Prasanna

Here we are providing NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English Hornbill Poem 5 Father to Son. Students can get Class 11 English Father to Son NCERT Solutions, Questions and Answers designed by subject expert teachers.

Father to Son NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English Hornbill Poem 5

Father to Son NCERT Text Book Questions and Answers

Father to Son Think it out

Question 1.
Does the poem talk of an exclusively personal experience or is it fairly universal?
Answer:
‘Generation gap’, as termed now, is a fairly universal phenomenon. Children in their effort to keep abreast with changing values lose track of their roots. They find the values, they inherit from their parents, overbearing. Parents are protective and try to guard them from making mistakes. This leads to a clash of ideologies.

Question 2.
How is the father’s helplessness brought out in the poem?
Answer:
This poem is a lament of the father because the chasm between his son and him has grown over the years. He recalls moments of his son as a child and laments how he has become a stranger to him. Their preferences and ideologies have alienated them. He wishes to rebuild their relationship and start afresh.

Question 3.
Identify the phrases and lines that indicate distance between father and son.
Answer:

• I do not understand this child
• I know Nothing of him,
• Yet have I killed
  The seed I spent or sown it where
  The land is his and none of mine?
• We speak like strangers, there’s no sign
  Of understanding in the air.
• Yet what he loves I cannot share.
  Silence surrounds us.
• He speaks: I cannot understand
• We each put out an empty hand

Question 4.
Does the poem have a consistent rhyme scheme?
Answer:
Yes the poem does have a consistent rhyme scheme. The rhyme scheme is ABBABA.

Here we are providing NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Vistas Chapter 2 The Tiger King. Students can get Class 12 English The Tiger King NCERT Solutions, Questions and Answers designed by subject expert teachers.

The Tiger King NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Vistas Chapter 2

The Tiger King NCERT Text Book Questions and Answers

The Tiger King Reading with insight

Question 1.
The story is a satire on the conceit of those in power. How does the author employ the literary device of dramatic irony in the story?
Answer:
The story is a poignant satire on the abuse of power by the people in powerful positions. The Maharaja, fearing the prophecy that he would meet his death from the hundredth tiger, launched a feverish hunt in the name of “self-defence”.The state banned tiger hunting by anyone except the Maharaja. He declared that the property of the person, who dared to hunt a tiger, would be confiscated. The king was all set to realise his ambition. He vowed to attend to other matters only after killing of a hundred tigers. In the process, he came close to losing his throne when he refused permission to a high-ranking British officer to hunt tigers in his state.

When there were no more tigers left in his kingdom, he married a girl of a state with a large tiger population. With the passage of time, tigers had become extinct even in his father-in-law’s kingdom. On hearing the news of a tiger in a village of his kingdom, the Maharaja whimsically announced a three- year exemption from all taxes for that village and set out on the hunt at once.

When the tiger was not found, many officers lost their jobs. He put his whole kingdom through misery, threatening to take away jobs and double the taxes, until he was presented with the hundredth tiger. Ironically, in spite of his frenzied initiative to negate the prophecy, he met with his death at the hands of a wooden, toy tiger. In this way, the hundredth ‘toy tiger’ took its final revenge upon the Tiger King.

Dramatic irony is employed in the ironical twist in the tale— ninety-nine tigers were killed in vain, and the king came under threat from a wooden toy tiger. There is also a great deal of irony in how contrary to the ferociousness of tigers, the hundredth tiger was old and fainted from the shock of the bullet whizzing past. The tale is a satire on the pompous Maharaja, who heartlessly killed a hundred tigers, only to meet his nemesis in a toy.

Question 2.
What is the author’s indirect comment on subjecting innocent animals to the wilfulness of human beings?
Answer:
Through the story “The Tiger King”, the writer puts across his view of condemning the killing of animals. The Maharaja, the protagonist of the story, scared of a prophecy, killed tigers mercilessly. The author also raises a contemporary concern of the present times—the extinction of wildlife due to human activities. Asserting the “right” to kill animals is like asserting the right to steal, from future generations. The tiger population became extinct in the territories where he had an access to kill. The writer garbs it in the guise of a folklore, but addresses how merciless killing of animals leads to a depletion of natural resources. The sensitive environmental issue of certain species becoming extinct is beautifully and humorously conveyed.

Question 3.
How would you describe the behaviour of the Maharaja’s minions towards him? Do you find them sincere towards him or are they driven by fear when they obey him? Do we find a similarity in today’s political order?
Answer:
Since the Maharaja’s existence revolved around killing a hundred tigers, his minions, driven by fear, obeyed him. Even the astrologer was afraid of predicting his death till the Maharaja told him to “speak without fear”. Determined to fulfil his mission, the Maharaja threatened to confiscate the wealth and property of any person who dared to hurt a tiger.

