Read the following statements regarding the climate of Madhya Pradesh and select the correct answer from the codes given below : 1. Most of the rainfall in the state is received from the monsoon. 2. W

Question

Read the following statements regarding the climate of Madhya Pradesh and select the correct answer from the codes given below :

1. Most of the rainfall in the state is received from the monsoon.

2. Wind speed during winters is faster than in summer and rainy seasons.

3. Distance from sea also affects the distribution of monsoon rains in the state.

4. Summer temperature in Pachmarhi is related to the altitude above sea level. Codes :

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

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.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) 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) 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) 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.

Concept: 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.

State PCS 2025 Q58 — Madhya Pradesh GK PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2025 Q58 — Madhya Pradesh GK PYQ with Answer