Environment & Ecology Quiz: India's National Action Plan on Climate Change

The correct answer is B, 2008. The National Action Plan on Climate Change was released on 30 June 2008 by the Prime Minister's Council on Climate Change, and it set out the eight National Missions through which India would act on climate change at home. Option A is wrong because 2005 is the year of no climate plan; the Council on Climate Change itself was constituted only in 2007. Option C is wrong because 2010 is the year the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission was launched, that is, one mission under the plan rather than the plan itself. Option D is wrong because 2015 is the year of the Paris Agreement and of India's first Nationally Determined Contribution, as well as the year the National Solar Mission target was raised to 100 GW. The plan came seven years before Paris, which is why it is described as the frame into which the later pledges were fitted.

The correct answer is C, eight. The plan of 2008 works through eight National Missions: Solar, Enhanced Energy Efficiency, Sustainable Habitat, Water, Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem, Green India, Sustainable Agriculture, and Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change. Option A is wrong because six leaves two of them out, a common trap when candidates forget the Strategic Knowledge and Himalayan missions, which are the two that build knowledge rather than assets. Option B is wrong because ten would include the later proposals on wind energy and health, which were suggested after 2014 but are not part of the original plan. Option D is wrong because twelve is simply larger than any count of the missions, original or proposed. Remember the figure eight with the nodal ministries attached, because papers often ask which ministry runs a named mission.

The correct answer is C, 2010. The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission was launched in January 2010 under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, with an initial target of 20,000 MW of grid-connected solar power by 2022; the target was raised to 100 GW in 2015. Option A is wrong because 2008 is the year the parent plan, the NAPCC, was released, not the year any mission began operating. Option B is wrong because 2009 saw the plan's missions being drafted and approved in principle, but the Solar Mission's formal launch came in the following January. Option D is wrong because by 2012 the mission was already in its first phase, and 2012 is better remembered as the start of the first cycle of the Perform, Achieve and Trade scheme. Pair the mission with its ministry and its revised target, as both are asked.

The correct answer is D, the National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency. PAT is the best known of that mission's four initiatives: large energy-using factories in notified sectors are set a target to reduce their specific energy consumption, and a unit that saves more than its target earns tradable energy saving certificates, which a unit that falls short must buy. It is administered by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency under the Ministry of Power. Option A is wrong because the Water Mission's instrument is a target of 20 per cent better water use efficiency, not a trading scheme. Option B is wrong because the Green India Mission deals with afforestation and forest quality. Option C is wrong because the Solar Mission works through capacity targets, solar parks and manufacturing support. Link PAT to industry and to certificates, and the question answers itself.

The correct answer is B, 20 per cent. One of the five goals of the National Water Mission is a 20 per cent improvement in water use efficiency, alongside comprehensive water data, attention to areas most vulnerable to shortage, more recycling and better basin-level planning; the mission is handled by the Ministry of Jal Shakti. Option A is wrong because 10 per cent understates the stated goal and is not a figure the mission documents use. Option C is wrong because 25 per cent is a plausible-looking round number but belongs to no goal of the mission. Option D is wrong because 40 per cent is far above anything the mission promises; such a jump in efficiency is not claimed by any national water programme. Papers pair this figure with the Green India Mission's 5 million hectares, so learn the two together.

The correct answer is D, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. That ministry is the nodal ministry for climate change in the Government of India, coordinates the plan and its reporting to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and itself runs the National Mission for a Green India. Options A, B and C each name a ministry that runs only one of the eight missions: the Ministry of Power handles the National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency through the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy handles the National Solar Mission, and the Ministry of Jal Shakti handles the National Water Mission. The trap is to confuse a mission's ministry with the plan's nodal ministry, so keep the coordinating role separate from the individual missions.

The correct answer is B, 5 million hectares. The Green India Mission is written around two halves of 5 million hectares each: new forest and tree cover on 5 million hectares of land that does not carry forest, and an improvement in the quality of the forest already standing on another 5 million hectares, so the mission's total reach is 10 million hectares. Option A is wrong because 2 million hectares is far smaller than either half. Option C is wrong because 8 million hectares matches neither half nor the total. Option D is a careful trap: 10 million hectares is the combined area of both halves, not the afforestation figure the question asks for. The mission is run by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and it also counts the carbon sink that this cover is expected to create.

The correct answer is C, the National Mission for Clean Ganga. That body is the implementing arm of the Namami Gange programme for cleaning the river Ganga, created under the river conservation effort and not under the climate plan; its concern is pollution in one river basin rather than greenhouse gases. Option A is wrong as a choice because the Sustainable Habitat mission is indeed one of the eight, covering energy-efficient buildings, urban transport and waste. Option B is wrong because the National Water Mission is one of the eight, with its 20 per cent water use efficiency goal. Option D is wrong because the Green India Mission is one of the eight, with its two blocks of 5 million hectares. Questions of this kind usually slip in a famous scheme from another programme, so check each name against the list of eight.

The correct answer is C, 45 per cent. The updated first Nationally Determined Contribution submitted in August 2022 raised the promise on emissions intensity, the greenhouse gas emitted per unit of gross domestic product, to a 45 per cent reduction by 2030 against the 2005 level. Option A is a strong trap: 33 to 35 per cent was the figure in the original contribution of 2015, which the update replaced. Option B is wrong because 40 per cent was the old share of non-fossil sources in installed electric power capacity, again raised in the update, this time to 50 per cent. Option D is wrong for the same reason: 50 per cent is the non-fossil capacity target, not the intensity cut. Keep the pair in order: intensity 45 per cent, non-fossil capacity 50 per cent, both by 2030.

The correct answer is C, 2070. At the twenty-sixth Conference of the Parties, held at Glasgow in 2021, the Prime Minister announced five pledges that came to be called Panchamrit, the last of which was net zero emissions by 2070, together with targets on non-fossil energy capacity, the share of renewable energy, the cut in projected carbon emissions and the reduction in the economy's carbon intensity. Option A is wrong because 2050 is the year many developed countries and the European Union have adopted, not India. Option B is wrong because 2060 is the year China has announced for itself. Option D is wrong because no major economy has set 2100 as a net zero year; it is far beyond every announced pledge. Papers often ask these three years side by side, so keep India at 2070, China at 2060 and the European Union at 2050.