In which year was the Ganga Action Plan, India’s first major river cleaning programme, launched?
- A.1985
- B.1991
- C.1995
- D.2014
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is A, 1985. The Ganga Action Plan was launched in 1985 to intercept, divert and treat the sewage of the towns along the river, and it was the first programme of its kind in India. Its second phase, along with the Yamuna Action Plan, came in 1993. Option B is wrong because 1991 belongs to the economic reforms and has nothing to do with river cleaning. Option C is wrong because 1995 is the year in which the National River Conservation Plan was set up, bringing the Ganga and Yamuna schemes together and extending them to other rivers. Option D is wrong because 2014 is the year the Namami Gange Programme was launched as an integrated conservation mission, the present phase of the effort. The sequence worth memorising is 1985, 1993, 1995, 2008 for the national river declaration, 2009 and 2014.
Read the full article: Water Pollution and River Cleaning: Causes and Schemes
Practice Questions
View allWhich pollution causes Itai-Itai disease in human beings?
- A.Mercury pollution
- B.Cadmium pollution
- C.Arsenic pollution
- D.Nitrate pollution
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Itai-Itai disease was first identified in Japan among people who ate rice grown with water polluted by cadmium from mining waste.
Read the full explanation →Minamata disease is caused by the pollution of water with which metal?
- A.Lead
- B.Mercury
- C.Cadmium
- D.Chromium
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Minamata disease takes its name from Minamata Bay in Japan, where a factory discharged mercury compounds that were converted by bacteria into methylmercury, concentrated in fish through biomagnification and then eaten by people.
Read the full explanation →A high value of biochemical oxygen demand in a water sample indicates:
- A.The water is clean and fit to drink
- B.Heavy load of organic pollution
- C.High dissolved oxygen
- D.Absence of bacteria
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Biochemical oxygen demand measures the oxygen that micro-organisms need in order to break down the organic matter present in a sample.
Read the full explanation →Blue baby syndrome, or methaemoglobinemia, in infants is caused by an excess of which substance in drinking water?
- A.Fluoride
- B.Nitrate
- C.Iron
- D.Calcium
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Nitrate from fertiliser run-off and from sewage seeps into groundwater; in an infant it is converted to nitrite, which binds to haemoglobin and forms methaemoglobin, a compound that cannot carry oxygen.
Read the full explanation →The excessive growth of algae in a water body due to enrichment with nitrates and phosphates is called:
- A.Biomagnification
- B.Eutrophication
- C.Salinisation
- D.Sedimentation
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When fertilisers, detergents and sewage add nitrates and phosphates to a lake or a slow-moving river, algae multiply into a bloom that covers the surface.
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