Match List - I with List - II and select the correct answer using the codes given below the lists :
List - I
(Country)
A. Uzbekistan
B. Tajikistan
C. Kyrgyzstan
D. Turkmenistan
List - II
(Capital)
1.

Question

Match List - I with List - II and select the correct answer using the codes given below the lists :
List - I
(Country)
A. Uzbekistan
B. Tajikistan
C. Kyrgyzstan
D. Turkmenistan
List - II
(Capital)
1. Tashkent
2. Dushanbe
3. Bishkek
4. Ashgabat
Codes :

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — A, A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4. The capitals of the four Central Asian republics listed are Tashkent for Uzbekistan, Dushanbe for Tajikistan, Bishkek for Kyrgyzstan and Ashgabat for Turkmenistan — which is the natural, in-order pairing given in option (a). Every option concedes A-1, so Tashkent is a free gift and the marks are decided entirely by the other three: Dushanbe (Persian for 'Monday', from a Monday market village) with Persian-speaking Tajikistan, Bishkek (Soviet-era Frunze, renamed in 1991) with Kyrgyzstan, and Ashgabat, close to the Iranian border under the Kopet Dag, with Turkmenistan.

Why the other options are wrong — (b) It gets Uzbekistan and Tajikistan right but swaps the last two, giving Kyrgyzstan the capital Ashgabat and Turkmenistan the capital Bishkek. This is the option that catches candidates who know only that Bishkek and Ashgabat are 'somewhere in Central Asia'.  (c) Only Tashkent is correctly placed. It hands Bishkek to Tajikistan, Ashgabat to Kyrgyzstan and Dushanbe to Turkmenistan — all three wrong.  (d) Again only Tashkent survives: Tajikistan is given Ashgabat, Kyrgyzstan is given Dushanbe and Turkmenistan is given Bishkek. A pure guess among the three unfamiliar names produces this kind of rotation.

Concept: The five Central Asian republics — Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan — became independent states in 1991 on the break-up of the Soviet Union. All five are landlocked, and Uzbekistan is one of only two doubly landlocked countries on earth (every one of its neighbours is itself landlocked); the other is Liechtenstein. Four of the five speak Turkic languages; Tajikistan is the odd one out, its language Tajik being a form of Persian. Several capitals carry Soviet-era or older names in old atlases — Bishkek was Frunze until 1991, and Ashgabat is often spelled Ashkhabad in older question papers.

State PCS 2019 Q117 — Geography PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2019 Q117 — Geography PYQ with Answer