Assertion (A): The western slopes of the Western Ghats receive heavy rainfall during the south-west monsoon.
Reason (R): The moist south-west monsoon winds from the Arabian Sea rise along these slopes, cool and give rain.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Both Assertion (A) and Reason (R) are correct, and R is the correct explanation of A.
In an Assertion-Reason question, each statement is checked for truth first, and then R is tested as the cause of what A describes.
Assertion — correct. The western (windward) side of the Western Ghats is one of the wettest parts of India in the monsoon season.
Reason — correct. The Arabian Sea branch of the monsoon is blocked by the Ghats; the moist air is forced up the slopes, cools and its moisture falls as rain.
The heavy rain on the western slopes is the result of this rising and cooling of moist winds, so R explains A.