WBCS Main Examination 2022 — Paper III: General Studies I

Answer: (B) 1919

The Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place at Amritsar on 13 April 1919, when General Dyer's troops fired on a crowd protesting against the Rowlatt Act and the arrest of Saifuddin Kitchlew and Satyapal. 1920 was the year the Non-Cooperation Movement was launched, partly in response to this massacre. 1921 saw the Moplah rebellion in Malabar. 1922 is remembered for the Chauri Chaura incident (5 February), after which Gandhi withdrew the Non-Cooperation Movement.

Answer: (B) 1876

The Indian Association was founded in Calcutta on 26 July 1876 by Surendranath Banerjea and Ananda Mohan Bose, and became the leading pre-Congress political body of Bengal. The tempting 1875 is the year Sisir Kumar Ghosh founded the India League in Calcutta, and also the year Dayananda Saraswati founded the Arya Samaj in Bombay. 1880 is when Lord Ripon became Viceroy. 1885 is the year the Indian National Congress held its first session in Bombay under W. C. Bonnerjee.

Answer: (C) Amarkot

Akbar was born in 1542 at Amarkot (Umerkot) in Sindh, where his father Humayun had taken refuge with a local Rajput ruler after being driven out by Sher Shah. Akbar was later crowned in 1556 at Kalanaur in the Gurdaspur district of Punjab. Nagarkot is the old name of the Kangra fort area, plundered by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1009. Pathankot and Sialkot are towns of the Punjab region with no link to Akbar's birth.

Answer: (C) Babur Namah

Babur wrote his memoirs, the Baburnama or Tuzuk-i-Baburi, in his mother tongue Chaghatai Turkish. It was translated into Persian in Akbar's reign by Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khanan. The Chach Nama is a history of Sindh describing the Arab conquest by Muhammad bin Qasim in 712. The Shah Nama is Firdausi's Persian epic, written at the court of Mahmud of Ghazni.

No option is correct as printed — this question is disputed. WBPSC awarded the mark to all candidates: two correct options — both Buddhism (B) and Jainism (D) have 'Three Jewels' (Triratna).

The question has two correct options, so the Commission awarded the mark to all candidates. Buddhism has the Three Jewels (Triratna) of the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha. Jainism also has Three Jewels (Triratna): right faith, right knowledge and right conduct, which together lead to liberation. Vaishnavism and Judaism have no such doctrine, so both (B) and (D) are correct.

Answer: (B) Girivraja

Under Bimbisara of the Haryanka dynasty, Magadha's capital was Girivraja, the hill-ringed fort later developed as Rajagriha (Rajgir). The capital later moved to Pataliputra under Udayin. Girnar near Junagadh in Gujarat carries a set of Ashoka's rock edicts and Rudradaman's Junagadh inscription about the Sudarshana lake. Gauda (Lakhnauti) in Malda district was the capital of Bengal under the Senas and the Bengal Sultans, and Gujarat is a region, not a city.

Answer: (A) Port

Lothal in Gujarat, near the Gulf of Khambhat, was a Harappan port town with a brick-built dockyard, one of the earliest known in the world. It was excavated by S. R. Rao. Large granaries are associated with Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, which is why (B) is the tempting option. No Harappan site is known for a zoo, and the dockyard, not a market, is what makes Lothal distinctive.

Answer: (C) Ghiyassudin Balban

Balban, who stressed the king's divine status as Zil-i-Ilahi (shadow of God), introduced the Persian court customs of sijda (prostration) and paibos (kissing the monarch's feet). He also started the Persian festival of Nauroz at court. Qutbuddin Aibak, founder of the Slave dynasty, was known as Lakh Baksh for his generosity and began the Qutb Minar. Alauddin Khalji is known for his market control reforms, and Ibrahim Lodi was defeated by Babur in the First Battle of Panipat in 1526.

Answer: (C) 1817

Hindu College was founded in Calcutta on 20 January 1817 with support from David Hare and Raja Radhakanta Deb; it is now Presidency University. Henry Louis Vivian Derozio, who taught there, inspired the radical Young Bengal group. The tempting 1818 is the year Serampore College was founded by the missionaries Carey, Marshman and Ward. 1816 and 1819 have no link with the college.

Answer: (B) 1907

The Congress split into Moderates and Extremists at its Surat session in December 1907, presided over by Rash Behari Ghosh. At the 1906 Calcutta session under Dadabhai Naoroji, Swaraj was first declared the Congress goal, and the Muslim League was founded at Dacca that December. In 1908 Tilak was sentenced to six years in Mandalay jail. 1909 brought the Morley-Minto Reforms, which introduced separate electorates for Muslims.

Answer: (C) Gopal

Gopala founded the Pala dynasty around 750 AD, when he was chosen king to end the anarchy (matsyanyaya) in Bengal. His son Dharmapala founded the Vikramashila university and fought in the Tripartite Struggle for Kannauj. Devapala, Dharmapala's son, extended Pala power further. Tejpal was not a Pala king; Tejapala and his brother Vastupala were ministers in Gujarat who built the Luna Vasahi Jain temple at Dilwara, Mount Abu.

Answer: (C) Kanishka

The Saka era, starting in 78 AD, is traditionally credited to the Kushana king Kanishka; India's national calendar adopted in 1957 is based on it. Bimbisara of the Haryanka dynasty was an early king of Magadha and a contemporary of the Buddha. Ajatashatru, his son, patronised the First Buddhist Council at Rajagriha. Menander (Milinda) was an Indo-Greek king whose dialogue with the monk Nagasena is recorded in the Milindapanho.

Answer: (C) Currency

Karshapana was a coin, the standard unit of currency in ancient India, mentioned in texts like the Ashtadhyayi and the Arthashastra. The earliest karshapanas were silver punch-marked coins of the age of the Mahajanapadas, around the 6th century BC. It was a coin made of metal, not a metal itself, so (A) is only a tempting half-truth. Paper and race have nothing to do with it.

Answer: (C) Ashoka

Ashoka propounded Dhamma, a moral code of tolerance, non-violence and respect for elders, after the Kalinga war (c. 261 BC), and spread it through his rock and pillar edicts and Dhamma Mahamatras. Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of the dynasty, is said to have become a Jain and died at Shravanabelagola. Bindusara, who bore the title Amitraghata ('slayer of foes'), favoured the Ajivika sect. Since Ashoka is listed, 'None of the above' is wrong.

Answer: (B) Kundalvan

In the standard Indian list of four Buddhist Councils, the last (fourth) was held at Kundalvana in Kashmir under Kanishka, presided over by Vasumitra, and it marked the split into Mahayana and Hinayana. The first three were at Rajagriha, Vaishali and Pataliputra. Ceylon is the tempting option: the Theravada tradition counts its own fourth council at Aluvihare in Sri Lanka in the 1st century BC, where the Pali canon was first written down. Sarnath is where the Buddha gave his first sermon, and Saket is an old name linked with Ayodhya.

Answer: (A) Parshvanath

Parshvanatha was the 23rd Jain Tirthankara; he taught four vows, to which Mahavira added the fifth, brahmacharya. Vardhamana Mahavira was the 24th and last Tirthankara, and Rishabhanatha was the first. Gautama Buddha founded Buddhism, not Jainism. Ajatashatru was a Haryanka king of Magadha, not a religious teacher.

Answer: (A) Sacred Book of the Aryans

The Vedas are the sacred texts of the early Aryans: the Rig, Sama, Yajur and Atharva Vedas, of which the Rigveda is the oldest. They were passed down orally for centuries before being written. Genealogies of kings are found mainly in the Puranas, not the Vedas. They are texts, not artefacts, and they are composed in Vedic Sanskrit rather than being a language themselves.

Answer: (A) 1191 AD

In the First Battle of Tarain in 1191, Prithviraj Chauhan defeated Muhammad Ghori. In the Second Battle of Tarain in 1192, Ghori defeated and killed Prithviraj, opening north India to Turkish rule. Tarain is near Thanesar in present-day Haryana. The other years do not match either battle.

Answer: (C) Indigo Revolt

Dinabandhu Mitra's Bengali play Nil Darpan (1860) exposed the oppression of indigo cultivators by European planters during the Indigo Revolt of 1859–60 in Bengal. Its English translation was published by Rev. James Long, who was fined and jailed for it. The Deccan Riots of 1875 in Poona and Ahmednagar were peasant attacks on moneylenders. The Ramosi rising of 1822 in Maharashtra was led by Chittur Singh, while the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 had no link with this play.

Answer: (B) Haryanka Dynasty

Bimbisara belonged to the Haryanka dynasty of Magadha and was a contemporary of both the Buddha and Mahavira. He strengthened Magadha through marriage alliances and the annexation of Anga. The Gupta dynasty was founded by Sri Gupta, the Maurya dynasty by Chandragupta Maurya, and the Khilji dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate by Jalaluddin Khilji in 1290. All three came much later than Bimbisara.

Answer: (C) 1206 AD

The Delhi Sultanate began in 1206 when Qutbuddin Aibak became independent ruler after the death of Muhammad Ghori, founding the Slave (Mamluk) dynasty. Aibak ruled from Lahore and died in 1210 after a fall while playing chaugan (polo). His successor Iltutmish made Delhi the capital. The other years do not mark the founding.

Answer: (A) Indus valley

The bronze 'Dancing Girl' was found at Mohenjo-daro, a city of the Indus Valley Civilisation, and was made by the lost-wax method. It is now in the National Museum, New Delhi. Araku valley is a hill area of the Eastern Ghats in Visakhapatnam district, Andhra Pradesh. Nubra valley lies in Ladakh, where the Shyok and Nubra rivers meet, and the Kashmir valley lies between the Pir Panjal and the Great Himalaya, drained by the Jhelum.

Answer: (C) 1905

Lord Curzon's partition of Bengal came into effect on 16 October 1905, which was observed as a day of mourning and Raksha Bandhan, and it launched the Swadeshi movement. The partition was annulled at the Delhi Durbar of December 1911, when the shift of the capital to Delhi was also announced. 1906 is the year the Muslim League was founded at Dacca. 1910 saw the Indian Press Act, used against the nationalist press.

Answer: (D) Sher Shah

Sher Shah Suri built the Sadak-i-Azam, the forerunner of the Grand Trunk Road, from Sonargaon in Bengal towards Peshawar, with sarais along it. He also issued the silver rupiya. Akbar is known for the mansabdari system and Din-i-Ilahi, and Babur founded Mughal rule by winning the First Battle of Panipat in 1526. Bahadur Shah Zafar was the last Mughal emperor, exiled to Rangoon after 1857.

Answer: (B) 1931

The Gandhi-Irwin Pact (Delhi Pact) was signed on 5 March 1931; Gandhi suspended Civil Disobedience and agreed to attend the Second Round Table Conference. 1930 saw the Dandi March and the First Round Table Conference. In 1932 came Ramsay MacDonald's Communal Award and the Poona Pact. In 1933 Choudhry Rahmat Ali coined the name 'Pakistan' in his pamphlet 'Now or Never'.

Answer: (A) Padshahnama

Abdul Hamid Lahori was Shah Jahan's official historian and wrote the Padshahnama, the court chronicle of the first twenty years of Shah Jahan's reign. The Razmnama is the Persian translation of the Mahabharata made under Akbar. The Iqbalnama-i-Jahangiri, a history of Jahangir's reign, was written by Mutamad Khan. The Tabaqat-i-Nasiri was written by Minhaj-us-Siraj, and the Tabaqat-i-Akbari by Nizamuddin Ahmad.

Answer: (C) Samudragupta

The historian V. A. Smith called Samudragupta the 'Napoleon of India' because of the military campaigns recorded in his Allahabad Pillar inscription (Prayag Prashasti), composed by Harishena. Kumaragupta I is credited with founding Nalanda university. Skandagupta is remembered for repelling the Hunas, as recorded in his Bhitari pillar inscription. Yasodharman of Malwa defeated the Huna king Mihirakula, as claimed in his Mandsaur inscription.

Answer: (C) Central Asia

The Kushanas were a branch of the Yuezhi tribes of Central Asia who moved through Bactria into north-western India; their greatest king was Kanishka. Greece is linked with the Indo-Greeks of Bactria, such as Menander. Iran is linked with the Parthians (Pahlavas), whose king Gondophares ruled in the north-west. Europe has no link with the Kushanas' origin.

Answer: (B) Siraj ud Daulah

Siraj-ud-Daulah was the son of Alivardi Khan's daughter Amina Begum and succeeded his grandfather as Nawab of Bengal in 1756. Shuja-ud-Daulah was the Nawab of Awadh who fought the British at Buxar in 1764. Sarfaraz Khan was the Nawab of Bengal whom Alivardi defeated and killed at the Battle of Giria in 1740 to seize power. Mir Qasim was Mir Jafar's son-in-law, who moved the capital to Munger and also fought at Buxar.

Answer: (A) Shah Niamatullah Qadri

The Qadiri order traces back to Shaikh Abdul Qadir Jilani of Baghdad, and it was introduced into India by Shah Niamatullah Qadiri and Makhdum Muhammad Jilani, so among these names it is the one linked with the Qadiri order. Baba Farid (Fariduddin Ganj-i-Shakar) was a Chishti saint whose verses are included in the Guru Granth Sahib. Bakhtiyar Kaki, the Chishti saint of Delhi, was the successor of Moinuddin Chishti, and the Qutb Minar is said to be named after him. Shah Jalal was a Sufi saint of Sylhet, now in Bangladesh.

Answer: (B) Nusrat Shah

The Bara Sona Masjid at Gaur in Malda district, the largest monument of Gaur, was completed in 1526 by Sultan Nusrat Shah. Alauddin Husain Shah is the tempting option, as the mosque is said to have been begun in his reign; he is also remembered as a patron of Bengali literature in the time of Chaitanya. Shah Shuja, Shah Jahan's son, was the Mughal governor of Bengal who granted the English trading rights in 1651. Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal, not this mosque.

Answer: (B) 1757

The Battle of Plassey was fought on 23 June 1757, when Robert Clive defeated Siraj-ud-Daulah after Mir Jafar's betrayal. 1756 is the year Siraj-ud-Daulah captured Calcutta, followed by the 'Black Hole' episode. 1780 marks the start of the Second Anglo-Mysore War. 1790 marks the start of the Third Anglo-Mysore War, which ended with the Treaty of Seringapatam in 1792.

Answer: (A) Alauddin Khilji

Alauddin Khalji built the Alai Darwaza in 1311 as the southern gateway of the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque complex at the Qutb, and it is noted for the first true dome in India (the first true arch is in Balban's tomb). Muhammad bin Tughlaq is remembered for his token currency and the shift of capital to Daulatabad. Sikandar Lodi founded the city of Agra in 1504 and introduced the measuring rod Gaz-i-Sikandari. Ibrahim Lodi lost to Babur at Panipat in 1526.

Answer: (B) Gupta period

The Allahabad Pillar Inscription usually means the Prayag Prashasti of Samudragupta, composed in Sanskrit by his court poet Harishena, which belongs to the Gupta period. Maurya period is the tempting option, because the pillar itself was first raised by Ashoka and carries his edicts too; it also bears a later inscription of Jahangir. For the Kushan period, Kanishka's Rabatak inscription is a key source. For the Sakas, Rudradaman's Junagadh inscription is famous as the first long inscription in Sanskrit.

Answer: (C) Porus and Alexander

The Battle of the Hydaspes (the Jhelum) was fought in 326 BC between Alexander of Macedon and King Porus, whose kingdom lay between the Jhelum and the Chenab. Bimbisara and Ajatashatru were father and son, and Ajatashatru is said to have imprisoned his father to seize the Magadhan throne. Bimbisara lived about two centuries before Porus. Since (C) is correct, 'None of the above' is wrong.

Answer: (B) Zain ul Abedin

Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin of Kashmir (1420–1470), called Budshah (the great king), is known as the Akbar of Kashmir for his religious tolerance: he abolished the jizya and allowed Hindus who had left to return. Sikandar Shah of Kashmir, his father, was known as Butshikan (idol-breaker), the opposite of this reputation. Akbar himself was the Mughal emperor the title refers to, not the person who held it. Muhammad Shah 'Rangila' was the Mughal emperor during Nadir Shah's invasion of 1739.

Answer: (C) Debendranath Tagore

Debendranath Tagore started the Tattvabodhini Patrika in 1843 as the organ of his Tattvabodhini Sabha (1839), with Akshay Kumar Datta as its editor. Raja Rammohun Roy founded the Brahmo Sabha in 1828 and published the Sambad Kaumudi. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was associated with the Tattvabodhini Sabha, but he is best known for the Widow Remarriage Act of 1856. Keshab Chandra Sen broke away to found the Brahmo Samaj of India in 1866.

Answer: (A) Chandra Gupta Maurya

Chandragupta Maurya founded the Maurya dynasty around 321 BC by overthrowing the Nandas with the help of Chanakya (Kautilya). Bimbisara belonged to the earlier Haryanka dynasty of Magadha. Kanishka was a Kushana king. Megasthenes was not a ruler at all but the Greek ambassador of Seleucus Nicator at Chandragupta's court.

Answer: (C) Megasthanes

Megasthenes, the ambassador of Seleucus Nicator to Chandragupta Maurya's court at Pataliputra, wrote the Indica, which survives only in quotations by later Greek writers. Fa-Hien visited India during the reign of Chandragupta II. Hiuen Tsang came during Harsha's reign and studied at Nalanda; his account is the Si-yu-ki. Ashvaghosha, author of the Buddhacharita, was a Buddhist scholar at Kanishka's court.

Answer: (C) Muhammad Bin Tughlaq

Muhammad bin Tughlaq shifted his capital from Delhi to Devagiri, renamed Daulatabad, in 1327, and later had to move back. Alauddin Khalji had earlier conquered Devagiri and built the Siri fort in Delhi. Bakhtiyar Khalji was a general who conquered Bihar and western Bengal, taking Nadia from Lakshmana Sena. Akbar built Fatehpur Sikri as his capital.

Answer: (A) Harihara and Bukka

Harihara and Bukka of the Sangama dynasty founded the Vijayanagara kingdom in 1336 on the Tungabhadra, with Hampi as the capital. Allasani Peddana was a Telugu poet, one of the Ashtadiggajas at the court of Krishnadevaraya. Tiruvalluvar was the Tamil poet who wrote the Tirukkural. Malik Ambar was the Abyssinian minister of Ahmadnagar, famous for his guerrilla resistance to the Mughals and his land-revenue system.

Answer: (C) Auliya

Auliya (plural of wali, 'friends of God') is the term for Sufi saints, and it is the only option belonging to Sufism. The Namdharis (Kukas) are a Sikh reform sect whose Kuka movement under Baba Ram Singh opposed British rule in Punjab. Kirpandhari is not a Sufi term either. 'None of the above' is the tempting option, since the major Sufi orders (silsilahs) are the Chishti, Suhrawardi, Qadiri and Naqshbandi, and auliya strictly names saints rather than an order.

Answer: (C) 1793

Lord Cornwallis introduced the Permanent Settlement in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa in 1793, fixing land revenue permanently and making the zamindars owners of the land. The Charter Act of 1813 ended the Company's trade monopoly in India (except tea and the China trade) and set aside ₹1 lakh for education. 1803 falls in the Second Anglo-Maratha War. 1834 is the year Macaulay arrived as Law Member and the first Law Commission was set up under him.

Answer: (A) Alauddin Khilji

Alauddin Khalji fixed the prices of grain, cloth, horses and other goods in Delhi to maintain a large army cheaply, enforcing them through officers such as the Shahna-i-Mandi. Balban is known for his 'blood and iron' policy and the customs of sijda and paibos. Babur founded the Mughal empire in 1526. Sikandar Lodi founded Agra and introduced the Gaz-i-Sikandari measure.

Answer: (B) M.N. Roy

Manabendra Nath Roy, after breaking with communism, developed Radical (New) Humanism and formed the Radical Democratic Party in 1940. Earlier he had helped found the Communist Party of India at Tashkent in 1920. Subhas Chandra Bose founded the Forward Bloc in 1939. Karl Marx wrote Das Kapital and the Communist Manifesto, and Nehru wrote The Discovery of India.

Answer: (D) Silsilah

A Sufi order is called a silsilah, meaning a 'chain' that links the master (pir or shaikh) to his disciples (murids) in an unbroken line. The best known in India are the Chishti, Suhrawardi, Qadiri and Naqshbandi silsilahs. Siyasa means politics or statecraft, virasat means inheritance or heritage, and hukumat means government. None of these words names a Sufi order.

Answer: (B) Akbar

Abul Fazl was one of the 'navaratnas' at Akbar's court and wrote the Akbarnama and the Ain-i-Akbari. He was killed in 1602 by Bir Singh Bundela at the instigation of Prince Salim, later Jahangir. Jahangir wrote his own memoirs, the Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri. Shah Jahan's court historian was Abdul Hamid Lahori, and Babur wrote the Baburnama.

Answer: (B) Gopal Krishna Gokhale

Gandhi regarded Gopal Krishna Gokhale, the Moderate leader who founded the Servants of India Society in 1905, as his political guru. Bal Gangadhar Tilak was the Extremist leader known for 'Swaraj is my birthright'. Ananda Mohan Bose co-founded the Indian Association and presided over the Madras Congress of 1898. Rajnarain Bose is called the 'grandfather of Indian nationalism'.

Answer: (C) 1935

Among the years given, 1935 is the Government of India Act, which introduced provincial autonomy and proposed an All-India Federation; it is the largest single source of the present Constitution. 1946 is the year of the Cabinet Mission and the elections to the Constituent Assembly. 1938 is the year of the Haripura Congress, presided over by Subhas Chandra Bose. 1936 is the year of Nehru's Lucknow Congress, where the All India Kisan Sabha was also founded.

