RAS question
Mettur Dam is built on which river and located in which state?
Correct answer: (A) Cauvery — Tamil Nadu.
Mettur Dam is built on the Cauvery River in Salem district of Tamil Nadu.
Explanation
Mettur Dam is correctly paired with the Cauvery River and Tamil Nadu because the Central Water Commission register lists Mettur under Tamil Nadu, with the river as Cauvery and the district as Salem. The dam was built in 1934, making it one of India's older major dams. Its importance is not only locational; it is tied to irrigation and power. The dam supplies irrigation water to the Thanjavur delta region and also supports hydroelectric generation. The Cauvery-Tamil Nadu pairing is the core location fact, with Salem district as the confirming location detail.
Why the other options are wrong
- (B) Pennar is the wrong river because Mettur Dam is on the Cauvery according to the CWC register.
- (C) Godavari-Andhra Pradesh is wrong because Mettur Dam is in Salem district of Tamil Nadu, not in Andhra Pradesh.
- (D) Krishna-Karnataka is wrong because Mettur is associated with the Cauvery in Tamil Nadu, not the Krishna in Karnataka.
Concept
Major dams, rivers and state locations form an important Indian geography theme. Such pairs recur in RAS because they connect physical geography with irrigation, power generation and regional development.