The Daudhan dam, the main structure of the Ken-Betwa Link Project, is being built on which river?

The correct answer is B, the Narmada. The Narmada is about 1,312 kilometres long in all, and roughly 1,077 kilometres of that course lies inside Madhya Pradesh, which makes it by a wide margin the longest river of the state. It is also the longest west-flowing river of India, and it is called the lifeline of Madhya Pradesh because it crosses the state from Amarkantak in the east to the Gujarat border in the west.

Option A, the Chambal, is an important Malwa river and the one with the ravines, but it leaves the state for Rajasthan and the Yamuna long before it can match the Narmada's length within Madhya Pradesh. Option C, the Betwa, rises near Raisen and flows north into Uttar Pradesh to join the Yamuna at Hamirpur. Option D, the Tapti, rises at Multai in Betul district and spends most of its course in Maharashtra and Gujarat. In the exam the usual contest is Narmada against Chambal, and the answer is the Narmada.

The correct answer is A, the Tawa. The Tawa rises in the Satpura, drains the Pachmarhi and Betul country and joins the Narmada at Bandrabhan in Narmadapuram district; it is the largest of the Narmada's tributaries. The Tawa dam built on it is one of the major irrigation works of the state, and the Tawa reservoir borders the Satpura Tiger Reserve.

Option B, the Banjar, drains the Kanha country in Mandla and Balaghat and is a genuine tributary but much smaller. Option C, the Kolar, is a small left bank tributary in the Sehore and Raisen tract on which the Kolar dam supplies water to Bhopal. Option D, the Sher, is one of the short northern tributaries in the Narsinghpur area. The names worth carrying into the hall are the Tawa first, then the Burhner, Banjar, Sher, Shakkar, Dudhi, Kolar and Hiran.

The correct answer is A, Jabalpur. Bargi stands on the Narmada in Jabalpur district, in the upper part of the valley, and it was the first of the big dams of the Narmada valley scheme to be finished. It supplies irrigation and power and its reservoir is used for fisheries and tourism, but like the later dams it also displaced a large number of villages, which is why it appears in questions on rehabilitation as well as on geography.

Option B, Khandwa, is the district of the Indira Sagar and Omkareshwar projects, both downstream and both later. Option C, Narmadapuram, formerly Hoshangabad, is the district of the Tawa dam on the Narmada's largest tributary. Option D, Mandla, lies on the upper Narmada above Bargi but has no major dam of its own. For the exam remember three pairs: Bargi with Jabalpur, Indira Sagar with Khandwa and Maheshwar with Khargone.

The correct answer is C, the Narmada. The Indira Sagar dam stands on the Narmada at Narmadanagar, near Punasa in Khandwa district, and its reservoir holds the largest volume of water of any reservoir in the country. It is a multipurpose project, giving irrigation to the Nimar plain and power from its station, and it is the upstream regulator for the Omkareshwar, Maheshwar and Sardar Sarovar dams further down the same river.

Option A, the Chambal, carries the Gandhi Sagar dam in Mandsaur district, part of the Chambal valley project shared with Rajasthan. Option B, the Son, carries the Bansagar project near Deolond in Shahdol district, shared with Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Option D, the Betwa, carries the Rajghat dam in Ashoknagar district, built jointly with Uttar Pradesh. Keep Indira Sagar, Khandwa and the Narmada together, because questions ask for any one of the three given the others.

The correct answer is A, the Son. The Bansagar dam is on the Son near Deolond in Shahdol district, in the Baghelkhand country of north-eastern Madhya Pradesh, and the project is a joint venture of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, which is why the same dam turns up in the question papers of all three states. It gives irrigation and power, and its canals carry water towards Rewa and Satna.

Option B, the Tons, is a tributary of the Ganga in the Rewa country and carries the waterfalls of the Vindhyan scarps, not the Bansagar dam. Option C, the Ken, is the river of the Ken-Betwa link project with the Daudhan dam at Chhatarpur. Option D, the Narmada, carries Bargi, Indira Sagar, Omkareshwar and Maheshwar. Note also that the Son rises at Amarkantak, the same plateau that gives birth to the Narmada, but flows east instead of west.