Answer: (A) Magadha

Magadha was one of the sixteen Mahajanapadas listed in the Buddhist Anguttara Nikaya and grew into the most powerful of them. Saurashtra was not among the sixteen. Pragjyotishpura was the ancient capital of Kamarupa (Assam), near present-day Guwahati. Sialkot is ancient Sakala (Sagala), the capital of the Indo-Greek king Menander.

Answer: (B) Sakya

Gautama Buddha was born at Lumbini into the Shakya clan, whose republic had its capital at Kapilavastu; hence his title Shakyamuni. The Vajji confederacy, with the Lichchhavis as its leading clan and Vaishali as its capital, is linked with Mahavira, who was born near Vaishali. The Kushanas were a Central Asian (Yuezhi) people who came centuries later. The Sakas were Scythians from Central Asia, who also arrived long after the Buddha.

Answer: (C) Jahangir

Sir Thomas Roe came as the ambassador of King James I of England to Jahangir's court (1615–1619) and obtained trading privileges for the English East India Company. Before him, William Hawkins had also visited Jahangir in 1608–09. Akbar's court received Jesuit missions from Goa, and the English traveller Ralph Fitch came in his reign. The French jeweller Tavernier travelled in India during Shah Jahan's reign, while Babur's short rule saw no English embassy.

Answer: (A) Heliodorus

Heliodorus, a Greek envoy of the Indo-Greek king Antialcidas of Taxila to the court of the Shunga king Bhagabhadra, set up the Garuda pillar at Besnagar (near Vidisha) in honour of Vasudeva. His inscription calls him a Bhagavata, making it an early record of a Greek adopting Vaishnavism. Megasthenes was Seleucus's ambassador to Chandragupta Maurya, long before this. Bimbisara and Ajatashatru were Haryanka kings of Magadha with no link to this pillar.

Answer: (C) Kautilya

The Arthashastra, a treatise on statecraft, economy and administration, is attributed to Kautilya (Chanakya or Vishnugupta), the minister of Chandragupta Maurya. Its manuscript was found and published in the early 20th century by R. Shamasastry. Chandragupta Maurya was Kautilya's patron, not the author. Bimbisara of Magadha lived about two centuries earlier, and since Kautilya is listed, 'None of the above' is wrong.

Answer: (A) 1922

On 5 February 1922 a crowd at Chauri Chaura in Gorakhpur district set fire to a police station, killing 22 policemen, and Gandhi withdrew the Non-Cooperation Movement. In 1923 C. R. Das and Motilal Nehru formed the Swaraj Party. In 1924 Gandhi presided over the Belgaum session of the Congress. 1925 is the year of the Kakori train action by the Hindustan Republican Association.

Answer: (B) 1934

The Congress Socialist Party was formed in 1934 within the Congress by Acharya Narendra Dev, Jayaprakash Narayan and others. 1935 is the year of the Government of India Act. In 1936 the All India Kisan Sabha and the Progressive Writers' Association were founded at Lucknow. In 1937 provincial elections were held under the 1935 Act, after which Congress formed ministries in most provinces.

Answer: (B) Sarnath

The Buddha gave his first sermon, the Dhammachakkappavattana ('turning the wheel of law'), at the deer park of Sarnath near Varanasi. Gaya is where he attained enlightenment, under the pipal tree at Bodh Gaya. Peshawar (ancient Purushapura) was Kanishka's capital. Karnataka is linked with Jainism, as Chandragupta Maurya is said to have died at Shravanabelagola.

Answer: (C) Port

Tamralipta (Tamralipti), modern Tamluk in Purba Medinipur on the Rupnarayan, was the leading ancient port of Bengal, trading with Sri Lanka and South-East Asia. The Chinese pilgrim Fa-Hien sailed from Tamralipti to Sri Lanka on his way home. It was a town and port, not a river, canal or fort. The river on which modern Tamluk stands is the Rupnarayan.

Answer: (B) Qutubuddin Aibak

Qutbuddin Aibak, founder of the Slave dynasty, was called Lakh Baksh ('giver of lakhs') for his generosity. Balban is known for his theory of divine kingship and the customs of sijda and paibos. Bahlol Lodi founded the Lodi dynasty in 1451. Ibrahim Lodi, the last Lodi sultan, was defeated by Babur at Panipat in 1526.

Answer: (C) Kesari

Tilak edited the Marathi weekly Kesari and the English weekly Mahratta, which he used to spread nationalist ideas. The Hindoo Patriot was a Calcutta paper edited by Harish Chandra Mukherjee, who championed the indigo cultivators. Hind Swaraj is a book by Gandhi, written in 1909. Anandamath is Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay's novel of 1882, which contains 'Vande Mataram'.

Answer: (C) Chach Namah

The Chach Nama, a Persian work of the 13th century translated by Ali Kufi from an older Arabic account, describes the conquest of Sindh by Muhammad bin Qasim in 712. The Akbarnama is Abul Fazl's history of Akbar's reign. The Ain-i-Akbari, its third volume, describes Akbar's administration. The Shahnama is Firdausi's Persian epic, written at the court of Mahmud of Ghazni.

Answer: (A) Chandragupta I

The Gupta era begins in 319–320 AD, taken to mark the accession of Chandragupta I, the first Gupta to take the title Maharajadhiraja. He strengthened his position by marrying the Lichchhavi princess Kumaradevi. Samudragupta, his son, expanded the empire through the conquests recorded in the Allahabad Pillar inscription. Kumaragupta I is linked with the founding of Nalanda, and Budhagupta was a later Gupta ruler of the late 5th century.

Answer: (B) Brahmo Sabha

Raja Rammohun Roy founded the Brahmo Sabha in Calcutta in 1828, later known as the Brahmo Samaj, to promote monotheism and oppose idolatry and social evils. Before that he had formed the Atmiya Sabha in 1815. His campaign led to Lord William Bentinck's abolition of sati in 1829. The Lok Sabha is the House of the People created by the Constitution, and the other two bodies have no link with him.

Answer: (B) Ziauddin Barani

Ziauddin Barani wrote the Tarikh-i-Firuz Shahi, a history of the Delhi Sultanate from Balban to the early years of Firuz Shah Tughlaq, and also the Fatawa-i-Jahandari on statecraft. Shams-i-Siraj Afif later wrote another work with the same title on Firuz Shah's reign. Abdul Qadir Badauni wrote the Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh, critical of Akbar's religious policy. Bhimsen Burhanpuri wrote the Nuskha-i-Dilkusha on Aurangzeb's Deccan campaigns, and Tansen was Akbar's court musician.

Answer: (B) 1764

The Battle of Buxar was fought on 22 October 1764, when Hector Munro defeated the combined forces of Mir Qasim, Shuja-ud-Daulah of Awadh and the Mughal emperor Shah Alam II. 1765 is the year of the Treaty of Allahabad, by which the Company gained the Diwani of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. In 1795 the Marathas defeated the Nizam at the Battle of Kharda. In 1800 Lord Wellesley founded Fort William College in Calcutta.

Answer: (D) 1526

In the First Battle of Panipat on 21 April 1526, Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodi using field artillery and the tulughma tactic, founding the Mughal empire. 1530 is the year of Babur's death. The Second Battle of Panipat (1556) saw Akbar's forces defeat Hemu. The Third Battle (1761) saw Ahmad Shah Abdali defeat the Marathas.

Answer: (A) Chandragupta II Vikramaditya

Chandragupta II Vikramaditya was called Sakari ('destroyer of the Sakas') after he defeated the Western Kshatrapa (Saka) ruler Rudrasimha III and annexed Gujarat and Saurashtra. His court is traditionally said to have had the Navaratnas, including Kalidasa. Samudragupta is called the 'Napoleon of India'. Kumaragupta I founded Nalanda, and Skandagupta repelled the Hunas.

Answer: (B) Book on Philosophical discussion

The Milinda Panha ('Questions of Milinda') is a Pali text recording a philosophical dialogue between the Indo-Greek king Menander (Milinda) and the Buddhist monk Nagasena. Menander, whose capital was Sakala (Sialkot), is said to have become a Buddhist after these discussions. 'Scripture' is the tempting option, but the work is a dialogue on Buddhist doctrine rather than the Buddha's own teaching. It is a text, not an artefact or a film.

Answer: (B) Harish Chandra Mookherjee

Harish Chandra Mukherjee edited the Hindoo Patriot, an English weekly of Calcutta started in 1853, and used it to expose the oppression of indigo cultivators. After his death it was edited by Kristo Das Pal. Debendranath Tagore founded the Tattvabodhini Patrika. Vinoba Bhave started the Bhoodan movement in 1951 and was chosen as the first individual satyagrahi in 1940.

Answer: (C) 1920

The Non-Cooperation Movement was launched on 1 August 1920, approved at the special Calcutta session in September 1920 and confirmed at the Nagpur session in December 1920. 1930 is the year the Civil Disobedience Movement began with the Dandi March. 1931 is the year of the Gandhi-Irwin Pact and the Karachi session. In 1923 the Swaraj Party was formed after the movement had been withdrawn.

Answer: (C) Brihadratha

Brihadratha, the last Maurya king, was killed around 185 BC by his commander-in-chief Pushyamitra Shunga, who founded the Shunga dynasty. Bimbisara and Ajatashatru were earlier Haryanka kings of Magadha. Kakavarna (Kalashoka) was a Shishunaga king in whose reign the Second Buddhist Council was held at Vaishali. None of these three was a Maurya.

Answer: (C) Gaur

Shashanka was the king of Gauda (Gaur) in Bengal in the early 7th century, ruling from his capital Karnasuvarna, near present-day Murshidabad. He was the first major independent king of Bengal and a rival of Harshavardhana. Kanauj was Harsha's capital. Pataliputra had been the capital of the Mauryas and Guptas, and Assam (Kamarupa) was ruled by Bhaskaravarman, Harsha's ally against Shashanka.

Answer: (A) Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi wrote Hind Swaraj in Gujarati in 1909, setting out his critique of modern civilisation and his idea of self-rule. Nehru wrote The Discovery of India in Ahmednagar Fort jail. Rabindranath Tagore won the Nobel Prize in 1913 for Gitanjali. Tilak wrote the Gita Rahasya in Mandalay jail.

Answer: (D) Land Revenue System

Zabti (the zabt system) was Akbar's land revenue system, organised by Raja Todar Mal, in which land was measured and revenue fixed in cash on the basis of average produce and prices. It was linked with the dahsala system based on ten-year averages. Akbar's coinage included the silver rupiya and the gold mohur, which have nothing to do with zabti. It was a revenue method, not a form of trade or customs duty.

Answer: (A) Friedrich Max Muller

Max Müller, the German Indologist who edited the Rigveda, held that the Aryans' original home was in Central Asia. Bal Gangadhar Tilak argued instead for an Arctic home in 'The Arctic Home in the Vedas'. Nirad C. Chaudhuri was a writer, author of 'The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian'. Rakhaldas Banerji discovered Mohenjo-daro in 1922, and H. H. Risley classified Indian castes and races in the 1901 Census.

