Environment & Ecology Mixed Quiz: Set 19

The correct answer is B, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. It grew out of a department for non-conventional energy sources created in 1982, became a full ministry in 1992 and took its present name in 2006, and India is among the very few countries in the world to have a separate ministry devoted to this sector. Option A is wrong because the Ministry of Power handles generation, transmission and distribution of conventional electricity, including thermal and large hydro stations. Option C is wrong because the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change deals with forests, wildlife, pollution control and India's position in climate negotiations rather than with building renewable capacity. Option D is wrong because the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas is concerned with oil and gas, which are fossil fuels and the opposite of the sector in question.

The correct answer is B, Haryali. Haryali is a centrally sponsored watershed development project launched in 2003 by the Ministry of Rural Development, and its whole point is that the village panchayat plans and carries out the work itself. Under it gram panchayats build check dams, farm ponds, percolation tanks and contour bunds so that rain is held where it falls; wells recharge, and dryland farmers get water for a second crop. The watershed committee is chosen by the gram sabha, and the villagers share part of the cost and the upkeep of the structures. A is wrong because the Arvary Pani Sansad is a people's parliament of villages on the Arvari river in Alwar, Rajasthan, a community effort and not a central scheme. C is wrong because Jal Kranti Abhiyan was a later water awareness campaign of the water resources ministry. D is wrong because Neeru-Meeru was a state water conservation programme of Andhra Pradesh. Exam tip: Haryali 2003, central and panchayat-led; Neeru-Meeru is Andhra Pradesh; Arvari Pani Sansad is Rajasthan.

The correct answer is C, an atoll. Charles Darwin explained its formation: a fringing reef grows around a volcanic island, the island slowly subsides, the reef keeps growing upward towards the light, and in the end only a ring of reef and a lagoon are left where the island stood. Lakshadweep and the Maldives are the familiar examples. Option A is wrong because a fringing reef lies directly against the shore with little or no lagoon between, the commonest and youngest form. Option B is wrong because a barrier reef runs parallel to the coast but is separated from it by a wide, deep lagoon, the Great Barrier Reef off Queensland being the largest in the world. Option D is wrong because a patch reef is only a small isolated outcrop of coral inside a lagoon or on a shelf, not a landform type in this classification.

The correct answer is D, B, C and D. Mulching means covering the bare ground between plants with straw, dry leaves or crop waste, so that the soil holds moisture and raindrops cannot beat the topsoil loose. Contour barriers are stones, grass or soil bunds laid along the contour of a slope; water collects in trenches in front of them and runs off slowly instead of carrying soil downhill. Shelter belts are rows of trees planted across the direction of the wind, and they cut the wind's speed so that it cannot lift loose soil, a method used with success in the sandy western parts of India. Statement A is not a conservation method at all: heavy use of chemical fertilizers over the years makes the soil acidic or salty, kills the organisms that keep it fertile and damages its structure. A, B and C are wrong because each of them includes statement A. Exam tip: mulching, contour barriers, terrace farming, shelter belts and rock dams conserve soil.

The correct answer is D, Schedule I. The greater one-horned rhinoceros, the animal of Kaziranga and Manas in Assam, is placed in Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, the schedule that carries the highest protection and the strictest punishment for hunting or trade. The tiger, the Asiatic lion, the snow leopard, the Indian wild ass and the great Indian bustard sit in the same schedule. Options A and C are wrong because the lower schedules were meant for animals that need protection but not of the highest order, and no big mammal under such heavy poaching pressure would be left there. Option B is wrong for the same reason. In the exam, remember the simple rule that the most threatened and most poached animals of India are Schedule I species.

The correct answer is C, SDG 6. Sustainable Development Goal 6 is clean water and sanitation, and its aim is to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. The seventeen goals were adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015 as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and they took over from the Millennium Development Goals. Goal 6 covers safe drinking water, toilets and an end to open defecation, better treatment of waste water, efficient use of water in farming and industry, and the protection of rivers, lakes and groundwater. A is wrong because SDG 4 is quality education. B is wrong because SDG 7 is affordable and clean energy. D is wrong because SDG 5 is gender equality. Exam tip: SDG 4 education, SDG 5 gender equality, SDG 6 clean water and sanitation, SDG 7 clean energy; the seventeen goals were adopted in 2015 with 2030 as the target year.

The correct answer is A, smaller than 5 millimetres. Microplastics are plastic particles under five millimetres across, whether they were manufactured that small, as in cosmetic microbeads and synthetic textile fibres, or were formed when larger plastic articles weathered and broke up in sunlight and waves. Option B is wrong because five centimetres describes ordinary plastic litter, not microplastic; such pieces are visible and can still be picked up by hand. Option C is wrong because fifty microns is the scale of nanoplastics and fine fibres, far below the accepted cut-off, and no convention defines microplastics that way. Option D is wrong because a five-metre piece of plastic is macro litter such as a fishing net or a sheet. The importance of the five millimetre figure is biological: below that size plankton, fish and shellfish swallow the particles, so the plastic enters the marine food chain and comes back to human beings on the plate.

