NDA (II) 2023 GAT Q104: Where is Central Institute of Buddhist Studies situated

Q: What is the answer to NDA (II) 2023 GAT Q104?

A. Correct — A, Leh. The Central Institute of Buddhist Studies stands at Choglamsar, about eight kilometres south-east of Leh town in Ladakh. It was established in 1959 after Bakula Rinpoche took the proposal to Prime Minister Nehru, and it now works under the administrative charge of the Ministry of Culture. In 2016 the central government, on the advice of the University Grants Commission, declared it deemed to be a university.

NDA (II) 2023 General Ability Test · Question 104 of 146

Question text verified against the official NDA question paper.

Where is Central Institute of Buddhist Studies situated ?

(a)Leh
(b)Kullu
(c)Almora
(d)Gangtok

Answer

Why

Correct — A, Leh. The Central Institute of Buddhist Studies stands at Choglamsar, about eight kilometres south-east of Leh town in Ladakh. It was established in 1959 after Bakula Rinpoche took the proposal to Prime Minister Nehru, and it now works under the administrative charge of the Ministry of Culture. In 2016 the central government, on the advice of the University Grants Commission, declared it deemed to be a university.

Why the others are wrong

(b)Kullu — Kullu is a hill district of Himachal Pradesh, in the western Himalaya. The institute named in this question was created for Ladakh and stands there; nothing about Kullu is attached to it beyond both being Himalayan towns.
(c)Almora — Almora is in the Kumaon hills of Uttarakhand, a region whose religious landscape is dominated by Shaiva and Shakta temple traditions rather than by a living Tibetan Buddhist monastic order. The institute in question was set up for Ladakh.
(d)Gangtok — The sharpest trap, because Gangtok really does have a famous Buddhist research body — but it is the NAMGYAL INSTITUTE OF TIBETOLOGY, founded on 1 October 1958 and inaugurated by Nehru as the Sikkim Research Institute of Tibetology, publisher of the Bulletin of Tibetology. Different name, different state, different institution.

Concept

India runs a small group of central bodies devoted to Buddhist and Himalayan learning, each anchored in the region whose tradition it serves. The Central Institute of Buddhist Studies at Leh grew out of a proposal that Bakula Rinpoche, the Ladakhi monk-statesman, took to Prime Minister Nehru; its founding rituals were performed by Kyabje Ling Rinpoche, senior tutor to the fourteenth Dalai Lama. It now sits under the Ministry of Culture and holds deemed-university status. Its beginning in 1959 sits in a wider moment — that is the year the Dalai Lama and large numbers of Tibetans crossed into India, after which Indian institutional support for Himalayan Buddhist learning expanded.

The reliable way to place any 'where is this institute' question is to ask which community the institute exists to serve. An institute of Buddhist studies belongs where a living Buddhist monastic population is — Ladakh, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh or the Tibetan settlements. That immediately removes Kullu and Almora, leaving Leh against Gangtok, and the decider is the name: Leh has the Central Institute of Buddhist Studies, Gangtok has the Namgyal Institute of Tibetology. As of the September 2023 exam Ladakh was a Union Territory, having ceased to be part of Jammu and Kashmir state in 2019, and that remains its status.

Key facts

The Central Institute of Buddhist Studies is at Choglamsar, about 8 km south-east of Leh.
It was established in 1959, on an initiative Bakula Rinpoche carried to Prime Minister Nehru.
It works under the Ministry of Culture and was declared deemed to be a university in 2016.
Gangtok's Buddhist research body is the Namgyal Institute of Tibetology, founded on 1 October 1958.

Study next

Central institutes of Buddhist and Himalayan studies and where each is locatedBuddhism in Ladakh — the major monasteries and the schools they followThe Namgyal Institute of Tibetology, Gangtok, and Tibetan studies in IndiaDeemed-to-be-university status and how it is conferredLadakh as a Union Territory since 2019 — administration and institutions

Common traps

Swapping the Leh institute with the Namgyal Institute of Tibetology at Gangtok.
Assuming every 'Central Institute' sits in Delhi or in a state capital.
Placing a Buddhist institution in a Himalayan district merely because the district is Himalayan.

Asked as a straight 'where is X situated' pick, or as a match-list pairing named institutes with their cities.

Related PYQs

UPSC_2001_GS1_Q462001Open & attempt →

Match List I with List II and select the correct answer using the codes given below the Lists: List I (Institute) I. Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants II. Centre for DNA Finger Printing and Diagnostics III. Institute of Microbial Technology IV. National Institute of Immunology List II (Location) A) Chandigarh B) Hyderabad C) New Delhi D) Lucknow

(a) I-B, II-D, III-A, IV-C
(b) I-D, II-B, III-A, IV-C
(c) I-B, II-D, III-C, IV-A
(d) I-D, II-B, III-C, IV-A

Answer(b) I-D, II-B, III-A, IV-C

The same institute-to-city recall, run as a four-way match instead of a single pick. Both exams reward the habit of storing every named national institute with its town attached.

Practice

practice — not a real PYQ
The Namgyal Institute of Tibetology is located at
- (a)Leh
- (b)Gangtok
- (c)Dharamshala
- (d)Bodh Gaya
Answer(b) Gangtok — founded on 1 October 1958 and inaugurated by Nehru, it publishes the Bulletin of Tibetology.
practice — not a real PYQ
The Central Institute of Buddhist Studies, Leh, functions under which Union Ministry?
- (a)Ministry of Education
- (b)Ministry of Culture
- (c)Ministry of Minority Affairs
- (d)Ministry of Tourism
Answer(b) Ministry of Culture — it came under that ministry's administrative charge and was declared a deemed university in 2016.