Answer: (A) Arjumand Bano Begum

Arjumand Banu Begum, better known as Mumtaz Mahal, was Shah Jahan's wife; she died at Burhanpur in 1631, and the Taj Mahal at Agra was built as her tomb. Anarkali is the legendary courtesan linked in popular stories with Prince Salim (Jahangir). Jahanara was Shah Jahan's eldest daughter, who supported Dara Shikoh in the war of succession. Roshanara, another daughter, supported Aurangzeb.

Answer: (B) Raja Todarmal

Raja Todar Mal, Akbar's finance minister, systematised land revenue through the zabt (dahsala) system of measuring land and fixing cash revenue on ten-year average produce and prices. Raja Bihari Mal (Bharmal) of Amber was the first Rajput ruler to give his daughter in marriage to Akbar, in 1562. Birbal, a favourite courtier, was killed in 1586 fighting the Yusufzai tribes in the north-west. Raja Chunnumal has no link with the revenue system.

Answer: (A) Farrukhsiyar

The Mughal emperor Farrukhsiyar issued the farman of 1717, allowing the English East India Company to trade duty-free in Bengal for a yearly payment of ₹3,000; it is often called the Company's Magna Carta. Its misuse through dastaks later caused conflict with the Nawabs of Bengal. Jahangir received Sir Thomas Roe in 1615. Jahandar Shah ruled briefly (1712–13) before being overthrown and killed by Farrukhsiyar with the help of the Sayyid brothers.

Answer: (B) Rehala

Ibn Battuta, the Moroccan traveller who served as qazi of Delhi under Muhammad bin Tughlaq, wrote his travel account, the Rihla (Rehla), in Arabic. It describes Indian cities, the postal system and the Sultan's court. The Kitab-ul-Ibar is the world history of the North African historian Ibn Khaldun. The Razmnama is the Persian translation of the Mahabharata made under Akbar.

Answer: (A) Chandragupta II Vikramaditya

Fa-Hien travelled in India in the early 5th century, during the reign of Chandragupta II Vikramaditya, and described the country as peaceful and prosperous. Harshavardhana's reign is linked instead with Hiuen Tsang, the tempting option. Kharavela was a Jain king of Kalinga known from his Hathigumpha inscription near Bhubaneswar. Bimbisara of Magadha lived about a thousand years before Fa-Hien.

Answer: (B) Ashtangik Marg

The Eightfold Path is the Ashtangika Marga: right view, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness and concentration, the fourth of the Four Noble Truths. Dharmachakrapravartana ('turning the wheel of law') is the name of the Buddha's first sermon at Sarnath. Nirukta is Yaska's work on etymology, one of the six Vedangas. Vimukta means 'liberated' and is not the name of the path.

Answer: (C) Meherunnisa

Nur Jahan's original name was Mehr-un-Nissa; she was the daughter of Mirza Ghiyas Beg (Itimad-ud-Daulah) and the widow of Sher Afghan before marrying Jahangir in 1611. She was first given the title Nur Mahal and then Nur Jahan. Raziya was the Sultan of Delhi, unrelated to her. Lutf-un-Nissa is remembered as the wife of Siraj-ud-Daulah, while Khairunnisa has no link with Nur Jahan.

Answer: (B) Banabhatta

Banabhatta, the court poet of Harshavardhana, wrote the Harshacharita, a biography of Harsha, and the prose romance Kadambari. Nagarjuna was the Buddhist philosopher who founded the Madhyamika school of Mahayana. Aryabhata wrote the Aryabhatiya on mathematics and astronomy. Varahamihira wrote the Brihat Samhita and the Pancha Siddhantika.

Answer: (D) Indus valley civilization

Harappa (excavated by Daya Ram Sahni in 1921) and Mohenjo-daro (discovered by R. D. Banerji in 1922) are the two great cities of the Indus Valley (Harappan) Civilisation. The Egyptian civilisation grew along the Nile. The Sumerian civilisation was the earliest part of Mesopotamian civilisation between the Tigris and the Euphrates. Harappan seals found in Mesopotamia show trade between the two, but they were separate civilisations.

Answer: (C) Aurangzeb

Aurangzeb spent the last 25 years of his life in endless campaigns in the Deccan against Bijapur, Golconda and the Marathas, which drained the empire; this is called the 'Deccan Ulcer'. He died at Ahmednagar in 1707 and was buried at Khuldabad. Akbar's Deccan campaign was limited, taking parts of Ahmednagar after the resistance of Chand Bibi. Babur never campaigned in the Deccan.

Answer: (C) Razia

Razia Sultan, daughter of Iltutmish, ruled Delhi from 1236 to 1240 and was the first and only woman to sit on the throne of the Delhi Sultanate. She upset the Turkish nobles (the Chahalgani) by favouring the Abyssinian Jamaluddin Yaqut. Rokeya is Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, the Bengali educationist and author of 'Sultana's Dream'. The other two names have no link with the Sultanate.

Answer: (B) Indo-Greek

Menander (Milinda) was the most famous Indo-Greek king, ruling from Sakala (Sialkot); his discussions with the monk Nagasena are recorded in the Milinda Panha. The Kushanas, whose greatest king was Kanishka, came from Central Asia. The Sakas included Rudradaman, known for the Junagadh inscription. Menander had no Chinese link.

Answer: (C) Muhammad Iqbal

Muhammad Iqbal wrote 'Saare Jahan Se Achha' (Tarana-e-Hind) in Urdu in 1904. Later, in his presidential address to the Muslim League at Allahabad in 1930, he proposed a Muslim state in north-west India. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan founded the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh in 1875. Nawab Abdul Latif founded the Mohammedan Literary Society in Calcutta in 1863.

Answer: (C) Second Battle of Panipat

In the Second Battle of Panipat on 5 November 1556, Akbar's forces under Bairam Khan defeated Hemu, the general of the Sur ruler Adil Shah, securing Mughal rule. The First Battle of Panipat (1526) was Babur's victory over Ibrahim Lodi. The Third (1761) was Ahmad Shah Abdali's victory over the Marathas. At Haldighati (1576) Akbar's army under Man Singh fought Maharana Pratap of Mewar.

Answer: (A) Rig Veda

The Rigveda, with 10 mandalas of hymns mostly addressed to Indra, Agni and Varuna, is the oldest of the Vedas. The Samaveda arranges Rigvedic verses for chanting and is regarded as the root of Indian music. The Atharvaveda contains charms, spells and remedies and is the latest of the four. The Avesta is the scripture of the Zoroastrians of Iran, not a Veda, though its language is close to that of the Rigveda.

Answer: (B) Allan Octavian Hume

Allan Octavian Hume, a retired ICS officer, founded the Indian National Congress, whose first session met in Bombay in December 1885 under W. C. Bonnerjee; the 'safety-valve' theory is linked with his role. David Hume, the tempting name, was an 18th-century Scottish philosopher. Sir William Wedderburn presided over the Bombay Congress of 1889. Sir Henry Cotton presided over the Bombay Congress of 1904.

Answer: (A) Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay

Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote Anandamath (1882), set against the Sannyasi rebellion, and it contains the song 'Vande Mataram'. Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote Pather Dabi, which the British banned, and Devdas. Sarat Chandra Bose, Subhas Chandra Bose's elder brother, proposed a united, independent Bengal in 1947. Dwijendralal Roy wrote 'Dhana Dhanya Pushpa Bhara' and historical plays such as Shahjahan.

Answer: (C) Chandi Mongal

Mukundaram Chakrabarti, honoured as Kavikankan, wrote the Chandimangal in the 16th century, a Bengali mangal-kavya praising the goddess Chandi that gives a vivid picture of rural Bengal. Padma Puran is the tempting option, because Bijay Gupta's Bengali Manasamangal on the snake goddess Manasa (Padma) is also called Padmapuran. Barsha Mongal is not a work of Mukundaram. Since (C) is correct, 'None of the above' is wrong.

Answer: (C) 1906

The All India Muslim League was founded at Dacca on 30 December 1906, at a meeting hosted by Nawab Salimullah, with the Aga Khan as its first president. 1904 is the year of Curzon's Indian Universities Act. 1905 is the year of the partition of Bengal. 1907 is the year of the Surat split in the Congress.

Answer: (A) Purushpura

Kanishka's capital was Purushapura, modern Peshawar, where he built a great stupa; Mathura was an important second centre of his empire. Sialkot is ancient Sakala, the capital of the Indo-Greek king Menander. Bodh Gaya is where the Buddha attained enlightenment. Pathankot has no link with the Kushanas' capital.

Answer: (D) Kanishka

Kanishka, who began the Saka era of 78 AD, was the greatest Kushana king; he patronised the Fourth Buddhist Council at Kundalvana and Mahayana Buddhism. Menander was an Indo-Greek king, not a Kushana. Gondophernes was an Indo-Parthian king, associated by tradition with the visit of St Thomas. Maga was not a Kushana ruler.

Answer: (D) Medinipur

The Tamralipta Jatiya Sarkar, a parallel national government formed during the Quit India Movement, was set up at Tamluk in Medinipur district on 17 December 1942 under Satish Chandra Samanta. It ran its own departments and a volunteer force, the Vidyut Vahini, until 1944. Matangini Hazra was shot while leading a procession to the Tamluk police station in September 1942. Bankura, Birbhum and Malda had no such parallel government.

Answer: (B) 1829

Lord William Bentinck's Regulation XVII of 4 December 1829 declared sati illegal in the Bengal Presidency, after a long campaign by Raja Rammohun Roy. In 1830 Rammohun Roy sailed to England, where he died at Bristol in 1833. 1831 is the year of Titu Mir's revolt and his bamboo fort at Narkelberia. 1832 has no link with the sati law.

Answer: (B) Minhaj us Siraj

Minhaj-us-Siraj wrote the Tabaqat-i-Nasiri and dedicated it to Sultan Nasiruddin Mahmud, son of Iltutmish. Sirajuddin is a tempting look-alike of the author's name, but it is not he. Khafi Khan wrote the Muntakhab-ul-Lubab on the later Mughals. Firuz Shah Tughlaq wrote his own account, the Futuhat-i-Firuz Shahi.

Answer: (D) Ashoka

Ashoka calls himself Devanampiya Piyadasi ('beloved of the gods, of pleasing appearance') in his edicts; the name Ashoka itself appears in the Maski edict. The same title was also used by his contemporary, the Sri Lankan king Devanampiya Tissa. Kalashoka was the Shishunaga king in whose reign the Second Buddhist Council met at Vaishali. Bimbisara and Ajatashatru were Haryanka kings, and Ajatashatru patronised the First Buddhist Council.

Answer: (C) Wells and tube-wells

Answer as of 2022 — this may have changed since.

Wells and tube-wells (groundwater) are the largest source of irrigation in India, accounting for well over half of the net irrigated area, with Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat relying heavily on tube-wells. Canals come second and are most important in the plains of the north and in river deltas, which makes (A) the tempting option. Tanks are a traditional source mainly in the hard-rock areas of peninsular India such as Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Karnataka. River-lift irrigation serves only small areas.

