Which one of the following is NOT a component of photochemical smog ?

The correct answer is B, Tamil Nadu. Faced with a steep fall in the water table around Chennai, the state amended its building rules in 2003 to require a rainwater harvesting structure in buildings, and it is cited as the first state in the country to make such harvesting compulsory. Other states and the model building bye-laws later carried similar provisions, and many municipal corporations now link building plan approval to a harvesting structure. Option A is wrong because Maharashtra, though an early mover on watershed work through the Pani Panchayat and Jalyukt Shivar efforts, was not first with this building rule. Option C is wrong because Gujarat is linked in this topic with the Sardar Sarovar canal network and the revival of stepwells and virdas. Option D is wrong because Rajasthan is the home of the traditional desert structures such as the tanka, the kund and the johad rather than of the first legal mandate.

The correct answer is A, the National Action Plan on Climate Change. The plan, released in 2008, set up eight national missions, among them the National Solar Mission, the National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency, the National Water Mission, the National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem, the National Mission for a Green India, the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture, the National Mission on Sustainable Habitat and the National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change. The water mission aims at integrated water resources management and at raising water use efficiency by twenty per cent. Option B is wrong because the National Water Policy is a statement of principles, not a parent of missions, though it also stresses efficiency. Option C is wrong because Namami Gange is a river cleaning programme for the Ganga basin. Option D is wrong because the rural drinking water programme supplied village water and was later folded into Jal Jeevan Mission.

The correct answer is C, 75. Mission Amrit Sarovar was launched on 24 April 2022, National Panchayati Raj Day, as part of the celebration of seventy-five years of independence, and the number 75 in the target of seventy-five ponds in every district of the country comes from that anniversary. Each amrit sarovar is planned to hold about ten thousand cubic metres of water, and the work is done by converging funds already available under schemes such as the rural employment guarantee programme and the watershed component of the rural development programmes. Option A, option B and option D are wrong simply because they are not the announced figure; twenty-five, fifty and one hundred are the usual distractors for a target of this kind. Remembering the link between the number 75 and the anniversary of independence is the quickest way to hold this fact.

The correct answer is B, the World Bank. Atal Bhujal Yojana, launched in 2019 under the Ministry of Jal Shakti, is a central sector scheme part funded by the World Bank. It works in water-stressed blocks of seven states, namely Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, and its distinguishing feature is that gram panchayats prepare water security plans and money flows to them as an incentive for measured improvement in groundwater behaviour rather than for construction alone. Option A is wrong because the Asian Development Bank funds many Indian irrigation and urban water projects but not this scheme. Option C is wrong because the New Development Bank, set up by the BRICS countries with its headquarters at Shanghai, is not the partner here. Option D is wrong because the International Monetary Fund lends for balance of payments support and does not fund development schemes of this kind at all.

The correct answer is B. In 2019 the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation was merged with the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation to create a single Ministry of Jal Shakti, so that irrigation, river basins, groundwater, drinking water supply and sanitation would be handled by one ministry. It works through two departments, the Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation and the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, and runs Jal Jeevan Mission, the Jal Shakti Abhiyan and Atal Bhujal Yojana. Option A is wrong because agriculture and rural development remain separate ministries, although watershed work is done under rural development. Option C is wrong because the environment and earth sciences ministries were not merged and deal with forests, pollution and weather services. Option D is wrong because urban water supply reaches cities through the urban affairs ministry but no such merger took place.