Ans: A

Exp:

Statement 1 is incorrect: The Green Revolution, while boosting overall food production, exacerbated inter-personal and inter-regional disparities in farmers’ income in India. The benefits were not uniformly distributed, leading to increased inequality among farmers.

Statement 2 is incorrect: The swing in cropping patterns towards wheat and rice during the Green Revolution marginalised the cultivation of pulses, oilseeds, maize, and barley. This shift negatively impacted the production of these crops.

Statement 3 is correct: The ecological impact of the Green Revolution was profound. Soil fertility degradation, falling water tables due to excessive irrigation requirements of new seed varieties, and environmental degradation from the uncontrolled use of chemical inputs were significant issues. This had long-term implications for the sustainability of agriculture in the affected regions.

Ans: B

Exp:
Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare launched the 11th Agriculture Census (2021-22) in the country.

Statement 1 is incorrect: The Agriculture Census is conducted every 5 years, which is being undertaken now after delay due to covid-19 pandemic. Agricultural Census is the main source of informationon a variety of agricultural parameters at a relatively minute level, such as the number and area of operational holdings, their size, class-wise distribution, land use, tenancy andcropping pattern, etc.

Statement 2 is incorrect: As per agriculture census for 2015-16 (10th Census), the average size of operational holding declined to 1.08 hectares (ha) in 2015-16 compared to 1.15 ha in 2010-11. The percentage share of female landholders increased from 12.79% (17.65 million) in 2010-11 to 13.87% (20.25 million in 2015-16). 

Statement 3 is correct: This is the first time that data collection for the agricultural census will be conducted on smartphones and tablets so that data is available in time. Most of the States have digitized their land records and surveys, which will further accelerate the collection of agricultural census data.

Ans: C

Exp:

Statement 1 is correct: The HYV Seeds These seeds were popularly called the ‘dwarf’ variety of seeds. With the help of repeated mutations, Mr. Borlaug had been able to develop a seed which was raised in its nature of nutrients supplied to the different parts of the wheat plant—against the leaves, stem and in favour of the grain. This made the plant dwarf and the grain heavier—resulting in high yield. These HYV seeds were non-photosynthetic, hence non-dependent on sun rays for targeted/higher yields.

Statement 2 is correct: Food production increased in such a way (wheat in 1960s and rice, by 1970s) that many countries became self-sufficient (self sufficiency of food must not be confused with the idea of food security) and some even emerged as food exporting countries. But the discrepancy in farmers’ income, it brought with itself increased the inter-personal as well  as  inter-regional  disparities/inequalities  in  India.  Rise  in  the  incidence  of  malaria  due  to water-logging,  a  swing  in  the  balanced  cropping  patterns  in  favour  of  wheat  and  rice  putting pulses, oilseeds, maize, barley on the margins, etc., were negative impacts.

Statement 3 is correct: Over the time , Green Revolution has degraded the Soil fertility. It is due to the repetitive kind of cropping pattern being followed by the farmers as well as the excessive exploitation of the land; lack of a suitable crop combination and the crop intensity, etc.

Ans: A

Exp:

There are certain special terms used to understand the cropping seasons of India. The agricultural crop year in India is from July to June. The Indian cropping season is classified into two main seasons- (i) kharif and (ii) rabi based on the monsoon. 

The kharif cropping season is from July to October during the South-West/Summer Monsoon and the rabi cropping season is from October to March (North-East/Returning/Winter Monsoon). The crops grown between March and June are summer crops, known as Zayads. Pakistan and Bangladesh are two other countries that are using the term ‘kharif’ and ‘rabi’ to describe their cropping patterns. The terms ‘kharif’ and ‘rabi’ originate from Arabic language where kharif means autumn and rabi means spring.

•  The kharif crops include rice, maize, sorghum, pearl millet/bajra, finger millet/ragi (cereals),arhar (pulses), soyabean, groundnut (oilseeds), cotton, etc.
• The rabi crops include wheat, barley,oats (cereals), chickpea/gram (pulses), linseed, mustard (oilseeds) etc.

Ans: A

Exp:

Statement 1 is correct: National Agriculture Market (e NAM) is a pan-India electronic trading portal which networks the existing APMC mandis to create a unified national market for agricultural commodities.m e-NAM platform promotes better marketing opportunities for the farmers to sell their produce through online competitive and transparent price discovery system and online payment facility.

Statement 2 is correct: Warehouse based trading module was also launched in e-NAM to facilitate trade from warehouses based on e-NWR (electronic Negotiable Warehouse Receipt).

Statement 3 is incorrect: e-NAM is completely funded by the Central Government and is implemented by Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC), under the aegis of Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare.