Crops

Bajra (millets): Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan.
Barley: U.P., Bihar, Haryana. Its cultivation requires cool climate.
Cardamom: Karnataka. India is the largest producer of cardamom in the world.
Cashewnut: Kerala.
Cinchona: Tamil Nadu (Nilgiri Hills); West Bengal (Darjeeling).
Coconut: Kerala is the leading producer of coconut in India. A coconut tree normally yield 60-70 nuts in a year.
Coffee: Karnataka, Tamil Nadu (Nilgiri Hills) and Kerala. It is a tropical shrub.
Cotton: Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Maharashtra.
Cotton Seeds: Maharashtra, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
Gram and Pulses: U.P., Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Maharashtra and Karnataka.
Groundnut: Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.
Hemp: Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and U.P.
Jute: Assam, West Bengal, Bihar and Orissa.
Linseed: Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, U.P.,  Maharashtra and West Bengal.
Maize: U.P., Bihar and the Punjab.
Mustard and Rape-seed (Sarson): U.P., West Bengal, Punjab, Bihar and Orissa.
Poppy (opium plant): U.P., Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir.
Rice: Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Orissa. Rice is sown on the largest acreage in India.
Rubber: Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka.
Saffron: Jammu and Kashmir. It is obtained from the stigma of the saffron plant.
Silk: Karnataka, Jammu & Kashmir, West Bengal and Assam.
Spices: Pepper in Kerala and West Bengal; Chillies in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra; Cardamom in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu; Betelnuts in West Bengal and South India.
Sugarcane: U.P., Bihar, West Bengal, Punjab and Maharashtra.
Tea: Assam, West Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu (Nilgiri Hills), Uttarkhand (Dehradun)  and Himachal Pradesh (Kangra Hills).
Tobacco: Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, U.P., West Bengal, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
Wheat: U.P., Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh. To some extent in Bihar, Rajasthan and Maharashtra. It is sown in October-November and reaped in April.

Kharif and Rabi Crops
Kharif Crops:  raised in autumn in June-July. These are cotton, rice, maize and millets.
Rabi Crops: are winter crops in October and November and reaped in April. These are wheat, gram, linseed and mustard.

Favourable climate and soil conditions
Wheat: Its plant requires a cool climate in the beginning, warm and dry weather at the time of harvesting and rainfall at intervals—between 20’’ to 30’’. A clayey soil is very favourable.
Barley: cool climate and a soil poorer than that required for wheat.
Rice: hot and moist climate with rainfall from 40’’ to 80’’ or over and rich soil. The plant is required to remain under water for several days in the beginning. A marshy soil is very suitable.
Sugarcane: an evenly high temperature with sufficient rainfall—about 40’’. It needs a fertile soil, having lime and salt in it.
Tobacco: hot and moist climate; rich soil.
Spices: (pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, nutmegs) hot, moist and even climate.
Opium: It requires hot and moist climate with a rich soil.
Maize: warm and moist (but not very moist) climate.
Cotton: It requires warm, moist and even climate where summer is long and where the soil contains salt. Sea-breeze is beneficial for quality of the fibre. The ideal situation for plantation is lowlands near the sea coast or on islands in semi-tropical latitudes.
Jute: It requires a high temperature with a minimum of about 80°F during the period of growth. It also needs rich sandy soil, sufficient rainfall well distributed over the period of growth, ample supply of water for soaking of plants and for washing the stripped fibre. It also needs suitable and sufficient labour to handle the crop at the proper time.
Rubber: The plantation of rubber trees is better adapted to areas where the climate is warm and humid.
Tea: (Tea is dried leaves of an evergreen shrub). It requires warm and moist climate. It is grown on mountain slopes. At least 60’’ annual rainfall in showers is needed for the new leaves to sprout. If water is allowed to stay, the roots are destroyed. So mountain slopes on which water does not accumulate are necessary. Soil containing iron is an additional advantage.
Coffee: requires warm and moist climate and a height between 457 metres and 762 metres—rainfall above 60’’. The plant cannot stand extreme cold. When young, the plant is required to be protected from strong sunshine.
Millets: (Jawar and Bajra) require a hot and sufficiently dry climate and poor soil.
Groundnuts: require a hot climate and moderate rainfall 29’’ to 40’’. Soil should be light and sandy.
Oilseeds: require hot and moist climate and a rich soil.

Diseases of Crops
Black heart: Potatoes
Kernel bunt: Wheat
Powdery Mildew: Peas
Red Rot: Sugarcane

Fertilizers
Fertilizers normally contain three main ingredients namely nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.
Nitrogen: imports a healthy green colour to the leaves.
Phosphorus: hastens leaf development and promotes root growth.
Potassium: plays an essential part in the formation of starch.

