Match List – I with List – II and select the correct answer using the codes given below the lists : List – I (Lake) A) Sala Lake B) Badkhal Lake C) Loktak Lake D) Kaliveli Lake List – II (Location) 1) Arunachal Pradesh 2) Haryana 3) Manipur 4) Tamil Nadu Codes:

The answer is A (A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4). Start with the matches you can be sure of. Loktak Lake is in Manipur (3). It is the largest freshwater lake in Northeast India, famous for its phumdis (floating biomass) and Keibul Lamjao National Park, the only floating national park in the world. Badkhal Lake is in Faridabad, Haryana (2), on the Aravalli foothills near Surajkund. Kaliveli Lake is a coastal wetland in Villupuram district, Tamil Nadu (4).

That leaves Sala Lake for Arunachal Pradesh (1). I hold this one with less certainty than the other three, so verify it against your wetland notes.

• Option B puts Badkhal in Arunachal Pradesh, which is wrong.
• Options C and D put Loktak or Kaliveli in the wrong states.

The core concept is the location of Indian wetlands and Ramsar sites, which the Prelims often tests through lake-state pairs. For Mains, wetland conservation under the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017 is a useful angle.

Trap: Aspirants often map Badkhal to Arunachal or Assam by association with other northeastern lakes. Start by fixing the easy pairs and then eliminate options.