The passage reports that mining, highways and similar intrusions break large forest blocks into pieces, degrading the whole forest and cutting the continuity that threatened species depend on. It calls this fragmentation the most serious threat to biodiversity. So the central focus is the disruption of habitat. Illegal mining is only an aggravating factor, extinction is a consequence, and conservation of nature is wider than the passage.
Why each option is right or wrong
(a) Wrong. Illegal mining is one aggravating factor, not the main point.
(b) Wrong. Extinction of species is a consequence of the habitat disruption.
(c) Wrong. Conservation of nature is broader than the passage's focus.
(d) Right. Habitat fragmentation and its disruption of forest continuity is the focus.
Answer: UPSC’s key. Explanation: written by UPSC Grade, not by UPSC.
