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Q48 (IAS/2014) Geography › Maps & Locations › Indian physical geography Official Key

Consider the following pairs: 1. Cardamom Hills - Coromandel Coast 2. Kaimur Hills - Konkan Coast 3. Mahadeo Hills - Central India 4. Mikir Hills - North-East India Which of the above pairs are correctly matched?

Result
Your answer: —  ·  Correct: C
Explanation

The Cardamom Hills are part of the southern Western Ghats in Kerala and Tamil Nadu[2], not located on the Coromandel Coast (which is on the eastern side of peninsular India), making pair 1 incorrect. The Kaimur Hills are in Madhya Pradesh[3], which is in central India, not along the Konkan Coast (western coast), making pair 2 incorrect. The Mahadeo Hills are located in the north[4] as part of the central highland region, and they are part of the Satpura range[5], confirming pair 3 is correctly matched with Central India. The Mikir Hills are detached from the Meghalaya Plateau and include the Rengma Hills in their southern range[6], placing them firmly in North-East India, making pair 4 correct. Therefore, only pairs 3 and 4 are correctly matched.

Sources
  1. [4] INDIA PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT, Geography Class XI (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 2: Structure and Physiography > The Deccan Plateau > p. 12
  2. [5] Geography of India ,Majid Husain, (McGrawHill 9th ed.) > Chapter 2: Physiography > 2. The South Central Highlands > p. 55
  3. [6] Geography of India ,Majid Husain, (McGrawHill 9th ed.) > Chapter 2: Physiography > 4. The Meghalaya Plateau and Mikir Hills > p. 56
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Q. Consider the following pairs: 1. Cardamom Hills - Coromandel Coast 2. Kaimur Hills - Konkan Coast 3. Mahadeo Hills - Central India 4. Mi…
At a glance
Origin: Books + Current Affairs Fairness: Moderate fairness Books / CA: 5/10 · 5/10
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This is a classic 'Mental Map' test derived directly from NCERT Class XI (India Physical Environment). The question punishes rote memorization of text without visualization. If you cannot visualize the Cardamom Hills in Kerala and the Coromandel Coast in Tamil Nadu as distinct entities, you are reading Geography wrong.

How this question is built

This question can be broken into the following sub-statements. Tap a statement sentence to jump into its detailed analysis.

Statement 1
Are the Cardamom Hills located along the Coromandel Coast in India?
Origin: Web / Current Affairs Fairness: CA heavy Web-answerable

Web source
Presence: 5/5
"Are the Cardamom Hills located on the Coromandel Coast? No, they are part of the southern Western Ghats in Kerala/Tamil Nadu."
Why this source?
  • Directly answers the question and refutes it.
  • States the Cardamom Hills are part of the southern Western Ghats in Kerala/Tamil Nadu, not the Coromandel Coast.
Web source
Presence: 5/5
"(c) The Cardamom Hills are southern hills of India and part of the southern Western Ghats located in southeast Kerala and southwest Tamil ..."
Why this source?
  • Describes the Cardamom Hills as southern hills and part of the southern Western Ghats.
  • Specifies their location in southeast Kerala and southwest Tamil Nadu, inconsistent with Coromandel Coast placement.
Web source
Presence: 3/5
"Cardamom Hills - Coromandel Coast."
Why this source?
  • Explicitly pairs 'Cardamom Hills - Coromandel Coast', which supports the statement.
  • Contrasts with other sources that place the Cardamom Hills in the southern Western Ghats.

INDIA PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT, Geography Class XI (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 2: Structure and Physiography > The Deccan Plateau > p. 12
Strength: 5/5
“This is bordered by the Western Ghats in the west, Eastern Ghats in the east and the Satpura, Maikal range and Mahadeo hills in the north. Western Ghats are locally known by different names such as Sahyadri in Maharashtra, Nilgiri hills in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and Anaimalai hills and Cardamom hills in Kerala. Western Ghats are”
Why relevant

States that the Cardamom hills are part of the Western Ghats (named locally) — links the Cardamom hills to the Western Ghats system.

How to extend

On a map, locate the Western Ghats and see which coast (west or east) they run parallel to to judge whether Cardamom hills lie on the Coromandel (east) coast.

