Cities & Places — PPSC previous year questions

The Sikh Heritage Complex, Virasat-e-Khalsa, is at Anandpur Sahib in Rupnagar district, the birthplace of the Khalsa. Designed by Moshe Safdie, its foundation was laid in 1999 for the Khalsa tercentenary and it was opened in November 2011.

The Baba Banda Singh Bahadur War Memorial, crowned by the 328-foot Fateh Burj, stands at Chappar Chiri near Mohali, where Banda Singh Bahadur defeated Wazir Khan of Sirhind in May 1710.

Go by longitude. Nawanshahr (about 76.1° E) lies farthest east. Then come Hoshiarpur (about 75.9° E), Jalandhar (about 75.6° E) and Gurdaspur (about 75.4° E) in the north-west of the state. So the order from east to west is Nawanshahr, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Gurdaspur, that is 4-3-2-1. A mental map helps. Gurdaspur sits in the Majha (the Ravi–Beas tract) near the Pakistan border. Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur are in the central Doaba (the Beas–Sutlej tract). Nawanshahr (Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar) is at the eastern edge of the Doaba, near Ropar.

Pushpa Gujral Science City, Punjab's largest science museum and learning centre, is located on the Jalandhar–Kapurthala road in Kapurthala district. Set up jointly by the Government of India and the Punjab Government and inaugurated in 2005, it is named after the mother of former Prime Minister I.K. Gujral and houses galleries, a dome theatre, a planetarium and an outdoor dinosaur park.

All three are in Patiala district. Bir Moti Bagh Wildlife Sanctuary adjoins the Moti Bagh Palace in Patiala city. The Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports (NIS, 1961) is housed in the old Moti Bagh Palace. Ghuram, the historic village linked with the birthplace of Kaushalya, mother of Lord Rama, lies near Patiala. Rupnagar has Anandpur Sahib and the Ropar wetland. Amritsar has the Golden Temple, and Hoshiarpur the Shivalik foothills. None of them has these three sites.

Maharaja Jagatjit Singh built the Moorish Mosque of Kapurthala between 1926 and 1930. The French architect Monsieur M. Manteaux designed it on the pattern of the Koutoubia (Grand) Mosque of Marrakesh, Morocco. So statement (b) is correct. It stands in Kapurthala city, not Malerkotla. Muhammad Ahmad Ali Khan did not build it. It is an ASI protected monument, not a World Heritage Site. India's July 2024 inscription was the Moidams of Charaideo, Assam.

Patalpuri Sarovar is at Kiratpur Sahib in Rupnagar district. There the ashes of the departed are traditionally immersed in the Sutlej. So it does not belong to Amritsar. Ram Tirath is associated with Valmiki and Lav-Kush. Gobindgarh Fort was built by Ranjit Singh on the site of Gujjar Singh Bhangi's fort. The Ramgarhia fort/bunga belongs to Jassa Singh Ramgarhia. All three are in Amritsar.

Rohtas Fort was built by Sher Shah Suri near Jhelum. It lies in Pakistani Punjab and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Aam Khas Bagh is the Mughal garden at Sirhind (Fatehgarh Sahib). Khairuddin Masjid is in Amritsar. Bahadurgarh Fort is near Patiala; Nawab Saif Khan built it and Maharaja Karam Singh of Patiala renamed it.

The Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier planned Chandigarh. He took over the project in 1951, after the original American planner Albert Mayer withdrew. The city's sector grid and Capitol Complex are his work. His cousin Pierre Jeanneret assisted with the city's buildings and furniture. Edwin Lutyens designed New Delhi. John Lockwood Kipling was principal of the Mayo School of Art, Lahore.

The Jang-e-Azadi Memorial stands at Kartarpur in Jalandhar district, on the Jalandhar–Amritsar national highway. Built by the Punjab government to commemorate Punjab's contribution to India's freedom struggle, its first phase was dedicated in October 2016 and the rest was opened in 2018. It is distinct from the Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara across the border in Pakistan.