Answer: (B) Regur

Regur, the black cotton soil formed from the basalt of the Deccan Traps in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, is best suited to cotton because its clay holds moisture for a long time. It swells when wet and cracks deeply when dry, which is why it is called 'self-ploughing'. Red soil, formed from crystalline rocks, owes its colour to iron oxide. Alluvial soil is the most widespread and fertile soil of India, while peaty soils occur in waterlogged areas such as parts of Kerala.

Answer: (B) Kamet

Kamet (7,756 m) in Uttarakhand is the highest peak of the Zaskar Range. Annapurna is a peak of the Great Himalaya in Nepal. K2 (Godwin Austen), the world's second-highest peak, lies in the Karakoram Range. Everest, the world's highest peak, lies on the Nepal–China (Tibet) border.

No option is correct as printed — this question is disputed. WBPSC awarded the mark to all candidates: question assumes 7 Union Territories; India has 8 since January 2020 and the largest by area (Ladakh) is not an option.

Answer as of 2022 — this may have changed since.

The question is out of date, so the Commission awarded the mark to all candidates. India has had 8 Union Territories since 26 January 2020: Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh were created as UTs on 31 October 2019, and Dadra & Nagar Haveli was merged with Daman & Diu. The largest Union Territory by area is now Ladakh, which is not among the options. Among the old seven, the Andaman & Nicobar Islands were the largest.

Answer: (D) Conifer evergreen

At higher altitudes on the southern slopes of the Himalayas, the cool temperate climate supports coniferous evergreen forests of pine, deodar, fir and spruce. Tropical wet (moist) deciduous forests, with teak and sal, grow at lower levels in areas of about 100–200 cm of rain. Dry deciduous forests grow in drier areas of about 70–100 cm of rain. Tropical evergreen forests are found in very wet regions such as the Western Ghats, the North-East and the Andaman Islands.

Answer: (C) Third stage

Answer as of 2022 — this may have changed since.

India is in the third stage of the demographic transition: the death rate is already low and the birth rate is falling, so population still grows but more slowly. The first stage has high birth and death rates and very slow growth, as in India before 1921. The second stage has a falling death rate but a high birth rate, causing a population explosion, as in India in the decades after 1951. The fourth stage, with both rates low and stable, is seen in countries such as Japan and those of Western Europe.

Answer: (A) Tata Iron and Steel Company (TISCO)

The Tata Iron and Steel Company, planned by Jamsetji Tata, built its plant at Sakchi on the Subarnarekha, and the town was renamed Jamshedpur in his honour in 1919. Its first steel ingot was rolled in 1912. IISCO was founded in 1918 and its works are at Burnpur and Kulti near Asansol in West Bengal. The Visakhapatnam Steel Plant of RINL is India's first shore-based integrated steel plant, and Bokaro in Jharkhand was built with Soviet help.

Answer: (A) Godavari

The Godavari, rising at Trimbakeshwar near Nashik and flowing about 1,465 km to the Bay of Bengal, has the largest river basin in peninsular India and is called the Dakshin Ganga. The Narmada is the largest west-flowing river, running through a rift valley between the Vindhyas and the Satpuras. The Cauvery, rising in Kodagu, is fed by both the south-west and north-east monsoons. The Mahanadi has the Hirakud dam, one of the longest dams in the world.

Answer: (C) Lakshadweep

Answer as of 2022 — this may have changed since.

Lakshadweep, a group of coral islands in the Arabian Sea with an area of only about 32 sq km, is the smallest Union Territory of India. Chandigarh is the shared capital of Punjab and Haryana. Daman & Diu was merged with Dadra & Nagar Haveli in January 2020 into a single Union Territory. Puducherry is made up of four separate enclaves: Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam.

Answer: (C) Jute

Jute is called the 'golden fibre' for its golden-brown colour and its value as a cash crop; West Bengal is India's largest producer, and the crop needs hot, humid conditions and fresh alluvial soil. Cotton, grown mainly on black soil, is sometimes called 'white gold'. Wool comes from sheep, reared mainly in Rajasthan and the Himalayan states. India is the second-largest producer of silk in the world, with Karnataka leading in mulberry silk.

Answer: (A) Tamil Nadu

In Census 2011, Tamil Nadu had the largest number of towns of any state, more than a thousand statutory and census towns taken together. Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state, came next with 915 towns, which makes (C) the tempting option. Census 2011 counts both statutory towns (with a municipality or similar body) and census towns, which meet the population, density and non-farm workforce tests. West Bengal had the largest number of census towns (780), but it is not among the options.

Answer: (D) Atal Mission for Rejuvenation Urban Transformation (AMRUT)

AMRUT is not a JNNURM component; it is a separate mission launched in 2015 that replaced JNNURM. JNNURM's four components were Urban Infrastructure and Governance (UIG) and Basic Services to the Urban Poor (BSUP) for the larger mission cities, and UIDSSMT and the Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme (IHSDP) for small and medium towns. So (A), (B) and (C) were all part of JNNURM. The Smart Cities Mission was launched in 2015 along with AMRUT.

Answer: (D) 183 Days

The Census of India defines a main worker as a person who worked for 6 months or more, that is, at least 183 days, in the year before the census. A person who worked for less than 183 days is a marginal worker. The other figures fall just short of six months. Main and marginal workers together make up the census's total workers.

Answer: (D) Shipki La

Shipki La in the Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh, where the Sutlej enters India, carries the old Hindustan–Tibet road linking Shimla with Tibet. Zoji La links Srinagar with Kargil and Leh in Ladakh. Thang La does not lie on the Shimla–Tibet route. Jelep La links Sikkim with the Chumbi valley of Tibet.

Answer: (A) Sentinelese

The Sentinelese of North Sentinel Island in the Andamans reject all contact with outsiders and are one of the world's last isolated peoples; entry to the island is prohibited. The Gonds of central India are one of the largest tribal groups in the country. The Toto, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group, live at Totopara in Alipurduar district of West Bengal. The Apatanis of the Ziro valley in Arunachal Pradesh are known for wet-rice cultivation combined with fish farming.

Answer: (B) Submerged shoreline

The northern part of India's west coast, including Kathiawar and Kachchh, is described as a submerged coast, formed where faulting caused the land to sink relative to the sea; the remains of ancient Dwarka found under the sea off Kathiawar are often cited as evidence. Emerged shoreline is the tempting option, but in India that label is used for the Kerala (Malabar) coast in the south and for the east coast. A ria shoreline is a special kind of submerged coast with drowned river valleys, as in north-west Spain. A Dalmatian shoreline, named after the Adriatic coast of Croatia, forms where ridges parallel to the coast are drowned, leaving long islands.

Answer: (C) Meghalaya

The KPM uranium project of the Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL) is in the West Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya, where large uranium deposits were found at Domiasiat and nearby. Jaduguda in Jharkhand is India's best-known operating uranium mine. Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram have no such uranium mining project. The project has faced local opposition in the Khasi Hills.

Answer: (C) Narmada

The Narmada, rising at Amarkantak and flowing about 1,300 km westwards through a rift valley between the Vindhyas and the Satpuras into the Gulf of Khambhat, is India's longest west-flowing river. The Tapi, rising near Multai in the Satpuras, is the second-largest west-flowing river and also flows through a rift valley. The Luni of Rajasthan is an inland river that ends in the Rann of Kutch and turns saline after Balotra. The Bhagirathi is the headstream of the Ganga, rising at Gaumukh near Gangotri, and does not flow west.

Answer: (D) Lateritic

Laterite soil forms in areas of high temperature and heavy rainfall, where intense leaching removes lime and silica and leaves iron and aluminium oxides, so it is poor in nitrogen, potash and organic matter. With manure it supports plantation crops such as tea, coffee and cashew. Regur (black soil) is moisture-retentive and good for cotton. Alluvial soils, including bangar (older alluvium with kankar nodules) and khadar (newer alluvium), are among the most fertile soils in India.

Answer: (C) III and IV

Answer as of 2022 — this may have changed since.

Under the seismic zoning of the Indian Standards (IS 1893), most of West Bengal, including Kolkata, falls in Zone III, while the northern districts near the Himalayas fall in Zone IV, so (C) describes most of the state. Zone I was dropped in the 2002 revision and merged into Zone II, the lowest-risk zone. Zone V, the highest-risk zone, covers the North-East, Kashmir, Kutch and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Within West Bengal, only parts of Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar districts in the far north fall in Zone V.

Answer: (C) Khondalite

Khondalite, a metamorphic rock of the Eastern Ghats in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh named after the Khond tribe, is placed with charnockite in the Archaean group, the oldest rock system of India. Granite is the tempting option, since Archaean granites and gneisses also occur, but granite is formed in many geological ages. Bauxite is not a primary rock at all but the ore of aluminium, formed by weathering. Andesite is a volcanic rock named after the Andes.

Answer: (C) Namcha Barwa

At its eastern end the Himalaya bends sharply southwards around Namcha Barwa, where the Tsangpo (Brahmaputra) takes a great U-turn before entering India; this is the north-eastern syntaxial bend. Nanga Parbat marks the north-western syntaxial bend, around which the Indus turns. The Sahyadri is another name for the Western Ghats. Amarkantak in the Maikal hills is the source of the Narmada and the Son.

Answer: (D) Trimbak

The Godavari rises at Trimbakeshwar (Trimbak) in the Western Ghats near Nashik, Maharashtra, and flows east to the Bay of Bengal. Amarkantak in Madhya Pradesh is the source of the Narmada and the Son. The Nilgiris are the hills where the Eastern and Western Ghats meet, with Doddabetta as their highest peak. Siwara is not the source of the Godavari.

Answer: (C) 2 3 4 1

Sub-tropical dry evergreen forests, found in the Siwalik foothills and western Himalayan foothills, are the driest of these types and match the lowest range, 50–100 cm (III–4). Montane wet temperate forests are the wettest and match 150–300 cm (IV–1), and Himalayan moist temperate forests match 150–250 cm (II–3). That leaves 75–125 cm for sub-tropical broad-leaved hill forests (I–2), giving 2, 3, 4, 1. Option (A) is wrong because it gives the 'dry' forests 150–250 cm, more than the moist temperate forests get.

Answer: (B) Paschim Bardhaman

Answer as of 2022 — this may have changed since.

Paschim Bardhaman, carved out of Bardhaman district with the Asansol and Durgapur subdivisions, became a district on 7 April 2017, making it the newest district of West Bengal. Jhargram, the tempting option, was carved out of Paschim Medinipur only three days earlier, on 4 April 2017. Kalimpong was separated from Darjeeling district on 14 February 2017, and Alipurduar was carved out of Jalpaiguri in 2014. Seven more districts were approved in principle by the state cabinet in 2022 but had not been formally created at the time of the exam.

Answer: (B) 24 January

National Girl Child Day has been observed on 24 January since 2008 by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, to raise awareness about the rights of girls, child sex ratio and gender discrimination. 23 January is Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's birthday, observed as Parakram Diwas. 25 January is National Voters' Day, marking the founding of the Election Commission in 1950. 26 January is Republic Day, when the Constitution came into force in 1950.