Overtaken by the madness to kill hundred tigers, he unjustly levied taxes and threatened his subjects to take away their jobs. The minions seemed afraid of their whimsical monarch. They kept their opinions to themselves, and watched as their king drove the entire nation to risk for his personal agenda. In today’s political order, we have such examples of autocratic rulers and dynastic monopolies throughout the world. In many countries we see that the role of money, crime, electoral manipulation and muscle power greatly influences political decisions. Sycophants prevent those in power from seeing the truth.

Question 4.
Can you relate instances of game hunting among the rich and the powerful in the present times that illustrate the callousness of human beings towards wildlife?
Answer:
While not every medieval noble ever went off to war, they all, if physically able, went off to hunt on horseback. Hunting was the favourite pastime of the warrior class.However, in the recent past, when poaching has been made illegal, most hunters get away with murder in India. When Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi was apprehended for hunting down an endangered species of black buck, the ruthless, arrogant lifestyle of some Indians with inherited fortunes were exposed.

For years, animals—especially tigers and elephants—have been killed for their skins and organs. National parks, sanctuaries, and reserves have been virtually turned into hunting grounds by poachers. Armed with sophisticated weapons and vehicles, supported by corrupt officials and politicians, and glamorised by movie stars like Salman Khan, who was arrested for killing the black buck in Rajasthan, the poachers have ruled the jungles with little fear.

All this has led to certain species becoming extinct due to encroachment and hunting by human beings. One such example is the Tibetan Antelope, which has been hunted down by poachers for its skin, used to make the Shahtoosh shawl. This antelope yields one of the finest and most expensive wools in the world—a prized possession of the rich. Pearl essence is obtained primarily from herring and is one of the many by-products of large-scale commercial fishing.

Question 5.
We need a new system of the age of ecology—a system that will take care of all people and of the earth and of all life upon it. Discuss.
Answer:
In our diverse and increasingly interdependent world, it is crucial that we, the people of earth, declare our responsibility to the greater community of life. The survival of our earth depends upon the consciousness that we should move beyond nationalism to more global concerns, for instance, to a sense of bio-regionalism. The well-being of people and the biosphere depends upon preserving clean air, pure waters, fertile soils, and a rich variety of plants, animals and ecosystems. The global environment with its finite resources is a primary concern of all humanity. The community of our planet stands at a defining moment. With science and technology have come great benefits and also great harm.

The dominant patterns of production and consumption are altering the climate, degrading the environment, depleting resources, and causing massive extinction of species. A dramatic rise in population has increased the pressures on ecological systems and has overburdened social systems. The challenges humanity faces can only be met if people everywhere acquire an awareness of global inter- dependence, identify themselves with the larger world, and decide to live with a sense of universal responsibility.

The Tiger King Extra Questions and Answers

The Tiger King Short Answer Questions

Question 1.
Who was the Tiger King? Why was he so named?
Answer:
When the king was bom, the astrologers had foretold that one day he would be killed by a tiger. The king, they predicted, would grow up to become the greatest of all warriors, heroes and champions, but since he was bom in the hour of the bull, predicted that he would meet his end at the hand of its nemesis—the tiger.

Question 2.
When did the king kill his first tiger? What was his reaction?
Answer:
When the Maharaja came of age at twenty, he became the ruler of the State. It was then that he heard of the astrologer’s prediction. He immediately launched on a spree to kill hundred tigers, and killed the first of them around that time. He justified his hunt by calling it an act of “self-defence”. He was thrilled with his first kill, but was soon unsettled when the astrologer predicted that it would be the hundredth tiger that would kill him.

Question 3.
“The king seemed well set to realise his ambition.” What was his ambition? How did he set out realising it?
Answer:
The king’s ambition was to kill a hundred tigers. He went forth fearlessly, there were times when the bullet missed its mark, the tiger leapt upon him and he fought the beast with his bare hands. Each time it was the Maharaja who won.

Question 4.
The tiger hunt almost cost the Maharaja his throne. How?
Answer:
A high-ranking British officer visited Pratibandapuram. He was very fond of hunting tigers. He was keener on being photographed with the tigers he had shot. He wished to hunt tigers in Pratibandapuram. But the Maharaja firmly refused permission. He even refused to let him be photographed, standing over the tiger’s carcass. But the Maharaja appeased the officer by sending his wife expensive diamond rings as gifts.

