Match List – I with List – II and select the correct answer using the codes given below: List – I (Wild-Life Sanctuary) A. Askot Wild Life Sanctuary B. Binsar Wild Life Sanctuary C. Govind Wild Life Sanctuary D. Nandhaur Wild Life Sanctuary List – II (Location) 1. Uttarkashi 2. Nainital 3. Almora 4. Pithoragarh Codes:
- (a)A – 2, B – 3, C – 4, D – 1
- (b)A – 3, B – 4, C – 2, D – 1
- (c)A – 4, B – 3, C – 1, D – 2
- (d)A – 1, B – 2, C – 3, D – 4
Correct — C, A – 4, B – 3, C – 1, D – 2.
Askot Musk Deer Sanctuary was notified in 1986 around Askot in Pithoragarh district, so A goes to 4. Binsar, the small broad-leaved oak sanctuary notified in 1988 on the ridge above Almora town, gives B – 3.
Govind Wild Life Sanctuary (officially Govind Pashu Vihar) was notified in 1955 in the upper Tons basin of Uttarkashi district, taking in the Har Ki Dun valley, so C – 1. Nandhaur, created in 2012 in the Haldwani Forest Division of Nainital district, gives D – 2.
That is A – 4, B – 3, C – 1, D – 2, and it is the one code in which every pairing holds. The anchor worth carrying away is the division split: Govind Pashu Vihar is the Garhwal name in this list, while Askot, Binsar and Nandhaur are Kumaon.
- (a)A – 2, B – 3, C – 4, D – 1 — The one pairing it keeps from the key is B – 3, and that is the right answer to where Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary is — Almora district.
Everything around it moves. Askot is sent to Nainital, Govind to Pithoragarh and Nandhaur to Uttarkashi. Govind Pashu Vihar lies in the Tons catchment of Uttarkashi, so C – 4 by itself is enough to reject the option.
- (b)A – 3, B – 4, C – 2, D – 1 — B – 4 puts Binsar in Pithoragarh, but slot 4 belongs to Askot Musk Deer Sanctuary, notified in 1986 near Askot town in Pithoragarh district.
Binsar's own district is Almora, Govind's is Uttarkashi rather than Nainital, and Nandhaur is a Kumaon sanctuary rather than an Uttarkashi one. Not one of the four pairings here survives checking.
- (d)A – 1, B – 2, C – 3, D – 4 — This is the code you get by reading List – II straight down in the order it happens to be printed. Slot 1 is Uttarkashi, and Uttarkashi is the district of Govind Pashu Vihar, not of Askot.
Binsar then loses Almora to Nainital, Govind loses Uttarkashi to Almora, and Nandhaur is pushed up to Pithoragarh. A serial 1-2-3-4 code is a printing accident, not a match.
A code-matching item on protected areas asks for one thing only: the administrative district in which each sanctuary's notified area falls.
The sanctuary's flagship species, its altitude and its fame are all beside the point. Askot is famous for musk deer and Binsar for its oak forest, but neither fact locates them on a district map.
So the unit of revision has to be the pair — sanctuary and district together — rather than the sanctuary and an interesting attribute.
Uttarakhand administers its wildlife estate through forest divisions, which are usually reported against a district, so a sanctuary's address is an administrative fact before it is a geographical one.
The four here span the state's relief. Govind sits in the high Garhwal snows of Uttarkashi, Askot in the Pithoragarh high Himalaya, Binsar on a mid-altitude Almora ridge, and Nandhaur in the Terai–Bhabar foothills below Nainital.
That spread is why the district, and not the habitat, is the discriminating fact: sorted by ecology, Govind and Askot would look like the same answer.
- Askot Wildlife Sanctuary lies in Pithoragarh district, was notified in 1986, and covers roughly 600 sq km.
- Askot was set up largely to protect the Himalayan musk deer, and is often called the Askot Musk Deer Sanctuary.
- Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary lies in Almora district, was notified in 1988, and covers about 45.6 sq km of broad-leaved oak forest.
- Binsar's high point, Zero Point or Jhandi Dhar, gives views of Nanda Devi, Trishul, Panchachuli and Chaukhamba.
- Govind Pashu Vihar, in Uttarkashi district, was notified as a sanctuary in 1955 and takes in the Har Ki Dun valley.
- Nandhaur Wildlife Sanctuary was created in 2012, covers about 270 sq km, and is managed under the Haldwani Forest Division in Nainital district.
- Uttarkashi is a district of the Garhwal division; Pithoragarh, Almora and Nainital are districts of the Kumaon division.
Read down the right column and the code is 4, 3, 1, 2 — option (c). The highlighted row is the Garhwal entry; the other three districts sit in Kumaon.
- Govind Pashu Vihar is named after a person, not a place, so the name gives no district; it has to be fixed by its valley, the Tons–Supin system of Uttarkashi.
- Askot and Almora are both Kumaon names and sound close, but the sanctuary takes its name from Askot town in Pithoragarh district.
- Option (a) reproduces the true pairing Binsar – Almora while getting the other three wrong; spotting one familiar correct pair inside an option is not evidence for the option.
