UPSC Previous Year Question Paper 2023 – Detailed Answers and pointers #1

1. Consider the following statements :

1. Jhelum River passes through Wular Lake .
2. Krishna River directly feeds Kolleru Lake .
3. Meandering of Gandak River formed Kanwar Lake .
   
   How many of the statements· given above are correct?
   
   (a) Only one
   (b) Only two
   (c) All three
   (d) None

Answer: (b) Only two

Note: The question is how many points are correct and not which ones are correct. This is why it is important to read each question carefully.

Detailed Pointers:

1. The Krishna River doesn’t directly feed Kolleru Lake.
2. Kolleru lake is situated in Andhra Pradesh, between the Krishna and Godavari deltas and acts as a natural flood-balancing reservoir for two rivers (shrinking and expanding according to season) through various channels and streams.
3. Andhra Pradesh has the largest reserves of Mica and Uranium
4. Kolleru Lake is near Vijayawada (Krishna River) and Kakinada (Godavari)
5. Kolleru Lake is a Freshwater lake primarily fed by Budameru and Tammileru streams
6. Wular Lake is the largest freshwater lake in India and is situated in Kashmir near Srinagar and is fed by the Jhelum River
7. The Jhelum river originates from the foot of Pir Panjal Mountain ranges, then passes through Srinagar, feeds the Wular lake and joins the Chenab river in Jhang, Pakistan.
8. Pir Panjal is the largest range of the Lesser Himalayas located in the western Himalaya Ranges
9. Pir Panjal range separates the Kashmir Valley from the hills of Jammu region, and also separates the Ravi and Beas rivers from the Chenab.
10. Hill station of Gulmarg in Kashmir lies in the Pir Panjal Range
11. The Kanwar Lake or Kabar Taal Lake is located in Begusarai district of Bihar, India
12. Kanwar Lake is Asia’s largest freshwater oxbow lake and is formed by meandering of Burhi Gandak River and is also fed by it (and the Bia and the Kareh river) in the rainy season. It is seen as a dying wetland ecosystem.
13. In November 2020, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) declared the Kanwar lake as the first Ramsar site in bihar.
14. A Ramsar site is a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention, also known as “The Convention on Wetlands“. The was signed on 2 February 1971 in Ramsar, Iran, under the auspices of UNESCO and into force on 21 December 1975. There are 2,500 Ramsar sites around the world and 80 in India.
15. In 1977 (during the Emergency) Gandhi added Article 48A to safeguard the forests and wildlife of the country and moved wildlife and forests from state list to concurrent list. This led to creation of > Department of Environment in 1980 > Then the Ministry of Environment and Forests in 1985 > In May 2014 Climate Change was also added to the ministry.
16. Five critically endangered species inhabit the Kanwar Lake include three vultures – the red-headed vulture, white-rumped vulture and Indian vulture – and two waterbirds, the sociable lapwing and Baer’s pochard
17. Oxbow lakes like Kanwar lake are formed when the original river changes it course and leave behind curved section of old channel
18. Burhi (old) Gandak river is a tributary of Ganga River and is near Bagamati and Koshi rivers.

2. Consider the following pairs : Port Well known as

1. Kamarajar Port : First major port in India registered as a company ·
2. Mundra Port : Largest privately owned port in India
3. Visakhapatnam : Largest container port in Port India
   
   How many of the above pairs are correctly matched?
   
   (a) Only one pair
   (b) Only two pairs
   (c) All three pairs
   (d) None of the pairs

The correct answer is (b), Only two pairs.

Detailed Pointers:

1. Kamarajar Port is the first major port in India registered as a company. It is situated in Ennore on the Coromondal coast, 18km north of Chennai port.
2. Coromandel Coast is home to the East Deccan dry evergreen forests eco-region and contains extensive mangrove forests along the low-lying coast and river deltas, and several important wetlands, notably Kaliveli Lake and Pulicat Lake. Kaliveli Lake is one of the largest wetlands in peninsular India.
3. Pulicat Lake is the second largest brackish water lagoon in India, (after Chilika Lake). Two rivers which feed the lagoon are the Arani River at the southern tip and the Kalangi River
4. Kamarajar Port is located in the Eastern Coastal Plains, north of the Ennore Creek, on the thermal equator zone
5. Thermal Equator is the line that circumscribes the earth and connects all points of highest mean annual temperature for their longitudes. Chennai is in India’s thermal equator.
6. Kamarajar Port is the only major port in India which is a public company and incorporated. It was established in 2001 under the companies act. Kamarajar Port handled 43.51 million metric tonne of cargo in 2022-23.
7. It is a landlord port (Most large and medium ports follow the landlord port model)
8. Jawaharlal Nehru Port, Mumbai became the first major port of the country to become a 100% Landlord port of India. In this model, the publicly governed port authority acts as a regulatory body and as a landlord, while private companies carry out port operations. At the other end there is serviced ports where both are government.
9. The Kamarajar Port is close to Pulikat lake and Sriharikota. Sriharikota is a barrier island located in the Shar Project settlement of Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh
10. Mundra Port is indeed the Largest privately owned port in India – this statement is correct
11. The Mundra Port is situate in the Kutch district of Gujarat, on the gulf of Kutch (near Bhuj)
12. Mundra Port is owned and operated by Adani Port Trusts Private Limited. It was began operations in and is currently the busiest port in India with 150 million tonnes of Cargo movement. The busiest port in east coast is Paradeep in odisha.
13. The largest container port in India is the Nhava Sheva Port, also known as the Jawaharlal Nehru Port. The Visakhapatnam Port is the second largest container port in India and the biggest in east coast.
14. Visakhapatnam Port is stituated near Kambalakonda Wildife Sanctuary.
15. Vizag port was opened in 1933. The major oldest port in India is Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port Trust of Kolkata, opened in 1870. It is the only riverine major port of India