CDS (I) 2021 General Knowledge · Question 69 of 120

Correct — B, Ten Degree Channel. The channel runs along roughly the tenth parallel of north latitude, is about 150 km wide, and separates Little Andaman at the southern end of the Andaman group from Car Nicobar at the northern end of the Nicobar group. It is the break in the archipelago, and a busy shipping lane between the Bay of Bengal and the Strait of Malacca. Going north to south the chain reads North Andaman with Saddle Peak, Middle Andaman, South Andaman with Port Blair, then Duncan Passage, Little Andaman, the Ten Degree Channel, Car Nicobar, the central Nicobars and Great Nicobar, which ends at Indira Point.

• (a)Gulf of Mannar — The Gulf of Mannar lies between the south-eastern coast of Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka, more than a thousand kilometres west of these islands.
• (c)Eleven Degree Channel — The Eleven Degree Channel is real but belongs to Lakshadweep, where it separates the Amindivi and Laccadive groups from Minicoy.
• (d)Palk Strait — Palk Strait is the passage between Tamil Nadu and northern Sri Lanka, connected to the Gulf of Mannar by the shoals of Adam's Bridge.

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are the exposed crests of a submarine ridge running from the Arakan Yoma of Myanmar to the Indonesian arc, which is why they are strung out north to south and why Barren Island near them is volcanic. The Union territory has two clearly distinct halves. The Andamans are the larger and more populated, with Port Blair as capital and Saddle Peak, about 732 m, as the highest point of the whole territory; the Nicobars are smaller, with Mount Thullier, 642 m, on Great Nicobar as their highest point.

Channel names in this part of the world are easy to swap, and the fix is to attach each to its archipelago rather than to a number. The Ten Degree Channel belongs to Andaman and Nicobar, the Eleven Degree Channel to Lakshadweep — and the numbers are latitudes, so the ten-degree line does in fact run between Little Andaman and Car Nicobar while the eleven-degree line crosses Lakshadweep. Duncan Passage, a third name in this family, is the narrower gap between South Andaman and Little Andaman, entirely within the Andaman group. The Coco Strait to the north separates the Andamans from Myanmar's Coco Islands.

• The Ten Degree Channel, about 150 km wide, separates Little Andaman from Car Nicobar and so the Andaman group from the Nicobar group.
• The Eleven Degree Channel lies in Lakshadweep, separating Minicoy from the rest of the group.
• Duncan Passage separates South Andaman from Little Andaman.
• Saddle Peak in North Andaman, about 732 m, is the highest point of the Union territory; Mount Thullier, 642 m, on Great Nicobar is the highest in the Nicobars.
• Indira Point on Great Nicobar is the southernmost point of India.

• Placing the Eleven Degree Channel in the Andamans; it belongs to Lakshadweep.
• Confusing the Ten Degree Channel with Duncan Passage, which lies wholly within the Andaman group.
• Assuming the highest point of the territory is in the Nicobars; Saddle Peak in North Andaman is higher than Mount Thullier.

As a which-water-body-separates item, or inside a statements question on the geography of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Eleven Degree Channel separates which one of the following pairs?

  • (a)Little Andaman and Car Nicobar
  • (b)Minicoy and the rest of Lakshadweep
  • (c)South Andaman and Little Andaman
  • (d)Great Nicobar and Sumatra

  Answer(b) Minicoy and the rest of Lakshadweep — the Ten Degree Channel is the one in the Andaman and Nicobar group.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Indira Point, the southernmost point of India, is located on which one of the following islands?

  • (a)Little Andaman
  • (b)Car Nicobar
  • (c)Great Nicobar
  • (d)Minicoy

  Answer(c) Great Nicobar — the southern tip of the island, south of the Ten Degree Channel.