Which one of the following (Passes – States/U.T.) is correctly matched?
- (a)Mana – Himachal Pradesh
- (b)Aghil – Arunachal Pradesh
- (c)Niti – Uttarakhand
- (d)Diphu – Ladakh
Correct — C, Niti – Uttarakhand. The Niti Pass lies in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand, on the India–Tibet (China) border near Niti village, and is one of the traditional trans-Himalayan routes. So the pair 'Niti – Uttarakhand' is the correctly matched one; the other three options misplace their passes.
- (a)Mana – Himachal Pradesh — The Mana Pass is in Uttarakhand (Chamoli district, near Badrinath and Mana village), not in Himachal Pradesh.
- (b)Aghil – Arunachal Pradesh — The Aghil Pass lies in the Karakoram range north of K2, in the Ladakh (trans-Karakoram) region — not in Arunachal Pradesh.
- (d)Diphu – Ladakh — The Diphu Pass is in Arunachal Pradesh, at the eastern India–Myanmar–China tri-junction — not in Ladakh.
Himalayan passes are gaps in the mountain ranges that serve as border crossings and old trade routes; a common exam skill is placing each pass in its correct state or Union Territory. Uttarakhand's Trans-Himalaya has both the Niti and Mana passes; Ladakh's Karakoram holds the Aghil Pass; and the far east has the Diphu Pass in Arunachal Pradesh.
The set is built around near-misses. Both Mana and Niti are Uttarakhand passes, but option (a) wrongly shifts Mana to Himachal Pradesh, leaving Niti–Uttarakhand as the only correct pair. Aghil is pushed east to Arunachal and Diphu is pushed west to Ladakh in the other traps.
- Niti Pass — Uttarakhand (Chamoli district), on the India–Tibet border.
- Mana Pass — Uttarakhand (Chamoli, near Badrinath), not Himachal Pradesh.
- Aghil Pass — Karakoram range, Ladakh region, north of K2.
- Diphu Pass — Arunachal Pradesh, at the India–Myanmar–China tri-junction.
- Mana and Niti are both in Uttarakhand — options shift one of them to another state
- Placing Aghil (Ladakh/Karakoram) in Arunachal, or Diphu (Arunachal) in Ladakh
UPPSC/UPSC test Himalayan passes as 'which pair is correctly matched' or 'match the pass with its state/UT'.
Which one of the following Himalayan passes was reopened in the middle of the year 2006 to facilitate trade between India and China?
- (a) Chang La
- (b) Jara La
- (c) Nathu La
- (d) Shipki La
Answer(c) Nathu La
Same concept — identifying Himalayan passes and their location on India's northern border, the exact skill this pass–state matching tests.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Lipulekh Pass, an important border trade route with Tibet, is located in which state?
- (a)Himachal Pradesh
- (b)Uttarakhand
- (c)Sikkim
- (d)Arunachal Pradesh
Answer(b) Uttarakhand — Lipulekh lies in the Pithoragarh region on the India–Tibet border.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Nathu La Pass, reopened for border trade in 2006, connects Sikkim with which region?
- (a)Nepal
- (b)Bhutan
- (c)Tibet (China)
- (d)Myanmar
Answer(c) Tibet (China) — Nathu La is on the Sikkim–Tibet border.