Which of the following mountain ranges are in the Himalayan mountains ? 1. Cho Oyu 2. Lhotse 3. Annamalai 4. Sirumali Select the correct answer from the code given below :
- (a)Only 1, 2 and 3
- (b)Only 1 and 2
- (c)Only 2, 3 and 4
- (d)Only 3 and 4
Correct — B, Only 1 and 2. This is a four-item selection question, so read the printed options as they stand rather than mapping them onto any 'Only 1 / Only 2 / Both / Neither' pattern from elsewhere in the paper: here (a) is 'Only 1, 2 and 3', (b) is 'Only 1 and 2', (c) is 'Only 2, 3 and 4' and (d) is 'Only 3 and 4'. Items 1 and 2 are Himalayan and items 3 and 4 are not. Cho Oyu, at 8,188 metres, is the sixth-highest mountain on Earth, standing on the Nepal-Tibet border about twenty kilometres west of Everest; it was the fifth of the fourteen eight-thousanders to be climbed, in 1954, and is generally reckoned the least difficult of them. Lhotse, at 8,516 metres, is the fourth-highest mountain in the world after Everest, K2 and Kangchenjunga, and shares the Nepal-Tibet frontier immediately south of Everest, to which it is joined by the South Col. Annamalai and Sirumalai, by contrast, are hill ranges of peninsular India in Tamil Nadu, thousands of kilometres from the Himalaya. Since 1 and 2 are in and 3 and 4 are out, the only option that matches is (b). One looseness in the stem is worth noting: Cho Oyu and Lhotse are individual peaks, not ranges, though the intended sense — which of these names belongs to the Himalaya — is clear.
- (a)Only 1, 2 and 3 — This correctly keeps the two eight-thousanders but adds Annamalai. The Anaimalai or Annamalai Hills lie in the southern Western Ghats across Tamil Nadu and Kerala and contain Anaimudi, at 2,695 metres the highest peak in India south of the Himalaya — a peninsular range of ancient rock, not a Himalayan one.
- (c)Only 2, 3 and 4 — It drops Cho Oyu, which is Himalayan, and admits both Tamil Nadu ranges, which are not. Cho Oyu is the sixth-highest mountain in the world and sits on the Nepal-Tibet border close to Everest, so it cannot be excluded.
- (d)Only 3 and 4 — The exact inversion of the correct set — it selects the two peninsular ranges and rejects the two Himalayan peaks. Sirumalai is a small range near Dindigul in Tamil Nadu and Annamalai lies in the southern Western Ghats; neither has any connection with the Himalaya.
The question sets two of the world's fourteen eight-thousanders against two south Indian hill ranges, and the two groups are different in kind, not merely in place. The Himalaya are young fold mountains, raised within the last fifty million years or so by the collision of the Indian plate with Asia, still rising and still seismically active, and every peak above 8,000 metres on Earth lies in the Himalaya or the Karakoram. The hills of peninsular India belong to the Indian shield, among the oldest and most stable land surfaces on the planet, worn down rather than thrust up. The Western Ghats run along the western edge of that shield and include the Anaimalai Hills with Anaimudi at 2,695 metres, and the Eastern Ghats form a broken, discontinuous line on the other side, of which Sirumalai near Dindigul is one small block. Even the highest peninsular summit is barely a third the height of Lhotse.
The question is really about reading carefully, because two of the four names are famous and two are obscure. The examiner is betting that a candidate who recognises Cho Oyu and Lhotse will stop reading and pick whichever option contains both, without checking whether the option smuggles in a third item. The naming itself is the clue that costs nothing: 'malai' is the Tamil word for hill, so Annamalai and Sirumalai are Tamil names and cannot be Himalayan, while Cho Oyu and Lhotse are Tibetan names — Lhotse means 'south peak', which is exactly where it stands in relation to Everest. In any four-item selection question, decide each item independently as in or out first, write the resulting set down, and only then look at the options; that habit removes the whole class of near-miss traps this item is built on.
- Lhotse, 8,516 metres, is the fourth-highest mountain in the world after Everest, K2 and Kangchenjunga, and stands on the Nepal-Tibet border joined to Everest by the South Col.
