RAS question
Which Zaid crop is grown between March and June in India?
Correct answer: (D) Watermelon.
Watermelon is a zaid crop grown in India during the short summer season between the rabi and kharif seasons, roughly March to June.
Explanation
Watermelon fits the zaid season because it is grown in the short summer window between rabi and kharif. The NCERT chapter on agriculture states that India has three cropping seasons: rabi, kharif and zaid. Zaid comes between the rabi and kharif seasons as a short summer season. NCERT lists watermelon among the crops produced during zaid, along with muskmelon, cucumber, vegetables and fodder crops. Zaid crops such as watermelon need warm weather and irrigation because they grow in the dry summer period rather than during the monsoon or the cool rabi season.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Rice is not the zaid example here because the NCERT passage identifies rice as a kharif crop, while zaid is the short summer season between rabi and kharif.
- (B) Wheat is wrong because NCERT classifies wheat as a rabi crop, sown in winter and harvested in summer, not as a zaid crop.
- (C) Cotton is wrong because NCERT lists cotton among important kharif crops grown with the onset of the monsoon, not among zaid crops.
Concept
This tests India's cropping-season classification: rabi, kharif and zaid. RAS repeatedly asks it because crop timing links geography, climate and agriculture in one basic but high-yield concept.