The Charminar at Hyderabad was built in 1591 by which ruler?

The correct answer is C, Hyderabad. When Telangana was created on 2 June 2014 under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, Hyderabad became its capital, and the Act further provided that the city would serve as the common capital of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for a period of not more than ten years. The city stands on the banks of the Musi, was founded in 1591 by Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, and is the seat of the state legislature and of the High Court for the State of Telangana.

Option A, Kavaratti, is the capital of the union territory of Lakshadweep, far away in the Arabian Sea. Option B, Amaravati, is the capital being developed by Andhra Pradesh after the bifurcation, which makes it the most tempting distractor in the set. Option D, Dispur, is the capital of Assam in the north-east. Only one of the four lies in Telangana.

The correct answer is C, Andhra Pradesh. Telangana was separated from Andhra Pradesh and came into existence on 2 June 2014 as the twenty-ninth state of India. The region had been merged with Andhra State in 1956 under the States Reorganisation Act to form Andhra Pradesh, and the long demand for a separate state, carried by the 1969 agitation and later by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi formed in 2001, ended with the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.

Option A, Maharashtra, is the state to the north of Telangana and the Godavari enters Telangana from it, but no part of Telangana was taken from Maharashtra. Option B, Karnataka, borders Telangana on the west and shares the Deccan plateau, which makes it a plausible wrong choice. Option D, Madhya Pradesh, does not touch Telangana at all; the state formed by division of Madhya Pradesh in 2000 was Chhattisgarh.

The correct answer is B, 2014. Parliament passed the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act in 2014, and the appointed day fixed under the Act was 2 June 2014, the date on which Telangana came into being as the twenty-ninth state. The Act also settled how the assets, the services and the river waters of the two states would be divided and allowed Hyderabad to serve as the common capital for not more than ten years.

Option A, 2015, is a year after the Act and is the year often confused with it because the new state completed its first year then. Option C, 2012, falls in the period when the demand was still being examined; the Srikrishna Committee had reported in 2010 and no Act had yet been passed. Option D, 2016, is later still. Hold the chain in mind: agitation in 1969, party formed in 2001, committee in 2010, Act and statehood in 2014.

The correct answer is C, Palapitta, the Indian roller. Telangana adopted the Indian roller, known in Telugu as palapitta, as its state bird soon after the state was formed in 2014. The bird is a brilliant blue flier of open country and is traditionally regarded as auspicious at Dasara in the Telugu speaking region. The other symbols chosen along with it are the spotted deer or jinka as state animal, the jammi tree as state tree, the tangedu flower as state flower and Bathukamma as the state festival.

Option A, the great Indian bustard, is the state bird of Rajasthan and a critically endangered species of the dry grasslands. Option B, the Asian paradise flycatcher, is the state bird of Madhya Pradesh. Option D, the hill myna, is the state bird of Chhattisgarh. All three belong to other states, so the question rewards a candidate who has learnt the symbols state by state.

The correct answer is A, Urdu. Telugu is the first official language of Telangana and Urdu is the second. The place of Urdu goes back to the Hyderabad state of the Nizams, where it was the language of administration and education, and a large Urdu speaking population still lives in Hyderabad and the surrounding districts. State government notifications and many public signs in the capital therefore appear in Telugu and Urdu together.

Option B, Tulu, is spoken in coastal Karnataka and northern Kerala and has no official standing in Telangana. Option C, Hindi, is an official language of the Union and of several northern states, and candidates often pick it by habit, but Telangana has not given it that place. Option D, English, is used for official work across India as an associate language of the Union, yet the second official language named by the state is Urdu.