Which one of the following best reflects the practical, rational and lasting solution?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (d) Buffer stocking of water through dams and recharging aquifers
The problem is one of timing: about 75% of the rain falls in 120 days and too little in the other 245. The lasting fix is to store the monsoon water — in dams and in recharged aquifers — and use it through the year.
- ✗ (a) Huge concrete tanks and canals across the country are neither practical nor lasting at that scale, and canals move water rather than store it.
- ✗ (b) Changing cropping patterns adjusts demand; it does not manage the skewed availability the passage describes.
- ✗ (c) Interlinking rivers moves water from place to place; the passage’s problem is uneven supply over the year.
- ✓ (d) Buffer stocks in dams and recharged aquifers capture the ‘too much’ of June–September and release it in the ‘too little’ months — exactly the managed, year-round use the passage asks for.
Remember · Match the solution to the exact problem: uneven supply over time needs storage, not transfer or demand changes.
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·