What is the capital of Uttarakhand?

The correct answer is Dehradun, the capital of Uttarakhand. Dehradun serves as the administrative and legislative headquarters of Uttarakhand, housing the state secretariat, the Legislative Assembly, and the offices of the Governor and Chief Minister. Notably, Dehradun functions as the state's interim capital, while Gairsain was declared the summer capital in 2020 to give the hill regions greater administrative representation, and Dehradun is also known for premier institutions such as the Indian Military Academy and the Forest Research Institute. The other options given in this Uttarakhand question are capitals of different Indian states, and candidates often confuse them because Static GK questions on state capitals are frequently tested together in a single set. Bhopal is the capital of Madhya Pradesh, not Uttarakhand. Ranchi is the capital of Jharkhand, not Uttarakhand. Shimla is the capital of Himachal Pradesh, not Uttarakhand. None of these cities administers Uttarakhand; only Dehradun holds that constitutional status. Competitive exams such as SSC CGL, SSC CHSL, State PSC, and Railway exams often feature an Uttarakhand question like this one on Dehradun, which shows why questions on Indian state capitals are considered high-scoring, since they test direct factual recall rather than complex reasoning. Remember Dehradun as the capital of Uttarakhand, and clearly distinguish it from the distractor capitals used here — Bhopal, Ranchi, Shimla — to avoid marking the wrong answer under exam-time pressure.