UPSC Prelims 2014 · Question 35 of 100

UPSC Prelims 2014 question on Eco Sensitive Zones

With reference to 'Eco-Sensitive Zones', which of the following statements is/are correct?

1. Eco-Sensitive Zones are the areas that are declared under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
2. The purpose of the declaration of Eco-Sensitive Zones is to prohibit all kinds of human activities in those zones except agriculture.

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

  1. 1 only
  2. 2 only
  3. Both 1 and 2
  4. Neither 1 nor 2
Show answer

Answer: D. Neither 1 nor 2

Verdict

The answer is neither 1 nor 2. Eco-Sensitive Zones are notified under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, and they regulate rather than prohibit human activity.

Analysis

Statement 1 is INCORRECT. The legal basis is the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, not the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. Statement 2 is INCORRECT twice over. The purpose is to create a graded buffer around protected areas, and the activities prohibited, regulated and permitted are specified separately for each zone in its own notification. Nothing in the scheme bans all human activity, and nothing carves out agriculture as the sole exception.

Source

Press Information Bureau release on Eco-Sensitive Zones.

How to crack it

The parent statute is the single most tested fact about any environmental designation, so build a short list and keep it exact: Eco-Sensitive Zones and coastal regulation under the Environment (Protection) Act 1986, protected areas and tiger reserves under the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, forest diversion under the Forest (Conservation) Act 1980. Then treat any statement containing prohibit all kinds of as false by default, because environmental law works through graded regulation.

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