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UPSC Prelims 1993 · Indian Geography · India’s Land and Borders
Which one of the following provides the correct sequence of occurrence of four towns/cities as one proceeds from west to east?
- (a) Rajkot, Baroda, Kharagpur, Bilaspur
- (b) Bikaner, Aligarh, Darbhanga, Nowgong
- (c) Indore, Rourkela, Agartala, Jamshedpur
- (d) Nasik, Aurangabad, Berhampur, Nanded
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: (b) Bikaner, Aligarh, Darbhanga, Nowgong
Bikaner (~73°E) → Aligarh (~78°E) → Darbhanga (~86°E) → Nowgong/Nagaon (~92.7°E).
The idea
A west-to-east sequence must have increasing longitude at every step. Latitude and the distance between cities do not decide this ordering. One reversed pair is enough to disqualify an otherwise plausible sequence.
Why the others are wrong
(a) Bilaspur is west of Kharagpur.
(c) Agartala is east of Jamshedpur.
(d) Berhampur is east of Nanded.
The trap
Each wrong option has only its last two towns swapped.
Elimination technique
Inspect the last pair in each sequence: Bilaspur lies west of Kharagpur, Jamshedpur west of Agartala, and Nanded west of Berhampur. Each of those reversals invalidates its code.
Also know
Baroda is Vadodara, and Nasik is also written Nashik. Nowgong in this sequence refers to Nagaon in Assam, not Nowgong in Madhya Pradesh. Place-name duplicates and older spellings should be resolved before comparing coordinates.
🔒 Check longitudes, not States — only the last pair is swapped in each wrong option.
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