Overview
Previous Year Questions By the end of this article you will be able to draft model answers for the following UPSC questions. Each question carries a collapsible framework showing how to approach it in the exam.
- UPSC Prelims 2025: Consider the following statements about the Rashtriya Gokul Mission:
- It is important for the upliftment of rural poor as majority of low producing indigenous animals are with small and marginal farmers and landless labourers.
- It was initiated to promote indigenous cattle and buffalo rearing and conservation in a scientific and holistic manner.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: Verify each statement against the Mission's mandate; both should hold for a Mission targeting indigenous-breed upliftment of rural poor
Trap to watch: Statement I sounds policy-flavoured but is factually grounded; rejecting it on stylistic grounds is the elimination trap
Key facts to recall:
- Rashtriya Gokul Mission launched 2014 under DAHD
- Targets indigenous cattle and buffalo rearing under the National Programme for Bovine Breeding
- Implemented through Gokul Grams, Bull Mother Farms, and Gopal Ratna awards
- Connects to broader Pashudhan ecosystem alongside NLM and AHIDF
Answer signal: Both statements describe authentic features of the Rashtriya Gokul Mission as launched in 2014
- UPSC Mains 2015 GS-III: Livestock rearing has a big potential for providing non-farm employment and income in rural areas. Discuss suggesting suitable measures to promote this sector in India.
How to structure the answer in the exam
Introduction: Livestock sector contributes roughly 30 percent of agricultural Gross Value Added and supports 8 to 9 percent of rural population. Commercial poultry has emerged as the fastest-growing livestock segment between 1965 and 2025, providing non-farm employment to roughly 5 million people across commercial and backyard farms.
Body (sub-themes to develop):
- Strengthen the restructured National Livestock Mission 2.0 sub-missions on Livestock Development, Feed and Fodder, and Innovation and Extension to channel breed improvement, alternate feed sourcing, and start-up support to commercial clusters
- Expand the Pashudhan ecosystem through the Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund with its 15,000 crore corpus to finance cold-chain and processing infrastructure, addressing the export-readiness gap in poultry value-addition
- Promote Climate-Smart Village approaches piloted by the Borlaug Institute for South Asia and ICAR-CRIDA for heat-resilient livestock practices, integrating poultry adaptation alongside crop adaptation in vulnerable agro-climatic regions
- Build State-level extension capacity for ICAR-CARI heat-tolerant breeds (Vanaraja and Gramapriya) targeting landless and marginal rural households where backyard rearing supplements income
Conclusion: Convergence of NLM 2.0, Rashtriya Gokul Mission, the Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund, and Climate-Smart Village pilots is the institutional pathway to realising livestock-driven employment and income potential. Coordinated delivery through DAHD, NABARD, ICAR, and State implementing agencies translates policy architecture into rural employment outcomes.
Silver Revolution Part 10 closes the cluster by applying two synthesis lenses to Indian poultry. The Geography Optional Paper II lens places the industry within cropping-pattern and agro-climatic regionalisation frameworks. The sustainability lens audits feed-grain dependence, water and land footprint, climate vulnerability, and waste-loop pathways.
Closing the Silver Revolution Series with Two Synthesis Lenses
Why the cluster needs a closing synthesis after Parts 1 through 9
Part 10 closes the cluster by applying two synthesis lenses to Indian poultry. The Geography Optional Paper II lens places the livestock economy within the cropping-pattern, agro-climatic, and primary-activity scheme of UPSC agricultural geography. The sustainability lens audits the industry's feed, water, climate, and waste footprint against the food-system resilience question.
Parts 1 through 9 walked through production architecture, spatial distribution, economic impact, policy framework, biosecurity, and contemporary trends. The missing strand is the analytical synthesis that connects these facts to two recurring exam frameworks. Part 10 supplies that bridge for Geography Optional candidates and General Studies III aspirants tackling allied-agriculture sustainability questions.
