Indian Geography Questions and Answers

Answer: D

Correct answer: the land lying between two rivers

Doab means the land between two rivers, from the Persian do, two, and ab, water. The best known is the Ganga–Yamuna doab in western Uttar Pradesh, exceptionally fertile alluvial land and among the most intensively farmed and densely populated regions of India. Its agricultural wealth made it strategically important throughout Indian history, and Delhi, Agra and Meerut all lie on or near it. The five rivers of Punjab create four further doabs, each with its own name: Bist, Bari, Rechna, Chaj and Sindh Sagar, formed by the Beas, Ravi, Chenab, Jhelum and Indus. Those names combine the first syllables of the two rivers bounding each - Bari from Beas and Ravi, Rechna from Ravi and Chenab. The related terms are khadar, the newer alluvium of the active floodplain, and bhangar, the older terraces above flood level, which carry calcareous nodules called kankar and are less fertile.

Answer: C

They are the Brahmaputra, Indus and Sutlej.

All three rise within a small area near Lake Mansarovar and Mount Kailash in Tibet, then take entirely different courses: the Indus north-west, the Sutlej west through the Himalayas, and the Brahmaputra east before turning south into Arunachal Pradesh.

Answer: C

Kerala is called the Garden of Spices.

Its wet climate and hill slopes suit pepper, cardamom, ginger, cinnamon and clove, and it was pepper that first drew Arab, Roman and later Portuguese traders to the Malabar coast. Vasco da Gama landed at Calicut in 1498 in search of it.

Answer: C

Madhya Pradesh has the largest forest area.

It has about 77,000 sq km under forest, the most of any state in absolute terms, though as a proportion of its own area several north-eastern states are far more heavily forested. Haryana has the least forest cover in the country.

Answer: C

The United States is the world's largest producer of natural gas.

It overtook Russia in 2011 on the strength of shale gas extracted by hydraulic fracturing, chiefly in Texas, Pennsylvania and Appalachia, and now produces roughly a quarter of the world total. Russia is second.

Answer: D

Indian agriculture is predominantly subsistence agriculture.

Most holdings are small - the average is little over a hectare - and much of the produce is consumed by the farming household rather than sold. Commercial and plantation agriculture exist but occupy a small share of the cropped area.

Answer: D

The word is Japanese.

It combines tsu, harbour, with nami, wave - the wave is barely noticeable in deep water and rears up only on reaching a harbour or shallow coast. Japan's exposure to them gave the word to the world.

Answer: C

All four statements are true.

The southern block is Archaean granite and gneiss; the Deccan lava plateau is a tableland of horizontal basalt sheets laid down at the end of the Cretaceous; the Malwa plateau with its Vindhyan scarps forms the northern flank; and the Narmada and Tapti troughs are rift valleys between the Vindhyan and Satpura ranges.

Answer: A

Correct answer: Karakoram Pass

The Karakoram Pass, at about 5,540 metres, lies on the watershed between the Indus and Tarim basins and carried the old caravan route from Ladakh to Yarkand in Central Asia. The distractors are all real passes but in different places, and the set is worth knowing. Nathu La is in Sikkim and connects India with Tibet; it was reopened for border trade in 2006. The Palghat Gap is not a mountain pass at all but a 30 km break in the Western Ghats, the principal route between Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Bhor Ghat is a pass in the Western Ghats on the road and rail route between Mumbai and Pune. Other Himalayan passes commonly examined are Zoji La, linking Srinagar with Leh; Rohtang and Baralacha La in Himachal Pradesh; Shipki La and Lipulekh in the central Himalaya; and Bomdi La in Arunachal Pradesh.

Answer: A

It is the Palghat gap.

The gap is about 30 km wide, between the Nilgiris to the north and the Anaimalais to the south, and is the largest break in the Western Ghats. Road, rail and the Bharathappuzha all pass through it, and it carries monsoon air inland to Coimbatore, which is why that district is drier than the coast.