Which sect is known for protecting the green trees?

The correct answer is C, 1980. The Forest (Conservation) Act was passed in 1980 to stop the steady loss of forest land to mining, roads, dams and townships. Its central provision is that no State Government or other authority may dereserve a reserved forest or allow forest land to be used for a non-forest purpose without the prior approval of the Central Government, and a 1988 amendment tightened it further by covering clearing of naturally grown trees for reafforestation. Option A, 1972, is the year of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, which deals with animals, hunting and protected areas. Option B, 1976, is the year the Forty-second Amendment inserted Articles 48A and 51A(g) into the Constitution and moved forests and wildlife to the Concurrent List. Option D, 1984, is the year of the Bhopal gas tragedy, which led to the Environment (Protection) Act of 1986. Keep the chain in order: 1972 wildlife, 1976 constitutional duty, 1980 forest conservation, 1986 environment protection.

The correct answer is D, Madhya Pradesh. Successive assessments by the Forest Survey of India have placed Madhya Pradesh first among the States in the absolute area under forest cover, a position it owes to its very large size and to the extensive teak and sal forests of the Satpura, Vindhya and Baghelkhand tracts. Option C, Arunachal Pradesh, is the usual second in area and it leads several States in the share of its own geographical area under forest, which is the distinction the question is testing: largest area is not the same as highest percentage. Option B, Chhattisgarh, also carries dense sal forests and stands among the leading States but not at the top. Option A, Kerala, has rich tropical evergreen forests in the Western Ghats but is far too small to lead in area. Remember the pairing as largest forest area in Madhya Pradesh, and the highest proportion of area under forest in the small hill States of the north east.

The correct answer is A, Uttarakhand. The movement began in 1973 in the Chamoli district of the Garhwal Himalaya, which was then part of Uttar Pradesh and has been in the new State of Uttarakhand since 2000. Villagers, and above all the women of Reni village led by Gaura Devi, embraced the trees so that contractors could not fell them, and Sunderlal Bahuguna and Chandi Prasad Bhatt carried the demand forward until a ban on green felling above a certain altitude was ordered. Option B, Himachal Pradesh, has its own forest protection traditions but not Chipko. Option C, Karnataka, is the home of the Appiko movement of 1983 in the Western Ghats, led by Panduranga Hegde, which is the southern parallel to Chipko and is often set as a distractor here. Option D, Assam, is unconnected with it. The word chipko means to cling, and appiko means to hug in Kannada.

The correct answer is B, July. Van Mahotsav is observed in the first week of July, which is chosen because the monsoon has arrived over most of the country by then and a newly planted sapling has the best chance of surviving. It was started in 1950 on the initiative of K. M. Munshi, then Union Minister for Agriculture and Food, as a people's festival of tree planting rather than a departmental exercise. Option A, March, carries World Forestry Day on the twenty-first and World Water Day on the twenty-second, but not Van Mahotsav. Option C, October, carries Wildlife Week in its first week, which is a separate observance devoted to animals. Option D, December, is not associated with any national planting programme and falls in the dry season when survival of saplings is poor. Examiners frequently place Wildlife Week and Van Mahotsav in the same option set, so fix July for trees and October for wildlife.

The correct answer is A, Panduranga Hegde. The Appiko movement started in 1983 in the Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka, in the Western Ghats, where villagers walked into the forest and hugged trees marked for felling by contractors; Panduranga Hegde organised it after studying the Chipko movement of the Himalaya. Option B, Medha Patkar, is identified with the Narmada Bachao Andolan against the submergence caused by large dams on the Narmada. Option C, Baba Amte, worked for people affected by leprosy and also joined the Narmada struggle, but he did not lead Appiko. Option D, Sunderlal Bahuguna, is the best known face of Chipko in Uttarakhand and of the campaign against the Tehri dam, and he is placed here precisely because candidates confuse the two movements. The simple mapping to carry into the hall is Chipko with Bahuguna and Bhatt in the Himalaya, and Appiko with Hegde in the Western Ghats.