- Geography Optional candidates need Silver Revolution mapped onto Paper II Unit 2 topics, especially cropping-pattern interaction, agro-climatic regionalisation, and primary-activity classification.
- General Studies III aspirants need the same industry framed as a sustainability case study covering feed-grain dependence, water footprint, climate vulnerability, and waste management.
- Mains answer-writers need the synthesis pre-built so a single revision pass equips them to write on diversification, climate-smart agriculture, or rural employment without re-reading the entire cluster.
Poultry through the Geography Optional Paper II Agricultural Geography Lens
Mapping the Silver Revolution to Paper II Unit 2 syllabus topics
What is the significance of this movement for agricultural geography? UPSC Geography Optional Paper II Unit 2 covers Resources and Agricultural Geography of India. The unit subdivides into cropping patterns, agricultural productivity, agro-climatic regionalisation, livestock resources, and allied activities including poultry, sericulture, apiculture, and aquaculture. The Silver Revolution sits at the intersection of three of these sub-topics.
- (a) Cropping-pattern coupling. Poultry production attaches to the maize-soybean feed belt of Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka interior, and Maharashtra interior. The cluster of broiler farms in Namakkal, Pune-Nashik, and Hyderabad-Vijayawada sits within road reach of this feed source. Cropping pattern thus determines poultry geography by setting the inland edge of the cluster.
- (b) Agro-climatic regionalisation. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research classifies India into fifteen agro-climatic regions. Commercial poultry concentrates in the Southern Plateau, Eastern Coastal, and Trans-Gangetic regions, where temperature ranges, humidity patterns, and feed-crop availability favour broiler and layer farming.
- (c) Primary-activity classification. NCERT Class 12 Fundamentals of Human Geography classifies livestock-rearing as one of seven primary activities. Indian poultry has crossed the threshold from subsistence backyard rearing to commercial pastoralism and intensive subsistence livestock farming, embedding the Silver Revolution within the global primary-economy framework.
Livestock economy as one of seven primary-activity types
Primary activities in Class 12 Fundamentals of Human Geography are hunting and gathering, pastoralism, agriculture, mining, fishing, forestry, and quarrying. Livestock farming sits within pastoralism and agriculture depending on intensity. Indian commercial poultry, with its hybrid breeds, controlled-environment housing, and contract-farming arrangements, qualifies as intensive subsistence farming with livestock, a hybrid category specific to South Asian agricultural geography.
The classification matters because Paper II questions often ask aspirants to compare regional livestock systems against the cropping-pattern background. The Silver Revolution's distinct feature is its independence from grazing land. Unlike cattle and sheep that need pasture, commercial poultry occupies a small physical footprint and depends instead on a transported feed input. This structural feature places it closer to manufacturing in spatial logic than to traditional pastoralism.
Agro-climatic regionalisation of Indian poultry clusters
Five agro-climatic regions concentrate the bulk of Indian commercial poultry. The Southern Plateau includes Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka, hosting Namakkal, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru clusters. The Western Plateau and Hills covers Pune, Nashik, and Solapur broiler belts in Maharashtra. The Trans-Gangetic Plain includes Karnal, Panipat, and Sonipat layer clusters serving the National Capital Region. The Eastern Coastal region adds West Bengal and coastal Odisha layer farms.
The clustering pattern reveals two coupling forces. The upstream coupling links poultry clusters to the maize-soybean feed belt of central India. The downstream coupling links clusters to metropolitan demand sinks (Chennai, Bengaluru, Mumbai, NCR, Hyderabad) within twelve-hour road transit reach. Where both couplings are strong, the cluster matures into a national supply node; where only one is strong, it remains a regional player.
Sustainability Pillars of Indian Poultry across Feed, Water, Climate, and Waste
Feed-grain dependence on maize and soybean and the food-versus-feed tension
Distinguishing features of poultry sustainability. The industry's sustainability profile turns on four substantive features, each with distinct policy implications:
- (i) Feed-grain dependence. Maize and soybean together account for roughly two-thirds of poultry production cost. Indian commercial broiler feed converts at roughly 1.7 to 1.9 kilograms of feed per kilogram of live weight, among the most efficient livestock-conversion ratios globally. The flip side is direct competition between human food-grain demand and animal feed-grain demand, an issue Class 12 India People and Economy raises in the Land Resources chapter.
