MPPSC 2025 Prelims Paper-I · Question 58 of 100

Correct — C, statements 1, 3 and 4. Statement 1 is true: Madhya Pradesh is landlocked and monsoon-fed, and the overwhelming bulk of its annual rainfall falls in the south-west monsoon months (roughly mid-June to September), with winter and pre-monsoon showers adding very little. Statement 3 is true: the state's rain comes chiefly from the Bay of Bengal branch, which reaches the south-east first, so rainfall falls off steadily towards the north-west — from roughly 1,400 mm and more in Balaghat, Mandla and Dindori down to about 800 mm or less in the Chambal districts of Bhind, Morena and Datia. Statement 4 is true: Pachmarhi, the state's only hill station, sits at about 1,067 m in the Satpura range (Dhupgarh, 1,352 m, is Madhya Pradesh's highest point), and its cooler summer temperature is an altitude effect — temperature falls with height. Statement 2 is the false one, which is why C beats D.

• (a)1, 2 and 3 are correct — It retains the false statement 2 and discards the true statement 4. Winter in Madhya Pradesh is the calm, dry season under a high-pressure regime; the fast winds come with the hot-weather 'loo' and with the monsoon current, not in December–February. Statement 4, which this option throws out, is straightforwardly correct.
• (b)2, 3 and 4 are correct — It keeps the false statement 2 and, worse, drops statement 1 — the least deniable fact about the state's climate, that its rainfall is monsoon rainfall.
• (d)1, 2, 3 and 4 are correct — The 'all of the above' trap. Three of the four statements are indeed correct, but statement 2 reverses reality: winter is the season of light, settled air in Madhya Pradesh, not its windiest season.

Madhya Pradesh has a tropical monsoon climate — a hot summer, a wet south-west monsoon and a cool dry winter. Three controls explain nearly every MP climate question. Latitude: the Tropic of Cancer cuts across the middle of the state. Altitude: the Satpura–Maikal highlands (Pachmarhi, Amarkantak) stay cooler than the Malwa plateau and far cooler than the Chambal plains. Distance and direction from the moisture source: the Bay of Bengal branch enters from the south-east and weakens as it travels inland to the north-west.

In statement-based climate questions the false statement is usually the one making a seasonal claim you can test against ordinary experience. 'Winter winds are faster than summer and monsoon winds' fails that test at once. Once statement 2 falls, three of the four options die together — (a), (b) and (d) all contain it — and only (c) is left. That is the fastest route through this question: find the single false statement rather than verifying all four.

• MP is landlocked; the south-west monsoon (mid-June to September) delivers the great majority of its annual rainfall.
• The Bay of Bengal branch is MP's main rain-bearer — rainfall declines from the south-east (Balaghat, Mandla, Dindori: ~1,400 mm+) to the north-west Chambal belt (Bhind, Morena, Datia: ~800 mm or less).
• Pachmarhi (~1,067 m) in the Satpura range is MP's only hill station; Dhupgarh (1,352 m) nearby is the state's highest point.
• Winter (December–February) is the calm, dry season; the strongest winds accompany the summer 'loo' and the monsoon current.

• Assuming winter must be windy because it is cold — in MP, cold and calm go together.
• Crediting the Arabian Sea branch with MP's rainfall; the south-eastern districts, which get the most, are fed chiefly by the Bay of Bengal branch.
• Picking the 'all four correct' option in a four-statement set — it is right far less often than it looks.

MPPSC asks MP's climate nearly every year, usually as 'which statement is NOT correct' (2021, 2022 and 2023 each carried one) and occasionally, as here, as a select-the-correct-statements set. UPSC prefers to test the same three controls — latitude, altitude and distance from the sea — as reasons matched to climatic conditions.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which of the following districts of Madhya Pradesh generally receives the highest annual rainfall?

  • (a)Bhind
  • (b)Mandla
  • (c)Morena
  • (d)Ratlam

  Answer(b) Mandla — the south-eastern districts, reached first by the Bay of Bengal branch, form MP's wettest belt; Bhind and Morena in the north-west are the driest.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Dhupgarh, the highest point of Madhya Pradesh, lies in which range?

  • (a)Vindhya range
  • (b)Satpura range
  • (c)Maikal range
  • (d)Kaimur range

  Answer(b) Satpura range — Dhupgarh (1,352 m), near Pachmarhi, is the highest point in the state.