Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh GK: Facts for Exams

The correct answer is C, 31 October 2019. The Act was passed by Parliament in August 2019 but the appointed day on which the former State ceased to exist and the two Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and of Ladakh came into being was 31 October 2019. Option A is wrong because 5 August 2019 is the date of the Presidential Orders by which Article 370 and Article 35A ceased to operate; the reorganisation followed later. Option B is wrong because 9 August 2019 is the date the Act received the President’s assent, which is not the same as its commencement. Option D is wrong because 26 January 2020 is the day on which Dadra and Nagar Haveli merged with Daman and Diu, an unrelated reorganisation. Keep 5 August, 9 August and 31 October apart, because papers use all three as options.

The correct answer is B, Ladakh. The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 gave the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir a Legislative Assembly but made Ladakh a Union Territory without a legislature, administered by a Lieutenant Governor. Ladakh’s local representation comes instead through the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils of Leh, created in 1995, and of Kargil, created in 2003. Option A is wrong because Jammu and Kashmir is one of the Union Territories that does have an Assembly, along with Delhi and Puducherry. Option C is wrong because only one of the two has an Assembly. Option D is wrong because Jammu and Kashmir has one. Remember the list of Union Territories with legislatures: Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir. Delhi gets its Assembly from Article 239AA and Puducherry from Article 239A, while the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly comes from the Reorganisation Act of 2019 itself, so the three rest on three different provisions.

The correct answer is B, the Jhelum. Wular lake lies in Bandipora district of the Kashmir valley and is fed and drained by the Jhelum, which rises at Verinag and is known locally as the Vyeth; the lake acts as a natural flood basin for the river and is a Ramsar site. Option A is wrong because the Chenab flows through the Jammu division and carries the Salal, Baglihar and Dulhasti projects, but feeds no lake of this kind. Option C is wrong because the Indus flows through Ladakh and is associated with Pangong Tso’s region only by proximity, not by drainage, as Pangong is a closed brackish lake. Option D is wrong because the Ravi flows along the Jammu division towards Punjab. The pair to memorise is Wular with the Jhelum, as examiners offer the Indus as the distractor.

The correct answer is B, the Hangul or Kashmir stag. Dachigam, which lies just east of Srinagar and whose name means ten villages, is the last stronghold of the Hangul, the only red deer found in India. Option A is wrong because the markhor, a wild goat with spiral horns, is protected mainly in Kazinag National Park in Baramulla district and the Hirapora sanctuary. Option C is wrong because the snow leopard is associated with Hemis National Park in Ladakh and the high Himalaya rather than with Dachigam, although it does occur in the upper reaches. Option D is wrong because the black-necked crane breeds on the Changthang plateau of Ladakh and is protected in the Changthang Cold Desert Wildlife Sanctuary and at the Ramsar wetlands of Tso Moriri and Tso Kar.

The correct answer is B, Zoji La. Zoji La lies on the Srinagar–Leh highway between Sonamarg and Drass and is the gateway from the Kashmir valley to Ladakh; the Zojila tunnel is being built beneath it to keep the road open through winter. Option A is wrong because the Banihal pass is on the Pir Panjal and connects Jammu with the Kashmir valley, with the Jawahar Tunnel of 1956 running below it. Option C is wrong because Khardung La lies north of Leh and connects Leh with the Nubra valley on the way towards Siachen, so it is within Ladakh. Option D is wrong because Chang La connects Leh with Pangong Tso and the Changthang plateau, again a pass inside Ladakh and not the entry from the valley.

The correct answer is A, Pampore. Pampore in Pulwama district, on the karewa uplands beside the Jhelum, produces most of Kashmir’s saffron and is called the saffron town of India; the crop received its Geographical Indication tag in 2020 for its high crocin content and deep colour. Option B is wrong because Sopore in Baramulla district is known as the apple town of Kashmir, not for saffron. Option C is wrong because Baramulla is the district through which the Jhelum leaves the valley and is known for Kazinag National Park and the markhor. Option D is wrong because Anantnag is the district of Verinag, where the Jhelum rises, and of the Martand sun temple built by Lalitaditya Muktapida. Fix the pairs: Pampore for saffron, Sopore for apples.

The correct answer is B, Kalhana. Kalhana wrote the Rajatarangini in Sanskrit verse in the twelfth century as a history of the rulers of Kashmir from legendary times to his own day, and it is regarded as the earliest connected historical narrative produced in India; later writers continued it. Option A is wrong because Bilhana was the Kashmiri poet who went to the Chalukya court and wrote the Vikramankadevacharita in praise of Vikramaditya VI. Option C is wrong because Kshemendra was an earlier Kashmiri writer known for the Brihatkathamanjari and for works on poetics. Option D is wrong because Somadeva wrote the Kathasaritsagara, a vast collection of tales drawn from the Brihatkatha tradition and not a chronicle of kings. Note also that the Rajatarangini is the source from which examiners draw Lalitaditya Muktapida of the Karkota dynasty and Avantivarman of the Utpala dynasty.