- Nandhaur was created in 2012, later than the other three, so it is the newest name in this list. Filling it by elimination is safe only when the other three are certain.
- A codes item is scored on the whole set, so one misplaced sanctuary voids the entire option. Use the pairing you are surest of to delete options rather than to pick one.
These sanctuaries have been tested both as a 'which pair is NOT correctly matched' item — UKPSC 2024 ran it on the district in Q87 and on the year of notification in Q86 — and, here, as a code-matching item.
The attribute swapped in changes too — sometimes the district, sometimes the year of notification, sometimes the animal the sanctuary was created for. Knowing Askot only as the musk deer sanctuary answers one of those and not the others.
Landmarks are worth carrying with the district rather than on their own: Har Ki Dun sits inside Govind Pashu Vihar in Uttarkashi, and Zero Point inside Binsar in Almora.
UKPSC_2024_PRE_GSI_Q872024The same sanctuary-to-district fact, tested from the other side: instead of building a full code you hunt for the single broken pair, and the pair it breaks is Govind Wildlife Sanctuary placed in Chamoli Garhwal rather than Uttarkashi. Askot – Pithoragarh and Binsar – Almora carry the same districts in both questions. The difference is coverage: the 2024 item brings in Sonanadi and Pauri Garhwal, while the 2025 item drops those and adds Nandhaur.
UKPSC_2024_PRE_GSI_Q862024The same protected areas, but the attribute swapped in is the year of notification rather than the district. Govind at 1955 and Askot at 1986 are the two pairings that also anchor this card. It shows why revising the sanctuaries by district alone is not enough — the same list of names can be pointed at a completely different column.
UKPSC_2016_PRE_PaperI_Q212016The same underlying skill — placing a named Uttarakhand feature in its district, with the district names offered as the options. What differs is the class of feature: a glacier rather than a protected area, so nothing about sanctuary notification carries across. Only the habit of holding the state's districts as a mental map does.
UPSC_2020_GS1_Q772020Askot Wildlife Sanctuary appears again, but the question is ecological rather than administrative: which of the listed places are likely to hold musk deer in the wild. Askot and Gangotri qualify because they are high Himalayan, while Kishanpur and Manas are lowland sites. The UKPSC item never asks about species, so it is the same sanctuary reached through a different fact.
UPSC_2005_GS1_Q122005The identical code-matching device applied at national scale — protected area to state rather than sanctuary to district — with none of the same sanctuaries. It also runs a five-item List-II against a four-item List-I, so one location goes unused; the UKPSC item pairs four against four, so every location is consumed exactly once.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Govind Pashu Vihar Wildlife Sanctuary, which takes in the Har Ki Dun valley, lies in which district of Uttarakhand?
- (a)Chamoli
- (b)Uttarkashi
- (c)Rudraprayag
- (d)Pithoragarh
Answerb — Govind Pashu Vihar was notified in 1955 in the upper Tons basin of Uttarkashi district, and Har Ki Dun is a valley within it.Chamoli holds Nanda Devi and Valley of Flowers National Parks. Pithoragarh holds Askot Wildlife Sanctuary. Har Ki Dun drains into the Tons system, which belongs to Uttarkashi, so neither Chamoli nor Rudraprayag can contain it.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which of the following pairs of wildlife sanctuary and district is NOT correctly matched?
- (a)Askot Wildlife Sanctuary – Pithoragarh
- (b)Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary – Almora
- (c)Nandhaur Wildlife Sanctuary – Nainital
- (d)Govind Pashu Vihar – Chamoli
Answerd — Govind Pashu Vihar lies in Uttarkashi district in the Garhwal division, not in Chamoli, so this is the broken pair.The other three are sound: Askot was notified in 1986 in Pithoragarh, Binsar in 1988 in Almora, and Nandhaur was created in 2012 in the Haldwani Forest Division in Nainital district.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Among the following protected areas of Uttarakhand, which one was notified the latest?
- (a)Govind Pashu Vihar Wildlife Sanctuary
- (b)Askot Wildlife Sanctuary
- (c)Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary
- (d)Nandhaur Wildlife Sanctuary
Answerd — Nandhaur Wildlife Sanctuary was created in 2012, later than the other three by more than two decades.Govind Pashu Vihar was notified as a sanctuary in 1955, Askot in 1986 and Binsar in 1988. Ordering them gives 1955, 1986, 1988, 2012, so Nandhaur is the last of the four.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary, known for its broad-leaved oak forest and the viewpoint called Zero Point, lies in which district and division of Uttarakhand?
- (a)Almora, in the Kumaon division
- (b)Nainital, in the Kumaon division
- (c)Uttarkashi, in the Garhwal division
- (d)Chamoli, in the Garhwal division
Answera — Binsar was notified in 1988 on the ridge above Almora town, and Almora is a Kumaon district, so both halves of (a) hold.Nainital is the district of Nandhaur, and Uttarkashi is the district of Govind Pashu Vihar, so (b) and (c) name real Uttarakhand sanctuary districts but the wrong sanctuary. Chamoli in (d) is a Garhwal district that does not hold Binsar.