- Cho Oyu, 8,188 metres, is the sixth-highest mountain in the world, about twenty kilometres west of Everest on the Nepal-Tibet border; it was climbed in 1954, the fifth of the eight-thousanders to be ascended, and is considered the easiest of them.
- The Anaimalai or Annamalai Hills lie in the southern Western Ghats across Tamil Nadu and Kerala and contain Anaimudi, 2,695 metres, the highest peak in India south of the Himalaya.
- Sirumalai is a small hill range near Dindigul in Tamil Nadu, belonging to the Eastern Ghats system.
- 'Malai' is Tamil for hill, which marks both peninsular names; the Himalaya are young fold mountains while the peninsular ranges belong to the ancient, stable Indian shield.
- Picking the first option that contains the names you recognise, instead of settling each of the four items as in or out before reading the codes
- Missing the '-malai' ending, which marks Annamalai and Sirumalai as Tamil hill names and rules them out at a glance
- Assuming that because Anaimudi in the Anaimalai Hills is called the highest peak of peninsular India, the range must be a major mountain system comparable to the Himalaya
UPPSC asks mountains as location and identification — which peak is not in India, which range lies where, arrange these ranges from west to east — and mixes famous names with unfamiliar ones so the item cannot be answered on recognition alone. UPSC prefers the geological or ecological angle: why the Himalaya are species-rich, what would follow if they did not exist, or where two mountain systems meet.
Which one of the following is the correct sequence of the given hills starting from the north and going towards the south?
- (a) Nallamalai Hills – Nilgiri Hills – Javadi Hills – Anaimalai Hills
- (b) Anaimalai Hills – Javadi Hills – Nilgiri Hills – Nallamalai Hills
- (c) Nallamalai Hills – Javadi Hills – Nilgiri Hills – Anaimalai Hills
- (d) Anaimalai Hills – Nallamalai Hills – Javadi Hills – Nilgiri Hills
Answer(c) Nallamalai Hills – Javadi Hills – Nilgiri Hills – Anaimalai Hills
The same skill of placing a named hill range on the map, applied to the peninsula. UPSC puts Anaimalai — item 3 here — at the southern end of the Indian hill sequence, which is exactly why it cannot belong to the Himalaya.
Which one of the following peaks is NOT located in India ?
- (a) Gurla Mandhata
- (b) Namcha Barwa
- (c) Kamet
- (d) Nanga Parbat
Answer(a) Gurla Mandhata
The same test of whether a candidate can place a named Himalayan peak, run the other way round — here every option is Himalayan and the question is which one falls outside India, rather than which names are Himalayan at all.
Consider the following mountains and arrange them in correct order from West to East by their location : 1. Karakoram 2. Pontic 3. Hindu Kush 4. Zagros Select the correct answer from the codes given below :
- (a) 2, 4, 3, 1
- (b) 2, 3, 4, 1
- (c) 4, 2, 3, 1
- (d) 4, 1, 2, 3
Answer(a) 2, 4, 3, 1
Named mountain systems again, this time to be located relative to one another across Asia. It rewards the same habit as this question — settle where each name actually sits before touching the codes, rather than answering on recognition.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which one of the following is the correct descending order of height among these Himalayan peaks?
- (a)Everest — Lhotse — Kangchenjunga — Cho Oyu
- (b)Everest — Kangchenjunga — Lhotse — Cho Oyu
- (c)Everest — Cho Oyu — Lhotse — Kangchenjunga
- (d)Kangchenjunga — Everest — Cho Oyu — Lhotse
Answer(b) Everest — Kangchenjunga — Lhotse — Cho Oyu. Worldwide the order is Everest, K2, Kangchenjunga, Lhotse, with Cho Oyu sixth; K2 is omitted here, so among the four listed Kangchenjunga stands above Lhotse.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Anaimudi, the highest peak in India south of the Himalaya, is located in which range?
- (a)The Nilgiri Hills
- (b)The Anaimalai Hills of the southern Western Ghats
- (c)The Sirumalai Hills of the Eastern Ghats
- (d)The Cardamom Hills of southern Kerala
Answer(b) The Anaimalai Hills of the southern Western Ghats — Anaimudi rises to 2,695 metres at the point where the Anaimalai, Palani and Cardamom hills meet.