UPSC Prelims 2014 · Question 96 of 100
UPSC Prelims 2014 question on Integrated Watershed Development
- ExamUPSC CSE
- Year2014
- PaperGeneral Studies Paper I
- SubjectGeography
- TopicIndian Geography
- DifficultyMedium
- TypeStatement
What are the benefits of implementing the 'Integrated Watershed Development Programme'?
1. Prevention of soil runoff
2. Linking the country's perennial rivers with seasonal rivers
3. Rainwater harvesting and recharge of groundwater table
4. Regeneration of natural vegetation
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
Show answer
Answer: C. 1, 3 and 4 only
Verdict
The answer is 1, 3 and 4 only. Watershed development prevents runoff, recharges groundwater and regenerates vegetation, but it has nothing to do with linking rivers.
Analysis
Statement 1 is CORRECT. Treating a watershed from ridge to valley with bunds, trenches and vegetative barriers slows runoff and holds soil. Statement 3 is CORRECT. Check dams and percolation structures capture rainwater and recharge the aquifer. Statement 4 is CORRECT. Reduced runoff and protected slopes allow natural vegetation to return. Statement 2 is INCORRECT. Interlinking perennial and seasonal rivers is a separate national programme operating at basin scale and forms no part of watershed development.
Source
Department of Land Resources material on the Integrated Watershed Management Programme.
How to crack it
Match the scale of the intervention to the scale of the claimed benefit. A watershed is a small local drainage unit, so any benefit described at national or interbasin scale cannot belong to it. That scale test disposes of statement 2 without knowing the programme's guidelines at all. Use the same test on questions about panchayat schemes, micro irrigation and command area development, where a national scale claim is the usual planted error.