RAS question
Slash and burn agriculture is known as 'Jhum' in:
Correct answer: (A) Northeast India.
Slash-and-burn agriculture is known as Jhum or Jhumming in north-eastern India.
Explanation
Jhum is the north-eastern Indian name for shifting or slash-and-burn cultivation. NCERT describes this practice as farmers clearing a patch of land, producing cereals and other food crops, and then shifting to a fresh patch when soil fertility declines. The same NCERT chapter says it is Jhumming in north-eastern states such as Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland, and later lists Jhumming for the North-eastern region. That is why the correct region is Northeast India. The other regional names point to the same broad primitive shifting cultivation tradition in different regions: Podu or Penda in Andhra Pradesh, Bewar or Dahiya in Madhya Pradesh, and Kumari in the Western Ghats.
Why the other options are wrong
- (B) The Indo-Gangetic Plain is associated with settled agriculture, not with the north-eastern name Jhum.
- (C) The Western Ghats are linked with the regional name Kumari, so they do not answer where slash-and-burn agriculture is called Jhum.
- (D) The Thar Desert is not a region of Jhum shifting cultivation in NCERT Contemporary India-II, Chapter 4: Agriculture.
Concept
This tests regional names of shifting cultivation, a recurring RAS Geography theme because the same farming practice is known by different local names across India. It also checks whether candidates can connect an agricultural practice with its regional setting, not just memorise the term.