UPSC CSE Prelims Exam 2022 MCQs Set 70 – Free PDF Download

 
Q) The worldwide ‘right to repair’ movement which was in news, is associated with which of the following wastes?

1. Solid waste
2. E-waste
3. Nuclear waste
4. Plastic waste

Answer: 2

• In recent years, countries around the world have been attempting to pass effective ‘right to repair’ laws.
• Activists and organisations around the world have been advocating for the right of consumers to be able to repair their own electronics and other products as part of the ‘right to repair’ movement. The movement traces its roots back to the very dawn of the computer era in the 1950s.
• The goal of the movement is to get companies to make spare parts, tools and information on how to repair devices available to customers and repair shops to increase the lifespan of products and to keep them from ending up in landfills.
• They argue that these electronic manufacturers are encouraging a culture of ‘planned obsolescence’ — which means that devices are designed specifically to last a limited amount of time and to be replaced. This, they claim, leads to immense pressure on the environment and wasted natural resources.

Q) India’s first cryptogammic garden housing nearly 50 species of lichens, ferns and fungi is located in:

1. Jammu & Kashmir
2. Leh-Ladakh
3. Himachal Pradesh
4. Uttarakhand

Answer: 4

• Recently, India’s first cryptogrammic garden housing nearly 50 species of lichens, ferns and fungi was inaugurated in Uttarakhand’s Dehradun district.
• Around 50 species have been grown in the garden at Deoban in Chakrata at a commanding height of 9,000 ft.
• Deoban has pristine majestic forests of Deodar and Oak which create a natural habitat for cryptogamic species.
• Plant kingdom can be divided into two sub-kingdoms viz. Cryptogams and phanerogams.
• Cryptogams consist of seedless plants and plantlike organisms whereas phanerogams consist of seed-bearing plants.
• Phanerogams are further divided into two classes i.e. gymnosperms and angiosperms.

Q) Recently, the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change to deal with environmental violations. It gives powers to which of the following government agencies to identify such violations and take penal action against them?

1. Central Pollution Control Board
2. State Pollution Control Board
3. State Environment Impact Assessment Authorities

Select the CORRECT answer using the codes given below

1. 3 Only
2. 1 and 2
3. 2 and 3
4. 1, 2 and 3

Answer: 4

• The Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change to deal with environmental violations includes stiff penalties — including shutting down projects and demolition of projects that have failed to acquire environmental clearance or are in non-compliance of the clearance they have received.
• It gives powers to government agencies such as the CPCB, state pollution control boards and state environment impact assessment authorities to identify such violations and take penal action against them.
• The SOPs refer to two categories of green violations —
• ‘Violations’ involving cases where construction work, including expansion of an existing project, has begun without the project proponent having acquired environmental clearance.
• ‘Non-Compliance’ in which prior environmental clearance has been accorded to the project, but it is in violation of norms prescribed in the approval.

Q) Recently, Rajasthan government has announced to develop a tiger corridor connecting which of the following three tiger reserves?

1. Ranthambore Tiger Reserve
2. Sariska Tiger Reserve
3. Ramgarh Vishdhari Sanctuary
4. Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve

Select the CORRECT answer using the codes given below

1. 1, 2 and 3
2. 2, 3 and 4
3. 1, 3 and 4
4. 1, 2 and 4

Answer: 3
Explanation:

• With the approval by the Union government for creation of the Ramgarh Vishdhari sanctuary, the Rajasthan government has announced to develop a tiger corridor connecting three tiger reserves.

• Ramgarh Vishdhari Sanctuary became the 4th tiger reserve of Rajasthan and 52nd in India.
• This newly proposed tiger reserve in Bundi district will connect the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve in Sawai Madhopur district with the Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve in Kota district.

Q) Lemru Elephant Reserve is located in:

1. Madhya Pradesh
2. Maharashtra
3. Chhattisgarh
4. Jharkhand

Answer: 3

• Chhattisgarh state Forest and Environment Department asked the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) to make a presentation for decreasing the area of the Lemru Elephant reserve from 1,995 sq km to 450 sq km.
• The proposal for the reserve, in Korba district, was passed unanimously by the Assembly in 2005 and got central approval in 2007. Lemru is one of two elephant reserves planned to prevent human-animal conflict in the region, with elephants moving into
• Chhattisgarh from Odisha and Jharkhand. Its area was then proposed to be 450 sq km.
• The area proposed under the reserve is part of the Hasdeo Aranya forests, a very diverse biozone that is also rich in coal deposits.
• Under the ‘No-Go Area’ policy from the UPA area, the entire area was considered out of bound for mines, but in 2020, five coal blocks from the region were put on the auction list.

