However, if every window for engagement with Pakistan is closed for India and

Afghanistan, the two countries must closely consider what their next step will
be. A lack of engagement may, in the short term, yield some pressure on
Pakistan’s leadership to act, as it did briefly after the Pathankot attack. But in
the long run it may deplete the two countries of their limited leverage as
Pakistan’s neighbours. It may, for all the affirmations of mutual ties, also
succeed in driving more obstacles to trade between India and Afghanistan. In
the past year, the cornering of Pakistan by its South Asian neighbours has only
yielded deeper ties for Islamabad with Beijing and Moscow, pushed Kabul
closer to Central Asia, and moved New Delhi towards multilateral groupings to
the east and south. As a result, the measures India and Afghanistan have
envisaged in order to avoid Pakistan, such as land trade from the Chabahar
port and a dedicated air corridor between Delhi and Kabul, may prove to be
insufficient by the time they are put in place, even as Afghanistan is connected
more closely via a rail line from China’s Yiwu and Tehran. The Heart of Asia
process thus remains critical to forging cooperation to realise Afghanistan’s
potential to be a vibrant Asian “hub”.
 Speed is most Important in IBPS
 Make and follow a time table
 Focus on concepts- Not just learning
 Self-evaluation is very critical
 Stay positive and confidence
 Set a finishing date
 REVOLUTION IN AGRICULTURE

3 4

 Green Revolution in India began in the 1965, through

the introduction of high-yield crop varieties and
application of modern agricultural techniques, and
led to an increase in food production in India. It
began after high-yielding wheat was first introduced
to India in 1963 by American agronomist Dr. Norman E
Borlaug, who is known as "the Father of the Green
Revolution".
 India's programme of Green Revolution was led by Dr.
M. S. Swaminathan, known as "the Father of the Green
Revolution in India". The introduction of High-yielding
varieties of seeds and the increased use of chemical
fertilizers and irrigation led to the increase in production
needed to make India self-sufficient in food grains, thus
improving agriculture in India. The methods adopted
included the use of high yielding varieties (HYV) of
seeds along with the use of modern farming methods.
 The headquarters of Indian 8
Meteorological Department was
established in 1875 at—

 (A) New Delhi

(B) Hyderabad
(C) Pune
(D) Calcutta

 (D) Calcutta
 9

 The IMD headquarters were later shifted to Shimla in 1905,

then to Pune in 1928 and finally to New Delhi in 1944
 IMD became a member of the World Meteorological
Organization after independence on 27 April 1949
 It has the responsibility for forecasting, naming and
distribution of warnings for tropical cyclones in the Northern
Indian Ocean region, including the Malacca Straits, the Bay
of Bengal, the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf.
 10
Moisture condensed in small drops
upon cool surface is called—
 11

 Rain: Water vapor condenses around condensation

nuclei (such as dust) and falls when the droplet is heavy
enough.
 Sleet: Same formation as rain, but it freezes somewhere
along its path from the clouds to the ground. Sleet is a
mixture of snow and rain
 Snow: Water droplets form and then freezing occurs
slowly
 Hail: Water droplets are carried high into the
atmosphere by thunderstorm updrafts, which cause
them to freeze. Multiple drops tend to freeze together,
which is why the diameter of hail can be large.
 12

 Dew: Water vapor on the ground condenses on

objects
 Frost:Dew forms and then it freezes. This commonly
occurs when nighttime radiational cooling drops
the ground temperature down enough.
 Fog: Fog consists of visible cloud water droplets or
ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the
Earth's surface.
 13

Mist is a phenomenon of small droplets

suspended in air. It can occur as part of natural
weather or volcanic activity, and is common in
cold air above warmer water.
 14
Zinc Sulphate (ZnSO4) should not be
mixed with—

 (A)D.A.P.
(B) Compost fertilizer
(C) Ammonium Chloride
(D) Urea

 (A) D.A.P.
 Di-Ammonium phosphate (DAP) contains 18% of
Nitrogen, 46% of Phosphorus and no Potassium. DAP
dissolves easily in water at 20 degrees Celsius.
 DAP should not be mixed with any fertilizers containing
Zinc as it forms Zinc Phosfide, which makes it
inappropriate for plants.
 For the best effect DAP should be applied prior to
sowing
 Di-Ammonium phosphate (DAP) is the world’s most
widely used Phosphorus fertilizer. It is made from two
common constituents in the fertilizer industry – Nitrogen
(N) and Phosphorus (P).
Books To study now
Magazine and newspaper
 19
Which of the following is systemic
poison ?

 (A)Metasystox
(B) Phosphomidan
(C) Phorate
(D) All of these

 (C) Phorate
Ban 13 pesticides, phase out 6 by 2020
 Punjab Government bans sale of 20 Pesticides

 This decision was taken based on the recommendations

of Registration Committee, Punjab Agricultural University
(PAU) and Punjab State Farmers’ Commission (PSFC).
 The insecticides that are banned includes Tricholorofon,
Phosphamidon, Dicofol, Methomyl, Thiophanate Methyl,
Benfuracarb, Bifenthrin, Endosulfan, Chlorfenapyr,
Carbosulfan, Ethofenprox (Etofenprox), Phorate,
Triazophos, Dazomet, Diflubenzuron, Fenitrothion,
Metaldehyde, Kasugamycin, Alachior and
Monocrotophos.
 Some of these pesticides (Phosphamidion,
Methomyl, Phorate, Triazophos and
Monocrotophos) are considered class I
pesticides by World Health Organization
(WHO) and are further categorised into
extremely hazardous (class Ia) and highly
hazardous (class Ib) to human health.
 25
Eutrophication
Algal bloom caused by
eutrophication Fertilizer run-offs
from crop fields are one of the
factors responsible for
eutrophication.
26
27
 28
India’s Rank:
 Rice:
 China > India > Indonesia : 2nd
 Maize:
 USA>China >Brazil (India 4th)
 Wheat:
 China > India: 2nd
 Total pulses:
 India – 1st
 Mustard & rapeseed:
 China > Canada > India:3rd
 29

