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

Correct — D, Lakshadweep. Its total land area is only about 32 square kilometres, which makes it not merely the smallest union territory but the smallest of all thirty-six states and union territories of India. The number is small because almost nothing of Lakshadweep is land: the territory is 36 islands and islets built on 12 atolls, three reefs and five submerged banks scattered across the Arabian Sea, and the lagoons and reefs around them cover thousands of square kilometres that do not count as area. Its capital is Kavaratti and the 2011 Census recorded a population of 64,473.

• (a)Chandigarh — The next smallest, and the usual wrong answer. Chandigarh is a single planned city serving as capital to two states, but even a city covers several times Lakshadweep's scattered islets.
• (b)Puducherry — Made up of four separate districts — Puducherry, Karaikal, Yanam and Mahe — spread across three states, which together add up to far more land than Lakshadweep.
• (c)Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu — The largest of the four here. Two former union territories merged into one on 26 January 2020, so the option combines what had been separate areas — the merger makes it bigger, not smaller.

Lakshadweep is India's only coral atoll territory, lying in the Arabian Sea off the Malabar coast. Ten of its islands are inhabited. Its economy rests on coconut and coir, fishing, especially tuna, and a tightly regulated tourism. Entry is permit-controlled and most of the population is Scheduled Tribe, which is why land alienation rules there are unusually strict.

The competition here is really between Lakshadweep and Chandigarh, and the way to settle it is to remember what each is. Chandigarh is a whole city; Lakshadweep is a handful of sandbars on coral rings, and its lagoon area dwarfs its land area. Note the third option carefully: Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu reads oddly because two union territories were merged into one with effect from 26 January 2020, months before this paper was set, taking India's count to 28 states and 8 union territories.

• Lakshadweep's land area is about 32 square kilometres — the smallest of all Indian states and union territories.
• It comprises 36 islands and islets, including 12 atolls, three reefs and five submerged banks; ten islands are inhabited.
• Its capital is Kavaratti; the 2011 Census population was 64,473.
• Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu became a single union territory on 26 January 2020.
• Lakshadweep is India's only coral atoll territory, and reef and lagoon area far exceeds its land area.

• Answering Chandigarh, which is the smallest by area only if Lakshadweep is forgotten.
• Counting Lakshadweep's lagoon or reef area as territory — the land figure is the one asked for.
• Using a pre-2020 list of union territories; the merger and the creation of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh both changed it.

As a smallest or largest superlative, or inside a statements item on the reorganisation of union territories.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The capital of the union territory of Lakshadweep is

  • (a)Kavaratti
  • (b)Minicoy
  • (c)Agatti
  • (d)Amini

  Answer(a) Kavaratti — the others are islands of the group but not its administrative headquarters.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu became a single union territory with effect from

  • (a)31 October 2019
  • (b)26 January 2020
  • (c)15 August 2020
  • (d)1 November 2020

  Answer(b) 26 January 2020 — the two former union territories were merged into one on that date.