The Tropic of Cancer is going through which States of India ?
- (1)Gujarat – Madhya Pradesh – Tripura – Mizoram
- (2)Gujarat – Maharashtra – West Bengal – Tripura
- (3)Maharashtra – Bihar – West Bengal – Mizoram
- (4)Gujarat – Bihar – Tripura – West Bengal
Correct — option (1), Gujarat – Madhya Pradesh – Tripura – Mizoram. The Tropic of Cancer (23°30'N) crosses India through exactly eight states, running roughly west to east: Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Tripura and Mizoram. All four states named in this option — Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Tripura and Mizoram — belong to that set of eight, which is why it is the only option in which every named state is genuinely crossed by the line. The other three options each substitute in a state that lies entirely to one side of the parallel, which is exactly the kind of near-miss this style of question is built to catch.
- (2)Gujarat – Maharashtra – West Bengal – Tripura — Gujarat, West Bengal and Tripura are all genuinely on the list of eight, but Maharashtra is not. Maharashtra lies immediately south of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, and its northernmost districts (such as Nandurbar) sit just below 22°N — south of the 23°30'N line — so the Tropic of Cancer never actually enters the state. The error works precisely because Maharashtra borders two states the line does pass through.
- (3)Maharashtra – Bihar – West Bengal – Mizoram — West Bengal and Mizoram are on the correct list, but both Maharashtra and Bihar are not. Maharashtra sits south of the line for the reason given above, and present-day Bihar lies north of it, entirely above 23°30'N — it is Jharkhand, carved out of southern Bihar in 2000, that the Tropic of Cancer actually crosses. Two errors in the same option make this the least accurate of the four.
- (4)Gujarat – Bihar – Tripura – West Bengal — Gujarat, Tripura and West Bengal are correctly on the list, but Bihar is not — that is the one substitution error here. Before Jharkhand's creation in 2000, the districts the line passes through belonged to undivided Bihar, which is why Bihar is such a persistent wrong answer in this question; today those districts are in Jharkhand, and present-day Bihar lies entirely north of the parallel.
The Tropic of Cancer at 23°30'N is the northernmost latitude at which the sun can appear directly overhead, and it divides India into a northern subtropical zone and a southern tropical zone. Locating exactly which eight states it crosses — and which large, well-known states it narrowly misses — is a standard test of precise map knowledge rather than general geographic sense.
MPSC geography questions of this kind reward candidates who can name the exact list rather than a plausible-sounding approximation. Because Jharkhand was only separated from Bihar in 2000, and because Maharashtra directly borders two states the line does cross, both are recurring wrong-option choices.
- The Tropic of Cancer (23°30'N) passes through exactly eight Indian states: Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Tripura and Mizoram.
- Maharashtra lies entirely south of the line; its northern edge is still below 22°N.
- Present-day Bihar lies entirely north of the line; the districts it once shared the line with are now part of Jharkhand, formed in 2000.
- Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, though not named in any option here, are also on the correct list of eight.
The full list of 8 is Gujarat, Rajasthan, MP, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Tripura, Mizoram.
- Substituting a large, well-known neighbouring state (Maharashtra, Bihar) for one of the eight actual states the line crosses
- Using pre-2000 state boundaries (undivided Bihar, Madhya Pradesh) instead of the current map
MPSC likes to test the exact list of states along a named parallel or meridian, and builds wrong options by swapping in a geographically adjacent but incorrect state. Memorising the list in order, alongside a current political map, is the reliable defence.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which of the following states is NOT crossed by the Tropic of Cancer?
- (a)Rajasthan
- (b)Chhattisgarh
- (c)Jharkhand
- (d)Bihar
Answer(d) Bihar — the Tropic of Cancer crosses Jharkhand, which was carved out of southern Bihar in 2000; present-day Bihar lies entirely north of the line.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Tropic of Cancer enters India from the west through which state?
- (a)Rajasthan
- (b)Gujarat
- (c)Madhya Pradesh
- (d)Maharashtra
Answer(b) Gujarat — the westernmost of the eight Indian states the Tropic of Cancer passes through.