Question

There is plenty of rain in India during the rainy season, yet we need irrigation. Give two reasons to support this statement.

Answer 1

Hint:
If it will rain well for a year, rainfall may be scarce in another year. Therefore, despite the monsoon, irrigation is important. This reduces evaporation and can irrigate each crop according to its requirements. In areas where canals are used for irrigation, alkaline salts can penetrate the earth.

Complete solution:

During the rainy season, there is a lot of rain in India, but we need irrigation because -

- A lot of rain in India only happens during the monsoon season.
- India remains dry for the majority of the months.
- Northwestern India and western India and rain shadow regions of the western ghats do not receive rainfall even during the monsoon season.
- Just 38 per cent of Indian soil is reliably irrigated, according to a World Bank survey. Rain-fed irrigation depends on the remaining unirrigated land.
- We need irrigation because the unpredictable monsoons and regions and agriculture have relied entirely on rain.
- In India, rainfall is unpredictable, erratic and unreliable.
- In a total crop failure, absence of rain will result in reduced yield.
- Rainfall variability: India's rainfall is rather unpredictable, which raises the risk aspect and makes crop production very difficult. Unequal rainfall distribution,80 percent of the annual rainfall in most parts of the country is received from the southwestern monsoon from June to September. The Gujarat district of Saurashtra-Kutch, the western half of Rajasthan and parts of Punjab and Haryana are in the arid zone, where water is continuously deficient.
- The nation's rainfall distribution is inconsistent, though, during the monsoon months, some states of Kerala and Assam receive ample rainfall, Rajasthan and Haryana hardly receive any rainfall.

Note:
- The problems experienced during the rainy season are high wind speed along with frequent lightning, power loss, water leakage from the roofs of kachcha buildings, household objects, utensils, floats in water, broken branches of trees, etc.
- The nature of certain crops (rice, sugarcane, jute) in India is such that large quantities of water are needed for their growth. Irrigation fulfils the need for water from certain crops.