UPSC Indian Geography 3 (Old Year Questions)

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Ans d

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Ans c
The rotation of the Earth creates a force, termed Coriolis force, which acts upon wind and other objects in motion in very predictable ways. According to Newton’s first law of motion, air will remain moving in straight line unless it is influenced by an unbalancing force. The consequence of Coriolis force opposing pressure gradient acceleration is that the moving air changes direction. Instead of wind blowing directly from high to low pressure, the rotation of the Earth causes wind to deflected off course. In the Northern Hemisphere, wind is deflected to the right of its path, while in the Southern Hemisphere it is deflected to the left.

Ans d
Himachal Pradesh provides water to both the Indus and Ganges basins. The drainage systems of the region are the Chandra Bhaga or the Chenab, the Ravi, the Beas, the Satluj and the Yamuna. These rivers are perennial and are fed by snow and rainfall. They are protected by an extensive cover of natural vegetation. The Beas rises in the Pir Panjal range near the Rohtang Pass and flows about 256 km in Himachal Pradesh. The Chandrabhaga or Chenab (Vedic name Askni), the largest river (in terms of volume of water) is formed after the meeting of two streams namely, Chandra and Bhaga at Tundi, in Lahul. It flows 122 km and covers an area of 7,500 km2, in Himachal, before entering Kashmir. The Ravi is born in Bara Banghal, Kangra district as a joint stream formed by the glacier fed Bhadal and Tantgari. The catchment area of Satluj in Himachal Pradesh is about 20,000 km2. The Yamuna has its origin in Yamunotri in Uttarkashi district, Uttarakhand. Its total catchment area in Himachal Pradesh is 2,320 km2.

Ans d
The Luni is a river of western Rajasthan state, India. It originates in the Pushkar valley of the Aravalli Range, near Ajmer and ends in the marshy lands of Rann of Kuth in Gujarat, after travelling a distance of 530 km. It is first known as Sagarmati, then after passing Govindgarh, it meets its tributary Sarsuti, which originates from Pushkar Lake, and from then on it gets its name Luni.

Ans b
Copper: Bihar and Jharkhand (44%) and Rajasthan (20%) Nickel: Most of nickel reserves of India (92%) are found in Cuttack, Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj district of Orissa. Tungsten: Produced in Degana mine in Rajasthan.

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Red soil is the predominant type of soil in the State. Rich pool of skilled labour is the main reason for high production of mill-make cotton yarn.

Ans d
The most significant gift from the Himalayas for the Indian subcontinent is its functioning as a climatic regulator. The Himalayan mountain ranges, working as a barrier are responsible for monsoon rains and unique climatic condition of six seasons of the subcontinent. The mountain ranges also protect the land lying in its south from the cold waves of Siberia. The Indo-Gangetic plain is bound on the north by the abruptly rising Himalayas, which feed its numerous rivers and are the source of the fertile alluvium deposited across the region by the two river systems. Hence, alluvial soils of North India owe its origin to Shiwalik range of the Himalayas. The Himalayas forms a barrier for the monsoon winds, keeping them from traveling northwards, and causing heavy rainfall in the Terai region.

Ans a
Rajasthan: Latitude : 27o 00′ N Longitude : 70o 00′ E Sikkim: Latitude : 27.3 N Longitude : 88.3 E

Ans a
Establishment of polluting industries in India by developed countries should not be a limitation on India’s global warming mitigation plan. As India is a developing country, hence it has several other priorities such as infrastructure, poverty alleviation and employment generation. So, it cannot invest huge funds in research and development and appropriate alternate technologies are not sufficiently available as well.

Ans c
The albedo of an object is a measure of how strongly it reflects light from light sources such as the Sun. Snow have a very high albedo and can be as high as 0.9. Because trees tend to have a low albedo, removing forests would tend to increase albedo and thereby could produce localized climate cooling, dry sand have low albedo (0.35) as compare to snow. Sand desert (20-30%), prairie grassland (25%), Land covered with fresh snow (85%) and Paddy crop land (20-25%).

Ans c
Red soil is formed as a result of the wearing down of the old crystalline rocks. It is less clayey and more of a sandy nature and has a rich content of iron and small Humus content. Red soil is poor in poor in nitrogen, phosphorous and lime. Reddish color of red soil is due to wide diffusion of iron.

Ans c
Pepper requires hot and humid climate and grows between 20 degree North and South latitudes, from sea level to up to 1500 meters above MSL. The crop tolerates temperatures between 10 degree and 40 degree C. A well-distributed annual rainfall of 125 to 200 cm is considered ideal for pepper. Mustard is a Rabi crop, cotton requires black soil and Virginia tobacco requires 40-45 inches of rainfall and sandy loamy soil.

Ans c
Area under given crops in India: Assuming area in 1981-82 = 100 2000-01 2008-09 Crops Rice 111.6 113.9 Oilseeds 123.2 145.2 Pulses 89.4 101.1 Sugarcane 152.7 155.2