Which city of India is known as ’The Athens of the East’?

The correct answer is D, Ahmedabad. Ahmedabad in Gujarat is called the Manchester of India because of the cotton textile mills that grew there, just as Manchester in England was the centre of the cotton industry. The first mill was set up in 1861 by Ranchhodlal Chhotalal, and the city had the advantages a cotton industry needs, black soil growing cotton nearby, a humid climate for spinning, cheap labour and the port of Kandla and Mumbai within reach. Ahmedabad is also called the Mancunian of the East. A is wrong because Ludhiana is called the Manchester of India for hosiery in some lists but is better known as the woollen and hosiery capital of India. B is wrong because Visakhapatnam is the City of Destiny and a steel and port town. C is wrong because Hyderabad is the City of Pearls and Cyberabad. Exam tip: fix the pair - Ahmedabad is the Manchester of India, Mumbai the Cottonopolis and Coimbatore the Manchester of South India.

The correct answer is B, Kandla. After partition left the port of Karachi outside India, Kandla in the Gulf of Kutch was developed as the main gateway for the northern and western hinterland, which makes it the first major port developed after independence. It is a tidal port, meaning ships work with the rise and fall of the tide in the gulf, and it was renamed the Deendayal Port in 2017. Option A is wrong because Mundra, also in Gujarat, is the largest privately operated port in India and is not a major port in the statutory sense. Option C is wrong because Porbandar is a smaller state port better known as the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi. Option D is wrong because Okha is a minor port on the Gujarat coast. Note the three Gujarat names separately.

The correct answer is B, Sagarmala. The programme covers port modernisation and new port development, port connectivity, port linked industrialisation and coastal community development, and it is run by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways. Option A is wrong because Bharatmala is the umbrella highway development programme of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, covering economic corridors and border roads. Option C is wrong because Setu Bharatam is the scheme to replace level crossings on national highways with bridges and to repair old bridges. Option D is wrong because Jal Marg Vikas is the specific project to develop the National Waterway 1 on the Ganga between Varanasi and Haldia, which is narrower in scope than Sagarmala. Pair each name with its ministry to avoid the mix up.

The correct answer is C, 1995. The Airports Authority of India came into being in that year through the merger of the International Airports Authority of India, which ran the international gateways, with the National Airports Authority, which ran the domestic airfields and the air navigation services. The merged statutory body manages most civil airports in the country and provides air traffic services over Indian airspace. Option A is wrong because 1972 is the year the International Airports Authority alone was set up. Option B is wrong because 1986 is when the National Airports Authority was constituted, the second of the two bodies that later merged. Option D is wrong because 2004 has no bearing on the Authority's formation. The chain to remember is 1972, then 1986, then the merger in 1995.

The correct answer is A, Visakhapatnam. The port in Andhra Pradesh lies in a natural inlet sheltered by the Dolphin's Nose headland, which gives it great depth while keeping it protected, and it is the one Indian major port that works with a separate inner harbour and outer harbour. Option B is wrong because Paradip in Odisha is an open coast natural harbour without that two part layout. Option C is wrong because the V. O. Chidambaranar Port at Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu is an artificial deep sea harbour created by building breakwaters, not a landlocked one. Option D is wrong because New Mangalore in Karnataka is an all weather port handling iron ore and petroleum but is not known for exceptional depth. Keep the descriptive labels apart: Visakhapatnam deepest, Kandla tidal, Kolkata riverine.