Sonali went to her ancestral village along with her father during the summer holidays. She found that the women of the village still used dried cow-dung cakes (uple) as the fuel to cook food and for other heating purposes.
One day Sonali went to Panchayat meeting in the village which was attended by all the village elders and requested them to install gobar gas plant in the village and use cow-dung in it to produce gobar gas, instead of burning cow-dung cakes directly. She explained the advantages of using gobar gas as a fuel instead of cow-dung cakes.
Everyone liked the idea and thanked Sonali for guidance.
Read the above passage and answer the following questions.
(i) State two disadvantages of using dried cow-dung cakes as a fuel for cooking food.
(ii) State two advantages of using gobar gas as a fuel for cooking food.
(iii) What values are displayed by Sonali in this whole episode?
(i) (a) Burning of dried cow-dung cakes as fuel produces a lot of smoke which causes air pollution in the house.
(b) The burning of dried cow-dung cakes as fuel destroys the important plant nutrients (like nitrogen and phosphorus) present in them which could otherwise be used to increase the fertility of soil in the fields.
(ii) (a) Gobar gas burns without producing any smoke and hence does not cause any air pollution.
(b) The cow-dung slurry left behind after the extraction of gobar gas still contains the plant nutrients (like nitrogen and phosphorus) which can be used as a manure in the fields to increase the fertility of soil.
(iii) The values displayed by Sonali are:
(a) General awareness of the alternative sources of energy such as gobar gas.
(b) Concern about the environment and health of village people.