Identify the place from the following where an Atomic Power Station is located:
- A.Hirakud
- B.Naharkatiya
- C.Kakrapar
- D.Tatipaka
Correct answer
C. Kakrapar
Explanation
The correct answer is C, Kakrapar. The Kakrapar Atomic Power Station stands in Surat district of Gujarat, on the bank of the Tapi, and is run by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India. It uses pressurised heavy water reactors, and its third unit is the first 700 MWe reactor of Indian design to be built, a bigger version of the 220 MWe units used earlier. India's other nuclear stations include Tarapur in Maharashtra, the oldest, Rawatbhata in Rajasthan, Kalpakkam in Tamil Nadu, Narora in Uttar Pradesh, Kaiga in Karnataka and Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu. A is wrong because Hirakud, on the Mahanadi in Odisha, is a large dam with a hydroelectric station, not an atomic one. B is wrong because Naharkatiya in Assam is an oilfield. D is wrong because Tatipaka in Andhra Pradesh has a small oil refinery. Exam tip: Kakrapar – Gujarat, on the Tapi, home of India's first 700 MWe indigenous reactor.
Practice Questions
View allThe salinity of ocean waters is calculated as the amount of salt (in gm) dissolved in _____ gm of seawater.
- A.10,000
- B.100
- C.1000
- D.10
Show answer
Correct answer: C. 1000
Explanation
The correct answer is C, 1000. Salinity is the quantity of dissolved salt, in grams, present in one thousand grams of sea water, so it is read as parts per thousand. The average salinity of the oceans is about thirty five parts per thousand, which means about thirty five grams of salt in a kilogram of sea water. Sodium chloride makes up the largest share of it, followed by magnesium chloride, magnesium sulphate and calcium sulphate. Salinity rises where evaporation is high and the inflow of fresh water is low, which is why the Red Sea reaches about forty one parts per thousand, and it falls near the mouths of large rivers and in polar waters fed by melting ice. A, B and D are wrong because a base of ten thousand, a hundred or ten grams would not give the parts per thousand figure that oceanographers actually use. Exam tip: salinity is grams of salt per 1000 grams of sea water, and the ocean average is about 35 parts per thousand.
Which of the following climate types is found under the cold climates?
- A.Humid subtropical
- B.Highland
- C.Humid continental
- D.Tundra
Show answer
Correct answer: D. Tundra
Explanation
The correct answer is D, Tundra. In Koppen’s classification the group of cold climates, marked E, holds two types, the tundra climate and the ice cap climate. The tundra belt lies mainly north of the Arctic Circle along the northern edges of North America, Europe and Asia. Its summers are short and cool, the average temperature of the warmest month stays below ten degrees Celsius, the subsoil stays frozen as permafrost, and the plant cover is limited to mosses, lichens and low shrubs, with no trees. A is wrong because the humid subtropical type belongs to the warm temperate group, which covers northern India, southern China and the south eastern United States. C is wrong because the humid continental type falls in the cold snow forest group, one step milder than the polar group. B is wrong because highland climate is kept as a separate group, where conditions change with altitude rather than with latitude. Exam tip: Koppen’s groups are A tropical, B dry, C warm temperate, D cold snow forest, E cold or polar and H highland.
Which of the following sites does NOT have a nuclear power plant?
- A.Vijayawada
- B.Naraura
- C.Tarapur
- D.Rawat Bhata
Show answer
Correct answer: A. Vijayawada
Explanation
The correct answer is A, Vijayawada. Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh has a large coal based thermal power station on the Krishna river, named after Dr Narla Tata Rao, but no nuclear plant. India’s nuclear stations are run by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited, and the other three names in the question are all on that list. B is wrong because Narora, in Bulandshahr district of Uttar Pradesh on the bank of the Ganga, has a station with two pressurised heavy water reactors. C is wrong because Tarapur in Palghar district of Maharashtra is the country’s oldest nuclear station, commissioned in 1969 with boiling water reactors built with American help. D is wrong because Rawatbhata in Rajasthan stands on the Chambal near the Rana Pratap Sagar dam and carries the largest number of units of any Indian nuclear station. Kakrapar in Gujarat, Kaiga in Karnataka, and Kalpakkam and Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu complete the set. Exam tip: Tarapur was India’s first nuclear power station; Vijayawada is thermal, not nuclear.
In which state was the first jute mill of India set up?
- A.Odisha
- B.West Bengal
- C.Assam
- D.Bihar
Show answer
Correct answer: B. West Bengal
Explanation
The correct answer is B, West Bengal. India's first jute mill was set up at Rishra, on the bank of the Hooghly near Serampore in Bengal, in 1855 by George Auckland. The industry stayed along that river because the Hooghly belt had everything it needed together: jute grown in the deltaic plains of Bengal, cheap water transport, coal from the Raniganj field, labour from Bihar and Odisha, and the port of Kolkata to ship sacking and hessian out. Partition in 1947 left most of the jute fields in East Pakistan while the mills stayed in India, which hurt the industry badly. West Bengal still has the largest number of jute mills and the highest output. A is wrong because Odisha has only a few mills. C is wrong because Assam grows jute but its mills came later. D is wrong because Bihar's mills, at Katihar and elsewhere, also came after Bengal's. Exam tip: first jute mill at Rishra on the Hooghly in 1855; West Bengal leads in jute.
Which Indian state is the largest bauxite producing state?
- A.Odisha
- B.Bihar
- C.Madhya Pradesh
- D.Jharkhand
Show answer
Correct answer: A. Odisha
Explanation
The correct answer is A, Odisha. Odisha is the largest producer of bauxite in India and accounts for more than half of the country's output. Its ore lies in the plateau belt of Koraput and Kalahandi, where the Panchpatmali deposit worked by NALCO is the biggest in the country, and it is also mined in Sundargarh and Bolangir. Bauxite is the ore from which alumina and then aluminium is obtained, so the state carries large refineries and smelters as well. Gujarat, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh follow at a distance. B is wrong because Bihar has almost no bauxite; its old reserves went to Jharkhand when the state was divided in 2000. C is wrong because Madhya Pradesh mines bauxite in Katni and Balaghat but on a far smaller scale. D is wrong because Jharkhand's mines in Lohardaga and Gumla also yield much less than Odisha's. Exam tip: Odisha leads in bauxite, chromite and iron ore; Panchpatmali in Koraput is the largest bauxite deposit.