With reference to the water on the planet Earth, consider the following statements: ​ 1. The amount of water in the rivers and lakes is more than the amount of groundwater. ​ 2. The amount of water in polar ice caps and glaciers is more than the amount of groundwater. ​ Which of the statements given above is/are correct? ​

Only statement 2 is correct, so the answer is B. Start with the big picture: about 97 per cent of Earth's water is saline ocean water. Of the remaining freshwater (roughly 2.5 to 3 per cent), about 69 per cent is locked in polar ice caps and glaciers, about 30 per cent is groundwater, and only about 1 per cent is surface water such as rivers, lakes and swamps. These are approximate USGS-type figures and have not changed materially since 2021.

• Statement 1 is wrong. Rivers and lakes hold only a tiny fraction of freshwater, far less than groundwater. Aspirants often assume visible water bodies dominate.
• Statement 2 is right. Ice caps and glaciers (Antarctica, Greenland, mountain glaciers) together hold the largest share of freshwater, more than groundwater.

Core concept: distribution of water across reservoirs in the hydrological cycle, with residence times ranging from days in rivers to thousands of years in ice sheets. This links to Geography (world water resources) and to Mains GS-I and GS-III on groundwater depletion. Even though groundwater is a smaller store than ice, it is the accessible freshwater that sustains irrigation and drinking water in India, the largest user of groundwater globally.

Trap: marking statement 1 as correct because rivers and lakes feel like the main freshwater source; the question tests stock versus accessibility.