- (ii) Land and water footprint. Per kilogram of protein, poultry uses substantially less land and water than beef or mutton. Broiler chicken requires roughly 4,300 litres of water per kilogram compared to 15,400 litres for beef. This ecological advantage anchors the WHO and FAO recommendation to substitute poultry for ruminant meat in protein-deficient diets.
- (iii) Climate vulnerability through heat stress. Broiler birds suffer production loss above ambient temperatures of roughly 35 degrees Celsius. The 2022 North Indian heat wave and the 2023 South Indian summer recorded cluster-level mortality spikes, signalling that climate change is no longer a distant concern for the industry.
Water and land footprint compared with beef and dairy
| Protein source | Water (litres per kg) | Land (sq m per kg) | Greenhouse gas (kg CO2-eq per kg) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beef | 15,400 | 326 | 60 |
| Lamb and mutton | 10,400 | 185 | 24 |
| Cheese (dairy) | 5,060 | 41 | 21 |
| Pork | 5,990 | 11 | 7 |
| Poultry (broiler) | 4,330 | 7 | 6 |
| Eggs | 3,300 | 6 | 4.5 |
| Pulses (dal) | 4,055 | 3.4 | 0.9 |
The table places poultry as the least-impact animal protein after eggs. The comparison with pulses reveals that vegetarian protein remains structurally lighter on the environment, but poultry has dramatically narrowed the gap. For UPSC sustainability questions, the framing is that India's protein transition should diversify toward poultry and pulses simultaneously, not substitute one entirely for the other.
Climate vulnerability through heat stress and disease patterns
Heat stress acts on commercial poultry through three coupled channels. The first is direct mortality when ambient temperatures cross the bird's thermal-comfort ceiling near 35 degrees Celsius. The second is feed-conversion deterioration as birds consume less feed during heat episodes, raising the per-kilogram cost of meat. The third is secondary disease vulnerability, since heat-stressed birds are more susceptible to bacterial and viral infections including Newcastle disease and high-pathogenic avian influenza.
The physiological mechanism explains why these channels couple. Birds dissipate heat primarily through respiratory evaporation, since they lack functional sweat glands. As temperatures climb, panting frequency rises, blood acid-base balance shifts, and feed-intake reflex weakens. A 10 percent drop in feed intake can lead to 20 percent fall in growth rate in broiler flocks, a non-linear loss pattern that magnifies the economic damage from any sustained heat event.
- Direct mortality channel: bird thermal-comfort ceiling crosses near 35 degrees Celsius; sustained exposure triggers measurable production loss.
- Feed-conversion deterioration channel: heat-stressed birds reduce intake, raising per-kilogram cost of meat output by 5 to 10 percent.
- Secondary disease vulnerability channel: weakened immune response opens the door to Newcastle disease and high-pathogenic avian influenza outbreaks.
The ICAR Central Avian Research Institute at Bareilly has developed heat-tolerant breeds including the Vanaraja and Gramapriya backyard birds. The Vanaraja, released in the early 1990s, tolerates ambient temperatures up to roughly 40 degrees Celsius and survives free-range conditions with minimal supplementation. The Gramapriya, a layer breed, sustains egg production under similar conditions. Both varieties target landless and marginal households where backyard rearing supplements rural income, a use-case directly aligned with Mains 2015 GS-III Q2 on livestock-driven non-farm employment.
The trade-off is lower commercial yield per bird, since heat tolerance comes at the cost of broiler conversion efficiency. Commercial hybrid layers can produce 300 eggs per year; the Gramapriya delivers closer to 180 to 200 eggs per year. The breeding programme therefore reflects a deliberate policy choice between climate resilience and intensive productivity. Geography Optional Paper II questions on agricultural adaptation frequently probe this tension because it surfaces in every climate-vulnerable agricultural sector.