The correct answer is A, Sardar Sarovar. The Narmada Bachao Andolan grew up against the Sardar Sarovar dam on the Narmada.

The movement began in 1985 under Medha Patkar, with Baba Amte and others joining later. It argued that raising the dam's height would submerge villages and forests in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat and that the people displaced were not being resettled properly. The protest used fasts, rallies and the courts, and in 1993 it made the World Bank withdraw from the project. The Supreme Court allowed construction to continue in 2000 with conditions on rehabilitation.

Option B, Bhakra Nangal, is on the Sutlej in Himachal Pradesh and Punjab. Option C, Rihand, is in Uttar Pradesh on a tributary of the Son. Option D, Tehri, on the Bhagirathi in Uttarakhand, had its own protest led by Sunderlal Bahuguna, not the Narmada Bachao Andolan.

Exam tip: Narmada Bachao - Medha Patkar, Sardar Sarovar; Chipko and Tehri - Sunderlal Bahuguna.

The correct answer is B. The Montreux Record lists Ramsar sites where the ecological character has changed, is changing or is likely to change because of pollution, encroachment, siltation or other interference, so that the parties can direct attention and assistance there. From India, Keoladeo National Park and Loktak Lake are on it, while Chilika was entered and then removed in 2002 after restoration, the first Asian site to be taken off. Option A is wrong because a newly designated wetland simply joins the Ramsar List, which is a separate register. Option C is wrong because World Heritage status comes from a different treaty administered by UNESCO and has nothing to do with this record. Option D is wrong because Ramsar rests on wise use rather than exclusion, and fishing and grazing often continue on listed sites.

The correct answer is D, 29th July. International Tiger Day, also called Global Tiger Day, is observed every year on 29 July. It was started in 2010 at the Tiger Summit held in St Petersburg, Russia, where the thirteen tiger-range countries promised to double the number of wild tigers by 2022. The day spreads awareness about the loss of tiger habitat and poaching. India is home to about three-fourths of the world's wild tigers; it launched Project Tiger on 1 April 1973 from Jim Corbett National Park, and the National Tiger Conservation Authority was set up in 2005. The tiger is India's national animal and the results of the tiger census are usually released around this day. A is wrong because 12 May is International Nurses Day, the birthday of Florence Nightingale. B is wrong because 10 January is World Hindi Day. C is wrong because 5 November is World Tsunami Awareness Day. Exam tip: 29 July Tiger Day (St Petersburg 2010); Project Tiger 1973; 12 August is World Elephant Day.

The correct answer is B, Vulnerable. The Red List arranges risk in a ladder, and the three threatened grades in falling order of severity are Critically Endangered, Endangered and Vulnerable. A Vulnerable species therefore faces a high risk of extinction in the wild, but a smaller risk than an Endangered one. Option A is wrong because Critically Endangered is the grade above Endangered, meaning an extremely high risk and the last step before a species is lost from the wild. Option C is wrong because Extinct in the Wild describes a species that survives only in captivity or cultivation, which is worse than any threatened grade. Option D is wrong because Extinct is the end of the ladder, with no individual left anywhere. Learn the ladder once and this family of questions becomes free marks.

The correct answer is D, Blue Flag. In 2018 the Union Environment Ministry started a pilot project to clean up and develop selected beaches so that they could win the Blue Flag. The Blue Flag is an international eco-label given by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), based in Copenhagen, Denmark; it began in France in 1985. A beach must meet strict standards on water quality, environmental education, safety and services, and environmental management. India's programme for this is called BEAMS (Beach Environment and Aesthetics Management Services), and in 2020 Shivrajpur in Gujarat was among the first Indian beaches to receive the Blue Flag. A is wrong because Swachh Bharat is the national sanitation mission started in 2014, not a beach label. B is wrong because the Green Flag is a different award, used in the UK for well-kept parks and green spaces. C is wrong because Clean India is only the English name of the Swachh Bharat campaign. Exam tip: Blue Flag = beach eco-label by FEE, Denmark; India's scheme = BEAMS; the first eight Indian Blue Flag beaches were certified in 2020.

The correct answer is B, methane. In biomethanation, anaerobic bacteria break down organic matter inside a closed digester where no oxygen is present, and the gas they release is mainly methane, which is what makes biogas burn with a clean blue flame and gives it its fuel value. Option A is wrong because carbon dioxide is certainly present in biogas, but as the second component by volume, not the main one; it burns no further and only lowers the calorific value. Option C is wrong because nitrogen is at best a trace in biogas, coming from air leakage rather than from decomposition. Option D is wrong because sulphur dioxide is not produced in the digester; the sulphur impurity in biogas appears as hydrogen sulphide, which must be scrubbed out because it corrodes engines and pipes. The same methane forms slowly in a covered landfill, where it is called landfill gas and is either flared or tapped for power.

