Environmental Legislation in India Questions and Answers

Answer: A

The 7th meeting was held at Gir National Park.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired the 7th meeting of the National Board for Wildlife at Sasan Gir in Gujarat on 3 March 2025, World Wildlife Day. Gir is the only home of the Asiatic lion, and the meeting reviewed lion and other species conservation programmes.

The meeting was not held at Kanha, at Corbett or at the Wildlife Institute of India in Dehradun. The Board is a statutory body under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, chaired by the Prime Minister, so where it meets is a matter of record rather than of rule.

Answer: A

The key's answer is Andhra Pradesh.

The Jharkhand State Action Plan on Climate Change says that, to minimise the impacts of mining, the State Government proposes to bring some mining legislation in line with the Andhra Pradesh model, so that resources generated from mining can be used to replenish the development funds available to local bodies.

The plan names no other state in this context, so Maharashtra, Punjab and Odisha are wrong.

Answer: B

Radioactive waste management is governed under the Atomic Energy Act, 1962.

Everything to do with radioactive material in India, including its waste, falls under the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 and the rules made under it, in particular the Atomic Energy (Safe Disposal of Radioactive Wastes) Rules, 1987. The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board enforces them.

The hazardous waste rules and the biomedical waste rules, made under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, expressly exclude radioactive waste, which is left to the atomic energy law. So the other three options are wrong.

Answer: B

The primary reason is (ii), so the answer is only (ii).

Coal-based thermal power stations produce large volumes of fly ash. The Ministry's fly ash notifications, first issued in 1999 and amended several times since, require its use in bricks, cement, road building and similar work so that less land is needed for ash ponds and the air and water pollution caused by dumped ash is reduced.

Statement (i) is wrong because the notifications regulate the disposal of ash, not the output of coal and lignite. Statement (iii) is wrong because promoting imported coal is a matter of fuel policy, not of ash utilisation. Every other option includes (i) or (iii); option D also lists a (iv) that does not appear in the question.

Answer: B

Statements (ii) and (iii) are correct, so the answer is Only (ii) and (iii).

Development projects within 10 km of a national park or sanctuary are not banned outright, but they need extra clearance. Under the Ministry of Environment's guidelines and the Supreme Court's orders, such projects require clearance from the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife (ii), and the proposal is routed through the state's Chief Wildlife Warden in the Forest Department, whose permission is also needed (iii).

Statement (iv) contradicts (iii), so it is wrong. Statement (i), calling the claim simply incorrect, is wrong because projects can be started once the clearances are obtained.

Answer: C

Only statement (i) is correct, so the answer is Only (i).

Eco-Sensitive Zones are areas around national parks and wildlife sanctuaries notified by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, using its powers to restrict industries and processes in specified areas. They act as shock absorbers, regulating activities around the protected area.

The Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, provides for declaring the national parks and sanctuaries themselves, not the zones around them. The Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, governs the diversion of forest land for non-forest use. So statements (ii) and (iii), and every option containing them, are wrong.

Answer: D

The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act came into force in 1981.

The Air Act was passed by Parliament in 1981, following the decisions of the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment. It gave the Central and State Pollution Control Boards powers to prevent, control and abate air pollution, including declaring air pollution control areas.

1972 is the year of the Stockholm Conference and of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1974 that of the Water Act, and 1986 that of the Environment (Protection) Act. 1978 and 1984 are not the years of any of these Acts.

Answer: D

The National Green Tribunal was established in 2010.

The NGT was set up on 18 October 2010 under the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010, to provide effective and speedy disposal of cases relating to environmental protection and the conservation of forests and other natural resources. Its principal bench is in New Delhi, with zonal benches including Bhopal.

2009 was the year the NGT bill was introduced in Parliament, not the year the tribunal was set up; 1990 and 2005 have no link with it.

Answer: C

The key's answer is 23rd December, 2005.

The Disaster Management Act, 2005 received the President's assent on 23 December 2005. It created the National Disaster Management Authority, chaired by the Prime Minister, as the apex body for disaster management, with State and District authorities below it.

The other dates are not those of the Act; 26 January 2001 is the date of the Gujarat earthquake, one of the disasters that led to the new law.

Answer: A

NGT stands for National Green Tribunal.

The National Green Tribunal was set up in 2010 under the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010, as a specialised body for the effective and speedy disposal of cases relating to environmental protection and the conservation of forests and other natural resources, including the enforcement of legal rights relating to the environment and compensation for damage. Its principal bench is in New Delhi.

The other expansions are invented: there is no 'National General Tribe', 'New General Tribunal' or 'National Green Tribe'. The word 'Tribunal' marks it as a quasi-judicial body, and 'Green' its environmental remit.