Uttar Pradesh GK: History, Geography and Static Facts

The correct answer is D, Akbar. He built Fatehpur Sikri in the Agra district of present day Uttar Pradesh in the sixteenth century and made it his capital, naming it after his victory in Gujarat. The city holds the Buland Darwaza, the Jama Masjid, the Panch Mahal and the tomb of Salim Chishti, and it was abandoned after a few years, which is why it survives so completely. It is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Option A, Babur, founded the dynasty after the first battle of Panipat in 1526 and ruled from Agra, not from Sikri. Option B, Humayun, lost the empire to Sher Shah Suri and regained it shortly before his death, and built nothing of this kind. Option C, Jahangir, was Akbar's son and was born at Sikri, which is the reason the place is often wrongly credited to him; he ruled from Agra and Lahore.

The correct answer is A, Ayodhya. The city stands on the Sarayu in eastern Uttar Pradesh and is one of the oldest towns named in Indian literature. The Sarayu is fed by waters coming down from the Himalaya through the Ghaghara system and joins the Ganga further east, and the ghats of Ayodhya lie along it.

Option C, Kanpur, is also in Uttar Pradesh but stands on the Ganga, which makes it the closest wrong answer in the list. Option D, Haridwar, is in Uttarakhand and is the town where the Ganga leaves the hills for the plain. Option B, Bhopal, is the capital of Madhya Pradesh and is known for its lakes rather than for a river. The pairs worth holding are Varanasi and Prayagraj on the Ganga, Agra and Mathura on the Yamuna, Lucknow on the Gomti and Ayodhya on the Sarayu.

The correct answer is B, 1950. The province was called the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh and then simply the United Provinces, and the name was changed to Uttar Pradesh on 24 January 1950, two days before the Constitution came into force. The new name was welcomed partly because it kept the initials of the old one, so that existing seals and records did not have to be redone.

Option A, 1947, is the year of independence, when the province still carried its old name. Option C, 1956, is the year of the States Reorganisation Act, which redrew many boundaries but did not rename this state. Option D, 2000, is the year the hill districts of the state were separated to form Uttarakhand, then called Uttaranchal, which is a division rather than a renaming.

The correct answer is A, Dudhwa National Park. It lies in Lakhimpur Kheri district along the border with Nepal and protects the tall grassland and sal forest of the Terai. It is the home of the barasingha, the swamp deer that is the state animal of Uttar Pradesh, and also of tigers and rhinoceros. Nearby Pilibhit is a well known tiger reserve of the same belt.

Option B, Jim Corbett, is the trap most often chosen, because it was the first national park of India and lay in Uttar Pradesh before the year 2000; it went to Uttarakhand when that state was formed. Options C and D, Kanha and Bandhavgarh, are both in Madhya Pradesh and are famous tiger parks of the central Indian highlands, far from the Terai.

The correct answer is B, sarus crane. It is the tallest flying bird in the world, stands over a metre and a half high, has a grey body with a bare red head and neck, and is found in the wetlands and flooded fields of the state. The pair stays together for life, which is why it appears so often in the folklore of the region, and it was chosen as the state bird of Uttar Pradesh.

Option D, the Indian peafowl, is the national bird of India and so is the easiest mistake to make here. Option C, the great Indian bustard, is the state bird of Rajasthan and is now extremely rare. Option A, the Indian roller, is the state bird of some other states and is a smaller blue bird of open country. Along with the sarus crane, remember the barasingha as the state animal, the ashoka as the state tree and the palash as the state flower.

The correct answer is C, Kushinagar. The Buddha died there, an event described as the mahaparinirvana, and the town in eastern Uttar Pradesh keeps the Mahaparinirvana temple with its long reclining image of the Buddha, along with a stupa raised over his relics. It is one of the four places every Buddhist pilgrim is asked to visit.

Option A, Sarnath near Varanasi, is where the Buddha gave his first sermon after enlightenment, the event called the turning of the wheel of law, and it holds the Dhamek Stupa; it is in Uttar Pradesh but stands for a different event. Option B, Bodh Gaya, is in Bihar and is the place of his enlightenment. Option D, Lumbini, is in Nepal and is his birthplace. The four events, birth, enlightenment, first sermon and death, go with Lumbini, Bodh Gaya, Sarnath and Kushinagar in that order.

