Environmental laws, bodies & conventions

Answer: (b) 1 and 3 only

Why not the tempting option · UPSC's key is (b). The official NIRANTAR portal lists the Botanical Survey of India for Ecosystem Survey and Analysis, ICFRE Dehradun for Research and Management of Ecosystem Service, and IIFM Bhopal for Capacity Development Support. Whichever institute some summaries name for the Ecosystem Service vertical, it is not the Central Zoo Authority, so statement 2 is wrong and 1 and 3 stand. In the exam, check the institute named in the statement against the vertical, not the vertical alone.

NIRANTAR is an environment ministry platform that links existing institutes without creating a new one. Its portal lists the Botanical Survey of India for Ecosystem Survey and Analysis and IIFM, Bhopal for Capacity Development Support. The Ecosystem Service vertical is led by ICFRE, Dehradun, not the Central Zoo Authority.

• ✓ 1. The portal names the Botanical Survey of India (headquartered in Kolkata) for Ecosystem Survey and Analysis.
• ✗ 2. The portal lists ICFRE, Dehradun against Research and Management of Ecosystem Service; the Central Zoo Authority is not shown as a vertical lead.
• ✓ 3. The portal lists IIFM, Bhopal for Capacity Development Support.

Remember · NIRANTAR verticals on the MoEFCC portal: Ecosystem Survey and Analysis (BSI), Ecosystem Service (ICFRE), Capacity Development (IIFM), Climate Change Support (NCSCM).

Question and answer: UPSC's provisional GS Paper I (2026, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) The European Union

The Nature Restoration Law is a European Union law. The Council of the EU adopted it on 17 June 2024 and it entered into force on 18 August 2024, setting binding targets to restore degraded ecosystems across the EU's land and sea areas.

• ✓ (a) The European Commission describes the Nature Restoration Law as a key element of the EU Biodiversity Strategy, with binding restoration targets for habitats and species that should cover at least 20% of the EU's land and sea areas by 2030.
• ✗ (b) The World Bank Group describes its role as providing financial products and policy advice to countries; it is not the body that enacted this law.
• ✗ (c) The OECD describes itself as an international organisation that works to build better policies; it did not enact this law.
• ✗ (d) The FAO describes itself as a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger; it did not enact this law.
• • Since then The Commission's page now calls the same law the 'Nature Restoration Regulation'; in 2024 it used 'Nature Restoration Law'. The content and the dates above are unchanged.

Remember · The Nature Restoration Law is a European Union regulation, in force since 18 August 2024, with binding targets to restore ecosystems by 2030 and 2050.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2025, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

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)

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). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) The International Union for Conservation of Nature

The Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG) is one of the expert groups of IUCN's Species Survival Commission, and it built and runs the Global Invasive Species Database (GISD).

• ✓ (a) The GISD was developed and is managed by the ISSG of the Species Survival Commission (SSC) of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
• ✗ (b) UNEP is the UN's environment agency; it does not house the ISSG, which sits inside IUCN's commission structure.
• ✗ (d) WWF is an independent conservation NGO; the ISSG and its database are part of IUCN, the body that also publishes the Red List.

Remember · ISSG → IUCN Species Survival Commission → runs the Global Invasive Species Database (GISD). IUCN also compiles the Red List.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II is not the correct explanation for Statement-I

Carbon markets put a price on each tonne of emissions and are spreading fast, from the EU's emissions trading system to India's Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (2023). When governments auction emission allowances, money does flow from companies to the State, but that revenue is a by-product; markets are popular because pricing carbon makes polluters cut emissions where it is cheapest.

• ✓ Statement-I Emissions trading and carbon-credit markets are among the most widely adopted climate policy tools; India notified its own Carbon Credit Trading Scheme in June 2023 to put a price on a tonne of CO2-equivalent.
• ✓ Statement-II Where allowances are auctioned, companies pay the government: EU ETS auctions raise revenue for national budgets and climate funds. This transfer is not why carbon markets are used, so Statement-II does not explain Statement-I.

Remember · Carbon market = cap (or intensity target) + tradable permits/credits → carbon gets a price. Auctioned permits raise public revenue. India: Carbon Credit Trading Scheme, 2023 (BEE administers).

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Only two

Why not the tempting option · UPSC's key is (b): statements 2 and 3 are correct, 1 and 4 are not. The Act settles 1 (a Community Reserve management committee, not the Chief Wild Life Warden, manages the reserve) and supports 2 (the general ban on hunting applies, and the sanctuary duty to secure wild animals is extended to community reserves). On 3 and 4 the Act grants no positive rights: it does not extend the sanctuary bar on removing forest produce (section 29) to community reserves, so collection of non-timber produce continues, but it freezes the land-use pattern (section 36C(3)), which rules out opening reserve land to cultivation — forest officials in Nagaland describe community reserves as areas where people can neither hunt nor farm, 'leave alone jhum cultivation'. A looser reading that treats settled farming as unchanged land use would give three, but the key does not take it; and the stem's 'Central Government notifies' is loose (the State Government declares a community reserve) without changing the count. In the exam, read the land-use freeze as excluding agriculture.

A Community Reserve is declared by the State Government on private or community land whose owners volunteer to conserve wildlife, and it is run by a Community Reserve management committee, so statement 1 is wrong. Hunting stays banned (2) and the Act does not bar the collection of forest produce there (3), but the land-use pattern is frozen, so reserve land cannot be turned over to cultivation (4): two statements are correct.

• ✗ 1. Section 36D of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 makes the Community Reserve management committee, constituted by the State Government, the authority for conserving, maintaining and managing the reserve. The Chief Wild Life Warden controls sanctuaries, not community reserves.
• ✓ 2. Hunting of protected wild animals is banned by section 9 everywhere, and section 36C(2) extends to a community reserve the sanctuary duty under section 33(b) to ensure the security of wild animals.
• ✓ 3. The Act applies only selected sanctuary provisions to a community reserve — sections 18(2), 27(2) to (4), 30, 32 and 33(b) and (c). The sanctuary bar on removing forest produce (section 29) is not among them, so the community's collection of non-timber produce on its own land continues under the management committee.
• ✗ 4. Section 36C(3) freezes the land-use pattern after notification: no change is allowed without a resolution of the management committee and State Government approval, so reserve land cannot be opened to cultivation. In Nagaland, which has the most community reserves, forest officials describe them as areas where people can neither hunt nor farm, leave alone practise jhum.

Remember · Community Reserve (Wild Life (Protection) Act, s. 36C-36D, added 2002): private or community land, declared by the State Government, managed by a Community Reserve management committee; hunting banned, land-use pattern frozen, forest-produce collection not barred.

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Answer: (b) Only two

Statements 1 and 2 are correct; statement 3 is not. Gold mining and coal-fired power stations are both major sources of mercury releases, but international health bodies have set tolerable intake levels for mercury, so it is wrong to say that no safe level is known.

• ✓ 1. WHO lists mining for mercury, gold and other metals among the main human causes of mercury release, and warns that mercury use in artisanal and small-scale gold mining is particularly hazardous.
• ✓ 2. WHO names coal-fired power stations among the main sources of mercury releases. Coal contains mercury, which escapes when it is burned.
• ✗ 3. The FAO/WHO expert committee JECFA set a tolerable intake of 1.6 micrograms per kg of body weight per week for methylmercury. Exposure is harmful at high levels, but a tolerable level has been defined.

Remember · Mercury comes from coal burning and gold mining, among other sources. WHO and FAO experts have set a tolerable weekly intake for methylmercury, so a safe level is defined.

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Answer: (c) Both 1 and 2

Both statements are correct. The Nagoya Protocol is about fair sharing of benefits from genetic resources, and in India the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 gives village-level Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) a say in access decisions and the power to levy collection fees.

• ✓ 1. The Nagoya Protocol aims at fair and equitable sharing of benefits from genetic resources. India's law for this, the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, requires the National Biodiversity Authority and State Biodiversity Boards to consult the local BMC before decisions on using resources in its area, which makes BMCs the local channel for access and benefit sharing.
• ✓ 2. Section 41(3) of the Act says BMCs may levy charges by way of collection fees from any person accessing or collecting biological resources for commercial purposes from their territorial jurisdiction.

Remember · BMCs are set up by local bodies under Section 41 of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002. They are consulted on access to local biological resources and can levy collection fees, which is India's ground-level route to Nagoya-style benefit sharing.

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Answer: (c) Central Ground Water Authority

The Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) is the groundwater regulator that the Centre created using its powers under Section 3(3) of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. The Water Commission, the Ground Water Board and the Water Development Agency were set up by executive decision or as a society, not under this Act.

