Match List-I (Irrigation Projects) with List-II (Rivers) and choose the correct answer:

(a) The Samrat Ashok Sagar Project

(b) The Bansagar Project

(c) The Harsi Project

(d) The Omkareshwar Project; (i) Son (ii) Parvati (iii) Narmada (iv) Halali

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — C, (a)-(iv) (b)-(i) (c)-(ii) (d)-(iii). Samrat Ashok Sagar → Halali: the Halali dam, built on the Halali river (a tributary of the Betwa) in the Vidisha–Raisen tract, carries the official name Samrat Ashok Sagar, after the Mauryan emperor whose association with Vidisha and Sanchi gives the region its identity. Bansagar → Son: the Bansagar dam stands on the Son at Deolond in Shahdol district and is a joint venture of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar — the three states the Son serves on its way to the Ganga. Harsi → Parvati: the Harsi dam and its High Level Canal, in the Bhitarwar area of Gwalior district, are built on the Parvati river and irrigate the Gwalior region. Omkareshwar → Narmada: the Omkareshwar project is one of the Narmada Valley dams in Khandwa district, downstream of Indira Sagar. Two of these are near-certainties for any candidate — Bansagar on the Son and Omkareshwar on the Narmada — and option C is the only code that gets both right.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) It gets Harsi–Parvati and Omkareshwar–Narmada right but swaps the first two: Bansagar is placed on the Halali and Samrat Ashok Sagar on the Son. Bansagar is unambiguously the Son project — the name of the reservoir and the tri-state agreement both hang on that river.  (b) Wrong on three of the four pairs — Bansagar on the Narmada, Harsi on the Son and Omkareshwar on the Halali. Omkareshwar is a Narmada-valley project, and the Halali is a small Betwa-basin stream in central MP, nowhere near the Narmada valley.  (d) This one gets Bansagar–Son right, which makes it look safe, but it then puts Harsi on the Narmada and Omkareshwar on the Halali. The Omkareshwar dam is on the Narmada, so this code fails on the single most familiar pair in the list.

Concept: Madhya Pradesh's irrigation projects are best learned as a river–district–project triad rather than as isolated names, because the commission rotates which of the three it hides. The state's biggest schemes sit on the Narmada (Indira Sagar at Punasa, Omkareshwar, Bargi, Tawa, Sardar Sarovar downstream in Gujarat); the Chambal system carries the Gandhi Sagar chain; the Betwa basin carries Halali/Samrat Ashok Sagar, Barna and Rajghat; and the Son carries Bansagar in the Baghelkhand region. Many of these are multipurpose — irrigation, power and drinking water together — and several are inter-state, which is why river-water sharing questions attach to them.

State PCS 2026 Q74 — Madhya Pradesh GK PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2026 Q74 — Madhya Pradesh GK PYQ with Answer