The correct answer is A, Asaf-ud-Daula. The Nawab of Awadh had the Bara Imambara built at Lucknow in 1784 as a famine relief project, so that people could earn wages through a hard year, and the Rumi Darwaza was raised at the same time. Its central hall is one of the largest vaulted chambers built without pillars, and the maze of passages above it is known as the Bhulbhulaiya.

Option B, Wajid Ali Shah, was the last Nawab of Awadh and was deposed by the British in 1856, an act that fed the revolt of the following year. Option C, Shuja-ud-Daula, fought at Buxar in 1764 and was the father of Asaf-ud-Daula. Option D, Saadat Ali Khan, ruled after him and built other monuments in the city. All four belong to the same line, so the date of 1784 is the surest way to fix the right name.

The correct answer is B, Madan Mohan Malaviya. He raised the funds and pushed through the legislation for Banaras Hindu University, which was founded at Varanasi in 1916 and became one of the largest residential universities in Asia. Malaviya was also a president of the Indian National Congress more than once, and he is remembered as Mahamana.

Option C, Annie Besant, is a near miss with a real connection: her Central Hindu College at Varanasi became part of the new university, and she worked closely with Malaviya, but the founder named in every record is Malaviya. Option A, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, founded the college at Aligarh that grew into Aligarh Muslim University. Option D, Lala Lajpat Rai, was a leader of the Punjab and was among those behind Punjab National Bank, not this university.

The correct answer is C, Uttar Pradesh. The deep alluvial soil of the Ganga plain, the canal network of the western districts and a long growing season have made the state the leading producer of sugarcane in the country, and its western belt around Meerut, Muzaffarnagar and Saharanpur holds a large share of the sugar mills. The state is also among the largest producers of wheat and potato.

Option A, Maharashtra, is the second great sugarcane state and leads in the recovery of sugar from the cane, which is why it is the most tempting alternative. Option B, Karnataka, grows a large crop in its northern districts but comes well behind the first two. Option D, Tamil Nadu, gets a high yield for each hectare but grows the crop on a much smaller area.

The correct answer is B, Prayagraj, the city formerly called Allahabad. Uttar Pradesh is one of the few states where the High Court does not sit in the capital: its principal seat is at Prayagraj and it has a bench at Lucknow, an arrangement that goes back to the merger of the courts of Agra and Oudh. Examiners like the question precisely because the split is unusual.

Option A, Lucknow, is the capital of the state and the seat of the bench, so it is the answer most candidates give. Option C, Kanpur, is the largest industrial city of the state and has no High Court. Option D, Varanasi, is a centre of learning and pilgrimage but has no High Court either. Remember the pair: Lucknow is the capital, Prayagraj is the seat of the High Court.

The correct answer is A, Govind Ballabh Pant. He led the government of the United Provinces before independence and continued as the first Chief Minister of the state after it, staying in office through the renaming of 1950. He later became Home Minister of India and was awarded the Bharat Ratna. At the same time Sarojini Naidu was the first Governor of the state and the first woman Governor in the country.

Option B, Sampurnanand, and option C, Chandra Bhanu Gupta, both became Chief Minister later and are genuine names from the same period, which is what makes them useful distractors. Option D, Sucheta Kripalani, holds a different and often asked distinction: she became Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh in 1963 and was the first woman Chief Minister of any Indian state.

The correct answer is B, Kathak. The name comes from the katha or story that the wandering storytellers of northern India told through gesture, and the form took its present shape in the temples of Braj and the courts of Lucknow and Jaipur. Its marks are the fast turns, the intricate footwork counted out on the ankle bells and the close conversation between the dancer and the drummer.

Option A, Odissi, belongs to Odisha and is built on the sculptural poses of its temples. Option C, Mohiniyattam, is a graceful solo form from Kerala. Option D, Sattriya, comes from the monasteries of Assam founded by Sankaradeva. Along with Kathak, the folk traditions of Uttar Pradesh include Nautanki, Raslila and the Charkula dance of the Braj region.