RAS question
The Mettur Dam is built on:
Correct answer: (D) Cauvery River, Tamil Nadu.
Mettur Dam is built on the Cauvery River in Tamil Nadu.
Explanation
Mettur Dam is correctly linked with the Cauvery because the official Mettur Municipality page identifies Stanley Reservoir, also known as Mettur Dam, and states that its main source of water is the River Kaveri, or Cauvery. The dam is in Salem district, Tamil Nadu, and is one of India's older large dams, completed in 1934. Its importance is not only locational: it irrigates about 3 lakh acres through the Mettur Canal system, supports the Cauvery delta often called the Granary of South India, and remains in the news because Cauvery water releases affect Tamil Nadu's agriculture and the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu water dispute.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Tungabhadra River is wrong because the River Kaveri, or Cauvery, is the main water source associated with Mettur Dam.
- (B) Godavari River is wrong because the question asks about Mettur Dam, and Mettur Municipality links it to Kaveri/Cauvery, not Godavari.
- (C) Krishna River is wrong because the dam in the question is identified with the Cauvery system, while Krishna is not associated with Mettur Dam.
Concept
This tests Indian river systems and major dam-river-state pairs. It recurs in RAS because dams connect physical geography with irrigation, agriculture, and inter-state water issues.