Answer: (D) Haryana

Answer as of 2022 — this may have changed since.

Haryana has the lowest share of its geographical area under forest cover of any state, under 4% in the India State of Forest Report, as most of its land is under intensive agriculture. Punjab is close behind Haryana. Bihar and Tamil Nadu have considerably larger shares. Jammu & Kashmir, now a Union Territory, has extensive Himalayan forests.

Answer: (D) Bangladesh

India's longest land border is with Bangladesh, about 4,096 km, shared by West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram; West Bengal has the longest stretch of it. China comes second at about 3,488 km, which makes (A) the tempting option. The border with Pakistan is about 3,323 km, including the Radcliffe Line. The border with Myanmar is about 1,643 km, shared by Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram.

Answer: (B) Xerophytes

Plants of dry regions such as the Thar desert are xerophytes, adapted to scarce water with long roots, thick fleshy stems and small or spiny leaves, as in cactus, babul and khejri. Halophytes grow in salty soil or water, such as the mangroves of the Sundarbans. Lithophytes grow on bare rock surfaces. Heliophytes are sun-loving plants that need full sunlight.

Answer: (D) Birbhum

Khoai is the badland landscape of gullies and ridges formed by the erosion of lateritic soil, best known around Santiniketan in Birbhum district. Nadia lies in the low, flat Gangetic delta drained by the Bhagirathi and the Jalangi. Darjeeling is a mountain district where Sandakphu, the highest point of West Bengal, lies. Uttar Dinajpur, in the plains of north Bengal, has the Raiganj (Kulik) bird sanctuary.

Answer: (B) Nepal

The Singalila ridge runs along the border between Darjeeling district and Nepal; its peak Sandakphu (3,636 m) is the highest point of West Bengal, and the Singalila National Park lies on the Indian side. Sikkim is the tempting option, as the ridge continues north to Kanchenjunga, but there it divides Sikkim from Nepal, not West Bengal from Sikkim. Bhutan borders the Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar districts of West Bengal further east. West Bengal also borders Assam in the north-east, but not along this range.

Answer: (C) Durgapur

The Durgapur Steel Plant in Paschim Bardhaman, West Bengal, was set up in the Second Five Year Plan with British collaboration. Bhilai in Chhattisgarh was built with help from the Soviet Union. Bokaro in Jharkhand was also built with Soviet help. Rourkela in Odisha was built with West German collaboration.

Answer: (D) Gujrat, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharastra

Answer as of 2022 — this may have changed since.

By the long-standing official figures in use at the time of the exam, Gujarat had the longest mainland coastline (about 1,215 km), followed by Andhra Pradesh (about 974 km), Tamil Nadu (about 907 km) and Maharashtra (about 653 km). Options (A) and (C) wrongly put Gujarat last, and (B) puts Maharashtra ahead of Tamil Nadu. A re-measurement by the National Hydrographic Office and Survey of India, released later, raised India's coastline to about 11,099 km and moved Tamil Nadu ahead of Andhra Pradesh. Gujarat remains the state with the longest coastline under both measurements.

Answer: (C) The Peninsular Plateau

The Peninsular Plateau, made of ancient crystalline rocks of Gondwana land, is the largest physiographic division of India, covering roughly half of the country. The Northern Plain, built by the alluvium of the Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra, is the second largest. The Great Himalaya (Himadri) is only one range of the Himalayan mountain system. The Deccan Trap is the basaltic lava region in the north-west of the Peninsular Plateau, so it is a part of it, not a separate larger division.

Answer: (A) Kolkata

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has no production unit in Kolkata city itself, so it is the answer here; its nearest unit is the Barrackpore Division in North 24 Parganas, which overhauls Cheetah and Chetak helicopters. Koraput in Odisha has HAL's Engine Division, which makes aero-engines for MiG and Sukhoi aircraft. Nashik has HAL's Aircraft Manufacturing Division, where the Su-30 MKI is assembled. Bengaluru is HAL's headquarters and has its helicopter and aircraft divisions.

Answer: (D) Delhi-Mumbai-Chennai-Kolkata

The Golden Quadrilateral, built under Phase I of the National Highways Development Project, is a highway network of about 5,846 km linking the four metros Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. The North–South Corridor links Srinagar with Kanyakumari. The East–West Corridor links Silchar with Porbandar. Bengaluru lies on the Golden Quadrilateral between Mumbai and Chennai, but it is not one of the four corner cities, which is why (A) and (C) are wrong.

Answer: (C) Hirakud

The Hirakud dam on the Mahanadi near Sambalpur in Odisha, about 25 km long including its earthen dykes, is the longest dam in India. The Bhakra dam on the Sutlej, which forms the Gobind Sagar reservoir, is one of the highest concrete gravity dams. The Rihand dam in Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh, forms the Govind Ballabh Pant Sagar. Nagarjuna Sagar on the Krishna is one of the largest masonry dams in the world.

Answer: (A) Bengaluru

Namma Metro ('Our Metro' in Kannada) is the metro rail of Bengaluru, run by the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation, whose first section opened in 2011. Secunderabad, the twin city of Hyderabad, is served by the Hyderabad Metro. Visakhapatnam had no operating metro at the time of the exam. Kanpur is a north Indian city, so it is wrong on both counts.

Answer: (C) the Damodar

The Barakar, rising on the Chota Nagpur plateau in Jharkhand, is the main tributary of the Damodar and joins it near the West Bengal–Jharkhand border; the Maithon dam of the Damodar Valley Corporation is built on the Barakar. The Ajay rises in Jharkhand and flows through West Bengal to join the Bhagirathi near Katwa. The Mahanadi flows through Chhattisgarh and Odisha. The Damodar itself joins the Hooghly, a branch of the Ganga, so the Barakar is not a direct tributary of the Ganga.

Answer: (C) Five

Answer as of 2022 — this may have changed since.

Five states have neither a coastline nor an international border: Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Haryana and Telangana. Telangana became the fifth such state when it was formed from Andhra Pradesh in 2014. Delhi is also enclosed but is a Union Territory, not a state. States such as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are landlocked but share a border with Nepal, so they are excluded.

Answer: (A) Lakshadweep

Answer as of 2022 — this may have changed since.

Lakshadweep, with a population of about 64,000 in Census 2011, is the least populous Union Territory, and also the smallest in area. Most of its people are Scheduled Tribes, a higher share than in any other state or UT. Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli, now merged into one Union Territory, each had several lakh people. The Andaman & Nicobar Islands had a population of about 3.8 lakh.

Answer: (A) Nilgiri and Anaimalai

The Palghat (Palakkad) gap is a low pass in the Western Ghats between the Nilgiri hills to the north and the Anaimalai hills to the south; it links Kerala with Tamil Nadu (Palakkad with Coimbatore) and the Bharathapuzha flows through it. The Narmada flows in the rift valley between the Vindhya and the Satpura ranges. Doddabetta is the highest peak of the Nilgiris, and Anamudi (2,695 m) in the Anaimalai hills is the highest peak of south India, so (C) names peaks rather than ranges. Dandakaranya is a plateau region that includes Bastar in Chhattisgarh.

Answer: (A) Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

PURA (Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) was proposed by Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, who saw it as a way to reduce migration to cities by creating rural growth clusters connected by roads, electronics and knowledge. Dr C. N. R. Rao is a solid-state chemist who received the Bharat Ratna in 2014. Dr M. S. Swaminathan is known as the father of the Green Revolution in India. Dr Verghese Kurien led the White Revolution through Operation Flood and Amul.

Answer: (A) partly Telengana and partly Andhra Pradesh

The Nagarjuna Sagar dam is on the Krishna river on the border of Nalgonda district of Telangana and the Palnadu (formerly Guntur) area of Andhra Pradesh, so since the 2014 bifurcation it lies partly in each state. It is among the largest masonry dams in the world. The Mettur dam on the Cauvery is in Tamil Nadu, and the Krishna Raja Sagar dam on the Cauvery is in Karnataka. Kerala and Karnataka have no share in Nagarjuna Sagar.

Answer: (A) Purba Medinipur

In Census 2011 Purba Medinipur recorded the highest literacy rate of any district in West Bengal, about 87%, ahead of Kolkata in both the provisional and final figures. Kolkata, a fully urban district, came a close second and is the tempting option. North 24 Parganas and Howrah followed, both around 83–85%. The state's overall literacy rate in 2011 was about 76–77%.

Answer: (C) the Chhotonagpur Plateau

The Meghalaya (Shillong) plateau is an extension of the Peninsular Plateau and is structurally part of the Chota Nagpur plateau, separated from it by the Garo–Rajmahal gap (Malda gap), which was later filled with river sediments. The Himalayas are young fold mountains, unlike the ancient block of Meghalaya. The Ganga plain is made of recent alluvium. The Trans Himalaya (Karakoram, Ladakh and Zaskar ranges) lies north of the Great Himalaya.

Answer: (C) Continental shelf

Answer as of 2022 — this may have changed since.

Most of India's marine fish catch comes from the continental shelf, the shallow sea floor up to about 200 m deep, where sunlight and nutrients support abundant plankton and fish. Inland fish production as a whole has grown larger than the marine catch, but most of it comes from aquaculture in ponds and tanks rather than from natural inland waters, so (A) is only the tempting option. Deep-sea fishing remains limited because it needs large vessels and investment. Andhra Pradesh is the largest fish-producing state, mainly through inland aquaculture.

Answer: (C) Automobile and Auto-components

Adityapur, beside Jamshedpur in Jharkhand, is an industrial area where the SEZ was planned for automobiles and auto components, serving Tata Motors' Jamshedpur plant and its many ancillary units. Engineering units also exist in the area, which makes (A) the tempting option, but the SEZ itself is identified with the automobile sector. Woollen textiles are concentrated in Punjab (Ludhiana) and Rajasthan. Dairy products have no special link with Adityapur.

Answer: (B) 2 4 3 1

The Todas are a pastoral tribe of the Nilgiri hills known for buffalo herding (I–2), and the Gaddis are shepherds of the Dhauladhar region of Himachal Pradesh (III–3). That leaves the Gonds, the dominant tribe of Bastar in Chhattisgarh (IV–1), and the general term Adivasis for Madhya Pradesh, the state with the largest tribal population (II–4). So the order is 2, 4, 3, 1. Option (A) is wrong because it puts the Todas in Bastar.

Answer: (C) IRS

Land Use / Land Cover (LULC) mapping in India is done mainly with ISRO's Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites, beginning with IRS-1A in 1988, and later ones such as Resourcesat. LANDSAT is also used for land-cover mapping, but it is an American series (NASA/USGS, from 1972), not Indian. METEOSAT is a European weather satellite series. INSAT is India's geostationary series for communication, broadcasting and weather.

Answer: (B) Khadar

Khadar is the newer, lighter-coloured alluvium deposited each year by floods on the low flood plains beside the rivers, and it is very fertile. Bhangar is the older alluvium on higher ground above flood level, containing kankar (lime) nodules. Reh and kallar are saline and alkaline crusts that form on badly drained, over-irrigated land in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab. Such usar land is largely barren unless reclaimed with gypsum.

