Insights Static Quiz -86, 2018 –Environment

Answer – c

• National Institute of WindEnergy (NIWE), formerly known as Centre for Wind Energy Technology, has developed the WindAtlas of India. NIWE also collects data from Solar Radiation Resource Assessment stations to assessand quantify solar radiation availability and develop Solar Atlas of the country.
• National Institute ofSolar Energy has assessed the State wise solar potential by taking 3 per cent of the wasteland area tobe covered by Solar PV modules.
• The Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru has developed BiomassAtlas of India
• Alternate Hydro Energy Centre, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee hasassessed small hydro potential in the country

Source – Chapter 11, India Year Book

Answer – c

• Aquifers are natural rock formations which can store and economically yield water. Many of India’s aquifers are composed of clay, silt and gravel carried down from the Himalayas by streams or uranium-rich granitic rocks. When overpumping of these aquifers’ groundwater occurs and their water levels decline, it induces conditions that enhance uranium enrichment in the shallow groundwater that remains.

• In XII Plan, Central Ground Water Boardtook up the National Project on Aquifer Management (NAQUIM) to facilitate identification,delineation, characterization and effective management of aquifers to ensure sustainability of ground
  water resource.
• Central Ground Water Board was constituted as Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) under subSection (3) of Section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 in 1997 for regulation and controlof ground water management and development in the country. As part of streamlining the regulatoryfunction of CGWA, district magistrates / deputy commissioners of revenue districts were appointedas authorized officers for grant of permission for extraction of ground water for drinking/domesticuses in notified areas

Source – Chapter 27, India Year Book

Improvised from http://indianexpress.com/article/explained/uranium-content-in-groundwater-water-pollution-5212187/

Answer – d

• An alien species is a species that is established outside of its natural past or present distribution, whose introduction and/or spread threaten biological diversity. According to IUCN, around 5% to 20% of alien species become invasive and is second most serious threat to the biodiversity after global warming
• They are found in all taxonomic groups such as animals, plants, fungi etc. and can affect all types of ecosystems

Answer – b

• It is Nairobi Convention which looks after marine pollution in Western Indian Ocean under UNEP’s Global Partnership on Marine Litter
• Honolulu strategy seeks to eliminate marine debris.

Source – General – Most of the source in Environment will be from diverse sources as neither UPSC is restricting itself nor NCERT is exhaustive enough. Source will be mentioned only when it is worth direct read.

Answer – c

• India is 5th largest producer of e-waste.
• The main sources of electronic waste in India are the government, public and private (industrial) sectors, which account for almost 71% of total waste generation.
• About 90.5% of the e-waste in India is being handled by the informal sector.