The drainage originating in the Himalayan mountain complex consists of how many distinct drainage systems of the Indian subcontinent?
Answer: B
There are three distinct Himalayan drainage systems.
They are the Indus, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra. All three rise in or near Tibet, and together they drain the whole northern plain, carrying the silt that makes it the most fertile region in the country.
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The percentage of India's total population employed in agriculture is nearly
Answer: D
Nearly 70 per cent of India's population depends on agriculture.
The proportion of workers directly employed in it has since fallen towards half, but agriculture still supports a far larger share of the population than its share of national income - which is the central problem of rural incomes.
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Which of the following important rivers of India does not originate from the Western Ghats?
Answer: D
The Mahanadi does not rise in the Western Ghats.
It rises in the Sihawa hills of Chhattisgarh and flows east to the Bay of Bengal. The Cauvery, Godavari and Krishna all rise in the Western Ghats within a short distance of the Arabian Sea and cross the entire peninsula eastward, because the plateau tilts that way.
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Which of the following areas or regions is most prone to earthquakes?
Answer: A
The Ganga-Brahmaputra valley is most prone to earthquakes.
It lies along the front of the Himalayas, where the Indian plate is still driving under the Eurasian, so strain accumulates and is released in large shallow earthquakes. The Deccan plateau is part of the stable ancient shield and is comparatively quiet.
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The proportion of forest to the total national geographical area of India as envisaged by National Forest Policy is
Answer: B
The National Forest Policy sets the target at 33.3 per cent.
The 1952 policy proposed a third of the total land area under forest - 60 per cent in the hills and 20 per cent in the plains - and the 1988 policy retained the figure. Actual forest cover is around 21 per cent.
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Which of the following dams has generations of power more than irrigation as its main purpose?
Answer: A
Gandhi Sagar is built primarily for power.
It is the first of the four dams of the Chambal Valley project, on the Madhya Pradesh-Rajasthan border, and its main purpose is hydroelectric generation, with irrigation secondary. Hirakud, Periyar and Tungabhadra were built chiefly for irrigation and flood control.
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Which of the following crops is regarded as a plantation crop?
Answer: A
Coconut is a plantation crop.
Plantation crops are perennial, grown on large estates for the market rather than for subsistence, and usually need processing before sale - tea, coffee, rubber, coconut and spices. Cotton, sugarcane and rice are seasonal field crops.
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Which of the following countries leads in the production of aluminium and its products in the world?
Answer: D
The USA leads in aluminium and aluminium products.
Although the bauxite is mined elsewhere - Australia and Guinea are the largest sources - smelting needs enormous quantities of electricity, so it concentrates where power is cheap and industry can absorb the metal.
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The natural region which holds the Indian subcontinent is
Answer: C
The subcontinent belongs to the monsoon natural region.
Its defining feature is the seasonal reversal of wind: moist south-westerlies from June to September bringing almost all the rain, and dry north-easterlies for the rest of the year. The pattern arises from the differential heating of the Asian landmass and the Indian Ocean.
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The most ideal region for the cultivation of cotton in India is
Answer: C
The Deccan plateau is the ideal cotton region.
Cotton needs deep black regur soil that holds moisture, 50 to 100 cm of rain, a long frost-free season and bright sunshine at picking time. The lava-derived black soils of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh supply exactly that.
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