Question 5.
What difficulty awaited the Maharaja’s tiger hunts after he killed seventy of them? How did he solve the situation?
Answer:
Within ten years of his hunt for tigers, the Maharaja succeeded in killing seventy tigers. With that, the tigers became extinct in the forests of Pratibandapuram. To resolve the issue, the Maharaja decided to get married to a girl of a royal family of the state with the highest tiger population.

Question 6.
What incentive did the Maharaja give to the village with the hundredth tiger? What was his reaction when the tiger was not found?
Answer:
The Maharaja announced a three-year exemption from all taxes for the village where a tiger was spotted. When the tiger was not found, the Maharaja refused to leave the forest until the tiger was found. As the days passed, many officers lost their jobs, he doubled the land tax, and threatened the.dewan, asking him to resign.

Question 7.
How was the hundredth tiger found?
Answer:
The dewan got a tiger from the People’s Park in Madras and kept it hidden in his house. At midnight when the town slept in peace, the dewan and his aged wife dragged the tiger to the car and shoved it into the seat. The dewan himself drove the car straight to the forest where the Maharaja was hunting.

Question 8.
Bring out the irony in the end of the story.
Answer:
The Maharaja, the greatest of warriors and heroes, was killed by a wooden tiger that cost only two annas and a quarter. After he spent years hunting down tigers to avoid the death that was predicted, he met his end at the hands of a toy tiger. The irony lay in the strange way his fate unfolded.

The Tiger King Long Answer Question

Question 1.
Bring out the irony in the title “The Tiger King”.
Answer:
The Maharaja of Pratibandapuram took on the title of His Highness Jamedar-General, Khiledar-Major, Sata Vyaghra Samhari, Maharajadhiraja Visva Bhuvana Samrat, Sir Jilani Jung Jung Bahadur; but this name was often shortened to Tiger King. As his name suggested, the astrologers predicted that he would grow up to become the warrior of warriors, hero of heroes, and champion of champions. They also foretold that he would be killed by a tiger.

However, his death was an anti-climax. He had killed ninety-nine tigers to overwrite the prediction of the astrologer. However, he died — not a valiant death on the battlefield or while hunting a tiger. Instead, his death was caused by a wooden tiger that cost only two annas and a quarter. The surface of the tiny little • wooden tiger, carved by an unskilled carpenter, was rough and had tiny slivers of wood like quills all over it. One of those quills pierced the Maharaja’s right hand. The next day, infection flared in the Maharaja’s right hand. In four days, it developed into a suppurating sore which spread all over the arm. Three famous surgeons operated but could not save him.

Question 2.
“The Tiger King” was punished for his crime of killing the tigers. Comment.
Answer:
The day the Maharaja was bom, astrologers predicted that he would be killed by a tiger as he was bom in the hour of the bull, which had a tiger for its enemy. The hundredth tiger would be the cause of his death. As the Maharaja grew up, he set out to hunt all the tigers, vowing he would attend to all other matters only after killing a hundred tigers. He was well set to realize his ambition. There was a time when the bullet missed its mark, the tiger leapt upon him, and he fought the beast with his bare hands.

Each time, it was the Maharaja who won. Within ten years, the tiger population became extinct in the forests of Pratibandapuram. To kill thirty more tigers, he married a girl from the royal family of a state with a large tiger population. After his marriage, Maharaja Jung Jung Bahadur killed five or six tigers each time he visited his father-in-law. In this manner, the number rose to ninety-nine. But, as luck would have it, he missed killing the hundredth tiger as it was still alive when the Maharaja took him for dead.

The Maharaja, however, paid for his deeds. His death was caused by a wooden tiger that cost only two annas and a quarter. The tiny little wooden tiger that he got as a gift for his son had been carved by an unskilled carpenter. Its surface was rough and tiny slivers of wood stood up like quills all over it. One of those slivers pierced the Maharaja’s right hand. The next day, infection flared in the Maharaja’s right hand. In four days, it developed into a suppurating sore which spread all over the arm. Despite famous surgeons operating on it, he could not be saved.

Question 3.
Why does the writer say: “Even the threat of a Stuka bomber will not throw me off track.”
Answer:
The Junkers Ju 87 ‘Stuka’ was a plane used by the Germans as a dive bomber. It was instantly recognizable with its inverted gull-wings and fixed undercarriage. The bomber’s accuracy was high when in a full dive as it used an automatic pull-up system to ensure that the plane pulled out of the dive once the bomb was released. The wheel covers were fitted with sirens that were used once the planes went into a dive, to shatter the morale of enemy troops and civilians. The fins of the bombs were also fitted with whistles to ensure that those being bombed knew just when the bombs were released and could track them on the way down. This was supposed to generate fear in them. The writer refers to the Stuka bombers to convey that nothing, not . even a horrific thing like a Stuka Bomber, could deter him from telling the story.

