Indian Agriculture — Cropping Pattern, Irrigation & Productivity — Practice

Question 1

Which cropping season is wheat typically grown in?

Accepted Answer

Rabi.

Question 2

What is India's single largest source of irrigation by area covered?

Accepted Answer

Groundwater (tube wells and wells).

Question 3

In which year was PMKSY launched?

Accepted Answer

2015.

Question 4

Why is rice predominantly a kharif crop while wheat is predominantly a rabi crop?

Accepted Answer

Rice is water-intensive and aligns with the south-west monsoon (kharif season); wheat requires cooler growing conditions and relies on residual soil moisture/irrigation after the monsoon retreats (rabi season) — the classification follows each crop's water/temperature requirement.

Question 5

What does 'Per Drop More Crop' specifically target, and under which scheme does it fall?

Accepted Answer

Water-use efficiency (more output per unit of water, via drip/sprinkler micro-irrigation), under PMKSY (Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana, 2015).

Question 6

Name two factors commonly cited behind India's agricultural yield gap.

Accepted Answer

Any two of: fragmented landholdings (limiting mechanisation/scale economies), uneven/untimely input access (seeds, fertiliser, credit), and residual rain-dependence in unirrigated tracts.

Question 7

Explain the specific mechanism behind falling groundwater tables in intensively-irrigated Indian regions.

Accepted Answer

Groundwater extraction (via tube wells) outpaces the rate of natural recharge from rainfall and surface water percolation, so the water table progressively falls over time — this is a specific extraction-versus-recharge imbalance, not a generic claim of water scarcity, and it is concentrated in regions with intensive groundwater-dependent irrigation.

Question 8

Explain the Green Revolution's key limitation and why it remains relevant to today's agricultural policy priorities.

Accepted Answer

The Green Revolution's productivity gains (from HYV seeds, fertilisers, and expanded irrigation, from the mid-1960s) were regionally concentrated (Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh) and crop-concentrated (wheat and rice far more than pulses and oilseeds). This means rain-fed regions and non-cereal crops saw comparatively limited benefit — which is exactly why closing the yield gap for pulses/oilseeds and extending productivity gains to rain-fed areas remains a distinct, still-unresolved policy priority today.

Practice — Indian Agriculture — Cropping Pattern, Irrigation & Productivity

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