Railway
Dakshin Gangotri, Maitri and Bharati are India's research stations in:
Answer (Detailed Solution Below)View answer ▾Hide ▴
Answer: Option B — Antarctica
Detailed Solution
India has been conducting scientific research in Antarctica since 1981, when the First Indian Expedition to Antarctica, led by Dr S.Z. Qasim, reached the continent in January 1982. India became a member of the Antarctic Treaty in 1983 and was granted consultative status the same year. Antarctic research is coordinated by the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), Goa, under the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
India's Antarctic research stations:
Dakshin Gangotri: India's first permanent research station in Antarctica, set up in 1983-84 on the ice shelf. It was buried under ice and decommissioned in 1990; it is now used as a supply base.
Maitri: set up in 1989 on the rocky Schirmacher Oasis in East Antarctica. It is still in operation. A new station, Maitri-II, has been planned to replace it.
Bharati: set up in 2012 in the Larsemann Hills, on the coast of East Antarctica, about 3,000 kilometres east of Maitri. It is built using shipping containers and is designed to be environmentally friendly. ISRO set up the Antarctica Ground Station for Earth Observation Satellites (AGEOS) at Bharati to receive data from Indian remote sensing satellites.
India also has research stations in the Arctic: Himadri, set up in 2008 at Ny-Alesund in Svalbard, Norway, and IndARC, an underwater observatory in the Kongsfjorden fjord (2014). India became an observer member of the Arctic Council in 2013 and released its Arctic Policy in 2022. Himansh is a high-altitude research station in the Himalayas (Spiti, Himachal Pradesh), set up in 2016 to study glaciers.
In 2022, India passed the Indian Antarctic Act to regulate its activities in Antarctica, in line with the Antarctic Treaty and the Madrid Protocol on environmental protection. India hosted the 46th Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting at Kochi in May 2024.
The Antarctic Treaty, signed in 1959 in Washington and in force from 1961, sets aside Antarctica for peaceful purposes and scientific research, and freezes territorial claims.
Why not the other options?
- ✗The Arctic has India's Himadri station in Svalbard.
- ✗The Himalayas have the Himansh research station.
- ✗The Indian Ocean has no Indian stations with these names.
Quick tip
Remember: Antarctic stations = Dakshin Gangotri (1983, first), Maitri (1989), Bharati (2012); Arctic = Himadri (2008, Svalbard); Himalayas = Himansh; NCPOR = Goa; Indian Antarctic Act = 2022.
💬 Discussions on this question
Ask a doubt ›Still stuck on this question? Ask our faculty and fellow students — answers appear here.
Ask a doubtMore Scientific Research Institutes & Organisations Questions
View all ›- Q1.The National Institute of Virology (NIV) is located in:
- Q2.The Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay (AEET) was the earlier name of:
- Q3.The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) of ISRO is located at:
- Q4.The National Informatics Centre (NIC), which provides IT support to the government, was established in:
- Q5.Which institute has developed an open-source tool called "IMPART" to monitor lake water surface temperatures?
More General Knowledge Questions
- Q1.The techniques of Rasa and Bhava used in Indian classical dance trace their origin to which ancient text?Indian Dance Forms
- Q2.Lavani, Powada, Koli, Waghya Murali and Dhangari Gaja are folk dances of which state?Indian Dance Forms
- Q3.The one-act play associated with the Sattriya tradition of Assam is called:Indian Dance Forms
- Q4.Which dance form of Goa is known as the 'Warrior Dance'?Indian Dance Forms
- Q5.Manipuri dance is based on the Rasleela themes of:Indian Dance Forms
Scientific Research Institutes & Organisations — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Scientific Research Institutes & Organisations, 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 scientific research institutes and organisations, such as BARC, ISRO, DRDO, CSIR and its laboratories, ICAR and ICMR, and specialised research centres for crops, animals, oceans and medicine, along with where they are located. Questions usually ask where an institute is located and what it researches. For example, BARC is in Mumbai, the Central Rice Research Institute is in Cuttack, and the National Institute of Oceanography is in Goa. A table of institute, city and field is the best way to revise this topic. Practise the research institutes 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.