Question 4.
What does the writer mean when he says: “As Bharata said to Rama about Dasaratha, the Tiger King has reached that final abode of all living creatures”?
Answer:
In the Ramayana, Kaikeyi, the last and youngest of Dasaratha’s three wives, on Manthara’s advice, forced Dasaratha to banish Rama from the kingdom for a period of no less than fourteen years and place her son, Bharata, upon the throne of Ayodhya. Honouring his father’s vow, Rama relinquished his claim to the throne and left. In time, Dasaratha lost the will to live and died of grief.

Outraged at his mother’s act and grieved at the loss of his father, Bharata went to get back his brother Rama to take over as the next king. As Bharata conveyed to Rama the news about Dasaratha’s demise, the writer conveyed the news of Tiger King’s death to the reader in a similar fashion.

Question 5.
Explain the miracle that happened soon after the Maharaja was born.
Answer:
When the Maharaja was only a ten-day-old infant, a miracle occurred. The astrologers predicted that one day the king would grow up to become a valiant warrior. He would be one of the greatest heroes but would one day have to meet his death. As the astrologers foretold his future, a great miracle took place. The ten- day-old Maharaja spoke.

He said that all mortals would one day have to die. He wanted to know the cause of his death. The chief astrologer was wonderstruck. The infant Maharaja had not only spoken, but had also raised an intelligent question. The chief astrologer predicted that the prince was bom in the hour of the bull. The bull and the tiger being enemies; the Maharaja’s death would come from the tiger. As soon as Jung Jung Bahadur heard of the prophecy, he shouted a warning to all the tigers—“Let tigers beware!”

Question 6.
How did the Maharaja come close to losing his throne? How did he save it?
Answer:
Maharaja Jung Jung Bahadur had issued an order forbidding anyone but himself from shooting tigers in his kingdom. This order put him in danger of losing his throne. Once, a high-ranking British officer who was very fond of hunting tigers visited Pratibandapuram. He wished to hunt tigers in Pratibandapuram, but the Maharaja declined. The Maharaja not only sent a message forbidding him to kill tigers but he also refused to let the officer be photographed holding the gun and standing over the tiger’s carcass.

Since he prevented a British officer from fulfilling his desire, he stood in danger of losing his kingdom. Hence, the Maharaja sent a telegram to a famous company of jewellers in Calcutta to send samples of expensive diamond rings of different designs. About fifty rings were sent. The Maharaja sent the whole lot to the British officer’s wife expecting her to choose one or two rings and send the rest back. But she kept all of them for herself. The Maharaja had to foot a bill for three lakh rupees but was happy that he had managed to retain his kingdom.

Question 7.
In Pratibandapuram it was “easier to find tiger’s milk than a live tiger”. Why was this so?
Answer:
After the Maharaja had heard of the astrologer’s prediction, he set out to hunt a hundred tigers. He vowed he would attend to all other matters only after killing a hundred tigers. Within ten years, he was able to kill seventy tigers, but with this the tiger population became extinct in the forests of Pratibandapuram. To kill thirty more tigers, he asked his minister to find a girl from a royal family in a state with a large tiger population.

After the right girl was found, the Maharaja Jung Jung Bahadur killed five or six tigers each time he visited his father- in-law. In this manner, the number rose to ninety-nine. But, when just one tiger was left to achieve his count of a hundred, and he could not find another tiger, he sank into gloom. Finding a tiger was next to impossible. Here the author has used a hyperbole to stress the scarcity of tigers for a comical effect. Tiger’s milk, which is impossible to find, is used to convey that it became next to impossible to find a live tiger in Pratibandapuram.

Question 8.
Did the Maharaja ‘kill’ the hundredth tiger? Why/why not?
Answer:
After the Tiger King had killed ninety-nine tigers, the Maharaja sank into gloom as he could not find the hundredth tiger. Then, one day, when he heard that in his own state the sheep had begun to disappear from a hillside village, his hopes began to rise. Delighted, he even announced a three-year exemption from all taxes for the village and set out to find the tiger. But it was in vain. Furious, the Maharaja threw out many officers and doubled the land tax there.

The worried dewan was relieved when a tiger was brought from the People’s Park in Madras and he kept . it hidden in his house. At midnight, the dewan and his wife dragged the tiger to the car and drove it till the forest where the Maharaja was hunting. With a great difficulty, the dewan pushed it out. The next day, the old tiger wandered into the Maharaja’s presence. The Maharaja shot the beast and the tiger fell to the ground. The overjoyed Maharaja left after ordering that the tiger be brought to the capital in a grand procession, After
the Maharaja left, the hunters realized that the tiger was not dead; it had merely fainted from the shock of the bullet that went past it. For the fear of losing their jobs, the hunters decided to keep away the truth from the Maharaja and shot the tiger dead.

