Agricultural technology

Explanation

Both statements are correct based on well-established concepts of agricultural water management in India. First, agriculture is by far the dominant user of freshwater in India — consuming roughly 80 per cent of available water resources — which is why irrigation efficiency is at the core of India's water security discourse. Second, drip (or micro) irrigation is a precision technique that delivers water directly to the plant's root zone through a network of pipes and emitters. By targeting the plant rather than the entire field, it eliminates the major loss pathways of flood irrigation: surface evaporation, runoff into uncultivated areas, and deep percolation below the root zone. This is why drip irrigation is consistently promoted under schemes such as the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) under the 'More Crop Per Drop' mission.

Explanation

Biofortification is correctly described as a process in which crop varieties are developed through conventional plant breeding to naturally accumulate higher levels of micronutrients during growth — no genetic modification is involved and no nutrients are added post-harvest. Industrial fortification is correctly described as the addition of nutrients during food processing or manufacturing, i.e., after the crop has already been grown. Pair 3 is incorrect: ICAR's biofortified varieties are developed using conventional plant breeding, NOT genetic modification. This is a defining distinction between biofortification and GM crops — biofortification relies on natural selection and cross-breeding within species to enhance micronutrient uptake, while genetic modification involves direct manipulation of an organism's DNA. Conflating the two reflects a common misconception.

Explanation

Statement 1 is correct: Component A of PM-KUSUM allows individual farmers, panchayats, cooperatives, and farmer producer organisations to install small-scale (up to 2 MW) grid-connected solar power plants on their barren or fallow land, earning income by selling electricity to DISCOMs at a fixed tariff. This component directly supplements farm income beyond crop revenue. Statement 2 is incorrect: PM-KUSUM is a scheme administered by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), not the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare. MNRE is the nodal ministry responsible for the scheme's design, guidelines, and implementation framework, even though the scheme's beneficiaries are farmers and it targets agricultural energy security. This is a commonly confused institutional attribution. Statement 3 is correct: The agrivoltaics component — a defining feature of PM-KUSUM 2.0 — is specifically designed for dual land use, where the same parcel of agricultural land hosts both solar panels (elevated on structures) and crop cultivation underneath. This model allows farmers to earn from electricity sales while continuing to harvest crops, effectively stacking two income streams from a single land holding. The structural requirement (4–5 metres clearance for farm machinery) distinguishes agrivoltaic installations from standard rooftop or conventional ground-mounted solar systems.

Explanation

Pair 1 is correctly matched. Biofortification is a plant-breeding-based approach that builds enhanced micronutrient levels into the crop itself — distinct from conventional food fortification, which adds nutrients externally during processing. This makes biofortification a sustainable, supply-chain-independent route to addressing nutritional deficits in staple foods. Pair 2 is correctly matched. 'Hidden hunger' refers specifically to micronutrient deficiency that persists despite sufficient caloric intake — a condition where people eat enough food in quantity but remain deficient in iron, zinc, Vitamin C, or other essential micronutrients. Pair 3 is incorrectly matched. Anthocyanins are naturally occurring water-soluble pigments synthesised by the plant itself (a product of biofortification research, not conventional fortification). They give purple-, red-, and blue-fleshed potatoes their distinctive colour and also function as antioxidants. They are not synthetic additives, and they are not applied during post-harvest processing. The characterisation in Pair 3 conflates biofortified natural compounds with conventional fortification ingredients, which is a common misconception.

Explanation

Statement 1 is incorrect. Phosphate-solubilising and potassium-mobilising microbes do not synthesise nutrients from scratch; their documented mode of action is to release nutrients that are already bound in an unavailable form in the soil — a process of mobilisation or solubilisation, not de-novo synthesis. This distinction is fundamental to understanding how biofertilisers differ from synthetic fertilisers. Statement 2 is correct. Under drought stress, plants produce elevated ethylene, which triggers premature leaf senescence and curtails photosynthesis during the critical grain-filling period. ACC-deaminase is an enzyme produced by certain rhizobacteria that degrades the ethylene precursor ACC (1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid), thereby lowering ethylene levels and prolonging canopy photosynthetic activity. Statement 3 is correct. A well-established mechanism by which biostimulants — including seaweed-derived and botanical extracts — confer abiotic stress tolerance is by upregulating the plant's own antioxidant defence enzymes (superoxide dismutase, catalase, peroxidase), which scavenge the reactive oxygen species (ROS) burst triggered by heat and drought. Accumulation of compatible solutes such as proline and glycine betaine further stabilises cell membranes under water deficit. Both mechanisms are part of the documented biochemical rationale for using biostimulants in stress-prone Rabi seasons.