Tank irrigation is most widely practised in which part of India?
- A.The northern plains
- B.The peninsular plateau
- C.The Himalayan region
- D.The coastal plains of Gujarat
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, the peninsular plateau. Tank irrigation is characteristic of the peninsula, especially Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, for three reasons: the hard crystalline rock of the plateau makes the digging of wells difficult and holds little groundwater, the rivers of the peninsula are seasonal and cannot feed perennial canals, and the uneven surface gives natural depressions that can be closed with a low bund to store the rain. Option A is wrong because the northern plains have soft alluvium and perennial rivers, so canals and tube wells dominate there. Option C is wrong because the steep slopes of the Himalayan region do not favour tanks. Option D is wrong because Gujarat depends mainly on wells, tube wells and the Narmada canal system. A drawback of tanks is heavy evaporation loss in summer.
Read the full article: Irrigation and Major Canals of India: Exam Notes
Practice Questions
View allWhich is the longest canal in India?
- A.Upper Ganga Canal
- B.Indira Gandhi Canal
- C.Buckingham Canal
- D.Sirhind Canal
Show answer
Begun in 1958 as the Rajasthan Canal and renamed in 1984, it is the longest canal in India; its feeder and main canal together run for about six hundred and fifty kilometres and carry water from the Punjab rivers into the Thar desert of western Rajasthan.
Read the full explanation →The Indira Gandhi Canal takes off from which barrage?
- A.Harike barrage
- B.Tajewala barrage
- C.Okhla barrage
- D.Madhopur headworks
Show answer
The Harike barrage stands in Punjab at the point where the Beas joins the Sutlej, and the Indira Gandhi Canal begins there as the Rajasthan Feeder before continuing as the main canal into Rajasthan.
Read the full explanation →The Upper Ganga Canal takes off from the Ganga at:
- A.Narora
- B.Haridwar
- C.Kanpur
- D.Allahabad
Show answer
The Upper Ganga Canal was opened in 1854 and is taken from the Ganga at Haridwar, from where it runs down the Ganga–Yamuna Doab and irrigates the districts of western Uttar Pradesh; the engineer associated with its construction is Proby Cautley.
Read the full explanation →The Grand Anicut, or Kallanai, one of the oldest water diversion structures still in use, was built across which river?
- A.Krishna
- B.Godavari
- C.Cauvery
- D.Tungabhadra
Show answer
The Grand Anicut, known in Tamil as Kallanai, was thrown across the Cauvery by the Chola king Karikala in about the second century to spread the river's water over the delta, and it still serves the canals of the Cauvery delta in Tamil Nadu.
Read the full explanation →The Buckingham Canal was constructed mainly for which purpose?
- A.Irrigation of the Krishna delta
- B.Navigation along the Coromandel coast
- C.Flood control in the Godavari basin
- D.Supply of drinking water to Hyderabad
Show answer
The Buckingham Canal is a salt water navigation canal dug in the nineteenth century along the eastern coast, linking the lagoons and backwaters between Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh and Chennai in Tamil Nadu, and it was used to carry goods and to relieve famine by moving grain.
Read the full explanation →