Maharaja Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India on

The correct answer is C, 31 October 2019. The Act was passed by Parliament in August 2019 but the appointed day on which the former State ceased to exist and the two Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and of Ladakh came into being was 31 October 2019. Option A is wrong because 5 August 2019 is the date of the Presidential Orders by which Article 370 and Article 35A ceased to operate; the reorganisation followed later. Option B is wrong because 9 August 2019 is the date the Act received the President’s assent, which is not the same as its commencement. Option D is wrong because 26 January 2020 is the day on which Dadra and Nagar Haveli merged with Daman and Diu, an unrelated reorganisation. Keep 5 August, 9 August and 31 October apart, because papers use all three as options.

The correct answer is B, Ladakh. The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 gave the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir a Legislative Assembly but made Ladakh a Union Territory without a legislature, administered by a Lieutenant Governor. Ladakh’s local representation comes instead through the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils of Leh, created in 1995, and of Kargil, created in 2003. Option A is wrong because Jammu and Kashmir is one of the Union Territories that does have an Assembly, along with Delhi and Puducherry. Option C is wrong because only one of the two has an Assembly. Option D is wrong because Jammu and Kashmir has one. Remember the list of Union Territories with legislatures: Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir. Delhi gets its Assembly from Article 239AA and Puducherry from Article 239A, while the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly comes from the Reorganisation Act of 2019 itself, so the three rest on three different provisions.

The correct answer is B, the Jhelum. Wular lake lies in Bandipora district of the Kashmir valley and is fed and drained by the Jhelum, which rises at Verinag and is known locally as the Vyeth; the lake acts as a natural flood basin for the river and is a Ramsar site. Option A is wrong because the Chenab flows through the Jammu division and carries the Salal, Baglihar and Dulhasti projects, but feeds no lake of this kind. Option C is wrong because the Indus flows through Ladakh and is associated with Pangong Tso’s region only by proximity, not by drainage, as Pangong is a closed brackish lake. Option D is wrong because the Ravi flows along the Jammu division towards Punjab. The pair to memorise is Wular with the Jhelum, as examiners offer the Indus as the distractor.

The correct answer is B, the Hangul or Kashmir stag. Dachigam, which lies just east of Srinagar and whose name means ten villages, is the last stronghold of the Hangul, the only red deer found in India. Option A is wrong because the markhor, a wild goat with spiral horns, is protected mainly in Kazinag National Park in Baramulla district and the Hirapora sanctuary. Option C is wrong because the snow leopard is associated with Hemis National Park in Ladakh and the high Himalaya rather than with Dachigam, although it does occur in the upper reaches. Option D is wrong because the black-necked crane breeds on the Changthang plateau of Ladakh and is protected in the Changthang Cold Desert Wildlife Sanctuary and at the Ramsar wetlands of Tso Moriri and Tso Kar.

The correct answer is B, Zoji La. Zoji La lies on the Srinagar–Leh highway between Sonamarg and Drass and is the gateway from the Kashmir valley to Ladakh; the Zojila tunnel is being built beneath it to keep the road open through winter. Option A is wrong because the Banihal pass is on the Pir Panjal and connects Jammu with the Kashmir valley, with the Jawahar Tunnel of 1956 running below it. Option C is wrong because Khardung La lies north of Leh and connects Leh with the Nubra valley on the way towards Siachen, so it is within Ladakh. Option D is wrong because Chang La connects Leh with Pangong Tso and the Changthang plateau, again a pass inside Ladakh and not the entry from the valley.