• ✓ (c) CGWA is the statutory regulator for groundwater. It grants No Objection Certificates for groundwater abstraction in the States and Union Territories where it is notified to do so.
• ✗ (b) The Central Ground Water Board is a subordinate office of the Jal Shakti Ministry that gives scientific inputs on groundwater (survey, monitoring, assessment). It is a technical body, not one created by the 1986 Act.
• ✗ (d) The National Water Development Agency was set up in July 1982 as an autonomous society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, to study inter-basin water transfer.
• ✗ (a) The Central Water Commission, working since 1945, is the Ministry's technical body for river and water-resources planning, and it too is not a creation of the 1986 Act.

Remember · CGWA is the statutory groundwater regulator set up under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986; CGWB is only a technical board.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) It is the international code of safety for ships operating in polar waters.

The Polar Code is the International Maritime Organization's safety and pollution-prevention code for ships sailing in the Arctic and Antarctic waters. It is made binding through the SOLAS and MARPOL conventions and applies from 1 January 2017.

• ✓ (a) Its full name is the International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters. It covers ship design, equipment, crew training, search and rescue and protection of the polar environment.
• ✗ (b) It says nothing about territorial claims or boundaries around the poles; it is a shipping rule-book.
• ✗ (c) Norms for scientific research in the polar regions come from other instruments, such as the Antarctic Treaty system, and not from the Polar Code.
• ✗ (d) The Arctic Council is a forum for cooperation on Arctic issues; the Polar Code was adopted by the IMO and is not a trade or security pact.

Remember · Polar Code = IMO's International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters, mandatory under SOLAS and MARPOL since 1 January 2017.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2 only

Only statement 2 is correct. Under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, a listed animal is protected from hunting wherever it is, inside or outside protected areas. But only some wild animals become Government property, and a mere fear of danger does not justify killing or capturing one.

• ✗ 1. Section 39 makes only certain animals Government property, such as those hunted under a permit, kept or hunted against the Act, or found dead. It does not make every wild animal the sole property of the government.
• ✓ 2. Section 9 bars hunting of any animal listed in the Schedules, and the rule is not tied to protected areas. The protection applies inside or outside sanctuaries and parks.
• ✗ 3. Section 11 lets the Chief Wild Life Warden permit hunting only if satisfied that the animal has actually become dangerous to human life (or is beyond recovery), and, since 2003, that it cannot be captured, tranquilised or translocated. Fear of danger alone is not enough.

Remember · Under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, hunting of scheduled animals is barred everywhere. A dangerous animal may be killed only as a last resort, on the Chief Wild Life Warden's written order.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 10 Contemporary India – II, Ch 2 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) environmentally responsible practices in electronics recycling industry

R2 stands for 'Responsible Recycling', a certification standard for electronics recyclers. Recyclers audited against it show that they handle used electronics and e-waste safely for the environment, workers and data security.

• ✓ (a) The R2 (Responsible Recycling) Standard is one of two accredited certification standards the US Environmental Protection Agency recognises for electronics recyclers.
• ✗ (b) Ramsar sites are managed under the Ramsar Convention's own guidance, such as the Montreux Record; R2 has nothing to do with wetlands.
• ✗ (d) Environmental Impact Assessment is a separate regulatory process for projects, not the R2 recycling code.

Remember · R2 = Responsible Recycling, a voluntary certification for electronics (e-waste) recyclers; its main counterpart is the e-Stewards standard.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1, 2 and 4

The New York Declaration on Forests was launched at the UN Secretary-General's Climate Summit in New York on 23 September 2014. It is a voluntary political pledge, not a treaty, signed by a mixed coalition of governments, companies, NGOs and indigenous peoples' groups, with the shared goal of ending natural forest loss by 2030. India is not among its endorsers.

• ✓ 1. It was endorsed on 23 September 2014 at the Climate Summit convened in New York by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
• ✓ 2. Its headline goals are to halve natural forest loss by 2020 and end it by 2030, alongside restoring 350 million hectares of degraded land.
• ✗ 3. It is a voluntary political declaration; it creates no legal obligations.
• ✓ 4. The launch coalition included 32 national governments, 18 sub-national governments, 40 companies, 16 indigenous peoples' groups and 49 NGOs and civil-society bodies.
• ✗ 5. India does not appear on the list of national government endorsers, either in 2014 or later.

Remember · NYDF (2014, UN Climate Summit, New York): voluntary, multi-stakeholder; end natural forest loss by 2030, restore 350 million ha. India has not endorsed it.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) assessing the carbon footprint of building operations around the world

The Common Carbon Metric (2009) is a UNEP-backed method for measuring energy use and reporting greenhouse gas emissions from the operation of buildings, so that the carbon footprint of buildings anywhere can be assessed and compared on the same basis. It has nothing to do with farm carbon trading or national inventories.

• ✓ (a) Its full title is the 'Common carbon metric for measuring energy use and reporting greenhouse gas emissions from building operations', published by UNEP in 2009 through its Sustainable Buildings and Climate Initiative.
• ✗ (c) National emissions are reported through greenhouse gas inventories under the UNFCCC, not through this building-level metric.
• ✗ (d) The metric measures individual buildings' operational emissions, not global fossil-fuel emissions per unit time.

Remember · UNEP's Common Carbon Metric (2009) = a universal way to measure the operational carbon footprint of buildings (energy use and emissions per square metre or per occupant).

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Ministry of Tribal Affairs

Section 11 of the Forest Rights Act, 2006 names the Central Government's Ministry dealing with Tribal Affairs as the nodal agency for implementing the Act. So it is the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, not the environment ministry, even though the Act concerns forest land.

• ✓ (d) The Act itself makes the Ministry of the Central Government dealing with Tribal Affairs the nodal agency for its implementation.
• ✗ (a) The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change manages forest and wildlife laws, and it is the tempting wrong answer. It is not the nodal agency for this Act.
• ✗ (b) The Ministry of Panchayati Raj deals with local-government institutions, not the Forest Rights Act.
• ✗ (c) The Ministry of Rural Development runs rural livelihood and housing schemes, not this Act.

Remember · Forest Rights Act, 2006: Ministry of Tribal Affairs is the nodal agency (Section 11); Gram Sabha starts the recognition of rights.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Statement 1 is not correct but Statement 2 is correct

Statement 1 is wrong because the 'Tree Cities of the World' recognition is given by the Arbor Day Foundation together with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), not the UN Capital Development Fund. Statement 2 is correct: Hyderabad was among the 120 cities recognised for 2020 for meeting the programme's urban-forest standards.

• ✗ Statement 1 The programme is a partnership of FAO and the Arbor Day Foundation, launched in 2019. UNCDF, which is a UN fund for least developed countries' finance, has no role in it, so naming it makes the statement wrong although Hyderabad and the Arbor Day Foundation are right.
• ✓ Statement 2 Hyderabad was one of 120 cities in 23 countries recognised for 2020. Each city has to meet five qualifying standards on managing and celebrating its urban forests.

Remember · Tree Cities of the World = FAO + Arbor Day Foundation (from 2019). Hyderabad was recognised for 2020. The UN Capital Development Fund is not involved.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) A licence is required to cultivate that plant.

A plant placed in Schedule VI, the list of 'specified plants', can be cultivated only with a licence. The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 does not ban its cultivation outright, and the listing has nothing to do with genetic modification or invasiveness.

• ✓ (a) Section 17C says no person shall cultivate a specified plant except under a licence granted by the Chief Wild Life Warden or an officer authorised by the State Government.
• ✗ (b) Cultivation is allowed, but only with that licence; the Act regulates it rather than forbidding it in all circumstances.
• ✗ (c) Schedule VI is a conservation list of protected wild plants; it says nothing about genetic modification.
• ✗ (d) Plants are listed to protect them, not because they are invasive or harmful to the ecosystem.
• • Since then The Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Act, 2022 (in force from 1 April 2023) cut the schedules to four; 'specified plant' now means a plant in Schedule III instead of Schedule VI, and the licence rule of Section 17C continues.

Remember · Schedule VI plants (now Schedule III) are 'specified plants': cultivation needs a licence from the Chief Wild Life Warden, and picking or uprooting them in forests is prohibited.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) 2, 3 and 4 only

Chromite, kyanite and sillimanite are major minerals, which the Central Government regulates and the Indian Bureau of Mines tracks in its national mineral inventory. Bentonite is not a major mineral; it is treated as a minor mineral, which States regulate.

