SSC
The Char Dham Highway Project (Char Dham Pariyojana), which connects Kedarnath, Badrinath, Yamunotri and Gangotri, belongs to:
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Answer: Option A — Uttarakhand
Detailed Solution
The Char Dham Highway Project (Char Dham Pariyojana) is a road project in Uttarakhand that aims to provide all-weather roads to the four Himalayan pilgrimage sites of the "Chota Char Dham".
About the Char Dham Highway Project:
- Its foundation stone was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 27 December 2016 in Dehradun.
- It involves widening and improving about 889 km of national highways.
It is being built by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, through agencies such as the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL) and the state Public Works Department.
It includes bypasses, bridges, tunnels, viaducts and measures to control landslides.
It is meant to make travel safer and faster for pilgrims, tourists and local people, and to improve connectivity to the border areas with China.
Environmental concerns:
- Environmentalists raised concerns about landslides, deforestation and damage to the fragile Himalayan ecosystem.
- In December 2021, the Supreme Court allowed the roads to be widened to about 10 metres (double-lane with paved shoulder) on strategic routes for defence needs, while setting up an oversight committee.
In November 2023, a part of the under-construction Silkyara-Barkot tunnel on the Yamunotri route collapsed, trapping 41 workers for 17 days. All were rescued on 28 November 2023 after a long operation, including "rat-hole miners".
About the Chota Char Dham (Uttarakhand):
- Yamunotri: source of the Yamuna; temple of Goddess Yamuna.
- Gangotri: near the source of the Ganga (Bhagirathi), which rises at Gaumukh, the snout of the Gangotri Glacier.
- Kedarnath: on the Mandakini river; one of the 12 Jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva; badly damaged in the 2013 floods.
- Badrinath: on the Alaknanda river; temple of Lord Vishnu (Badrinarayan).
- The pilgrimage is traditionally done from west to east: Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath.
- The original "Char Dham" (established by Adi Shankaracharya according to tradition) are Badrinath, Dwarka, Puri and Rameswaram.
Other connectivity projects in Uttarakhand:
- Rishikesh-Karnaprayag rail line (about 125 km, mostly through tunnels).
- Kedarnath and Hemkund Sahib ropeway projects (approved 2025).
Why not the other options?
- ✗Himachal Pradesh has the Atal Tunnel.
- ✗Jammu and Kashmir has the Chenani-Nashri Tunnel.
- ✗Sikkim has the Nathu La road.
Quick tip
Remember: Char Dham Pariyojana = Uttarakhand (about 889 km all-weather roads to Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath; foundation 2016; Silkyara tunnel rescue, November 2023); original Char Dham = Badrinath, Dwarka, Puri, Rameswaram.
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Industries & Transport in India — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Industries & Transport in India, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers India's major industries (iron and steel, textiles, cement, sugar, automobiles and information technology) and their locations, along with the transport network: railways, roads and national highways, ports, airports and waterways. Common questions ask where a steel plant is located and which country helped build it (Bhilai with the Soviet Union, Rourkela with Germany and Durgapur with Britain), which city is called the 'Manchester of India', and facts about major ports, railway zones and national highways. Practise the industries and transport questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.