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General Studies 2024 GS Paper I 15 marks 250 words Compulsory How

GS Paper I — Q14

The groundwater potential of the gangetic valley is on a serious decline. How may it affect the food security of India? (Answer…

The groundwater potential of the gangetic valley is on a serious decline. How may it affect the food security of India? (Answer in 250 words) 15 marks

हिंदी में प्रश्न पढ़ें

गंगा घाटी की भूजल क्षमता में गंभीर गिरावट आ रही है। यह भारत की खाद्य-सुरक्षा को कैसे प्रभावित कर सकती है? (उत्तर 250 शब्दों में दीजिए)

Q14 of the 2024 UPSC Mains General Studies GS Paper I, as printed
The question as printed in the 2024 General Studies paper
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Model answer

Written by UPSC Answer Check against this question's marking rubric, to the 250-word length. UPSC does not publish answers for Mains — this is one way to score well, not an official key.

The Gangetic valley is India’s granary, so falling groundwater directly threatens food security. In the western belt, CGWB maps show many assessment units in Punjab, Haryana and western UP as over-exploited or critical, with water tables falling by several metres and, in some units, 30-70 cm a year. This stresses the paddy-wheat monoculture that anchors MSP procurement concentrated in this belt. As tubewell pumping rises, input costs rise, while MPRs may not keep pace, widening the MSP-MPR gap and pushing consumer food prices up. Lower yields and higher pumping costs squeeze smallholders first, causing income collapse, indebtedness and distress migration, which reduces rural demand and labour.

The eastern Gangetic plains show a different asymmetry: Bihar and Bengal have higher recharge potential but weaker irrigation infrastructure, so water stress is compounded by monsoon variability and a shift toward water-intensive horticulture. Declining millets and pulses cultivation weakens dietary diversification; NFSA entitlements can falter in drought-affected districts, exposing nutritional security.

Forward linkages amplify the risk. Thermal power plants and industries compete for the same depleted aquifers, while climate change, through reduced soil moisture, creates a positive feedback—drier soils give less evaporative cooling, raising temperatures and further drying the land.

A way forward is to curb paddy-wheat dependence, expand micro-irrigation and rainwater harvesting, recharge aquifers, diversify to millets/pulses, enforce stage-of-extraction norms, and align MSP, MPR and NFSA delivery with groundwater realities, strengthening crop insurance, soil-moisture monitoring and demand-side water pricing, and ensure timely foodgrain procurement in stressed districts to protect urban and rural diets.

What "How" is asking you to do

Set out the route by which the outcome comes about, step by step. Many how stems ask how one thing affects another, and there the channel of transmission is precisely what is being marked.

Structure that answers it

Starting condition → step → step → outcome reached → the conditions the route depends on

Where marks are lost

Answering why it happens instead of how, the commonest single misread in the paper. An answer full of causes and significance that never traces the mechanism has answered a different question.

All UPSC directive words, compared →

How this answer will be evaluated

Approach

Framework: GS1 Geography/Society: Link physical geography to human outcome. explain: definition/context > points in order > small example > short close Full marks: Clearly articulates the mechanism of depletion and its direct impact on crop yields and food supply.

Key points expected

  • Identify the Gangetic valley as a primary agricultural zone
  • Explain the mechanism of groundwater depletion (e.g., over-extraction)
  • Link water scarcity to crop yield reduction
  • Connect agricultural decline to national food security

Evaluation rubric

Each sub-part is marked on its own, against the marks and word limit printed on the paper.

  1. The answer Explain the causal link between groundwater decline in the Gangetic valley and India's food security. 15 marks · 250 words

    explain— definition/context → points in order → small example → short close

    Must cover

    • Identify the Gangetic valley as a primary agricultural zone
    • Explain the mechanism of groundwater depletion (e.g., over-extraction)
    • Link water scarcity to crop yield reduction
    • Connect agricultural decline to national food security

    Loses marks

    • Focusing only on water conservation without linking to food
    • Generalizing about India without specific focus on the Gangetic valley
    • Narrating history of agriculture without explaining the current crisis

    Earns more

    • Mention specific crops dependent on groundwater (e.g., rice, wheat)
    • Reference the 'water-energy-food' nexus
    • Discuss the impact on rural livelihoods
    • Mention the role of the Green Revolution in water demand

    Extra mark

    • Cite a specific statistic on groundwater depletion rate
    • Mention a specific scheme like Jal Jeevan Mission

Practice this exact question

Write your answer and it is marked point by point against the model answer above — what you covered, what you missed, what you got wrong.

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