Which of the following districts is/are part of the Devipatan Division in Uttar Pradesh ? 1. Basti 2. Bahraich 3. Balrampur Select the correct answer from the code given below :
- (a)Only 1 and 2
- (b)Only 2 and 3
- (c)Only 3
- (d)Only 1
Answer
Why
Correct — B, Only 2 and 3, that is Bahraich and Balrampur. Devipatan Division of Uttar Pradesh comprises four districts: Gonda, which is the divisional headquarters, together with Bahraich, Balrampur and Shravasti. Both districts named in statements 2 and 3 are therefore part of it. Basti is not: it is the headquarters of a separate Basti Division, made up of Basti, Siddharthnagar and Sant Kabir Nagar, which was carved out of Gorakhpur Division on 14 June 1997. The division takes its name from the Devipatan Shakti Peeth at Tulsipur in Balrampur district, which is a useful mnemonic — the temple that names the division stands inside one of the two districts the key marks correct.
Why the others are wrong
- (a)Only 1 and 2 — It keeps Bahraich, which is right, but pairs it with Basti, which is wrong. Basti is not merely absent from Devipatan Division — it is the headquarters of its own division, so it can belong to no other. The two districts sit in the same eastern-terai belt of Uttar Pradesh, which is what makes the confusion tempting.
- (c)Only 3 — Balrampur is correct but incomplete. Restricting the answer to Balrampur drops Bahraich, which is equally a Devipatan district. Candidates land here because Balrampur contains the Devipatan temple that gives the division its name, so it feels like the single 'obvious' answer.
- (d)Only 1 — This names the one district in the list that is definitely not in Devipatan Division and excludes the two that are. Basti heads the Basti Division created in 1997 out of Gorakhpur Division.
Concept
Uttar Pradesh is administered in a two-tier field structure: 75 districts grouped into 18 divisions, or mandals, each under a Divisional Commissioner who supervises the District Magistrates below him. Devipatan Division sits in the north-eastern terai along the Nepal frontier and holds four districts — Gonda (headquarters), Bahraich, Balrampur and Shravasti. Its neighbour to the east, Basti Division, was created on 14 June 1997 by splitting Gorakhpur Division, and contains Basti, Siddharthnagar and Sant Kabir Nagar. Knowing which district heads which division is the shortest route through most UPPSC questions of this type.
The question gives three districts whose names all begin with B-a, which is not an accident — Basti, Bahraich and Balrampur are exactly the trio a candidate is most likely to blur. Two useful anchors settle it. First, the division is named after the Devipatan Shakti Peeth at Tulsipur in Balrampur, so Balrampur is certainly in. Second, Basti is itself a divisional headquarters, so it cannot be a constituent district of any other division; that single structural fact eliminates options (a) and (d) at once. What remains is whether Bahraich joins Balrampur, and it does — Devipatan has four districts, and Shravasti, the fourth, is not even offered here.
Key facts
- Devipatan Division has four districts: Gonda (divisional headquarters), Bahraich, Balrampur and Shravasti
- Basti is the headquarters of the separate Basti Division — Basti, Siddharthnagar and Sant Kabir Nagar — carved out of Gorakhpur Division on 14 June 1997
- Uttar Pradesh is organised into 18 divisions and 75 districts, each division headed by a Divisional Commissioner
- The division is named after the Devipatan Shakti Peeth temple at Tulsipur in Balrampur district
- Bahraich shares an international border with Nepal, and Balrampur and Shravasti are on NITI Aayog's aspirational-districts list — the division is one of the state's poorest
Study next
Common traps
- Assuming Basti belongs to Devipatan because it lies in the same eastern belt — Basti is a divisional headquarters in its own right
- Stopping at Balrampur because the temple that names the division is there, and forgetting Bahraich
- Forgetting Shravasti, the fourth Devipatan district, which this question does not list but a paired-statement version certainly will
UPPSC asks Uttar Pradesh's administrative geography head-on — which district falls in which division, which district is largest or smallest, which district carries which One District One Product. UPSC does not test state divisional structure at all; it asks the physical and economic geography of the same terai belt instead.
Related PYQs
Which among the following districts of Uttar Pradesh is smallest in terms of area?
- (a) Hamirpur
- (b) Hardoi
- (c) Hathras
- (d) Hapur
Answer(d) Hapur
The same examinable knowledge — the map of Uttar Pradesh's 75 districts held precisely enough to separate look-alike names. UPPSC returns to this well every cycle, and both questions punish a candidate who knows the districts as a list rather than as a map.
How many districts of Uttar Pradesh has been covered under the Aspirational District Programme run by NITI Aayog, up to June, 2021 ?
- (a) 4
- (b) 6
- (c) 8
- (d) 10
Answer(c) 8
The development side of the same territory: Balrampur and Shravasti, two of Devipatan's four districts, are among the Uttar Pradesh districts the Aspirational Districts Programme covers. Learning the division and its aspirational-district status together answers both questions from one block of revision.
Practice
- practice — not a real PYQ
The headquarters of Devipatan Division of Uttar Pradesh is located at:
- (a)Bahraich
- (b)Gonda
- (c)Balrampur
- (d)Shravasti
Answer(b) Gonda — the division's other three districts are Bahraich, Balrampur and Shravasti. - practice — not a real PYQ
Siddharthnagar and Sant Kabir Nagar districts of Uttar Pradesh belong to which division?
- (a)Gorakhpur Division
- (b)Devipatan Division
- (c)Basti Division
- (d)Ayodhya Division
Answer(c) Basti Division — created on 14 June 1997 out of Gorakhpur Division, with Basti as its headquarters.