Population, Development and Environment Questions and Answers

Answer: D

Biomedical waste includes all of the items listed, so the last option is correct. By the passage, it is dry solid, fluid or liquid waste with its container and any intermediate product, generated during diagnosis, treatment or immunisation of humans or animals, and in research, and it includes animal waste from slaughter houses. Since each of the first three options is covered by that definition, choosing any one alone would leave out part of it, and all the above is the complete answer. The question is answered directly from the passage, so no outside knowledge is needed, and the test is whether every listed item falls inside the definition given.

Answer: A

Hazardous waste has to be disposed of safely to safeguard human health and the environment and to observe the government rules, which is the first option. This is the full reason, since it covers the purpose and the legal duty. The options saying only a clean environment, hospitals free of hazard, or the discarding of radioactive waste each state a narrow part of the reason, and none of them mentions the legal duty or the protection of health that the passage emphasises. This question also depends on the passage, which links safe disposal with protecting people and the environment.

Answer: C

Disposal means discharge, deposit, dumping and landfill of waste in places away from habitation, which is the third option. The passage defines disposal as discharge, deposit, dumping, land filling or placing on land of biomedical waste. Depositing waste in a far place, dumping in landfills alone, or collection of waste are each only a part, and collection comes before disposal, not as a form of it. The answer is a matter of reading the definition in the passage, which names the acts that make up disposal.

Answer: B

Nursing homes, laboratories, animal houses and slaughter houses are responsible for generating and handling biomedical wastes, so the second option is correct. The passage says that the persons and organisations responsible for these activities include the incharge of such places, which generate and handle biomedical waste. Providing healthcare, producing meat or conducting tests are what these places do, but not the waste-related activity the question asks about. The wording of the passage that the authorised persons include the incharge of such places settles the answer.

Answer: A

Incineration is used to convert combustible waste into non-combustible residue, as the passage says, so the first option is correct. The question lists collecting ash and destroying waste as other options, but these describe consequences of burning and not the stated purpose, and since only the first is a full statement of what the passage says, all the above is not chosen. The passage gives the aim of incineration as a conversion, and it does not describe it as only collecting ash or only destroying waste.

Answer: D

Environmental protection includes safe management, handling and disposal of biomedical and radioactive waste, so the last option is correct. The passage says that the Central Government provides for environmental protection by ensuring safe management, handling and disposal of biomedical and radioactive waste. Each of the first three options names only one of these three elements and leaves out radioactive waste. As the question is about what the term includes, the most complete statement in the passage is the one to choose.

Answer: B

In ascending order of poverty for 1993-94 the States are Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Karnataka, which is iv, i, ii, iii.

From the table for 1993-94, Punjab has 11.77, Andhra Pradesh 22.19, Gujarat 24.21 and Karnataka 33.16. Reading from the lowest figure to the highest gives the order iv, i, ii, iii.

The first option puts Punjab last, though its poverty is lowest. The third and fourth options put Karnataka or Andhra Pradesh in the wrong place, as Karnataka's figure is the highest of the four.

Answer: C

Orissa showed the highest poverty level in 1973-74 among the four States named.

The table gives, for 1973-74, Orissa 66.18 per cent, West Bengal 63.43, Madhya Pradesh 61.78 and Kerala 59.79. Comparing the four figures, Orissa's is the largest, higher than West Bengal's by nearly three points.

West Bengal is the nearest wrong choice, being second highest. Madhya Pradesh is third, and Kerala, at 59.79, is the lowest of the four, so neither can be the answer. Note that Bihar (61.91) is above Madhya Pradesh in the table, but it is not offered among the options.

Answer: B

Punjab had the lowest poverty among the four States named in 2004-05.

The table gives Punjab 8.4 per cent for 2004-05, Haryana 14.0, Andhra Pradesh 15.8 and Assam 19.7. Reading the four figures, Punjab's 8.4 is clearly the smallest, and it is also the lowest in the whole table of fifteen States.

Haryana is the next lowest of the options and so the most likely wrong answer. Andhra Pradesh is higher still, and Assam, at 19.7, is the highest of the four, so it cannot have shown the lowest poverty.

Answer: D

In descending order of poverty for 2004-05 the States are Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Haryana and Punjab, that is i, iii, iv, ii.

The table gives Andhra Pradesh 15.8, Kerala 15.0, Haryana 14.0 and Punjab 8.4 for 2004-05. Going from the highest to the lowest gives i, iii, iv, ii.

The first option begins with Kerala and puts Punjab second, though Punjab is the lowest. The second begins with Punjab, the lowest, and the third begins with Haryana, so each puts a low value at the top.