Population and Settlement Geography Questions and Answers

Answer: C

Among the four options, the state with the most towns in the 2011 Census is Uttar Pradesh.

The 2011 Census counted 915 towns in Uttar Pradesh (statutory towns plus census towns). Maharashtra had 534, Madhya Pradesh 476 and Gujarat 348, so Uttar Pradesh leads this set by a wide margin.

Strictly, the state with the largest number of towns in India was Tamil Nadu, with about 1,097, but it is not among the options, so the paper's answer is the leader among the four states offered.

Answer: A

The one that is not a feature of urban life is Informal ties.

Sociologists contrasting village and city describe rural life by close, face-to-face, informal relationships of kinship and neighbourhood. Urban life is marked by secondary, formal and impersonal relationships, by competition for jobs and space, and, critics add, by a loss of humanistic values.

So competition, impersonal relationships and loss of humanistic value are all listed as urban traits, while informal ties belong to the rural side of the contrast.

Answer: A

Urbanisation is highest in Dhanbad.

The Jharkhand Economic Survey 2019-20, using Census 2011 data, shows Dhanbad as the most urbanised district, with about 58 percent of its population in urban areas, the result of its coal mining towns and Dhanbad-Jharia agglomeration.

East Singhbhum, with Jamshedpur, is a close second at about 56 percent. Bokaro and Ramgarh have large industrial towns but lower urban shares, roughly 48 and 44 percent, so they rank below both.

Answer: A

The correct statements are I and II only.

Physiography (relief, soils and water) strongly influences where people live (I), and the northern plains are densely populated because of their fertile alluvial soils and abundant water (II).

Statement III is wrong because the peninsular plateau is not uniform: it has densely peopled areas such as the coastal plains, river deltas and industrial belts, as well as sparsely peopled hills and forests. So the options containing III are wrong.

Answer: A

The least urbanised state in the 2011 census was Himachal Pradesh.

Only about 10.0 per cent of Himachal Pradesh's population lived in urban areas in 2011, the lowest share of any state. Bihar was close behind at about 11.3 per cent, followed by Assam (about 14.1 per cent) and Odisha (about 16.7 per cent).

Bihar is the common trap, but its urban share was slightly higher than Himachal Pradesh's.

Answer: D

The largest share of India's slum population lived in Maharashtra.

The 2011 census counted about 1.18 crore slum dwellers in Maharashtra, about 18 per cent of India's slum population and the most of any state, followed by Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. Greater Mumbai alone had over 40 lakh.

Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh had large slum populations but fewer than Maharashtra.

Answer: A

Zelinsky's theory is based on the Demographic Transition Model.

In 1971 the geographer Wilbur Zelinsky proposed the hypothesis of the mobility (migration) transition, which links each stage of the demographic transition, from high birth and death rates to low ones, to a typical pattern of migration, such as rural-to-urban movement in the middle stages.

Weber's least cost theory explains industrial location, Rostow's model sets out stages of economic growth, and Mackinder's heartland theory is a theory of geopolitics. None is the basis of the migration transition.

Answer: C

Both statements are correct, so the answer is Both A and B are correct.

Population structure, or composition, is analysed mainly in terms of age groups and sex (A). Cartographically it is shown by a population pyramid, a bar diagram with males on one side and females on the other, arranged by age group, whose shape reveals whether a population is growing, stable or declining (B).

Since both statements are true, 'only A', 'only B' and 'neither' are wrong.

Answer: A

The key gives Balaghat as the district with the highest sex ratio among Scheduled Tribes in Madhya Pradesh in Census 2011.

Balaghat is a tribal district (a district profile lists about 3.8 lakh Scheduled Tribe people) and has the highest overall sex ratio in the state, 1,021 females per 1,000 males according to a prep-site summary of the Census. A quiz site also gives Balaghat as the district with the highest Scheduled Tribe ratio.

What could not be confirmed: no official district-wise table of the Scheduled Tribe sex ratio was found, and the quiz site's figure is the same as the overall one, so treat the key as the Commission's reading. Mandla, Dindori and Alirajpur are also tribal districts with high ratios, which is why the options are close.

Answer: D

The sharpest fall in India's sex ratio came in the decade 1961 - 1971.

The census sex ratio (females per 1,000 males) moved as follows:

• 1961: 941; 1971: 930, a fall of 11 points.
• 1981: 934; 1991: 927, a fall of 7 points.
• 2001: 933, a rise of 6 points over 1991.
• 2011: 943, a rise of 10 points.

The decade 1961-71 shows the largest decline. 1991-2001 and 2001-2011 actually show increases, and 1981-1991 a smaller fall of seven points.