Gram
Also called: Chickpea, Chana · Topic: Major Crops of India: Distribution and Conditions · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 3 "Land Resources and Agriculture"
Meaning
Gram (chickpea) is a pulse. Pulses are protein-rich legumes. Their roots fix nitrogen from the air, which keeps the soil fertile. Gram is a subtropical rabi crop, sown in winter. It is mostly rainfed and needs only one or two light showers or irrigations. After the Green Revolution, wheat pushed gram out of Punjab, Haryana and north Rajasthan. Wheat gained there because it got canal water and support from the government. Gram now covers about 2.8% of the cropped area.
Example
Madhya Pradesh is the top gram producer (verify current). Much of its gram grows on the plateau lands of Malwa in the rabi season.
Don't confuse with
- Tur (arhar): this is a kharif pulse of the dry centre and south, and Maharashtra leads in it. Gram is a rabi pulse, and Madhya Pradesh leads in it.