Directions (18-22): Five coherent statements are given. Rearrange those in a meaningful order and answer the questions following to that.

(A) During the decades preceding independence, as well as those after, India’s sole emphasis was on agriculture.

(B) Recently Indian government announced reintroduction of 8 cheetah in Indian forest by translocating them from Namibia.

(C) While over-hunting was a major contributing factor for the cheetah’s extinction, the decimation of grassland-forest habitat also played a role.

(D) The aim behind the translocation is not only to restore India’s ‘historic evolutionary balance’, but also to develop a cheetah ‘metapopulation’.

(E) This included acquiring off grassland, which led to a decline in the cheetah’s habitat.

Which of the following will be the third statement after rearrangement?

To determine the correct sequence of the given statements, let us analyze the thematic connections between them:

1. Statement (A) sets the historical context by mentioning India's heavy focus on agriculture during and after the pre-independence era.
2. Statement (C) introduces the factors behind the extinction of cheetahs, highlighting both over-hunting and the decimation of grassland-forest habitats.
3. Statement (E) connects the agricultural focus in (A) to the habitat decimation mentioned in (C), explaining that acquiring grassland for agricultural expansion directly contributed to the decline of cheetah habitats. Thus, (E) serves as the logical third statement.
4. Statement (B) transitions from historical background to modern initiatives by introducing the recent government decision to reintroduce cheetahs from Namibia.
5. Statement (D) concludes the paragraph by explaining the specific objectives behind this translocation effort.

The logical order of the statements is A – C – E – B – D (or C – A – E – B – D).

Therefore, the third statement after rearrangement is E.

The correct answer is E.