Consider the following statements : 1. In the world, the tropical deserts occur along the western margins of continents within the trade wind belt. 2. In India, the East Himalayan region gets high rainfall from north-east winds. Which of the statements given above is/are correct ?

Statement 1 is correct: major tropical (hot) deserts are typically located on the western margins of continents between about 15°–30° latitude and their aridity is largely due to offshore trade winds and subtropical highs, producing the so-called trade‑wind or coastal deserts [2]. Statement 2 is incorrect: the high rainfall in the eastern Himalayan region is primarily fed by the Bay of Bengal branch of the summer (southwest) monsoon which brings moisture inland and produces orographic precipitation on the eastern Himalaya; it is not the result of northeast winds. Therefore only statement 1 is correct.

Sources

1. [1] Physical Geography by PMF IAS, Manjunath Thamminidi, PMF IAS (1st ed.) > Chapter 30: Climatic Regions > Hot Desert Climate (BWh: B – Dry, W – Desert, h – low latitude) > p. 441
2. [2] Certificate Physical and Human Geography , GC Leong (Oxford University press 3rd ed.) > Chapter 14: Climate > Pressure and Planetary Winds > p. 140