निम्नलिखित में से कौन-सा कथन परिच्छेद के क्रांतिक संदेश का सर्वोत्तम प्रेषण करता है?
Read this question in English
Which one of the following statements best reflects the critical message of the passage?
(a) For introducing any foreign plant into a country, the soil and climate conditions of that country should be suitable. · (b) As a staple food of a country, tuber crops like potato cannot replace cereal crops. · (c) Some of the fungal infections of plants cannot be prevented or stopped from spreading across large areas. · (d) Relying on a homogeneous food source is not desirable.
उत्तर और व्याख्या · explanation in English
Answer: (d) किसी समांगी खाद्य स्रोत पर निर्भर होना वांछनीय नहीं है।
Ireland depended almost wholly on the potato, and mostly on a single variety, the Lumper. When one fungus struck that genetically frail variety, nearly the whole food supply failed at once. The lesson is the danger of depending on a uniform food source.
- ✗ (a) The potato suited Ireland's 'cold, rain-soaked soils' well; the famine came from disease, not unsuitable soil or climate.
- ✗ (b) The potato did serve as Ireland's staple; the passage faults reliance on one variety, not tubers as such.
- ✗ (c) The passage does not say the fungus was unstoppable; the scale of disaster came from nearly all plants being the same vulnerable variety.
- ✓ (d) The Irish were 'almost wholly dependent' on the potato and planted 'primarily one' variety, whose 'genetic frailty' let one fungus destroy nearly all of it.
Remember · Ask what turned one fungus into a national famine; the 'critical message' is that underlying cause, not the event itself.
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·