Match List I with List II and select the correct answer using the code given below the lists: List I (Lake) List II (State) A. Kaliveli 1. Sikkim B. Khajjiar 2. Kerala C. Khecheopalri 3. Himachal Pradesh D. Vembanad 4. Tamil Nadu Code:
- (a)2 1 3 4
- (b)2 3 1 4
- (c)4 1 3 2
- (d)4 3 1 2
Correct — D, 4 3 1 2. Kaliveli, also written Kazhuveli, is a coastal lake and lagoon in Viluppuram district of Tamil Nadu, so A takes 4. Khajjiar is the small lake set in a meadow ringed by deodar forest on a plateau near Chamba in Himachal Pradesh, so B takes 3. Khecheopalri lies in West Sikkim, a lake held sacred by Buddhists and Hindus alike and known as a wish-fulfilling lake, so C takes 1. Vembanad is the long backwater lagoon of Kerala, the longest lake in India, with Kochi port at its seaward end, so D takes 2. Read in order that is 4, 3, 1, 2. Two of the four are near-certainties for most candidates — Vembanad in Kerala and Khajjiar in Himachal — and fixing just those two eliminates every option but this one.
- (a)2 1 3 4 — Starts by putting Kaliveli in Kerala and ends by putting Vembanad in Tamil Nadu, which reverses the two southern entries. Vembanad is the Kerala backwater; Kaliveli is the Tamil Nadu lagoon south of Chennai.
- (b)2 3 1 4 — Also opens with Kaliveli in Kerala, and then swaps Khajjiar into Sikkim and Khecheopalri into Himachal Pradesh. Both the northern entries are inverted as well.
- (c)4 1 3 2 — Gets Kaliveli right but then hands Khajjiar to Sikkim and Khecheopalri to Himachal Pradesh. Khajjiar is in Chamba district of Himachal; Khecheopalri is the sacred lake of West Sikkim.
The four lakes are of four different kinds, which is the easiest way to keep them apart. Vembanad and Kaliveli are coastal lagoons, formed where a bar or spit closes off a stretch of shallow sea or an estuary. Khecheopalri is a Himalayan lake in a forested basin of West Sikkim with a strong religious character. Khajjiar is a small lake on a saucer-shaped plateau at about 2,000 metres, surrounded by grassland and deodar, in Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh.
This is a placement item and the practical method is partial anchoring. Almost every candidate can put Vembanad in Kerala; that alone kills options (a) and (b), which give D the Tamil Nadu code. Khajjiar in Himachal then separates (c) from (d). Two of these lakes have wider significance worth carrying. Vembanad is a Ramsar site, the longest lake in the country, and the water body the Nehru Trophy snake-boat race is held on. Kaliveli is one of the largest brackish-water wetlands on the south-east coast and an important stop for migratory waterbirds; on the present-day position, Tamil Nadu notified it in December 2021 as the Kazhuveli Wetland Birds Sanctuary, the State's sixteenth bird sanctuary, a few months before this paper was set.
- Kaliveli or Kazhuveli — a coastal lake and lagoon in Viluppuram district, Tamil Nadu; notified as the Kazhuveli Wetland Birds Sanctuary in December 2021.
- Khajjiar — a lake and meadow on a plateau near Chamba, Himachal Pradesh, at about 2,000 metres, within the Kalatop Khajjiar sanctuary area.
- Khecheopalri — a sacred lake in West Sikkim, revered by both Buddhists and Hindus; the name derives from Kha-Chot-Palri.
- Vembanad — the backwater lagoon of Kerala, the longest lake in India and a Ramsar site, with Kochi port at its seaward end.
- Vembanad and Kaliveli are lagoons; Khecheopalri and Khajjiar are inland mountain lakes.
- Confusing Khajjiar in Himachal Pradesh with Khecheopalri in Sikkim; the names look alike at a glance and the States are frequently swapped.
- Placing Kaliveli in Andhra Pradesh because it lies on the same coast as Pulicat; it is in Viluppuram district of Tamil Nadu.
- Treating Vembanad as a freshwater lake; it is a brackish backwater lagoon open to the sea, with the Thanneermukkom barrage built to keep salt water out of the Kuttanad paddy land.
As a lake-to-State match, as which of these is a lagoon rather than a lake, or as which lake a named Ramsar site or sanctuary belongs to.
Match List I (Mangrove) with List II (State): A. Achra Ratnagiri B. Coondapur C. Pichavaram D. Vembanad; 1. Karnataka 2. Kerala 3. Andhra Pradesh 4. Maharashtra 5. Tamil Nadu
- (a) A-2 B-1 C-5 D-4
- (b) A-4 B-5 C-3 D-2
- (c) A-2 B-5 C-3 D-4
- (d) A-4 B-1 C-5 D-2
Answer(d) A-4 B-1 C-5 D-2
The same place-to-State format with Vembanad in it, and the same anchoring method. Vembanad is coded to Kerala in both papers, and in a four-way match one certain pairing usually reduces the options to a single survivor.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Khecheopalri Lake, revered by Buddhists and Hindus alike, is located in
- (a)Himachal Pradesh
- (b)Sikkim
- (c)Uttarakhand
- (d)Arunachal Pradesh
Answer(b) Sikkim — it lies in the West Sikkim district and is known as a wish-fulfilling lake.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which one of the following is the longest lake in India?
- (a)Chilika
- (b)Pulicat
- (c)Vembanad
- (d)Wular
Answer(c) Vembanad — the Kerala backwater lagoon, and a Ramsar site.