Sambhar Lake, the largest inland saline lake in India, is situated in which state?

The correct answer is D, the Pancheshwar Main Dam. It is the centrepiece of the Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project, planned on the Mahakali river, which forms part of the boundary between India and Nepal, and it is to be built and operated jointly by the two countries under the Mahakali Treaty for power, irrigation and flood control. Option A, the Tehri Dam, stands on the Bhagirathi in Uttarakhand and is the tallest dam in India, but it lies well inside Indian territory. Option B is wrong because the Son is a tributary of the Ganga flowing through Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar, nowhere near the Nepal border. Option C, the Rajghat Dam, is on the Betwa river on the border of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, an interstate rather than an international project.

The correct answer is A, Maithon. The Maithon dam is built across the Barakar, a tributary of the Damodar, in Jharkhand, and is one of the reservoirs of the Damodar Valley Corporation, so it has nothing to do with the Kaveri. The other three are all on the Kaveri and should be memorised together. Option B, Mettur in Tamil Nadu, holds back the Stanley Reservoir and is the main storage for the Kaveri delta. Option C, Kallanai or the Grand Anicut, was built by the Chola king Karikala to divert the river into the delta channels and is the oldest water-diversion structure in India still in use. Option D, Krishna Raja Sagara in Karnataka, was built near Mysuru with Sir M. Visvesvaraya as the engineer, and the Brindavan Gardens lie below it.

The correct answer is C, Telangana. The Kaleshwaram project lifts water from the Godavari near the confluence of the Godavari and the Pranahita and carries it through a chain of barrages, pump houses, tunnels and canals to the drier districts of Telangana; it is described as a multi-stage lift irrigation scheme rather than a single storage dam. Option A is wrong because Kerala’s largest irrigation and power works are on the Periyar, such as the Idukki arch dam. Option B is wrong because Gujarat’s major project is the Sardar Sarovar on the Narmada. Option D is wrong because Maharashtra’s best-known works are Koyna on the Koyna river and Ukai lies in Gujarat on the Tapi. For this topic remember the pairing of state, river and type of structure, since that is exactly what the question tests.

The correct answer is B, Karnataka. Jog Falls is formed by the Sharavathi river where it drops off the edge of the Western Ghats in the Shivamogga district of Karnataka, and it falls in four separate streams traditionally named Raja, Rani, Rocket and Roarer. It is a segmented fall rather than a single plunge, and its flow depends on releases from the Linganamakki reservoir upstream. Option A, Uttarakhand, is a Himalayan state whose famous water features are glaciers and the sources of the Ganga and Yamuna rather than plateau-edge falls. Option C, Jharkhand, does have falls such as Hundru and Dassam on the Chota Nagpur plateau, but not Jog. Option D, Sikkim, has small Himalayan cascades. Remember that Karnataka also has Kunchikal on the Varahi, which is counted as the highest waterfall in India.

The correct answer is B, Kunchikal Falls. Formed by the Varahi river in the Shivamogga district of Karnataka, it is counted as the highest waterfall in India, falling in a long series of steps through rocky terrain; because it lies within the catchment of the Mani dam, its full flow is seen mainly in the monsoon. Option A, Jog Falls on the Sharavathi, is the most famous and most visited waterfall in the country and is often given as the answer by students who confuse fame with height, but it is lower than Kunchikal. Options C and D, Rakim Kund and Kevti, are both falls of the Kaimur range in Bihar and are much smaller. Two more superlatives are worth learning: Nohkalikai in Meghalaya is the tallest plunge waterfall, and Chitrakote on the Indravati in Chhattisgarh is the broadest.