RAS question
Chilika Lake is located on which coast of India?
Correct answer: (A) Eastern coast.
Chilika Lake is a brackish-water lagoon in coastal Odisha on the eastern coast of India.
Explanation
Chilika Lake is located on India's eastern coast, in Odisha. The Government of Odisha tourism page describes Chilika Lake as a brackish-water lagoon spread across Puri, Khurda and Ganjam districts of Odisha on the east coast of India. That directly supports option A. For the exam, the key is to connect Chilika with Odisha and the eastern coast, not with the southern tip or the western coast. The standard explanation also notes its scale: Chilika is India's largest coastal lagoon and the second largest in the world. In RAS geography questions, such examples often test whether a candidate can place a major physical feature in its correct coastal setting.
Why the other options are wrong
- (B) The southern coast refers to the region around India's southern tip near Kanyakumari, whereas Chilika is in Odisha on the east coast.
- (C) India has no northern coast, so this option cannot describe the location of any coastal lagoon.
- (D) The western coast is the wrong side of India for Chilika, which is in Odisha on the eastern coast.
Concept
This tests the Indian geography concept of locating major lakes and lagoons along the correct coast. It recurs in RAS because Odisha, Chilika and eastern-coast physical geography are standard map-based facts.