CDS (I) 2022 General Knowledge · Question 73 of 120

Correct — B, A-3 B-4 C-2 D-1. Barkana Falls is in Karnataka, on the Sita river in the Western Ghats near Agumbe, and drops about 850 feet, so A takes 3. Dudhsagar Falls is in Goa, in the Bhagwan Mahavir Sanctuary on the Goa side of the Goa-Karnataka border, and falls about 310 m in the milk-white cascade that gives it its name, so B takes 4. Duduma Falls is in Odisha, on the Machkund river in Koraput district where the river drops off the Eastern Ghats toward Andhra Pradesh, so C takes 2. Kiliyur Falls is in Tamil Nadu, on the Periyaaru in the Servarayan hills above Yercaud in Salem district, falling about 91 m, so D takes 1. The reading A-3, B-4, C-2, D-1 is the only one that survives all four.

• (a)A-3 B-2 C-4 D-1 — Gets Barkana right but then sends Dudhsagar to Odisha and Duduma to Goa. Dudhsagar is the well-known Goan cascade on the Konkan railway line; Duduma is the Eastern Ghats fall on the Machkund.
• (c)A-1 B-4 C-2 D-3 — Opens by placing Barkana in Tamil Nadu. Barkana is a Western Ghats fall on the Sita river in Karnataka's Shivamogga country, in the same high-rainfall belt as Agumbe.
• (d)A-1 B-2 C-4 D-3 — Again starts Barkana in Tamil Nadu, and additionally sends Duduma to Goa. Only one of the four pairings in this option holds.

Waterfalls in peninsular India cluster on two edges. On the Western Ghats the scarp faces the Arabian Sea and short, steep, very high-rainfall rivers plunge off it — Jog on the Sharavati, Dudhsagar in Goa, Barkana near Agumbe. On the Eastern Ghats and the plateau margin the falls occur where a river leaves the older, harder rock of the plateau for the coastal plain, as the Machkund does at Duduma. A third family sits on the plateau rivers themselves, where the Kaveri drops at Shivanasamudra and the Narmada at Dhuandhar.

Four names and four States means the match is decided by the two you are surest of. Dudhsagar is the most widely recognised of these — it is the fall the Mumbai-Goa railway crosses on a viaduct — and Kiliyur, above the hill station of Yercaud, is firmly Tamil. Fixing those two to Goa and Tamil Nadu removes every option except (b). If a fall is unfamiliar, the river name usually gives the State away: the Sita is a Karnataka coastal river, and the Machkund runs along the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh border. Note also that Duduma straddles that border and is described from both sides, but its accepted location for exam purposes, and in this key, is Odisha.

• Barkana Falls — Karnataka, on the Sita river near Agumbe in the Western Ghats, about 850 feet.
• Dudhsagar Falls — Goa, about 310 m, in the Bhagwan Mahavir Sanctuary near the Goa-Karnataka border.
• Duduma Falls — Odisha, on the Machkund river in Koraput district, on the boundary with Andhra Pradesh.
• Kiliyur Falls — Tamil Nadu, on the Periyaaru in the Servarayan hills near Yercaud, Salem district, about 91 m.
• Jog Falls on the Sharavati in Karnataka and Shivanasamudra on the Kaveri are the two peninsular falls most often set alongside these in match questions.

• Placing Dudhsagar in Karnataka because the fall sits on the border and the railway approaches from that side.
• Assigning Duduma to Andhra Pradesh; the Machkund forms the boundary, and the fall is conventionally listed under Odisha.
• Confusing Barkana with Kunchikal, both in the same Karnataka hill country.

As a waterfall-to-State or waterfall-to-river match, or as which of these is not located in a named State.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Duduma Falls is located on which one of the following rivers?

  • (a)Machkund
  • (b)Sharavati
  • (c)Indravati
  • (d)Sita

  Answer(a) Machkund — the fall lies in Koraput district of Odisha, on the boundary with Andhra Pradesh.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Jog Falls is on which one of the following rivers?

  • (a)Kaveri
  • (b)Sharavati
  • (c)Krishna
  • (d)Tungabhadra

  Answer(b) Sharavati — Jog Falls is in Karnataka, on the Western Ghats scarp like Barkana.