Question 9.
Why did the hunters not tell the Maharaja that he had failed in his mission of killing the hundredth tiger?
Answer:
After a great deal of effort, the Maharaja found the hundredth tiger. Ironically, for the Maharaja, who had earlier fought and killed a tiger bare-handed, killing the old tiger would have been a cake-walk; and yet destiny did not allow this. The Maharaja shot the tiger and thinking it dead, left the forest, feeling elated. But when the hunters took a closer look at the tiger, it rolled its eyes in bewilderment. The men realized that the tiger was not dead. The Maharaja’s bullet had missed it.

Nevertheless, it had fainted from the shock of the bullet speeding past. The hunters decided that the Maharaja must not come to know that he had missed his target. He was quick to anger and would punish them. They would lose their jobs or worse. Hence, one of the hunters took aim from a distance of one foot and shot the tiger. This time, the tiger was killed. But the Maharaja was blissful in his ignorance.

Question 10.
The story is a satire on the conceit of those in power. Comment.
Answer:
The story, “The Tiger King”, is a poignant satire on the self-importance that the people in power assume. Because of a prophecy made at the time of his birth, the Maharaja shouted a warning to all the tigers—’’Let tigers beware!” After he grew older, he started his tiger hunt in the innumerable forests in Pratibandapuram State and justified the act as he was doing so in “self-defence”. He banned tiger hunting in the State by anyone other than him and declared that the property of the person who would hurt a tiger would be confiscated. He vowed to attend to all other matters only after killing hundred tigers. After killing all the seventy tigers in his own kingdom, the Maharaja married a girl of a state with a large tiger population.

Soon, tigers became extinct even in his father-in-law’s kingdom. Hearing the news of a tiger in a village announced a three-year exemption from all taxes for that village and set out on the hunt at once. After shooting the tiger the Maharaja was relieved. However, the warrior of warriors, hero of heroes, and champion of champions did not die a valiant death on the battlefield or while hunting a tiger. Instead, his death was caused by infection resulting from a wound caused by a wooden tiger that cost only two annas and a quarter.

Question 11.
Human beings view nature merely as a resource to be exploited or even an enemy that needs to be vanquished. Comment with reference to The Tiger King.
Answer:
The author in the story “The Tiger King” expresses the view that there is no excuse or justification for stalking and killing an animal. Because of his blind faith in prophecy, the Maharaja kills tigers aimlessly. Ironically, he who had confessed as a child that “all those who are bom will one day have to die”, later sets out to become immortal by killing tigers, indiscriminately. Hunting animals by humans operates perversely. The Maharaja’s only need was to prove his masculinity, his dominance by killing hapless animals.

The writer reaffirms a very valid reason against hunting—the extinction of species due to human activities. We realize that asserting the right to kill animals is like asserting the right to steal from future generations. The Maharaja steals tigers from the future. The tiger population became extinct in the territories where he had an access to kill. Thus, the next generation would not have the right to see and learn from the bountiful earth that they inherited because the present generation would have left it barren.

Here we are providing NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English Snapshots Chapter 6 The Ghat of the Only World. Students can get Class 11 English The Ghat of the Only World NCERT Solutions, Questions and Answers designed by subject expert teachers.

The Ghat of the Only World NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English Snapshots Chapter 6

The Ghat of the Only World NCERT Text Book Questions and Answers

Question 1.
What impressions of Shahid do you gather from the piece?
Answer:
Agha Shahid Ali was a poet of life. He was lively in the face of an impending death. He loved people, food, poetry, teaching, music and kept himself engaged in all these so he did not have time to be depressed about his approaching death. He was true to his vocation as a poet and believed that art and form should be as important to a poet as his subject.

He wrote poems, perhaps the finest ones, about the political condition and violence in Kashmir, but he did . not embrace the role of victim, proving himself a true poet at heart and not a political personality. He was an ardent believer of the separation of politics and religion and believed that people could be happy with food, clothes, music and everything that was available to them; everything that was beautiful and good.

Question 2.
How do Shahid and the writer react to the knowledge that Shahid is going to die?
Answer:
There are two instances in the text when the author and Agha Shahid Ali talk about the latter’s impending death. Incidentally both the times they talk over phone. In both the instances, the author is dejected and at a loss as to how to respond to such a thing. Although he has known about Ali’s illness all the while, he finds it difficult to face, albeit not literally, the person who is going to die. But Ali seems quite in peace with this fact.

