Asssignment No. 2, CSE, Sem. II Date .4. 2. 2016

Assignment No. 2,  CSE, Sem. II  (3. 2. 2016)

Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow:

If our forests are in peril, so are our grasslands with both man and animal contributing to their destruction. And the problem is by no means new. A survey done thirty years ago had classified eighty percent of the country’s grasslands as “poor”. But even today, there is no policy on the management or protection of grasslands, no effort to break the vicious circle that is playing havoc with the diversity they support. As a recent issue of the magazine “Down to Earth” noted, the growing demand for cultivable land is eating into our grasslands. Common lands, which once provided grazing ground, are being used for other purposes and what remains is being destroyed by our livestock. India is now the second biggest dairy producer in the world with one livestock animal for two persons. In fact, 25% of the total agricultural produce comes from cattle rearing and dairy farming. So, as grasslands are getting degraded, more and more animals are needed to produce the same amount of milk, which means an increasing demand for fodder. Moreover, goats have become popular because they also eat the roots. But this again means further degradation of grasslands. Weeds are replacing edible grass and soil erosion and water loss follows with far reaching consequences for men and animals.

Quite obviously, there is an urgent need for a long term holistic policy on the management and conservation of grasslands, one that will lay stress on improving the quality of the livestock rather than the quantity and take traditional pastoral systems into account while developing strategies to meet the growing needs of the country.

1.  What, according to the magazine “Down to Earth”, is the cause behind the degradation of grasslands?
2.  Explain two effects of the degradation of grasslands.
3. Describe two things that a holistic policy on the management and conservation of grasslands should give importance to
4.  Find the words from the passage which have the following meanings: I. Danger  II. Evil and dangerous
5. Who is responsible for destroying our grasslands?
6. What did the survey say about the quality of our grasslands?
7.   Why is the protection and management of the grasslands necessary?
8.   What place does India occupy among the producers of dairy products in the world?
9.  What proportion of the agricultural production of the country is contributed by this sector of the economy?
10.  Name the consequences of the degradation of grasslands.