Adaptation infrastructure at the cluster level adds a second response layer. Evaporative cooling pads, fogging systems, insulated roofing, and east-west shed orientation together reduce in-shed temperature by 4 to 7 degrees Celsius during peak summer. Larger clusters in Namakkal, Hyderabad-Vijayawada, and Pune-Nashik have adopted these systems progressively. Smaller backyard rearers depend more on shade trees, water troughs, and dietary supplementation with electrolytes.
The vulnerability gradient runs from the Trans-Gangetic Plain through the Central Indian dryland belt to the Southern Plateau coastal margins. Clusters in the Trans-Gangetic Plain face the sharpest summer peaks; Southern Plateau clusters face higher year-round baseline heat with smaller absolute peaks. Climate models projecting 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius warming by 2050 over the Indian subcontinent imply that all commercial-poultry zones will need active adaptation, with the timing more urgent for the dryland-edge clusters.
Waste management from litter to biogas and ammonia emissions
Indian commercial poultry generates roughly 15 million tonnes of litter per year, a mixture of bedding material, droppings, feathers, and feed residue. Three management pathways exist. Composted litter serves as organic fertiliser for the maize-soybean feed belt, closing the nutrient loop. Biogas digestion converts litter into methane fuel for on-farm energy. Open disposal, the worst pathway, releases ammonia into the atmosphere and nitrates into groundwater.
Prelims 2019 Q41 referenced agricultural soils releasing nitrogen oxides and cattle releasing ammonia into the environment, signalling that the examination tracks these waste-management questions closely. The Silver Revolution Part 7 covered the disease and biosecurity angle; Part 10 closes the loop by treating litter as the ecological exit channel that determines whether the industry's nutrient cycle is sustainable or polluting.
Measurable Outcomes of Six Decades of Indian Poultry Growth from 1965 to 2025
Production trajectory and per-capita consumption shifts
Six decades of commercial growth show three measurable shifts in the production-consumption profile of Indian poultry:
- (a) Production scale. Egg production rose from roughly 2 billion eggs in 1961 to over 138 billion eggs by 2022-23 per DAHD Basic Animal Husbandry Statistics. India ranks third globally in egg output after China and the United States. Broiler meat production approached 7 million tonnes in 2022-23, making India the world’s fifth-largest broiler producer.
- (b) Per-capita consumption. Annual per-capita egg availability rose from roughly 10 eggs in 1961 to over 100 eggs in 2022-23. The National Institute of Nutrition recommends 180 eggs per person per year, indicating substantial headroom remains. Per-capita poultry meat availability rose from negligible levels in 1961 to roughly 5 kilograms per person by 2022-23.
- (c) Sectoral share. The poultry sector contributes roughly 1 percent of national Gross Value Added but a much larger share of agricultural GVA in southern States. In Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu, poultry contributes between 5 and 8 percent of agricultural GVA, anchoring rural diversification in those States.
Export trajectory and GCC and South-East Asia demand
Indian poultry product exports cover egg powder, frozen broiler cuts, hatching eggs, and pet-food ingredients. The principal markets are the Gulf Cooperation Council States (Oman, Qatar, UAE), South-East Asia (Vietnam, Sri Lanka), and parts of Africa. The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) administers the export-registration framework for poultry establishments.
Two structural constraints limit export growth. The first is avian-influenza biosecurity notifications, which trigger temporary import bans by destination countries (covered in Part 7). The second is the cold-chain bottleneck from cluster to port. The Mega Food Parks scheme of the Ministry of Food Processing Industries addresses the cold-chain gap; broader sectoral export ambitions require coordinated investment between APEDA, DAHD, and the Department of Commerce.