In both the instances, his voice sounds ‘quiet and untroubled’. In fact, in the first instance, his voice was, as the author puts it, ‘completely at odds with the content of what he had just said, light to the point of jocularity.’ This shows that Ali accepts his death and is at peace with his approaching end. In his last meeting with the author, he even says that he loves to think that he will meet his mother in the afterlife.

Question 3.
Look up the dictionary for the meaning of the word ‘diaspora’. What do you understand of the Indian diaspora from this piece?
Answer:
The meaning of the word ‘diaspora’ is dispersion or spread of people from their original country to other countries. From the piece, we get a glimpse of the Indian diaspora living in the US. Agha Shahid Ali, his brother and two sisters, the writer Suketu Mehta and the author of the piece, Amitav Ghosh, are some of the names mentioned in the text who form part of the Indian diaspora in the US.

Bom in India, the people of the diaspora settle down in different countries for various reasons. But they often rekindle their memory of the country they left in the social gatherings. They talk and write about their homeland. Like this piece, which is full of references to India, the diaspora consciousness is shaped by the sense of a home one left behind, a nostalgia one often indulged in and an unforgettable love one can only talk about but not go back to

NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Biology Chapter 9 Strategies for Enhancement in Food Production

These Solutions are part of NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Biology. Here we have given NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Biology Chapter 9 Strategies for Enhancement in Food Production

Question 1.
Explain in brief the role of animal husbandry in human welfare.
Solution:

• Animal husbandry evolves new techniques and technologies for the management of livestock like buffaloes, cows, pigs, horses, cattle, sheep, camels, goats, etc., that are useful to humans.
• These methods can also be applied to rearing animals like bees, silkworms, prawns, crabs, fishes birds, pigs, cattle, sheep, and camels for their products like milk, eggs, meat, wool, silk, honey, etc.

Role of animal husbandry in human welfare is discussed as follows:

1. Milk is an important product of farm animals that are consumed as such, in the form of curd, cheese, butter, ice cream, etc. Milk is the only source of animal protein for vegetarians and is a complete food. Most of the milk is obtained from cows and buffalo. Other milk-yielding animals are goat, sheep, camel, and yak.
2. Egg, like milk, is also a complete food. Chicken and duck are the two major sources of the egg.
3. Meat is a protein-rich diet that is obtained from all types of livestock, e.g., goat, sheep, pig, cattle, chicken, fish, etc.
4. Honey is a sweet syrup obtained from the hives of the honey bee. Honey is used in sweetening various preparations.
5. Fibers like wool and silk are two high-quality fibres which we get from animals. Wool is the hair of sheep, some goats, and rabbits. Silk is a product of silkworms.
6. The skins of many animals are converted into hides and leather.
7. Drought animals are trained to carry men and materials besides other functions, e.g., buffalo, bullock, horse, camel, ass, elephant, reindeer, yak.
8. The rearing of animals provides employment to many persons.
9. Animal byproducts like horns, feathers, bone, dung, and droppings are all used in developing useful products.

Question 2.
If your family owned a dairy farm, what measures would you undertake to improve the quality and quantity of milk production?
Solution:
Some of the measures to be followed for proper management of dairy farm are :

1. Selection of good breeds having high milk yielding potential according to the climatic conditions of the area.
2. The shed under which the cattle are kept should be well ventilated with an adequate water supply for drinking as well as for washing. Shed should have pucca floor and proper drainage channel.
3. The feed of the animals should be a balanced diet with right proportions of carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and roughage and it should be given timely in good quantity.
4. Cleanliness and hygiene comes first for maintaining the livestock’s health and productivity. So, washing cattle and taking precautionary measures while milking are a must.
5. Inspection, keeping records of the activities and consulting a veterinary doctor for regular checkups of the livestock should be undertaken.

Question 3.
What is meant by the term ‘breed’? What are the objectives of animal breeding?
Solution:
A group of animals which are related by descent to each other and possess similar characteristics like appearance, size, features etc. are said to belong to a breed. The purpose of animal breeding is to produce animals with increased yield, faster growth, improved reproductive rate.

Question 4.
Name the methods employed in animal breeding. According to you which of the methods is best? Why?
Solution:
Animal breeding is producing improved breeds of domesticated animals by improving their genotypes through selective mating. There are two methods of animal breeding, natural breeding which includes inbreeding, out-breeding, cross-breeding, out-crossing, etc., and artificial breeding which involves artificial insemination and multiple ovulation embryo transfer technology (MOET). It involves inseminating the native cows with the semen of superior bulls of exotic or indigenous breeds. Artificial breeding is the best method of breeding because of the following reasons:

• Semen collected from males may be used immediately or can be frozen and used later.
• The semen of desired bulls is collected under hygienic conditions, preserved, and sent to all insemination centres throughout the country.
• Semen collected from one bull can be used to inseminate many cows as fewer sperms are required to achieve conception when semen is deposited artificially. Hence, artificial insemination is very economical.
• It is healthier as the spread of sexually transmitted diseases can be controlled by this technique.

