RAS question
Bomdi La pass is located in which state of India?
Correct answer: (D) Arunachal Pradesh.
Bomdi La pass is located in Arunachal Pradesh, in West Kameng district.
Explanation
Bomdi La is an Arunachal Pradesh pass, not a pass of Sikkim, Manipur or Nagaland. It lies in West Kameng district and is linked with the route between Arunachal Pradesh and Lhasa in Tibet, with Bomdila town near the pass known for Buddhist monasteries. Mapcarta describes Bomdi La as a pass in Dirang ADC, West Kameng, Arunachal Pradesh, India. For a geography MCQ, the decisive clue is therefore the district-state pairing. Once West Kameng is identified, the state has to be Arunachal Pradesh.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Sikkim is associated with passes such as Nathu La and Jelep La, while Bomdi La is placed in West Kameng, Arunachal Pradesh.
- (B) Manipur does not fit because it neither borders China nor has Himalayan passes to Tibet, whereas Bomdi La is linked with the Arunachal Pradesh-Tibet route.
- (C) Nagaland is wrong because it does not have Bomdi La, and Mapcarta locates Bomdi La in Arunachal Pradesh.
Concept
This tests Indian physiography and the location of Himalayan passes in the North-East. RAS repeatedly asks such map-based facts because passes connect relief, frontier geography and state-wise location memory.