When did PM Narendra Modi announce National Hydrogen Mission to generate hydrogen from green energy sources?

The correct answer is B, 1986. The Department of Biotechnology was created in 1986 under the Ministry of Science and Technology to give the subject a separate home, and it supports institutions, fellowships and national facilities; the Review Committee on Genetic Manipulation also works under it. Option A is wrong because 1974 is the year of the first Indian nuclear test and belongs to atomic energy, not biotechnology. Option C is wrong because 1999 is the year of the Geographical Indications Act and has no connection with this department. Option D is wrong because 2012 is the year the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council was created to support industry and start ups, which candidates often confuse with the parent department. Note that the Environment (Protection) Act is also of 1986, and the biosafety rules under it came in 1989.

The correct answer is B, human insulin produced in bacteria. The two polypeptide chains of the hormone are made in genetically engineered bacteria and then joined by disulphide bonds, giving insulin identical to the human hormone, which ended the dependence on insulin extracted from the pancreas of cattle and pigs and the allergy that sometimes followed. Option A is wrong because the hepatitis B vaccine is also a recombinant product, made from a viral surface protein grown in yeast, but it is a vaccine and not Humulin. Option C is wrong because growth hormone for therapy is also made by recombinant means today, not taken from sheep. Option D is wrong because antibiotics such as penicillin come from fungal fermentation, an older form of biotechnology. Insulin is the standard example of red biotechnology.

The correct answer is B, a biofertiliser. Rhizobium lives in symbiosis in the root nodules of pulses and fixes atmospheric nitrogen into a form the plant can use, which enriches the soil and reduces the need for nitrogen fertiliser. Option A is wrong because biopesticides kill or control pests, and the examples are Bacillus thuringiensis against caterpillars, Trichoderma against soil borne fungi and the nuclear polyhedrosis virus against insect larvae. Option C is wrong because a herbicide kills weeds, and Rhizobium has no such action. Option D is wrong because growth hormones of plants are auxins, gibberellins and cytokinins, which are chemical substances and not bacteria. The other biofertilisers to remember are Azotobacter and Azospirillum, free living nitrogen fixers, Anabaena in Azolla for paddy and mycorrhizal fungi for phosphorus uptake.

The correct answer is A, totipotency. A single plant cell retains the capacity to divide and differentiate into every tissue and so to regenerate a whole plant, which is why an explant grown on a sterile nutrient medium can form callus and then complete plantlets. Option B is wrong because osmosis is the movement of water across a membrane and explains water uptake, not regeneration. Option C is wrong because transpiration is the loss of water vapour through stomata and has nothing to do with culture. Option D is wrong because photoperiodism is the response of flowering to day length. Tissue culture built on totipotency gives micropropagation for banana, sugarcane and orchids, virus free plants through meristem culture, and haploids through anther culture, all of which are asked as applications.

The correct answer is B, plant breeding. Plant breeding is the deliberate improvement of crops by choosing parents with desirable characters, crossing them, selecting among the progeny and multiplying the best lines; the high yielding wheat and rice varieties of the Green Revolution came from it, and modern breeding is often combined with tissue culture and marker assisted selection. Option A is wrong because plant embryology studies the development of the embryo and seed, which is descriptive rather than an improvement programme. Option C is wrong because plant biochemistry studies the chemical reactions inside the plant, such as photosynthesis and secondary metabolites. Option D is wrong because plant anatomy studies internal structure and tissues under the microscope. Breeding works with genes already present in related plants, while genetic engineering can bring a gene from any organism.