Indian Geography Questions and Answers

Answer: C

The project is the Indira Gandhi Canal Project.

The Indira Gandhi Canal carries water from the Harike barrage in Punjab deep into the Thar desert, through Sri Ganganagar, Hanumangarh, Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Barmer and other districts. The irrigation has turned large areas of sand dunes into farmland, but it has also raised the water table, causing waterlogging and salinity, and has changed the desert's vegetation and wildlife.

The Bisalpur project on the Banas supplies water to Ajmer and Jaipur, while the Damodar Valley and Hirakud projects are in Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha.

Answer: B

The keyed answer is Ramsagar.

The Ramsagar wildlife sanctuary, along with Van Vihar, lies wholly within Dholpur district, around the Ramsagar lake. The National Chambal (Gharial) Sanctuary is a long riverine sanctuary that runs along the Chambal through several districts of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, including Dholpur, but it is not a sanctuary of the Dholpur region alone, which is the reading the key follows.

Ramgarh Vishdhari is in Bundi, and Tal Chhapar, known for its blackbucks, is in Churu.

Answer: B

Drought is accompanied by water shortage.

A drought results when rainfall fails or is far below normal for a long period, so that the water available falls short of what people, crops and animals need. In Rajasthan, where rainfall varies greatly from year to year, the resulting water shortage affects drinking water, agriculture and fodder alike.

A large volume of water is the opposite of drought, and a high yield of coarse grain is not what failed rains produce. Low fodder yield is a consequence of drought rather than the condition that defines it.

Answer: B

Rice does not grow in Jaisalmer.

Rice needs plenty of water, so in Rajasthan it is grown only where irrigation or rainfall allows: in the canal-irrigated north (Sri Ganganagar and Hanumangarh) and in the wetter south-east, such as Kota, Bundi and Banswara, served by the Chambal canals.

Jaisalmer, in the heart of the Thar with very low rainfall, grows hardy crops such as bajra, moth and guar, not rice.

Answer: C

The keyed answer is the Rana Pratap Sagar dam.

The Chambal Valley Project has three dams in a chain: Gandhi Sagar in Madhya Pradesh, then Rana Pratap Sagar at Rawatbhata in Chittorgarh district, then Jawahar Sagar, with the Kota barrage below them for irrigation. Rana Pratap Sagar is the next dam downstream, to the north, of Gandhi Sagar, and it serves power generation, flood control and irrigation.

Jawahar Sagar lies further downstream and is mainly a power dam, while Ganga Sagar and Rampad Sagar are not dams of the Chambal project.

Answer: B

The Sri Ganganagar region is irrigated by the Gang Canal.

The Gang Canal was built by Maharaja Ganga Singh of Bikaner and opened in 1927. It takes water from the Sutlej at Hussainiwala near Ferozepur and irrigates the Sri Ganganagar region, which it turned into one of the most productive farming areas of the state.

The Indira Gandhi Canal mainly serves the districts further into the desert, the Bharatpur canal draws on the Yamuna system for the east, and there is no major 'Hanumangarh Canal' irrigating Sri Ganganagar.

Answer: B

The longest river flowing entirely within Rajasthan is the Banas.

The Banas rises in the Khamnor hills of the Aravallis near Kumbhalgarh in Rajsamand district and flows north-east through Bhilwara, Tonk and Sawai Madhopur before joining the Chambal, all within the state, a course of about 512 km.

The Chambal is longer but rises in Madhya Pradesh, and the Luni ends in the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat. The Banganga flows on into Uttar Pradesh, and is in any case much shorter.

Answer: B

They are part of the tropical dry deciduous forests.

Most of Rajasthan's forest outside the desert is tropical dry deciduous, trees that shed their leaves in the dry season. The dhokra (Anogeissus pendula) forests of the Aravalli and the mixed deciduous forests of the south-east and south belong to this type.

Subtropical hill forest is found only on Mount Abu, tropical thorn forest covers the arid west, and evergreen forest is not native to the state, so none of those is the right group.

Answer: B

The sanctuary is Bandh Baretha.

Bandh Baretha Wildlife Sanctuary lies around the Bandh Baretha dam on the Kakund river in Bharatpur district and is known for its water birds.

The others are elsewhere. Ramgarh Vishdhari is in Bundi district, Ramsagar is in Dholpur district and Nahargarh is near Jaipur.

Answer: B

The negative impact is waterlogging.

Heavy canal irrigation in the Indira Gandhi canal command, with seepage from unlined channels and poor drainage, raised the water table in parts of Sriganganagar, Hanumangarh and Bikaner until the root zone became waterlogged. Waterlogging in turn brings soil salinity and has taken land out of cultivation.

The other three are benefits of the canal: less wind erosion as vegetation spreads, longer-lasting soil moisture, and afforestation along the canal belt.