MPPSC 2021 Prelims Paper-I · Question 18 of 100

Correct — A, Rai. Ram Sahay Pandey, based in Sagar in the Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh, devoted his life to performing and popularising the Rai folk dance — traditionally performed by the Bedia community — and was conferred the Padma Shri in 2022 for his contribution to the art form.

• (b)Beehu — Bihu is the harvest folk dance of Assam, unrelated to Ram Sahay Pandey or Madhya Pradesh.
• (c)Lawani — Lavani is a folk dance-song tradition of Maharashtra, not linked to Pandey's work.
• (d)Nautanki — Nautanki is a folk-theatre tradition associated with Uttar Pradesh/Rajasthan, not a dance form linked to Pandey.

Rai is a folk dance of the Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh, traditionally performed by women of the Bedia community, marked by brisk footwork and rhythmic movement to the accompaniment of folk instruments. Ram Sahay Pandey, though not himself from the Bedia community, spent decades working to give the dance social respectability and wider recognition, founding an organisation dedicated to Bundelkhand's folk arts, which earned him a Padma Shri in 2022.

MPPSC frequently pairs a recently honoured (Padma award) artist with their art form; the trap is confusing regional folk dances of other states used as similar-sounding distractor options.

• Rai — a folk dance of the Bundelkhand region (Sagar) of Madhya Pradesh
• Traditionally performed by the Bedia community
• Ram Sahay Pandey — awarded the Padma Shri (2022) for popularising Rai dance
• He founded the Bundelkhandi Lok Nritya Natya Kala Parishad

• Matching Rai with another state's dance because the option names sound generic
• Confusing Bundelkhand's Rai dance with unrelated same-named terms

MPPSC directly pairs a recently awarded folk artist with their art form; UPSC tends instead to ask about the region or community traditionally associated with a named folk dance.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Rai folk dance, for which Ram Sahay Pandey received the Padma Shri, is traditionally associated with which region of Madhya Pradesh?

  • (a)Bundelkhand
  • (b)Malwa
  • (c)Nimar
  • (d)Baghelkhand

  Answer(a) Bundelkhand — centred around Sagar district.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Karma, a folk dance performed by the Gond and Baiga tribes, is associated with which of the following states?

  • (a)Madhya Pradesh
  • (b)Assam
  • (c)Gujarat
  • (d)Maharashtra

  Answer(a) Madhya Pradesh — Karma is danced to celebrate the Karam tree/deity by MP's tribal communities.