Mineral Resources of India
India possesses huge mineral wealth but it is not much exploited. Coal, gold, mica, building materials, salt, petroleum, manganese ore, iron ore, copper ore and ilmenite are produced in quantities to be of real importance to industry and other sectors of economy. Out of these, mica, manganese ore and ilmenite are largely exported. India has, however, adequate resources of industrial clay, steatite, bauxite, chromite, titanium ore etc.

Minerals—Where Found (First)
Aluminium: Kerala. It is extracted from Bauxite.
Antimony: Antimony deposits are found in the Punjab and Karnataka.
Asbestos: Karnataka and Rajasthan.
Barytes: (Barium Sulphate) Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Manbhum and Singhbhum districts of Jharkhand.
Bantonite: Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir.
Bauxite: Ranchi and Palamau districts of Jharkhand, Belgaum, Kharia and Thana districts of Maharashtra; Balaghat, Jabalpur, Mandia and Bilaspur districts of Madhya Pradesh. It is an ore of aluminium.
Beryllium Sands: Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Kashmir and Bihar.
Cement: Katni in M.P., Lakheri in Rajasthan, Jabalpur (M.P.), Guntur (Andhra Pradesh), Jhinkapani (Singhbhum district of Jharkhand), Surajpur (Haryana).
China Clay: Rajmahal Hills, Singhbhum district of Bihar, Kerala.
Chromite: Singhbhum and Bhagalpur (Jharkhand); Ratnagiri, Salem (Tamil Nadu); Karnataka; Keonjhar (Orissa); Ladakh (Kashmir).
Coal: Raniganj (West Bengal); Jharia, Giridih, Karanpur (Bihar); Bokaro, (Jharkhand) Panch Valley and Chanda (M.P.); Singareni (Andhra Pradesh) and Mukum (Assam).
Cobalt: Rajasthan and Kerala.
Copper: Jharkhand (Singhbhum and Barajamda); Rajasthan (Khetri).
Corborundum: Khasi Hills (Assam); Rewa (M.P.); Salem (Tamil Nadu); Karnataka and Jammu & Kashmir.
Diamond: Diamond mines are found in Panna district of Madhya Pradesh.
Feldspar: Burdwan (West Bengal); Rewa (M.P.); Tiruchirapalli (Tamil Nadu); Alwar and Ajmer (Rajasthan).
Fuller’s Earth: (soft clay used in soap-making) is found in Rajasthan, M.P. and Karnataka.
Gold: Kolar gold-fields (Karnataka).
Graphite: Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Orissa and Kerala.
Gypsum: Bikaner and Jodhpur (Rajasthan), Tiruchirapalli (Tamil Nadu), Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.
Heavy Water: Talchar in Orissa; Kota in Rajasthan; Baroda in Gujarat; Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu; Nangal in Punjab.
Ilmenite: Kerala. Occurs in the “Bank Sands” of the beaches near Quilon.
Iron Ore: Singhbhum (Jharkhand), Keonjhar and  Mayurbhanj (Orissa).
Kaynite: largest deposits occur at Kharswan near Jamshedpur, Singhbhum (Bihar).
Lac: W. Bengal.
Lead: Zawar in Udaipur and at the Banjavi mines in Jaipur (Rajasthan).
Lignite: Neyveli in South Arcot district (Tamil Nadu).
Limestone: Singareni and Singhbhum (Jharkhand), Panchmahal (Gujarat), Balaghat, Bhandara, Chhindwara, Nagpur, Indore, Vishakhapatnam, Sandur (Tamil Nadu).
Manganese: Madhya Pradesh.
Marble: Jaipur (Rajasthan).
Mica: Koderma in Hazaribagh district, Monghyr (Bihar), Nellore in Andhra Pradesh.
Monazite Sands: are found in abundance in Travancore coast (Kerala State). Thorium is processed from Monazite sands.
Nitre: Bihar, U.P., Tamil Nadu and Punjab.
Petroleum: Digboi, Badarpur, Musimpur and Patharia fields of Assam, Cambay basin near Baroda where oilfields have been discovered and production has started. Large-scale drilling for oil is in progress in India in Bombay and Gujarat.
Pitchblende: Gaya (Bihar).
Red Stone: Jodhpur (Rajasthan).
Salt: Sambhar Lake (Rajasthan), and is also obtained from ocean water of Ranns of Kutch, on the north-western and south-eastern littoral (sea-shore) of India.
Saltpetre: Punjab, U.P. and Bihar.
Silmanite: Khasi Hills (Assam); Rewa (M.P.). Silmanite is used in the manufacture of furnace-lining in iron and steel industry. It is also used in glass and ceramic industry.
Silver: Karnataka; Singhbhum and Manbhum (Jharkhand); Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan.
Steatite: Guntur (Andhra Pradesh), Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, U.P., Karnataka and Rajasthan.
Tin: (Bihar) Hazaribagh district.
Thorium: (Processed from monazite sand) Travancore (Kerala).
Tungsten: Bihar, Nagpur (Maharashtra) and Marwar.
Uranium: Bihar.
Zinc: from Zawar mines in Udaipur (Rajasthan).
Zircon: occurs in the beach sands of Kerala and Cape Comorin.

