निम्नलिखित में से कौन-सा एक कथन, इस परिच्छेद के लेखक द्वारा व्यक्त अति महत्त्वपूर्ण सन्देश को सर्वोत्तम रूप से प्रतिबिंबित करता है ?
Read this question in English
Which one of the following statements best reflects the critical message conveyed by the author of the passage?
(a) Conservation of biodiversity is not an issue to be worried about when some people depend on ecosystems for their livelihoods. · (b) Commercial exploitation of forests goes against the fundamental rights of the people dependent on forests for food and shelter. · (c) Sustenance of livelihood and degradation of ecosystem while being together exacerbate one another, leading to conflicts and imbalance. · (d) Commercial exploitation of ecosystems should be completely stopped.
उत्तर और व्याख्या · explanation in English
Answer: (c) आजीविका का संपोषण और पारिस्थितिकी तंत्र का निम्नीकरण एक साथ होने से वे एक दूसरे को तीव्र करते हैं, जिससे परस्पर-विरोध और असंतुलन होता है ।
The passage is built around a clash between three uses of an ecosystem — livelihoods, commercial gain and conservation — and shows that degrading the forest hurts the very people who live off it. Option (c) captures this: livelihood needs and ecosystem degradation worsen each other and produce conflict and imbalance.
- ✗ (a) The author treats conservation as one of the competing needs, not as something to set aside. Nothing says livelihood dependence makes biodiversity a non-issue.
- ✗ (b) Fundamental rights are never mentioned. The passage speaks of harm to livelihoods, not of a rights violation — the idea comes from outside the passage.
- ✓ (c) Use of the ecosystem leads to deforestation, floods, siltation and microclimatic instability, which in turn damage forest-dependent livelihoods. The author calls these 'conflicts' and says they are acute where dependence on the ecosystem is high — the mutual worsening and imbalance that (c) describes.
- ✗ (d) Too extreme. The author notes that commercial exploitation 'has the potential to boost national income'; the passage describes a trade-off, not a call for a complete stop.
Remember · For 'critical message', choose the option that states the passage's central tension; drop options that add new ideas or use absolutes.
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2025, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·