Doda Betta Peak is situated in -

Correct — option (2), The Nilgiri Hills.

Doda Betta, also written Dodabetta or Doddabetta, stands in the Nilgiri Hills. NCERT's Class XI book India: Physical Environment says the highest peak of the Peninsular plateau, Anaimudi (2,695 m), is on the Anaimalai hills, followed by Dodabetta (2,637 m) on the Nilgiri hills.

The Nilgiris belong to the Western Ghats. NCERT notes that the Western Ghats are locally called the Nilgiri hills in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, and that the Eastern and Western Ghats meet at the Nilgiri hills.

Wikipedia places Doddabetta on the Ooty–Kotagiri road in the Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu and calls it the highest mountain in the Nilgiri Mountains.

Anaimudi is on the Anaimalai hills; Dodabetta is on the Nilgiri hills.

Why the others are wrong

• (1)
  The Anaimalai Hills — The Anaimalai hills hold a different peak. NCERT puts Anaimudi (2,695 m), the highest peak of the Peninsular plateau, on the Anaimalai hills, and Dodabetta on the Nilgiri hills.

  The two ranges are neighbours in the Western Ghats. Wikipedia notes that the Palakkad Gap divides the Anaimalai hills from the Nilgiri Mountains.

• (3)
  The Vindhya Range — The Vindhyas are in central India, far north of the Nilgiris. Wikipedia describes the term today as referring mainly to the escarpment and hills running north of, and roughly parallel to, the Narmada in Madhya Pradesh.

  NCERT notes that most tributaries of the Yamuna rise in the Vindhyan and Kaimur ranges, a northward-draining landscape far from the Tamil Nadu hills that hold Dodabetta.

• (4)
  The Satpura Range — The Satpuras are also in central India. NCERT describes the Satpura range as a series of scarped plateaus that forms the northernmost boundary of the Deccan plateau.

  Its highest point, per Wikipedia, is Dhupgarh in the Mahadeo hills at Pachmarhi, Madhya Pradesh, not Dodabetta, which is in the Nilgiris of Tamil Nadu.

The Deccan plateau is bordered, in NCERT's description, by the Western Ghats on the west, the Eastern Ghats on the east, and the Satpura, Maikal range and Mahadeo hills on the north.

The Western Ghats are higher and more continuous than the Eastern Ghats, with an average elevation of about 1,500 m that rises from north to south. Their local names run Sahyadri in Maharashtra, Nilgiri hills in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, and Anaimalai and Cardamom hills in Kerala.

The Eastern Ghats are discontinuous and low, with ranges such as the Javadi hills, Nallamala hills and Mahendragiri hills.

Key facts

• NCERT (Class XI): Anaimudi, 2,695 m, on the Anaimalai hills, is the highest peak of the Peninsular plateau; NCERT names Dodabetta, 2,637 m, on the Nilgiri hills, after it.
• NCERT: the Eastern and Western Ghats meet at the Nilgiri hills.
• NCERT: the Western Ghats are called Sahyadri in Maharashtra, Nilgiri hills in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, and Anaimalai and Cardamom hills in Kerala.
• Wikipedia: Doddabetta is on the Ooty–Kotagiri road in the Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu.
• Wikipedia: Dhupgarh, in the Mahadeo hills at Pachmarhi, is the highest point of the Satpura Range and of Madhya Pradesh.

Common traps

• Pairing Anaimudi and Dodabetta with the wrong hills. Anaimudi is on the Anaimalai hills and Dodabetta on the Nilgiri hills.
• Reading a rank as fixed. NCERT places Dodabetta after Anaimudi on the Peninsular plateau, while Wikipedia counts Meesapulimala between them in South India.
• Treating spellings as different peaks: Doda Betta, Dodabetta and Doddabetta are one peak.

UnlockIAS will link similar questions from RAS Pre 2018 here once that paper is published on this site.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Eastern Ghats and the Western Ghats meet at –

  • (a)The Anaimalai Hills
  • (b)The Nilgiri Hills
  • (c)The Cardamom Hills
  • (d)The Nallamala Hills
  Answer(2) — NCERT's India: Physical Environment says the two Ghats meet at the Nilgiri hills. Option (1), the Anaimalai Hills, and option (3), the Cardamom Hills, are local names of the Western Ghats in Kerala; option (4), the Nallamala Hills, is a range of the Eastern Ghats.
• practice — not a real PYQ

  Anaimudi, the highest peak of the Peninsular plateau, is situated in –

  • (a)The Nilgiri Hills
  • (b)The Anaimalai Hills
  • (c)The Mahadeo Hills
  • (d)The Javadi Hills
  Answer(2) — NCERT places Anaimudi on the Anaimalai hills. Option (1), the Nilgiri Hills, hold Dodabetta; option (3), the Mahadeo Hills, hold Dhupgarh of the Satpura Range; option (4), the Javadi Hills, are part of the Eastern Ghats.