Consider the following statements with reference to Upper Gangetic agro-climatic region : 1. This region encompasses central and western Uttar Pradesh. 2. This region has more than 130% irrigation intensity and 140% cropping intensity. Which of the above statements is/are correct ?
- (a)Both 1 and 2
- (b)Neither 1 nor 2
- (c)Only 1
- (d)Only 2
Correct — A, Both 1 and 2. Statement 1 is straightforwardly true: in the Planning Commission's division of India into fifteen agro-climatic regions for agricultural planning, the Upper Gangetic Plains Region is the tract of central and western Uttar Pradesh, lying between the Middle Gangetic Plains Region (eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar) to its east and the Trans-Gangetic Plains Region (Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and the Ganganagar tract of Rajasthan) to its west; the Tarai belt along the Himalayan foot is usually taken with it. Statement 2 is marked correct by the official key, and the qualitative claim behind it is exactly what defines this region: it is one of the most heavily irrigated and most intensively cropped parts of India. Canal command from the Upper Ganga Canal (opened 1854 from the headworks at Haridwar) and the Lower Ganga Canal, reinforced by one of the densest private tubewell networks in the country, gives the Ganga-Yamuna Doab near-assured water, and the wheat-rice-sugarcane rotations mean most fields carry two crops in a year — which is what a cropping intensity well above 100 per cent means. Be honest about the digits, though: the specific figures in statement 2, more than 130 per cent irrigation intensity and 140 per cent cropping intensity, are the numbers that circulate in the standard descriptions of this agro-climatic region and we have not been able to trace them to a primary government publication. Carry away the ranking and the reason — very high irrigation and cropping intensity, because of canal-plus-tubewell water on fertile alluvium — rather than the two percentages.
- (b)Neither 1 nor 2 — Statement 1 is certainly true — 'Upper Gangetic Plains' is precisely the agro-climatic label for central and western Uttar Pradesh — so an option that rejects both statements cannot stand.
- (c)Only 1 — This is the option a cautious candidate reaches for after being unable to recall the exact percentages. The official key, however, accepts statement 2: the region is characterised in the agro-climatic literature by irrigation and cropping intensities well above 100 per cent, which is the substance of the claim.
- (d)Only 2 — It rejects the one statement that is unambiguously verifiable. The Upper Gangetic Plains Region is defined by its coverage of central and western Uttar Pradesh; the eastern districts of the state belong to the Middle Gangetic Plains Region and Bundelkhand to the Central Plateau and Hills Region.
For the Seventh Five Year Plan the Planning Commission divided India into fifteen agro-climatic regions, using soil type, climate (temperature and rainfall), physiography and water-resource availability, so that agricultural planning could be matched to natural conditions rather than to state boundaries. Uttar Pradesh alone falls into three of them: the Upper Gangetic Plains Region across its central and western districts, the Middle Gangetic Plains Region in the east, and the Central Plateau and Hills Region in Bundelkhand. The two intensity measures used to describe such a region are simple ratios: cropping intensity is gross cropped area divided by net sown area, expressed as a percentage, so anything above 100 per cent means the same land is cropped more than once a year; irrigation intensity is gross irrigated area divided by net irrigated area, and it rises above 100 per cent when the same irrigated field is watered for more than one crop in the year.
The examiner is testing whether you can attach a name to a place and recognise the profile that goes with it. Statement 1 is the anchor and it is decidable on knowledge alone. Statement 2 is a characterisation rather than a lookup: the Upper Gangetic Plains is the classic Green Revolution belt of assured canal and tubewell irrigation, deep fertile alluvium and a wheat-rice-sugarcane rotation, so a claim of high irrigation and cropping intensity is exactly what a student should expect to be true, whatever the precise percentages. In UPPSC's statement-based items a plausible quantitative claim attached to a correctly named region is usually meant to be accepted; a number is normally the falsifier only when it is wildly off, or when it is attached to the wrong place.