Climate-related production losses and the 2022-23 heat wave evidence
The 2022 North Indian heat wave and the 2023 Andhra-Telangana summer recorded the first cluster-scale climate losses in Indian commercial poultry. The March 2022 heat wave registered temperatures roughly 4 to 5 degrees Celsius above seasonal norms across northern India, with broiler clusters in Haryana, Punjab, and western Uttar Pradesh reporting acute mortality spikes during the second and third weeks of the month.
Industry estimates placed mortality at 5 to 15 percent in worst-affected pockets, with feed-conversion ratios deteriorating by an additional 5 to 10 percent. The losses are not yet captured in any single official dataset.
- APEDA export-disruption notifications indicate which cluster faced an immediate downstream shock through cancelled or delayed shipments to GCC and South-East Asian markets.
- State animal-husbandry department advisories surface during heat-wave warnings and document mortality counts for compensation purposes.
- Producer-association loss reports from the Indian Poultry Equipment Manufacturers Association and the All India Poultry Breeders Association capture aggregated commercial losses.
- ICAR-CARI and State Agricultural University field surveys conducted during post-mortem episodes triangulate the cluster-level damage.
The 2023 South Indian summer added a second observational episode. Andhra Pradesh and Telangana together host roughly a third of Indian commercial broiler capacity. The two States recorded sustained temperatures above 42 degrees Celsius through April and May.
Cluster mortality in Telangana's Medak and Vikarabad belts reportedly crossed the 8 percent threshold. Feed-conversion ratios moved by an additional 0.15 to 0.20 kilograms of feed per kilogram of live weight. The economic damage at the cluster level remains unquantified at the time of writing.
Three structural responses are emerging. The first is insurance product development, with the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana being explored for extension to broiler and layer flocks. The second is cluster-level early-warning systems linking India Meteorological Department heat-wave forecasts to producer alerts via State extension networks. The third is adaptive financing through the Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund, which now permits funding for evaporative-cooling retrofits and insulated housing upgrades.
The pattern signals that climate adaptation is no longer optional for Indian poultry. The Climate-Smart Village approach piloted by the Borlaug Institute for South Asia and ICAR-CRIDA, referenced in Prelims 2021 Q59, provides one institutional template. The National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture programme is another. The Silver Revolution must internalise climate-resilience measures within the next decade to sustain its growth trajectory, with the integration most urgent in Trans-Gangetic and Southern Plateau clusters.
Sustainable Poultry Policy Roadmap and Cross-Mission Linkages
National Livestock Mission 2.0 sub-mission components
The National Livestock Mission was launched in 2014-15 and restructured in 2021-22 with three sub-mission components. The Sub-Mission on Livestock Development covers breed improvement and entrepreneurship under the Poultry Venture Capital Fund framework. The Sub-Mission on Feed and Fodder addresses the maize-soybean dependence by promoting alternate feed sources. The Sub-Mission on Innovation and Extension supports start-ups in artificial insemination, vaccination, and farm digitisation.
The restructuring connects Silver Revolution to the broader Pashudhan ecosystem being built around livestock entrepreneurship. NABARD provides credit support for poultry venture capital under the entrepreneurship sub-mission. The Atmanirbhar Bharat Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund, with a corpus of 15,000 crore rupees, supplements NLM in financing dairy and meat processing units.
Climate-Smart Village pilots and the CCAFS programme integration
The Climate-Smart Village approach, referenced in Prelims 2021 Q59, runs under the Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) programme of the CGIAR research network. CCAFS coordinates climate-adaptation research across India, South-East Asia, East Africa, West Africa, and Latin America, with the Indian programme led jointly by the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) and ICAR institutions including ICAR-CRIDA in Hyderabad and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).
- Karnal site (Haryana) hosted by BISA’s research farm. Integrates climate-resilient wheat varieties, laser land levelling, residue management, and groundwater monitoring.
- Vaishali site (Bihar) covers integrated farming with crop-livestock combinations adapted to floodplain ecology.
- Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka districts add livestock and poultry adaptation alongside crop adaptation, reflecting the integrated-farming-system framing of Mains 2022 GS-III Q14.
