Read the passage and answer the questions given below it.
From the window of a bus on the road to Jaisalmer, the Thar can look empty: scrub, sand, a few goats, and rows of tall pylons running to the horizon. This open land is the main home of the Great Indian Bustard, one of the heaviest flying birds. Perhaps 150 are left in the wild, and most of them live here.
The bird’s trouble lies partly in its build. Its eyes are set on the sides of its head, so it sees poorly straight ahead, and a body that heavy cannot swerve in a hurry. Flying low over the scrub, it often notices a wire too late. Scientists count these crashes into power lines among the main reasons the bird is dying out.
In 2021 the Supreme Court ordered that power lines in the bird’s key areas be laid underground where possible, and fitted with bright bird diverters elsewhere. Energy companies objected, and their case was not a weak one. The same desert is among India’s best sites for solar and wind farms, and burying high-voltage lines over long distances is costly and sometimes not practical. The court later changed its order and asked experts to decide where burying was truly needed.
Wildlife officials collect eggs from the wild and hatch them at breeding centres near Jaisalmer. A female usually lays a single egg, so each chick matters. The programme is meant to buy time. But a chick raised in a centre must one day be let out into the same sky. And the wires are still going up.
The last sentence of the passage, ‘And the wires are still going up.’, suggests that
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → the danger to the bird keeps growing even as work to save it goes on
The last line comes right after the writer describes the breeding programme.
- Wires are the main danger to the bird. “Still going up” means that new lines are still being put up across the desert.
- So even while officials hatch chicks to save the bird, the danger in its sky is getting bigger.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: the energy companies have paid no attention at all to what the court ordered — Incorrect. Overstated: The companies objected, and the court itself later changed its order. The passage does not say they ignored it.
Option 3: the breeding centres will soon have to move away from Jaisalmer — Incorrect. Not mentioned: The passage says nothing about moving the centres.
Option 4: the bird will in time learn to steer clear of the new lines — Incorrect. Contradicted: The bird sees poorly ahead and “cannot swerve in a hurry”. More wires only mean more danger.