UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — Hanging glaciers: NGT issues notice to Centre

Q1. The Principal Bench of the National Green Tribunal, which registered the recent suo motu case on hanging glaciers, is located in which city?

  • A. Bhopal
  • B. New Delhi
  • C. Pune
  • D. Chennai

Q2. The National Green Tribunal was established under which one of the following?

  • A. The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986
  • B. The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974
  • C. The National Green Tribunal Act, 2010
  • D. The Disaster Management Act, 2005

Q3. Which one of the following best describes a 'hanging glacier'?

  • A. A glacier or ice mass perched high on a steep valley wall or mountain slope that terminates abruptly, making it prone to detachment and ice avalanches
  • B. A glacial lake held back by a terminal moraine that can breach to release a sudden flood
  • C. A flood released downstream by the sudden failure of an ice or moraine dam
  • D. A body of ice occupying a bowl-shaped hollow (cirque) at the head of a valley

Q4. In the Himalaya, which one of the following is the most common trigger of glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs)?

  • A. Earthquakes
  • B. Ice avalanches
  • C. Cloudbursts
  • D. Piping (seepage erosion) through moraine dams

Q5. Among the authorities impleaded by the NGT in the hanging-glaciers case, which Union ministry is the nodal ministry for administering the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986?

  • A. Ministry of Jal Shakti
  • B. Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
  • C. Ministry of Earth Sciences
  • D. Ministry of Home Affairs

Q6. The scientific study that prompted the NGT's suo motu action on hanging glaciers was carried out by researchers drawn from how many institutions named in reports?

  • A. Two
  • B. Three
  • C. Four
  • D. Five

Q7. Under Section 15 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, the maximum term of imprisonment prescribed for a first contravention of the Act (not continuing beyond one year) is how many years?

  • A. Three years
  • B. Five years
  • C. Seven years
  • D. Ten years

Q8. Of the three central bodies impleaded as respondents — the Central Pollution Control Board, the National Mission for Clean Ganga and the National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee — how many function under the Ministry of Jal Shakti?

  • A. One
  • B. Two
  • C. Three
  • D. None

Q9. Which one of the following is the apex national statutory body for the prevention and control of pollution in India?

  • A. State Pollution Control Board
  • B. Central Pollution Control Board
  • C. National Green Tribunal
  • D. Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change

Q10. The Chamoli (Rishiganga) rock-and-ice avalanche disaster in Uttarakhand, in which a mass detached from the steep north face of Ronti Peak killed over 200 people, occurred in which year?

  • A. 2013
  • B. 2021
  • C. 2022
  • D. 2023