Identify correct statements about cotton cultivation in India.
(A) India grows only short staple (Indian) cotton.
(B) Cotton is a tropical crop grown in Kharif season.
(C) Cotton requires clear sky during flowering stage.
(D) Its leading producers are Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Andhra Pradesh.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → (B), (C), (D) only
Note: The given answer is as per the official NTA Answer Key, which appears to be wrong, as explained below. The correct answer should be (B) and (C) only, which is not among the options.
(A) India grows only short staple (Indian) cotton. — False. India grows both short staple (Indian) cotton and long staple (American) cotton. The long staple cotton is called ‘narma’ in north-western parts of the country. NTA changed ‘both’ to ‘only’, and a true line became false. Read every word before you mark the answer.
(B) Cotton is a tropical crop grown in Kharif season. — True. Cotton is a tropical crop. It is grown in the kharif (rainy) season in the semi-arid areas of the country.
(C) Cotton requires clear sky during flowering stage. — True. Cotton needs a clear sky when the plant flowers.
(D) Its leading producers are Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Andhra Pradesh. — False. The book names Gujarat, Maharashtra and Telangana as the leading producers of cotton, not Andhra Pradesh. In the book, Andhra Pradesh comes only as one of the cotton growing areas in the south (its plateaus), not as a leading producer.
NCERT (2026-27): “Cotton … Cotton is a tropical crop grown in kharif season in semi-arid areas of the country. India lost a large proportion of cotton growing area to Pakistan during partition. However, its acreage has increased considerably during the last 50 years. India grows both short staple (Indian) cotton as well as long staple (American) cotton called ‘narma’ in north-western parts of the country. Cotton requires clear sky during flowering stage.” “India ranks second in the world in the production of cotton after China. Cotton occupies about 4.7 per cent of total cropped area in the country. There are three cotton growing areas, i.e. parts of Punjab, Haryana and northern Rajasthan in north-west, Gujarat and Maharashtra in the west and plateaus of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu in south. Leading producers of this crop are Gujarat, Maharashtra and Telangana Per hectare output of cotton is high under irrigated conditions in north-western region of the country.” |