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 second statement after rearrangement?

The correct answer is Option A.

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

1. Statement (B) introduces the central theme of the passage: "Recently Indian government announced reintroduction of 8 cheetah in Indian forest by translocating them from Namibia." This serves as the independent introductory sentence.

2. Statement (A) follows (B) by giving historical context regarding India's land use: "During the decades preceding independence, as well as those after, India’s sole emphasis was on agriculture."

3. Statement (E) directly elaborates on statement (A) through the pronoun phrase "This included": "This included acquiring off grassland, which led to a decline in the cheetah’s habitat." Here, "This" refers to the emphasis on agriculture mentioned in (A).

4. Statement (C) expands on the extinction factors mentioned in (E): "While over-hunting was a major contributing factor for the cheetah’s extinction, the decimation of grassland-forest habitat also played a role."

5. Statement (D) concludes by explaining the goal behind the translocation action introduced earlier: "The aim behind the translocation is not only to restore India’s ‘historic evolutionary balance’, but also to develop a cheetah ‘metapopulation’."

Thus, the coherent logical order of the statements is B - A - E - C - D.

The second statement in this re-arranged sequence is (A).