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The Kharif cropping season in India largely coincides with the:
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Answer: Option B — South-west monsoon
Detailed Solution
The kharif season in India largely coincides with the south-west monsoon, which brings most of the country's annual rainfall between June and September. Kharif crops are sown with the onset of the monsoon rains (around June-July) and harvested at the end of the rainy season (around September-October).
The word "kharif":
"Kharif" is an Arabic word meaning "autumn", because these crops are harvested in autumn.
Main kharif crops:
- Food grains: rice (paddy), maize, jowar, bajra and ragi.
- Pulses: tur (arhar), moong and urad.
- Oilseeds: groundnut, soybean and sesamum (in the north).
Cash crops: cotton and jute. Sugarcane is also planted in this period in some areas.
Conditions for kharif crops:
- High temperatures and heavy or adequate rainfall during the growing period.
- Most kharif crops depend on monsoon rains, so a delayed, weak or erratic monsoon can reduce production sharply.
- Rice is the most important kharif crop and needs plenty of water.
Major kharif-growing regions:
- Rice: West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and the coastal plains.
- Cotton and soybean: the Deccan and the Malwa plateau.
- Groundnut: Gujarat and the southern states.
Importance of the monsoon for Indian agriculture:
- More than half of India's net sown area is rain-fed, so the monsoon is often called the "real finance minister of India".
- The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issues seasonal forecasts for the monsoon, which help farmers and planners.
- The government announces minimum support prices for kharif crops before the sowing season.
The three cropping seasons of India:
- Kharif: sown June-July with the south-west monsoon, harvested September-October.
- Rabi: sown October-December, harvested March-May.
- Zaid: a short summer season between rabi and kharif.
Why not the other options?
- ✗The north-east monsoon (October to December) brings rain mainly to Tamil Nadu and coastal Andhra Pradesh, during the rabi season.
- ✗Western disturbances bring winter rain to north-western India, which helps rabi crops.
- ✗The winter season is the rabi season, not the kharif season.
Quick tip
Remember: Kharif = south-west monsoon season (sown June-July, harvested September-October: rice, maize, cotton, soybean); "kharif" means autumn.
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Agriculture in India — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Agriculture in India, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers agriculture in India: cropping seasons (kharif, rabi and zaid), major food and cash crops and their leading producer states, irrigation, the Green, White, Blue and other agricultural revolutions, and allied activities such as animal husbandry and fisheries. Questions usually ask which crop belongs to which season, which state is the largest producer of a crop, and which revolution relates to which product. For example, the White Revolution relates to milk and was led by Verghese Kurien, and the Blue Revolution relates to fisheries. Producer rankings can change from year to year, so check the latest data for those questions. Practise the agriculture in India questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.