Directions: Fill in the blanks in the passage below, with the word from among the options given for each blank labelled (1) to (10). Choose the word that fits in each blank most appropriately in the context of the passage.

In what seems to be a replay of the widespread protests in 2013 against the ____(1)____ of Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESA) for the conservation of the Western Ghats, the high ranges in Kerala, ____(2)____ by settler farmers, are again becoming restive. While it was the bitter opposition to the Gadgil and Kasturirangan Committee Reports that led to the ____(3)____ earlier, this time it is an order issued by the Supreme Court mandating the maintenance of a 1 km Eco Sensitive Zone (ESZ) around forests that has triggered the unrest

Last week, Kerala Forest Minister A.K. Saseendran stated that the order would pose a _____(4)____ to the State’s efforts to exclude human settlements adjoining forest fringes from regulations on development. Following this, the High Range Protection Council, largely representing settler farmers and headed by the church, has ____(5)____ to launch another round of protests demanding legislation to bypass the order.

The apex court’s directive will force the State government to ____(6)____ the ESZ of at least 10 of the protected areas which were earlier marked as zero following massive public resistance. In 2014, the Kerala Assembly had ____(7)____ adopted a resolution urging the Centre to exclude human settlements and agricultural land from the 123 villages ____(8)____ as ESA by the Kasturirangan committee. The then Chief Minister Oommen Chandy told the House that Kerala’s stand was ____(9)____ by the larger interests of farmers. The government later said that only protected areas would be demarcated as ESA, inviting ____(10)____from environmentalists who warned that it would prove disastrous for the fragile ecosystem of the Western Ghats