CDS (II) 2021 General Knowledge · Question 38 of 120

Correct — D, Ladakh. The coordinates do the whole job. Leh stands at about 34 degrees 09 minutes north and 77 degrees 35 minutes east, at roughly 3,500 metres, so a point given as 34 degrees north and 77 degrees east falls inside Ladakh. Nothing else on the list is even close. Ladakh is the only Union Territory of India that lies north of 30 degrees north; the other three are all tropical and lie far to the east or the west of 77 degrees. Ladakh became a Union Territory on 31 October 2019 under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, with Leh and Kargil as its two capitals — which is what makes the item answerable in the form it is asked, since before that date the same coordinates would have named a district of a State.

• (a)Andaman and Nicobar Islands — The Andaman and Nicobar Islands lie in the Bay of Bengal, roughly between 6 and 14 degrees north and 92 and 94 degrees east — about twenty degrees of latitude south of the given point and fifteen degrees of longitude east of it.
• (b)Lakshadweep — Lakshadweep lies in the Arabian Sea off the Malabar coast, roughly between 8 and 12 degrees north and 71 and 74 degrees east. It is west of the meridian in the question and deep in the tropics.
• (c)Puducherry — Puducherry's main enclave is on the Coromandel coast at about 11.9 degrees north and 79.8 degrees east. Its scattered enclaves at Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam are all in peninsular India.

Locating a place from a latitude and longitude pair is the simplest map skill there is, provided a few anchors are memorised. India's mainland runs from about 8 degrees 4 minutes north to 37 degrees 6 minutes north and from 68 degrees 7 minutes east to 97 degrees 25 minutes east, with the standard meridian at 82 degrees 30 minutes east. A point at 34 north and 77 east is therefore in the far north and slightly west of the country's centre line.

The quick route is elimination by hemisphered common sense — three of the four Union Territories on the list are island or coastal territories of the tropical south, and only one is a high-altitude northern one. The slower but more useful route is to keep two or three coordinate anchors in memory: Kanyakumari near 8 north, the Tropic of Cancer at 23 and a half north crossing near Bhopal and Ranchi, and Leh near 34 north. Present-day note worth carrying: Ladakh is administered as a Union Territory without a legislature, and in 2024 the Union Government created five new districts in it, taking the count from two to seven.

• Leh lies at about 34 degrees 09 minutes north, 77 degrees 35 minutes east, at an elevation of roughly 3,500 metres.
• Ladakh became a Union Territory on 31 October 2019 under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, with Leh and Kargil as joint capitals.
• The Andaman and Nicobar Islands lie about 6 to 14 degrees north and 92 to 94 degrees east.
• Lakshadweep lies about 8 to 12 degrees north and 71 to 74 degrees east.
• India's standard meridian is 82 degrees 30 minutes east, passing near Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh.

• Treating every Union Territory as small and coastal; Ladakh is the largest by area and entirely landlocked.
• Confusing the Andaman and Nicobar longitudes with the Lakshadweep ones — one lies east of the mainland, the other west.
• Forgetting that Ladakh's Union Territory status dates only from 2019, which matters for any question phrased in the present tense about earlier years.

As a coordinates-to-place item, or reversed into a question about India's extent and the standard meridian.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following Union Territories of India lies farthest north?

  • (a)Lakshadweep
  • (b)Ladakh
  • (c)Puducherry
  • (d)Andaman and Nicobar Islands

  Answer(b) Ladakh — it lies beyond 34 degrees north, while the other three are all south of 15 degrees north.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Union Territory of Ladakh came into existence on

  • (a)5 August 2019
  • (b)31 October 2019
  • (c)26 January 2020
  • (d)1 November 2019

  Answer(b) 31 October 2019 — the appointed day under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, on which two Union Territories replaced the former State.