The conservation breeding centres for the Great Indian Bustard are located in which state?

The correct answer is D, a botanical garden. Ex-situ conservation means keeping a species, or only its germplasm, outside its natural habitat, which is what a botanical garden, a zoo, an aquarium, a seed bank, a gene bank or a conservation breeding centre does. Option A is wrong because a biosphere reserve conserves a whole landscape with its core, buffer and transition zones, which is in-situ conservation. Option B is wrong because a wildlife sanctuary protects animals where they live, with limited human activity allowed, again in-situ. Option C is wrong because a national park is the strictest form of in-situ protection, where grazing and private rights are not permitted. The quickest test is to ask whether the species stays in its habitat; if it does, the method is in-situ.

The correct answer is A, the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972. The amendment of 1991 inserted the provisions on zoos into that Act, and the Central Zoo Authority was constituted in 1992 to recognise zoos, prescribe standards for animal housing, upkeep and veterinary care and coordinate conservation breeding; a zoo without its recognition cannot operate. Option B is wrong because the Environment (Protection) Act of 1986 is the umbrella law under which notifications such as eco-sensitive zones and coastal regulation zones are issued. Option C is wrong because the Biological Diversity Act of 2002 created the National Biodiversity Authority, which deals with access to biological resources and benefit sharing. Option D is wrong because the Forest (Conservation) Act of 1980 governs the diversion of forest land for non-forest use.

The correct answer is B, the Alipore Zoological Garden in Kolkata, opened to the public in 1876 and therefore the oldest formally established zoo in the country. Option A is wrong because the National Zoological Park in Delhi dates from 1959 and was planned as a model zoo for the capital. Option C is wrong because the Nehru Zoological Park at Hyderabad was opened in the 1960s and is known for its safari enclosures and nocturnal animal house. Option D is wrong because the Arignar Anna Zoological Park at Vandalur near Chennai, though the largest zoo in India by area, was opened in 1985 after shifting from the older Madras zoo. A related fact often asked alongside is that the Mysuru zoo of 1892 is the second of the old zoos and the Darjeeling zoo the highest in altitude.

The correct answer is B, Robert Kyd, an officer of the East India Company who proposed and founded the garden at Shibpur in Howrah in 1787, first for growing plants of economic value such as teak and spices. Option A is wrong because William Roxburgh, often called the father of Indian botany, was its superintendent after Kyd and compiled the Flora Indica, which is a different contribution. Option C is wrong because Joseph Hooker travelled in the Himalaya and the Khasi hills and wrote on their flora but did not found this garden. Option D is wrong because the garden was renamed the Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden in his honour in 2009, long after his death, which is why his name is attached to it today. The garden holds the Great Banyan Tree.

The correct answer is A, the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources at New Delhi, an institute of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, which holds the National Gene Bank where seeds of crop plants and their wild relatives are stored at low temperature for long-term conservation. Option B is wrong because the Botanical Survey of India, founded in 1890 with its headquarters at Kolkata, surveys and documents plant wealth and maintains herbaria and gardens rather than a crop gene bank. Option C is wrong because the National Botanical Research Institute at Lucknow, a CSIR laboratory, works on plant conservation, taxonomy and economic botany. Option D is wrong because the Indian Agricultural Research Institute at Pusa in Delhi is a research and teaching institute; the gene bank stands on the same campus but belongs to the Bureau.