Punjab GK: Formation, Rivers, History and Exam Facts

The correct answer is B, 1 November 1966. On that day the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966 came into force: Haryana was created as a separate state, the hill districts such as Kangra, Kullu and Shimla were transferred to Himachal Pradesh, and Chandigarh was made a Union Territory to serve as the capital of both Punjab and Haryana. The Punjabi Suba movement had demanded a state on a language basis and the Shah Commission drew the boundary. Option A is wrong because 1 November 1956 is the day the States Reorganisation Act came into force, when PEPSU merged into Punjab but Haryana did not exist. Option C is wrong because 1 May 1960 is the day Bombay State was divided into Gujarat and Maharashtra. Option D is wrong because 1 November 2000 is the formation day of Chhattisgarh, not of any Punjab settlement.

The correct answer is B, Punjab and Haryana. Chandigarh was planned in the 1950s as the new capital of Punjab after Lahore went to Pakistan. When the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966 split the state, the city was not divided: it was made a Union Territory administered by the Centre and left to serve as the capital of both the successor states. The two states also share a single High Court, the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which sits at Chandigarh. Option A is wrong because the capital of Himachal Pradesh is Shimla, although Punjab's hill districts went to that state in 1966. Option C is wrong because Jaipur is the capital of Rajasthan. Option D is wrong because Srinagar and Jammu are the seats of the Jammu and Kashmir administration.

The correct answer is D, Chenab. The name Punjab joins the Persian words panj, five, and ab, water, for the land watered by the Sutlej, the Beas, the Ravi, the Chenab and the Jhelum. Partition in 1947 divided the region along the Radcliffe Line and left the Chenab and the Jhelum in Pakistan, so the Chenab does not touch Indian Punjab at all; it flows through Jammu and Kashmir before crossing the border. The Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 confirmed the split by allotting the eastern rivers to India and the western rivers, including the Chenab, to Pakistan. Options A, B and C are wrong because the Sutlej, the Beas and the Ravi all flow through or along Indian Punjab and feed its canal system, the Sutlej past Ludhiana, the Beas past Kapurthala and the Ravi along the Pakistan border.

The correct answer is C, Sutlej. Bhakra is a concrete gravity dam on the Sutlej in the Shivalik gorge at Bhakra, and the lake behind it is the Gobind Sagar. With the Nangal barrage downstream it forms the Bhakra Nangal project, a multipurpose scheme shared by Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan that supplies irrigation water and hydro power. Option A is wrong because the Beas is dammed at Pong, whose reservoir is the Maharana Pratap Sagar. Option B is wrong because the Ravi is dammed at Ranjit Sagar, also called the Thein Dam. Option D is wrong because the Ghaggar is a seasonal stream of the Shivalik foothills, often identified with the Vedic Saraswati, and carries no project of this size. Remember the pairs: Sutlej to Bhakra, Beas to Pong, Ravi to Ranjit Sagar.

The correct answer is B, Beas and Sutlej. Harike, also called Hari ke Pattan, was formed by a barrage built where the Beas joins the Sutlej, and it is the largest wetland of northern India. It was listed as a Ramsar site in 2002, along with Kanjli and Ropar in the same state, and the Indira Gandhi Canal, which carries water to the deserts of Rajasthan, takes off from the Harike barrage. Option A is wrong because the Ravi and the Beas do not meet inside Indian Punjab. Option C is wrong because the Ghaggar drains the south eastern corner of the state and is not a tributary of the Sutlej there. Option D is wrong because the Chenab lies in Pakistan after leaving Jammu and Kashmir and never meets the Ravi in India.

The correct answer is B, Guru Ram Das, the fourth Sikh Guru, who founded the settlement around the sacred tank that gave the city its name. Option C is wrong, though close: Guru Arjan Dev, the fifth Guru, completed the Harmandir Sahib and installed the Adi Granth in it in 1604, but the city itself was his predecessor's foundation, and examiners set these two against each other. Option D is wrong because Guru Hargobind, the sixth Guru, raised the Akal Takht facing the Harmandir Sahib and gave the community its martial turn. Option A is wrong because Guru Angad Dev, the second Guru, is remembered for standardising the Gurmukhi script, not for founding Amritsar. Maharaja Ranjit Singh later covered the shrine in gold, which is why it is known as the Golden Temple.

