CDS (I) 2020 General Knowledge · Question 39 of 120

Correct — C, Karnataka. 'One State Many Worlds' was the tourism tagline of Karnataka, and the claim behind it is a real one: the state runs from the Konkan beaches through the Western Ghats rainforest to the dry Deccan plateau, and its monuments cover Badami and Aihole, Pattadakal, Belur and Halebidu, Hampi, Bijapur, Srirangapatna and Mysuru. Karnataka holds 507 of India's roughly 3,600 centrally protected monuments, second only to Uttar Pradesh, with another 752 protected by the state's own Directorate of Archaeology and Museums. It was ranked the third most popular state for tourism in 2014. Present-day note: Karnataka Tourism now fronts a different campaign line, 'Raaga, Ruchi, Rachane', so a student meeting this item today will not find the old slogan on the department's home page.

• (a)Assam — Assam Tourism has run 'Awesome Assam'. Its draw is Kaziranga, Manas, the Brahmaputra and Majuli, and its branding has never used this line.
• (b)West Bengal — West Bengal's tourism line has been 'Experience Bengal — The Sweetest Part of India', built around the Sundarbans, Darjeeling and Kolkata.
• (d)Rajasthan — Rajasthan's long-running invitation is 'Padharo Mhare Desh'. The state is desert, forts and palaces — striking, but not the many-worlds variety the tagline claims.

State tourism boards each market a single line, and the lines get asked because they are easy to verify and easy to confuse. Kerala's 'God's Own Country' is the oldest and best known; Madhya Pradesh has used 'The Heart of Incredible India'; Rajasthan 'Padharo Mhare Desh'; Assam 'Awesome Assam'. Karnataka's 'One State Many Worlds' belongs to the same family and refers to the physical and cultural range packed into one state.

Slogan questions look like pure recall, but the wording usually leaves a clue about the place. 'Many worlds' promises variety, which rules out a state with one dominant landscape — Rajasthan's deserts and forts, or Assam's river-and-grassland belt — and points to a state that has coast, ghats and plateau together. Karnataka and Kerala both fit that description physically, and Kerala's line is taken. Anchoring on the fact that Karnataka is second only to Uttar Pradesh in centrally protected monuments makes the choice feel less arbitrary.

• 'One State Many Worlds' was the tourism motto of Karnataka.
• Karnataka has 507 of India's roughly 3,600 centrally protected monuments, second only to Uttar Pradesh.
• A further 752 monuments are protected by the state Directorate of Archaeology and Museums.
• Karnataka was ranked the third most popular state in India for tourism in 2014.
• Karnataka Tourism has since moved to the campaign line 'Raaga, Ruchi, Rachane', so the older slogan is no longer in front-line use.

• Reaching for Kerala because it is the most heavily marketed southern state; its line is 'God's Own Country'.
• Treating a slogan learnt for one exam year as permanent — tourism campaigns are rebranded often, and this one has been.

As a state-to-slogan match, or as a single-line identification in the current-affairs and culture block.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The tourism tagline 'God's Own Country' is used by which one of the following Indian states?

  • (a)Goa
  • (b)Kerala
  • (c)Karnataka
  • (d)Tamil Nadu

  Answer(b) Kerala — the line has been the state's tourism signature since the 1980s and is among the best known in Indian tourism marketing.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Hampi, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the capital of the Vijayanagara empire, is located in which one of the following states?

  • (a)Telangana
  • (b)Maharashtra
  • (c)Karnataka
  • (d)Andhra Pradesh

  Answer(c) Karnataka — Hampi stands on the Tungabhadra in Vijayanagara district of Karnataka.