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Gir National Park, the only natural habitat of the Asiatic Lion, is located in the state of _____.
- Madhya Pradesh
- Rajasthan
- Gujarat
- Maharashtra
Answer: Gujarat
Gir National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary is situated in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat.
The Vienna Convention of 1985 is an international framework treaty for the protection of the _____.
- Marine Environment
- Ozone Layer
- Tropical Rainforests
- Antarctic Treaty System
Answer: Ozone Layer
The Vienna Convention established the framework for international cooperation to protect the ozone layer, which led to the Montreal Protocol.
The Stockholm Convention is a global treaty aimed at protecting human health and the environment from _____.
- Greenhouse Gases
- Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)
- Heavy Metals
- Radioactive Waste
Answer: Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)
POPs are toxic chemicals that adversely affect human health and the environment globally, persisting for long periods.
The Biological Diversity Act was enacted by the Indian Parliament in _____ to conserve biological diversity.
- 1992
- 1994
- 2000
- 2002
Answer: 2002
The Biological Diversity Act, 2002 was enacted to meet the obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
The Forest (Conservation) Act, which restricts the dereservation of forests, was enacted in _____.
- 1927
- 1972
- 1980
- 1986
Answer: 1980
The Forest Conservation Act 1980 was enacted to check deforestation and conserve forests, making prior central approval mandatory for non-forest use.
The ozone layer, which protects the Earth from harmful UV radiation, is primarily located in the _____.
- Troposphere
- Stratosphere
- Mesosphere
- Thermosphere
Answer: Stratosphere
About 90% of the ozone in the atmosphere sits in the stratosphere, approximately 15 to 35 kilometers above Earth's surface.
The Paris Agreement (2015) aims to limit global warming to well below _____ degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels.
- 1.5
- 2
- 2.5
- 3
Answer: 2
The central aim of the Paris Agreement is to keep the rise in global average temperature well below 2°C, pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the permissible 24-hour limit for PM2.5 in India is _____ µg/m³.
- 40
- 60
- 100
- 120
Answer: 60
The CPCB sets the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for PM2.5 at 60 µg/m³ for a 24-hour average.
The primary gases responsible for the formation of acid rain are _____ and nitrogen oxides.
- Carbon dioxide
- Sulphur dioxide
- Methane
- Ozone
Answer: Sulphur dioxide
Sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) react with water, oxygen, and other chemicals to form sulfuric and nitric acids.
Project Tiger, a major wildlife conservation initiative, was launched in India in the year _____.
- 1970
- 1972
- 1973
- 1980
Answer: 1973
Project Tiger was launched on April 1, 1973, to protect the endangered Bengal tiger in India.
The Red Data Book, which records endangered species, is published by _____.
- WWF
- UNEP
- IUCN
- CITES
Answer: IUCN
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) maintains the Red List of Threatened Species.
The transitional zone between two distinct ecological communities is called an _____.
- Ecotone
- Biome
- Niche
- Habitat
Answer: Ecotone
An ecotone is a transition area between two biological communities, where two communities meet and integrate.
The pyramid of energy in any ecosystem is always _____.
- Inverted
- Upright
- Spindle-shaped
- Variable
Answer: Upright
Energy decreases at each successive trophic level due to the 10% law of energy transfer, making the energy pyramid always upright.
The 'Kondratiev Waves' (or K-Waves) are hypothesized long-term economic cycles lasting approximately 40 to 60 years, which are primarily driven by massive, paradigm-shifting ___ innovations like the steam engine, electrification, or the internet.
- technological
- open market borrowings (or debt / bonds)
- Treasury
- purchasing (or buying)
Answer: technological
Named after Russian economist Nikolai Kondratiev, these super-cycles suggest that capitalist economies experience prolonged, multi-decade periods of rapid expansion followed by equally long periods of stagnation and correction. Each wave is fundamentally anchored to a revolutionary technological breakthrough that completely restructures global production, infrastructure, and labor markets before eventually reaching saturation.
