Read the following paragraph and answer the questions that follow.
Thousands of years ago, the first civilisations developed around rivers in fertile plains. In our times too, a large part of the world’s population lives in plains. About 40 crore people, more than one-fourth of the total Indian population, live in India’s Ganga plain (often called the ‘Gangetic plain’). As with many other plains of the world, the major occupations of people in this region include river fishing and agriculture.
Food crops such as rice, wheat, maize, barley and millet are grown. Fibre crops such as cotton, jute and hemp are also grown in the Gangetic plain.
Traditional agriculture has been mostly rainfed (that is, watered through rainfall). In recent decades, however, agriculture has turned to irrigation, with water brought to the fields through networks of canals or pumped from groundwater. While irrigation has increased agricultural production, it has also contributed to the depletion (or decrease) of groundwater. This presents a challenge for the future of agriculture in the region.
Some of the other problems affecting the Ganga plains include high population and pollution. Whether in mountain ranges or plains, rivers around the world have carried immense cultural value. In particular, many communities have considered a river’s source and its confluence with one or two other rivers to be sacred. In India, numerous festivals, ceremonies and rituals are conducted at such locations.
Because plains have a gentle slope, river navigation is easy and supports a lot of economic activities. In earlier days, people also used rivers extensively to travel from one place to another.
(i) Why did the first civilisations develop around rivers in fertile plains ?
(ii) How has agriculture changed in the Gangetic plain in recent decades ?
(iii) Why do rivers hold immense cultural value for many communities ?