• Option B is correct.
• The Atomic Energy Act, 1962 (33 of 1962) articulates India’s resolve to pursue the development, control and use of atomic energy for the welfare of the people of India and for other peaceful purposes and for matters connected therewith. This Act confers on the Government of India, the powers and responsibilities for framing of Rules and issuance of notifications for implementing the provisions of the Act.
• The Act has special provisions related to safety in the activities related to use of atomic energy, in Section 17. The Act also gives powers to the Central Government to enter and inspect the premises and to take penal actions against any party contravening the provisions of the Act.
• In accordance with these mandates, the Central Government has promulgated the Atomic Energy (Radiation Protection) Rules, 2004, the Atomic Energy (Working of the Mines Minerals and Handling of the Prescribed Substances) Rules, 1984, the Atomic Energy (Safe Disposal of Radioactive Wastes) Rules, 1987, the Atomic Energy (Factories) Rules, 1996 and the Atomic Energy (Radiation Processing of Food and Allied Products) Rules, 2012 that formulate the policy and regulatory framework for control of activities and for ensuring safety in the activities relating to use of atomic energy.

• Option B is correct.
• National Green Tribunal Act came into force in concurrence to Rio Summit 1992 to provide judicial and administrative remedies for the victims of the pollutants and other environmental damage.
It also agrees with article 21, the Right to a healthy environment to its citizens of the constitution. The NGT has to dispose of the cases presented to it within 6 months of their appeals. NGT has original jurisdiction on matters related to substantial questions of the environment.
• NGT deals with the civil cases under the 7 acts related to the environment:
1.Water (Prevention And Control Of Pollution) Act, 1974
2.Water (Prevention And Control Of Pollution) Cess Act, 1974
3.Air (Prevention And Control Of Pollution) Act, 1977
4.Forest Conservation Act, 1980
5.Environmental Protection Act, 1986
6.Public Liability Insurance Act 1991
7.Biological Diversity Act, 2002
• 2 acts have been kept out of the jurisdiction of NGT:
1.Wildlife Protection Act, 1972
2.Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (FRA)
The decisions of the NGT can be challenged in High Courts and the Supreme Court.

• Option C is correct.
• Ozone depleting substances are chemicals that destroy the earth’s protective ozone layer. They include:
1.Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
2.Halon
3.Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)
4.Methyl chloroform (CH3CCl3)
5.Hydrobromofluorocarbons (HBFCs)
6.Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs)
7.Methyl bromide (CH3Br)
8.Bromochloromethane (CH2BrCl)
• Production and import of these chemicals is controlled by the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (the Montreal Protocol). There are other ozone depleting substances, but their ozone depleting effects are very small, so they are not controlled by the Montreal Protocol.

• Option B is correct.
• Biopiracy (also known as scientific colonialism) is defined as the unauthorized appropriation of knowledge and genetic resources of farming and indigenous communities by individuals or institutions seeking exclusive monopoly control through patents or intellectual property.While bioprospecting is the act of exploring natural resources for undiscovered chemical compounds with medicinal or anti-microbial properties, commercial success from bioprospecting leads to the company’s attempt at protecting their intellectual property rights on indigenous medicinal plants, seeds, genetic resources, and traditional medicines.

• Option B is correct.
• Short-lived climate pollutants are powerful climate forcers that remain in the atmosphere for a much shorter period of time than carbon dioxide (CO2), yet their potential to warm the atmosphere can be many times greater. Certain short-lived climate pollutants are also dangerous air pollutants that have harmful effects for people, ecosystems and agricultural productivity. As their name suggest, short-lived climate pollutants persist for a shorter period in the atmosphere but are known to cause bigger impacts.
• The short-lived climate pollutants black carbon, methane, tropospheric ozone, and hydrofluorocarbons are the most important contributors to the man-made global greenhouse effect after carbon dioxide, responsible for up to 45% of current global warming. If no action to reduce emissions of these pollutants is taken in the coming decades, they are expected to account for as much as half of the warming caused by human activity.