The correct answer is B, Jahangir. Jahangir laid out the Shalimar Bagh on the shore of the Dal lake in 1619 for Nur Jahan, and it is the largest of the Mughal gardens of Srinagar, built on terraces with a central water channel. Option A is wrong because Akbar annexed Kashmir in 1586 and built the Hari Parbat fort wall at Srinagar, but the Shalimar garden came after him. Option C is wrong because Chashma Shahi was laid out in the reign of Shah Jahan, and he is also linked with the Pari Mahal; Shalimar is his father’s work. Option D is wrong because Aurangzeb built no garden in Kashmir of this kind. Learn the three together: Shalimar by Jahangir in 1619, Nishat by Asaf Khan in 1633 and Chashma Shahi under Shah Jahan, all of them terraced char bagh gardens on the slopes above the Dal lake, with Pari Mahal higher up the same ridge.

The correct answer is B, the Indus, the Jhelum and the Chenab. The treaty signed in 1960 with the World Bank as a party gave the three western rivers to Pakistan and the three eastern rivers, the Ravi, the Beas and the Sutlej, to India for unrestricted use. India retains non-consumptive rights, limited storage and run-of-the-river hydro power on the western rivers, which is why the Salal, Baglihar and Dulhasti projects on the Chenab and the Uri project on the Jhelum are built as run-of-the-river schemes. Option A is wrong because those three are precisely the eastern rivers given to India. Options C and D are wrong because each mixes an eastern river, the Ravi, the Beas or the Sutlej, into the western group. The division into three and three is the fact to carry.

The correct answer is B, Hanle. Hanle in eastern Ladakh, within the Changthang Cold Desert Wildlife Sanctuary, already hosts the Indian Astronomical Observatory of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, and the surrounding area was notified in 2022 as India’s first Dark Sky Reserve to keep artificial light from spoiling the night sky for astronomy and for astro-tourism. Option A is wrong because Hunder in the Nubra valley is known for its sand dunes and for the double-humped Bactrian camel. Option C is wrong because Diskit in the Nubra valley has the oldest and largest monastery of that valley with its Maitreya statue. Option D is wrong because Drass, on the road beyond Zoji La, is known as one of the coldest inhabited places in India and for the Kargil war memorial nearby.

The correct answer is B, 26 October 1947. Maharaja Hari Singh, the last Dogra ruler of the princely State, signed the Instrument of Accession on 26 October 1947 after tribal raiders backed from across the border entered the State, and Indian troops were airlifted to Srinagar the next day. Option A is wrong because on 15 August 1947 the State had acceded to neither dominion and had sought a standstill agreement instead. Option C is wrong because 26 January 1950 is the date the Constitution of India came into force, on which day Article 370 also began to operate for the State. Option D is wrong because 17 November 1956 is the date the Constituent Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir adopted the State’s own Constitution, which came into force in January 1957.

The correct answer is B, the Nubra valley. The Siachen glacier lies at the head of the Nubra valley in the eastern Karakoram and is the longest glacier of that range; the Nubra river issues from it and joins the Shyok, which joins the Indus. Operation Meghdoot in April 1984 placed Indian troops on the glacier and the Saltoro ridge to its west. Option A is wrong because the Zanskar valley lies south of the Indus and its river joins the Indus at Nimmu. Option C is wrong because the Suru valley is in the Kargil district and carries the Chutak project. Option D is wrong because the Markha valley, south of Leh inside Hemis National Park, is a trekking route and has no glacier of this size. Remember Siachen with Nubra, Shyok and the Karakoram.

The correct answer is A, Bhand Pather. Bhand Pather is the traditional satirical folk theatre of the Kashmir valley, performed by the Bhand community with music on the surnai and the dhol, and it mixes acting, dance and sharp social comment. Option B is wrong because Nautanki is the operatic folk theatre of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana, known for its loud nagara drum. Option C is wrong because Jatra is the open-air folk theatre of Bengal, Odisha and eastern India. Option D is wrong because Tamasha belongs to Maharashtra and grew out of the lavani song tradition. Along with Bhand Pather, remember the Kashmiri folk dances Rouf and Hafiza, Dumhal danced by the men of the Wattal community, and Sufiana Mausiqi as the valley’s classical music.