Which one of the following statements best reflects the crux of the passage given above?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (c) Climate changes increase the criticality of water resources while simultaneously threatening it.
Higher temperatures and fewer rainy days mean more run-off, less recharge and falling groundwater tables, yet more frequent droughts push farmers to lean even harder on groundwater. Climate change makes water more critical while shrinking it — the crux in (c).
- ✗ (a) Regional climate models are only the tool the study used; the passage is not about choosing farm practices.
- ✗ (b) Dry-land cropping is never mentioned; it is a remedy from outside the passage.
- ✓ (c) Groundwater is threatened ('less recharge', 'affect the groundwater tables') even as droughts 'increase dependency on groundwater resources' — both halves of the passage.
- ✗ (d) The passage describes farmers relying on groundwater to secure crops; it does not call their livelihoods unsustainable or their strategies risky.
Remember · The crux usually joins the passage's two halves — here, the shrinking resource and the growing dependence on it.
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·