• Option A is correct.
• The rules have been framed under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.Hence,statement 1 is incorrect
• The rule identifies 4 zones and prescribes different sound level limit for each of them:
1.Industrial Area
2.Commercial Area
3.Residential Area
4.Silence zone
Hence,statement 2 is incorrect.
• The rule prescribes different sound levels for night and day. Hence,statement 3 is correct.

• Option C is correct.
• Vermicomposting is one of the sustainable agriculture practices that follow the principles of organic farming.It is a natural organic fertilizer prepared using earthworms that convert organic compounds into manure.Hence,statement 1 is incorrect.
• The production of NH4 (Ammonia) + , CO2 (Carbon dioxide)and organic acids during microbial metabolism in vermicompost may be contributed to the decrease in soil pH.Hence,statement 2 is incorrect.
• Vermicompost helps improve soil structure, texture, porosity, water holding capacity, drainage, and aeration and reduces erosion.Hence,statement 3 is correct.

• Option A is correct.Only one pair i.e. Pair 2 is correctly matched.
• The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity is an international agreement which aims to ensure the safe handling, transport and use of living modified organisms (LMOs) resulting from modern biotechnology that may have adverse effects on biological diversity, taking also into account risks to human health. It was adopted on 29 January 2000 and entered into force on 11 September 2003.Hence, pair 1 is not correctly matched.
• The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity is an international agreement which aims at sharing the benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources in a fair and equitable way. It entered into force on 12 October 2014, 90 days after the date of deposit of the fiftieth instrument of ratification.Hence, pair 2 is correctly matched.
• Rotterdam convention is an international environmental convention on Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade.It was adopted in 1998.It came into force in 2004.Hence, pair 3 is incorrectly matched.

• Option A is correct.
• An alien species which becomes established in natural or semi-natural ecosystems or habitat, is an agent of change, and threatens native biological diversity.
• According to the Convention for Biological Diversity, invasive alien species are the second largest cause of biodiversity loss in the world and impose high costs to agriculture, forestry, and aquatic ecosystems. In fact, introduced species are a greater threat to native biodiversity than pollution, harvest, and disease combined.
Invasive species possess characteristic features like “pioneer species” in varied landscapes, tolerant of a wide range of soil and weather conditions, generalist in distribution, produces copious amounts of seed that disperse easily, grows aggressive root systems, short generation time, high dispersal rates, long flowering and fruiting periods, broad native range, abundant in native range.Hence, statements 1 and 2 are correct.
• Invasive species have relatively small amounts of DNA in their cell nuclei. Apparently, the cells in these plants are able to divide and multiply more quickly and consequently the entire plant can grow more rapidly than species with higher cellular DNA content. This gives them a leg up in disturbed sites.Hence, statement 3 is not correct.

• Option B is correct.
• Peatlands are terrestrial wetland ecosystems in which waterlogged conditions prevent plant material from fully decomposing. Consequently, the production of organic matter exceeds its decomposition, which results in a net accumulation of peat. Hence,statement 1 is incorrect.
• Peatlands are specific types of wetland with the unique potential to accumulate dead organic matter as peat, often to considerable thickness.The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (Article 1.1) adopts a broad approach to wetlands considering them to be ‘areas of marsh, fen, peatland or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine waters the depth of which at low tide does not exceed 6 metres’.Hence,statement 2 is correct.
• The majority of the world’s peatlands occur in boreal and temperate parts of the Northern Hemisphere, especially, Europe, North America and Russia where they have formed under high precipitation-low temperature climatic regimes.In the humid tropics, regional environmental and topographic conditions enable peat to form under conditions of high precipitation and high temperature in Southeast Asia, mainland East Asia, the Caribbean, Central America, South America, Africa, parts of Australasia and a few Pacific Islands. Most tropical peatlands are located at low altitudes where rain forest vegetation grows on a thick layer of organic matter although some are found in upland or mountainous areas where peat can exceed 30 m.Tropical peatlands may also form under mangrove forests.Hence,statement 3 is incorrect.