UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — Union Environment Minister releases two male Great Indian Bustards into the wild at Desert National Park, Jaisalmer

Q1. A recovery programme for a critically endangered grassland bird undertakes the following activities. Which of the above are examples of in-situ conservation?

  1. Fencing off grassland enclosures inside a national park to provide undisturbed breeding habitat
  2. Artificially incubating wild-collected eggs at a conservation breeding centre
  3. Cryopreserving the bird's semen and tissue samples in a genome resource bank
  4. Fitting bird diverters on overhead lines that cross the species' flight paths within its range
  • A. 1 and 4 only
  • B. 2 and 3 only
  • C. 1, 2 and 4 only
  • D. 1, 3 and 4 only

Q2. Consider the following statements: Which of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?

  1. Article 48A, inserted by the Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976, makes protection of the environment a fundamental right enforceable through Article 32.
  2. Article 51A(g) makes it a fundamental duty of every citizen to protect and improve the natural environment.
  • A. Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II explains Statement-I
  • B. Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct, but Statement-II does not explain Statement-I
  • C. Statement-I is correct, but Statement-II is incorrect
  • D. Statement-I is incorrect, but Statement-II is correct

Q3. Consider the following statements: Which of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?

  1. The Great Indian Bustard is listed in Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, the schedule for animals that need the highest level of protection.
  2. The IUCN Red List classifies species into categories according to their estimated risk of global extinction.
  • A. Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II explains Statement-I
  • B. Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct, but Statement-II does not explain Statement-I
  • C. Statement-I is correct, but Statement-II is incorrect
  • D. Statement-I is incorrect, but Statement-II is correct

Q4. With reference to the funds created under the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, 2016, consider the following statements: Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. Monies paid by user agencies that divert forest land to non-forest use are credited to funds in the public accounts of India and of each State.
  2. Because they are held in the Public Account, unspent balances in these funds lapse at the close of each financial year.
  3. Besides compensatory afforestation, the monies may be used for activities such as wildlife protection and forest infrastructure development.
  • A. 2 and 3 only
  • B. 1, 2 and 3
  • C. 1 and 3 only
  • D. 1 and 2 only

Q5. Conservationists working on the Great Indian Bustard have placed eggs laid by captive birds into the nests of wild females, which then incubated them. Which one of the following best states the conservation rationale of this method over releasing hand-reared juveniles?

  • A. It allows chicks to be hand-reared in a controlled setting before release, which reduces the predation risk to eggs.
  • B. It lets chicks hatch and be reared by wild parents in natural habitat, so they join the wild population from birth.
  • C. It adds wild-origin genes to the captive stock, since chicks hatched in wild nests are later brought into breeding centres.
  • D. It removes the need to maintain a captive breeding population, since wild females take over all egg production.

Q6. Suppose an overhead high-voltage line crossing a bustard breeding area in the Thar Desert is replaced by an underground cable over that stretch. Which of the following consequences are likely?

  1. Bustard deaths from collision with that line would be avoided along the stretch, as no wire would remain in the flight path.
  2. The cost of transmission over that stretch would rise considerably.
  3. Building the line would become technically simpler, since desert terrain makes laying cables easier than erecting towers.
  • A. 1, 2 and 3
  • B. 1 and 3 only
  • C. 2 and 3 only
  • D. 1 and 2 only