Consider the following pairs: 1. Nokrek Bio-Sphere Reserve : Garo Hills 2. Logtak (Loktak) Lake : Barail Range 3. Namdapha National Park: Daphla Hills Which of the above pairs is/are correctly matched?

Only pair 1 is correct. Nokrek Biosphere Reserve lies in the Garo Hills of Meghalaya, and it is a UNESCO-recognised biosphere reserve, with the Nokrek peak as its core.

• Pair 2 is wrong. Loktak Lake is in Manipur, in the Imphal valley region, and is famous for the floating phumdis and Keibul Lamjao National Park, the world's only floating national park. The Barail Range is a hill range along the Assam-Nagaland-Manipur border, so it has no link to Loktak.
• Pair 3 is wrong. Namdapha National Park is in Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh, in the eastern Himalayas near the Patkai and Mishmi hill belt. Its highest peak, Dapha Bum, belongs to the Mishmi-Patkai ranges, not the Daphla Hills, which are a separate range in the western part of the state.

The core concept here is the biogeography of India's Northeast. Protected areas are often named after rivers, peaks or tribes, and aspirants should know which hill range or lake sits in which state. This matters for Mains GS-3 questions on biodiversity hotspots and the Eastern Himalayas.

Trap: Pair 3 looks plausible because the names sound alike. Also, a candidate who recognises Loktak but not Barail may wrongly accept pair 2 as a valid match.