 Groundnut:
 China > India>USA: 2nd
 Sugarcane:
 Brazil > India>China:2nd
 Total cereals:
 China > USA > India:3rd
 Coarse cereals:
 USA > China > Brazil > India: 4th
 30

 Vegetables:
 China > India> USA: 2nd
 Fruits & veg:
 China > India: 2nd
 Cotton:
 China > India: 2nd
 Tobacco:
 China > Brazil > India: 3rd
 Tea, jute & allied fibers:
 India – 1st
 31

 Coffee-
 India- 6th
 Cattle population:
 1st India (16.5%)
 Buffalo population:
 1st India (56.7%)
 Milk production:
 1st India (15%)
 Egg production:
 India: 5th
Vernalization
Mutation
Hybridization
Longday and short day plants
Question on Rural development
 (a) Vernalization
 (b) Mutation
 (c) Natural selection
 (d) Hybridization

 (d) Hybridization
AFO 2015
 Vernalization (from Latin vernus, "of the spring") is the induction
of a plant's flowering process by exposure to the prolonged
cold of winter, or by an artificial equivalent.
 After vernalization, plants have acquired the ability to flower, but
they may require additional seasonal break or weeks of growth
before they will actually flower
 Vernalization is sometimes used to refer to herbal (non-woody)
plants requiring a cold dormancy to produce new shoots and
leaves
 An example of winter rye. When the
seeds of this variety of rye were
germinated at 1°C for four weeks, the
plants flowered eleven weeks after
planting, but at the same time seeds
germinated at 18°C did not produce
flowering shoot in the same duration
 Mutation

 Plantmutations, known as sports, breaks,

or chimeras, are naturally occurring
genetic mutations that can change the
appearance of the foliage, flowers, fruit
or stems of any plant.
Mutation in plants
 Natural selection

 Natural selection is the process of naturally

'screening' traits (characteristics) within
individuals within a species for or against a
certain outcome.
 it can be loosely termed 'survival of the
fittest'.
Hybridization
 (A) Quantitative long day plants
 (B) Short day plants
 (C) Day neutral
 (D) None of these

ICAR JRF Question

 (A) Quantitative long day plants 2014
 Many flowering plants (angiosperms) use a
photoreceptor protein, such as phytochrome or
cryptochrome, to sense seasonal changes in night
length, or photoperiod, which they take as signals to
flower.
 The length of the day and night required for the initiation
of flowering is called photoperiod.Depending upon the
length of photoperiod
 Long-day plants

 Long-day plants flower when the night

length falls below their critical
photoperiod
 These plants typically flower during late
spring or early summer as days are
getting longer.
 Some long-day facultative plants are:
 Pea (Pisum sativum)
 Barley (Hordeum vulgare)
 Lettuce (Lactuca sativa)
 Wheat (Triticum aestivum)
 Sugar beet (Beta vulgaris)
 Cabbage
 Short-day plants

 Short-day plants flower when the night

lengths exceed their critical photoperiod.
They cannot flower under short nights or if
a pulse of artificial light is shone on the
plant for several minutes during the night;
they require a continuous period of
darkness before floral development can
begin.
 Some short-day facultative plants are:
 Marijuana (Cannabis)
 Cotton (Gossypium)
 Rice (Oryza)
 Jowar (Sorghum bicolor)
 Green Gram (Mung bean, Vigna radiata)
 Soybeans (Glycine max)
 Coffee(Coffee arabica)
 Tobacco(Nicotiana tobacum)
 Chrysanthemum
 Theshort day plants require nights of
more than 12 hours length. Hence short
day plants are also called long light
plants.
 Day-neutral plants

 Day-neutral plants, such as cucumbers, roses,

and tomatoes, do not initiate flowering based
on photoperiodism. Instead, they may initiate
flowering after attaining a certain overall
developmental stage or age, or in response to
alternative environmental condition, such as
vernalisation (a period of low temperature)
Which one of the following is Bio Fertilizer?

(a) Rhizobium
(b) Azotobacter
(c) PSB
(d) All of the above

(d) All of the above

 What is Bio fertilizer
 A Bio fertilizer (also bio-fertilizer) is a substance
which contains living microorganisms which,
when applied to seeds, plant surfaces, or soil,
colonize the rhizosphere or the interior of the
plant and promotes growth by increasing the
supply or availability of primary nutrients to the
host plant.
 Fertilizers directly increase soil fertility by adding
nutrients. Biofertilizers add nutrients through the
natural processes
Ex.-Azotobacter, Rhizobium,
Bacillus, Pseudomonas, PSB,
Azospirillum, mycorrhiza, blue
green algae(BGA)
 Rhizobium is used for leguminous crops such as pulses.
 Azotobacter can be used with crops like wheat,
maize, mustard, cotton, potato and other vegetable
crops.
 Blue green algae fix atmospheric nitrogen and are
used as inoculants for paddy crop
 Phosphate solubilizing bacteria are able to make the
phosphate usable by solubilize it from inorganic
sources.
 PSB is Phosphate solubilizing bacteria
 PSB can be applied through fertigation or in
hydroponic operations.
 The use of PSB as inoculants increases P uptake
by plants. Simple inoculation of seeds with PSB
gives crop yield responses equivalent to 30 kg
P2O5 /ha or 50 percent of the need for
phosphatic fertilizers.