Consider the following crops of India: 1) Groundnut 2) Sesamum 3) Pearl millet Which of the above is/are predominantly rain fed crop/crops?

All three crops are grown predominantly under rainfed conditions in India, so the answer is D. The concept is the share of irrigated versus rainfed area under each crop, which is how the Agriculture chapter and Mains questions on irrigation, water use and food security look at cropping patterns.

• Groundnut (1): A kharif oilseed grown largely on rainfed land in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. Gujarat has expanded irrigated groundnut in recent years, but the national pattern is still mostly rainfed.
• Sesamum (2): A hardy kharif oilseed of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal, grown mostly on monsoon rain and residual soil moisture with very little irrigation.
• Pearl millet (3): Bajra is the classic dryland cereal of western and northern India and is almost entirely rainfed.

Options A, B and C each leave out at least one crop that is rainfed in predominance, so none of them can be right. Trap: aspirants drop groundnut because Gujarat irrigates a good share of it, forgetting that the question asks about the predominant pattern across India.