GK Questions on Himachal Pradesh

Himachal Pradesh

Himachal Pradesh ("snow-laden province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is bordered by states of Jammu and Kashmir on the north, Punjab on the west, Haryana on the southwest, Uttarakhand on the southeast, and Tibet on the east. At its southernmost point, it also touches the state of Uttar Pradesh. The state's name was coined from the Sanskrit—Him means 'snow' and achal means 'land' or 'abode'—by acharya Diwakar Datt Sharma, one of the state's eminent Sanskrit scholars.

Prior to India's independence from British, Himachal comprised the hilly regions of Punjab Province of British India. After independence, many of the hilly territories were organized as the Chief Commissioner's province of Himachal Pradesh which later became a union territory. In 1966, hilly areas of neighboring Punjab state were merged into Himachal and it was ultimately granted full statehood in 1971.

The hilly state is almost universally electrified with 99.5% of the households having electricity as of 2016. The state was declared India's second open-defecation free state in 2016. According to a survey of CMS - India Corruption Study 2017, Himachal Pradesh is India's least corrupt state.

[Source: https://en.wikipedia.org]

General Knowledge Questions on Himachal Pradesh State

Question 1: Who is Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh?

Answer: Jai Ram Thakur

Jai Ram Thakur (born 6 January 1965)[1] is an Indian politician, who is the 14th and the current Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh. He was elected BJP legislative party leader on 24 December 2017 after the defeat of Chief Ministerial candidate of BJP, Prem Kumar Dhumal in the assembly elections held in November 2017. He has been an MLA in Himachal Pradesh Assembly since 1998 and previously served as Cabinet Minister in BJP Government of Himachal Pradesh. He was Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj from 2009-2012. He is elected to Himachal Pradesh Assembly from Seraj in Mandi. He won his first election in the year of 1998 from now delimited constituency of Chachiot (Seraj).

Question 2: When did Himachal Pradesh become a state?

Answer: 25 January 1971

After independence, the Chief Commissioner's Province of Himachal Pradesh was organized on 15 April 1948 as a result of the integration of 28 petty princely states (including feudal princes and zaildars) in the promontories of the western Himalayas. These were known as the Simla Hills States and four Punjab southern hill states under the Himachal Pradesh (Administration) Order, 1948. The State of Bilaspur was merged into Himachal Pradesh on 1 July 1954 by the Himachal Pradesh and Bilaspur (New State) Act, 1954.

Himachal became a Part 'C' state on 26 January 1950 with the implementation of the Constitution of India and the Lieutenant Governor was appointed. The Legislative Assembly was elected in 1952. Himachal Pradesh became a union territory on 1 November 1956. Some areas of Punjab State— namely Simla, Kangra, Kullu and Lahul and Spiti Districts, Nalagarh tehsil of Ambala District, Lohara, Amb and Una kanungo circles, some area of Santokhgarh kanungo circle and some other specified area of Una tehsil of Hoshiarpur District, besides some parts of Dhar Kalan Kanungo circle of Pathankot tehsil of Gurdaspur District—were merged with Himachal Pradesh on 1 November 1966 on enactment by Parliament of Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966. On 18 December 1970, the State of Himachal Pradesh Act was passed by Parliament, and the new state came into being on 25 January 1971. Himachal became the 18th state of the Indian Union with Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar as its first chief minister.

Question 3: What is the capital of Himachal Pradesh?

Answer: Shimla and Dharamshala

Shimla , also known as Simla, is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. Shimla is also a district which is bounded by the state of Uttarakhand in the south-east, districts of Mandi and Kullu in the north, Kinnaur in the east, Sirmaur in the south and Solan in the west. In 1864, Shimla was declared as the summer capital of British India, succeeding Murree, northeast of Rawalpindi. After independence, the city became the capital of Punjab and was later named the capital of Himachal Pradesh. It is the principal commercial, cultural and educational centre of the state.

Dharamshala (also spelled Dharamsala) is the district headquarters of Kangra district in India. It was formerly known as Bhagsu. The Dalai Lama's residence and the headquarters of the Central Tibetan Administration (the Tibetan government in exile) are in Dharamshala. Dharamshala is 18 kilometers from Kangra. Dharamshala has been selected as one of the hundred Indian cities to be developed as a smart city under PM Narendra Modi's flagship Smart Cities Mission. On 19 January 2017, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh declared Dharamshala as the second capital of Himachal Pradesh state, making Himachal Pradesh the third state of India with two capitals after Jammu and Kashmir and Maharashtra.

Question 4: Who is governor  of Himachal Pradesh?

Answer: Acharya Dev Vrat 

Acharya Dev Vrat (born 18 January 1959) is an Indian politician currently serving as the Governor of Himachal Pradesh, since August 2015. He is an [ Vishnoi or Bishnoi Samaj ] pracharak and served previously as the principal of a Gurukul in Kurukshetra, Haryana. Being the Governor of Himachal Pradesh, he is also the Chancellor of state universities of Himachal Pradesh.

Question 5: Which is the largest glacier in Asia located in Himachal? 

Answer: Bara Shigri

Bara Shigri is the largest glacier located in the state of Himachal Pradesh, India, Bara-Sigri glacier which is the second longest glacier in Himalaya (Indian side) after Gangotri, both are around 30 km long. The glacier is located in the Chandra Valley of Lahaul. The glacier feeds the Chenab River. The name comes from the Lahaul dialect, where Bara means big and Shigri means glacier.

The Bara Shigri glacier attracted much attention for many years because of the valuable antimony deposits found there. The glacier was first surveyed in 1906 by H. Walker and E.H. Pascoe of the Geological Survey of India. In 1955, the Geological Survey of India sponsored an expedition to this glacier as part of the Indian programme for the International Geophysical Year 1956-57, when a number of Himalayan glaciers were examined and their snout position fixed.

Question 6: Who is popularly known as 'Pahari Gandhi'? 

Answer: Baba Kanshi Ram

Baba Kanshi Ram (11 July 1882 – 15 October 1943) was an Indian poet and activist for independence born in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.

Question 7:  Which is the official language of Himachal Pradesh?

Answer: Hindi

Hindi, or Modern Standard Hindi is a standardised and Sanskritised register of the Hindustani language. Hindi, written in the Devanagari script, is one of the official languages of India, along with the English language.[8] It is one of the 22 scheduled languages of the Republic of India. However, it is not the national language of India because no language was given such a status in the Indian constitution.

Question 8: Which fort in Himachal Pradesh was attacked by Mahmud Gaznavi in 1019 A.D.? 

Answer: Kangra fort

It is believed that the Kangra fort was built by Susharma Chandra after the grand battle of Mahabharata. The earliest records of foreign invasions on Kangra fort have the reference of attack by Mahmud of Ghazni back in AD 1009. The Persian ruler was engrossed by the immense treasure of Nagarkot and could not help acting on the idea of robbing the fort.

Muhammad Bin Tughlaq, the Turkic Sultan of Delhi, was the next ruler to capture the fort later in 1337. And after his death in 1351, his successor Firoz Shah Tughlaq conquered Nagarkot in the same year.In 1621, however, Mughals regained their control of the fort with Jahangir conquering it after a long siege of 14 months.Later, Jai Singh Kanhaiya, the Sikh general of Batala succeeded in capturing the fort.

Question 9:  Where is Tibet’s government-in-exile?

Answer: Dharmshala

The Central Tibetan Administration, also known as CTA  is an organisation based in Dharmshala, India. It was originally called Tibetan Kashag Government in 1960, then later renamed to "the Government of the Great Snow Land". The CTA is also referred to as the Tibetan Government in Exile which has never been recognized by China. Its internal structure is government-like; it has stated that it is "not designed to take power in Tibet"; rather, it will be dissolved "as soon as freedom is restored in Tibet" in favor of a government formed by Tibetans inside Tibet. In addition to political advocacy, it administers a network of schools and other cultural activities for Tibetans in India. On 11 February 1991, the CTA became a founding member of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) at a ceremony held at the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands.

Question 10: Which is the largest temple of Himachal Pradesh? 

Answer: Lakshna Devi Temple (Bharmour)

The Lakshana Devi Temple in Bharmour is a post-Gupta era Hindu temple in Himachal Pradesh dedicated to Durga in her Mahishasura-mardini form. It is dated to the second half of the 7th-century, and is in part one of the oldest surviving wooden temples in India.

Question 11: Who built the new town of Mandi? 

Answer: Ajbar Sen

Princely state of Mandi was founded by Bahu Sen in 1200 AD. But Ajbar Sen was the one who founded historical city of Mandi in 1526 AD. 

Question 12: Bhakhra Dam is loacated on which river? 

Answer: Satluj River

Bhakra Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Sutlej River in Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh in northern India. The dam forms the Gobind Sagar reservoir.Described as "New Temple of Resurgent India" by Jawaharlal Nehru,[2] the first prime minister of India, the dam attracts tourists from all over India. Bhakra dam is 15 km from Nangal city and 20 km from Naina Devi town.

Nangal Dam is another dam in Punjab downstream of Bhakra Dam. However, sometimes both the dams together are called Bhakra-Nangal Dam though they are two separate dams.

Question 13: Which is the largest World Bank financed hydro-electric project in Himachal Pradesh? 

Answer: Nathpa Jhakri (1500 MW, in Kinnaur)

The Nathpa Jhakri Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Sutlej river in Himachal Pradesh, India. The primary purpose of the dam is hydroelectric power production and it supplies a 1,500 megawatts (2,000,000 hp) underground power station with water. Before reaching the power station, water is diverted through a 27.4 km (17 mi) headrace tunnel. Construction on the project began in 1993 and it was complete in 2004. The last two of the 250 megawatts (340,000 hp) Francis turbine-generators went online in March 2004. It is owned by SJVN Ltd.