Indian Climate-Smart Village pilots concentrate in Karnal in Haryana, Vaishali in Bihar, and several Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka districts. The list above captures the topical mix; each site demonstrates a different angle on climate-resilient agricultural design.
For Silver Revolution clusters specifically, the adaptation package translates into four practical interventions. The first is heat-tolerant breed adoption, with Vanaraja and Gramapriya distribution under State-funded backyard schemes. The second is evaporative-cooling poultry housing co-financed through the Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund. The third is shaded outdoor runs with native tree canopies for backyard flocks, integrating agroforestry into livestock geography. The fourth is litter-management protocols that close the nutrient loop while controlling ammonia emissions.
The pilot evidence demonstrates that integrated farming systems can deliver 15 to 30 percent income gains for participating households alongside improved climate resilience. The IFS model places poultry within a broader farm portfolio that includes crops, dairy, and aquaculture, dampening the risk from any single climate shock. The challenge ahead is scaling pilot evidence to commercial-cluster levels without losing the integration logic that makes the smaller IFS units resilient.
Bridging this scale gap is among the explicit priorities of NLM 2.0 and the broader Pashudhan ecosystem. The National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture programme, operating since 2011 under ICAR coordination, runs strategic research at ICAR-CRIDA and demonstration projects at Krishi Vigyan Kendras across all agro-climatic regions. NICRA's Module 2 explicitly covers livestock and poultry adaptation, providing the institutional channel for Climate-Smart Village findings to flow into commercial-cluster practice.
Rashtriya Gokul Mission cross-link and the Pashudhan ecosystem
Prelims 2025 Q30 anchored Rashtriya Gokul Mission within the GS-I curriculum on agriculture. The Mission, launched in 2014, focuses on indigenous bovine breed development through Gokul Grams, Gopal Ratna awards, and the National Programme for Bovine Breeding and Dairy Development. Although the Mission is bovine-focused, its institutional architecture (DAHD coordination, State implementing agencies, breed-specific research stations) provides the template for poultry-equivalent indigenous-breed programmes.
The Pashudhan ecosystem layered above NLM, Gokul Mission, and the Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund treats livestock holistically. For Geography Optional candidates, the framing connects Silver Revolution to the broader White Revolution and Pink Revolution story, demonstrating how India is building parallel sustainable-livestock pathways across dairy, poultry, and meat-processing sectors.
Synthesis and Outlook to 2030
Closing reflection on the cluster's six analytical dimensions
Parts 1 through 10 of the Silver Revolution series build a six-dimensional analytical framework. Production architecture (Parts 1, 3, 4), spatial distribution (Parts 2, 9), economic and social impact (Part 5), policy and farming systems (Part 6), environment and biosecurity (Part 7), structural challenges (Part 8), and the closing synthesis (Part 10). Each dimension feeds a distinct UPSC question template, from GS-III sectoral questions to Geography Optional Paper II regional questions.
The cluster's central argument is that Indian poultry is a sustainability test case. The industry shows that a livestock sector can grow at the rate of cereal crops, deliver nutritional outcomes at scale, and stay within ecological boundaries lighter than ruminant meat. The argument matters because the next two decades will require India to triple its protein supply for a 1.6 billion population while staying within climate and water constraints.
Outlook to 2030 with sustainability indicators to watch
- Per-capita egg consumption moving from 100 to the National Institute of Nutrition recommendation of 180 eggs per person per year, indicating closure of the protein gap.
- Climate-resilient breed share rising as a percentage of commercial flocks, signalling whether ICAR-CARI breeding programmes scale beyond pilot.
- Litter-to-biogas conversion ratio at the cluster level, indicating whether the nutrient loop is closing or staying open.
- Maize-soybean acreage share dedicated to feed versus food, signalling the food-versus-feed tension trajectory.
- Heat-wave mortality data integration into official DAHD statistics, indicating whether climate losses are being measured systematically.
