The northern part of the Western Coastal Plain of India is also known as _____ .

The correct answer is C) Konkan. The Western Coastal Plain is a narrow strip between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea, conventionally split into three parts. The northern stretch, from Daman in the north down to Goa, is the Konkan coast. The middle part is the Kanara coast (Karnataka), and the southern part is the Malabar coast (Kerala).

Why the others fail: Karnataka is a state, and its coastal stretch is the Kanara coast, which lies in the middle, not the north. Malabar is the southern section, named after the Kerala region. Coromandel is on the Eastern Coastal Plain, running along Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh between the Eastern Ghats and the Bay of Bengal, so it is the wrong coast altogether.

Core concept: physiographic division of the coastal plains. The western coast is narrow, with few large rivers forming deltas, and it has lagoons and backwaters such as the Kerala backwaters. For Mains GS-I (physical geography) and GS-III (ports, tourism, Konkan Railway), this is a useful base.

Trap: aspirants mix up Malabar and Coromandel because both are familiar coastal names, or they assume the northern part must be named after a state.