Arrange the following states in order of their decreasing population size as per the census 2011 : 1. West Bengal 2. Bihar 3. Maharashtra 4. Andhra Pradesh Select the correct answer using the code given below :
- (a)2 – 3 – 1 – 4
- (b)3 – 2 – 1 – 4
- (c)1 – 4 – 3 – 2
- (d)3 – 1 – 4 – 2
Correct — B, the order 3 – 2 – 1 – 4, that is Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh. Census 2011 counted Maharashtra at 11.24 crore, Bihar at 10.41 crore, West Bengal at 9.13 crore and Andhra Pradesh, as the state then stood, at 8.46 crore. Arranged from largest to smallest those four give exactly 3 – 2 – 1 – 4. Two anchors make this recallable without memorising the figures. First, Maharashtra and Bihar are the second and third most populous states of India, behind Uttar Pradesh, which is not on this list at all — so whichever of them comes first, the pair leads. Second, Maharashtra is ahead of Bihar by roughly eighty lakh people, a gap comfortably wide enough to be sure of. West Bengal follows in fourth place nationally and Andhra Pradesh behind it, closing the sequence.
- (a)2 – 3 – 1 – 4 — Right in its last two places but it puts Bihar ahead of Maharashtra. Bihar is India's third most populous state and Maharashtra its second, separated by about eighty lakh people in the 2011 count, so the first two entries are the wrong way round.
- (c)1 – 4 – 3 – 2 — Badly scrambled. It opens with West Bengal, places Andhra Pradesh second and leaves Bihar last, which reverses almost the whole sequence.
- (d)3 – 1 – 4 – 2 — Correct only in its first place. It then drops Bihar to the very end, when Bihar is in fact the largest of the remaining three by more than a crore.
The Census of India is the decennial headcount conducted by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner. The 2011 round put the country at 121.09 crore and ranked the states from Uttar Pradesh downwards. The top five by population were Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh as it then existed, and that ranking is worth memorising as a block because state-ordering questions recur constantly.
Ordering questions are answered fastest by fixing one end and eliminating. Here, decide only whether Maharashtra or Bihar comes first, and three of the four options are settled at once: option (a) fails on that single test, and options (c) and (d) fail because they misplace Bihar. There is one honest complication worth knowing. Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated in 2014, more than two years before this paper was set, so the 8.46 crore in the 2011 tables is the undivided state; split, it becomes about 4.96 crore for the residual Andhra Pradesh and about 3.50 crore for Telangana. On either reading Andhra Pradesh stays last among these four, so the answer does not change. Census 2011 is still the latest completed census, the round due in 2021 having been deferred.
- Census 2011 populations: Maharashtra 11.24 crore, Bihar 10.41 crore, West Bengal 9.13 crore, Andhra Pradesh 8.46 crore.
- Uttar Pradesh, at 19.98 crore, is India's most populous state, but it does not appear in this question's list.
- India's total population in 2011 was 121.09 crore.
- Andhra Pradesh was divided in 2014, so its 2011 figure splits into roughly 4.96 crore for the residual state and 3.50 crore for Telangana.
- Census 2011 remains the most recent completed Census of India.
Largest to smallest gives 3 – 2 – 1 – 4, which is option (b).
- Ranking by area or by density instead of by population — Rajasthan is the largest state by area but eighth by population.
- Reading 'decreasing' as 'increasing' and inverting the whole sequence.
Census-based ordering questions appear in almost every NDA GAT paper, sometimes ascending and sometimes descending, so learn the top five states as a fixed sequence and read the direction word twice.
Which amongst the following States has the highest population density as per Census 2001?
- (a) Kerala
- (b) Madhya Pradesh
- (c) Uttar Pradesh
- (d) West Bengal
Answer(d) West Bengal
The same census data ranked by density rather than by size, and the ranking comes out quite differently — a reminder to check which measure the question actually names.
Consider the following Indian States : 1. Bihar 2. Rajasthan 3. Jammu and Kashmir 4. Haryana Which one of the following is the correct ascending order of the above States on the basis of percentage of State’s population to total population of India (based on census 2011) ?
- (a) 3 – 4 – 1 – 2
- (b) 4 – 2 – 1 – 3
- (c) 3 – 4 – 2 – 1
- (d) 2 – 3 – 4 – 1
Answer(c) 3 – 4 – 2 – 1
The same skill with the direction reversed — NDA alternates between ascending and descending orderings of Census 2011 population, so read the direction word before ranking.
- practice — not a real PYQ
According to Census 2011, which is the second most populous state of India?
- (a)Bihar
- (b)Maharashtra
- (c)West Bengal
- (d)Madhya Pradesh
Answer(b) Maharashtra — at 11.24 crore it stands behind Uttar Pradesh and ahead of Bihar.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The state of Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh in the year
- (a)2000
- (b)2011
- (c)2014
- (d)2019
Answer(c) 2014 — which is why Census 2011 figures for Andhra Pradesh refer to the undivided state.