Dadra and Nagar Haveli was merged with Daman and Diu into a single Union Territory on which date?

The correct answer is A, Article 239. It lays down the basic rule that a Union Territory is administered by the President acting through an Administrator appointed by him with such designation as the President may specify, which is why some Administrators are styled Lieutenant Governor. Option B is wrong because Article 239A, inserted by the Fourteenth Amendment Act of 1962, lets Parliament create a legislature and a Council of Ministers for Puducherry. Option C is wrong because Article 240 gives the President power to make regulations for the peace, progress and good government of the named Union Territories. Option D is wrong because Article 241 allows Parliament to constitute a High Court for a Union Territory, failing which the Territory falls under a neighbouring State’s High Court. All four lie in Part VIII of the Constitution.

The correct answer is B, Barren Island. Barren Island, in the Andaman Sea about one hundred and forty kilometres north-east of the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, is the only active volcano in India and in South Asia, and it has erupted several times in recent decades. Option A is wrong because Narcondam Island, further north-east, is a dormant volcano and is also known for the Narcondam hornbill, found nowhere else. Option C is wrong because Saddle Peak in North Andaman is the highest point of the Territory and not a volcano. Option D is wrong because Indira Point at the southern tip of Great Nicobar is the southernmost point of India. Papers pair Barren with active and Narcondam with dormant, so keep the two names apart.

The correct answer is A, the Andaman group from the Nicobar group. The Ten Degree Channel runs roughly along the tenth parallel of north latitude, between Little Andaman to its north and Car Nicobar to its south, and it is a busy shipping lane. Option B is wrong because the Eight Degree Channel separates Lakshadweep from the Maldives. Option C is wrong because the Nine Degree Channel separates Minicoy from the rest of Lakshadweep. Option D is wrong because the Coco Channel lies between North Andaman and the Coco Islands of Myanmar. Learn the four channels as a ladder by latitude: Eight Degree between Lakshadweep and the Maldives, Nine Degree around Minicoy, Ten Degree between Andaman and Nicobar, and the Duncan Passage between South Andaman and Little Andaman.

The correct answer is C, Kavaratti. Kavaratti is the capital and administrative headquarters of Lakshadweep, which is India’s smallest Union Territory by area and its only group of coral atolls. Option A is wrong because Androth is the largest island of the group and the nearest to the mainland, but not the capital. Option B is wrong because Agatti is the island with the airport, which makes it the gateway for air travellers, again not the capital. Option D is wrong because Minicoy, known as Maliku, is the southernmost inhabited island and is distinct in language, its people speaking Mahl written in the Thaana script while the rest of Lakshadweep speaks the Jeseri dialect of Malayalam. Judicially the Territory falls under the Kerala High Court.

The correct answer is C, Mahe. Puducherry is made up of four non-contiguous districts, and Mahe is the one on the Malabar coast surrounded by Kerala. Option A is wrong because Karaikal lies on the Coromandel coast within Tamil Nadu, south of Puducherry town. Option B is wrong because Yanam lies within Andhra Pradesh, on the Godavari delta. Option D is wrong because the Puducherry district itself lies within Tamil Nadu on the Coromandel coast and is the seat of the Union Territory’s government. All four were French settlements, transferred de facto in 1954 and in law by the Treaty of Cession of 1962, after which the Fourteenth Amendment Act of 1962 provided for the legislature and Puducherry became a Union Territory in 1963. Tamil is its official language, French retains a special place, and Pondicherry was renamed Puducherry in 2006.