The twelfth century Sanskrit scholar who was first responsible for the compilation of ‘Nibandhas’ or digests of epic and Puranic texts was ‘Lakshmidhara’.

Note: The compilation of nibandhas is known as Kalpataru, which is based on the various Hindu aspects such as dharmas, vedas and puranas.

Geoffrey Kay’s not so famous dictum is “capital created underdevelopment not because it exploited the underdeveloped world, but because it did not exploit it enough”.

Note: “Development and Underdevelopment: A Marxist Analysis” is one of the books written by Geoffrey Kay.

• The fifth century Tamil epic Silappadikaram, praises the river Cauvery.
• It features an unusual praise of the Sun, the Moon, the river Cauvery and the city of Poompuhar at its beginning, the contemporary tradition being to praise a deity. 

Note: Silappadikaram is one of the five great epics and the earliest poem in the Tamil literature.

Harappan Culture didn’t mark the earliest known use of iron as a medium for the art of sculpting.

• It was the first civilization in the Indian subcontinent.
• Harappans are believed to have used Indus Script, a language consisting of symbols. The script has not been deciphered yet but it is known that they used to write from right to left.
• Male torso and the Bearded priest are the two remarkable stone sculptures of Harappa civilization.

Note: Copper and bronze were in use during the Harappa civilization.

• Bhaskara belonged to Varman Dynasty of Assam.
• He was the most eminent of the monarchs of the ancient kingdom of Kamarupa

Note: It was established by Pushyavarman.

The correct answer is “1, 2 and 4”

• Tsomgo lake is in Sikkim and rest all other lakes are in Ladakh.
• Tso kar is a fluctuating salt lake.
• During winter the Pangong Tso lake freezes completely, despite being saline water.  
• Tso moriri is the largest high-altitude lake in India

Note: Tsomgo lake is also known as Changu Lake

The correct answer is “A country under threat of submergence due to ice melting and sea level rise”

• Tuvalu is a group of nine tiny islands in the South Pacific
• Its population is around 10000
• No point in the country is higher than 4.5m above sea level in the country and is in a threat of submergence due to ice melting and sea level rise due to global warming

Note: It won Independence from the United Kingdom in 1978

All the given statements are true.

Statement 1: Rainfall, temperature and vegetation vary with latitude.

• At equator, the rainfall is maximum, and amount of rainfall generally decreases away from equator.
• Temperature also generally decreases away from the equator.
• Vegetation depends upon rainfall and temperature and hence it also varies with latitude.

Statement 2: The difference between the longest day and the shortest day increases with latitude.

• At latitude 0° (the Equator) day length will be approximately 12 hours.
• Areas on the Equator have a constant 12 hours of day light all year round.
• Moving away from the Equator as latitude increases to polar circles - north or south-day length can be seen to increase to 24 hours in summer or decrease to zero in winter.

Statement 3: Indira Point is located approximately at 6°45' N latitude. It is the southern-most tip of India.

Note:

• Latitudes are the angular distances of a place north or south of the earth's equator, or of the equator of a celestial object.
• For reference Equator is taken as 0° and the latitudes of both the poles are at 90° to the Equator.

The correct match is as follows:

Note:

• Tectonic lakes are lakes formed by the deformation and resulting lateral and vertical movements of the Earth's crust
• Lagoon lakes are shallow bodies of water which got separated from a larger body of water by some barrier or reefs
• A landslide dam or barrier lake is a natural damming of a river by some kind of landslides, such as debris flows and rock avalanches, or by volcanic eruptions
• A crater lake is a lake that forms in a volcanic crater or caldera

The correct answer is 2 and 3 only

Statement 1: Himalayan rivers are perennial. Hence, 1^st statement is wrong.

Statement 2: Peninsular Plateau have reached maturity and cause less erosion. Hence, 2^nd statement is true.

Statement 3: Himalayan rivers are generally in a young state and depict all the three stages of normal cycle of erosion. Hence, 3^rd statement is true.

Note:

• The longest river in India is Ganga stretching over 2525 km.
• Nile is credited as the longest river in the world stretching over 6695 km