Prelims · Environment & ecology · 23 questions

Protected areas & conservation

Every UPSC Prelims question on this topic, 2016–2026, newest first. Tap an option to check yourself; the answer and explanation open below it.

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Prelims 2016 · Q33

Easy

Which of the following best describes/describe the aim of 'Green India Mission' of the Government of India?

1.Incorporating environmental benefits and costs into the Union and State Budgets thereby implementing the 'green accounting'
2.Launching the second green revolution to enhance agricultural output so as to ensure food security to one and all in the future
3.Restoring and enhancing forest cover and responding to climate change by a combination of adaptation and mitigation measures

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

Answer & explanation

Answer: (c) 3 only

Launched under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (2008), which has eight missions, the Green India Mission is about forests: protect, restore and enhance India's forest and tree cover while helping the country both adapt to and mitigate climate change. It is neither a budget-accounting reform nor an agricultural programme.

✗ 1. Valuing environmental costs and benefits in national or State accounts is 'green accounting', a separate idea; it is not what the Green India Mission does.
✗ 2. Raising farm output is the domain of agriculture programmes (NAPCC's own farm mission is the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture), not of the Green India Mission.
✓ 3. GoI describes GIM as aiming to protect, restore and enhance India's diminishing forest cover and to respond to climate change through adaptation and mitigation; its goals include better forest/tree cover on 5 million ha and better quality on another 5 million ha.

Remember · Green India Mission (NAPCC mission): forest/tree cover up on 5 million ha, quality improved on another 5 million ha, more ecosystem services, forest-based livelihoods for 3 million households.

Sources

Government of India: India's Fourth Biennial Update Report to the UNFCCC (2024) ↗ “The National Mission for Green India (GIM) is one of the eight Missions outlined under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).”
Government of India: India's Long-Term Low-Carbon Development Strategy (2022) ↗ “The mission goals include: improve forest/tree cover by 5 million ha; improve quality of forest/tree cover by another 5 million ha; enhance ecosystem services including carbon sequestration”

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2016, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

Prelims 2016 · Q68

Easy

'Gadgil Committee Report' and 'Kasturirangan Committee Report', sometimes seen in the news, are related to

Answer & explanation

Answer: (d) protection of Western Ghats

Both reports are about protecting the ecology of the Western Ghats. The Environment Ministry set up the Gadgil panel (headed by Prof. Madhav Gadgil) to mark ecologically sensitive zones there, and then the Kasturirangan group to review that panel's recommendations.

✓ (d) The Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (Gadgil, report of August 2011) and the High Level Working Group on Western Ghats (Kasturirangan, report of April 2013) both dealt with conserving the Ghats and identifying ecologically sensitive areas.
✗ (a) Neither body had anything to do with constitutional reform; both were set up by the Ministry of Environment and Forests.
✗ (b) The Ganga Action Plan was a river-cleaning programme; these two reports were about a mountain range, not a river.
✗ (c) Linking of rivers is a separate water-resources subject; neither the Gadgil nor the Kasturirangan panel was set up for it.

Remember · Gadgil (WGEEP, 2011) and Kasturirangan (HLWG, 2013) are the two Western Ghats reports; the second reviewed the first.