• ✗ 1. The Indian Bureau of Mines states that bentonite has been declared a minor mineral under Section 3(e) of the MMDR Act, 1957, so its production is reported to the States, not to IBM, and it is not counted as a major mineral.
• ✓ 2. Chromite, the ore of chromium, is a major (metallic) mineral and is listed in the national mineral inventory.
• ✓ 3. Kyanite is a major mineral and is listed in the national mineral inventory.
• ✓ 4. Sillimanite is a major mineral and is listed in the national mineral inventory.

Remember · Chromite, kyanite and sillimanite are major minerals tracked in the national mineral inventory; bentonite, a clay, is not a major mineral.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only

Why not the tempting option · UPSC's key is (b). Statement 1 looks plausible because 256 of India's roughly 720 districts (about 36%) were chosen as 'water stressed' for Jal Shakti Abhiyan in 2019, but those are districts holding at least one stressed block, picked by the Ministry for a campaign; the official 'overexploited' and 'critical' labels are given to blocks, not districts, by the Central Ground Water Board, not the Authority, and cover about 22% of blocks. In the exam, check the unit (block or district) and the body (CGWB assesses, CGWA regulates) before accepting a statistic.

Statements 2 and 3 are correct. CGWA was constituted in January 1997 under Section 3(3) of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, and India, the world's largest user of groundwater, has the largest groundwater-irrigated area. Statement 1 fails on every count: groundwater status is assessed for blocks (assessment units), not districts; the assessing body is the Central Ground Water Board, not the Authority; and the stressed share is nowhere near 36%.

• ✗ 1. The Central Ground Water Board, with the states, classifies assessment units — blocks, mandals, talukas — not districts, and the CGWA is a regulator, not the assessing body. In the 2017 assessment about 17% of units were overexploited and 5% critical, roughly 22% in all. The 36% figure resembles the 256 'water stressed' districts (of about 720) chosen for Jal Shakti Abhiyan in 2019 — districts holding at least one stressed block, a different count made by a different body.
• ✓ 2. On the direction of the Supreme Court, CGWA was constituted in January 1997 under sub-section (3) of Section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, to regulate groundwater development.
• ✓ 3. Groundwater provides about 60 per cent of India's irrigation water and over 80 per cent of its domestic supply, making India the world's largest user of groundwater. The area irrigated from it has grown to more than 35 million hectares — the largest groundwater-irrigated area of any country.

Remember · CGWA: set up January 1997 under Section 3(3), Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. India is the world's largest groundwater user; overexploited/critical labels apply to blocks (by CGWB), not districts.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 3 only

Only statement 3 is correct. The 2010 Wetlands Rules were made under India's own Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, and their definition of a wetland expressly takes in the drainage area or catchment region determined by the authority. The Ramsar Convention imposes no duty to protect every wetland.

• ✗ 1. Article 3 of the Convention asks parties to promote conservation of the wetlands on the Ramsar List and, only 'as far as possible', the wise use of wetlands generally. It is not a mandatory duty to protect all wetlands.
• ✗ 2. The 2010 Rules were framed by the Central Government under Section 25 read with Section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. Ramsar is only recalled in their preamble; they are domestic rules, not a set of Ramsar recommendations.
• ✓ 3. The Rules define a wetland to include the zone of direct influence, that is the drainage area or catchment region of the wetland as determined by the authority.
• • Since then The Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017 (G.S.R. 1203(E), 26 September 2017) superseded the 2010 Rules, and now speak of a 'zone of influence' within the wetland's catchment.

Remember · India's wetland rules come from the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, not from Ramsar; the 2010 definition of wetland included its drainage area or catchment.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only

Statements 2 and 3 are correct. The Forest Rights Act, 2006 lists bamboo as minor forest produce and gives forest dwellers ownership of such produce. The 2017 amendment to the Indian Forest Act only freed bamboo grown on non-forest land; it gave forest dwellers no right to fell bamboo in forests.

• ✗ 1. The Indian Forest (Amendment) Act, 2017 removed 'bamboos' from the definition of 'tree' so that bamboo grown in non-forest areas needs no felling or transit permit. Bamboo in forest areas stays under the Indian Forest Act, 1927.
• ✓ 2. Section 2(i) of the Forest Rights Act, 2006 defines minor forest produce to include all non-timber forest produce of plant origin, naming bamboo among them.
• ✓ 3. Section 3(1)(c) recognises ownership of minor forest produce by forest dwellers, with rights to collect, use and dispose of it, wherever it has traditionally been gathered, inside or outside village boundaries.

