Indian Geography Questions and Answers

Answer: C

India is divided into eight postal zones.

The first digit of a PIN code gives the zone, running 1 to 8 from north to south and west to east; a ninth digit, 9, is reserved for the Army Postal Service. The six-digit system was introduced in 1972.

Answer: C

It will be 0630 hours GMT.

Indian Standard Time is set by the 82°30′E meridian, which passes near Allahabad, and is 5 hours 30 minutes ahead of Greenwich: \[12{:}00 - 5{:}30 = 06{:}30\] The offset is that odd half hour because the country spans nearly 30 degrees of longitude and a single central meridian was chosen.

Answer: B

The Cauvery rises on the eastern slope of the Western Ghats.

Its source is at Talakaveri in the Brahmagiri hills of Kodagu, Karnataka, and it flows some 800 km east across the peninsula to the Bay of Bengal, forming the Shivanasamudra falls and the delta at Thanjavur.

Answer: C

Correct answer: The Yamuna

The Chambal is a tributary of the Yamuna, which is itself the largest tributary of the Ganga. It rises in the Vindhya range of Madhya Pradesh and flows north through Rajasthan before joining the Yamuna in Uttar Pradesh. It is one of the cleanest rivers in northern India, chiefly because its valley is sparsely populated and little industrialised. The National Chambal Sanctuary along it protects the gharial, the Ganges river dolphin and the smooth-coated otter. Its badlands - deep ravines cut by gully erosion into soft alluvium - are the classic Indian example of that landform, and the difficulty of policing them gave the region its long association with dacoits. The Yamuna’s other major tributaries are the Betwa, Ken and Sindh, all rising in the peninsular uplands and flowing north, which makes the Yamuna basin unusual in drawing from both the Himalaya and the Deccan.

Answer: D

They are phototrophs and chemotrophs.

Both make their own food, differing only in the energy source: phototrophs such as green plants and cyanobacteria use sunlight, while chemotrophs such as the nitrifying and sulphur bacteria use energy released by oxidising inorganic compounds - which is how life persists in deep-sea vents where no light reaches.

Answer: D

The Visakhapatnam Steel Plant was India's first shore-based steel plant.

Commissioned in 1992 and run by Rashtriya Ispat Nigam, its coastal position lets it import coking coal and export finished steel directly, without the long inland haul the older plants require.

Answer: B

Nagarjunasagar is on the Krishna.

The dam, in Nalgonda district of Telangana, was completed in 1967 and is among the largest masonry dams in the world. It was built at the site of Nagarjunakonda, the ancient Buddhist centre, whose remains were moved to an island museum before the reservoir filled.

Answer: C

This is the albedo.

It is the fraction of incident radiation reflected without heating the surface, expressed as a percentage or a fraction. Fresh snow reflects about 80 per cent, cloud 50 to 70, forest 10 to 20, and the ocean under 10. The earth's average is about 30 per cent.

Answer: A

The Salal project is on the Chenab.

It is in Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir and was India's first hydroelectric project on the river, commissioned in 1987. The Indus Waters Treaty allots the Chenab to Pakistan but permits India run-of-the-river schemes on it.

Answer: D

Nearly 70 per cent of India's population depends on agriculture.

The proportion of workers directly employed in it has since fallen towards half, but agriculture still supports a far larger share of the population than its share of national income - which is the central problem of rural incomes.