Indian Geography Questions and Answers

Answer: A

Durgapur with Britain, Rourkela with Germany and Bhilai with Russia.

All three were built in the Second Plan, in the late 1950s. Rourkela in Odisha was the German plant, Bhilai in Chhattisgarh the Soviet one, and Durgapur in West Bengal the British. Bokaro, added later, was also Soviet-aided.

Answer: C

Delhi has the highest density among the Union Territories.

It records about 11,300 persons per sq km, against 9,250 for Chandigarh and 2,100 for Lakshadweep. Delhi's density is a consequence of its being effectively a single urban agglomeration.

Answer: C

The figures are about 5 km and 30 km.

Oceanic crust is thin and basaltic, formed continuously at mid-ocean ridges and destroyed at trenches, so none of it is older than about 200 million years. Continental crust is thick, granitic and much lighter, which is why it stands high and is not subducted - and why parts of it are 4,000 million years old.

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.