Which of the following canals has made agricultural activities of the western districts of Rajasthan more productive?

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — D, Indira Gandhi Canal. Originally called the Rajasthan Canal, it draws water from the Harike Barrage (the Sutlej–Beas confluence in Punjab) and carries it across roughly 650 km of the Thar Desert, irrigating the western/north-western Rajasthan districts (Ganganagar, Hanumangarh, Bikaner, Jaisalmer and others) that were otherwise arid and largely unproductive.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) A tributary-based irrigation project in the Sonbhadra region of Uttar Pradesh, unrelated to western Rajasthan.  (b) Draws from the Ramganga river/dam system in the Bareilly-Moradabad belt of Uttar Pradesh, far from Rajasthan's Thar tract.  (c) A canal system linking the Sharda and Ghaghra rivers to irrigate central-eastern Uttar Pradesh, not Rajasthan.

Concept: The Indira Gandhi Canal is India's longest canal and the single biggest reason the arid western Rajasthan districts — once dependent on scarce, erratic rainfall and deep groundwater — now support irrigated agriculture, drinking-water supply and afforestation across the Thar Desert fringe.

State PCS 2021 Q48 — Geography PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2021 Q48 — Geography PYQ with Answer