What was the position of Madhya Pradesh in the production of pulses in the year 2021-22 in India?

Question

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Correct — A, First. In 2021-22 Madhya Pradesh was the largest pulse-producing state in India, ahead of Rajasthan and Maharashtra; those three together account for roughly half of the national output. That was also the year India recorded its highest-ever pulses production, about 273 lakh tonnes (27.3 million tonnes). Madhya Pradesh gets there on the strength of its rabi pulses — above all gram (chana), with tur/arhar, urad and masoor alongside — grown on the black soils of Malwa, the Narmada valley and Nimar, where residual soil moisture supports a rabi pulse crop after the kharif harvest. Note the detail MPPSC likes to exploit: the state was only second in area under pulses (Rajasthan has more) but first in production.

Why the other options are wrong — (b) Second place in production belonged to Rajasthan. This is the trap for anyone who has memorised that Rajasthan leads in area under pulses and assumes area rank equals production rank — for Madhya Pradesh it is the other way round.  (c) Maharashtra was the third-largest pulse producer; Madhya Pradesh was comfortably ahead of it.  (d) Fourth place goes to the next tier of producers such as Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka. Madhya Pradesh's output was far above that level.

Concept: Pulses are India's protein crop and the country is simultaneously the world's largest producer, largest consumer and largest importer of them. They are split by season: the rabi pulses are gram (chana) and lentil (masoor), the kharif pulses are tur/arhar, urad, moong and cowpea. Gram alone is the single biggest pulse crop of the country. Most pulses are grown rainfed on relatively marginal land, which keeps yields low, and being legumes they fix atmospheric nitrogen through Rhizobium bacteria in root nodules — which is why they are the standard rotation and green-manure crop. Production climbed to a record of about 273 lakh tonnes in 2021-22, with Madhya Pradesh at the head of the state list.

State PCS 2026 Q77 — Madhya Pradesh GK PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2026 Q77 — Madhya Pradesh GK PYQ with Answer