Match List I with List II and select the correct answer using the code given below the Lists: List I (Name of Shifting Cultivation) A. Milpa B. Ladang C. Rocca D. Masole List II (Country) 1. Zaire 2. Brazil 3. Malaysia 4. Mexico Code:

Q: What is the answer to CAPF 2020 Paper I Q84?

A. Correct — A, A-4 B-3 C-2 D-1. Two of the four pairs settle the code on their own. Milpa is a Nahuatl word from Mexico and Central America, so A goes to 4. Ladang is Malay and Indonesian, so B goes to 3. Once those are fixed, only one option remains, and it puts Roca with Brazil, which is right — roça is Portuguese and Brazil is the Portuguese-speaking country on the list — and Masole with Zaire in the Congo basin. The paper's spellings and place-names are of their time: Rocca is usually written roça, and the country it calls Zaire has been the Democratic Republic of the Congo since 1997.

(a)A-4 B-3 C-2 D-1
(b)A-4 B-2 C-3 D-1
(c)A-1 B-2 C-3 D-4
(d)A-1 B-3 C-2 D-4

Answer

Why

Correct — A, A-4 B-3 C-2 D-1. Two of the four pairs settle the code on their own. Milpa is a Nahuatl word from Mexico and Central America, so A goes to 4. Ladang is Malay and Indonesian, so B goes to 3. Once those are fixed, only one option remains, and it puts Roca with Brazil, which is right — roça is Portuguese and Brazil is the Portuguese-speaking country on the list — and Masole with Zaire in the Congo basin. The paper's spellings and place-names are of their time: Rocca is usually written roça, and the country it calls Zaire has been the Democratic Republic of the Congo since 1997.

Why the others are wrong

(b)A-4 B-2 C-3 D-1 — Keeps Milpa with Mexico but swaps the middle pair, sending Ladang to Brazil and Roca to Malaysia. The languages give it away — Ladang is Malay and roça is Portuguese.
(c)A-1 B-2 C-3 D-4 — Sends Milpa to Zaire and Masole to Mexico, which reverses the two most distinctive pairs on the list.
(d)A-1 B-3 C-2 D-4 — Gets Ladang and Roca right but exchanges Milpa and Masole. Milpa belongs to Mexico, and the code that keeps that pairing is the one to look for first.

Concept

Shifting cultivation is the same practice under many names. A patch of forest is cleared, the fallen vegetation is burnt so that its ash fertilises the soil, the plot is cropped for two or three seasons until the yield falls, and it is then abandoned to regenerate while the cultivator moves on. It works while the fallow is long enough for the forest to come back, and it fails when population pressure shortens the cycle, which is why it is now treated as a cause of deforestation and soil loss over much of the tropics.

The reliable way to answer any question of this kind is by language rather than by memory. Milpa is Nahuatl and belongs to Mexico and Central America. Ladang is Malay, so it belongs to Malaysia and Indonesia. Roça is Portuguese, and the Portuguese-speaking country of the tropics is Brazil. Masole belongs to the Congo basin. The same trick works on the names that are not on this list — Chena in Sri Lanka, Taungya in Myanmar, Caingin in the Philippines, Tamrai in Thailand, Conuco in Venezuela, Humah in Java, and in India Jhum in the north-east, Podu in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, Bewar and Dahiya in Madhya Pradesh, and Kumari in the Western Ghats.

Key facts

Milpa is the name in Mexico and Central America; Ladang in Malaysia and Indonesia; Roça in Brazil; Masole in the Congo basin.
Indian names for the same practice include Jhum in the north-east, Podu in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, Bewar and Dahiya in Madhya Pradesh, and Kumari in the Western Ghats.
Other well-known names are Chena in Sri Lanka, Taungya in Myanmar, Caingin in the Philippines and Tamrai in Thailand.
The method depends on a fallow long enough for the forest and the soil to recover, and it degrades land when the cycle is shortened.
The paper's Zaire has been the Democratic Republic of the Congo since 1997, so a current text will print the newer name.

Four names and the language each comes from

A. Milpa→Nahuatl — Mexico and Central America, so 4.

B. Ladang→Malay — Malaysia and Indonesia, so 3.

C. Roca→Portuguese roça — Brazil, so 2.

D. Masole→The Congo basin, printed here as Zaire, so 1.

Two language anchors, Milpa with Mexico and Ladang with Malaysia, eliminate three of the four codes at once.

Study next

Shifting cultivation in India — its extent, its regional names and the policy responseSubsistence agriculture types — shifting, intensive subsistence, nomadic herdingCommercial agriculture — plantation, mixed farming, dairy and truck farmingDeforestation and soil erosion in the humid tropicsTerrace farming and other traditional responses to slope and soil

Common traps

Trying to memorise a dozen names when the language of each name gives away its region.
Confusing Roca with Rocca or with unrelated place-names; the word is Portuguese for a clearing.
Using an outdated country name without noticing; Zaire is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Match-the-list items on regional terminology recur across every one of these examinations. Two secure pairs are always enough, so anchor rather than work through all four.

Related PYQs

CDS_GK_2021_I_Q392021Open & attempt →

Milpa and Ladang are different names for

(a) shifting cultivation
(b) mixed farming
(c) truck farming
(d) plantation agriculture

Answer(a) shifting cultivation

The two anchor names of this match, tested for what they mean rather than for where they are. It confirms both belong to the same practice, which is the assumption the whole list rests on.

CDS_GK_2023_II_Q832023Open & attempt →

Match List I with List II and select the correct answer using the code given below the Lists: List I (Name of Shifting Cultivation) A. Roca B. Chena C. Masole D. Tamarai List II (Country) 1. Sri Lanka 2. Thailand 3. Brazil 4. Zaire Code:

(a) A-2 B-4 C-1 D-3
(b) A-2 B-1 C-4 D-3
(c) A-3 B-4 C-1 D-2
(d) A-3 B-1 C-4 D-2

Answer(d) A-3 B-1 C-4 D-2

Almost the same match three years later, with Roca still going to Brazil and Masole still to the Congo, and Chena and Tamrai brought in to replace Milpa and Ladang. It is the clearest evidence that this list is worth learning as a whole.

CAPF_GAI_2022_Q862022Open & attempt →

In which one of the following States, more than 50% area is under Jhum cultivation?

(a) Manipur
(b) Assam
(c) Sikkim
(d) Mizoram

Answer(d) Mizoram

The Indian name for the same practice, asked two years later by the same examiner. Between the two questions the vocabulary is covered from abroad and at home, which is exactly how this topic is set.

Practice

practice — not a real PYQ
Chena is the local name for shifting cultivation in which country?
- (a)Sri Lanka
- (b)Myanmar
- (c)Thailand
- (d)The Philippines
Answer(a) Sri Lanka — Taungya is Myanmar, Tamrai is Thailand and Caingin is the Philippines.
practice — not a real PYQ
Bewar and Dahiya are names for shifting cultivation practised in
- (a)Madhya Pradesh
- (b)Kerala
- (c)Nagaland
- (d)Odisha
Answer(a) Madhya Pradesh — Kumari belongs to the Western Ghats, Jhum to the north-east and Podu to Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.