The correct answer is B, 1973. Project Tiger began on 1 April 1973 as a centrally sponsored scheme with nine tiger reserves, in the same year in which the tiger replaced the lion as the national animal of India.

Option A, 1972, is the year of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, the law under which reserves and protected areas are declared, and candidates often confuse the law with the scheme that followed it. Option C, 1992, is the year in which Project Elephant was launched, the other great species programme of the country. Option D, 2005, is the year in which the loss of all the tigers of the Sariska reserve came to light and a Tiger Task Force was appointed, which led to the amendment of the law in the following year.

The correct answer is C, Odisha. Chilika is a shallow lagoon on the Bay of Bengal coast, separated from the sea by a sandy ridge and joined to it by a narrow mouth, which is why its water is brackish. It was among the first two Indian sites on the Ramsar List, it shelters the Irrawaddy dolphin, and the island of Nalabana within it is a bird sanctuary that fills with migratory birds in winter. Option A is wrong because the large lagoon of Andhra Pradesh is Pulicat, which is shared with Tamil Nadu and ranks second in the country. Option B is wrong because West Bengal is the land of the Sundarbans delta, not of a large lagoon. Option D is wrong because Tamil Nadu has the Point Calimere and Pichavaram wetlands and the southern part of Pulicat, but Chilika does not reach it.

The correct answer is B, Tiger. Project Tiger was launched in 1973, the year after the Wildlife (Protection) Act came into force, and it was the first species recovery project of its kind in India. It began with a small group of reserves, Jim Corbett among them, and works on the principle of a strictly protected core area surrounded by a buffer in which regulated use is allowed. Option A is wrong because Gir is the forest in Gujarat that shelters the Asiatic lion and is a national park, not the name of a national project. Option C is wrong because the rhino programme, aimed at the greater one-horned rhinoceros of Assam and Bengal, came much later than 1973. Option D is wrong because the hangul, the Kashmir stag of Dachigam, has its own state level recovery effort and was never the first national project.

The correct answer is D, Rann of Kachchh. The Wild Ass Sanctuary lies in the Little Rann of Kachchh in Gujarat and is the last home of the Indian wild ass, locally called the khur, a Schedule I animal that grazes on the raised patches of grass known as bets in the salt desert. Option A is wrong because the cold desert of Ladakh holds the kiang, a different Tibetan wild ass, but the sanctuary named for the wild ass is not there. Option B is wrong because the Sundarbans of West Bengal is mangrove country and is famous for the Royal Bengal tiger and the estuarine crocodile. Option C is wrong because the Spiti valley in Himachal Pradesh is snow leopard and ibex country. Pair the khur with Gujarat and the question is settled.

The correct answer is B, Extended Producer Responsibility. Under this idea a producer, importer or brand owner stays answerable for its product after the consumer has finished with it, and must arrange to collect back and recycle an agreed quantity of packaging or equipment; the plastic waste, e-waste and battery waste rules all run on it. Option A is wrong because the Environment (Protection) Act of 1986 and the rules made under it already carry their own names, and no waste rule uses the abbreviation for them. Option C is wrong because there is no statutory register by that name; effluents are regulated by consent conditions issued by the State Pollution Control Boards under the water law. Option D is wrong because energy recovery from refuse is called waste to energy or refuse-derived fuel, not EPR. Extended Producer Responsibility is best remembered as the working form of the polluter pays principle, applied to the maker rather than to the user.

The correct answer is B, 1952. The Asiatic cheetah once hunted across the open grassland and scrub of central and peninsular India, was trained by rulers for coursing blackbuck, and was wiped out by shooting and by the ploughing of its grassland. The government formally declared the species extinct in the country in 1952, making it the only large mammal India has lost in modern times. Option A is wrong because 1947 is the year of independence and has no link with the declaration. Option C is wrong because 1972 is the year of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, a date worth knowing but a different one. Option D is wrong because 1984 belongs to other environmental events and not to the cheetah. Examiners often place 1952 beside 1972 to see whether a candidate can keep the two apart.

The correct answer is B, transboundary movement of hazardous wastes. The Basel Convention was adopted in 1989 to stop rich countries from shipping toxic and hazardous waste to poorer countries for cheap disposal, and it requires the prior informed consent of the receiving country before any such consignment moves. Option A is wrong because the ozone layer is protected by the Vienna Convention of 1985 and the Montreal Protocol of 1987, which phase out chlorofluorocarbons and similar substances. Option C is wrong because migratory species are covered by the Convention on Migratory Species, also called the Bonn Convention, of 1979. Option D is wrong because trade in endangered plants and animals is regulated by CITES, signed in 1973 at Washington. Learn these conventions as city and subject pairs, because that is exactly how the question is framed: Basel for hazardous waste, Stockholm for persistent organic pollutants, Rotterdam for prior informed consent and Minamata for mercury.