Question 5.
What is apiculture? How is it important in our lives?
Solution:
Apiculture is the practice of bee-keeping for the production of various products such as honey-bee’s wax, etc. Honey is a highly nutritious food source and is used as an indigenous system of medicines. Other commercial products obtained from honeybees include bee’s wax and bee pollen. Bee’s wax is used for making cosmetics, polishes and is even used in several medicinal preparations. Therefore, to meet the increasing demand of honey, people have started practicing bee-keeping on a large scale. It has become an income-generating activity for farmers since it requires low investment and is labour intensive.

Question 6.
Discuss the role of fishery in the enhancement of food production.
Solution:
Fishery is the rearing, breeding, catching & marketing of fishes and other aquatic animals. Fishes are important food for a large portion of human population. Meat of fishes is a rich source of proteins and other useful substances like polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). The meat of other aquatic animals like prawn, crab is also consumed as food by human beings.

Question 7.
Briefly describe various steps involved in plant breeding.
Solution:
The major steps in breeding a new genetic variety of a crop are as follows:

1. Collection of variability.
2. Evaluation and selection of parents.
3. Cross-hybridization among the selected parents.
4. Selection and testing of superior recombinants.
5. Testing, release, and commercialization of new cultivars.

Question 8.
Explain what is meant by biofortification.
Solution:
Biofortification is method of breeding crops with higher levels of vitamins and minerals, or higher proteins and healthier fats in view to improve public health. E.g., iron-fortified rice containing five times more iron than other varieties, wheat variety, Atlas 66 having high protein content, maize varieties having high lysine and tryptophan are produced.

Question 9.
Which part of the plant is best suited for making virus-free plants and why?
Solution:
The terminal bud having apical meristem are the best-suited parts of the plant for making a virus-free plant because they are not infected by a virus.

Question 10.
What is the major advantage of producing plants by micropropagation?
Solution:
Micropropagation is the tissue culture technique used for rapid vegetative multiplication of ornamental plants and fruit trees by using small-sized explants. Because of the minute size of the propagules in the culture, the propagation technique is named micropropagation. This method of tissue culture produces several plants. Each of these plants will be genetically identical to the original plant from which explants were taken. Plants obtained by vegetative propagation of a single plant constitute a somaclonal. The members of a single somaclonal have the same genotype. It is the only process adopted by Indian plant biotechnologists in different industries mainly for the commercial production of ornamental plants like lily, orchids, Eucalyptus, Cinchona, blueberry, etc., and fruit trees like tomato, apple, banana, grapes, potato, Citrus, palm, etc.

Question 11.
Find out what the various components of the medium used for propagation of an explant in vitro are.
Solution:
The major components of the medium for in-vitro propagation are:

• Water
• Agar-agar
• Sucrose
• Inorganic salts
• Vitamins
• Amino acids
• Growth hormones like Auxin, Cytokinins.

Question 12.
Name any five hybrid varieties of crop plants which have been developed in India.
Solution:
Some of the hybrid varieties of plants in India are:

• Pusa Gaurav
• Pusa Sem 2
• Pusa Sem 3
• Pusa Sawani
• Pusa A-4

We hope the NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Biology Chapter 9 Strategies for Enhancement in Food Production help you. If you have any query regarding NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Biology Chapter 9 Strategies for Enhancement in Food Production, drop a comment below and we will get back to you at the earliest.

Here we are providing NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English Snapshots Chapter 1 The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse. Students can get Class 11 English The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse NCERT Solutions, Questions and Answers designed by subject expert teachers.

The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English Snapshots Chapter 1

The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse NCERT Text Book Questions and Answers

Question 1.
You will probably agree that this story does not have breathless adventure and exciting action. Then what in your opinion makes it interesting?
Answer:
This story does not have breathless adventure and exciting action, yet it is immensely interesting for its refreshing innocence. It is a beautiful reminder of what life was like before materialism gained sway. The story poignantly brings out the point of intersection between the fading influence of old country values and the evolving realisation of the younger characters that might at a point of time lead them away from the values of the community. Bom into a family famed for its honesty, Mourad and Aram hide the white horse and ride it for a long period.

