Question

The Indian states that have the highest net sown area respectively are _________.
A)Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu
B)Haryana, Punjab, Bihar
C)Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala
D)Bihar, Bengal, Assam

Answer 1

Hint:These regions are also the ones that are considered to be one of the highest crop yielding areas in India and their resources are abundant- availability of adequate irrigation facilities, fertile soil, nutritional content, etc.

Complete answer:
India’s total geographical area is accounted to be 329 million hectares and of this, 195 million hectare is the gross cropped area while 141 million hectare is the net sown area.
Now, going by the options, let us try to know which group has the highest net sown area:
>The option is incorrect. It could've been a right choice had there been no Uttaranchal in this group. Uttaranchal is a region with Himalayas and thus has a major portion covered by unfertile land while Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have relatively fertile plains. Thus, the option is partially correct which makes it an unsuitable choice.
>Yes, this is the correct choice because all the three states come under the category of fertile lands and have suitable resources to assist the high crop yielding as well. Also, as these states have plain areas, so it acts as an added advantage.
>The option is incorrect because all the three states do count as fertile lands but do not have the greatest Net Sown Area (NSA). Recently, Maharashtra had been struck by the crisis of lack of irrigation facilities which further jeopardized its status.
>The option is partially correct and so, it isn’t a suitable choice. The greatest NSA is in Punjab and Haryana and not the three mentioned states here. They do count as some of the most fertile lands but it shall be a fallacy to consider them as ones with the greatest NSA.

The correct answer is Option B

Additional information
Despite the apparent similarity in the terms Gross Cropped Area and Net Sown Area, there’s a significant difference between both;
>Gross Cropped Area (GCA) is the total area sown once as well as more than once in a particular year. 
>Net Sown Area (NSA) is the area sown with crops only once.
The share of NSA is much lesser than the national average in states of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. All these states suffer from physical disabilities such as undulating terrain due to hilly topography, limiting the availability of plain land and fertile soils, important for cultivation.

Note:Northern states like Punjab, Haryana, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, have a higher proportional share of NSA than the national average. Thus, Punjab, Haryana, and Bihar have the greatest net sown area in India.