Home › PYQs › Indian Geography › Repeat & Gap Sheets › Islands of India
Islands of India: asked and not asked.
UPSC has asked 15 of these 35. 2 came more than once. 20 have not come yet. Lock the repeated ones first, then read the rest.
First, the concept
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are the tops of a drowned mountain chain, an extension of the Arakan Yoma of Myanmar. Two of them are volcanoes: Barren (active) and Narcondam (dormant).
Lakshadweep is built of coral: 36 small islands, many of them atolls (a ring of coral around a lagoon).
Channels are named by the latitude they lie on: Ten Degree (Andaman | Nicobar), Nine Degree (Minicoy | rest of Lakshadweep), Eight Degree (Minicoy | Maldives).
🔁 Asked again and again (2)
Tap a year to open that solved question.
✅ Asked once (13)
Andaman Islands
- North Sentinel · Home of the Sentinelese, who avoid all contact
- Little Andaman · Southern end of the Andaman group; home of the Onge 1982
- Saddle Peak (North Andaman) · The highest point of the islands
- Narcondam · A dormant volcano; home of the Narcondam hornbill
Nicobar Islands
Lakshadweep
- Minicoy · Southernmost island; lies between the Nine and Eight Degree Channels
Channels and straits
Mainland and river islands
- Sriharikota · Andhra Pradesh, by Pulicat Lake; ISRO's launch centre
- Pamban (Rameswaram) · Tamil Nadu; joined to the mainland by the Pamban bridge
- Srirangam · Kaveri river island, Tamil Nadu
❌ Not asked by UPSC yet (20)
Items marked 'asked in UPPCS' have already come in the UP state exam, so examiners do use them.
Andaman Islands
- Ross Island (Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Dweep) · Renamed in 2018 asked in UPPCS
- Baratang · Mud volcanoes and limestone caves
- Havelock (Swaraj Dweep) and Neil (Shaheed Dweep) · Renamed in 2018
Nicobar Islands
- Indira Point · Great Nicobar; the southernmost point of India asked in UPPCS
- Katchal · Saw the first sunrise of the new millennium in 2000
- Nancowry · Central Nicobar group
Lakshadweep
- Kavaratti · Capital of Lakshadweep asked in UPPCS
- Agatti · Has the airport of Lakshadweep
- Andrott · The largest island of Lakshadweep
- Bitra · The smallest inhabited island
- Pitti · A bird sanctuary island
Channels and straits
- Nine Degree Channel · Separates Minicoy from the rest of Lakshadweep asked in UPPCS
- Coco Channel · Between North Andaman and the Coco Islands (Myanmar) asked in UPPCS
- Great Channel · Between Great Nicobar and Sumatra (Indonesia)
Mainland and river islands
- Majuli · Brahmaputra, Assam; the largest river island in India and a district asked in UPPCS
- Wheeler Island (A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Island) · Odisha; missile test range asked in UPPCS
- Elephanta · Mumbai harbour; rock-cut caves asked in UPPCS
- Umananda · Brahmaputra at Guwahati; one of the smallest inhabited river islands
- Sagar Island · Mouth of the Hooghly, West Bengal; Gangasagar Mela
- Katchatheevu · In the Palk Strait; given to Sri Lanka in 1974
⚠️ Ten Degree Channel separates Andaman from Nicobar; Nine Degree is in Lakshadweep. Barren Island is the active volcano, Narcondam the dormant one.
'Asked' is checked against the solved UPSC questions on this site. 'Not asked yet' does not mean it will surely come.