The 'Laffer Curve' illustrates the theoretical relationship between tax rates and total tax revenue, suggesting that beyond a certain optimal point, excessively high tax rates will actually ___ total revenue by discouraging work and encouraging evasion.
- NaBFID (or National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development)
- NPCI (or National Payments Corporation of India)
- decrease (or reduce / lower)
- Solow (or Solow-Swan)
Answer: decrease (or reduce / lower)
Arthur Laffer's curve starts at zero revenue (0% tax), rises to a peak (the revenue-maximizing rate), and then slopes back down to zero (at 100% tax, no one would work). It is a foundational concept in supply-side economics, arguing that if an economy is already on the downward-sloping side of the curve, cutting tax rates can paradoxically stimulate so much new economic activity that total government revenue actually increases.
The 'National Infrastructure Pipeline' (NIP) is a multi-year investment plan that comprehensively covers both economic infrastructure (like roads and power) and ___ infrastructure (like health, education, and affordable housing).
- dumping
- social
- banks
- countervailing
Answer: social
Launched to provide a clear, predictable roadmap for infrastructure development and to crowd-in private investment, the NIP recognizes that physical connectivity alone is insufficient for holistic development. By explicitly integrating social infrastructure like hospitals, schools, and urban water supply into its massive investment matrix, the NIP aims to simultaneously boost short-term job creation and long-term human capital formation.
The 'Washington Consensus', coined by John Williamson in 1989, refers to a set of ten market-oriented policy prescriptions—including fiscal discipline, privatization, and trade liberalization—promoted for developing nations by the IMF, World Bank, and the US ___.
- Rules
- Treasury
- notice
- Outcome
Answer: Treasury
The Washington Consensus became the dominant neoliberal paradigm of the 1990s, heavily influencing structural adjustment programs in Latin America and post-Soviet states. While it successfully curbed hyperinflation and stabilized macroeconomies, it faced severe backlash for ignoring institutional weaknesses, exacerbating income inequality, and triggering social unrest due to rapid austerity and the dismantling of social safety nets.
The economic condition characterized by persistently high inflation combined with stagnant economic growth and high unemployment, which defies the traditional Phillips Curve trade-off, is known as ___.
- SPS (or Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures)
- construction (or real estate / infrastructure)
- TRIMs (or Trade-Related Investment Measures)
- stagflation
Answer: stagflation
Stagflation (stagnation + inflation) presents a nightmare scenario for policymakers. Traditional tools fail: raising interest rates to fight inflation will worsen unemployment and kill growth, while lowering rates to spur growth will exacerbate the already high inflation. It is typically triggered by severe negative supply shocks, such as the 1970s oil embargoes, which simultaneously drive up costs and crush industrial output.
The 'Consolidated Sinking Fund' (CSF), maintained by many State Governments in India, is specifically designed to accumulate resources over time for the purpose of redeeming the state's outstanding ___.
- product
- TRIMs (or Trade-Related Investment Measures)
- low (or zero / no)
- open market borrowings (or debt / bonds)
Answer: open market borrowings (or debt / bonds)
To prevent the sudden, massive fiscal shock of having to repay a large bond maturity in a single year, states contribute a small percentage of their outstanding debt to the CSF annually. This fund is invested in safe, interest-bearing government securities. When the state's bond matures, it uses the accumulated corpus to pay off the principal, ensuring smooth and disciplined debt management.
The '___ Theorem' in welfare economics states that if property rights are well-defined and transaction costs are zero, private parties can bargain to efficiently resolve externalities without the need for government taxation or regulation.
- sustained decrease
- Coase
- final
- Leverage
Answer: Coase
Ronald Coase challenged the traditional Pigouvian view that externalities always require government intervention. He argued that if a factory pollutes a river, the factory owner and the downstream fishermen can simply negotiate a mutually beneficial financial settlement, provided the legal rights to the river are clear and the cost of negotiating is negligible. The initial allocation of rights only affects wealth distribution, not the ultimate efficient outcome.