Answer: (B) the Krishna-Godavari Basin

The Krishna–Godavari delta in Andhra Pradesh, with its fertile alluvium and canal irrigation from the Godavari and Krishna barrages, is called the 'Rice Bowl of India'. The Brahmaputra valley of Assam grows rice too, but it is better known for tea. The Narmada valley is a rift valley known for wheat, cotton and soybean on black soil. Sindh is a province of Pakistan in its own right, not part of Punjab, so (D) is wrong as worded.

Answer: (B) 130

In the UNDP's Human Development Indices and Indicators 2018 update, India ranked 130th out of 189 countries, in the medium human development group. The HDI combines life expectancy, education (mean and expected years of schooling) and per capita gross national income. India's rank has changed from report to report, so the year matters in such questions. The UNDP's Human Development Report was first published in 1990, using the index designed by Mahbub ul Haq with Amartya Sen.

Answer: (A) cluster

The fertile, well-drained and flood-free Bhangar uplands of the Ganga plain support dense agricultural populations living in compact, clustered (nucleated) villages. Dispersed settlements, with isolated houses or hamlets, are typical of hilly, forested or desert areas such as the Himalayan slopes and parts of Rajasthan. Semi-clustered or fragmented settlements arise where a large village splits into hamlets, often for social reasons. The flat, productive bhangar land therefore favours the cluster type.

Answer: (A) The Brahmaputra

Majuli in Assam, in the Brahmaputra, is often described as the world's largest river island, and in 2016 it became India's first island district. It is a centre of Assamese Vaishnava culture, with satras founded in the tradition of Sankardev. Srirangam in Tamil Nadu is a well-known river island of the Cauvery. Sagar Island, where the Ganga meets the sea, is the site of the Gangasagar Mela.

Answer: (A) Kullu valley

A transverse valley cuts across the trend of the mountain ranges, and the Kullu valley of the Beas is the standard Indian example. The Kangra valley lies along the range between the Dhauladhar and the Siwaliks, so it is a longitudinal valley. The Assam valley of the Brahmaputra also runs along the trend of the Himalaya. The Srinagar (Kashmir) valley is a longitudinal valley lying between the Pir Panjal and the Great Himalaya.

Answer: (A) North 24 Parganas

North 24 Parganas, along the industrial belt of Barrackpore and the suburbs north of Kolkata, is one of the most urbanised districts of West Bengal and has the largest number of municipalities of any district. West Bengal as a whole had 780 census towns in 2011, more than any other state. Hooghly and Barddhaman also have dense clusters of census towns along the Hooghly river and the Asansol–Durgapur belt. Note: Census 2011 lists 135 census towns in Howrah against 78 in North 24 Parganas, 85 in Barddhaman and 65 in Hooghly, so (B) is factually correct.

Answer: (B) NH 27

Under the national highway numbering of 2010, NH 27 runs from Porbandar in Gujarat to Silchar in Assam and forms most of the East–West Corridor. NH 44 is the longest national highway, running from Srinagar to Kanyakumari along the North–South Corridor. NH 27 passes through Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Assam. The other numbers are not the Porbandar–Silchar route.

Answer: (B) Western Disturbance

Western Disturbances are low-pressure systems that originate over the Mediterranean region and are carried east by the westerly jet stream, bringing winter rain to Punjab, Haryana and Delhi and snow to the western Himalaya; this rain helps the rabi crop, especially wheat. Nor'westers (Kalbaishakhi) are violent pre-monsoon thunderstorms of West Bengal, Odisha and Assam in April–May. Low-pressure systems in the Arabian Sea mainly bring cyclones to the west coast. Cold waves bring falling temperatures, not rain.

Answer: (B) Mahananda

The Mahananda rises near Paglajhora falls close to Kurseong in Darjeeling district and flows through Siliguri and Malda before joining the Ganga in Bangladesh. The Jaldhaka rises in the eastern Himalaya of Sikkim and flows through Jalpaiguri into Bangladesh. The Sankosh rises in Bhutan and forms part of the boundary between West Bengal and Assam. Since (B) is correct, 'None of the above' is wrong.

Answer: (B) Bokaro

Bokaro Steel City in Jharkhand is a planned industrial township, built around the fourth public-sector integrated steel plant, which was planned in the late 1950s and built with Soviet help. Gwalior and Kanpur are old cities that grew long before planning began, Kanpur as a British cantonment and leather and textile centre. Bhopal is an old city too, though its BHEL township was a planned industrial settlement of the plan era. The steel towns of Bhilai, Rourkela and Durgapur were also set up in the plan period.

Answer: (C) 22

Answer as of 2022 — this may have changed since.

The Eighth Schedule of the Constitution now lists 22 languages. It began with 14 languages; Sindhi was added by the 21st Amendment in 1967 (15), Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali by the 71st Amendment in 1992 (18), and Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santali by the 92nd Amendment in 2003 (22). The official language of the Union under Article 343 is Hindi in Devanagari script, with English continuing for official purposes. So 20, 21 and 23 do not match the current list.

Answer: (D) navigation in the Hooghly channel.

The Farakka Barrage on the Ganga in Murshidabad district, commissioned in 1975, diverts water through a feeder canal into the Bhagirathi–Hooghly to flush out silt and keep the channel navigable for Kolkata port. The sharing of Ganga water at Farakka led to the India–Bangladesh Ganga Water Treaty of 1996, a 30-year agreement, which makes (C) the tempting option; but the treaty was a result of the barrage, not its purpose. The barrage was not built for hydro-electricity. Irrigation of the deltaic plains was not its aim either.

Answer: (C) The Narmada

The Sardar Sarovar dam is on the Narmada at Kevadia in Gujarat, the largest project of the Narmada Valley scheme, shared by Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan; the Statue of Unity stands near it. The Narmada Bachao Andolan, led by Medha Patkar, opposed the displacement it caused. The Bhakra Nangal project is on the Sutlej, and the Tehri dam is on the Bhagirathi. The Rihand dam in Uttar Pradesh forms the Govind Ballabh Pant Sagar.

Answer: (D) Pir Panjal and Himadri Himalaya

The Kashmir valley lies between the Pir Panjal range of the Lesser Himalaya to the south-west and the Great Himalaya (Himadri) to the north-east, and is drained by the Jhelum. Option (A) describes the same position only in general terms, while (D) names the actual ranges. The valleys between the Lesser Himalaya and the Siwaliks are the duns, such as Dehradun. The Zaskar range lies north of the Great Himalaya, in the Trans Himalaya.

Answer: (B) Nathapa Jhakri

The 1,500 MW Nathpa Jhakri hydro-electric project on the Sutlej in Himachal Pradesh, run by SJVN, has one of the largest underground power houses in India. The Salal project is on the Chenab in Jammu & Kashmir. The Bhakra Nangal project is on the Sutlej too, with surface power houses at the dam. The Damodar Valley Corporation (1948), modelled on the Tennessee Valley Authority, tamed the Damodar, once called the 'Sorrow of Bengal'.

Answer: (C) Alluvial

Alluvial soil is the most widespread soil in India, covering roughly 40% of the land, mainly in the Indo-Gangetic–Brahmaputra plains and the coastal deltas. Red soils, formed on crystalline rocks of the peninsula, and black soils each cover roughly a sixth of the country. Black (regur) soil covers much of the Deccan lava plateau and is ideal for cotton. Laterite soil occurs in high-rainfall areas such as the Western Ghats, the Eastern Ghats and parts of the North-East.

Answer: (D) Chambal

The Chambal forms part of the boundary between Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh; it rises near Mhow in the Vindhyas and is known for its badland ravines and the Gandhi Sagar, Rana Pratap Sagar and Jawahar Sagar dams. The Yamuna forms part of the boundary between Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. The Gomti flows through Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh. The Ken flows through Bundelkhand and Panna National Park and is linked with the Betwa in the first river-linking project.

Answer: (C) Karnataka

Karnataka has the largest area of natural sandalwood forest in India, and Mysore sandalwood and its oil and soap are world famous. Kerala also has sandalwood, notably at Marayur in Idukki district, which makes (D) the tempting option. Madhya Pradesh is known for teak and sal forests and has the largest forest area of any state. Maharashtra has no major natural sandalwood belt.

Answer: (C) Tropical dry forest

In the biogeographical classification used for India's protected areas and biosphere reserves, the deciduous sal and mixed forests of central India, including Kanha in Madhya Pradesh, fall in the tropical dry (deciduous) forest biome. Tropical monsoon forest is the tempting option, as the same biome includes monsoon forests. Tropical humid forests are the evergreen forests of the Western Ghats, the North-East and the Andamans. Kanha is famous for saving the hard-ground barasingha (swamp deer) from near extinction.

Answer: (D) Punjab and Haryana

The Green Revolution of the mid-1960s, based on high-yielding varieties of wheat, assured irrigation, fertilisers and minimum support prices, brought the greatest gains to Punjab and Haryana, along with western Uttar Pradesh. It was promoted in India by M. S. Swaminathan, building on Norman Borlaug's dwarf wheat varieties. Eastern states such as Bihar gained far less because of poor irrigation and small holdings. Rajasthan, largely arid, also benefited little.

Answer: (B) Mumbai

Mumbai port, sheltered between Mumbai island and the mainland, is called the finest natural harbour in India and handles a large share of India's trade. Kochi is also a natural harbour on the Vembanad lagoon and is called the 'Queen of the Arabian Sea', which makes (D) the tempting option. Marmagao in Goa is known for iron-ore exports. Chennai has one of the oldest artificial harbours on India's east coast.

Answer: (D) Uttar Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh borders eight states (Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar), the National Capital Territory of Delhi and Nepal, more neighbours than any other state. Chhattisgarh borders seven states, which makes it the tempting option. Madhya Pradesh borders five states. Bihar borders three states and Nepal.

Answer: (C) The Arakan Yoma

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are the raised peaks of a submarine mountain chain that continues the Arakan Yoma of Myanmar southwards. Saddle Peak in North Andaman is their highest point, and Barren Island has India's only active volcano. The Lushai (Mizo) hills of Mizoram are also part of the Purvanchal folds linked with the Arakan Yoma, but they are on the mainland. The Jaintia hills are part of the Meghalaya plateau, an old block unrelated to these folds.

Answer: (C) 1951-1961

The decades after 1951 are called India's period of population explosion, because the death rate fell sharply with better health care while the birth rate stayed high; 1951–1961 is the first of these decades. Growth before 1921 was very slow and irregular. 1921–1951 was a period of steady growth, and 1921 itself is called the year of the great demographic divide. From 1981–1991 onwards growth stayed high but began to slow down.

Answer: (A) Between Ladakh and North Himalayas

The Zaskar range is part of the Trans Himalaya and runs parallel to the Great Himalaya, between it and the Ladakh range, so it lies between Ladakh and the northern (Great) Himalaya. Its highest peak is Kamet in Uttarakhand. The zone between the Great Himalaya and the Siwaliks is the Lesser Himalaya, home to ranges such as the Pir Panjal and the Dhauladhar. The Eastern Himalaya lies far to the east, in Sikkim, Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh.