- The Planning Commission's fifteen agro-climatic regions were drawn up for the Seventh Five Year Plan to base agricultural planning on soil, climate, physiography and water availability rather than on state boundaries.
- Uttar Pradesh spans three of those regions: Upper Gangetic Plains (central and western UP), Middle Gangetic Plains (eastern UP, with Bihar) and Central Plateau and Hills (Bundelkhand).
- Cropping intensity = (gross cropped area / net sown area) x 100; irrigation intensity = (gross irrigated area / net irrigated area) x 100. A value above 100 per cent means the same land carries more than one crop, or more than one irrigated crop, in a year.
- Western Uttar Pradesh is India's sugarcane heartland (Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Bijnor) and part of the wheat-rice Green Revolution belt; the Upper Ganga Canal, opened in 1854 with headworks at Haridwar, plus a dense tubewell network, is what makes the double and triple cropping possible.
- The exact intensity percentages quoted in statement 2 could not be traced to a primary government source for this card; the region's standing as one of India's most intensively irrigated and cropped tracts is not in doubt.
- Confusing the Upper Gangetic Plains Region with the Trans-Gangetic Plains Region (Punjab-Haryana-Delhi) or with the Middle Gangetic Plains Region (eastern UP and Bihar).
- Rejecting a statement merely because you cannot verify its percentage — here the number is part of the standard description of the region and the key accepts it.
- Mixing up cropping intensity with irrigation intensity, or reading a figure above 100 per cent as an error; both ratios exceed 100 wherever land is cropped more than once a year.
UPPSC repeatedly asks Uttar Pradesh's agricultural geography as statement-pairs — a region or district named against a crop, a canal, a soil or a statistic; UPSC prefers the mechanism, asking which crop combination suits a described climate or what a land-use ratio actually measures.
The lower Gangetic plain is characterised by humid climate with high temperature throughout the year. Which one among the following pairs of crops is most suitable for this region?
- (a) Paddy and cotton
- (b) Wheat and jute
- (c) Paddy and jute
- (d) Wheat and cotton
Answer(c) Paddy and jute
The neighbouring segment of the same Gangetic sequence, tested the same way — match the agro-climatic region to the cropping pattern its climate and water supply permit.
Given below are two statements, one is labelled as Assertion (A) and the other as Reason (R). Assertion (A) : Sugarcane and sugar production in U.P. is more than Maharashtra but productivity is less. Reason (R) : Most of the sugar factories in Maharashtra are in cooperative sector. Codes :
- (a) Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A)
- (b) Both (A) and (R) are true, but (R) is not the correct explanation of (A)
- (c) (A) is true, but (R) is false
- (d) (A) is false, but (R) is true
Answer(b) Both (A) and (R) are true, but (R) is not the correct explanation of (A)
The defining crop of this very region — the sugarcane belt of western Uttar Pradesh is what the Upper Gangetic Plains' assured irrigation and high cropping intensity actually produce.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Cropping intensity of a region is calculated as :
- (a)(Net sown area / Total geographical area) x 100
- (b)(Gross cropped area / Net sown area) x 100
- (c)(Gross irrigated area / Gross cropped area) x 100
- (d)(Area sown more than once / Total geographical area) x 100
Answer(b) (Gross cropped area / Net sown area) x 100 — a value above 100 per cent shows that the same land is being cropped more than once in the year.
- practice — not a real PYQ
In the Planning Commission's agro-climatic classification of India, the eastern districts of Uttar Pradesh, together with Bihar, fall in which region?
- (a)Upper Gangetic Plains Region
- (b)Middle Gangetic Plains Region
- (c)Lower Gangetic Plains Region
- (d)Trans-Gangetic Plains Region
Answer(b) Middle Gangetic Plains Region — the Upper Gangetic Plains covers central and western UP, the Lower Gangetic Plains covers West Bengal, and the Trans-Gangetic Plains covers Punjab, Haryana and Delhi.