The correct answer is A, 13 April 1919. It was Baisakhi day, and a crowd had gathered in the walled Jallianwala Bagh at Amritsar to protest against the Rowlatt Act and the arrest of local leaders. Troops under General Reginald Dyer blocked the narrow entrance and fired without warning until their ammunition ran out. Rabindranath Tagore renounced his knighthood in protest, and the Hunter Committee was appointed to inquire into the firing. Option B is wrong because it moves the date a month back; the Rowlatt satyagraha began in the spring but the Bagh firing was in April. Option C is wrong because 1922 is the year of the Chauri Chaura incident, which led Gandhi to suspend the Non Cooperation Movement. Option D is wrong because 1930 is the year of the Dandi March and the Civil Disobedience Movement.

The correct answer is C, 1849. Punjab was annexed by Lord Dalhousie at the close of the Second Anglo Sikh War, after the battles of Chillianwala and Gujrat, and the young Maharaja Dalip Singh was pensioned off. Option B is wrong because 1846 is the year of the Treaty of Lahore, which ended the First Anglo Sikh War: Punjab lost the Jalandhar Doab and had to accept a British resident, but it was not yet annexed, and the Treaty of Amritsar of the same year made Gulab Singh the ruler of Jammu and Kashmir. Option A is wrong because 1839 is the year Maharaja Ranjit Singh died, which opened the decade of instability that led to the wars. Option D is wrong because 1856 is the year Awadh was annexed on the ground of maladministration.

The correct answer is C, Anandpur Sahib. On Baisakhi in 1699 Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Guru, initiated the Panj Piare there and founded the Khalsa, giving it the five articles of faith. The Takht Keshgarh Sahib at Anandpur Sahib marks the spot, and the Hola Mohalla fair is still held there. Option A is wrong because Amritsar holds the Harmandir Sahib and the Akal Takht but not the founding of the Khalsa. Option B is wrong because Talwandi Sabo holds Damdama Sahib, where Guru Gobind Singh later prepared a recension of the Guru Granth Sahib. Option D is wrong because Kartarpur is associated with Guru Nanak, who spent his last years there; the Kartarpur corridor from Dera Baba Nanak leads to that shrine across the border.

The correct answer is B, Giddha. Giddha, also spelt Gidda, is the women's folk dance of Punjab, danced in a ring to the clapping of hands and to boliyan, short verses sung by the dancers themselves. Option A is wrong because Bhangra is the men's harvest dance, performed to the dhol and associated with Baisakhi, and it is the usual distractor in this pair. Option C is wrong because Jhumar is a slower men's dance of the Sandalbar tradition, danced in a circle. Option D is wrong because Luddi is another men's dance, marked by a swaying movement of the head and body in celebration of a victory. Kikli, danced by girls in pairs with crossed hands, is the other women's form, and Malwai Giddha belongs to the men of the Malwa tract.

The correct answer is C, 117. The Punjab Vidhan Sabha is a single chamber house of 117 elected members, the strength fixed for the state after the reorganisation of 1966 and the delimitation that followed; Punjab has no Legislative Council. The state also returns 13 members to the Lok Sabha and elects 7 to the Rajya Sabha. Option A is wrong because 90 is the strength of the Haryana assembly, the state created out of Punjab in 1966, which is why it is offered here. Option B is wrong because 105 belongs to no northern state assembly of this set and is a pure distractor. Option D is wrong because 126 is the strength of the Assam assembly. Articles 170 and 171 of the Constitution govern the size of assemblies and councils.

The correct answer is C, Ropar. Ropar, the modern Rupnagar on the left bank of the Sutlej, was the first Harappan site excavated after Independence, and its trenches showed a sequence of occupation from the Harappan period through Painted Grey Ware to later historical levels. Option A is wrong because Sanghol in Fatehgarh Sahib district is known chiefly for its Kushana period Buddhist stupa and the carved railing pillars found there. Option B is wrong because Rohira in Sangrur district is a Harappan settlement but a later excavation, not the first. Option D is wrong because Bara near Ropar gives its name to the Bara culture, a late Harappan pottery tradition of the Sutlej Yamuna divide, and was dug after Ropar itself. Ropar also has a Ramsar wetland of the same name.