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Social Science (087) — AI-generated practice question

AI-generated practice question — model-generated for extra practice, not a previous-year CBSE board question.

Q1. [1] medium thorough-understanding
[mcq] Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh are rich in minerals and coal, yet they record some of the highest rates of land degradation in India. Which one of the following best explains this paradox? (A) These states receive very low rainfall, causing arid soil conditions. (B) Mining activities leave behind abandoned pits, debris, and toxic effluents that permanently damage land. (C) Over-irrigation in these states leads to waterlogging and soil salinity. (D) Intensive shifting cultivation strips the topsoil of all nutrients.
  1. A Mining activities leave deep scars, cause deforestation and generate dust that retards water infiltration into the soil.
  2. B These regions receive very high rainfall that causes intense leaching of the topsoil.
  3. C Over-irrigation in these states leads to waterlogging and increase in soil salinity.
  4. D The soils in these regions are laterite, which are inherently prone to erosion.
Generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 · 2026-06-26 13:29 · grounding rag
Model Answer

(A)

Mining activities leave deep scars, cause deforestation, and generate dust from mineral processing that retards water infiltration into the soil, causing severe land degradation in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.

Source: Land Degradation and Conservation Measures, Chapter 1

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Explanation

The question asks you to match the given options (A–D) to the correct one. The passage directly states: "Mining sites are abandoned after excavation work is complete leaving deep scars… In states like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh… deforestation due to mining have caused severe land degradation" and that mineral processing dust "retards the process of infiltration of water into the soil." Option A best matches this. Over-irrigation causing salinity applies to Punjab/Haryana, not Jharkhand/Chhattisgarh — a common trap in such questions.

Previous-year CBSE Grade 10 board exam questions, organised by subject and chapter, each with a model answer — free to read and print.