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Indian States & UTsHardAsked in: Bihar · 45th BPSC Prelims, 2002

Which of the following newspapers used to be published from Patna?

  1. A.Indian Nation
  2. B.Punjab Kesari
  3. C.Prabhakar
  4. D.Don

Correct answer

A. Indian Nation

Explanation

The correct answer is A, Indian Nation. The Indian Nation was an English daily brought out from Patna, and it is the only Patna paper in this list.

The paper was started in the 1930s and was run by the Darbhanga Raj, the princely house of north Bihar, which also published the Hindi daily Aryavarta from Patna. For several decades these two were the best known newspapers of Bihar, and questions on the press of the state almost always turn on this pair. Patna has long been a centre of Hindi and English journalism in eastern India.

B is wrong: Punjab Kesari is a Hindi daily of the Hind Samachar group, published from Jalandhar and Delhi. C is wrong: Prabhakar was a nineteenth century Hindi journal of north India, not a Patna daily. D is wrong: Don is not an Indian newspaper at all.

Exam tip: remember the Darbhanga Raj pair published from Patna, The Indian Nation in English and Aryavarta in Hindi.

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Q1.Indian States & UTsMedium

Orissa was officially renamed Odisha, and Oriya renamed Odia, with effect from which date?

  1. A.1 April 2011
  2. B.1 November 2011
  3. C.1 January 2012
  4. D.15 August 2011
Show answer

Correct answer: B. 1 November 2011

Explanation

The correct answer is B, 1 November 2011. Two laws of 2011 did the work together: the Orissa (Alteration of Name) Act changed the name of the state to Odisha, and the Constitution (113th Amendment) Act changed Oriya to Odia in the Eighth Schedule, which lists the languages of India. Both took effect from 1 November 2011. Option A is wrong because 1 April is Utkal Divas, the anniversary of the formation of the province in 1936, and no renaming took place on it. Option C is wrong because 1 January 2012 is simply not the appointed date. Option D is wrong because 15 August 2011 marks nothing in this story. Two linked facts complete the picture: the High Court of the state still carries the older spelling as the Orissa High Court and sits at Cuttack, and Odia was recognised as a classical language of India in 2014, the sixth language and the first Indo-Aryan one to be given that status.

Q2.Indian States & UTsEasy

Which of the classical dance forms of India originated in Odisha?

  1. A.Kuchipudi
  2. B.Odissi
  3. C.Mohiniyattam
  4. D.Sattriya
Show answer

Correct answer: B. Odissi

Explanation

The correct answer is B, Odissi. Odissi grew out of the temple dance of Odisha, from the Mahari tradition of women dancers in the Jagannath temple and the Gotipua tradition of boys dressed as girls dancing outside it, and its sculptural poses echo the carvings of Konark and Bhubaneswar. Kelucharan Mohapatra and Sanjukta Panigrahi are the names most often set beside it. Option A is wrong because Kuchipudi comes from a village of that name in Andhra Pradesh. Option C is wrong because Mohiniyattam is the solo dance of Kerala. Option D is wrong because Sattriya grew in the Vaishnava monasteries, the sattras, of Assam. A second Odishan form worth remembering, though not counted among the classical dances, is the Mayurbhanj style of Chhau, a masked and martial dance; Chhau as a whole was placed on the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage in 2010.

Q3.Indian States & UTsHard

The Sukinda valley in the Jajpur district of Odisha is known for the mining of which mineral?

  1. A.Bauxite
  2. B.Chromite
  3. C.Manganese
  4. D.Mica
Show answer

Correct answer: B. Chromite

Explanation

The correct answer is B, chromite. The Sukinda valley in the Jajpur district holds the bulk of India chromite, the ore of chromium used in stainless steel and in chrome plating, and the belt is the reason India figures at all in world chromite output. Option A is wrong because Odisha bauxite comes from the Panchpatmali plateau in the Koraput district, which feeds the alumina refinery at Damanjodi and the smelter at Angul. Option C is wrong because manganese is mined in Odisha too, in the Keonjhar and Sundargarh districts, but Sukinda is not a manganese field. Option D is wrong because mica is associated with the Koderma belt of Jharkhand and with Nellore and Rajasthan, not with Odisha. Hold the mineral map of the state as a short list: chromite at Sukinda, bauxite at Panchpatmali, iron ore around Joda and Barbil in Keonjhar, and coal in the Talcher and Ib valley fields.

Q4.Indian States & UTsMedium

Gahirmatha on the Odisha coast is famous for the mass nesting of which creature?

  1. A.Gharial
  2. B.Olive Ridley turtle
  3. C.Irrawaddy dolphin
  4. D.Horseshoe crab
Show answer

Correct answer: B. Olive Ridley turtle

Explanation

The correct answer is B, the Olive Ridley turtle. The Gahirmatha coast of the Kendrapara district, a marine sanctuary adjoining Bhitarkanika, holds the largest known nesting ground of the Olive Ridley sea turtle, where lakhs of females come ashore together in the mass nesting called arribada. Rushikulya at the mouth of the Rushikulya river is the state second great nesting beach. Option A is wrong because the gharial is a freshwater, fish eating crocodilian of rivers such as the Chambal, and it is the saltwater crocodile, not the gharial, that Bhitarkanika is known for. Option C is wrong because the Irrawaddy dolphin belongs to the brackish waters of Chilika, especially near Satapada. Option D is wrong because the horseshoe crab does occur on the Odisha and West Bengal coast but is not what Gahirmatha is famous for. Bhitarkanika, the mangrove next door, is both a national park and a Ramsar site.

Q5.Indian States & UTsMedium

The Rourkela Steel Plant in Odisha was set up with the technical collaboration of which country?

  1. A.Soviet Union
  2. B.United Kingdom
  3. C.West Germany
  4. D.Japan
Show answer

Correct answer: C. West Germany

Explanation

The correct answer is C, West Germany. Rourkela, in the Sundargarh district, was built with West German collaboration under the Second Five Year Plan and was the first integrated steel plant set up in the public sector in India. Option A is wrong because Soviet collaboration gave India the Bhilai plant in Madhya Pradesh, now Chhattisgarh, and later Bokaro in what is now Jharkhand. Option B is wrong because British collaboration built Durgapur in West Bengal. Option D is wrong because Japanese help came much later and is tied to modernisation work rather than to any of the first three plants. The three Second Plan plants form a standard matching question, so fix them as a set: Rourkela with West Germany, Bhilai with the Soviet Union and Durgapur with the United Kingdom. Rourkela draws its iron ore from the Joda and Barbil belt of Keonjhar and its coal from the Jharia and Talcher fields.