Q) A report ‘A Future for All – A Need for Human-Wildlife Coexistence’ was recently released by:

1. UNEP
2. World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF)
3. IUCN

Select the CORRECT answer using the codes given below

1. 1 Only
2. 1 and 2
3. 2 and 3
4. 1, 2 and 3

Answer: 2

• The joint report between the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and WWF titled ‘A future for all – the need for human-wildlife coexistence’, reveals that globally, conflict-related killing affects more than 75% of the world’s wild cat species, as well as many other terrestrial and marine carnivore species such as polar bears and Mediterranean monk seals, and large herbivores such as elephants.
• According to the report, which featured contributions from 155 experts from 40 organisations based in 27 countries, human-wildlife conflict is as much a development and humanitarian issue as it is a conservation concern, affecting the income of farmers, herders, artisanal fishers, and Indigenous peoples.

Q) Recently, ‘Harit Dhara’(HD) was in news. It is a:

1. Organic Groundnut Oil
2. Food supplement for Cattle
3. Ayurvedic medicine for Poultry farm
4. Organic mineral water packaging material

Answer: B

• ICAR develops feed supplement that reduces emissions and also boosts milk production.
• An Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) institute has developed an anti-methanogenic feed supplement ‘HaritDhara’. When given to bovines and sheep, it not only cuts down their methane emissions by 17-20%, but also results in higher milk production and body weight gain.
• An average lactating cow or buffalo in India emits around 200 litres of methane per day, while it is 85-95 litres for young growing heifers and 20-25 litres for adult sheep.
• Feeding HaritDhara can reduce these by a fifth. For a cow producing 200 litres (143 g) of methane, it translates into 0.714 kg less of CO2 equivalent emissions daily or 261 kg per year (1 litre methane=0.714 g; 1 kg methane=25 kg CO2.

Q) The ‘Last Ice Area’ (LIA), recently in news is a part of:

1. Arctic
2. Antarctica
3. Himalaya
4. Switzerland

Answer: 1

• In a paper published in the journal “Communications Earth & Environment”, researchers note that in August 2020 the area where the Last Ice Area (LIA) is located, experienced a record low concentration of sea ice.
• The National Geographic noted that while climate projections forecast the total disappearance of summer ice in the Arctic by the year 2040, the only place that would be able to withstand a warming climate would be this area of ice called the “Last Ice Area”.
• The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) notes that climate change is shrinking the extent of Arctic summer sea ice, which is not only important for animals but also the local Inuit communities.

Q) The Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest finance (LEAF) Coalition comprises which of the following countries?

1. India
2. USA
3. Sweden
4. Norway
5. United Kingdom

Select the CORRECT answer using the codes given below

1. 1, 2 and 3
2. 2, 4 and 5
3. 1, 3 and 4
4. All of the above

Answer: 2

• LEAF (Lowering Emissions by Accelerating ForestFinance) Coalition was announced at the Leaders Summiton Climate, 2021.
• The Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest finance (LEAF) Coalition’s goal to halt deforestation by financing large scale tropical forest protection. In 2021, the Coalition mobilized $1bn in financing, kicking off the largest-ever public-private efforts to protect tropical forests.
• It is a collective of the governments of the USA,United Kingdom and Norway.

Q) Recently, a rare Melanistic Leopard (commonlyknown as Black Panther) has been recorded in Navegaon Nagzira Tiger Reserve (NNTR). NNTR is located in:

1. Tamil Nadu
2. Karnataka
3. Goa
4. Maharashtra

Answer: 4

• Recently, a rare Melanistic Leopard (commonly known as Black Panther) has been recorded in Navegaon Nagzira Tiger Reserve (NNTR) of Maharashtra.
• A black panther is the melanisticcolour variant of the leopard (Pantherapardus) and the jaguar (Pantheraonca). Black panthers of both species have excess black pigments, but their typical rosettes are also present.

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