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Directions(Qs. 81-95):
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions
Certain words/phrases are printed in bold to help you to locate them while answering some of thequestions. given below it.
In India, a certain amount of crop (transgenic) biotechnology is being put to use. Major efforts are being undertaken to make cotton pest-resistant. Most people would be aware of the spate of suicides by cotton farmersrecently. Let us hope there will be scientific and technological breakthroughs in pest-resistant transgenic cotton seeds. Till we achieve success in this on a commercial scale we cannot be sure that we will have enough supplies to plan large-scale operations.No doubt, such researches should be encouraged, but we should look at other fronts too. It is necessary for research on crop biotechnology in India to be focused on our important crops, especially those related to food security.
We have to bear inmind that the application of biotechnology may not have any major impact on food security in India in the next five years, though crops of industrial value and vegetables may benefit to some extent. Therefore, we will still need to depend upon conventionalagricultural technologies even while we target biotechnology for future-oriented applications. Internationally, no major breakthrough in improvement of wheat strains has occurred lately. Hybrid rice is more productive. China had a few major initial successesin increasing the yield through large-scale use of hybrid rice. India has begun use of hybrid rice recently and there are plans to increase it. But it may be noted that in recent years there has been no furtherimprovement in Chinese production of rice. Still, hybrid rice will play an important role in India, as we are yet to introduce it on a large scale.
There are a number of improvements in agricultural implements, machinery, plastics, water technologies, agrochemicals and fertilizers which are possible and arewell within the country's reach. There is an urgent need to conserve water in a numberof ways : ranging from water harvesting to drip irrigation. There are a number ofgood examples in India of water harvesting though these are in isolated pockets. Israelhas made water conservation a national policy and has achieved remarkable results.India with its size and with better endowments in water resources can make miracleshappen. A major industry can grow around such agriculture support systems. Thereare also technologies which can contribute a great deal to agriculture. We need to useall available methods because the coming years are not going to be easy on the foodfront. Let us look at one, space technology.
Remote sensing or taking electronic pictures of the earth from space isextensively used for assessing natural resources, land degradation and water resourcesas well as to predict crop yield and snow melt, among other things. Some developedcountries monitor crop yields of other countries to help their own exports. India isstrong in the area of remote sensing technologies. We have our own high resolution remote sensing satellites whose pictures are used all over the world commercially. Wealso have excellent capabilities in utilizing remotely sensed data for various applications;groundwater targeting, soil salinity assessment, crop yield estimates, and so on.In addition, space technology can be used very effectively to assist extension work,disseminate success stories to farmers, educate them on do's and don'ts, and to helpthem ask questions through talk-back facilities that can be made available throughsatellite. A number of experiments conducted by ISRO in this regard in Haryana andMadhya Pradesh have to be taken up by other States in a major way. Our farmersshould and can be given facilities to keep pace with advances in agricultural technology.Yes, it is a lot of effort. But we have plenty of talent and also the resources.Providing these facilities in different languages, partly with public support and partlythrough various business houses and private bodies, can become a good source ofemployment generation by itself.
GENERAL ENGLISH
Directions(Qs. 81-95):
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions
Certain words/phrases are printed in bold to help you to locate them while answering some of thequestions. given below it.
In India, a certain amount of crop (transgenic) biotechnology is being put to use. Major efforts are being undertaken to make cotton pest-resistant. Most people would be aware of the spate of suicides by cotton farmersrecently. Let us hope there will be scientific and technological breakthroughs in pest-resistant transgenic cotton seeds. Till we achieve success in this on a commercial scale we cannot be sure that we will have enough supplies to plan large-scale operations.No doubt, such researches should be encouraged, but we should look at other fronts too. It is necessary for research on crop biotechnology in India to be focused on our important crops, especially those related to food security.
We have to bear inmind that the application of biotechnology may not have any major impact on food security in India in the next five years, though crops of industrial value and vegetables may benefit to some extent. Therefore, we will still need to depend upon conventionalagricultural technologies even while we target biotechnology for future-oriented applications. Internationally, no major breakthrough in improvement of wheat strains has occurred lately. Hybrid rice is more productive. China had a few major initial successesin increasing the yield through large-scale use of hybrid rice. India has begun use of hybrid rice recently and there are plans to increase it. But it may be noted that in recent years there has been no furtherimprovement in Chinese production of rice. Still, hybrid rice will play an important role in India, as we are yet to introduce it on a large scale.
There are a number of improvements in agricultural implements, machinery, plastics, water technologies, agrochemicals and fertilizers which are possible and arewell within the country's reach. There is an urgent need to conserve water in a numberof ways : ranging from water harvesting to drip irrigation. There are a number ofgood examples in India of water harvesting though these are in isolated pockets. Israelhas made water conservation a national policy and has achieved remarkable results.India with its size and with better endowments in water resources can make miracleshappen. A major industry can grow around such agriculture support systems. Thereare also technologies which can contribute a great deal to agriculture. We need to useall available methods because the coming years are not going to be easy on the foodfront. Let us look at one, space technology.
Remote sensing or taking electronic pictures of the earth from space isextensively used for assessing natural resources, land degradation and water resourcesas well as to predict crop yield and snow melt, among other things. Some developedcountries monitor crop yields of other countries to help their own exports. India isstrong in the area of remote sensing technologies. We have our own high resolution remote sensing satellites whose pictures are used all over the world commercially. Wealso have excellent capabilities in utilizing remotely sensed data for various applications;groundwater targeting, soil salinity assessment, crop yield estimates, and so on.In addition, space technology can be used very effectively to assist extension work,disseminate success stories to farmers, educate them on do's and don'ts, and to helpthem ask questions through talk-back facilities that can be made available throughsatellite. A number of experiments conducted by ISRO in this regard in Haryana andMadhya Pradesh have to be taken up by other States in a major way. Our farmersshould and can be given facilities to keep pace with advances in agricultural technology.Yes, it is a lot of effort. But we have plenty of talent and also the resources.Providing these facilities in different languages, partly with public support and partlythrough various business houses and private bodies, can become a good source ofemployment generation by itself.
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