UPSC Prelims 2026 Q73: Indian Army Corps and HQs — Explained

Which one of the following pairs is not correctly matched?

(Indian Army Corps : Headquarters)

  1. 3 Corps : Dimapur
  2. 4 Corps : Tezpur
  3. 14 Corps : Leh
  4. 33 Corps : Srinagar

Answer: (d) 33 Corps : Srinagar

Statement-wise explanation

  • a: incorrect — 3 Corps (Spear Corps) is headquartered at Rangapahar Military Station, Dimapur, Nagaland. This pair is correctly matched, so it is not the answer. The corps covers Nagaland, Manipur and the Indo-Myanmar border, working with the Assam Rifles in counter-insurgency.
  • b: incorrect — 4 Corps (Gajraj Corps) is headquartered at Tezpur, Assam. This pair is correctly matched, so it is not the answer. The corps was re-raised in October 1962, during the war with China, and guards a large part of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Arunachal Pradesh.
  • c: incorrect — 14 Corps (Fire and Fury Corps) is headquartered at Leh, Ladakh. This pair is correctly matched, so it is not the answer. It was raised after the 1999 Kargil War and guards Ladakh's frontiers with both Pakistan (Kargil, Siachen) and China (eastern Ladakh).
  • d: correct — 33 Corps (Trishakti Corps) is headquartered at Sukna, near Siliguri in West Bengal, not at Srinagar. It guards Sikkim and the Siliguri Corridor. The corps headquartered in Srinagar, at Badami Bagh Cantonment, is 15 Corps (Chinar Corps). This mismatch makes this option the answer.

How to eliminate

Mostly you need to know the facts, but geography helps. Think about which front each corps faces. Dimapur, Tezpur and Leh all lie behind active frontiers: Dimapur behind the Myanmar border and Nagaland–Manipur, Tezpur behind Arunachal Pradesh, and Leh behind both Ladakh fronts. Srinagar is home to the Army's best-known counter-terrorism formation, the Chinar Corps, and that formation is 15 Corps. If you remember that 'Chinar Corps' means 15 Corps in Srinagar, you can rule out any other corps number paired with Srinagar. The fact to remember is that 33 Corps (Trishakti) sits at Sukna, near Siliguri, and guards Sikkim and the 'Chicken's Neck'.

Know more

Corps of the Indian Army: a formation map

A corps is the Army's largest fighting formation below a Command. It usually has two to four divisions and is led by a Lieutenant General (the GOC). The Army has six operational Commands: Northern, Western, South Western, Southern, Central and Eastern. Most corps that face China or Pakistan in the mountains are holding corps. A few are strike corps, built for offensive operations.

Corps Name HQ Command Primary area
3 Corps Spear Rangapahar (Dimapur), Nagaland Eastern Nagaland, Manipur, Indo-Myanmar border
4 Corps Gajraj Tezpur, Assam Eastern Western and central Arunachal LAC
33 Corps Trishakti Sukna (Siliguri), West Bengal Eastern Sikkim, Siliguri Corridor
14 Corps Fire and Fury Leh, Ladakh Northern Ladakh: LoC (Kargil) and LAC
15 Corps Chinar Srinagar (Badami Bagh) Northern Kashmir Valley LoC, counter-terrorism
16 Corps White Knight Nagrota, J&K Northern Jammu region, Pir Panjal
17 Corps Brahmastra Panagarh, West Bengal Eastern Mountain strike corps

How to remember it

  • North-East trio: 3 Corps sits in Nagaland, 4 Corps in Assam and 33 Corps in North Bengal. All three come under Eastern Command (Kolkata).
  • J&K and Ladakh trio: 14 Corps is in Leh, 15 Corps in Srinagar and 16 Corps in Nagrota. All three come under Northern Command (Udhampur).
  • The corps names give clues. Chinar is the tree of the Kashmir Valley. Gajraj (elephant) points to Assam. Trishakti reflects the three-nation junction around Sikkim (Nepal, Bhutan, China).

UPSC can also pair these cities with the wrong Command or division. Learn each corps as a set of four facts: number, name, HQ and Command.

NCERT Concepts to Revise

  • Sino-Indian War of 1962: The 1962 war in the eastern sector explains why the Army keeps corps headquarters in Assam and North Bengal facing China.

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