State Exams GK Questions 2026

The Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, a research institute under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, is at Karnal. It works on reclaiming salt-affected and alkaline land, on gypsum treatment and subsurface drainage, and on salt-tolerant crop varieties, all problems that Haryana's canal-irrigated districts face directly.

Bhur is the light, loose, sandy soil found in Sirsa, Hisar, Bhiwani and Mahendragarh, where Haryana shades into the sandy tract of Rajasthan.

Rausli is the loam of the central Haryana plain, a balanced mixture of sand, silt and clay.

Panchkula lies in the Shivalik foothills at the north-eastern corner of the state.

The Shivalik districts of Panchkula, Ambala and Yamunanagar in the north-east catch the first of the monsoon against the foothills and receive the heaviest rain of the state, while the south-western districts of Sirsa, Bhiwani and Mahendragarh lie towards the dry Thar margin and receive the least.

The loo is the hot, dry wind that blows from the west and north-west over the plains of Haryana, Punjab, Delhi, Rajasthan and western Uttar Pradesh in May and June.

Uttar Pradesh grows most of the Indian mint crop, concentrated in Barabanki, Rampur, Badaun, Sambhal and the neighbouring districts, and the menthol and mint oil distilled from it go largely to export, which has made mint a cash crop of the zaid and early kharif season there.

Uttar Pradesh is divided into nine agro-climatic zones so that crop advice can follow soil, rainfall and temperature rather than district boundaries.

Kalanamak is a scented rice of the Tarai districts around Siddharthnagar, close to Kapilvastu, and tradition links it with the Buddha, who is said to have given the grain to the people of the region; its husk is black, the grain fragrant, and it has been registered as a geographical…

The Indian Veterinary Research Institute is at Izatnagar in Bareilly district, with its older campus at Mukteswar in Uttarakhand, and it is the premier institution for veterinary research, vaccine work and animal disease control in India; the Central Avian Research Institute is on the same Izatnagar campus.

The Bhadawari buffalo comes from the Bhadawar tract along the Yamuna and Chambal in Agra, Etawah and the neighbouring districts, and although its yield is modest the fat percentage of its milk is the highest among Indian buffalo breeds, which makes it valued for ghee.

The Jamunapari takes its name from the Yamuna and comes from the ravine country where the Yamuna, Chambal and Kwari meet around Etawah and Chakarnagar; it is the largest Indian goat breed, recognised by its long drooping ears, roman nose and tuft of hair on the hindquarters, and it has…

Mustard is a rabi oilseed, sown in October and November and harvested in February and March, and in Uttar Pradesh it is grown mainly in the Agra, Mathura and Aligarh tract; the cool dry weather of the rabi season suits it.

Barley is a rabi crop of northern India, sown between October and December after the monsoon and harvested in March and April along with wheat, gram, pea, lentil and mustard; it tolerates poorer and saltier soils than wheat, which is why it is grown in parts of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan…

Where many people depend on a limited area of land, as in the Ganga plain of Uttar Pradesh, holdings are small, the farmer uses a great deal of family labour and manure, irrigation is applied wherever possible and two or three crops are taken from the same field each year…

Uttar Pradesh grows more sugarcane than any other state, chiefly in the western districts of Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur and Bijnor and in the Tarai belt, where deep alluvial soil, assured canal and tubewell water and a long growing season suit the crop; the state also has the largest number of…

The Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve lies in the Kota region of south-eastern Rajasthan, taking in the old Darrah sanctuary along with the Jawahar Sagar and Chambal tracts, and it was notified as a tiger reserve in 2013, making it the third of the state after Ranthambore and Sariska.

The Kumbhalgarh sanctuary, spread over Rajsamand, Pali and Udaipur districts around the Kumbhalgarh fort, is counted among the better habitats of the Indian wolf in the state and also shelters leopard, sloth bear, four-horned antelope and the Indian wolf prey base of smaller animals.

At Khejarli in Jodhpur district in 1730, when men sent by the state began felling khejri trees for lime kilns, Amrita Devi Bishnoi embraced a tree and was killed, and hundreds of Bishnoi men, women and children died in the same way; the Bishnoi faith, founded by Guru Jambheshwar, forbids…

Keoladeo Ghana at Bharatpur was added to the Ramsar list in 1981 and Sambhar Lake, the large saline lake spread across Jaipur and Nagaur districts and a major source of salt, was added in 1990; both are also important bird habitats, Sambhar drawing flamingos in the wet season.