UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — India’s rainfall deficit 35% as monsoon stalls

Q1. The Southwest Monsoon accounts for approximately what share of India's total annual rainfall?

  • A. About 50%
  • B. About 65%
  • C. About 75%
  • D. About 90%

Q2. During the stalled phase of the 2026 Southwest Monsoon in mid-June 2026, which of the IMD's four broad homogeneous regions recorded the largest cumulative rainfall deficit?

  • A. Northwest India
  • B. Central India
  • C. South Peninsula
  • D. Northeast India

Q3. The India Meteorological Department (IMD), which issues the Long Range Forecast for the Southwest Monsoon, functions as an attached office of which Union Ministry?

  • A. Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare
  • B. Ministry of Earth Sciences
  • C. Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
  • D. Department of Science and Technology

Q4. In the context of IMD's Long Range Forecasts, the term 'Long Period Average (LPA)' refers strictly to which one of the following?

  • A. The maximum seasonal rainfall ever recorded for the country in the past hundred years
  • B. The average all-India rainfall computed over a defined long climatological period (currently 1971–2020), used as the benchmark against which a given season's rainfall is expressed as a percentage
  • C. The two-stage forecast (April and June) issued by the IMD for the Southwest Monsoon season
  • D. The forecast prepared exclusively by the Monsoon Mission Climate Forecast System for the four core monsoon months