Indian Geography Questions and Answers

Answer: A

The Kakrapar Atomic Power Station is in Gujarat, in the Surat district on the Tapi River. Maharashtra has Tarapur, Tamil Nadu has Kalpakkam and Kudankulam, and Uttar Pradesh has Narora. So only Gujarat fits Kakrapar.

Answer: C

The last complete census of India that has been conducted and published as of May 2023 was the census of 2011, the fifteenth national census. The census that should have been taken in 2021 was postponed, so no complete census was carried out in 2020, 2021 or 2022. The census is held every ten years, and the 2011 count gave a population of about 1.21 billion. The answer is 2011, option C.

Answer: D

The Inter Tropical Convergence Zone is the belt near the equator where the trade winds of the two hemispheres meet. Because the air there is heated and rises, it is a zone of low pressure, not high pressure. It moves north and south with the sun, and in July it lies around 20 to 25 degrees north over the Gangetic plain, where it is called the monsoon trough. So the statements that the ITCZ is a low pressure zone, and that it lies at the equator or at those latitudes in July, are correct, while the statement that it is a high pressure zone is not correct. The answer is option D.

Answer: C

In the census of 2011 Kerala had the highest literacy rate among the states of India, about 94 per cent, followed by states such as Mizoram and Tripura among the larger ones. Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka had literacy rates well below that of Kerala. Bihar had the lowest literacy rate. The answer is Kerala, option C.

Answer: B

India's first metro rail service was opened in Calcutta (Kolkata) in October 1984, on the north south line between Esplanade and Bhowanipore (now Netaji Bhavan), a stretch of about 3.4 km. The Delhi Metro opened in 2002, the Kochi Metro in 2017 and the Mumbai Metro in 2014, so they came later. The answer is Calcutta, option B.

Answer: B

The female literacy rate of Kerala in the 2011 Census was 92.07 per cent. In the same census the male literacy rate of Kerala was 96.11 per cent and the overall figure was 94.0 per cent. The option 96.11 per cent is therefore the male rate, not the female one. The values 91.06 and 93.02 per cent are not the female figure. So the second option is right. Kerala is the state with the highest literacy in the country in 2011, with a male rate of 96.11 per cent and a female rate of 92.07 per cent, and the difference is about four points. The other two figures are not in the census tables for women.

Answer: C

Alluvial soil is widely distributed over the Ganga basin. The river carries silt from the Himalayas and deposits it on the plains, building thick alluvial layers that are fertile and support wheat and rice. Red soil is found on crystalline rocks of the peninsula, black soil on the Deccan lava region, and laterite soil in the regions of heavy rain and high temperature, such as the Western Ghats. So the Ganga plain is associated with alluvium.

Answer: A

Alluvial soil is found in abundance in Uttar Pradesh, where the Indo-Gangetic plains are made of the silt brought down by the Ganga, the Yamuna and their tributaries. It is the most fertile soil and supports wheat, rice and sugarcane.

Himachal Pradesh has mountain soils, Tripura has mostly red and lateritic soils, and Maharashtra has black soil over the Deccan trap. So only Uttar Pradesh fits.

Answer: D

The national highway network is the responsibility of the Central Government. The National Highways Act, 1956 gave the Centre the power to declare roads as national highways and to look after their development and maintenance, and the National Highways Authority of India carries it out.

State highways and district roads are the concern of the State Governments. The option naming both Central and State Governments is therefore wrong, as is the option of a Special Roads Authority, which is not a body that exists for this purpose.

Answer: A

The word monsoon comes from the Arabic word mausim, meaning season or wind shift. Arab sailors used it for the seasonal reversal of winds over the Arabian Sea, which brought them to India in summer and back in winter.

The Greek, Roman and Latin words named in the other options are not the source of the word.

Mausim is the Arabic word for a season or a time fixed for something, and it reached English through Portuguese and Dutch forms. The word was first used for the seasonal winds of the Arabian Sea, which blow from the south-west in summer and from the north-east in winter and which Arab traders used to plan their voyages to India.