Indian Geography Questions and Answers

Answer: B

World Water Day is observed on 22 March.

It was proposed at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 and first marked in 1993, and each year carries a theme drawing attention to some aspect of fresh water and its management.

Answer: A

Correct answer: the Sundarbans and the coastal deltas

Mangroves grow in the intertidal zone where fresh and salt water mix, so they are confined to sheltered coasts, deltas and estuaries. In India the largest by far is the Sundarbans in the Ganga–Brahmaputra delta, with further stands in the Mahanadi, Godavari and Krishna deltas, the Gulf of Kutch, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and parts of Kerala. They are the only trees that tolerate regular immersion in salt water, managing it by excluding salt at the roots, excreting it through the leaves, or both. Their stilt roots anchor them in soft mud and their vertical pneumatophores take in the oxygen the waterlogged sediment cannot supply. Their practical value is out of proportion to their area: they are nurseries for fish and prawns, they absorb cyclone storm surge and check coastal erosion, and they store carbon exceptionally efficiently. Their protective role was widely noted after the 2004 tsunami, when settlements behind intact mangrove belts suffered far less.

Answer: C

The Kosi is called the Sorrow of Bihar.

Carrying an enormous silt load down from Nepal, it raises its own bed until it breaks its banks, and it has shifted its course by more than a hundred kilometres westward in two centuries. Its floods devastate north Bihar, most severely in 2008 when it broke through its embankment.

Answer: A

Kalpakkam was built entirely with Indian design and engineering.

The Madras Atomic Power Station in Tamil Nadu was the first wholly indigenous nuclear station, and its site also houses the country's Fast Breeder Test Reactor. Tarapur was built with American help and Rawatbhata with Canadian.

Answer: C

India's highest annual rainfall is at Mawsynram in Meghalaya.

It receives about 11,870 mm a year. Moist air from the Bay of Bengal is funnelled up the Khasi hills and forced to rise abruptly, and the funnel shape of the valley concentrates the effect. Nearby Cherrapunji holds the records for rainfall in a single month and year.

Answer: A

Coal is the most important raw material for power in India.

Thermal stations burning coal supply the greater part of the country's electricity, because India's coal reserves are large while its oil and gas are limited. The coal is high in ash and low in calorific value, which is why it is burnt near the mines rather than transported.

Answer: D

Meghalaya recorded the highest decadal growth in 2011, at 27.8 per cent.

The national figure was 17.7 per cent. Meghalaya's high rate reflects a birth rate well above the national average; Kerala, at 4.9 per cent, was lowest among the states.

Answer: C

Both shifts occurred.

The green revolution raised wheat and rice yields sharply, but the gains were concentrated in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, where irrigation was assured. Non-food crops also advanced, while the eastern regions, dependent on rainfall and with smaller holdings, largely missed the benefit - which widened regional inequality.

Answer: C

Mumbai is India's largest port.

It is a natural deep-water harbour sheltered by the mainland and the island, handling a large share of the country's general cargo. Jawaharlal Nehru Port across the bay was built to relieve it and now handles most container traffic.

Answer: C

Correct answer: The Thar, in Rajasthan

The Thar, or Great Indian Desert, lies chiefly in western Rajasthan and extends into Gujarat, Haryana and Punjab and across the border into Pakistan. It covers about 200,000 square kilometres. The other three deserts named are on other continents entirely: the Gobi in Mongolia and China, the Kalahari in southern Africa, and the Atacama in Chile. The Thar is unusual for being the most densely populated desert in the world, supporting pastoralism and, since the Indira Gandhi Canal brought Sutlej water south, irrigated agriculture. India does have a cold desert as well, in Ladakh and the Spiti valley of Himachal Pradesh, arid because it lies in the rain shadow of the Himalaya. A desert is defined by low precipitation rather than by heat, which is what admits it. The Thar holds the Desert National Park, refuge of the great Indian bustard, and India’s best conditions for solar and wind generation.