During the year 2021 - 22, which of these states was ranked second in area and first in production of pulses in the country ?
- (a)Maharashtra
- (b)Rajasthan
- (c)Gujarat
- (d)Madhya Pradesh
Correct — D, Madhya Pradesh. The question is built on a deliberate mismatch between area and output, and Madhya Pradesh is the state where the two ranks diverge in exactly that way: for 2021-22 it stood second in the country in area under pulses but first in pulse production. Rajasthan carries the largest pulse acreage in India, but much of it is arid and rainfed with low yields, so the larger area does not translate into the larger harvest. Madhya Pradesh combines a big rabi pulse belt — gram (chana) above all, backed by lentil and pea across Malwa, the Bundelkhand districts and the Narmada valley — with better assured moisture and higher yields, which is why it tops the production table. MPPSC keyed the same fact in its 2024 paper, where Madhya Pradesh was again the answer for the first rank in pulse production in 2021-22.
- (a)Maharashtra — Maharashtra is a major pulse state — it has a large tur (arhar) and gram belt — and is consistently among the top three, but for 2021-22 it held neither the first rank in production nor the second rank in area that this question describes.
- (b)Rajasthan — This is the intended trap. Rajasthan has the largest area under pulses in the country, so a student who remembers only 'Rajasthan leads in pulses' picks it. But its ranks run the other way — first in area, not second — and its low, largely rainfed yields keep it below Madhya Pradesh in production.
- (c)Gujarat — Gujarat's cropping pattern is dominated by groundnut, cotton and, in the rabi season, wheat and cumin. Pulses occupy a comparatively small share of its cropped area, and it does not appear at the top of either the area or the production table for pulses.
Area and production are two different rankings, and for pulses they routinely disagree. Area measures how much land is sown; production is area multiplied by yield. Pulses in India are overwhelmingly a rainfed, low-input crop, so states with vast dry acreage can lead in area while states with better moisture and higher yields lead in output. India is the world's largest producer, consumer and importer of pulses, and gram (chana) is its single biggest pulse crop.
Whenever an MPPSC question pairs two ranks in one sentence — 'second in area and first in production' — it is testing whether you know that the two lists are not the same list. Read it as a yield question: which state gets more out of less land? For pulses that state is Madhya Pradesh, and the state with more land but less output is Rajasthan. The same trick reappears with oilseeds, coarse cereals and cotton.
- Madhya Pradesh has been India's leading pulse-producing state in recent years; Rajasthan carries the largest area under pulses.
- Gram (chana) is India's largest pulse crop and the mainstay of Madhya Pradesh's rabi pulse belt; tur (arhar) is the principal kharif pulse.
- Most of India's pulse area is rainfed, which is why pulse yields are low and output swings with the monsoon.
- India is the world's largest producer, consumer and importer of pulses.
- Pulses are legumes: Rhizobium bacteria in their root nodules fix atmospheric nitrogen, which is why they are valued in crop rotation and intercropping.
- The National Food Security Mission, launched in 2007-08, originally targeted rice, wheat and pulses.
- Reading 'largest area' and 'largest production' as the same ranking — for pulses they are different states
- Assuming the state that leads in total pulses also leads in every individual pulse; tur, moong and masoor have their own leading states
- Ignoring the reference year — these rankings shift, and MPPSC always pins the question to a stated year such as 2021-22
MPPSC asks agriculture rankings with the year fixed and often with two ranks in one sentence, so that half-remembered facts fail. UPSC rarely asks a bare rank; it asks statement-based questions about pulse seasons, procurement and productivity. Prepare the state ranks for MPPSC and the crop science and policy for UPSC.
With reference to the production of pulses in India, consider the following statements: 1. Black gram (urad) can be cultivated both as Kharif and Rabi crop. 2. Green-gram (moong) alone accounts for nearly half of pulse production. 3. In the last three decades, while the production of Kharif pulses has increased, the production of Rabi pulses has decreased. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 2 and 3 only
- (c) 2 only
- (d) 1, 2 and 3
Answer(a) 1 only
The same subject — the geography of Indian pulse production — tested by UPSC through seasons and crop shares rather than state ranks.
In India, during the last decade the total cultivated land for which one of the following crops has remained more or less stagnant ?
- (a) Rice
- (b) Oilseeds
- (c) Pulses
- (d) Sugarcane
Answer(c) Pulses
Turns on the same area-versus-output distinction this MPPSC question exploits — pulse acreage barely moved, so any gain in production had to come from yield.
In the year 2021-22, which State of India had the first rank in production of pulses?
- (a) Uttar Pradesh
- (b) Rajasthan
- (c) Madhya Pradesh
- (d) Gujarat
Answer(c) Madhya Pradesh
The identical fact for the identical year, asked one paper earlier — 2025 simply added the area rank to make the same answer harder to reach.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which of the following is the largest pulse crop of India by production?
- (a)Tur (arhar)
- (b)Gram (chana)
- (c)Moong (green gram)
- (d)Masoor (lentil)
Answer(b) Gram (chana) — the single largest pulse crop of India, grown mainly in the rabi season.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Pulses are valued in crop rotation mainly because they:
- (a)need very little water compared with cereals
- (b)fix atmospheric nitrogen through Rhizobium bacteria in their root nodules
- (c)have deep tap roots that draw minerals to the surface
- (d)are harvested before flowering, leaving the soil undisturbed
Answer(b) They fix atmospheric nitrogen through Rhizobium bacteria in root nodules, enriching the soil for the following crop.