Which of the following peaks are situated in India? 1. Dhaulagiri 2. Namcha Barwa 3. Kamet 4. Makalu Select the answer using the code given below:
- (a)1, 2 and 3
- (b)1 and 3 only
- (c)2 and 3 only
- (d)2 and 4 only
Correct — C, 2 and 3 only. Kamet is the certain one. It stands 7,756 metres above sea level in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand, close to the Tibet border, and is the second-highest mountain of the Garhwal Himalaya after Nanda Devi. The two peaks the question rules out are equally clear. Dhaulagiri, 8,167 metres, is wholly in Nepal, west of the Kali Gandaki gorge; Makalu, 8,485 metres, stands on the Nepal–Tibet border south-east of Everest, and no part of it is Indian. That leaves only Namcha Barwa to make up the pair, and it is the option's weak point. Namcha Barwa, 7,782 metres, is the eastern anchor of the Himalaya where the Yarlung Tsangpo swings round it into the great bend — and its summit lies in Nyingchi Prefecture in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, north of the Indian boundary. Indian physical geography routinely names it as the peak that closes the Himalayan chain in the east, which is the convention this option follows, but it is not a peak in India in the political sense. Work the item by elimination, take Kamet as the anchor, and treat Namcha Barwa carefully in any question that turns on sovereignty.
- (a)1, 2 and 3 — Brings in Dhaulagiri, which is entirely within Nepal — the seventh-highest mountain in the world, west of the Kali Gandaki.
- (b)1 and 3 only — Keeps Kamet but pairs it with Dhaulagiri, which is Nepali. Kamet is the only one of the four unambiguously inside India.
- (d)2 and 4 only — Swaps Kamet, the Indian peak, for Makalu, which sits on the Nepal–Tibet border south-east of Everest.
The Himalaya runs about 2,400 km from Nanga Parbat above the Indus in the west to Namcha Barwa above the Tsangpo in the east, and the two rivers cutting through the chain at either end are what define its limits. Between them the highest peaks lie mainly along the Nepal–Tibet frontier: Everest, Kangchenjunga, Lhotse, Makalu, Cho Oyu, Dhaulagiri, Manaslu, Annapurna. India's own highest points are fewer. Kangchenjunga on the Sikkim–Nepal border is the highest peak touching Indian territory at 8,586 metres; Nanda Devi at 7,816 metres is the highest entirely within India; Kamet follows in Garhwal. Fixing each peak to a state or a country is the whole of what these questions ask.
Two of the four names are safe eliminations for anyone who knows the eight-thousanders, since Dhaulagiri and Makalu are on every list of them and neither is Indian. Once both are gone, only one option remains that does not contain them, so the answer can be reached without judging Namcha Barwa at all — which is fortunate, because Namcha Barwa is where the item is unsound. The peak's summit is in Chinese-administered Tibet. Indian textbooks name it constantly as the eastern terminus of the Himalaya, and that habit is what the option is built on. UPSC has been more careful with the same peak, rejecting a pairing of Namcha Barwa with the Garhwal Himalaya and describing it as belonging to the extreme eastern Himalaya. Learn Kamet firmly, and do not carry away the idea that Namcha Barwa is Indian territory.
- Kamet rises to 7,756 metres in Chamoli district, Uttarakhand, and is the second-highest mountain of the Garhwal Himalaya after Nanda Devi.
- Namcha Barwa, 7,782 metres, lies in Nyingchi Prefecture in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China and is the eastern anchor of the Himalayan chain.
- Dhaulagiri, 8,167 metres, lies wholly within Nepal.
- Makalu, 8,485 metres, stands on the Nepal–Tibet border to the south-east of Everest.
- Nanda Devi, 7,816 metres, is the highest peak lying entirely within India; Kangchenjunga at 8,586 metres is higher but sits on the Sikkim–Nepal border.
- Treating Namcha Barwa as an Indian peak; it is the eastern anchor of the range but lies in Tibet.
- Confusing Kamet with Kangchenjunga or Nanda Devi when asked for India's highest peaks.
- Assuming any peak in the Himalaya must be shared with India; most of the eight-thousanders are not.
As a which-of-these-are-in-India list, or as a pairs item matching a peak to a state or a Himalayan division.
Consider the following pairs: Peak — Mountains 1. Namcha Barwa — Garhwal Himalaya 2. Nanda Devi — Kumaon Himalaya 3. Nokrek — Sikkim Himalaya Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched?
- (a) 1 and 2
- (b) 2 only
- (c) 1 and 3
- (d) 3 only
Answer(b) 2 only
The same peak, handled more carefully. UPSC rejected the pairing of Namcha Barwa with the Garhwal Himalaya and placed it in the extreme eastern Himalaya, which is the point on which this CDS statement is loose.
Which one of the following is not a mountain peak of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands?
- (a) Saddle Peak
- (b) Mount Thuillier
- (c) Lhotse Peak
- (d) Mount Diavolo
Answer(c) Lhotse Peak
The same question type built the other way. There the odd one out is a Himalayan eight-thousander among island peaks; here it is a set of Himalayan peaks tested for which lie inside India.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which is the highest peak lying entirely within Indian territory?
- (a)Kangchenjunga
- (b)Nanda Devi
- (c)Kamet
- (d)Saltoro Kangri
Answer(b) Nanda Devi — 7,816 metres in Uttarakhand; Kangchenjunga is higher but stands on the Sikkim–Nepal border.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Namcha Barwa marks which limit of the Himalayan range?
- (a)The western anchor
- (b)The eastern anchor
- (c)The highest point
- (d)The southern edge of the Shiwaliks
Answer(b) The eastern anchor — the peak around which the Yarlung Tsangpo turns into its great bend before entering India.