Remember · FRA 2006: bamboo is minor forest produce and forest dwellers own it; the 2017 Forest Act amendment freed only bamboo grown outside forests.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2 only

Only statement 2 is correct: section 3(2)(iv) of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 lets the Central Government lay down standards for emission or discharge of pollutants from various sources. The list of measures in section 3(2) has no item that requires the Government to prescribe public participation.

• ✗ 1. Section 3(2) lists the measures the Centre may take (coordination, standards, restriction of areas, safeguards, research, laboratories, information and so on). Prescribing a requirement of public participation is not one of them; public hearings arise from separate subordinate notifications, not from this section.
• ✓ 2. Section 3(2)(iv) names 'laying down standards for emission or discharge of environmental pollutants from various sources whatsoever', and allows different standards for different sources.

Remember · Section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 gives the Centre wide powers, including emission and discharge standards; it does not itself prescribe public participation.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) The Rules provide for exact and elaborate criteria for the identification of sites for landfills and waste processing facilities.

Option (c) is correct because Schedule I of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 gives detailed site-selection criteria for sanitary landfills, such as minimum distances from rivers, ponds, highways, habitations and airports. The other three options misstate the rules.

• ✗ (a) Rule 4 asks every waste generator to segregate waste into three streams: bio-degradable, non bio-degradable and domestic hazardous waste. There is no five-way split.
• ✗ (b) Rule 2 applies the Rules far more widely than 'only' urban local bodies, notified towns and industrial townships. It also covers census towns, outgrowths of urban agglomerations, railways, airports, ports, defence establishments, SEZs and more.
• ✓ (c) Schedule I lays down criteria such as a landfill 100 metres from a river, 200 metres from a pond, highways, habitations, public parks and water supply wells, and 20 km from airports.
• ✗ (d) The Rules contain no ban on moving waste between districts. They say the State Pollution Control Board regulates inter-State movement of waste.
• • Since then The Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 have since been superseded by the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2026, notified in January 2026 and in force from 1 April 2026. The new Rules make four-stream segregation (wet, dry, sanitary and special care waste) mandatory (PIB).

Remember · Under the 2016 Rules, waste is segregated into three streams and Schedule I fixes landfill siting distances; the 2026 Rules replaced these with four-stream segregation.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1 and 3 only

Statements 1 and 3 are correct; statement 2 is wrong. The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 lists ordinary sand as a minor mineral, and it is the State Government, not the Centre, that makes the rules for granting minor mineral leases (section 15) and for preventing illegal mining (section 23C).

• ✓ 1. Section 3(e) of the MMDR Act defines minor minerals as building stones, gravel, ordinary clay and ordinary sand (other than sand used for prescribed purposes), plus any mineral the Centre notifies as minor.
• ✗ 2. Section 15 says the State Government may make rules for regulating the grant of quarry leases, mining leases and other concessions for minor minerals. The rule-making power lies with the State, not the Centre.
• ✓ 3. Section 23C lets the State Government make rules for preventing illegal mining, transportation and storage of minerals.

Remember · Minor minerals (including ordinary sand) are regulated by States: they frame the leasing rules (s.15) and the anti-illegal-mining rules (s.23C). The Centre only notifies which extra minerals count as minor.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1 only

Only statement 1 is correct. The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, 2016 sets up a National Authority (section 8) and a State Authority in each State (section 10), but it does not make people's participation mandatory in compensatory afforestation.

• ✓ 1. Section 8 constitutes the 'National Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority', and section 10 constitutes a 'State Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority' in each State.
• ✗ 2. The Act lays down the Authorities, their governing bodies and how the National and State Funds are managed and used. Nowhere does it make people's participation a compulsory part of compensatory afforestation.

Remember · The CAF Act, 2016 creates a National Authority and State Authorities to manage compensatory-afforestation money; it does not mandate people's participation.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) The e-Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011

India's e-Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011 introduced extended producer responsibility (EPR), which makes the producer of electrical and electronic equipment answerable for the product until its safe disposal after use. The rules were notified in May 2011 and came into force on 1 May 2012.

