Consider the following statements: 1. Bajra is predominantly grown in states like Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, while Ragi is mainly cultivated in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. 2. Bajra grows well in sandy and shallow black soils, whereas red and shallow black soil is suited for Ragi. With regard to the statements given above, which of the following is correct?
- (a)Both the statements are correct and statement 2 is the correct explanation of statement 1.
- (b)Both the statements are correct, but statement 2 is not the correct explanation of statement 1.
- (c)Statement 1 is correct, but statement 2 is false.
- (d)Statement 1 is false, but statement 2 is correct.
Correct — A, Both the statements are correct and statement 2 is the correct explanation of statement 1. The distribution in statement 1 is the standard one: bajra, or pearl millet, is grown mainly in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Haryana, while ragi, or finger millet, is concentrated in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu with smaller pockets in the hill states. Statement 2 gives the soils each crop wants — sandy soils and shallow black soil for bajra, red and shallow black soil for ragi. Put the two together and the second explains the first, because the crop map is a soil map. Rajasthan and northern Gujarat are sandy country on the desert margin and parts of Maharashtra carry shallow black soil, which is exactly where bajra does well; the Karnataka plateau and the Tamil Nadu uplands are red-soil country, which is where ragi does well. Bajra is also the hardier of the two against drought and heat, so it holds the drier western tract, while ragi is a dryland crop of the southern uplands.
- (b)Both the statements are correct, but statement 2 is not the correct explanation of statement 1. — Accepts the facts but denies the connection, when soil suitability is the standard explanation for why these two millets occupy the regions they do.
- (c)Statement 1 is correct, but statement 2 is false. — Statement 2 states the soil preferences as every standard account gives them — sandy and shallow black for bajra, red and shallow black for ragi.
- (d)Statement 1 is false, but statement 2 is correct. — The distribution in statement 1 is not in doubt. Rajasthan leads in bajra and Karnataka in ragi.
Millets are kharif crops of the dry farming tracts, grown on light and often poor soils with little irrigation and low rainfall. Jowar, bajra and ragi are the three that Indian geography courses treat as a set. Jowar occupies the semi-arid Deccan, chiefly Maharashtra and Karnataka. Bajra runs along the drier western belt from Rajasthan and Haryana through Gujarat into Maharashtra and western Uttar Pradesh. Ragi belongs to the southern uplands, above all Karnataka, which grows more of it than any other state. All three need less water than rice or wheat, tolerate poor soils, and are grown largely under rainfed conditions, which is why they have returned to attention as climate-resilient crops.
The item is an assertion-and-reason pair in which the reason is genuinely the mechanism, so the answer is the strongest of the four options. The way to be confident is to test the link in one direction: if the soils were reversed, would the crop map be reversed too? It would, and that is what makes statement 2 an explanation rather than a coincidence. Present-day context worth adding: 2023 was observed as the International Year of Millets on a proposal India moved at the United Nations, and the government has since pushed millets under the Shree Anna initiative, so questions on their regions and soils have become more frequent rather than less.
- Bajra is grown chiefly in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Haryana.
- Ragi is grown mainly in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, with smaller areas in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Jharkhand and Arunachal Pradesh.
- Bajra does well on sandy soils and on shallow black soil; ragi does well on red and shallow black soils.
- Both are kharif millets grown largely under rainfed conditions on light soils with low rainfall.
- The United Nations observed 2023 as the International Year of Millets, on a proposal moved by India.
- Swapping ragi and bajra between north and south; ragi is the southern crop.
- Assuming millets need black cotton soil like cotton does. Bajra prefers sandy soils.
- Accepting an assertion-and-reason item as merely two true statements without testing whether the second causes the first.
As an assertion-and-reason pair on crop distribution and soils, or as a match between a millet and its leading state.
Consider the following crops of India : 1. Groundnut 2. Sesamum 3. Pearl millet Which of the above is/are predominantly rainfed crop/crops?
- (a) 1 and 2 only
- (b) 2 and 3 only
- (c) 3 only
- (d) 1, 2 and 3
Answer(d) 1, 2 and 3
Explains why the soil argument works at all. Pearl millet is a rainfed crop of marginal land, so where it grows is decided by what the soil will bear rather than by where irrigation reaches.
Which of the following pairs of crop and product is/are correctly matched? 1. Food crop : Ragi 2. Cash crop : Jute 3. Plantation crop : Coconut Select the correct answer using the code given below:
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 2 and 3 only
- (c) 1, 2 and 3
- (d) 3 only
Answer(c) 1, 2 and 3
Places ragi in the wider classification. NDA's item confirms it as a food crop; this one asks where that food crop is grown and on what soil.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which state leads India in the production of ragi?
- (a)Karnataka
- (b)Rajasthan
- (c)Gujarat
- (d)Punjab
Answer(a) Karnataka — finger millet is concentrated on the red soils of the Karnataka plateau and the Tamil Nadu uplands.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Bajra is best suited to which of the following soil conditions?
- (a)Sandy soils and shallow black soil
- (b)Deep alluvial soil with assured irrigation
- (c)Waterlogged clay
- (d)Saline coastal soil
Answer(a) Sandy soils and shallow black soil — which is why it occupies the dry western belt from Rajasthan through Gujarat into Maharashtra.