MPPSC 2024 Prelims Paper-I · Question 52 of 100

Correct — D, Dewas. Soyabean cultivation in Madhya Pradesh is credited to have begun in Dewas district (part of the Malwa region) during the state's oilseed-diversification drive from the 1970s onward. It spread rapidly across the neighbouring Malwa plateau districts thereafter, eventually turning MP into India's leading soyabean-producing state.

• (a)Indore — Indore became one of Malwa's biggest soyabean-producing and processing hubs later, but cultivation did not originate there.
• (b)Ujjain — Ujjain is a major present-day soyabean district in the Malwa belt, but it is not credited as the crop's starting point in MP.
• (c)Vidisha — Vidisha grows soyabean as part of MP's wider Malwa oilseed belt, but it is not the originating district.

Soyabean, though not native to India, was introduced and popularised as a major oilseed/cash crop in Madhya Pradesh from the 1970s onward, transforming the state into India's largest soyabean producer. Cultivation is credited with beginning in Dewas district before spreading through the wider Malwa plateau region.

The trap is confusing the ORIGINATING district (Dewas) with other major CURRENT soyabean districts (Indore, Ujjain, Vidisha and neighbours) that are large producers today but were not where the crop started.

• Soyabean cultivation in Madhya Pradesh is credited to have started in Dewas district.
• It later spread across the Malwa plateau region — Ujjain, Indore, Vidisha and neighbouring districts also became major producers.
• Madhya Pradesh became known as India's leading soyabean-producing state.
• Soyabean is a Kharif oilseed crop, sown with the onset of the south-west monsoon.

• Confusing the ORIGINATING district (Dewas) with today's largest-PRODUCING districts, which may differ
• Assuming soyabean is a native/traditional Indian crop rather than a 20th-century introduction

MPPSC favours 'which district started X' origin-trivia questions tied to MP's agricultural history — distinct from 'which district produces the most X today.'

No directly related past UPSC PYQ was found — the specific originating district of MP's soyabean cultivation is a state-specific fact not tested in the UPSC store.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Soyabean is predominantly cultivated in India as a:

  • (a)Rabi cereal
  • (b)Kharif oilseed
  • (c)Zaid vegetable
  • (d)Plantation crop

  Answer(b) Kharif oilseed — sown with the onset of the south-west monsoon and harvested around September-October.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Madhya Pradesh's Malwa Plateau, a major soyabean-growing tract, is characterised chiefly by which soil type?

  • (a)Alluvial soil
  • (b)Black (regur) soil
  • (c)Laterite soil
  • (d)Desert soil

  Answer(b) Black (regur) soil — the same basalt-derived soil that suits cotton also supports the region's soyabean and wheat cultivation.