UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — Bureau of Indian Standards under Department of Consumer Affairs Releases IS 20201:2026 to Safeguard Indigenous Crop Varieties and Align with Sustainable Development Goal 2

Q1. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), which recently released IS 20201:2026 on Community Seed Bank Management, was reconstituted as the National Standards Body of India under the BIS Act enacted in which year?

  • A. 1986
  • B. 2003
  • C. 2016
  • D. 2017

Q2. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the body that has issued IS 20201:2026 — Community Seed Bank Management – Requirements, functions as the National Standards Body of India primarily under which one of the following Union Ministries?

  • A. Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
  • B. Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
  • C. Ministry of Commerce and Industry
  • D. Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution

Q3. Under its current organisational structure, the Bureau of Indian Standards groups its standard-formulation activities under how many sectoral Departments (such as Chemicals, Food and Agriculture, Civil, Electrotechnical, Medical Equipment and Hospital Planning, Textile, Environment and Ecology, etc.)?

  • A. 10
  • B. 12
  • C. 14
  • D. 16

Q4. With reference to the indicators used to monitor Sustainable Development Goal Target 2.5, consider the following statements: Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. Indicator 2.5.1 measures the number of plant and animal genetic resources for food and agriculture secured in either medium- or long-term conservation facilities, whereas Indicator 2.5.2 measures the proportion of local breeds classified as being at risk of extinction.
  2. Unlike Indicator 2.5.1, which is reported through the FAO's World Information and Early Warning System (WIEWS) for plant genetic resources, Indicator 2.5.2 has no designated international data system and is reported only through national household surveys.
  3. Both Indicators 2.5.1 and 2.5.2 fall under the custodianship of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) rather than the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
  • A. 1 only
  • B. 1 and 2 only
  • C. 2 and 3 only
  • D. 1, 2 and 3

Q5. The text of SDG Target 2.5 explicitly calls for maintaining the genetic diversity of certain categories of biological resources. With reference to this Target, which of the following is/are NOT correctly identified as a category whose genetic diversity is explicitly mentioned in Target 2.5?

  1. Seeds and cultivated plants
  2. Farmed and domesticated animals
  3. Marine capture fisheries stocks
  4. Wild species related to cultivated plants and domesticated animals
  • A. 1 and 3
  • B. 2 and 4
  • C. 3 only
  • D. 1, 2 and 4

Q6. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), which has released IS 20201:2026 on Community Seed Bank Management, functions administratively under which one of the following?

  • A. Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
  • B. Department of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution
  • C. Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology
  • D. Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change

Q7. Under the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act, 2001, consider the following categories of plant varieties: 1. New Variety 2. Extant Variety 3. Farmers' Variety 4. Hybrid Variety Which of the above is/are correctly identified as a distinct category of variety eligible for registration under the Act?

  1. New Variety
  2. Extant Variety
  3. Farmers' Variety
  4. Hybrid Variety
  • A. 1 and 3 only
  • B. 2 and 4 only
  • C. 1, 2 and 3 only
  • D. 1, 2, 3 and 4

Q8. The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Authority, the statutory body that registers farmers' varieties and confers Plant Genome Saviour Community Awards, functions under which one of the following Union Ministries?

  • A. Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution
  • B. Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
  • C. Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
  • D. Ministry of Commerce and Industry

Q9. The Biological Diversity Act, 2002 operationalises its conservation and access-and-benefit-sharing mandate through a hierarchical institutional architecture. How many tiers does this statutory implementation structure consist of?

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

Q10. In which year was the National Gene Bank at the ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), New Delhi established?

  • A. 1985
  • B. 1996
  • C. 2001
  • D. 2016

Q11. The world's second-largest plant gene bank, with a capacity to preserve about one million germplasm accessions, is housed at which one of the following Indian institutions?

  • A. ICAR-National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (NBAGR), Karnal
  • B. ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi
  • C. ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), New Delhi
  • D. ICAR-National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources (NBFGR), Lucknow

Q12. The Nagoya Protocol, which provides the international legal framework for access to genetic resources and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from their utilization, was adopted as a supplementary agreement to which one of the following?

  • A. International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture
  • B. Convention on Biological Diversity
  • C. Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety
  • D. United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
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