Passage

Directions for the following 6 (six) items : Read the following two passages and answer the items that follow each passage. Your answers to these items should be based on the passages only. Passage – 1 Climate change poses potentially devastating effects on India's agriculture. While the overall parameters of climate change are increasingly accepted — a 1°C average temperature increase over the next 30 years, sea level rise of less than 10 cm in the same period, and regional monsoon variations and corresponding droughts — the impacts in India are likely to be quite site and crop specific. Some crops may respond favourably to the changing conditions, others may not. This emphasizes the need to promote agricultural research and create maximum flexibility in the system to permit adaptations. The key ingredient for "drought proofing" is the managed recharge of aquifers. To ensure continued yields of important staple crops (e.g. wheat), it may also be necessary to shift the locations where these crops are grown, in response to temperature changes as well as to water availability. The latter will be a key factor in making long term investment decisions. For example, water runoff from the Himalayas is predicted to increase over the next 30 years as glaciers melt, but then decline substantially thereafter. It will be critical to provide incentives to plan for these large-scale shifts in agro-ecological conditions. India needs to make long term investment in research and development in agriculture. India is likely to experience changed weather patterns in future.

According to the passage, why is it important to promote agricultural research in India ?

(a) To predict variations in monsoon patterns and to manage water resources
(b) To make long term investment decisions for economic growth
(c) To facilitate wider adaptability of crops ✓ UPSC's answer
(d) To predict drought conditions and to recharge aquifers

Why the answer is (c)

• The passage states that climate-change impacts in India are likely to be quite site and crop specific.

• It adds that some crops may respond favourably to changing conditions, while others may not.

• Therefore, it emphasizes the need to promote agricultural research and create maximum flexibility in the system to permit adaptations.

• This shows that agricultural research is important to enable crops and farming systems to adapt to changing conditions.

• Hence, the correct option is (c) To facilitate wider adaptability of crops.

Why the other options are wrong

(a) To predict variations in monsoon patterns and to manage water resources: The passage does not state that agricultural research is needed to predict monsoon variations or manage water resources; it mentions monsoon variations as accepted parameters and managed aquifer recharge as drought proofing.
(b) To make long term investment decisions for economic growth: The passage links long-term investment decisions to water availability, not to the purpose of promoting agricultural research.
(d) To predict drought conditions and to recharge aquifers: The passage identifies managed recharge of aquifers as the key ingredient for drought proofing, not as a purpose of agricultural research.

Asked in the CSAT Paper II of the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2014, held on 24 August 2014. Question and answer key: Union Public Service Commission. Explanation: UPSC Answer Check.