Practice South Asia MCQs for PPSC Fisheries Officer (BS-17) Geography — topic-wise sets with solved answers.
Q1. How many countries are members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)?
Answer: Eight
Explanation: SAARC has exactly eight member states: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, founded in 1985.
Q2. What is the capital city of Bangladesh?
Answer: Dhaka
Explanation: Dhaka is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, serving as the political and economic center of the country.
Q3. Which city serves as the official constitutional capital of Sri Lanka?
Answer: Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte
Explanation: Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte is the constitutional (legislative) capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo remains the commercial and executive capital.
Q4. In which Himalayan country is Kathmandu the capital?
Answer: Nepal
Explanation: Kathmandu is the capital and largest city of Nepal, situated in the Kathmandu Valley at an altitude of approximately 1,400 metres.
Q5. Where does the Indus River ultimately drain?
Answer: Arabian Sea
Explanation: The Indus River, approximately 3,180 km long, drains into the Arabian Sea near Karachi after flowing through Pakistan.
Q6. In which country does the Ganges River originate?
Answer: India
Explanation: The Ganges originates from the Gangotri Glacier in Uttarakhand, India, and is one of the most sacred rivers in Hinduism.
Q7. The Brahmaputra River is known by what name in Tibet, where it originates?
Answer: Yarlung Tsangpo
Explanation: The Brahmaputra originates in Tibet as the Yarlung Tsangpo, enters India through Arunachal Pradesh, and is called Jamuna after joining the Ganges delta in Bangladesh.
Q8. What is the world's largest bay by area?
Answer: Bay of Bengal
Explanation: The Bay of Bengal is the world's largest bay, bordered by Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, and empties into the Indian Ocean.
Q9. Which country in South Asia is at greatest risk from sea-level rise due to its extremely low average elevation?
Answer: Maldives
Explanation: The Maldives has an average elevation of only about 1.5 metres above sea level, making it the lowest-lying country in the world and most vulnerable to sea-level rise.
Q10. Which body of water lies to the west of Pakistan and India?
Answer: Arabian Sea
Explanation: The Arabian Sea lies to the west and southwest of Pakistan and India, into which the Indus River drains near Karachi.
Q11. What is the approximate total length of the Indus River?
Answer: 3,180 km
Explanation: The Indus River is approximately 3,180 kilometres long. It originates near Mansarovar Lake in Tibet and flows through Pakistan before draining into the Arabian Sea.
Q12. India has constructed a fence along its border with which South Asian neighbour to curb illegal immigration?
Answer: Bangladesh
Explanation: India has constructed a border fence along most of its 4,156 km boundary with Bangladesh as part of the Indo-Bangladesh Border Fencing Project to prevent illegal immigration and smuggling.
Q13. Which South Asian country is entirely landlocked and bordered only by India and China?
Answer: Bhutan
Explanation: Bhutan is a landlocked country bordered exclusively by India to the south and China (Tibet) to the north, with no coastline or other neighbouring countries.
Q14. Which narrow corridor of Afghanistan separates Pakistan from Tajikistan and was historically significant on the Silk Road?
Answer: Wakhan Corridor
Explanation: The Wakhan Corridor is a narrow strip of Afghan territory separating Pakistan (Chitral) from Tajikistan, historically important as a Silk Road route and a British buffer against Russian expansion.
Q15. Which ocean surrounds the Maldives archipelago?
Answer: Indian Ocean
Explanation: The Maldives is an island nation located in the Indian Ocean, southwest of Sri Lanka and India, comprising 26 atolls and over 1,000 coral islands.
Q16. Which is the largest country in South Asia by land area?
Answer: India
Explanation: India is the largest country in South Asia by land area, covering approximately 3.29 million square kilometres, accounting for nearly 60% of the region's total area.
Q17. Which Bhutanese city served as the royal capital of Bhutan before Thimphu became the administrative capital?
Answer: Punakha
Explanation: Punakha served as the royal and administrative capital of Bhutan until 1955, when Thimphu was designated the capital. Punakha Dzong, at the confluence of two rivers, remains one of Bhutan's most important fortresses.
Q18. Mangla Dam sits where monsoon-fed plains meet humid subtropical slopes. Compare seasonal leaf behaviour on dominant native trees there versus true boreal forest. Which pairing is accurate?
Answer: Humid foothills mix deciduous hardwoods while boreal taiga keeps evergreen conifers
Explanation: Humid subtropical foothills (like those around Mangla) support mixed deciduous hardwood forests that shed leaves in the dry or cold season, while boreal taiga is dominated by evergreen conifers such as spruce and fir that retain needles year-round.
Q19. Urban heat islands in big South Asian metros are driven mainly by?
Answer: Concentrated buildings, roads, and waste heat that raise metro temperatures
Explanation: Urban heat islands form because dense concentrations of buildings, roads, and human activity absorb solar radiation and release waste heat, raising metropolitan temperatures several degrees above surrounding rural areas.
Q20. How many member states does SAARC have?
Answer: Eight
Explanation: SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) has eight member states: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
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