Consider the following statements according to Uttarakhand Census – 2011: 1. Rudraprayag district has the least population in Uttarakhand. 2. Nainital district is at the third place in terms of population in the state of Uttarakhand. 3. Sex-ratio in Uttarakhand is 963. 4. The population density of Uttarakhand is 189. Which of the above statement(s) is/are correct?
- (a)Only 2 is correct
- (b)Only 1, 2 and 3 are correct
- (c)Only 1, 3 and 4 are correct
- (d)Only 3 is correct
Correct — C, Only 1, 3 and 4 are correct.
Rudraprayag is the smallest district of Uttarakhand by population, with 2,42,285 people. Champawat and Bageshwar sit just above it, each close to 2.60 lakh. Statement 1 stands.
The state's 2011 sex ratio, 963 females per 1,000 males, and its density, 189 persons per square kilometre, are both the Census figures for Uttarakhand. Statements 3 and 4 stand.
Statement 2 is the single failure. Nainital, at 9,54,605, is fourth — Haridwar, Dehradun and Udham Singh Nagar are all larger — which leaves statements 1, 3 and 4 standing.
The population order at the top runs Haridwar, Dehradun, Udham Singh Nagar, Nainital.
One caution on the key: the answer marked here comes from the Commission's provisional key, which a review can still revise. The three accepted statements are the published Census figures themselves, so the reasoning does not rest on the key alone.
- (a)Only 2 is correct — Statement 2 is the one line the Census contradicts, so this option marks the single wrong statement as the only right one.
It is the answer a student reaches if they invert the task and pick out the one statement that fails.
Nainital's 9,54,605 places it fourth in the state, behind Haridwar, Dehradun and Udham Singh Nagar.
- (b)Only 1, 2 and 3 are correct — This option goes wrong twice over. It admits statement 2, though Nainital is fourth rather than third, and it rejects statement 4, though 189 persons per square kilometre is Uttarakhand's own density.
It is the right answer to a stem whose second line put Nainital fourth and whose fourth line quoted India's 2011 density of 382 persons per square kilometre in place of Uttarakhand's 189.
- (d)Only 3 is correct — This keeps the sex ratio and discards both the district ranking and the density, but those two are Census figures as well: Rudraprayag is the least populous district and 189 is the state's density.
It is the right answer to a stem whose first line named Champawat or Bageshwar as the smallest district — each sits just above Rudraprayag near 2.60 lakh — and whose density line quoted a figure other than 189.
The Census reports population at two levels that answer different questions. State aggregates — total population, sex ratio, density, literacy — describe the state as one unit.
District figures rank places inside it and yield superlatives: most and least populous, densest and sparsest, highest and lowest sex ratio.
A statement set can mix the two levels, so each line has to be checked against the level it is actually about.
Census 2011 is the last completed enumeration, so its figures remain the reference point for describing Uttarakhand's population.
Uttarakhand is a small-population, low-density state in which the plains districts hold most of the people and the high-altitude districts hold few. The four numbers in this question are a compact statement of that split.
- Uttarakhand's 2011 population was 1,00,86,292 — 51,37,773 males and 49,48,519 females.
- Uttarakhand comprised 13 districts at the 2011 Census, grouped into the Garhwal and Kumaon divisions.
- Haridwar was the most populous district at 18,90,422; Rudraprayag the least at 2,42,285.
- The population order runs Haridwar, Dehradun, Udham Singh Nagar, Nainital; Nainital's 9,54,605 places it fourth.
- Champawat (2,59,648) and Bageshwar (2,59,898) are the two districts immediately above Rudraprayag in population.
- Uttarakhand's sex ratio in 2011 was 963 females per 1,000 males; India's was 943.
- Uttarakhand's population density was 189 persons per square kilometre; India's was 382.
- Uttarkashi recorded the state's lowest district density, 41 persons per square kilometre.
- Haridwar recorded the state's lowest district sex ratio at 880, while Almora's was the highest, above 1,100.
- Uttarakhand's literacy rate in 2011 was 78.82 per cent, against India's 74.04 per cent.
Three of the four statements match the 2011 Census; the highlighted line is where the set breaks.
- Statement 2 works by nudging a rank one place. Udham Singh Nagar, carved out of Nainital, is the district standing between Dehradun and Nainital in the population order.
- The smallest district by population is not the least dense one — Rudraprayag has the fewest people, Uttarkashi the lowest density.
- 963 is the state sex ratio; district figures run from Haridwar's 880 to Almora's, above 1,100, so no single district number settles statement 3.
- 189 belongs to Uttarakhand and 382 to India; carrying the national density into a state statement turns a true line into a false one.
- Each of the four lines has to be checked on its own; three hold and one fails, so the set cannot be accepted or rejected as a whole.
This material reaches you in two shapes. One is the direct superlative — the district with the smallest population, the lowest density, the highest sex ratio.
The other is the multi-statement set used here, where a state-level aggregate you either know or do not is placed beside a district rank that has been shifted by a single place.
The second shape rewards knowing the order of the districts, not only the extremes.
UKPSC_2024_PRE_GSI_Q182024Same state, same Census, same statement-set format. That item works entirely at district level — lowest density, highest sex ratio, highest Muslim share — whereas this one mixes a single district ranking with two state-wide aggregates, sex ratio and density.
MPPSC_2022_PRE_PaperI_Q152022The same instrument — a Census 2011 district superlative — but for Madhya Pradesh and asked directly rather than through statements. It wants the least dense district; statement 1 here wants the least populous, and in Uttarakhand those are two different districts.
RPSC_2016_PRE_Prelims2016_Q712016The same multi-statement construction on Census 2011 sex ratio, for Rajasthan. There every line is a sex-ratio claim to be tested separately; here the sex ratio is one state figure and the difficulty sits in the district ranking instead.
- practice — not a real PYQ
According to Census 2011, which district of Uttarakhand recorded the lowest population density?
- (a)Rudraprayag
- (b)Chamoli
- (c)Uttarkashi
- (d)Pithoragarh
Answerc — Uttarkashi, at 41 persons per square kilometre, is the sparsest district in the state. Chamoli at 49 and Pithoragarh at 68 are the next two, both above it.Rudraprayag, at about 122, is the least populous district but far from the least dense, which is exactly the confusion this set tests.
- practice — not a real PYQ
According to Census 2011, the four most populous districts of Uttarakhand, in descending order of population, are:
- (a)Dehradun, Haridwar, Nainital, Udham Singh Nagar
- (b)Haridwar, Dehradun, Udham Singh Nagar, Nainital
- (c)Haridwar, Udham Singh Nagar, Dehradun, Nainital
- (d)Dehradun, Haridwar, Udham Singh Nagar, Nainital
Answerb — Haridwar (18,90,422), Dehradun (16,96,694), Udham Singh Nagar (16,48,902), Nainital (9,54,605).Option a puts Nainital ahead of Udham Singh Nagar and also inverts the top pair. Option c swaps Dehradun and Udham Singh Nagar. Option d has the correct last two but reverses Haridwar and Dehradun.
- practice — not a real PYQ
According to Census 2011, the population density (per square kilometre) and the sex ratio (females per 1,000 males) of Uttarakhand are respectively:
- (a)189 and 943
- (b)382 and 963
- (c)189 and 963
- (d)382 and 943
Answerc — Uttarakhand's density is 189 and its sex ratio 963. Option a carries India's sex ratio of 943; option b carries India's density of 382; option d is the all-India pair on both counts.The pairing is the point: both national figures differ from the state's.