RAS question
La Nina generally leads to which type of monsoon in India?
Correct answer: (D) Normal or above-normal rainfall.
La Nina generally supports normal or above-normal monsoon rainfall in India.
Explanation
La Nina is the cold phase linked with cooling in the eastern Pacific. This cooling is linked with stronger trade winds and a stronger Walker Circulation, which usually favours good monsoon rainfall over India. The MAUSAM article from the India Meteorological Department gives the standard Indian monsoon pattern: El Nino years tend to be deficit-rainfall years, while La Nina years tend to be excess-rainfall years over India. So, for a Rajasthan exam MCQ, La Nina should be associated not with a weak monsoon but with normal or above-normal rainfall, except in a clearly defined special exception.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Deficient rainfall is associated in the MAUSAM discussion with El Nino years, not with La Nina years.
- (B) La Nina is linked to stronger trade winds and Walker Circulation, not to a delayed onset of the Indian monsoon.
- (C) La Nina cannot be treated as having no effect because MAUSAM records a tendency towards excess rainfall over India during La Nina years.
Concept
This tests the ENSO-monsoon relationship in Indian climatology. It recurs in RAS because monsoon variability is central to Indian geography, agriculture and drought-flood analysis.