CONTEMPORARY INDIA-I ,Geography, Class IX . NCERT(Revised ed 2025) > Chapter 2: Physical Features of India > The Coastal Plains > p. 13
Strength: 5/5
“The Peninsular plateau is flanked by stretch of narrow coastal strips, running along the Arabian Sea on the west and the Bay of Bengal on the east. The western coast, sandwiched between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea, is a narrow plain. It consists of three sections. The northern part of the coast is called the Konkan (Mumbai – Goa), the central stretch is called the Kannad Plain, while the southern stretch is referred to as the Malabar coast. The plains along the Bay of Bengal are wide and level. In the northern part, it is referred to as the Northern Circar, while the southern part is known as the Coromandel Coast.”
Why relevant

Defines the Coromandel Coast as the southern part of the Bay of Bengal (eastern) coastal plain.

How to extend

Compare the geographic position of the Coromandel Coast (east) on a map with the position of the Cardamom hills to assess coincidence.

CONTEMPORARY INDIA-I ,Geography, Class IX . NCERT(Revised ed 2025) > Chapter 2: Physical Features of India > The Peninsular Plateau > p. 12
Strength: 4/5
“Locate these hills and ranges in the Physical map of India. The Deccan Plateau is higher in the west and slopes gently eastwards. An extension of the Plateau is also visible in the northeast, locally known as the Meghalaya, Karbi-Anglong Plateau and North Cachar Hills. It is separated by a fault from the Chotanagpur Plateau. Three prominent hill ranges from the west to the east are the Garo, the Khasi and the Jaintia Hills. The Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats mark the western and the eastern edges of the Deccan Plateau respectively. Western Ghats lie parallel to the western coast.”
Why relevant

Notes that the Western Ghats mark the western edge of the Deccan Plateau and lie parallel to the western coast.

How to extend

Use this rule (Western Ghats → western margin) to infer that ranges on the Western Ghats are generally on/near the western coast, not the Coromandel (eastern) coast.

Environment and Ecology, Majid Hussain (Access publishing 3rd ed.) > Chapter 12: Major Crops and Cropping Patterns in India > Cardamom –small (Elettaria cardamomum) > p. 65
Strength: 4/5
“Popularly, it is known as the queen of spices. It is dried fruit of a tall perennial herbaceous plant. In India, cardamom is cultivated in Kerala (60%), Karnataka (31%) and Tamil Nadu (9%). India is the leading producer and exporter of cardamom. Te natural habitat of cardamom is the evergreen forests of the Western Ghats. It is grown in areas receiving 150-400 cm of rainfall, and temperature 10°-35°C. It is successfully cultivated between 600-1500 m above the mean sea level. It is grown in the soils which are rich in humus content.Te cardamom plantation need irrigation from the last week of January to mid-May.”
Why relevant

Says cardamom’s natural habitat is the evergreen forests of the Western Ghats and that cardamom is largely cultivated in Kerala (a state on the west/southwest coast).

How to extend

Locate Kerala and the Western Ghats on a map to see whether these locations coincide with the Coromandel Coast or with the western/southwestern coast.

Geography of India ,Majid Husain, (McGrawHill 9th ed.) > Chapter 2: Physiography > The Eastern Coastal Plain > p. 65
Strength: 3/5
“The eastern coastal plain lies between the Eastern Ghats and the Bay of Bengal, and stretches along the coasts of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu. These plains are formed by the alluvial fillings of the littoral zone comprising some of the largest deltas of the world. The East-Coastal Plains consist mainly of Recent and Tertiary alluvial deposits. These are gentle, monotonous plains rising gently westward to the foot of the Eastern Ghats. The monotony of the topography is broken by the presence of numerous hills. This coastal”
Why relevant

Describes the eastern coastal plain as lying between the Eastern Ghats and the Bay of Bengal, i.e., the geographic context of the Coromandel Coast.

How to extend

Use this to distinguish the eastern coastal (Coromandel) setting from the Western Ghats setting of the Cardamom hills when checking a map.

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Statement analysis

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Statement analysis

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