(i) The agreement emphasized on urgent need to address the significant gap between the aggregate effect of Parties’ mitigation pledges in terms of global annual emissions of greenhouse gases by 2020 and aggregate emission pathways consistent with holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above preindustrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels.
(ii) Paris Summit – not all nations have signed the agreement and there is no deadline to ratify it. hence, statement 1 is wrong. This eliminates a and b. And developed countries committed to give $100 billion by 2020. But, for future, there is no mention of giving $1,000 billion dollars. Therefore, third statement wrong. We are left with Answer (b) only.

At the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit on 25 September 2015, world leaders adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which includes a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and tackle climate change by 2030. The history of the SDGs can be traced to 1972 when governments met under the auspices of the United Nations Human and Environment Conference. The ‘Club of Rome’ is a global think tank that deals with a range of international political issues.

(i) Countries across the globe committed to create a new international climate agreement by the conclusion of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP21) in Paris in December 2015.
(ii) INDC are associated with UNFCCC-Climate change. Hence (b) is the apt choice.

(i) United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) aims to promote effective action through innovative national programmes and supportive international partnerships. UNCCD is committed to a bottom-up approach, encouraging the participation of local people in combating desertification.
(ii) As per of the convention, Statement 3 is right. But UNCCCD focuses on Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Northern Mediterranean and Central and Eastern Europe. Hence statement 2 is wrong. Therefore, answer (c).

(i) The National Mission for a Green India was announced by the Prime Minister as one of the eight Missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC). It recognizes that climate change phenomenon will seriously affect and alter the distribution, type and quality of natural resources of the country. GIM puts the “greening” in the context of climate change adaptation and mitigation, meant to enhance ecosystem services like carbon sequestration and storage (in forests and other ecosystems), hydrological services and biodiversity; along with provisioning services like fuel, fodder, small timber.
(ii) Environment ministry has launched National Mission for a Green India through a consultative process involving relevant stakeholders, aimed at both increasing the forest and tree cover by 5 million ha, as well as increasing the quality of the existing forest cover in another 5 million ha. Hence only statement 3 fits.

(i) A Net metering is a billing mechanism that credits solar energy system owners for the electricity they add to the grid. Net metering allows residential and commercial customers who generate their own electricity from solar power to feed electricity they do not use back into the grid.
(ii) Under Net-metering system, Customer installs a solar or windpower plant on his premise, gets it grid-connected with the electricity distribution company (DISCOM). Hence (a) is the apt choice.

(i) The Gadgil Commission was an environmental research commission appointed by the Ministry of Environment and Forests of India. The Commission submitted the report to the Government of India on 31 August 2011. The Kasturirangan Committee Report has sought to balance the two concerns of development and environment protection, by watering down the environmental regulation regime proposed by the Western Ghats Ecology Experts Panel’s Gadgil report in 2012.
(ii) They’re associated with Western Ghat conservation plan.

(i) The Bureau of Energy Efficiency is an agency of the Government of India, under the Ministry of Power created in March 2002 under the provisions of the nation’s 2001 Energy Conservation Act. The agency’s function is to develop programs which will increase the conservation and efficient use of energy in India. The government has proposed to make it mandatory for all appliances in India to have ratings by the BEE starting in January 2010.
(ii) According to centre for science and environment (CSE), both 1 and 3 are correct. There is only option (d) whether such combination is possible.

The AQI level is based on the level of 8 atmospheric pollutants, namely sulfur dioxide (SO₂), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), suspended particulates smaller than 10 μm in aerodynamic diameter (PM10), suspended particulates smaller than 2.5 μm in aerodynamic diameter (PM2.5), NH₃, Pb, carbon monoxide (CO), and ozone (O₃) measured at the monitoring stations throughout.
So by elimination we are left with option “b”.

(i) National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) is a financing, planning, implementing, monitoring and coordinating authority for the Ganges River, functioning under the water resource ministry of India. The mission of the organisation is to spearhead the river conservation efforts at the national level.
(ii) In 2014, UPSC asked similar question, where one of the statement was- “PM is chairman of NGRBA”. That statement was right as per India Yearbook 2014. Therefore, here statement 3 is wrong, CM can’t be the chairman of NGRBA. By elimination, we reach answer (a).

These camels can swim up to three kilometers into the sea in search of mangroves – So, 1 and 2 are correct. Most families in Jatt and Rabari communities of Kachchh, are traditional rearers of Kharai camels. So, third statement also correct.
Kharai camels found in the Kutch region are very unique. They can can swim through deep sea waters and it feeds on mangroves and other saline plants. The breeders have meticulously followed the traditional grazing pattern in the coastal districts. They do not provide special housing or shelter to the camels.Given the breed’s ability to survive both on land and sea, the Kharai camel is one of the most preferred choices of graziers in the arid coastal region of Kachchh. People consume its milk, while male calves are sold for economic returns (females are not sold because they are considered sacred). A male calf fetches anywhere between Rs. 6,000 and Rs.14,000, says Ramesh Bhatti of Sahjeevan, an NGO working on livelihood issues of graziers in Kachchh. It can be domesticated also – so its not wild. They are reared in four blocks of Abdasa, Bundra, Lakhpat and Bachau of Gujarat.

Scientists at the Botanical Survey of India (BSI) have discovered a new species of banana from a remote tropical Krishna Nalah rain forest on the Little Andaman islands. The new species is about 11 metres high, whereas as the usual banana species is about three to four meters high. The fruit pulp is orange in colour, distinctive from the white and yellow color of regular bananas. Hence (a) is the correct answer.

(i) Pterocarpus santalinus, with the common names Red Sanders, Red Sandalwood, and saunders-wood, is a species of Pterocarpus endemic to the southern Eastern Ghats mountain range of South India. This tree is valued for the rich red color of its wood. The wood is not aromatic.
(ii) It was in national media during April 2015, when Andhra Pradesh police killed 20 Red Sander smugglers in an encounter. So first statement is right.
(iii) Red Sanders is associated with Tropical dry deciduous forest, as per environment ministry website, Hence 2nd statement wrong.

S₄A is RBI’s scheme for restructuring of corporate loans, hence “B” is the most appropriate among the given options.

National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) is planning to implement a new computerized tiger monitoring protocol in all tiger reserves of the country known as Monitoring System for Tiger, Intensive Patrolling and Ecological Status (MSTrIPES).

Even if you eliminate Corbett (Uttrakhand) and Mudumalai (Tamilnadu) for climatic reasons for Lion relocation, still you’re left with Sariska (Rajasthan). Sariska being a tiger reserve, would sound unfit for lion immigration. So by elimination answer would be “B”. and Indianexpress report confirm it.

Tiger is given as Schedule I animal. So “A” is correct.

The schedule 5 vermin- crow, fruitbat, mice and rat can be killed. Since the animals given in above MCQ are outside that list hence answer is “D”.

Gharials are river dwelling fish-eaters and their only viable population is in the Chambal Sanctuary. So “B” should be the answer.