In which state of India did the Manikya dynasty rule?

The correct answer is A, Panipat. The national campaign Beti Bachao Beti Padhao was launched from Panipat on 22 January 2015 to check the decline in the child sex ratio and to promote the education of girls. Haryana was chosen for the launch because its sex ratio, recorded at 879 females for every thousand males in the Census of 2011, was among the lowest in the country, and districts of the state were among the first taken up under the scheme.

Option B, Gurugram, is the industrial and technology centre of the state but not the launch site. Option C, Kurukshetra, is associated with religious and cultural events such as the Gita Jayanti Mahotsav. Option D, Sonipat, holds several universities but had no part in the launch. Panipat is the answer, and the same city is also known for handloom furnishings and for the three historic battles fought on its plain.

The correct answer is C, 90. The Haryana Vidhan Sabha has ninety elected seats, and the state has a single chamber, so there is no Legislative Council. Haryana sends ten members to the Lok Sabha and five to the Rajya Sabha, and these three numbers, ninety, ten and five, are worth learning together because papers ask any one of them.

Option A, seventy, is the number of seats in the Delhi Legislative Assembly. Option B, eighty one, is the strength of the Jharkhand Assembly. Option D, one hundred and seventeen, is the strength of the Punjab Assembly, the state from which Haryana was separated, which makes it the most tempting wrong answer here. The number of Assembly seats in a state is fixed by delimitation and has not changed for Haryana for many years.

The correct answer is B, Karnal. The National Dairy Research Institute at Karnal is the country's premier institution for research and teaching in dairy science, working on milk production, breeding, processing and animal health, and it is a deemed university under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. Haryana is a natural home for it because of the Murrah buffalo, prized across India for its milk yield.

Option A, Hisar, holds the Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes and the Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, which makes it a strong distractor. Option C, Rohtak, holds Maharshi Dayanand University and the Pandit Bhagwat Dayal Sharma health sciences university. Option D, Ambala, is known for its cantonment and its scientific instruments industry. Pair Karnal with dairy and Hisar with buffaloes and agriculture.

The correct answer is A, Faridabad. The fair is held each February at Surajkund near Faridabad, beside the old stepped reservoir ascribed to the Tomar ruler Surajpal, from which the place takes its name. It brings together craftspeople, weavers and folk performers from across India and from partner countries, with one Indian state and one country featured as themes each year, and it has grown into the best known cultural event of the state.

Option B, Panchkula, is known instead for the Yadavindra or Pinjore Gardens, a Mughal garden of the time of Aurangzeb. Option C, Kurukshetra, holds the Gita Jayanti Mahotsav at the Brahma Sarovar, a religious and cultural festival of a different kind. Option D, Rewari, is known for brass work and for its railway heritage steam locomotive shed, not for this fair.

The correct answer is C, Gurugram. Sultanpur National Park lies at Sultanpur village in Gurugram district on the road to Jhajjar and is a shallow wetland where large numbers of birds gather in winter, among them flamingos, pelicans, storks and many kinds of duck. It was first notified as a sanctuary and later upgraded to a national park, and in 2021 it was also declared a Ramsar site of international importance.

Option A, Jhajjar, holds the Bhindawas wildlife sanctuary, the other Haryana wetland declared a Ramsar site in the same year, so it is the closest trap. Option B, Yamunanagar, holds Kalesar National Park in the Shivalik foothills, known for sal forests and leopards. Option D, Karnal, has no national park but is known for the National Dairy Research Institute.