Consider the following statements:
- Statement-I: The Indian Flying Fox is placed under the "vermin" category in the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.
- Statement-II: The Indian Flying Fox feeds on the blood of other animals.
Which one of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?
Why UPSC dropped it · explanation
UPSC dropped this question from evaluation in its final answer key.
UPSC dropped this question from evaluation in its final answer key. Statement-II is plainly wrong - the Indian flying fox is a fruit bat that eats fruit and nectar, not blood. Statement-I was also out of date by 2024: the 2022 amendment removed the Act's vermin schedule, so none of the four options fits.
- ✗ Statement-I The Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Act, 2022 cut the schedules from six to four and removed the vermin schedule, so by 2024 the statement was out of date. Under the amended section 62, the Central Government may declare a Schedule II animal to be vermin by notification, for a stated area and period.
- ✗ Statement-II The Indian flying fox (Pteropus medius) is one of India's largest fruit bats; it feeds on fruits and nectar and helps pollinate flowers and disperse seeds. Blood-feeding vampire bats live only in the Americas.
Remember · Indian flying fox = fruit bat (fruit, nectar; Nipah virus reservoir). WPA amendment 2022: four schedules, no vermin schedule; the Central Government declares vermin by notification under Section 62.
📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 7 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Ch 8 (practise this chapter)
Sources
- Haryana Forest Department: Wild Life (Protection) Act ↗ “Schedules reduce from six to four by reducing the number of schedules for specially protected animals to two, removing the schedule for vermin species, and inserting a new schedule for CITES specimens.”
- The Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 as amended to 2022, section 62 (India Code; Internet Archive copy) ↗ “to be vermin for any area and for such period as may be specified therein and so long as such notification is in force”
- PubMed Central (US NIH): Sequencing the Genome of Indian Flying Fox, Natural Reservoir of Nipah Virus ↗ “Indian fruit bats, flying fox Pteropus medius was identified as an asymptomatic natural host of recently emerged Nipah virus”
- NCERT Class 7 · Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Chapter 8 “Besides, bats play a critical role in the pollination of flowers and in the dispersal of seeds.”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2024, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). ·