At which confluence do the Bhagirathi and the Alaknanda meet, after which the river is called the Ganga?

The correct answer is C, 9 November 2000. On that day the Uttar Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000 came into force and separated the Garhwal and Kumaon hill districts from Uttar Pradesh to form the twenty seventh state of the Union, then named Uttaranchal. Option A is wrong because 1 November 2000 is the foundation day of Chhattisgarh, created out of Madhya Pradesh. Option B is wrong because 15 November 2000 is the foundation day of Jharkhand, carved out of Bihar; the three states of 2000 are asked together and their order is Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand. Option D is wrong because 1 January 2007 is the date on which the state was renamed Uttarakhand, not the date on which it was created. Nityanand Swami became its first Chief Minister.

The correct answer is A, Nainital. When the state was formed in 2000 its High Court was established at Nainital, the old summer headquarters of the hills, while the seat of government went elsewhere. Option B is wrong because Dehradun is the working capital of the state and the seat of the Secretariat and the Assembly, but not of the High Court; Uttarakhand is a standard example of a state whose High Court is not in its capital, alongside Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Option C is wrong because Haridwar is a pilgrim city and one of the four Kumbh Mela centres, with no High Court. Option D is wrong because Gairsain, also called Bhararisain, in Chamoli district was declared the summer capital in 2020 and holds no court.

The correct answer is D, Rudraprayag. The Mandakini flows down the Kedarnath valley and meets the Alaknanda at Rudraprayag, the town that gives its name to the district; the pair Mandakini with Rudraprayag is the most asked row of the Panch Prayag table. Option A is wrong because Nandprayag is the confluence of the Alaknanda with the Nandakini. Option B is wrong because Karnaprayag is the confluence with the Pindar, which comes from the Pindari glacier in the Kumaon hills. Option C is wrong because Devprayag is where the Bhagirathi joins the Alaknanda and the river takes the name Ganga. Vishnuprayag, on the Dhauliganga, completes the five. All except Devprayag lie on the Alaknanda in Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts. Rudraprayag is also remembered as the place where Jim Corbett shot the man eating leopard, and the Kedarnath pilgrim road turns north from the town.

The correct answer is A, Jim Corbett National Park. It was notified in 1936 in the Nainital and Pauri Garhwal hills as Hailey National Park after the then Governor, was renamed Ramganga National Park and finally, in 1957, named after the hunter and naturalist Jim Corbett; Project Tiger was launched here on 1 April 1973. Option B is wrong because Kanha in Madhya Pradesh was constituted in 1955 and is famous for the hard ground barasingha. Option C is wrong because Rajaji, near Haridwar and Dehradun, was formed in 1983 by joining three sanctuaries and is known for its elephants. Option D is wrong because the Valley of Flowers, reached by Frank Smythe in 1931, became a national park only in 1982. Corbett spreads over the Ramganga valley and its reservoir at Kalagarh, and it was one of the nine reserves with which Project Tiger began.

The correct answer is C, Nanda Devi and Valley of Flowers. The Nanda Devi National Park was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1988 and the Valley of Flowers National Park was added as an extension in 2005, so the two are listed together as one site in Chamoli district. Option A is wrong because neither Rajaji nor Jim Corbett carries the World Heritage tag, although Corbett is the oldest national park in the country. Option B is wrong because Gangotri and Govind Pashu Vihar are ordinary national parks of the upper Bhagirathi and Tons basins. Option D is wrong because it pairs a listed park with an unlisted one. The Great Himalayan National Park in Himachal Pradesh is the other Himalayan site on the list.