Which of the following districts has maximum forest area as a percentage of the geographical area?

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — B, Sheopur. Sheopur, in MP's northern Chambal/Gwalior region, has large tracts of ravine and hill forest — including the Kuno forest belt — so roughly half of its geographical area carries forest cover, far higher than the other three options.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) A Malwa Plateau district — an intensively cultivated soybean/wheat belt with comparatively little forest left.  (c) Also a Malwa Plateau district — dominated by farmland and urban/religious-town development, with low forest share.  (d) MP's most urbanised and industrialised district — the least forested of the four options.

Concept: Forest cover as a percentage of geographical area varies hugely across Madhya Pradesh's districts depending on terrain and land-use history: hilly, low-agricultural-value tracts (like Sheopur's Chambal ravines and the Kuno forest belt) retain much more forest than the intensively farmed Malwa Plateau districts (Ratlam, Ujjain, Indore).

State PCS 2022 Q77 — Madhya Pradesh GK PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2022 Q77 — Madhya Pradesh GK PYQ with Answer