Consider the following statements:

Answer: (c) Both 1 and 2

Arrival order explains statement 1; the Bay branch drying westward explains statement 2.

Statement by statement

1. ✓ CORRECT The monsoon reaches Kerala around 1 June but the north-west only in July, and it withdraws from the north first. The south gets 4–5 rainy months; the north-west about 2.

2. ✓ CORRECT The Bay of Bengal branch rains itself out as it moves up the Ganga plain.

The idea

The length of a rainy season depends on both its arrival and its withdrawal. The amount of rain depends on the supply of moisture and the lifting of air. These are different measures: a longer season need not make every southern place wetter than every northern place.

Summer rain reaches the south first → Rain-bearing winds advance north → Withdrawal begins in the north-west → Southern areas retain rain later → Bay branch also travels inland → Its moisture generally falls westward across the northern plain

Why the others are wrong

(a) Doubts the east→west fall. The Bay of Bengal branch enters from the east and rains itself out moving up the plain.

(b) Doubts the duration. The monsoon arrives in the south first (June) and leaves it last (Dec), so the south gets the longest season.

(d) Would need the monsoon to arrive in the north first and the Bay branch to strengthen inland — neither happens.

The trap

Neat generalisations make people suspicious, so they drop one. Both are exactly how NCERT describes the monsoon.

Also know

Tamil Nadu has an important October–December rainy season in addition to summer showers. Western disturbances add winter rain to the north-western plains. Western Ghats rainfall and the dry Deccan show why the east–west plain pattern cannot be applied to the whole country.