Answer: (A) 1921

1921 is called the year of the great demographic divide because it is the only census year after which India's population has never declined; the 1911–1921 decade showed a fall, caused largely by the influenza epidemic of 1918 and famines. From 1921 to 1951 population grew steadily as the death rate began to fall. 1951 marks the start of the period of rapid growth called the population explosion. 1931 and 1941 lie within the period of steady growth.

Answer: (A) 3 2 1 4

Gir in Gujarat is the last home of the Asiatic lion (I–3), Kaziranga in Assam is famous for the one-horned rhinoceros (III–1), and Bandipur is a tiger reserve in Karnataka next to Mudumalai and Nagarhole (IV–4). Only option (A) gives these three pairs, which leaves Dachigam with item 2. Dachigam is actually near Srinagar in Jammu & Kashmir, home of the hangul (Kashmir stag), not in Uttar Pradesh. As printed, no list entry gives Dachigam's true location, so the intended match is (A).

Answer: (B) Dakshin Dinajpur

Dakshin Dinajpur, a small agricultural district on the Bangladesh border, had the smallest population of any West Bengal district in Census 2011, about 16.7 lakh. Darjeeling, a hill district, had a density of about 586 per sq km. Bankura, on the western plateau fringe, had about 523 per sq km. Note: by population density, Purulia had the lowest figure of these districts, about 468 per sq km, while Dakshin Dinajpur's was about 750, so (D) is factually correct.

Answer: (D) Chhotonagpur Plateau

Pats are high, flat-topped plateau surfaces of the western Chota Nagpur plateau in Jharkhand, such as Netarhat. The Karnataka plateau is part of the Deccan plateau, with the Malnad hills in the west. The Vale of Kashmir is known for its karewas, lake deposits used for saffron. The Meghalaya plateau, made up of the Garo, Khasi and Jaintia hills, receives very heavy rain at Mawsynram and Cherrapunji.

Answer: (B) Milk production

Operation Flood, launched in 1970 by the National Dairy Development Board under Dr Verghese Kurien, created a national milk grid linking rural producers' cooperatives with urban consumers; this was the White Revolution, which made India the world's largest milk producer. The name refers to a 'flood' of milk, not flood control, which makes (A) the tempting option. Crop production is linked with the Green Revolution. Population control is the subject of the National Population Policy.

Answer: (B) Alluvial, Black, Red, Laterite

Alluvial soil, covering about 40% of India, has the largest share, so options (A) and (C) are wrong. Black soil of the Deccan lava plateau and red soil of the crystalline peninsula each cover roughly a sixth of the country, and the keyed order places black second and red third. Laterite soil covers only about 4%, the smallest of the four. Option (D) is wrong because it ranks laterite above red soil.

Answer: (A) the Himalayas

The Himalayan rivers, perennial because of snow-melt and falling steeply through deep gorges, give the Himalayan region the largest hydro-electric potential in India; the Brahmaputra basin alone has the largest share, and Arunachal Pradesh has the highest potential of any state. The Western Ghats have important projects such as Koyna, but their rivers are smaller and seasonal. The Eastern Ghats and the Satpura range have much less potential. Bhakra, Tehri and Nathpa Jhakri are major Himalayan projects.

Answer: (B) Himalaya

Sagarmatha is the Nepali name of Mount Everest, the highest peak of the Himalaya; in Tibetan it is called Chomolungma, and the English name honours Sir George Everest, a Surveyor General of India. Sagarmatha National Park around it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Karakoram range contains K2, the world's second-highest peak. Sahyadri is the name of the Western Ghats, and the Khasi hills are part of the Meghalaya plateau.

Answer: (D) Kanyakumari

In January the sun is overhead in the southern hemisphere, near the Tropic of Capricorn, so the place nearest the equator gets the most direct rays and the longest day; Kanyakumari (about 8°N) is the southernmost of these places. Chennai (about 13°N) is the tempting option but lies further north. Delhi and Amritsar, far to the north, get slanting rays and short days in winter. Insolation is the incoming solar radiation received at the earth's surface.

Answer: (B) Duncan Passage

The Duncan Passage separates Little Andaman from the Great Andaman group, lying between South Andaman (Rutland Island) and Little Andaman. The Ten Degree Channel separates the Andaman Islands from the Nicobar Islands. Indira Point on Great Nicobar is the southernmost point of India. Saddle Peak in North Andaman is the highest point of the islands.

No option is correct as printed — this question is disputed. WBPSC awarded the mark to all candidates: the largest thermal power station in West Bengal is Mejia (DVC, about 2,340 MW), which is not an option.

None of the options names the largest thermal power station in West Bengal, so the Commission awarded the mark to all candidates. The largest is the Damodar Valley Corporation's Mejia Thermal Power Station in Bankura district, with about 2,340 MW, which is not listed. NTPC's Farakka station in Murshidabad district (2,100 MW) comes next and is the largest of the options, while Kolaghat in Purba Medinipur has about 1,260 MW. Bandel in Hooghly is one of the state's oldest plants.

Answer: (A) Christian, Sikh, Buddha, Jains

Census 2011 counted about 2.78 crore Christians (2.3%), 2.08 crore Sikhs (1.7%), 84 lakh Buddhists (0.7%) and 45 lakh Jains (0.4%), giving the order Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain. Hindus (79.8%) and Muslims (14.2%) are the two largest groups and are not in this list. Option (C) is the tempting one but places Jains above Buddhists. Option (B) wrongly puts Sikhs and Buddhists above Christians.

Answer: (D) 3 1 4 2

Burzil pass links Srinagar with Gilgit across the Deosai plains (I–3). Bara-lacha La links Lahaul in Himachal Pradesh with Ladakh in the old Jammu & Kashmir state (II–1). Niti pass in Chamoli district links Uttarakhand with Tibet (III–4), and the Dihang pass links Arunachal Pradesh with Myanmar (IV–2). This gives 3, 1, 4, 2.

Answer: (A) Negrito

In B. S. Guha's classification of India's racial groups, the Negritos are regarded as the earliest people to enter India; their traits survive among the Andaman tribes such as the Onge, Jarawa and Great Andamanese. The Proto-Australoids came next and form the base of many central Indian tribes. Mongoloid people live mainly in the Himalaya and the North-East. The Nordics, associated with the Indo-Aryan speakers, were among the latest arrivals.

Answer: (A) Maharashtra

India's Standard Meridian, 82°30′E, passes near Mirzapur and runs through five states: Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. It does not pass through Maharashtra, which lies further west. Indian Standard Time, based on this meridian, is 5 hours 30 minutes ahead of Greenwich Mean Time. Because India spans about 30° of longitude, the sun rises in Arunachal Pradesh about two hours earlier than in western Gujarat.

Answer: (B) Gondwana Land

Peninsular India was part of Gondwanaland, the ancient southern supercontinent that also included Africa, South America, Australia and Antarctica; the Indian plate later drifted north and collided with Asia, raising the Himalaya. Angaraland was the northern landmass (part of Laurasia) to which the Eurasian plate belongs. The African Shield is the old block of Africa, which was also part of Gondwana but is a separate shield. South Asia is a geographical region, not a geological landmass.

Answer: (A) Diego Garcia

Answer as of 2022 — this may have changed since.

Diego Garcia, in the Chagos Archipelago of the British Indian Ocean Territory, hosts a joint US–UK naval and air base in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Mauritius has long claimed the Chagos Islands, and in 2025 the UK agreed to transfer sovereignty to Mauritius while keeping the Diego Garcia base on a long lease. Madagascar, off south-east Africa, is the world's fourth-largest island and an independent country. The Philippines lie in the western Pacific, not the Indian Ocean.

Answer: (C) The Ganga Delta

The Ganga delta of West Bengal, with its fertile alluvium, intensive rice farming and the Kolkata conurbation, is the most densely populated of these regions; West Bengal's density in 2011 was about 1,028 per sq km, second only to Bihar's. The Upper Ganga plain and the Punjab plain are also densely settled, but less so. The Brahmaputra's delta, which it shares with the Ganga, lies mostly in Bangladesh. Within India, the Brahmaputra valley of Assam is less densely populated than the Ganga delta.

No option is correct as printed — this question is disputed. WBPSC awarded the mark to all candidates: Jharkhand ranks first or second (after Odisha) in coal reserves, not third, so no option is correct.

Answer as of 2022 — this may have changed since.

The question's premise is wrong, so the Commission awarded the mark to all candidates. Jharkhand does not rank third in coal reserves: in the Geological Survey of India's inventory it was long first and, in the recent inventories, second only to Odisha. Chhattisgarh ranks third and West Bengal fourth. Karnataka has almost no coal, so no option fits.

Answer: (D) Maharastra

Answer as of 2022 — this may have changed since.

Maharashtra has three big metropolitan centres, Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur, which were its three largest urban agglomerations in Census 2011. It also had the largest urban population of any state, about 5 crore. West Bengal is dominated by a single metropolis, Kolkata, and Gujarat by Ahmedabad and Surat. Uttar Pradesh has many million-plus cities, but none comparable in size to Mumbai or Pune.

Answer: (D) Madhya Pradesh

Answer as of 2022 — this may have changed since.

Madhya Pradesh has the most tiger reserves of any state; Veerangana Durgavati, notified in September 2023, became its seventh, after Kanha, Pench, Bandhavgarh, Panna, Satpura and Sanjay-Dubri. It has since added Ratapani (2024) and Madhav (2025), taking the total to nine. Maharashtra has six, including Tadoba-Andhari and Melghat, which makes (C) the tempting option. Assam has Kaziranga, Manas, Nameri and Orang. West Bengal has two, the Sundarbans and Buxa.

Answer: (B) Mango Shower – Odissa

Mango showers are pre-monsoon showers of Kerala and coastal Karnataka that help the mango crop ripen, so pairing them with Odisha is incorrect. Similar showers in Karnataka that help coffee are called blossom (cherry) showers. The loo is the hot, dry wind of the north-western plains such as Punjab, and andhis are the dust storms of north India, including Uttar Pradesh. Nor'westers (Kalbaishakhi) are violent evening thunderstorms of West Bengal and Assam.

Answer: (A) Bombay and Thane

India's first passenger train ran on 16 April 1853 from Bori Bunder in Bombay to Thane, about 34 km, during Lord Dalhousie's governor-generalship. In eastern India, the first train ran from Howrah to Hooghly on 15 August 1854, passing through Serampore, which makes (D) the tempting option. The line from Bombay to Pune came later, across the Bhor Ghat. Indian Railways is today among the largest railway networks in the world.

Answer: (C) Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu, with about 48.4% of its people living in urban areas in Census 2011, was the most urbanised of the major states. Kerala came close at about 47.7%, after the sharpest rise in urban share between 2001 and 2011. Maharashtra was about 45.2% urban, though it had the largest urban population in absolute numbers. Note: Goa, a small state, had the highest urban share of all states at about 62%, so (B) is factually correct.