The Tropic of Cancer passes through how many states of India?

The correct answer is B, 308,245 square kilometres. Madhya Pradesh covers 308,245 square kilometres, about 9.4 per cent of India, which makes it the second largest state after Rajasthan and the largest with neither a coastline nor an international border. It was the largest state of India until Chhattisgarh was separated from it on 1 November 2000.

Option A, 240,928 square kilometres, is the area of Uttar Pradesh, its northern neighbour. Option C, 342,239 square kilometres, is the area of Rajasthan, the state that overtook it in 2000 and the commonest wrong choice for candidates who still remember Madhya Pradesh as the largest. Option D, 135,192 square kilometres, is the area of Chhattisgarh, the state carved out of it. Keep the three figures together, because questions often ask how much area Madhya Pradesh lost in 2000 or which state is now the largest.

The correct answer is A, 21 degrees 6 minutes north to 26 degrees 30 minutes north. Madhya Pradesh lies between these parallels and between 74 degrees 9 minutes east and 82 degrees 48 minutes east longitude. Since the state begins at about 21 degrees north and ends at about 26 and a half degrees north, the Tropic of Cancer at 23 degrees 30 minutes north falls almost exactly across its middle.

Option B, 23 degrees 3 minutes to 30 degrees 12 minutes north, is the latitudinal extent of Rajasthan and is the favourite distractor, because both states are large and both are crossed by the Tropic of Cancer. Option C, 24 degrees 20 minutes to 27 degrees 31 minutes north, is the extent of Bihar. Option D places the state too far south, in the latitudes of Maharashtra and Telangana. A quick check in the examination hall is to ask whether the given range straddles 23 degrees 30 minutes north; only the correct option does.

The correct answer is B, Dhupgarh. Dhupgarh, 1,350 metres, stands in the Pachmarhi group of the Mahadeo hills within the Satpura range and is the highest point of Madhya Pradesh. The whole Pachmarhi plateau around it is the only hill station of the state and the core of a biosphere reserve.

Option A, Amarkantak, at about 1,057 metres, is the plateau at the junction of the Satpura and Maikal ranges where the Narmada and the Son rise; it is high but lower than Dhupgarh, and it is the answer to source questions, not to height questions. Option C, Janapav hill near Mhow in Indore district, is the source of the Chambal and lies on the Vindhyan edge of the Malwa plateau. Option D names the town of Pachmarhi, which sits below the summit; Dhupgarh is the peak itself. Fix the trio: Dhupgarh for height, Amarkantak for the Narmada and the Son, Janapav for the Chambal.

The correct answer is B, Amarkantak. The Narmada rises on the Amarkantak plateau, at about 1,057 metres, where the Satpura and Maikal ranges meet, and flows westward for about 1,312 kilometres in all, of which roughly 1,077 kilometres lie inside Madhya Pradesh, before reaching the Gulf of Khambhat. It is the longest river of the state and its lifeline.

Option A, Multai in Betul district, is the source of the Tapti, the other large west-flowing river of the region, and is the closest distractor. Option C, Janapav hill near Mhow, is the source of the Chambal, which flows north into the Yamuna. Option D, Bhedaghat near Jabalpur, is not a source at all but the famous marble rocks gorge where the Narmada falls as the Dhuandhar. Learn the sources as a set, because papers mix them: Amarkantak for the Narmada and the Son, Multai for the Tapti and Janapav for the Chambal.

The correct answer is B, Vindhya and Satpura. The Narmada does not flow in a valley cut by its own water but along a long structural trough, a rift, with the Vindhya forming its northern wall and the Satpura its southern wall. Geologists call the line the Narmada-Son lineament, and it is one of the oldest and deepest structural divides of peninsular India, which is why the river runs almost straight from east to west.

Option A pairs the Aravalli with the Vindhya; the Aravalli lies far to the north-west in Rajasthan and has no part in this rift. Option C, Satpura and Maikal, names the ranges that meet at Amarkantak, where the river rises, but the river does not flow between them. Option D is wrong on both counts, the Kaimur being an eastward continuation of the Vindhyan rocks into Bihar. Remember the picture as three parallel lines: Vindhya, Narmada, Satpura, from north to south.