SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 25 September 2024, Shift 3 · General Awareness · Question 11 of 100

Text as printed on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; answer per SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 10 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. The questions and options here are reproduced as printed on a candidate's own response sheet for this shift — the Commission's text, unchanged. Each answer is SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet; SSC allowed challenges to it and never publishes a final key. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

In the southern ranges of which hills is Mawsynram, which receives the highest rainfall in the world, located?

(a)Mizo hills
(b)Naga hills
(c)Khasi hills
(d)Shevaroy hills

Answer

Why

Correct — C. Mawsynram sits on the southern slopes of the Khasi hills, in East Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya, and records the highest average annual rainfall in the world.

The reason is the shape of the ground. The Khasi hills rise abruptly from the Bangladesh plains and meet the Bay of Bengal branch of the southwest monsoon head-on, forcing moisture-laden air to climb into a funnel-shaped valley and unload.

Cherrapunji, or Sohra, lies on the same escarpment nearby, which is why the two names are always cited together — option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Mizo hills — The Mizo hills lie in Mizoram, part of the Purvanchal ranges running roughly north to south. They are well-watered but hold no rainfall record.
(b)
Naga hills — The Naga hills are in Nagaland along the Myanmar border and carry Saramati, the state's highest peak. Mawsynram is not among them.
(d)
Shevaroy hills — The Shevaroy hills belong to the Eastern Ghats in Tamil Nadu, on the other side of the country, in a region that lies in the rain shadow of the southwest monsoon.

Concept

The Meghalaya plateau is a detached block of peninsular rock lying between the Brahmaputra valley and the Bangladesh plains, carrying three hill groups from west to east: the Garo, Khasi and Jaintia hills.

Its southern face is a steep escarpment standing directly in the path of the monsoon current rolling in off the Bay of Bengal.

That combination — moist air, an abrupt rise and a funnel-shaped valley that concentrates it — produces the world's heaviest average rainfall at Mawsynram, with Cherrapunji close behind.

The stem's phrase 'southern ranges' is the give-away. Rainfall on this plateau is concentrated on the windward southern face, which meets the monsoon first, while the northern slopes of the same plateau are markedly drier.

Key facts

Mawsynram lies in East Khasi Hills district, Meghalaya.
The Meghalaya plateau carries the Garo, Khasi and Jaintia hills.
The Khasi hills face the Bay of Bengal branch of the southwest monsoon.
The Shevaroy hills belong to the Eastern Ghats in Tamil Nadu.

Study next

The Meghalaya plateau and the Garo-Khasi-Jaintia hill sequenceRelief rainfall, windward slopes and rain-shadow regions of IndiaThe Purvanchal ranges: Patkai, Naga, Manipur and Mizo hills

Common traps

Treating Cherrapunji as lying in a different range, when it sits on the same Khasi hills.
Picking Shevaroy, which is an Eastern Ghats name SSC also asks directly.

The Eastern Ghats hill names are asked in the same plain form: Shevaroy at 12 Sep 2024, 12:30, GA Q.8 and again at 17 Sep 2024, 09:00, GA Q.16.

The mechanism behind Mawsynram's rain is asked separately, with the windward side receiving most rainfall at 26 Sep 2024, 12:30, GA Q.21, and pre-monsoon 'mango showers' at 13 Sep 2024, 16:00, GA Q.15.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.