• ✓ (c) The official guidelines on these rules say they place the main responsibility for e-waste on producers of electrical and electronic equipment by introducing the concept of extended producer responsibility.
• ✗ (a) The 1998 bio-medical waste rules pre-date the e-waste rules and are not the ones credited with bringing in EPR.
• ✗ (b) The 1999 recycled plastics rules likewise pre-date the 2011 e-waste rules, which are the ones that introduced EPR in India.
• ✗ (d) The Food Safety and Standards Regulations, 2011 deal with food safety, not with waste, so producer responsibility for end-of-life products is not their feature.

Remember · EPR = the producer stays responsible for a product until its safe disposal. In India it came with the e-Waste Rules, 2011 (in force 1 May 2012).

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2 only

Both bodies are creatures of statute: the NGT of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 and the CPCB of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974. So statement 1 fails on the CPCB half, while statement 2 correctly states the role of each.

• ✗ 1. The NGT was set up on 18 October 2010 under the NGT Act, 2010, but the CPCB is also statutory, constituted in September 1974 under the Water Act, 1974, not by an executive order.
• ✓ 2. The NGT's dedicated environmental jurisdiction gives speedy environmental justice and eases the load on higher courts; the CPCB's functions under the Water and Air Acts are to promote cleanliness of streams and wells and to improve air quality.

Remember · CPCB: statutory, 1974, under the Water Act (Air Act powers added 1981). NGT: statutory tribunal, 18 October 2010, under the NGT Act, 2010; principal bench New Delhi.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1 and 2 only

Statements 1 and 2 are correct; statement 3 is wrong. The Forest Rights Act, 2006 defines 'critical wildlife habitat' itself, and provides habitat rights for primitive tribal groups. But habitat rights are recognised under the Act through the Gram Sabha and district-level process, with the Ministry of Tribal Affairs as nodal agency, not by the environment ministry.

• ✓ 1. Section 2(b) of the Forest Rights Act defines 'critical wildlife habitat' as areas of National Parks and Sanctuaries that must be kept inviolate for wildlife conservation, notified by the Central Government after expert consultation.
• ✓ 2. UPSC's key treats this as correct. The Baiga are a very vulnerable tribal group of Madhya Pradesh (Dindori district page), and the Act provides habitat rights for primitive tribal groups: Section 2(h) defines 'habitat' to cover their customary habitat, and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs lists habitat rights for PVTGs among the Act's community rights. No official page was found stating that the Baiga were the first community to receive them.
• ✗ 3. Section 11 makes the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, not the environment ministry, the nodal agency for the Act. Rights are initiated by the Gram Sabha and settled through the Sub-Divisional and District Level Committees. The environment ministry's role is in notifying critical wildlife habitats.

Remember · Forest Rights Act, 2006: it defines 'critical wildlife habitat' and 'habitat'; habitat rights for PVTGs are part of the Act; the Ministry of Tribal Affairs is the nodal agency.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2 only

TRAFFIC is a non-governmental wildlife trade monitoring network founded by IUCN and WWF, not a UN body. Its whole purpose is to keep the trade in wild species from harming their survival, so only statement 2 is right.

• ✗ 1. TRAFFIC was set up in 1976 by IUCN and WWF, which remain its founders and partners. It describes itself as a non-governmental organisation and has no place in the UNEP structure.
• ✓ 2. TRAFFIC's own 2017 website stated this as its mission, word for word. It now phrases the same aim as keeping trade in wild species legal and sustainable.

Remember · TRAFFIC = NGO wildlife-trade monitoring network, founded 1976 by IUCN and WWF; works closely with CITES but is not a UN or UNEP body.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2017, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3

All three are listed in Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, which gives the highest protection. Hunting them is banned except in the two cases the Act itself allows: a Chief Wild Life Warden's order under Section 11, or a special permit under Section 12.

• ✓ 1. The Gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) is a crocodilian listed in Schedule I, Part C (Reptiles).
• ✓ 2. The Indian wild ass (Equus hemionus) is listed in Schedule I, Part A (Mammals), under wild asses.
• ✓ 3. The wild water buffalo (Bubalus arnee) is listed in Schedule I, Part A (Mammals), under wild cattle.
• • Since then The Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Act, 2022 cut the schedules from six to four and rewrote Section 9 to ban hunting of Schedule I and II animals. All three animals remain in Schedule I, so the answer is unchanged.

Remember · Schedule I species get absolute protection: hunting is allowed only under Section 11 (animal dangerous or beyond recovery) or Section 12 (special permits, such as research). Gharial, wild buffalo and wild ass are all Schedule I.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2017, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error