In Indian geography, which Indian state shares its borders with the highest number of other Indian states, making it the state that touches the maximum different neighbours within the country?

Introduction / Context:
Understanding which Indian state shares borders with the highest number of other states helps learners build a mental map of India and improve basic political geography knowledge. This type of general knowledge question is frequently asked in school exams and competitive tests because it checks your awareness of the layout of Indian states and their neighbours, rather than just rote facts.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• We are dealing only with states inside the Union of India, not international borders.
• Union Territories are not counted as states for this particular question.
• The task is to identify the one state that touches the boundaries of the maximum number of other Indian states.

Concept / Approach:
The approach is to recall or imagine the political map of India and count how many different states each candidate state touches. Typically, questions of this type focus on large centrally located states, because they are more likely to share boundaries with many neighbours. Peripheral states at the edge of the country usually have fewer neighbouring states.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Consider Uttar Pradesh in northern India, which touches several states including Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar. Step 2: Count these neighbours for Uttar Pradesh, which gives a total of nine adjacent Indian states. Step 3: Now examine Rajasthan, a large state in western India, which shares borders with a smaller number of states such as Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. Step 4: Look at Madhya Pradesh, a central state that touches several neighbours, but its total count is still less than or comparable to Uttar Pradesh. Step 5: Uttarakhand is a comparatively smaller hill state and has far fewer neighbouring states. Step 6: Comparing all options, Uttar Pradesh clearly has the highest number of neighbouring states.

Verification / Alternative check:
A quick way to verify is to check a reliable political map of India or a trusted atlas and literally count the boundaries each of the listed states shares with others. Repeating this count consistently shows that Uttar Pradesh touches nine different Indian states, which is more than any of the other options listed in this question.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Rajasthan is large but bordered by fewer states compared to Uttar Pradesh. Madhya Pradesh is central but does not reach as many distinct state borders as Uttar Pradesh. Uttarakhand is a smaller Himalayan state and naturally borders far fewer states than any of the larger central plains states.

Thus, while these states have important geographical positions, none of them equals the number of neighbouring states that Uttar Pradesh has.

Common Pitfalls:
Candidates often assume that the largest state in area must share the most borders, which leads them to guess Rajasthan or Madhya Pradesh. Another common mistake is to forget smaller neighbouring states or Union Territories when visualising the map. Not revising basic Indian geography and maps can also cause confusion between states that are central and those that are simply large in land area.

To avoid this, it is helpful to regularly review the political map of India and practise questions on state boundaries and locations.

Final Answer:
The Indian state that shares borders with the highest number of other Indian states is Uttar Pradesh.