CDS (II) 2021 General Knowledge · Question 37 of 120

Correct — B, Mizoram. Take the three clues in turn and only one State survives all of them. The Tropic of Cancer crosses eight Indian States — Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Tripura and Mizoram — which at once removes Nagaland and Manipur, both of which lie wholly north of it. That leaves Tripura and Mizoram. The second clue settles the shape: Mizoram's maximum north-south distance is about 285 km against a maximum east-west stretch of about 115 km, a long narrow State running down the hills, while Tripura is a compact block with no such elongation. The third clue is decisive on its own. Mizoram's 722 km of international boundary is shared with Bangladesh on the west and Myanmar on the east and south; Tripura is surrounded by Bangladesh on three sides and touches Myanmar nowhere.

• (a)Tripura — Tripura satisfies the first clue — the Tropic of Cancer does cross it — but fails the third. Its international border is with Bangladesh alone, on the north, west and south; Mizoram lies between Tripura and Myanmar.
• (c)Nagaland — Nagaland lies entirely north of the Tropic of Cancer and borders only Myanmar, so it fails the first and third clues together.
• (d)Manipur — Manipur borders Myanmar but not Bangladesh, and like Nagaland it lies north of the Tropic of Cancer. It is the option a candidate reaches for after remembering the Myanmar border and forgetting the Bangladesh one.

Identify-the-State items work by intersection: each clue is a filter, and the answer is whatever passes all of them. The three filters used here are a line of latitude, the shape of the State, and the set of countries it touches — three independent kinds of geographical fact, which is why the item is harder than it looks.

The Bangladesh-and-Myanmar clue is the strongest and quickest, because only two Indian States touch both — Mizoram and, at its southern tip, nothing else in the North-East; the other Bangladesh-facing States, West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura, stop short of Myanmar. The Tropic clue is worth learning as a fixed list of eight States from west to east, and the shape clue rewards anyone who has looked at the map rather than only at the statistics: Mizoram is drawn along the grain of the Lushai Hills, whose ridges run north to south. Anchored to the 2021 exam and still true today, Mizoram was also the least densely peopled State in India after Arunachal Pradesh, with 52 persons per square kilometre in the 2011 Census.

• The Tropic of Cancer crosses eight Indian States: Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Tripura and Mizoram.
• It runs through Mizoram near the middle of the State.
• Mizoram's maximum north-south distance is about 285 km and its maximum east-west stretch about 115 km, over an area of 21,081 sq km.
• Mizoram has about 722 km of international border, with Bangladesh to the west and Myanmar to the east and south.
• Tripura's only international neighbour is Bangladesh; Nagaland's and Manipur's is Myanmar.

• Picking Tripura because the Tropic of Cancer crosses it and forgetting that it never reaches Myanmar.
• Assuming every north-eastern State touches Myanmar; Meghalaya, Tripura and Assam do not.
• Judging shape from area — Mizoram is bigger than Tripura and Nagaland but is elongated, which is what the second clue is about.

As an identify-the-State list of clues, or as a direct question on which States the Tropic of Cancer or an international boundary passes through.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following Indian States shares an international boundary with both Bangladesh and Myanmar?

  • (a)Meghalaya
  • (b)Tripura
  • (c)Mizoram
  • (d)Nagaland

  Answer(c) Mizoram — Bangladesh lies to its west and Myanmar to its east and south; Meghalaya and Tripura touch only Bangladesh and Nagaland only Myanmar.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Through how many Indian States does the Tropic of Cancer pass?

  • (a)Six
  • (b)Seven
  • (c)Eight
  • (d)Nine

  Answer(c) Eight — Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Tripura and Mizoram.