At the same time, the two children—Aram and Mourad—despite the fact that they take away the white horse and put the owner, John Byro, through a lot of inconvenience—do not emerge as delinquents. They are simple innocent youngsters, who are led by temptation of possessing a horse but intend to return it to the owner. The moral fibre of the community brings them back to the path of righteousness. One waits in anticipation to know how the events will take a turn and how the two youngsters will react.

Question 2.
Did the boys return the horse because they were conscience-stricken or because they were afraid?
Answer:
The boys returned the horse because they were conscience-stricken and not because they were afraid. Various pointers in the story lead to this conclusion. Firstly, the tribe had been famous for their honesty for eleven centuries and they took pride in their values. Secondly, when John Byro said that his white horse was stolen last month and was still untraceable, Aram went straight to Mourad’s house and asked him to promise not to take it back until he leamt to ride.

Mourad was outraged. He said that a member of the Garoghlanian family would not steal. “The horse must go back to its true owner.” Thirdly, when on the way to Fetvajian’s deserted vineyard they met John Byro who studied the horse and said that he would swear that it was his horse if he didn’t know their parents, and he would rather believe his heart than his eyes they had no reason to fear. It was their sense of right and wrong that made them return it.

Question 3.
“One day back there in the good old days when I was nine and the world was full of every imaginable kind of magnificence, and life was still a delightful and mysterious dream…” The story begins in a mood of nostalgia.
Can you narrate some incident from your childhood that might make an interesting story?
Answer:
I grew up at a time when pranks were innocent. Children would often tie a piece of string to someone’s door handle and run around the street after knocking at the door—when the householder came to answer the door they had difficulty opening it. One such memory that is etched in my mind is when I was barely eight-years-old.

We ran into trouble when we challenged each other to eat as many sweets as we could. It was inspired by one of the ‘dare’ shows on television. We were told of the repercussions of various stunts performed, so eating sweets was not only safe but satisfied our gluttonous instincts as well.

But as Mom was very strict and gave us a portion a day, we tried to get the sweets ourselves. With our minds set on this purpose and in absolute silence, we started to Climb towards the wardrobe, which in those times, seemed as high as a 500 metre tall sky-scraper. We managed to get on a tall chair and from there on to the window’s sill, which was near the cupboard. Then, we aimed for the top of the cupboard where the sweets were kept, towards which we jumped and managed to hold on to with our hands while hanging in the air.

After that, we reached out for the sweets, with the other holding on to the cupboard. Once we grabbed a piece of chocolate or a candy, we were supposed to jump on the floor and enjoy our ‘prize’ without anyone knowing about it.

Despite our ‘perfect plan’, something went wrong. I was the first one to reach the top of the cupboard and I jumped. But when my sister, Geeta’s turn came, she wasn’t as lucky as me: she got stuck on the handle of the cupboard and remained hanging by her trousers. She looked very funny hanging head over heels. She started to panic, and we made desperate attempts to free her. At that moment of ‘crisis’, entered Mom, who was shocked to see the sight and we didn’t know where to look.

Question 4.
The story revolves around characters who belong to a tribe in Armenia. Mourad and Aram are members of the Garoghlanian family. Now locate Armenia and Assyria on the atlas and prepare a write-up on the Garoghlanian tribes. You may write about people, their names, traits, geographical and economic features as suggested in the story.
Answer:
Armenia is a country located in Eurasia, which is surrounded by nations like Turkey and Iran in the west, Georgia in the North and Azerbaijan in the east. Assyria refers to the cultural region inhabited historically by the Assyrian people which includes parts of Turkey, Iran and Syria. The Assyrians also form minority communities in nations like Armenia. Both Armenia and Assyria are considered amongst the oldest kingdoms in the world with histories dating back to before 6th century BC.

William Saroyan’s book My Name is Aram published in 1940 set in Fresno, California, is based on his own personal experiences of growing up in an Armenian family.In the story Saroyan describes how every branch of the Garoghlanian tribe was living in poverty and no one, including the old men in the family, knew how they managed to make ends meet.

He mentions that the defining feature of their tribe was their honesty, their pride and strong belief in what was right and wrong, and for over eleven centuries they were recognised for these characteristics.

Whether it was in the past when they were wealthy or more recently when they live in poverty, their honour was more important to them than anything else. Their honesty was so widely recognised that even when the Assyrian farmer John Byro finds his stolen horse with Mourad and the narrator, he calls it a twin of his horse and lets them go rather than doubt and confront them. Byro out of respect for their family also walks 10 miles to confide in their uncle Khosrove, despite the lack of concern shown by Khosrove who expresses more anger at the Garoghlanian family having lost their homeland.