- Export share moving from West Asian to ASEAN markets, indicating whether India is climbing the value-addition ladder in poultry exports.
These six indicators define the Silver Revolution's 2030 outlook. Whether each indicator moves in the sustainable direction depends on coordinated action across DAHD, ICAR, MoEFCC, the Niti Aayog livestock cell, and State animal-husbandry departments. The cluster ends not with a triumphal closing but with a clear-eyed picture of the next decade's work.
Prelims MCQ practice
Each question below tests one specific concept from this article. Click to reveal the answer and a full option-wise explanation.
Q1. Consider the following statements regarding feed-grain dependence of Indian commercial poultry:
- Maize and soybean together account for roughly two-thirds of Indian commercial poultry production cost.
- Indian commercial broiler feed-conversion ratio of 1.7 to 1.9 kilograms of feed per kilogram of live weight is among the most efficient livestock-conversion ratios globally.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- 1 only
- 2 only
- Both 1 and 2
- Neither 1 nor 2
Show answer and explanation
Answer: Both 1 and 2
Explanation.
Correct: c (Both 1 and 2). Statement 1 is correct: maize and soybean dominate the feed bill at roughly 60-70 percent of total broiler production cost, which is why food-versus-feed grain competition is a recurring policy concern. Statement 2 is correct: broiler FCR of 1.7-1.9 is structurally better than ruminant FCRs (cattle 6 to 8) because birds direct more feed energy to muscle and shell rather than maintenance. The dual fact frames the sustainability question: efficient at protein conversion but heavily input-dependent on cereal grains.
Q2. With reference to per-kilogram-of-protein footprint comparisons across food sources, consider the following statements:
- Broiler chicken requires substantially less water per kilogram than beef.
- Per kilogram of protein, pulses require more water than poultry.
- Eggs have a lower land footprint per kilogram than dairy cheese.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
- 1 and 2 only
- 2 and 3 only
- 1 and 3 only
- 1, 2 and 3
Show answer and explanation
Answer: 1 and 3 only
Explanation.
Correct: c (1 and 3 only). Statement 1 is correct: beef requires roughly 15,400 litres per kilogram against poultry's 4,330 litres, a three-fold gap. Statement 2 is incorrect: pulses require roughly 4,055 litres per kilogram, marginally lower than poultry, so plant protein remains the lighter water option. Statement 3 is correct: eggs need roughly 6 square metres per kilogram of land versus cheese's 41 square metres, reflecting the absence of grazing land in egg production.
Q3. Consider the following statements about heat stress on Indian commercial poultry:
- Broiler birds typically suffer production loss above ambient temperatures of roughly 35 degrees Celsius.
- Heat stress causes feed-conversion deterioration alongside direct mortality and secondary disease vulnerability.
- Birds dissipate excess body heat primarily through skin sweating, similar to mammalian thermoregulation.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
- 1 and 2 only
- 2 and 3 only
- 1 and 3 only
- 1, 2 and 3
Show answer and explanation
Answer: 1 and 2 only
Explanation.
Correct: a (1 and 2 only). Statement 1 is correct: 35 degrees Celsius is the broad thermal-comfort ceiling for commercial broilers; sustained exposure above this triggers measurable production loss. Statement 2 is correct: the three coupled channels (mortality, feed-conversion drop, disease susceptibility) define the full heat-stress impact pathway. Statement 3 is incorrect: birds lack functional sweat glands and dissipate heat through respiratory evaporation by panting, which is why high humidity compounds heat stress severity.
Q4. Consider the following statements about the restructured National Livestock Mission:
- The National Livestock Mission was restructured in 2021-22 with three sub-mission components covering Livestock Development, Feed and Fodder, and Innovation and Extension.
- The Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund operates with a corpus of 5,000 crore rupees.
- The Poultry Venture Capital Fund framework supports entrepreneurship under the Sub-Mission on Livestock Development.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
- 1 and 2 only
- 2 and 3 only
- 1 and 3 only
- 1, 2 and 3
Show answer and explanation
Answer: 1 and 3 only
Explanation.
