RAS question
Which of the following is a Kharif crop?
Correct answer: (B) Rice.
Rice is a Kharif crop, sown with the onset of the monsoon and harvested around September-October.
Explanation
Kharif crops are tied to the monsoon season: they are sown with the onset of rains in June-July and harvested in September-October. The ICAR undergraduate agriculture syllabus lists rice among Kharif cereals, along with maize, sorghum, pearl millet and minor millets. That matches the question's seasonal test: rice belongs to the rainy-season crop group, while the other options are placed in the Rabi group. ICAR separately lists wheat and barley as Rabi cereals, chickpea among Rabi pulses, and rapeseed and mustard among Rabi oilseeds. So the classification turns not on whether the crop is important in India, but on its normal cropping season: rice fits Kharif; mustard, wheat and gram fit Rabi.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Mustard is wrong because ICAR places rapeseed and mustard under Rabi oilseeds, not under Kharif crops.
- (C) Wheat is wrong because ICAR lists wheat as a Rabi cereal, whereas the question asks for a Kharif crop.
- (D) Gram is wrong because gram or chickpea belongs to the Rabi pulse group, not the Kharif crop group.
Concept
This tests the basic agricultural geography distinction between Kharif and Rabi cropping seasons. RAS often asks it because crop-season classification links monsoon timing, Indian agriculture and regional cropping patterns.