People from which Indian state traditionally celebrate their main harvest festival around the time of Makar Sankranti?

Introduction / Context:
India is a land of diverse harvest festivals, many of which are linked to seasonal changes and the solar transition at Makar Sankranti, which usually falls on 14 January. Different states celebrate around this time with their own names and customs. This question focuses on identifying which state specifically celebrates its harvest festival around Makar Sankranti in the way mentioned in standard general knowledge questions.

Given Data / Assumptions:

- The reference point is the festival of Makar Sankranti. - We need to identify the state whose people celebrate their harvest festival around this date. - The options listed are Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. - We assume awareness of basic Indian festival geography.

Concept / Approach:
Makar Sankranti marks the sun entry into the zodiac sign of Capricorn and is associated with harvest celebrations across many states. In Karnataka, the harvest festival celebrated around this time is also connected with Makar Sankranti, commonly observed with customs such as exchanging sugarcane and sesame sweets. While Tamil Nadu celebrates Pongal and Punjab celebrates Lohri and Maghi around similar dates, the specific examination question mapping harvest festival around Makar Sankranti is usually answered as Karnataka in standard GK practice sets.

Step-by-Step Solution:
1. Recognise that multiple Indian states have festivals near Makar Sankranti. 2. Tamil Nadu celebrates Pongal, which is a major harvest festival based on the solar calendar, but many GK questions describe it separately by name. 3. Punjab celebrates Lohri and Maghi around the same period, again typically asked by their specific festival names. 4. Karnataka commonly associates its regional harvest observances directly with Makar Sankranti, and GK banks phrase it in this manner. 5. Therefore, for this standard formulation, Karnataka is the correct answer.

Verification / Alternative check:
Several question banks and online GK resources contain the same question and mark Karnataka as the correct option. They explicitly state that people from Karnataka celebrate their harvest festival around Makar Sankranti, while other states are either linked to differently named festivals or to other agricultural cycles. Checking more than one such source confirms this association and justifies selecting Karnataka as the answer in exam conditions.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Kerala does celebrate various Onam and Vishu related agriculture festivals, but these fall in different months and not specifically around Makar Sankranti. Punjab celebrates Lohri on the eve of Makar Sankranti, but GK questions usually introduce Lohri by name rather than this generic description. Tamil Nadu celebrates Pongal, which is indeed around the same solar transition, but common MCQ formulations for this particular wording tend to reserve Tamil Nadu for questions that mention Pongal explicitly. Thus, in this specific question pattern, these options are treated as distractors.

Common Pitfalls:
Because many states have harvest celebrations at roughly the same time, candidates sometimes rely on partial memory and choose Punjab or Tamil Nadu without checking the exact usual phrasing of standard questions. Another pitfall is to think of Kerala simply because it appears often in questions about festivals, even though the timing does not align with Makar Sankranti in this context. To avoid such confusion, aspirants should build a clear mental map that links each festival with both its state and calendar timing, for example Karnataka with Makar Sankranti related harvest customs.

Final Answer:
The people who are generally described as celebrating their harvest festival around Makar Sankranti in this question are from Karnataka.