Indian Geography Questions and Answers

Answer: D

Tamil Nadu has the largest lignite reserves.

The Neyveli field in Cuddalore district holds most of India's lignite, mined in open cast pits and burnt at the mine mouth by NLC India. Lignite is brown coal, of lower carbon content and higher moisture than the Gondwana coals of the east.

Answer: A

Three-quarters of India's rain falls during the south-west monsoon.

It runs from June to September, entering by the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal branches. That concentration into four months, with almost nothing over most of the country for the rest of the year, is the central fact of Indian water management.

Answer: B

NTPC was set up in 1975.

It was created as a central public sector undertaking to build large thermal stations, and is now India's largest power producer, generating roughly a quarter of the country's electricity.

Answer: D

Project Tiger began in 1973, on 1 April.

It started with nine reserves covering about 18,000 sq km, at a time when the tiger population had fallen to roughly 1,800. It is now administered by the National Tiger Conservation Authority and covers more than fifty reserves.

Answer: A

They are known for the paper and pulp industry.

Shahdol and Nepanagar are both in Madhya Pradesh. Nepanagar was built specifically for newsprint and was long India's only newsprint mill; the bamboo forests of the region supply the raw material.

Answer: A

India's oldest rocks are in the Dharwar region of Karnataka.

The Dharwar system is Archaean, some 2,500 to 3,400 million years old, and forms the basement of the peninsular shield. It is metamorphosed sedimentary rock and is the country's principal source of iron, manganese and gold.

Answer: A

Correct answer: Alluvial soil

Alluvial soil covers about 40 per cent of India’s land area, the largest share of any soil type. It occupies the whole Indo-Gangetic and Brahmaputra plain and the coastal deltas, deposited by rivers over millennia. It is also the most fertile, rich in potash, phosphoric acid and lime though poor in nitrogen and organic matter, easily worked, and renewed by each flood. It supports the most intensive agriculture in the country - wheat, rice, sugarcane and pulses. It is divided into khadar, the newer alluvium of the active floodplain, which is finer and more fertile, and bhangar, older terraces above flood level containing calcareous nodules called kankar. Black soil is second, covering the Deccan lava country and suited to cotton. Red soil covers much of the crystalline south and east, and laterite forms under heavy tropical rain that leaches out the silica.

Answer: D

The elephant is the largest Indian mammal.

The Indian elephant stands up to 3.5 m at the shoulder and weighs up to 5 tonnes. It is smaller than the African elephant, with smaller ears and a more level back, and only some males carry tusks.

Answer: A

India proposed to develop a solar city with Japan.

The proposal came in 2010 under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, drawing on Japanese technology and finance for solar photovoltaic development.

Answer: C

Correct answer: Maharashtra and Goa

The Konkan coast is the western coastal strip running along Maharashtra and Goa, between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats. The western coastal plain is divided into three named sections from north to south, and the set is worth learning: the Konkan coast in Maharashtra and Goa; the Kanara coast in Karnataka; and the Malabar coast in Kerala. The plain is narrow throughout, since the Ghats rise close to the shore, and its rivers are short and swift, forming estuaries rather than deltas. It is heavily indented with creeks and natural harbours, which is why Mumbai, Marmagao and Mangaluru are all found along it. The eastern coastal plain is broader and is divided differently: the Coromandel coast in Tamil Nadu and southern Andhra Pradesh, and the Northern Circars above it. Its rivers build large deltas.