Kharif crops in India are generally sown in which season?

The correct answer is 1086.31 lakh hectares. The weekly progressive sowing report of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, issued on 8 September 2026, gives this as the total area under kharif crops for the position as on 4 September 2026. Compared with the same week of the previous season, sowing is lower by 17.69 lakh hectares, and the season is also running below the normal area with which the department compares each weekly report. Options A, C and D are numbers built around the correct one by changing only the leading digits, which is exactly how a paper setter tests whether a candidate has memorised the figure or merely recognises its shape. None of them appears in the report. While revising, keep the total area and the date it refers to together, because the same report is issued every week and the figure changes with each release.

The correct answer is pulses, and jute and mesta. Pulses were sown on 117.13 lakh hectares against 115.30 lakh hectares a year earlier, and jute and mesta on 6.34 lakh hectares against 6.24 lakh hectares, so these are the only two groups of the report standing above last season. Option A is wrong because rice is the biggest loser of the season, its area falling to 421.82 lakh hectares from 438.19 lakh hectares, and cotton is also down. Option B is wrong because oilseeds slipped to 191.99 lakh hectares and sugarcane to 58.47 lakh hectares. Option D is wrong on both counts, as Shri Anna and coarse cereals came down to 181.39 lakh hectares while cotton came down to 109.17 lakh hectares. Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Telangana drove the gain in pulses, and Bihar and West Bengal the gain in jute.

The correct answer is 147. With the launch of the sixteenth round, the commercial coal mining programme has auctioned this many mines since the sector was thrown open in 2020. These mines are expected to bring annual revenue of more than Rs 47,500 crore and capital investment of over Rs 55,000 crore across nine coal-bearing states. Options A, B and D are wrong because no such totals were reported; they are placed close to the real figure so that a candidate who remembers only the rough scale is caught out. Two supporting facts are worth memorising alongside: coal meets about 55 per cent of India's primary energy requirement and over 70 per cent of its electricity generation, and national coal production has crossed one billion tonnes for a second consecutive year.

The correct answer is 100 per cent through the automatic route. The commercial coal mining framework was designed to attract wide participation, so it carries no end-use restriction on the coal mined, permits full foreign investment without prior approval, and keeps upfront payments low by allowing them to be adjusted against future revenue share. Options A, B and D are wrong because they name partial caps or the government approval route, neither of which applies to this sector; such caps belong to other regulated sectors and are used here only as distractors. Remember also that the blocks are open to experienced mining companies, new entrants and technology-driven enterprises alike, which is why the ministry describes the framework as liberal. This combination of features is a favourite question in economy sections.

The correct answer is 25 blocks. The 16th round puts 25 coal blocks before bidders, of which 21 are fully explored and four only partly explored, and they are spread across nine coal-bearing states from Arunachal Pradesh to West Bengal. Option A is wrong because 19 is the count of blocks offered under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act within this same round, the remaining six being offered under the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act. Option B is wrong because 21 is the number of fully explored mines inside the round, not the total. Option D is a plain distractor with no basis in the announcement. Candidates should note how the same release carries several close numbers, and a paper setter will usually pick one of the smaller ones as the trap.