Which one of the following passes is not located in Indian Himalayan region?
- (a)Zojila
- (b)Bolan
- (c)Shipkila
- (d)Lipulekh
Correct — B, Bolan. The Bolan Pass is not in India at all. It lies in Balochistan in Pakistan, cutting through the Toba Kakar range along a stretch of the Bolan river valley about eighty-nine kilometres long, at roughly 1,793 metres, and it carries the road and the railway between Sibi on the Indus plain and Quetta on the plateau above. Historically it is one of the two great gateways into the subcontinent from the west, alongside the Khyber — Ahmad Shah Durrani used it in 1748, and a British force of twelve thousand marched through it towards Kandahar in 1839. That is a completely different mountain system from the Himalaya. The other three passes are all in the Indian Himalayan belt: Zoji La on the Great Himalaya between Sonamarg and Dras, carrying the Srinagar-Leh road; Shipki La in Kinnaur in Himachal Pradesh, where the Sutlej enters India from Tibet; and Lipulekh at the top of the Kali valley in Uttarakhand, on the old route to Kailash and Mansarovar.
- (a)Zojila — A pass on the Great Himalaya range in the Indian union territory of Ladakh, on the Srinagar-Leh highway. Firmly inside the Indian Himalayan region.
- (c)Shipkila — In Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh, where the Sutlej crosses into India — a Himalayan pass on the India-Tibet border, long used for trade.
- (d)Lipulekh — At the head of the Kali river valley in Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand, near the India-Nepal-China trijunction, on the pilgrim route to Kailash and Mansarovar.
The passes of the Indian Himalaya are the low points where a river has cut back into a range or where a saddle allows a road across it, and they have always doubled as trade and invasion routes. The western group includes Zoji La, Banihal, Pir Panjal, Khardung La and Photu La in the Kashmir and Ladakh sector; the central group includes Shipki La, Rohtang, Baralacha La, Mana, Niti and Lipulekh; the eastern group includes Nathu La, Jelep La, Bum La and Diphu. The passes into the subcontinent from the west — Khyber, Bolan, Gomal, Tochi — belong to the Sulaiman, Toba Kakar and Hindu Kush systems, not to the Himalaya.
The examiner is testing whether a candidate separates the Himalayan passes from the north-western frontier passes, two lists that get memorised together and then blur. Bolan sits with Khyber in the second list. There is a useful physical check as well: a Himalayan pass is usually high — Zoji La is around 3,500 metres, Lipulekh above 5,000 — while Bolan is under 1,800, because it is a river-cut gorge through a much lower range. The paper prints 'Zojila' and 'Shipkila' as single words where atlases write Zoji La and Shipki La; that is the booklet's own styling and changes nothing. One present-day note: a long road tunnel beneath Zoji La has been under construction to keep the Srinagar-Leh road open through winter, which is why that pass keeps appearing in the news.
- The Bolan Pass is in Balochistan province of Pakistan, through the Toba Kakar range, and links Sibi with Quetta.
- Its elevation is about 1,793 metres — low for a pass, because it follows a river gorge rather than crossing a high crest.
- Zoji La lies on the Great Himalaya range and carries the Srinagar-Leh road past Sonamarg and Dras.
- Shipki La in Kinnaur, Himachal Pradesh, is where the Sutlej enters India from Tibet.
- Lipulekh, in Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand, is close to the India-Nepal-China trijunction and lies on the Kailash-Mansarovar route.
Bolan belongs with Khyber on the north-western frontier list, not with the Himalayan passes.
- Grouping Bolan with the Himalayan passes because it is memorised in the same breath as Khyber and Khyber is 'north'.
- Assuming every named pass in the syllabus is Indian; several on the standard list are in Pakistan or Nepal.
- Confusing Shipki La with Nathu La — one is in Himachal Pradesh, the other in Sikkim.
As an odd-one-out among four passes, or as a pass-to-State or pass-to-range matching item.
Which one of the following Himalayan passes was reopened in the middle of the year 2006 to facilitate trade between India and China?
- (a) Chang La
- (b) Jara La
- (c) Nathu La
- (d) Shipki La
Answer(c) Nathu La
The same list of passes, tested from the trade side. Shipki La appears as a distractor there and as one of the correct Himalayan passes here, which makes the pair worth attempting together.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Sutlej river enters India through which one of the following passes?
- (a)Nathu La
- (b)Shipki La
- (c)Zoji La
- (d)Rohtang
Answer(b) Shipki La — in Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh, on the border with Tibet.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Bolan Pass lies in which one of the following countries?
- (a)India
- (b)Nepal
- (c)Pakistan
- (d)Afghanistan
Answer(c) Pakistan — in Balochistan, linking Sibi with Quetta through the Toba Kakar range.