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Vedic Age

 VEDIC AGE (1500- 1000B.C)
Vedic Age was extended from 1500-500 BC

Social Condition
- Semi nomadic and pastoral people
- Women equal to man
- Well established institution of marriage
- Division of class ‘ Aryan and Dasyu’
Staple crop: Barley and barley only (Yava)
Coins Unknown: Barter system was practiced.
War: Known as ‘Gavishthi’- in search of cows
‘Ayas”:- For copper and bronze
- No clear evidence of trade
- Knew Gold but not silver
Religion:- Primitive Animism
Indra: Greatest God- 259 Hymn in Rigveda, called ‘Purandara’ or Breaker of forts
Sindhu:- River par excellence for Aryans
Agni:- 200 hymns
Varuna:- Personified water “Ethically the highest”
Savitri:- A solar deity to whom the famous Gayatrimantra is attributed.
Male Gods dominated.
Rigveda: Presents the earliest specimen of Indo European language.
Aryans entered India through Khyber Pass.

The Vedic Age is the period in the history of India during which the Vedas, the oldest sacred texts of Hinduism, were being composed.
The Vedic civilization was centered in northern and northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent.
Its early phase saw the formation of various kingdoms of ancient India. In its late phase, it saw the rise of the Mahajanapadas, and was succeeded by the Maurya Empire, the golden age, classical age of Sanskrit literature, and the Middle kingdoms of India.
The Vedic texts could be classified in following chronological strata:
Rigvedic
The Rigveda is the oldest Vedic texts having many common Indo-Iranian elements, both in language and in content.
Mantra language
This period includes both the mantra and prose language of the Atharvaveda and the mantras of the Yajurveda. Many of these texts are largely derived from the Rigveda, but have undergone certain changes, both by linguistic change and by reinterpretation.
Samhita prose
This period marks the beginning of the collection and codification of a Vedic canon. The Brahmana texts belong to this period.
Brahmana prose
The Brahmanas proper of the four Vedas belong to this period, as well as the Aranyakas, the oldest of the Upanishads and the oldest Shrautasutras.

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General Knowledge

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Unit dimension-Questions

1.            Which of the following is not equal to watt

[SCRA 1991; CPMT 1990]

(a)   Joule/second                   (b)   Ampere * volt

(c)    (Ampere)² *ohm              (d)   Ampere/volt

 Ans-       (d)   Watt=Joule/second = Ampere×volt = Ampere²×Ohm

2.          The unit of self inductance of a coil is

[MP PMT 1983, 92; SCRA 1986; CBSE PMT 1993;

CPMT 1984, 85, 87]

(a)   Farad                                 (b)   Henry

(c)    Weber                               (d)   Tesla 

Ans-(a)  henry 

3. In which of the following systems of unit, weber is the unit of magnetic flux  

                                [SCRA 1991; CBSE PMT 1993; DPMT 2005]

(a)   CGS                                   (b)   MKS

(c)   SI                                        (d)   None of these

 ANS- (c)

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Units,dimensions,Measurement

Chemistry is basically experimental science. In it we study physical and chemical properties of substance and measure it upto possibility. The results of measurement can reported in two steps,
(a) Arithmetic number, (b) Unit of measurement.
Every experimental measurement vary slightly from one another and involves some error or uncertainty depending upon the skill of person making the measurements and measuring instrument. The closeness of the set of values obtained from identical measurement called precision and a related term, refers to the closeness of a single measurement to its true value called accuracy.
Significant figures

 1. All non zero digits are significant. 

 2. All zeros occurring between two non zero digits are significant.

 3. In a number less than one, all zeros to the right of decimal point and to the left of a non zero digit are not significant.

 4.All zeros on the right of the last non zero digit in the decimal part are significant

 5.All zeros on the right of the non zero digit are not significant. 
 6.All zeros on the right of the last non zero digit become significant, when they come from a measurement

 System of units : A complete set of units, both fundamental and derived for all kinds of physical quantities is called system of units. The common systems are given below

(1) CGS system : This system is also called Gaussian system of units. In this length, mass and time have been chosen as the fundamental quantities and corresponding fundamental units are centimetre (cm), gram (g) and second (s) respectively.

(2) MKS system : This system is also called Giorgi system. In this system also length, mass and time have been taken as fundamental quantities, and the corresponding fundamental units are metre, kilogram and second.

(3) FPS system : In this system foot, pound and second are used respectively for measurements of length, mass and time. In this system force is a derived quantity with unit poundal.

(4) S. I. system : It is known as International system of units, and is extended system of units applied to whole physics. There are seven fundamental quantities in this system. These quantities and their units are given in the following table

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