign Beti Bachao Beti Padhao was launched from Panipat on 22 January 2015 to check the decline in the child sex ratio and to promote the education of girls. Haryana was chosen for the launch because its sex ratio, recorded at 879 females for every thousand males in the Census of 2011, was among the lowest in the country, and districts of the state were among the first taken up under the scheme.

Option B, Gurugram, is the industrial and technology centre of the state but not the launch site. Option C, Kurukshetra, is associated with religious and cultural events such as the Gita Jayanti Mahotsav. Option D, Sonipat, holds several universities but had no part in the launch. Panipat is the answer, and the same city is also known for handloom furnishings and for the three historic battles fought on its plain.