RAS question
The Aravalli Range, one of the oldest mountain ranges in the world, extends from:
Correct answer: (A) Gujarat to Delhi (about 800 km).
The Aravalli Range extends from Gujarat to Delhi in a southwest-northeast direction.
Explanation
The NCERT description places the Aravali Hills on the western and northwestern margins of the Peninsular Plateau and says they extend from Gujarat to Delhi in a southwest-northeast direction. That directly supports option A. In standard RAS framing, the range runs about 700 km from Gujarat, through Rajasthan, towards Delhi; its highest peak is Guru Shikhar, at 1,722 m, on Mount Abu; and in Rajasthan it helps separate the western Thar Desert from the more fertile eastern region. So the key exam fact is not merely that the Aravalli is old, but its diagonal Gujarat-Rajasthan-Delhi alignment.
Why the other options are wrong
- (B) Delhi to Kolkata would place the range across the northern plain and eastern India, whereas the verified alignment is from Gujarat to Delhi.
- (C) Rajasthan is part of the range's course, but Mumbai is not the endpoint in this Gujarat-to-Delhi alignment or in NCERT Contemporary India-I.
- (D) MP to UP does not match the NCERT-stated southwest-northeast extension from Gujarat to Delhi.
Concept
This tests the physical geography of India's physiographic divisions, especially the location and alignment of the Aravalli Range. It recurs in RAS because Rajasthan's desert-fertile divide and Peninsular Plateau margins are core map-based facts.