Day-574 | Daily MCQs | UPSC Prelims | GEOGRAPHY

Answer: C
Explanation:
Pair 1 is matched correctly:
Jog Falls:
• It is formed by the Sharavathi River in the Shimoga District of Karnataka, gushing down from 253 meters.
• The river originates at Ambuthirtha in Thirthahalli taluk and flows northwest through the Western Ghats, forming the Jog Falls before joining the Arabian Sea at Honavar.
Pair 2 is matched correctly:
• Dudhsagar Falls also known as the Sea of Milk is referred to as India’s one of highest waterfalls which is approximately 310 meters high and 30 meters wide.
• It is located on the Mandovi River in the state of Goa.
• The location of the Dudhsagar Falls is in the Bhagwan Mahaveer Sanctuary and Mollem National Park which is in the middle of the Western Ghats.
Pair 3 is matched correctly:
• Shivanasamudra is a popular waterfall on river Kaveri.
• It consists of two waterfalls- Gagana Chukki and Bhara Chukki.
• At Shivanasamudra / Shivasamudra, the river Kaveri splits into two, falls into a valley in two separate places namely Gaganachukki and Bharachukki.
• It re-unites at the downstream while falling down with great velocity and is of an average width of 849 meters along with 90 meters of height.

Answer: C
Explanation:
Statement 1 is correct:
• India has emerged as the world’s largest exporter of rice since 2012.
• Further its rice exports have doubled from 10 million tons in 2018-19 to over 20 million tons in 2022-23.
• India exports more rice than the next three exporting countries put together (Thailand, Vietnam, and Pakistan).
Statement 2 is incorrect:
• As per the data, the exports of basmati rice stood at 45.61 lakh tonnes in the entire 2022-23 financial year while the shipments of non-basmati rice stood at 177.92 lakh tonnes.
• It means Basmati rice constituted only 20% of total exports of all types of rice.

Answer: B
Explanation:
Weight losing raw materials are materials that weigh less after getting manufactured than what should have been their weight as a raw material. For example, copper was taken from its raw material copper ore.
Industries using weight-losing raw materials are located in the regions where raw materials are located.
• The sugar mills in India are located in sugarcane growing areas.
• Similarly, the locations of the pulp industry, copper smelting, and pig iron industries are located near their raw materials.
• In the iron and steel industries, iron ore and coal both are weight-losing raw materials.
• Therefore Iron and Steel Industry, Pulp Industry, and Sugar mills Industry are categorized as a weight-losing raw materials-based industry.
• Therefore, an optimum location for iron and steel industries should be near raw material sources. This is why most of the iron and steel industries are located either near coalfields (Bokaro, Durgapur, etc.) or near sources of iron ore (Bhadravati, Bhilai, and Rourkela).
• Similarly, industries based on perishable raw materials are also located close to raw material sources. Markets provide outlets for manufactured products. Heavy machines, machine tools, and heavy chemicals are located near the high-demand areas as these are market-orientated.
Non-weight-losing industries:
• The cotton textile industry uses a non-weight-losing raw material and is generally located in large urban centers, e.g. Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Surat, etc.
• Petroleum refineries are also located near the markets as the transport of crude oil is easier and several products derived from them are used as raw materials in other industries. This industry is also a non-weight-losing raw material-based industry. Koyali, Mathura, and Barauni refineries are typical examples. Ports also play a crucial role in the location of oil refineries.

Answer: B
Explanation:
Statement 1 is correct:
Intensive subsistence farming:
This type of agriculture is largely found in densely populated regions of monsoon Asia. This type of farming is practised in areas of high population pressure on land. Though the ‘right of inheritance’ leading to the division of land among successive generations has rendered land-holding size uneconomical, the farmers continue to take the maximum output from the limited land in the absence of an alternative source of livelihood.
• Thus, there is enormous pressure on agricultural land.
• It is labour intensive farming, where high doses of biochemical inputs and irrigation are used for obtaining higher production.
Statement 2 is incorrect:
There are two types of intensive subsistence agriculture.
1. Intensive subsistence agriculture dominated by wet paddy cultivation:
• This type of agriculture is characterised by the dominance of the rice crop.
• Landholdings are very small due to the high density of the population.
• Farmers work with the help of family labour leading to intensive use of land.
• The use of machinery is limited and most of the agricultural operations are done by manual labour.
2. Intensive subsidence agriculture dominated by crops other than paddy:
• Due to the difference in relief, climate, soil and some other geographical factors, it is not practical to grow paddy in many parts of monsoon Asia.
• Wheat, soyabean, barley and sorghum are grown in northern China, Manchuria, North Korea and North Japan.
• In India wheat is grown in western parts of the Indo-Gangetic plains and millets are grown in dry parts of western and southern India.
• Most of the characteristics of this type of agriculture are similar to those dominated by wet paddy except that irrigation is often used.
Statement 3 is correct:
• Farmyard manure is used to maintain the fertility of the soil. In this type of agriculture, the yield per unit area is high but per labour productivity is low.

Answer: A
Explanation:
• The word ‘sedimentary’ is derived from the Latin word sediment, which means settling.
• Rocks (igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic) of the earth‘s surface are exposed to denudational agents and are broken up into various sizes of fragments.
• Such fragments are transported by different exogenous agencies and deposited.
• These deposits through compaction turn into rocks. This process is called lithification.
• In many sedimentary rocks, the layers of deposits retain their characteristics even after lithification. Hence, we see a number of layers of varying thickness in sedimentary rocks like sandstone, shale etc.