Consider the following crops of India:

Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3

All three crops are grown mostly on rain-fed land. Groundnut is largely a rainfed kharif crop of drylands, sesamum is grown mainly under rainfed and low-input conditions, and pearl millet (bajra) is largely rainfed in the kharif season.

• ✓ 1. NCERT describes groundnut as largely a rainfed kharif crop of drylands. In southern India it is also grown in the rabi season.
• ✓ 2. ICAR describes sesame (sesamum, til) as an important oilseed crop in India, predominantly cultivated under rainfed and low-input conditions.
• ✓ 3. Pearl millet (bajra) is a hardy crop of hot, dry north-western and western India that resists dry spells and drought. In the kharif season it is largely grown as a rainfed crop. The exceptions are some areas of eastern Rajasthan, southern Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh.
• ✗ (a) This leaves out pearl millet, which is a rainfed crop of dry regions.
• ✗ (b) This leaves out groundnut, which is a rainfed kharif crop of drylands.

Remember · Groundnut, sesamum and bajra are all dryland crops grown predominantly under rainfed conditions.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 India: People and Economy, Ch 3 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 India: People and Economy, Ch 3 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2012, General Studies paper. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). · Report an error