Need for the preservation, conservation and protection of environment — MCQs

All questions with answers and explanations

Read the full set here, or use the practice card above to test yourself one question at a time.

1. Which term refers to keeping a natural resource untouched, usually by restricting human interference entirely?

   • Conservation
   • Preservation (correct answer)
   • Protection
   • Pollution

   Explanation. Preservation means keeping a resource untouched and unaltered, usually through strict restriction of human activity — distinct from conservation (sustainable use) and protection (legal enforcement).

2. A regulated, sustainable fishing quota on a lake is an example of:

   • Preservation
   • Conservation (correct answer)
   • Environmental degradation
   • Ex-situ protection

   Explanation. Conservation means the planned, sustainable use of a resource — continued use, but within limits that allow it to be available for the future.

3. A Pollution Control Board issuing a closure notice to a polluting factory is an example of:

   • Preservation
   • Conservation
   • Protection (correct answer)
   • Biodiversity

   Explanation. Protection refers to active legal and administrative measures — like enforcement action against a polluter — taken to prevent environmental harm.

4. The ancient Indian idea that protecting nature is a religious and moral duty (dharma), not merely a practical necessity, is known as:

   • Public Trust Doctrine
   • Dharmic Ecology (correct answer)
   • Polluter Pays Principle
   • Sustainable Development

   Explanation. Dharmic Ecology is the ancient Indian idea that protecting nature is a religious and moral duty, not just a practical necessity.

5. Which principle, common to Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, functioned as an early, informal conservation ethic in ancient India?

   • Ahimsa (non-violence) (correct answer)
   • Karma
   • Moksha
   • Varna

   Explanation. Ahimsa (non-violence toward living beings), emphasised across Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, discouraged unnecessary killing and habitat destruction — functioning as an early conservation ethic.

6. Forest patches designated as sacred by tribal or rural communities, where felling trees or hunting is strictly prohibited, are called:

   • Biosphere Reserves
   • Sacred Groves (correct answer)
   • Wildlife Sanctuaries
   • National Parks

   Explanation. Sacred groves are community-designated forest patches protected through religious and cultural custom — an ancient, informal precursor to in-situ conservation.

7. Which ancient Indian text, attributed to Kautilya, recognised the need for the state to sustainably manage natural resources including forests and wildlife?

   • The Vedas
   • The Arthashastra (correct answer)
   • The Manusmriti
   • The Upanishads

   Explanation. The Arthashastra, the ancient treatise on statecraft attributed to Kautilya, recognised the state's responsibility for sustainable natural resource management.

8. Which constitutional provisions make protection of the environment a State policy and a citizen's duty?

   • Articles 14 and 19
   • Articles 48A and 51A(g) (correct answer)
   • Articles 32 and 226
   • Articles 370 and 371

   Explanation. Article 48A directs the State to protect and improve the environment, and Article 51A(g) makes it a duty of every citizen. They put in constitutional form what Indian tradition had long treated as a moral duty.