UPSC Prelims 2018 · Question 77 of 99
UPSC Prelims 2018 question on Kodaikanal Artificial Lake
- ExamUPSC CSE
- Year2018
- PaperGeneral Studies Paper I
- SubjectGeography
- TopicIndian Geography
- DifficultyMedium
- TypeDirect
Which one of the following is an artificial lake?
Show answer
Answer: A. Kodaikanal (Tamil Nadu)
Analysis
Kodaikanal is the artificial lake, so the answer is (a).
Kodaikanal Lake, also known as Kodai Lake, is a manmade lake in Kodaikanal city in the Dindigul district of Tamil Nadu. Sir Vere Henry Levinge, then Collector of Madurai, was instrumental in creating it in 1863, in a town developed by the British and by early American missionaries.
The other three are natural water bodies: Kolleru in Andhra Pradesh is a large freshwater lake between the Krishna and Godavari deltas, Nainital in Uttarakhand is a Himalayan lake, and Renuka in Himachal Pradesh is likewise natural.
Source
Atlas; The Hindu report on the maintenance of Kodaikanal lake.
How to crack it
The colonial hill station connection is the tell. Lakes at hill stations developed by the British in the nineteenth century, such as Kodaikanal and Ooty, are frequently engineered, whereas lakes in the deltas and in the Himalaya are usually natural in origin. When asked to identify an artificial lake, look first for the site with a documented colonial founder, then confirm the others sit in settings where natural lake formation is expected.