Correct: c (1 and 3 only). Statement 1 is correct: the 2021-22 restructuring organised NLM into the three sub-mission architecture, replacing the earlier multi-component design. Statement 2 is incorrect: the AHIDF corpus is 15,000 crore rupees, not 5,000 crore; the figure is frequently confused because it sits between the older Dairy Infrastructure Development Fund and the newer Pashudhan ecosystem additions. Statement 3 is correct: Poultry Venture Capital sits within the Livestock Development sub-mission, channeling NABARD-backed credit to commercial poultry entrepreneurship.
Q5. With reference to the agro-climatic regionalisation of Indian commercial poultry, consider the following statements:
- The Indian Council of Agricultural Research classifies India into fifteen agro-climatic regions for agricultural planning purposes.
- Commercial poultry capacity in India concentrates primarily in the Southern Plateau, Trans-Gangetic Plain, and Western Plateau and Hills agro-climatic regions.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- 1 only
- 2 only
- Both 1 and 2
- Neither 1 nor 2
Show answer and explanation
Answer: Both 1 and 2
Explanation.
Correct: c (Both 1 and 2). Statement 1 is correct: the ICAR-Planning Commission classification subdivides India into fifteen agro-climatic regions, a framework that recurs in Geography Optional Paper II questions on agricultural regionalisation. Statement 2 is correct: Southern Plateau (Andhra-Telangana-Tamil Nadu Namakkal cluster), Trans-Gangetic Plain (Haryana-Punjab-NCR layer belt), and Western Plateau and Hills (Maharashtra Pune-Nashik broiler belt) together host the majority share. The pattern reflects feed-belt proximity and metro-demand gravity.
Q6. Consider the following statements about heat-tolerant indigenous poultry breeds developed by ICAR-CARI:
- Vanaraja and Gramapriya are heat-tolerant rural poultry breeds developed by the ICAR Central Avian Research Institute at Izatnagar, Bareilly.
- These breeds match imported hybrid varieties on commercial broiler conversion efficiency.
- The breeding programme targets backyard and free-range rearing under landless and marginal household conditions to combine climate resilience with rural-livelihood support.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
- 1 and 2 only
- 2 and 3 only
- 1 and 3 only
- 1, 2 and 3
Show answer and explanation
Answer: 1 and 3 only
Explanation.
Correct: c (1 and 3 only). Statement 1 is correct: ICAR-CARI at Izatnagar, Bareilly is the developer; Vanaraja and Gramapriya are the canonical heat-tolerant releases. Statement 2 is incorrect: these breeds trade commercial yield for climate resilience; the Gramapriya delivers roughly 180-200 eggs per year against commercial hybrid layers at over 300 eggs per year. The trade-off is deliberate and reflects the rural-livelihood priority of the programme. Statement 3 is correct: the explicit policy target is landless and marginal households where backyard rearing supplements rural income, aligning with Mains 2015 GS-III Q2 on livestock-driven non-farm employment.
Sources
- DAHD Basic Animal Husbandry Statistics 2024
- 20th Livestock Census 2019, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying
- NCERT Class 12 India: People and Economy, Land Resources and Agriculture chapter
- NCERT Class 12 Fundamentals of Human Geography, Primary Activities chapter
- Economic Survey of India 2023-24, Volume II, Chapter 7
- Niti Aayog Working Group Report on Livestock Sector 2022
- ICAR Central Avian Research Institute, Izatnagar Bareilly
- National Livestock Mission, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying
- Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority, Ministry of Commerce and Industry
- National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development financing for livestock and poultry
Editorial Disclaimer
This article is compiled from the reference materials listed in the Sources section. It is an explainer for UPSC preparation and is not a substitute for primary documents (NCERTs, GoI ministry releases, IMD bulletins, RBI / CEA / MoEFCC publications, and Standing-Committee reports).