Which of the following districts is/are part of the Devipatan Division in Uttar Pradesh ?
1. Basti
2. Bahraich
3. Balrampur
Select the correct answer from the code given below :

Question

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Correct — B, Only 2 and 3, that is Bahraich and Balrampur. Devipatan Division of Uttar Pradesh comprises four districts: Gonda, which is the divisional headquarters, together with Bahraich, Balrampur and Shravasti. Both districts named in statements 2 and 3 are therefore part of it. Basti is not: it is the headquarters of a separate Basti Division, made up of Basti, Siddharthnagar and Sant Kabir Nagar, which was carved out of Gorakhpur Division on 14 June 1997. The division takes its name from the Devipatan Shakti Peeth at Tulsipur in Balrampur district, which is a useful mnemonic — the temple that names the division stands inside one of the two districts the key marks correct.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) It keeps Bahraich, which is right, but pairs it with Basti, which is wrong. Basti is not merely absent from Devipatan Division — it is the headquarters of its own division, so it can belong to no other. The two districts sit in the same eastern-terai belt of Uttar Pradesh, which is what makes the confusion tempting.  (c) Balrampur is correct but incomplete. Restricting the answer to Balrampur drops Bahraich, which is equally a Devipatan district. Candidates land here because Balrampur contains the Devipatan temple that gives the division its name, so it feels like the single 'obvious' answer.  (d) This names the one district in the list that is definitely not in Devipatan Division and excludes the two that are. Basti heads the Basti Division created in 1997 out of Gorakhpur Division.

Concept: Uttar Pradesh is administered in a two-tier field structure: 75 districts grouped into 18 divisions, or mandals, each under a Divisional Commissioner who supervises the District Magistrates below him. Devipatan Division sits in the north-eastern terai along the Nepal frontier and holds four districts — Gonda (headquarters), Bahraich, Balrampur and Shravasti. Its neighbour to the east, Basti Division, was created on 14 June 1997 by splitting Gorakhpur Division, and contains Basti, Siddharthnagar and Sant Kabir Nagar. Knowing which district heads which division is the shortest route through most UPPSC questions of this type.

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