If you travel by road from Kohima to Kottayam, what is the minimum number of States within India through which you can travel, including the origin and the destination ?
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Answer: B. Kohima is in Nagaland and Kottayam is in Kerala. The shortest route through India is Nagaland, Assam, West Bengal (via the Siliguri corridor), Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. That is 7 States. Another route (Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala) also gives 7. No route within India has fewer States. So 7.
Watch for: Watch for the Siliguri corridor. Students forget West Bengal or count Bangladesh, which is outside India.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Wrong because no road route within India covers only 6 States.
- C. Wrong because 8 is more than the minimum.
- D. Wrong because 9 is more than the minimum.
Source to check: NCERT Class 9 Contemporary India I, Chapter 1 'India: Size and Location' (political map of India); Survey of India political map (surveyofindia.gov.in)
Answer from the official UPSC key. Written and fact-checked by AI against the official key. Spotted a mistake? Report it.