CDS (I) 2023 General Knowledge · Question 16 of 120

Correct — D, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra. Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh on 2 June 2014 and touches exactly four states. Maharashtra lies along its northern edge and Chhattisgarh at the north-eastern corner; Karnataka runs down the west; and Andhra Pradesh, the state it was separated from, wraps around the east and south. Neither Odisha nor Madhya Pradesh reaches it — Chhattisgarh, itself created in 2000 out of Madhya Pradesh, now stands between Telangana and both of them. Option (d) is the only set that names all four correctly.

• (a)Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra — Three right and one wrong. Odisha does not reach Telangana; the belt of Chhattisgarh's Bastar country lies in between, and it is Chhattisgarh that takes the north-eastern contact.
• (b)Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh — Substitutes Madhya Pradesh for Maharashtra. Since Chhattisgarh was separated from Madhya Pradesh in 2000, the old Madhya Pradesh boundary has moved well north of Telangana.
• (c)Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh — Carries both errors together, naming Odisha and Madhya Pradesh while leaving out the two states that actually run along the north and north-east.

Telangana became India's twenty-ninth state on 2 June 2014 under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, taking the ten districts of the old Telangana region with Hyderabad as its capital. It covers about 112,076 square kilometres, which makes it the eleventh largest state, and its neighbours are Maharashtra to the north, Chhattisgarh to the north-east, Karnataka to the west and Andhra Pradesh to the east and south. The Godavari and the Krishna are its two great rivers, both entering from the west and leaving into Andhra Pradesh.

The item is really a test of whether the map in the mind has been updated twice — once in 2000, when Chhattisgarh was separated from Madhya Pradesh, and once in 2014, when Telangana was separated from Andhra Pradesh. A student carrying a pre-2000 map will keep reaching for Madhya Pradesh in the north-east, and one who half-remembers the eastern seaboard will reach for Odisha. Both are now screened off by Chhattisgarh. The reliable way through an item of this kind is to fix the two neighbours you are certain of, here Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, and then decide the northern pair, which is where all four options actually differ.

• Telangana shares boundaries with exactly four states — Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
• It was formed on 2 June 2014 under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, with Hyderabad as its capital.
• Its area is about 112,076 square kilometres, making it the eleventh largest state in India.
• Chhattisgarh, created in 2000 out of Madhya Pradesh, now separates Telangana from both Madhya Pradesh and Odisha.
• Telangana is landlocked; the Godavari and the Krishna cross it on their way to the Andhra coast.

• Working from a pre-2000 map on which Madhya Pradesh still reaches the Godavari country.
• Assuming Odisha touches Telangana because both lie in the eastern half of the peninsula.
• Forgetting that Andhra Pradesh wraps around Telangana on two sides rather than lying only to the south.

As a set-of-neighbours item like this one, as a which-state-does-not-border item, or as a clue-based identification using rivers and neighbours together.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Telangana was formed as a separate State of the Indian Union in which year?

  • (a)2000
  • (b)2011
  • (c)2014
  • (d)2019

  Answer(c) 2014 — Telangana came into being on 2 June 2014 under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following States does NOT share a boundary with Telangana?

  • (a)Maharashtra
  • (b)Karnataka
  • (c)Odisha
  • (d)Chhattisgarh

  Answer(c) Odisha — Chhattisgarh lies between Odisha and Telangana, so the two never meet.