NDA (II) 2017 GAT Q143: Which one of the following States in India has the longest

Q: What is the answer to NDA (II) 2017 GAT Q143?

B. Correct — B, Tamil Nadu. Of the four states offered, Tamil Nadu has by a wide margin the longest sea frontage. On the long-standing survey figures it stood at about 907 km, against roughly 476 km for Odisha, 280 km for Karnataka and 158 km for West Bengal. The reason is geometry: Tamil Nadu's coast begins near Pulicat north of Chennai, runs the whole length of the Coromandel shore, turns the corner at Kanniyakumari and continues a short way up the western side, so the state faces both the Bay of Bengal and the Gulf of Mannar. Odisha and West Bengal each hold only a segment of the northern Bay coast, and Karnataka a narrow strip of the Konkan-Canara shore. Note that the question asks only about these four — the longest coastline in India as a whole belongs to Gujarat.

NDA (II) 2017 General Ability Test · Question 143 of 150

Question text verified against the official NDA question paper.

Which one of the following States in India has the longest coastline ?

(a)Odisha
(b)Tamil Nadu
(c)Karnataka
(d)West Bengal

Answer

Why

Correct — B, Tamil Nadu. Of the four states offered, Tamil Nadu has by a wide margin the longest sea frontage. On the long-standing survey figures it stood at about 907 km, against roughly 476 km for Odisha, 280 km for Karnataka and 158 km for West Bengal. The reason is geometry: Tamil Nadu's coast begins near Pulicat north of Chennai, runs the whole length of the Coromandel shore, turns the corner at Kanniyakumari and continues a short way up the western side, so the state faces both the Bay of Bengal and the Gulf of Mannar. Odisha and West Bengal each hold only a segment of the northern Bay coast, and Karnataka a narrow strip of the Konkan-Canara shore. Note that the question asks only about these four — the longest coastline in India as a whole belongs to Gujarat.

Why the others are wrong

(a)Odisha — Odisha's coast, from the Subarnarekha mouth past Chilika to the Andhra border, is a little under 500 km on the older figures — substantial, but around half of Tamil Nadu's.
(c)Karnataka — The shortest of the four on the traditional figures, at roughly 280 km. Karnataka holds only the Canara section of the west coast between Goa and Kerala.
(d)West Bengal — On the older measurement West Bengal had the shortest coast of any mainland maritime state, about 158 km, because most of its seaward margin is the deltaic tangle of the Sundarbans rather than open shore.

Concept

A coastline length is not a fixed natural quantity — it depends on the scale at which the shore is traced, because every bay, creek and estuary adds length when measured more finely. India's coastline has traditionally been quoted at about 7,500 km including the island territories, and the state-wise figures used in textbooks come from a survey series dating back several decades. Gujarat has always led, with Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh next.

Two things make this an easy question once the map is in mind. First, count how much of the shore each state actually owns: Tamil Nadu holds the entire south-eastern corner of the peninsula and wraps around Kanniyakumari, while the other three hold single stretches. Second, do not confuse the question with the all-India ranking — Gujarat is the standard answer to 'longest coastline in India', and it is not on this list. One honest present-day point: the government remeasured the coastline in 2024 at a finer resolution and every figure grew, some dramatically — Gujarat to about 2,341 km, Tamil Nadu to about 1,069 km, West Bengal to about 721 km, Odisha to about 575 km and Karnataka to about 343 km. The ordering of these four is unchanged, so Tamil Nadu remains the answer on either set of numbers.

Key facts

Tamil Nadu has the longest coastline among Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and West Bengal.
On the older survey figures the four measured roughly 907 km, 476 km, 280 km and 158 km respectively.
Gujarat has the longest coastline of any Indian state.
Nine mainland states share India's coastline — Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal.
A 2024 remeasurement at finer resolution raised every state's figure without changing the relative order of these four.

Study next

The nine coastal states and the union territories with a sea frontageEastern and western coastal plains and their contrasting featuresMajor ports of India and the coasts they serveLagoons and lakes of the east coast — Chilika, Pulicat, KolleruWhy measured coastline length depends on the scale of measurement

Common traps

Answering Gujarat out of habit when the question restricts the field to four other states.
Assuming a bigger state must have a longer coast; West Bengal and Karnataka are counter-examples.
Mixing textbook figures with the revised 2024 measurements in the same comparison.

Coastal geography is asked as a longest or shortest coastline item, as a count of coastal states, or as a state-to-port match.

Related PYQs

UPSC_2008_GS1_Q1422008Open & attempt →

In India, how many States share the coastline?

(a) 7
(b) 8
(c) 9
(d) 10

Answer(c) 9

Fixes the list of coastal states, which is the map you have to hold in mind before any longest-coastline comparison makes sense.

Practice

practice — not a real PYQ
Which Indian state has the longest coastline?
- (a)Tamil Nadu
- (b)Andhra Pradesh
- (c)Gujarat
- (d)Maharashtra
Answer(c) Gujarat — its heavily indented coast around the Gulfs of Kachchh and Khambhat makes it the longest by a wide margin.
practice — not a real PYQ
How many mainland Indian states have a sea coast?
- (a)7
- (b)8
- (c)9
- (d)11
Answer(c) 9 — Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal.