⚠️ Attention

• Location of Protected area

1. Wildlife status of India

• India is home to a large variety of wildlife. It is a biodiversity hotspot with its various ecosystems ranging from the Himalayas in the north to the evergreen rain forests in the south, the sands of the west to the marshy mangroves of the east. India lies within the Indomalayan realm 📌.
• India  the home to about 7.6% of mammal, 14.7% of amphibian, 6% of bird, 6.2% of reptilian, and 6.0% of flowering plant species.
• India’s forest lands nurture about 500 species of mammals and 2000+ bird species.
• India is one of the most biodiverse regions of the world and contains three of the world’s 36 biodiversity hotspots – the Western Ghats, the Eastern Himalayas, and the Indo-Burma hotspot.
• It is one of the seventeen megadiverse countries.
• The country has seven Natural World Heritage sites, eleven Biosphere Reserves in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves and thirty seven Ramsar Wetlands.
• In response to decrease in the numbers of wild animals, human encroachment and poaching activities, the government of India established a system of national parks and protected areas in 1935, which was subsequently expanded.
• In 1972, India enacted the Wildlife Protection Act and Project Tiger to safeguard crucial habitat. Further, federal protections were promulgated in the 1980s.
• India has about 2,714 endemic Lichen species. In 2020, the Lichen Park in India was developed by the Uttarakhand Forest Department in Munsiyari.

2. Critically Endangered Animal Species of India

• Among the classification of threatened species, the category Critically Endangered corresponds to the greatest risk.
• In India, there are 70+ critically endangered animals and 60+ critically endangered plants. 300+ animals fall under the category of endangered while 140+ plants fall under the category of endangered.  
• This post is a detailed list of the critically endangered animal species in India.
• These include mammals, reptiles, birds, amphibians, fishes, corals and so on. 

When is a species considered critically endangered?

Critically endangered is the highest risk category assigned by the IUCN (International  Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List to wild species. There are five quantitative criteria to determine whether a taxon is threatened. A taxon is critically endangered when the best available evidence indicates that it meets any of the following criteria:

1. Populations have declined or will decrease, by greater than 80% over the last 10 years or three generations.
2. Have a restricted geographical range.
3. Small population size of less than 250 individuals and continuing decline at 25% in 3 years or one generation.
4. Very small or restricted population of fewer than 50 mature individuals.
5. High probability of extinction in the wild.

Critically Endangered Animal Species of India

The Critically Endangered list includes 10 mammals, 15 birds, 6 reptiles, 19 species of amphibians, 14 fishes etc.

Critically Endangered Mammals

1. Pygmy Hog (Porcula salvania).
2. Andaman White-toothed Shrew (Crocidura andamanensis)
3. Jenkin’s Andaman Spiny Shrew (Crocidura jenkinsi)
4. Nicobar White-tailed Shrew (Crocidura nicobarica)
5. Kondana Rat (Millardia kondana)
6. Large Rock Rat or Elvira Rat (Cremnomys elvira)
7. Namdapha Flying Squirrel (Biswamoyopterus biswasi)
8. Malabar Civet (Viverra civettina)
9. Sumatran Rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis)
10. Javan Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaicus)

Critically Endangered Birds

According   to International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list of birds, the information contained in the IUCN Red list version 2013.2 indicates that 15 species of birds from India are critically endangered.

Critically endangered birds in India under a different classification can be grouped as:

1. Migratory Wetland Species – Baer’s Pochard (Aythya baeri), Siberian Crane (Leucogeranus leucogeranus), Spoon-billed Sandpiper (Eurynorhynchus pygmeus)
2. Non-migratory Wetland Species – White-bellied Heron (Ardea insignis)
3. Grassland Species – Bengal Florican (Houbaropsis bengalensis), Great Indian Bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps), Jerdon’s Courser(Rhinoptilus bitorquatus), Sociable Lapwing (Vanellus gregarius)
4. Forest Species – Forest Owlet (Heteroglaux blewitti)
5. Scavengers – Indian Vulture (Gyps indicus), Red-headed Vulture (Sarcogyps calvus), Slender-billed Vulture (Gyps tenuirostris), White-backed Vulture (Gyps bengalensis).
6. Practically extinct – Himalayan Quail (Ophrysia superciliosa), Pink-headed Duck (Rhodonessa caryophyllacea)

Extra note : In the lower risk categories, the agency included 14 bird species as Endangered and 51 as vulnerable ones. In the latest list, two birds – the River Lapwing and River Tern – that were listed as species of least concern have been registered as near threatened. A third bird, the long-tailed duck, which has been sighted in India on a few occasions, has moved from ‘least concern’ to ‘vulnerable’ on the red list.

Critically Endangered Reptiles

1. Gharial (Gavialis gangeticus)
2. Hawksbill Turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata)
3. Leatherback Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea)
4. Four-toed River Terrapin or River Terrapin (Batagur baska)
5. Red-crowned Roofed Turtle or the Bengal Roof Turtle (Batagur kachuga)
6. Sispara day gecko (Cnemaspis sisparensis)

Critically Endangered Amphibians

1. Anamalai Flying Frog (Rhacophorus pseudomalabaricus)
2. Gundia Indian Frog (Indirana gundia)
3. Kerala Indian Frog (Indirana phrynoderma)
4. Charles Darwin’s Frog (Ingerana charlesdarwini)
5. Kottigehar Bubble-nest Frog (Micrixalus kottigeharensis)
6. Amboli Bush Frog (Pseudophilautus amboli)
7. Chalazodes Bubble-Nest Frog (Raorchestes chalazodes)
8. Small Bush Frog (Raorchestes chotta)
9. Green-eyed Bush Frog (Raorchestes chlorosomma)
10. Griet Bush Frog (Raorchestes griet)
11. Kaikatt’s Bush Frog (Raorchestes kaikatti)
12. Mark’s Bush Frog (Raorchestes marki)
13. Munnar Bush Frog (Raorchestes munnarensis)
14. Large Ponmudi Bush Frog (Raorchestes ponmudi)
15. Resplendent Shrub Frog (Raorchestes resplendens)
16. Sacred Grove Bush frog (Raorchestes sanctisilvaticus)
17. Sushil’s Bush Frog (Raorchestes sushili)
18. Shillong Bubble-nest Frog (Raorchestes shillongensis)
19. Tiger toad (Xanthophryne tigerinus)

Critically Endangered Fishes

1. Pondicherry Shark (Carcharhinus hemiodon)
2. Ganges Shark (Glyphis gangeticus)
3. Knife-tooth Sawfish (Anoxypristis cuspidata)
4. Large-tooth Sawfish (Pristis microdon)
5. Long-comb Sawfish or Narrow-snout Sawfish (Pristis zijsron)

Critically Endangered Corals

1. Fire corals (Millepora boschmai)

Critically Endangered Spiders

1. Rameshwaram Ornamental or Rameshwaram Parachute Spider (Poecilotheria hanumavilasumica)
2. Gooty Tarantula, Metallic Tarantula or Peacock Tarantula (Poecilotheria metallica

3. National Parks (NPs)

• According to the Indian Ministry of Environment & Forests, a national park is an area, whether within a sanctuary or not, can be notified by the state government to be constituted as a National Park, by reason of its ecological, faunal, floral, geomorphological, or zoological association or importance, needed to for the purpose of protecting & propagating or developing wildlife therein or its environment.
• No human activity is permitted inside the national park except for the ones permitted by the Chief Wildlife Warden of the state under the conditions given in CHAPTER IV, WPA 1972″.

Following area the Characteristics of National Park

1.Reserve area of land, owned by the government.
2. Area is protected from human exploitation, industrialization and pollution.
3. No cutting, Grazing allowed, Outside Species Allowed
4. It came under the category called “Protected Areas”. The Protected Areas are declared under Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
5. Conservation of ‘wild nature’ for posterity and as a symbol of national pride.
6. International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and its World Commission on Protected Areas, has defined its Category II type of protected areas.

National Parks in India

• Total No. -104 (2018)
• Area – 40501.03 km²
• Percent of Geographical area – 1.23%
• National parks in India are IUCN category II protected areas.
• India’s first national park was established in 1936 as Hailey National Park, now known as Jim Corbett National Park, Uttarakhand.
• By 1970, India only had five national parks.
• In 1972, India enacted the Wildlife Protection Act and Project Tiger to safeguard the habitats of conservation reliant species.
• Further federal legislation strengthening protection for wildlife was introduced in the 1980s.

4. Biosphere Reserves

• A biosphere reserve is a ecosystem with plants and animals of unusual scientific and natural interest.
• It is a label given by UNESCO to help protect the sites.
• The plan is to promote management, research and education in ecosystem conservation.
• This includes the ‘sustainable use of natural resources’.
• If, for example, fish or trees are taken for human use, this is done in ways which least damage the ecosystem.
• The program is run by UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Program.
• It has started a World Network of Biosphere Reserves.
• The MAB program has built up the World Network of Biosphere Reserves since 1971.
• Biosphere reserves, exchange knowledge and experiences on new ideas for sustainable development.

 Following is the Criteria for designation of Biosphere reserves

• The Indian government has established 18 biosphere reserves in India,(categories roughly corresponding to IUCN Category V Protected areas), which protect larger areas of natural habitat (than a National Park or Animal Sanctuary), and often include one or more National Parks or preserves, along with buffer zones that are open to some economic uses.

• Protection is granted not only to the flora and fauna of the protected region, but also to the human communities who inhabit these regions, and their ways of life. Animals are protected and saved here.

Following 11 of the eighteen biosphere reserves are a part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves, based on the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme list.

5. Wet Lands/ Ramsar Sites

• A wetland is a place where the land is covered by water. Marshes, ponds, the edge of a lake/ocean, the delta at the mouth of a river, low-lying areas that frequently flood — all of these are wetlands.
• Wetlands of international importance are also known as Ramsar sites.
• Ramsar is a city in Iran. In 1971, an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands was signed at Ramsar. The Convention’s mission is “the conservation and wise use of all wetlands through local and national actions and international cooperation, as a contribution towards achieving sustainable development throughout the world”.
• Today, the Ramsar List is the world’s largest network of protected areas.
• There are currently over 2,300 Ramsar Sites around the world. They cover over 2.5 million square kilometres, an area larger than Mexico.
• The world’s first Site was the Cobourg Peninsula in Australia, designated in 1974.
• The largest Sites are Ngiri-Tumba-Maindombe in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Queen Maud Gulf in Canada; these Sites each cover over 60,000 square kilometres.
• The countries with the most Sites are the United Kingdom with 175 and Mexico with 142.
• Bolivia has the largest area with 148,000 km2 under Ramsar protection.

Latest Updates

1. Four new sites have been added to the list of Ramsar Sites in India in August 2021. These are:
   • Sultanpur National Park – Gurugram, Haryana
   • Bhindawas Wildlife Sanctuary – Jhajjar, Haryana
   • Thol Lake Wildlife Sanctuary – Near Ahmedabad, Gujarat
   • Wadhvana Wetland – Vadodara, Gujarat
2. In 2020, the following sites were added to the Ramsar Sites of India List:
   • December 2020 – The Tso Kar Wetland Complex was added to the list of Ramsar sites in India. This includes the high-altitude wetland complex of two connected lakes, Startsapuk Tso and Tso Kar, in Ladakh.
   • November 2020 – Maharashtra – Lonar Lake
   • November 2020 – Agra (Uttar Pradesh) – Sur Sarovar also called, Keetham Lake
   • November 2020 – Uttarakhand – Asan Barrage
   • July 2020 – Bihar – Kanwar Lake or Kabal Taal
   • February 2020 – Kolkata – Sunderban Reserve Forest (Sunderban Wetlands)
3. 2nd February 2021 marked the 50th anniversary of the Ramsar Convention, the day which is also celebrated as World Wetlands Day. India on this occasion established the Centre for Wetland Conservation & Management which is the first in the country. It is set up under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), at the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM) in Chennai.
4. Sambhar Lake had been in the news for its deterioration over salt mining. Sambhar Lake is a Ramsar Site in India.

List of Ramsar Sites in India

6. Wildlife Sanctuaries

• Wildlife comprises animals, birds, and insects living in forests.

• With large regional variations in physiography, climate and edaphic types. Indian forests offer a wide range of habitat types, which is responsible for a large variety of wild life in India.

• The Government of India enacted Wild Life (Protection) Act 1972 with the objective of effectively protecting.
• The Act was amended in January 2003 and punishment and penalty for offences under the Act.

• The one-horned rhinoceros, India’s second largest mammal was once found throughout the Indo-Gangetic Plain as far west as Rajasthan. The number of this mammal has drastically decreased and now there are less than 1,500 rhinoceros in India, confined to the restricted locations in Assam and West Bengal.

• Rhinoceros are protected in Kaziranga and Manas sanctuaries of Assam and the Jaldapara sanctuary of West Bengal.

• The wild buffalo is found in Assam and in Bastar district of Chhattisgarh.

• The gain or the Indian bison is one of the largest existing bovine and is found in the forests of Central India.

• There are about 3,000 tigers in India mainly found in the forests of eastern Himalayan foothills and in parts of the peninsular India.

• The number of Cheetahs had fallen to less than two hundred until successful breeding programme in the Gir sanctuary in Gujarat resulted in some recovery.

• The arboreal clouded leopard is found in northern Assam while the Black Panther is widely distributed predator.

• Brown, Black and Sloth Bear are found at high altitudes in the northwestern and central Himalayas.

• Yak, the ox of snows is largely found in Ladakh and is tamed to be used as a draught animal.

• Stag or barasingha is found in Assam and Madhya Pradesh.

• The Munjac or barking deer are found extensively in the lower wooded slopes of the Himalayas and in the forests of southern India.

• The kastura or the musk deer, much sought after for its musk pod, live in the birch woods in the higher forests of the Himalayas.

• 1936, the first National Park in India was created and named as Hailey National Park now called jim corbett (Uttarakhand).

• Thamin is a pretty deer found in Manipur.

• India is extremely rich in bird life. There are about 2,000 species of birds in India.

• Although most of the bird has their origin in India, a number of them have their source in other areas. Some birds such as ducks, cranes, swallows, ant flycatchers migrate from central Asia to the wetlands of Bharatpur every winter Recently, some migratory birds have been seen near Mathura.

• Wildlife sanctuaries of India are classified as IUCN Category IV protected areas. Between 1936 and 2016, 543 wildlife sanctuaries were established in the country that cover 118,918 km2 (45,914 sq mi) as of 2017.

• Among these, the 50 tiger reserves are governed by Project Tiger, and are of special significance for the conservation of the Bengal tiger.

• Major wild life sanctuaries are given below:

7. International Conventions

1. Ramsar Convention

• It is called the Convention on Wetlands.
• It was adopted in the city of Iran, Ramsar in 1971.
• It came into force in 1975.

2. Stockholm Convention

• It is a convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)
• It was adopted in 2001 in Geneva, Switzerland.
• It came into force in 2004.
  
  

3. CITES

• It is a convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
• It was adopted in 1963.
• It came into force in 1975.
  
  

4. Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

• It is a convention for the conservation of biological diversity.
• It was adopted in 1992.
• It came into force in 1993.
• Read more about the Convention on Biological Diversity at the linked article.

5. Bonn Convention

• It is a convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals.
• It was adopted in 1979.
• It came into force in 1983.
  
  

6. Vienna Convention

• It is a convention for the Protection of Ozone Layer.
• It was adopted in 1985.
• It came into force in 1988.
  
  

7. Montreal Protocol

• It is an international environment protocol on substances that deplete the Ozone Layer.
• It was adopted in 1987.
• It came into force in 1989.
  
  

8. Kyoto Protocol

• It is an international protocol to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
• It was adopted in 1997.
• It came into force in 2005.
  
  

9. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

• It is an international environmental treaty governing actions to combat climate change through adaptation and mitigation efforts directed at control of emission of GreenHouse Gases (GHGs) that cause global warming.
• It was adopted in 1992.
• It came into force in 1994.
  
  

10. Rio Summit

• It is a United Nations Conference on Environment and Development.
• It was held in 1992 at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
  
  

11. UNCCD

• It is a United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.
• It was adopted in 1994.
• It came into force in 1996.
  
  

12. Basel Convention

• It is a convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal.
• It was adopted in 1989.
• It came into force in 1992.
  
  

13. Cartagena Protocol

• It is an international environmental protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity.
• It was adopted in 2000.
• It came into force in 2003.
  
  

14. UN-REDD

• It is a United Nations Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation.
• It was created in 2008.
  
  

15. Nagoya Protocol

• It is an international environment protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (ABS) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
• It was adopted in 2010.
• It came into force in 2014.
  
  

16. COP24

• It is the 24th meeting of the conference of parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
• It took place in 2018.
  
  

17. COP21

• It is the 21st meeting of the conference of parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
• It took place in 2018.

18. Kigali Agreement

• It is an amendment to the Montreal Protocol.
• It was adopted in 2016.
• It came into force in 2019.
  
  

19. Minamata Convention

• It is an international environmental treaty intended to protect health and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury.
• It was adopted in 2013.
• It came into force in 2017.
  
  

20. Rotterdam Convention

• It 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.
  
  

21. COP25

• It is the 25th meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
• It took place in 2019.
  
  

8. International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

IUCN is a membership Union composed of both government and civil society organisations. It harnesses the experience, resources and reach of its more than 1,400 Member organisations and the input of more than 18,000 experts. This diversity and vast expertise makes IUCN the global authority on the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it.

Protected Area Categories

IUCN protected area management categories classify protected areas according to their management objectives. The categories are recognised by international bodies such as the United Nations and by many national governments as the global standard for defining and recording protected areas and as such are increasingly being incorporated into government legislation.

Ia Strict Nature Reserve: Category Ia are strictly protected areas set aside to protect biodiversity and also possibly geological/geomorphical features, where human visitation, use and impacts are strictly controlled and limited to ensure protection of the conservation values. Such protected areas can serve as indispensable reference areas for scientific research and monitoring  

Ib Wilderness Area: Category Ib protected areas are usually large unmodified or slightly modified areas, retaining their natural character and influence without permanent or significant human habitation, which are protected and managed so as to preserve their natural condition. 

II National Park: Category II protected areas are large natural or near natural areas set aside to protect large-scale ecological processes, along with the complement of species and ecosystems characteristic of the area, which also provide a foundation for environmentally and culturally compatible, spiritual, scientific, educational, recreational, and visitor opportunities. 

III Natural Monument or Feature: Category III protected areas are set aside to protect a specific natural monument, which can be a landform, sea mount, submarine cavern, geological feature such as a cave or even a living feature such as an ancient grove. They are generally quite small protected areas and often have high visitor value. 

IV Habitat/Species Management Area: Category IV protected areas aim to protect particular species or habitats and management reflects this priority. Many Category IV protected areas will need regular, active interventions to address the requirements of particular species or to maintain habitats, but this is not a requirement of the category. 

V Protected Landscape/ Seascape: A protected area where the interaction of people and nature over time has produced an area of distinct character with significant, ecological, biological, cultural and scenic value: and where safeguarding the integrity of this interaction is vital to protecting and sustaining the area and its associated nature conservation and other values.

VI Protected area with sustainable use of natural resources: Category VI protected areas conserve ecosystems and habitats together with associated cultural values and traditional natural resource management systems. They are generally large, with most of the area in a natural condition, where a proportion is under sustainable natural resource management and where low-level non-industrial use of natural resources compatible with nature conservation is seen as one of the main aims of the area.

9. Tiger Reserve

• India is one of the thirteen tiger range countries and has the largest number of source sites with wild tigers.
• The Indian government has always made Tiger protection a priority and project Tiger launched in the early seventies, has put the endangered tiger on a definite path to recovery.

Project Tiger

• The Centrally Sponsored Scheme ‘Project Tiger’ was launched in 1973 with the objective to ensure maintenance of a viable population of tigers in India for scientific, economic aesthetic, cultural and ecological values, and to preserve for all times areas of biological importance as a national heritage for the benefit, education and enjoyment of the people.
• The Indian strategy is to focus on tiger areas as the ‘core areas’.
• Efforts are underway to mainstream the concerns of tiger in the landscape Surroundings such source sites through restorative actions, while providing livelihood Options to the people to reduce their dependency on forests.
• Objective of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) is to ‘provide statutory authority to Project Tiger so that compliance of its directives becomes legal in its new avatar as NTCA, the Project strives to streamline scientific modules of conservation and ca-opt communities as responsible stakeholders.
• From the 9 Tiger reserves in 1973, it expanded to 50 tiger reserves in 2016.
• Use of Radio – telemetry study.
• Core-buffer corridor strategy, while the core area of a tiger reserve is managed for wildlife observation, the buffer is treated as a multiple use zone

Tiger, Leopard and Elephant population by state

There are 50 tiger reserves in India which are governed by Project Tiger which is administered by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA). India is home to 70 percent of tigers in the world. In 2006, there were 1,411 tigers which increased to 1,706 in 2010 and 2,226 in 2014.The total number of wild tigers has risen to 3,890 in 2016 according to World Wildlife Fund and Global Tiger Forum.

By the year 2012, according to the National Tiger Conservation Authority, there were estimated only 1,411 tigers in existence in India. The 2010 National Tiger Assessment estimated the total population of tigers in India at 1,706. As per Ministry of Environment and Forests, the tiger population in India stood at 2,226 in 2014 with an increase of 30.5% since the 2010 estimate.

The reserves were categorized into four major categories. Karnataka has the highest number of tigers in the age group of 1.5 years with more than 408 big cats. Other states with significant populations included Uttarakhand (340), Madhya Pradesh (308), Tamil Nadu (229), Maharashtra (190), Assam (167), Kerala (136) and Uttar Pradesh (117).

10. Reserved/Protected forests of India

Reserved forests

• A reserved forest (also called reserve forest) or a protected forest in India are terms denoting forests accorded a certain degree of protection.

• The term was first introduced in the Indian Forest Act, 1927 in British India, to refer to certain forests granted protection under the British crown in British India, but not associated suzerainties.

• After Indian independence, the Government of India retained the status of the existing reserved and protected forests, as well as incorporating new reserved and protected forests.

• A large number of forests which came under the jurisdiction of the Government of India during the political integration of India were initially granted such protection.

• The first Reserve Forest of India was Satpura National Park. Land rights to forests declared to be Reserved forests or Protected forests are typically acquired (if not already owned) and owned by the Government of India.

• Unlike national parks of India or wildlife sanctuaries of India, reserved forests and protected forests are declared by the respective state governments. At present, reserved forests and protected forests differ in one important way: Rights to all activities like hunting, grazing, etc. in reserved forests are banned unless specific orders are issued otherwise. In protected areas, rights to activities like hunting and grazing are sometimes given to communities living on the fringes of the forest, who sustain their livelihood partially or wholly from forest resources or products.

Protected Forests

• Protected forests are of two kinds – demarcated protected forests and undemarcated protected forests, based on whether the limits of the forest have been specified by a formal notification.
• Typically, protected forests are often upgraded to the status of wildlife sanctuaries, which is turn may be upgraded to the status of national parks, with each category receiving a higher degree of protection and government funding. For example, Sariska National Park was declared a reserved forest in 1955, upgraded to the status of a wildlife sanctuary in 1958, becoming a Tiger Reserve in 1978.
• Sariska became a national park in 1992, though primary notification to declare it as a national park was issued as early as 1982.

Conservation reserves and community reserves of India

• Conservation reserves and community reserves in India are terms denoting protected areas of India which typically act as buffer zones to or connectors and migration corridors between established national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and reserved and protected forests of India. Such areas are designated as conservation areas if they are uninhabited and completely owned by the Government of India but used for subsistence by communities, and community areas if part of the lands are privately owned. Administration of such reserves would be through local people and local agencies like the gram panchayat, as in the case of communal forests.

• Community reserves are the first instances of private land being accorded protection under the Indian legislature. It opens up the possibility of communally owned for-profit wildlife resorts, and also causes privately held areas under non-profit organizations like land trusts to be given protection.

• These protected area categories were first introduced in the Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Act of 2003 the amendment to the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. These categories were added because of reduced protection in and around existing or proposed protected areas due to private ownership of land, and land use. A case in point was the Melghat Tiger Reserve where a large area was left unprotected due to private ownership.

• Amendments to the Wild life protection act in 2003, provided a mechanism for recognition and legal backing to the community initiated efforts in wildlife protection. It provides a flexible system to achieve wildlife conservation without compromising community needs. Tiruvidaimarudur Conservation Reserve, declared on February 14, 2005, is the First Conservation Reserve to be established in the country. It is an effort of a village community who wanted to protect the birds nesting in their village.

• These categories roughly correspond to IUCN Category V (conservation reserves) and VI (community reserves) protected areas.

• Tiruppadaimarathur conservation reserve near Thirunelveli District of Tamil Nadu, declared in 2005, is the first Conservation Reserve in the country.[3]

• In 2012, Rajasthan government in India declared “Jawai Bandh forests” as a conservation reserve forest. Jawai Bandh forest is situated in Pali district and it is in close proximity of Kumbalgarh. Sanctuary.keshopur chamb gurdaspur (Punjab) conservation reserve India’s first community reserve. Keshopur chamb,Gurdaspur (Punjab) is India’s first community reserve.

Private protected areas of India

• Private protected areas of India refer to protected areas inside India whose land rights are owned by an individual or a corporation / organization, and where the habitat and resident species are offered some kind of protection from exploitative activities like hunting, logging, etc. The Government of India did not provide any legal or physical protection to such entities, but in an important amendment introduced by the Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Act of 2002, has agreed to protect communally owned areas of ecological value.

• Private ownership

• In pre-British India, and erstwhile British India and associated suzerainties, large tracts of wilderness were under private ownership, typically under the ownership of the royal families of the suzerainties. Animals and habitat in these tracts were protected by royal decree and royal forces. Later, after the advent of the British, these lands were protected by personal guards of the royal families.

• However, these lands were usually used as hunting grounds for the maharajahs and other noble families, so while the animals and habitat were accorded protection from external entities, hunting for sport by the owners of the land was commonly practised. Even so, some of such hunting was done on a sustainable basis, and some wildlife like the Asiatic cheetah were trained to hunt in such hunting grounds.

• After independence, the political integration of India caused most of the royal families to lose their ownership rights to these lands, and these were converted into reserved forests, wildlife sanctuaries and national parks. Some of India’s most famous protected areas had their origins in privately owned protected lands. Some of these are listed below.

From the Northern princely states

Dachigam National Park – Once the private hunting preserve of the Maharaja of Kashmir Hari Singh, it was declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1951 after the accession of Kashmir, and was designated a national park in 1981.

From the Western princely states

• Gir National Park – These were the private hunting grounds of the Nawab of Junagadh, who by royal decree banned the hunting of the increasingly rare Asiatic lion in 1900. It was only in 1966 that the region was protected as the Gir Forest Area, and the region received national park status in 1975.

• Ranthambhore National Park – The area around the Ranthambhore Fort were the private hunting grounds of Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II of Jaipur. After integration with India, the Government of India declared the region Sawai Madhopur Game Sanctuary in 1955, making it a Project Tiger reserve in 1973, and a national park in 1980

• Keoladeo National Park – These were the private hunting grounds of Maharaja Brijendra Singh of Bharatpur. Upon joining the Union of India, the maharaja kept his hunting privileges at the grounds until 1971, when it was declared a wildlife sanctuary. It was upgraded to the status of a national park in 1982.

• Sariska National Park – Sariska was the private hunting grounds of Maharaja Jai Singh of Alwar. It was given the status of a reserved forest in 1955 and became a wildlife sanctuary in 1958, before becoming a national park in 1992.

• Darrah National Park – These were the hunting grounds of the Maharaja of Kota, and were declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1955 after the merger of Kota with India, and combined with two other sanctuaries a national park in 2004.

From the Central princely states

• Bandhavgarh National Park – The area around the overgrown Bandhavgarh Fort were the hunting grounds of the Maharaja of Rewa. After the union of Rewa with India, the maharaja still retained hunting rights to the area until 1968, when the Maharaja handed over the hunting grounds (with the exception of the fort) to be declared a national park. A special permit is still required to visit the fort.

• Madhav National Park – The area around Shivpuri were the private hunting grounds of the Scindia royal family of Gwalior. Upon accession to India, the grounds were designated to be Madhya Bharat National Park (1959), later being renamed to Shivpuri National Park and finally to Madhav National Park.

From the Southern princely states

• Periyar National Park – The region around the Periyar lake was fashioned as a private game sanctuary by the maharaja of Travancore to stop the encroachment of tea plantations. Founded as Nellikkampatty Game Sanctuary in 1934, it was consolidated as a wildlife sanctuary in 1950 after the political integration of India, and designated as a national park in 1982.

• Bandipur National Park – These were private hunting grounds of the Maharaja of Mysore. In 1930, Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV declared Bandipur a game reserve of 80 km2, and in 1941 expanded it to 800 km2, reinventing it as Venugopala Wildlife Park. After the Kingdom of Mysore joined India, the park was made a Project Tiger reserve in 1973, and a national park in 1985.

• Rajiv Gandhi National Park – Nagarhole (as it was called initially) and its surrounding regions were the hunting grounds of the Maharaja of Mysore. After the merger of Mysore with India, Nagarhole first became a wildlife sanctuary in 1955, and later became a national park in 1988.

• Mahavir Harina Vanasthali National Park – This region was the private hunting ground of the Nizam of Hyderabad. After the annexure of Hyderabad in 1956, it was wildlife sanctuary in 1975, and a national park in 1994.

From the Eastern princely states

• Simlipal National Park – Initially a hunting ground for the Maharajas of Mayurbhanj. After the merger of Mayurbhanj with India in 1949, it became a reserved forest in 1956. It then became a tiger reserve (1973), wildlife sanctuary (1979), national park (1980) and finally a biosphere reserve (1994).

• Manas National Park – The area was initially the hunting grounds of the Maharaja of Cooch Behar and the Raja of Gauripur. It was declared a protected area – Manas Sanctuary, as early as 1928, but the hunting rights of the royal families were not revoked. The sanctuary finally turned fully protected when it became a tiger reserve in 1973, and a national park in 1990.

However, royal families were allowed to keep personal land holdings below a certain threshold area, and hence some small scale privately held protected areas still exist in India.

Non-profit ownership

The biggest non-profit private organization which acquires wilderness tracts for development into private protected areas, the Nature Conservancy – does not operate in India, but has shown interest in expanding its operations to the country.

The World Land Trust, another non-profit organization, in partnership with the Wildlife Trust of India has funded two significant privately owned protected land holdings in India. The purpose of the holdings are to provide migration corridors to herds of Indian elephants,and the corresponding project is called the Wild Lands Corridor. The two corridors are:

• The Siju-Rewak corridor in the Garo Hills in the state of Meghalaya, for connection between the Siju Wildlife Sanctuary and the Rewak Reserved Forest. This is one of only four forded corridors across the Simsang River, which bisects the Garo Hills. This region also contains large omnivores and carnivores like the Bengal tiger, clouded leopard and the Himalayan black bear.

• The Tirunelli-Kudrakote corridor in the state of Kerala between the Tirunelli Reserved Forest and the Kudrakote Reserved Forest acts as a migration corridor for India’s largest extant elephant population. The region is part of the Western Ghats, a biodiversity hotspot which is home to the Nilgiri tahr, Salim Ali’s fruit bat and 13 endemic bird species including the Malabar parakeet. The trust is in the process of reallocation of villages in the corridor, and is planning to register the corridor as a reserved forest once reallocation is complete, so that standard government protection is obtained.

The introduction of the protected area category community reserves under the Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Act of 2002 has introduced legislation for providing government protection to community held lands, which could be used for obtaining state protection in non-profit privately held lands of ecological value. 

9. Conservation areas of India

Conservation Areas in India refer to well-demarcated large geographical entities with an established conservation plan, and were part of a joint Indo-US project on “landscape management and protection”. The project ran from 1996 to 2002. These areas are home to many Conservation reliant species.

Four Conservation Areas were selected for this project:

• Annamalai Conservation Area in Tamil Nadu

• Garo Hills Conservation Area in Meghalaya

• Satpura Conservation Area in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra

• Terai Conservation Area in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand

The primary goal was to develop experience in “landscape protection” – protection of large geographical entities as a whole, only parts of which may be under federal control and protection. Each of the conservation areas contained fully protected areas like national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, managed resources like reserved forests and communal forests, as well as privately held land. The size of the selected regions constituted more than one forest division, and in one case was spread over two states

9. Endangered Species Projects

Project Tiger

• The sort of India has taken a pioneering initiative for consuming tiger by launching the ‘Project Tiger’ is 1973.
• India is home to 70% of tigers in the world. In 2014, there were 2,226 tigers.
• Statewise, Karnataka has the highest number of tigers (406) followed by 340 in Uttarakhand, 308 in Madhya Pradesh, 229 in Tamil Nadu.
• The project tiger aims to foster as exclusives tiger agenda in the core area of tiger reserves, which an inclusive people oriented agenda in the buffer.
• The largest tiger reserve is the Nagarjunsagar-Srisailam tiger reserve of Andhra Pradesh which covers the area of 3538 km2.

Project Elephant

• Project elephant, a centrally sponsored scheme was launched in February 1992 to provide surgical and technical support to major elephant bearing states in the country for protection of elephants, their habitats and corridor. The project is being implemented in 13 states/UT’s viz. Andhra Pradesh, Arunchal Pradesh, Assam, Jharkhand, Karanataka, Kerala Meghlaya, Nagaland, Orissa, Tamilnadu, Utttranchal, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal There are 28 notified elephant reserve in India cover ing approximately 60,00089 km area.
• The Singhbhum Elephant Reserve, the first Elephant Reserve of India was created in 2001 under the Elephant project in Jhark hand.
• India’s first exclusive hospital for Elephant will come up in Kerala.
• Project Snow Leopard: This project was lunched to safe guard and conserve India’s unique natural habitats of high altitude wildlife population and their habitats by promoting conservation through participatory policies and actions. This project was drifted by Ministry of Environment and Forests, Govt of India. It was launched in January There are nearly 750 snow leopards in the country
• Memorandum of Understanding (Mou) or Siberian Crane: This memorandum came into effect 1st July, 1993 and was amended is January 1999. This memorandum was focuses on conserving the siberian crane as one of these rarest crane species. India had signed the MOU on 13th Dec. 1998. Siberian crane are migratory visitors to India in winter season.
• Mou for Marine Twotle: Major threats to marine turtle include unexceptionable exploitation, distinction of resting and feeding habitats and incidental morality is fishing operations. The objectives of this memorandum are conservation and management of Marine turtles and their habitats. India had signed this memorandom on 20 february, 2007.
• MOU for Dugong: The dugong is a seagrass dependent marine’s mammal of tropical and subtropical coastal water. The dugong are vuinarable to human related influences due to their life history. Dugong is commonly known as sea cow. In India, these are found is Indian waters. From Gujarat to Andaman and Nicobar islands India had signed mou for Dugong on 28 May, 2008.

[tippy title=“UPSC_Pre_MCQ” height=“300” width=“650”] The minimum land area recommended for forest cover to maintain proper ecological balance in India is : (a)25% (b)33% [1999] (c)43% (d)53%
Ans.(b)For proper ecological balance 33% of forest land is recommended, but in India we have only 20.14% of forest coverage. [/tippy]
[tippy title=“UPSC_Pre_MCQ” height=“300” width=“650”] The first marine sanctuary in India, within its bounds coral reefs, mollusca, dolphins, tortoises and various kinds of sea birds, has been established in:[1999] (a)Sundarbans (b)Chilka Lake (c)Gulf of Kutch (d)Lakshadweep
Ans.(c)Gulf of Kutch in 1980, 270 km from Obha to Sadiya. [/tippy]
[tippy title=“UPSC_Pre_MCQ” height=“300” width=“650”] The sea coast of which one of the following states has become famous as a nesting place for the giant Olive Ridley turtles from South America?[2002] (a)Goa (b)Gujarat (c)Orissa (d)Tamil Nadu
Ans.(c)The sea coast of Orissa is famous as a nesting place for giant olive Ridley turtles from South America. [/tippy]
[tippy title=“UPSC_Pre_MCQ” height=“300” width=“650”] Match List I (National Park/Sanctuary) with List II (State) and select the correct answer using the codes given below:[2004] List-IList-II A Kanger Ghati National 1.Chhattisgarh Park B.Nagerhole National2.Haryana Park C.Kugti Wildlife Sanctuary3.Himachal Pradesh D.Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary4.Karnataka Codes : (a)A-3; B-2; C-1; D-4 (b)A-1; B-4; C-3; D-2 (c)A-3; B-4; C-1; D-2 (d)A-1; B-2; C-3; D-4
Ans.(b)National Park/ Sanctuary A.Kanger Ghati National Park-Chhattisgarh B.Nagerhole National Park-Karnataka C.Kugti Wildlife Sanctuary-Himachal Pradesh D.Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary-Haryana [/tippy]
[tippy title=“UPSC_Pre_MCQ” height=“300” width=“650”] Match List-I (Biosphere Reserve) with List-II (States) and select the correct answer using the codes given below:[2004] List-IList-II A.Similipal1.Sikkim B.Dehong Deband2.Uttaranchal C.Nokrek3.Arunachal Pradesh D.Kanchenjunga4.Orissa 5.Meghalaya Codes: (a)A-1; B-3; C-5; D-4 (b)A-4; B-5; C -2; D-1 (c)A-1; B-5; C-2; D-4 (d)A-4; B-3; C-5; D-1
Ans.(d)Similipal biosphere reserve is in Orissa. Dehong Deband biosphere reserve is in Arunachal Pradesh, Nokrek biosphere reserve is in Meghalaya and Kanchenjunga biosphere reserve is situated in Sikkim.
[tippy title=“UPSC_Pre_MCQ” height=“300” width=“650”] Amongst the following Indian States which one has the minimum total forest cover?[2004] (a) Sikkim(b)Goa (c)Haryana (d)Kerala
Ans.(c)Haryana has 6.83% of area is forest cover area of the total land coverage, whereas Sikkim has 36%, 38.5% in Goa and 28.9% of Kerala has forest area of their total land mass. [/tippy]
[tippy title=“UPSC_Pre_MCQ” height=“300” width=“650”] Consider the following statements:[2005] 1.The forest cover in India constitutes around 20% of its geographical area. Out of the total forest cover, dense forest constitutes around 40%. 2.The National Forestry Action Programme aims at bringing one third of the area of India under tree forest cover. Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (a)1 only (b)2 only (c)both 1 and 2 (d)Neither 1 nor 2
Ans.(b)Out of the total forest cover, dense forest constitute around 2.54%; very dense forest and 8.77% are moderately dense forest. National Forestry Action Programme aims a long term plan to achieve the target of 33% forest cover. [/tippy]
[tippy title=“UPSC_Pre_MCQ” height=“300” width=“650”] Which one of the following is not a Biosphere reserve?[2005] (a)Agasthyamali (b)Nallamalai (c)Nilgiri (d)Panchmarhi
110.(b)Nallamalai is not a biosphere reserve. It is hill of Eastern ghats which stretches over Kurnool, Mahabubnagar, Guntur and Kadapa districts of the state of Andhra Pradesh. [/tippy]
[tippy title=“UPSC_Pre_MCQ” height=“300” width=“650”] Consider the following statements:[2005] 1.Silent Valley National Park in the Nallamalai range. 2.Pathrakkadavu Hydroelectric project is proposed to be built near the Silent Valley National Park. 3.The Kunthi river originates in Silent Valley’s rainforests. Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (a)1 and 3 (b)2 only (c)2 and 3 (d)1, 2 and 3
Ans.(c)Silent Valley National Park is situated in Nilgiri Hills of Western Ghats. The park is bound by Attappadi reserved forest to the east and vested forest of Palaghat division and Nilamber division to the south-west respectively. [/tippy]
[tippy title=“UPSC_Pre_MCQ” height=“300” width=“650”] Match List-I with List-II and select the correct answer using the codes given below the lists:[2005] List-I (National ParkList-II (State) /Wildlife Sanctuary) A.Bondla Wildlife Sanctuary1.Orissa B.Kangerghat National Park2.Assam C.Orang Sanctuary3.Chhattisgarh D.Ushkothi Wildlife 4.Goa Sanctuary 5. Tripura Codes : (a)A-2; B-1; C-5; D-3 (b)A-4; B-3; C-2; D-1 (c)A-2; B-3; C-5; D-1 (d)A-4; B-1; C-2; D-3
Ans.(b)National Park/ Wildlife Sanctuary Bondla Wildlife Sanctuary- Goa Kangerghat National Park- Chhattisgarh Orang Sanctuary- Assam Ushkothi Wildlife Sanctuary- Orissa. [/tippy]
[tippy title=“UPSC_Pre_MCQ” height=“300” width=“650”] Match List-I (National Park/Wildlife Sanctuary) with List-I) (Nearby Town) and select the correct answer using the codes given below the lists:[2006] List-I List-II (National Park/(Nearby Town) Wildlife Sanctuary) A.Chandra Prabha1.Jaipur B.Karera2.Jhansi C.Jaisamand3.Agra D.Nahargarh4.Varanasi 5.Udaipur Codes : (a)A-4; B-4; C-1; D-1 (b)A-5; B-2; C-3; D-1 (c)A-4; B-2; C-5; D-1 (d)A-5; B-1; C-3; D-2
Ans.(c) [/tippy]
[tippy title=“UPSC_Pre_MCQ” height=“300” width=“650”] Which one of the following is also known as Top Slip? [2007] (a)Ismlipal National Park (b)Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary (c)Manjira Wildlife Sanctuary (d)Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park
129.(d)Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park is known as top slip. It is a part of Western Ghats is located above 300 metres from the sea level on the Anamalai mountain ranges. [/tippy]
[tippy title=“UPSC_Pre_MCQ” height=“300” width=“650”] Which one of the following is located in the Bastar region? [2007] (a)Bandhavgarh National Park (b)Dandeli Sanctuary (c)Rajaji National Park (d)Indravati National Park
Ans.(d)Indravati National Park is located in the Bastar region. The park is situated at the distance of 97.4 km Bastar. [/tippy]
[tippy title=“UPSC_Pre_MCQ” height=“300” width=“650”] Consider the following statements:[2007] 1.In India, Red Panda is naturally found in the Western Himalayas only. 2.In India, Slow Loris lives in the dense forests of the North East. Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (a)1 only (b)2 only (c)Both 1 and 2 (d) Neither 1 nor 2
141.(b)Red Panda is found in mountains of Nepal, north-eastern India, China, Bhutan and Slow Loris lives in dense forest of north-east, dense forest of Assam. Red Panda is found in Eastern Himalayas, China, Bhuan and slow loris in the dense forest of north-east Assam. [/tippy]
[tippy title=“UPSC_Pre_MCQ” height=“300” width=“650”] Out of all the biosphere reserves in India, four have been recognized on the World Network by UNESCO. Which one of the following is not one of them?[2008] (a)Gulf of Mannar (b)Kanchenjunga (c)Nanda Devi (d)Sunderbans
Ans.(b) 149.(b)Omkareshwar Project is associated with Narmada river. [/tippy]
[tippy title=“UPSC_Pre_MCQ” height=“300” width=“650”] Consider the following statements:[2008] 1.Salt-water crocodile is found in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. 2.Shrew and Tapir are found in the Western Ghats of the Malabar region. Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (a)1 only (b)2 only (c)Both 1 and 2 (d)Neither 1 nor 2

Ans.(c)Salt water crocodile was common and found throughout the Andaman and Nicobar Islands living in the mangrove habitats. Shrew and Tapir are found in western ghats of the Malabar region. [/tippy]
[tippy title=“UPSC_Pre_MCQ” height=“300” width=“650”] Which one among the following has the maximum number of National Parks?[2008] (a)Andaman and Nicobar Islands (b)Arunachal Pradesh (c)Assam (d)Meghalaya
Ans.(a)Andaman and Nicobar has 9 national parks; Assam has 6, Arunachal Pradesh and Maghalaya both have 2 each.
[tippy title=“UPSC_Pre_MCQ” height=“300” width=“650”] Consider the following regions:[2009] 1.Eastern Himalayas 2.Eastern Mediterranean region 3.North-Western Australia Which of the above is/are Biodiversity Hotspot(s)? (a)1 only (b)1 and 2 only (c)2 and 3 only (d)1, 2 and 3
Ans.(b)Eastern Himalayas and Eastern Mediterranean region are Biodiversity hotspots. South west part of Australia has hotspots. [/tippy]
[tippy title=“UPSC_Pre_MCQ” height=“300” width=“650”] In India, which one of the following states has the largest inland saline wetland?[2009] (a)Gujarat (b)Haryana (c)Madhya Pradesh (d)Rajasthan
Ans (d)Rajasthan has the largest inland saline wetland, area of Sambhan Salt lake. [/tippy]
[tippy title=“UPSC_Pre_MCQ” height=“300” width=“650”] Consider the following statements:[2010] 1.The boundaries of a National Park are defined by legislation. 2.A Biosphere Reserve is declared to conserve a few specific species of flora and fauna. 3.In a Wildlife Sanctuary, limited biotic interference is permitted. Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (a)1 only (b)2 and 3 only (c)1 and 3 only (d)1, 2 and 3
Ans.(c)The fix boundary of a National Park is described in the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. The legislation states the actual area of the National Park which is notified by the state government. A biosphere reserve conserves an ecosystem and not just few specific species of plants and animals. [/tippy]
[tippy title=“UPSC_Pre_MCQ” height=“300” width=“650”] Consider the following pairs: Protected area Well-known for 1.Bhiterkanika, Odisha……Salt Water Crocodile 2.Desert National Park,……Great Indian RajasthanBustard 3.Eravikulam, Kerala……Hoolak Gibbon Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched?[2010] (a)1 only (b)1 and 2 only (c)2 only (d)1, 2 and 3
Ans.(b)Hoolak found in North eastern reigon of India. It covers 38% of the forest area. Hoolak Gibbon is found in North Eastern region of India. [/tippy]
[tippy title=“UPSC_Pre_MCQ” height=“300” width=“650”] A particular State in India has the following characteristics :[2012 – I] 1. It is located on the same latitude which passes through northern Rajasthan. 2.It has over 80% of its area under forest cover. 3.Over 12% of forest cover constitutes Protected Area Network in this State. Which one among the following States has all the above characteristics? (a)Arunachal Pradesh (b)Assam (c)Himachal Pradesh (d)Uttarakhand
192.(a)Arunanchal Pradesh [/tippy]
[tippy title=“UPSC_Pre_MCQ” height=“300” width=“650”] With reference to the wetlands of India, consider the following statements :[2012 – I] 1. The country’s total geographical area under the category of wetlands is recorded more in Gujarat as compared to other States. 2.In India, the total geographical area of coastal wetlands is larger than that of inland wetlands. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
1 only(b)2 only (c)Both 1 and 2(d) Neither 1 nor 2
Ans.(a)The countries total geographical area under the category of wetlands is more in Gujarat as compared to other states. India has 60% of in land wetland out of total wetland. [/tippy]
[tippy title=“UPSC_Pre_MCQ” height=“300” width=“650”] Consider the following pairs:[2013 – I] National ParkRiver flowing through the Park 1.Corbett National Park:Ganga 2.Kaziranga National Park:Manas 3.Silent Valley: National Park:Kaveri Which of the above pairs is/are correctly matched? (a)1 and 2(b) 3 only (c)1 and 3 (d)None of these
Ans.(d)Through Corbett National Park Ramganga flows(not Ganga) which is a tributary of Ganges. Through Silent Valley National Park river Bhavani flows which is a tributary of Kaveri. Kaziranga and Manas are both national parks. [/tippy]
[tippy title=“UPSC_Pre_MCQ” height=“300” width=“650”] Consider the following pairs :[2014 – I] WetlandsConfluence of rivers 1.Harike Wetlands :Confluence of Beas and Satluj/Sutlej 2.Keoladeo Ghana :Confluence of National Park Banas and Chambal 3.Kolleru Lake:Confluence of Musi and Krishna Which of the above pairs is/ are correctly matched? (a)1 only (b)2 and 3 only (c)1 and 3 only (d)1, 2 and 3
Ans.(a)Harike Wetlands is at Confluence of Beas and Satluj/Sutlej. The Keoladeo National Park formerly known as the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary in Bharatpur is at the confluence of two rivers, the Gambhir and Banganga. Kolleru Lake is one of the largest freshwater lakes in India located in state of Andhra Pradesh. Kolleru is located between Krishna and Godavari delta. [/tippy]

Questions

1. Possessing a tremendous diversity of climate and physiographic, India has a great variety of fauna. What important steps are being taken to preserve the main species of Indian Fauna? Have these efforts been successful? [1982]
2. What are biosphere reserves? Explain its significance. [1990]
3. Account for the varied environmental problems resulting from the wide ‘spread deforestation in both Aravallis and Himalayan regions. [1991]
4. What is biodiversity? Why should it be preserved? [1992]
5. Where do Mangroves occur in India? Describe their main characteristics. [1996]
6. Why has there been opposition from 4th North-Eastern States to the Supreme Court ban on all activities inside forests [1997]
7. What are mangroves arid in what way are they useful to us. [2001]

.

Observed Changes in Climate and

Weather Events in India

There are some observed changes in climate parameters in India. India’s Initial National Communication,

2004 (NATCOM i) to UNFCCC has consolidated some of these. Some highlights from NATCOM I and others are listed here. No firm link between the documented changes described below and warming due to anthropogenic climate change has yet been established.

• Surface Temperature

At the national level, increase of — 0.4° C has been observed in surface air temperatures over the past century. A warming trend has been observed along the west coast, in central India, the interior peninsula, and north-eastern India. However, cooling trends have been observed in north-west India and parts of south India.

• Rainfall

While the observed monsoon rainfall at the all-India level does not show any significant trend, regional monsoon variations have been recorded. A trend of increasing monsoon seasonal rainfall has been found along the west coast, northern Andhra Pradesh, and north-western India (+10% to +12% of the normal over the last loo years) while a trend of decreasing monsoon seasonal rainfall has been observed over eastern Madhya Pradesh, north-eastern India, and some parts of Gujarat and Kerala (—6% to —8% of the normal over the last 100 years).

• Extreme Weather Events

Instrument records over the past 130 years do not indicate any marked long-term trend in the frequencies of large-scale droughts and floods. Trends are however observed in multi-decadal periods of more

frequent droughts, followed by less severe droughts.

There has been an overall increasing trend in severe storm incidence along the coast at the rate of 0.011

events per year. While the states of West Bengal and Gujarat have reported increasing trends, a decline

has been observed in Orissa. Goswami et al, by analysing a daily rainfall data set, have shown in

(i)A rising trend in the frequency of heavy rain events, and (ii) a significant decrease in the frequency of

moderate events over central India from 1951 to 2000.

• Rise in Sea Level

Using the records of coastal tide gauges in the north Indian Ocean for more than 40 years, Unnikrishnan

and Shankar have estimated, that sea level rise was between 1.06-1.75 mm per year. These rates are con

sistent with 1-2 mm per year global sea level rise estimates of IPCC.

 • Impacts on Himalayan Glaciers

The Himalayas possess one of the largest resources of snow and ice and its glaciers form a source of water

for the perennial rivers such as the Indus, the Ganga, and the Brahmaputra. Glacial melt may impact their

long-term lean-season flows, with adverse impacts on the economy in terms of water availability and hydropower generation.

Projections

Some modelling and other studies have projected the following changes due to increase in atmospheric GHG concentrations arising from increased global anthropogenic emissions:

• Annual mean surface temperature rise by the end of century, ranging from 3 to 50 C under A2 scenario and 2,5 to 40 C under B2 scenario of IPCC, with warming more pronounced in the northern parts of India, from simulations by Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune.
• Indian summer monsoon (15M) is a manifestation of complex interactions between land, ocean and atmosphere. The simulation of ISM’s mean pattern as well as variability on interannual and intraseasonal scales has been a challenging ongoing problem. Some simulations by IITM, Pune, have indicated that summer monsoon intensity may increase beginning from 2040 and by 10% by 2100 under A2 scenario of IPCC.
• Changes in frequency and/ or magnitude of extreme temperature and precipitation events. Some results show that fine-scale snow albedo influence the response of both hot and cold events and that peak increase in extreme hot events are amplified by surface moisture feedbacks.

Impact of Climate Change on India:

• Impact on water Resources: Change in climate is expected to have long-term implications on the quality and quantity of water. According to NATCOM there will be decline in runoff in all river basins in India except Narmada and Tapi
• Impact on agriculture and Food resources: According to Indian Agricultural Research Institute, climate change will have adverse impact on Rabi crop- for every 1°C rise in temperature, the estimated loss of wheat is 4-5 million tonnes
• Rise in extreme weather events: Climate change has increased India’s vulnerability of extreme events. The 2017 high intensity Ockhi cyclone and 2018 dust storms in north India was attributed to climate change
• Impact on Human Health: Changes in climate may alter distribution of vector species (malaria mosquitoes) and may increase vulnerability to diseases. Further rising heat waves and cold waves have adversely affected human health.
• Impact on Forest Cover: According to studies, large areas of forest in India are likely to experience shift in forest types due to climate change. For example: xeric scrublands will increase
• Impact on Coastal Areas: A sea-level rise of 46-59cm in India by 21000 is estimated by NATCOM. Rising sea level and increasing tropical cyclone events pose great threat to coastal areas in India

Adaptation and Mitigation

The National Action plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) was released on 30th June, 2008 to state India’s contribution towards combating climate change. The plan outlines Eight National Missions running through 2017. The Ministries involved submitted detailed plans to the Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change in December 2008.

The NAPCC consists of several targets on climate change issues and addresses the urgent and critical concerns of the country through a directional shift in the development pathway. It outlines measures on climate change related adaptation and mitigation while simultaneously advancing development. The Missions form the core of the Plan, representing multi-pronged, long termed and integrated strategies for achieving goals in the context of climate change.

Adaptation, in the context of climate change, comprises the measures taken to minimize the adverse

impacts of climate change, e.g. relocating the communities living close to the seashore, for instance, to

cope with the rising sea level or switching to crops that can withstand higher temperatures.

Mitigation comprises measures to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases that cause climate change in the first place, e.g. by switching to renewable sources of energy such as solar energy or wind energy, or

nuclear energy instead of burning fossil fuel in thermal power stations.

Current government expenditure in India on adaptation to climate variability, exceeds 2.6% of the GDP, with agriculture, water resources, health and sanitation, forests, coastal zone infrastructure and extreme weather events, being specific areas of concern.

Some Existing Adaptation related Programmes

• CROP IMPROVEMENT

The present programmes address measures such as development of arid-land crops and pest management, as well as capacity building of extension work ers and NGOs to support better vulnerability reducing practices.

• DROUGHT PROOFING

The current programmes seek to minimize the adverse effects of drought on production of crops and livestock, and on productivity of land, water and human resources, so as to ultimately lead to drought proofing of the affected areas. They also aim to promote overall economic development and improve the socioeconomic conditions of the resource poor and disadvantaged sections inhabitIng the programme areas.

• Forestry

India has a strong and rapidly growing afforestation programme. The aflorestation process was accelerated by the enactment of the Forest Conservation Act of 1980, which aimed at stopping the clearing and degradation of forests through a strict, centralized control of the rights to use forest land and mandatory requirements of compensatory afforestation in case of any diversion of forest and for any non.forestry purpose. In addition an aggressive afforestation and sustainable forest management programme resulted in annual reforestation of 1.78 mh during 1985.1997. and is currently 1.1 mha annually. Due to this, the carbon stocks In Indian forest have increased over the last 20 years to 9 -10 gigatons of carbon (GtC) during 1986 to 2005.

• WATER

The National Water Policy (2002) stresses that nonconventional methods for utili,ation of water,

including inter—basin transfers, artificial recharge of groundwater, and desalination of brackish or sea

water, as well as traditional water conservation practices like rainwater harvesting, induding roof-top

rainwater harvesting, should be practised to increase the utilizable water resources. Many states now have mandatory water harvesting programmes in several cities.

• COASTAL REGIONS

In coastal regions, restrictions have been imposed in the area between 200m and 500m of the KU (high tide line) while special restrictions have been imposed in the area up to 200m to protect the sensitive coastal ecosystems and prevent their exploitation. This, simultaneously, addresses the concerns of the coastal population and their livelihood. Some specific measures taken in this regard include construction of coastal protection infrastructure and cyclone shelters, as well as plantation of coastal forests and mangroves.

• Health

The prime objective of these programmes is the surveillance and control of vector borne diseases such as Malaria, Kala—azar, Japanese Encephalitis, Filaria and Dengue. Programmes also provide for emergency medical relief in the case of natural calamities, and to train and develop human resources for these tasks.

• Risk-financing

Two risk-financing programmes support adaptation to climate impacts. The Crop Insurance Scheme supports the insurance of farmers against climate risks, and the Credit Support Mechanism facilitates the extension of credit to farmers, especially for crop failure due to climate variability.

• Disaster Management

The National Disaster Management programme provides grants-in-aid to victims of weather related disasters, and manages disaster relief operations. It also supports proactive disaster prevention programmes, including dissemination of information and training of disaster-management staff.

The Eight Missions of NAPCC

I. National Solar Mission

The ultimate objective is to make solar energy competitive with fossil-based energy options. By increasing the share of solar energy in the total energy mix, it aims to empower people at the grass roots level. Another aspect of this Mission is to launch an R&D programme facilitating international co-operation to enable the creation of affordable, more convenient solar energy systems and to promote innovations for sustained, long-term storage and use of solar power.

II. National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency

The Energy Conservation Act of 2001 provides a legal mandate for the implementation of energy efficiency measures through the mechanisms of The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) in the designated agencies in the country. A number of schemes and programmes have been initiated which aim to save about 10,000 MW by the end of the 11th Five-Year Plan in 2012.

III. National Mission on Sustainable Habitats

This Mission was launched to make habitats sustainable through improvements in energy efficiency in buildings, management of solid waste and a modal shift to public transport. It aims to promote energy efficiency as an integral component of urban planning and urban renewal through its initiatives.

IV. National Water Mission

By 2050, India is likely to be water scarce. Thus, the Mission aims at conserving water, minimising wastage, and ensuring more equitable distribution and management of water resources. It also aims to optimize water use efficiency by 20% by developing a framework of regulatory mechanisms. It calls for strategies to accommodate fluctuations in rainfall and river flows by enhancing water storage methods, rain water harvesting and more efficient irrigation systems like drip irrigation.

V. National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem

The Himalayan eco-system is vital to preserving the ecological security of India. Increases in temperatures, changes in precipitation patterns, drought and melting of glaciers are obvious threats. The Mission calls for empowering local communities especially Panchayats to play a greater role in managing ecological resources. It also reaffirms the measures mentioned in the National Environment Policy, 2006.

VI. National Mission for a Green India

The Mission aims at enhancing ecosystem services such as carbon sinks. It builds on the Prime Minister’s Green India Campaign for afforestation and increasing land area under forest cover from 23% to 33%. It is to be implemented through Joint Forest Management Committees under the respective State Departments of Forests. It also strives to effectively implement the Protected Area System under the National Biodiversity Conservation Act, 2001.

VII. National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture

The Mission aims to make Indian agriculture more resilient to climate change by identifying new varieties of crops (example: thermally resistant crops) and alternative cropping patterns. This is to be supported by a comprehensive network of traditional knowledge, practical systems, information technology and biotechnology. It makes suggestions for safeguarding farmers from climate change like introducing new credit and insurance mechanisms and greater access to information.

VIII. National Mission on Strategic Knowledge on Climate Change

The aim is to work with the global community in research and technology development by collaboration through different mechanisms. It also has its own research agenda supported by climate change related institutions and a Climate Research Fund. It also encourages initiatives from the private sector for developing innovative technologies for mitigation and adaptation.

Strategies for New India – Climate change

• By 2030, 40 per cent of cumulative power generation capacity installed should be nonfossil fuel based. The strategies to achieve this are given in the chapter on Energy Supply and Demand.
• Access to low cost finance especially through the Green Climate Fund should be encouraged.
• Review all eight national missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change in the light of new scientific information and technological advances.
• New national missions on wind energy, waste-to-energy and coastal areas should be developed.
• The National Water Mission should be re-designed for efficient water resource management. Similarly, the National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture should be redesigned to increase agricultural productivity and contribute significantly to achieving the vision of doubling farmers’ income by 2022-23.
• Projects under state action plans on climate change that have been endorsed by the National Steering Committee on Climate Change need to be implemented.
• Use the National Adaptation Fund for Climate Change and other global funds for strengthening resilience against climate change in sectors like agriculture, forestry, infrastructure and others.
• Scientific and analytical capacity for climate change related assessments should be strengthened.

.

Overview

• Natural disasters in India, many of them related to the climate of India, cause massive losses of life and property.
• India is plagued by various kinds of natural disasters every year, such as floods, droughts, earthquakes, cyclones, and landslides.
• A natural disaster might be caused by earthquakes, flooding, volcanic eruption, landslides, hurricanes etc.
• In order to be classified as a disaster it will have profound environmental effect and/or human loss and frequently incurs financial loss.
• Other dangers include frequent summer dust storms, which usually track from north to south; they cause extensive property damage in North India and deposit large amounts of dust from arid regions.
• Hail is also common in parts of India, causing severe damage to standing crops such as rice and wheat and many more crops.
• Around 85% of India’s area is vulnerable to hazard.
• About 60% of the landmass is prone to earthquakes of various intensities.
• Over 40 million hectares is prone to flood.
• About 8% of the total area is prone to cyclone and 68% of the area is susceptible to drought.

National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) is the apex statutory body for disaster management in India.
The NDMA was formally constituted on 27th September 2006, in accordance with the Disaster Management Act, 2005 with Prime Minister as its Chairperson and nine other members, and one such member to be designated as Vice-Chairperson.
Mandate: Its primary purpose is to coordinate response to natural or man-made disasters and for capacity-building in disaster resiliency and crisis response. It is also the apex body to lay down policies, plans and guidelines for Disaster Management to ensure timely and effective response to disasters.
Vision: To build a safer and disaster resilient India by a holistic, proactive, technology driven and sustainable development strategy that involves all stakeholders and fosters a culture of prevention, preparedness and mitigation.

Types of Disasters 

Disasters can be classified into the following categories:

Water and Climate Disaster: Flood, hail storms, cloudburst, cyclones, heat waves, cold waves, droughts, hurricanes.
Geological Disaster: Landslides, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tornadoes
Biological Disaster: Viral epidemics, pest attacks, cattle epidemic and locust plagues
Industrial Disaster: Chemical and industrial accidents, mine shaft fires, oil spills,
Nuclear Disasters: Nuclear core meltdowns, radiation poisoning
Man-made disasters: Urban and forest fires, oil spill, the collapse of huge building structures

Floods

Flood prone areas in India

• Areas which are subject to serious floods are mainly in the Plains of Northern India.
• It is estimated that over 90 per cent of the total damage done to property and crops in India is done in the Plains of Northern India.
• Annual deposition of silt and sand raises the bed and thus reduces the capacity of the river to accommodate flood water.
• The Assam Valley is another fertile belt which is affected sometimes seriously by flood havocs.
• The Brahmaputra which drains this valley receives from its tributaries, the Dibang and the Luhit, a large amount of water heavily laden with silt.
• Floods are almost a regular feature in coastal lowlands of Odisha.
• The deltas of the Godavari and the Krishna.
• Lower courses of the Narmada and the Tapi.

Causes for frequent flooding in India.

Man made Reasons:

• Lacks of drainage upgrade works.
• The encroachment and filling in the floodplain on the waterways.
• Lack of planning and enforcement has resulted in significant narrowing of the waterways and filling in of the floodplain by illegal developments.
• Constructions on the riverbed
• As the ice melts in the Himalayas, the water channels downstream swell. When the river enters Assam from Arunachal Pradesh, it experiences a steep fall in gradient, causing the water to hurtle down at a furious pace.
• During the monsoon, when the river is swollen with the precipitation from the Eastern Himalayas, its channels can’t take the huge volumes gushing down at high speed. Siltation and sedimentation in the channels compound the situation.
• Human hand in such floods as well. With increasing deforestation in the Eastern Himalayas, the runoff has increased, which means as the water rushes towards the plains, it carries along more sediment.
• The riverbed in the plains is full of sediment, impairing the Brahmaputra’s carrying capacity.

Physiological Reasons:

• About 60% of the flood damage in India occurs from river floods while 40 per cent is due to heavy rainfall and cyclones.
• Damage by Himalayan rivers account for 60% of the total damage in the country.
• Flood occurs when water overflows or inundates land that’s normally dry.
• Excessive rain, a ruptured dam or levee, rapid ice melting in the mountains, or even an unfortunately placed beaver dam can overwhelm a river and send it spreading over the adjacent land, called a floodplain.
• Flooding is a natural phenomenon because the rivers in the Northeast, mostly originating in the Eastern Himalayas, experience a sharp fall in gradient as they move from Arunachal Pradesh and Bhutan to reach Assam’s floodplain.
• Most of these rivers carry large amounts of sediments, which then get deposited on the floodplains, reducing the storage capacity of the river channels and resulting in inundation of the adjoining floodplains.
• Flooding is partly anthropogenic as the sediment load carried by the rivers is accentuated through “developmental interventions in the Eastern Himalayas that result in deforestation.
• The principal causes of vulnerability include rapid and uncontrolled urbanization, poverty, degradation of the environment resulting mismanagement of the resources, inefficient public policies.

Climate change has played an important role in causing large-scale floods across central India, including the Mumbai floods of 2006 and 2017. During 1901-2015, there has been a three-fold rise in widespread extreme rainfall events, across central and northern India – Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Odisha, Jharkhand, Assam and parts of Western Ghats – Goa, north Karnataka and South Kerala.The rising number of extreme rain events are attributed to an increase in the fluctuations of the monsoon westerly winds, due to increased warming in the Arabian Sea. This results in occasional surges of moisture transport from the Arabian Sea to the subcontinent, resulting in heavy rains lasting for 2–3 days, and spread over a region large enough to cause floods.

Major flooding in India.

• In October 1943, Madras (now Chennai) saw the worst flood to hit the city. Flood occurred due to excessive rains that lasted for 6 days and overflowed Coovum and the Adyar rivers. Damage caused to life and property was immense however estimate figure is unknown.
• On 11 August 1979, the Machchu-2 dam situated on the Machchhu River burst, thus flooding the town of Morbi in the Rajkot district of Gujarat.Exact figure of loss of lives is unknown, but it is estimated between 1800 and 2500 people.
• In 1987, Bihar state of India witnessed one of its worst floods till then. Flood occurred due to overflow of the Koshi river; which claimed lives of 1,399 humans, 302 animals and public property worth INR ₹68 billion (US$950 million).
• Heavy rains across the state of Maharashtra, including large areas of the metropolis Mumbai which received 944 mm (39.1 inches) alone on 26 July 2005 killed at-least 1,094 people. The day is still remembered as the day Mumbai came to a standstill, as the city faced worst ever rain. Mumbai International Airport remained closed for 30 hours, Mumbai-Pune Expressway was closed for 24 hours with public property loss was estimated at ₹550 crore (US$77 million).
• June 2013 North Indian floods: Heavy rain due to cloudburst caused severe floods and landslides on the North Indian states, mainly Uttarakhand and nearby states. More than 5,700 people were presumed dead.
• June 2015 Gujarat flood: Heavy rain in June 2015 resulted in widespread flood in Saurashtra region of Gujarat resulting in more than 70 deaths. The wildlife of Gir Forest National Park and adjoining area was also affected.
• July 2015 Gujarat flood:Heavy rain in July 2015 resulted in widespread flood in north Gujarat resulting in more than 70 deaths.
• 2015 South Indian floods:Heavy rain in Nov-Dec 2015 resulted in flooding of Adyar, Cooum rivers in Chennai, Tamil Nadu resulting in financial loss and human lives.
• 2016 Assam floods: Heavy rains in July–August resulted in floods affecting 1.8 million people and flooding the Kaziranga National Park killing around 200 wild animals.
• 2017 Gujarat flood: Following heavy rain in July 2017, Gujarat state of India was affected by the severe flood resulting in more than 200 deaths.
• August 2017 Nepal and India floods
• August 2018 Kerala Flood: Following high rain in late July 2018 and heavy Monsoon rainfall from August 8, 2018, severe flooding affected the Indian state of Kerala resulting over 445 deaths.

National Flood Management Programme

Launched in 1954, different methods of flood protection structural as well as non-structural have been adopted in different states depending upon the nature of the problem and local conditions.

Structural measures include storage reservoirs, flood embankments, drainage channels, anti-erosion works, channel improvement works, detention basins etc. and non-structural measures include flood forecasting, flood plain zoning, flood proofing, disaster preparedness etc.

Since then more than 35,000 km of embankments has been constructed and more than 39,000 km of drainage channels improved which could absorb and regulate peak floods when necessary.

Drought in India

IMD defines Drought as situation occurring in any area when mean annual rainfall is less than 75% of the normal rainfall.

Drought can be classified into three types according to National commission on agriculture in India. They are agricultural, hydrological and meteorological drought.

1.Meteorological drought: a condition when there is substantial decrease from usual precipitation over an area.

2. Hydrological drought: a condition when there is depletion of subsurface and surface water resources due to prolonged meteorological drought.

3.Agricultural drought: a condition when rainfall and soil moisture is deficient to support healthy growth of crop.

Distribution of drought in India

The distribution of drought in India can be classified under three heads

1. Conditions of extreme drought: It includes 12% of total drought prone areas i.e Gujarat, western Uttar Pradesh, north-west Madhya Pradesh, western Rajasthan.

2. Conditions of severe drought: It covers 42% of total drought prone area i.e leeward side of Maidan plateau, Rayalaseema and Telengana regions of Andhra Pradesh and Marathwada and Vidarbha regions of Maharashtra.

3. Conditions of moderate drought: It prevails over 46% of total drought prone area i.e Orissa, central-north Madhya Pradesh, Chhotanagpur, Jammu and Kashmir and central- east Tamil Nadu.

The Drought-Prone Areas Programme:
The programme was launched as an integrated area development programme in 1973 as a centrally sponsored programme. The programme is taken up as a long-term measure to restore ecological balance by conserving, developing and harnessing land, water, livestock and human resources.

Cyclones in India

In meteorology, the term cyclone can be defined as the rapid inward circulation of air masses about a low pressure centre which is circling counter-clockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern.

Cyclones Categories

We can also further describe tropical cyclones based on their wind speeds. Cyclones are categorized according to wind speeds and the damage they cause.
Category 1: Wind speeds between 90 and 125 kilometres per hour, some noticeable damage to houses and trees.
Category 2: Wind speeds between 125 and 164 kilometers per hour, damage to houses and significant damage to crops and trees.
Category 3: Wind speeds between 165 and 224 kilometres per hour, structural damage to houses, extensive damage to crops and uprooted trees, upturned vehicles and destruction of buildings.
Category 4: Wind speeds between 225 and 279 kilometers per hour, power failure and much damage to cities and villages.
Category 5: Wind speeds over 280 kilometres per hour, widespread damage.

Cyclone Prone area in India

India is highly vulnerable to natural hazards like earthquakes, floods, drought, cyclones and landslides. According to the meteorological department, there are 13 coastal states and Union Territories in India are Cyclone prone region. Four states like West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu-and one UT Puducherry on the east coast and Gujarat on the west coast are more vulnerable.

Cyclone Warning System in India

The India Meteorological Department is the nodal agency in india is responsible for meteorological observations, weather forecasting and seismology. A cyclone in the Bay of Bengal is predicted by the Area Cyclone Warning Centres (ACWC) and in the Arabian Sea is predicted by the Cyclone Warning Centre (CWC). Both ACWC and CWC sent their report to the coordinating centre, i.e., National Cyclone Warning Centre (NCWC).

• Intertropical Convergence Zone, may affect thousands of Indians living in the coastal regions.
• Tropical cyclogenesis is particularly common in the northern reaches of the Indian Ocean in and around the Bay of Bengal. Cyclones bring with them heavy rains, storm surges, and winds that often cut affected areas off from relief and supplies.
• In the North Indian Ocean Basin, the cyclone season runs from April to December, with peak activity between May and November. Each year, an average of eight storms with sustained wind speeds greater than 63 kilometres per hour (39 mph) form; of these, two strengthen into true tropical cyclones, which have sustained gusts greater than 117 kilometres per hour (73 mph). On average, a major (Category 3 or higher) cyclone develops every other year.
• During summer, the Bay of Bengal is subject to intense heating, giving rise to humid and unstable air masses that produce cyclones. Many powerful cyclones, including the 1737 Calcutta cyclone, the 1970 Bhola cyclone, the 1991 Bangladesh cyclone and the 1999 Odisha cyclone have led to widespread devastation along parts of the eastern coast of India and neighboring Bangladesh.
• Widespread death and property destruction are reported every year in exposed Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal.
• India’s western coast, bordering the more placid Arabian Sea, experiences cyclones only rarely; these mainly strike Gujarat and, less frequently, Kerala.
• In terms of damage and loss of life, Cyclone 05B, a super cyclone that struck Odisha on 29 October 1999, was the worst in more than a quarter-century. With peak winds of 160 miles per hour (257 km/h), it was the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane. Almost two million people were left homeless; another 20 million people’s lives were disrupted by the cyclone. Officially, 9,803 people died from the storm; unofficial estimates place the death toll at over 10,100
• On 20 November 2018, Gaja cyclone affected Tamil Nadu to the greater extent. It made landfall near Nagapattinam. Gaja Eye Crossing at Vedaranyam and eye passes through Thagattur, Voimedu, Thiruuthuraipoondi, Muthupettai, Pattukotai, Adirampattinam and Mallipattinam. Both the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry government made an adverse effect to safeguard the people near coastal and riverside areas.
• About 80,000 were evacuated to 470 relief camps from the districts which were vulnerable to the cyclone in Tamil Nadu. And the tamil nadu government estimated and claimed 1500 crore as relief fund from the central government.

The National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project (NRCMP)

The Government of India has initiated the National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project (NCRMP) with a view to address cyclone risks in the country. The overall objective of the Project is to undertake suitable structural and non-structural measures to mitigate the effects of cyclones in the coastal states and UTs of India

Project objectives
The Project development objective of the NCRMP is to reduce vulnerability of coastal communities to cyclone and other hydro meteorological hazards through;
1. Improved early warning dissemination systems
2. Enhanced capacity of local communities to respond to disasters
3. Improved access to emergency shelter, evacuation, and protection against wind storms, flooding and storm surge in high areas
4. Strengthening DRM capacity at central, state and local levels in order to enable mainstreaming of risk mitigation measures into the overall development agenda.

Cyclone prone states identified by the project
The Project has identified 13 cyclone prone States and Union Territories (UTs), with varying levels of vulnerability. These States/UT have further been classified into two categories, based on the frequency of occurrence of cyclone,size of population and the existing institutional mechanism for disaster management. These categories are:
• Category I: Higher vulnerability States i.e. Andhra Pradesh,Gujarat,Odisha,Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.
• Category II: Lower vulnerability States i.e Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Goa, Pondicherry, Lakshadweep,Daman and Diu, Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Thunderstorm

Thunderstorms and tornadoes are severe local storms. They are of short duration, occurring over a small area but are violent.
Thunderstorm is a storm with thunder and lightning and typically also heavy rain or hail.
Thunderstorms mostly occur on ground where the temperature is high. Thunderstorms are less frequent on water bodies due to low temperature.

Earthquakes in India

EARTHQUAKE ZONES IN INDIA

Each zone indicates the effects of an earthquake at a particular place based on the observations of the affected areas and can also be described using a descriptive scale like Modified Mercalli intensity scale or the Medvedev–Sponheuer–Karnik scale.

Zone 5

Zone 5 covers the areas with the highest risks zone that suffers earthquakes of intensity MSK IX or greater. The IS code assigns zone factor of 0.36 for Zone 5. Structural designers use this factor for earthquake resistant design of structures in Zone 5. The zone factor of 0.36 is indicative of effective (zero period) level earthquake in this zone. It is referred to as the Very High Damage Risk Zone. The region of Kashmir, the Western and Central Himalayas, North and Middle Bihar, the North-East Indian region, the Rann of Kutch and the Andaman and Nicobar group of islands fall in this zone.

Generally, the areas having trap rock or basaltic rock are prone to earthquakes.

Zone 4

This zone is called the High Damage Risk Zone and covers areas liable to MSK VIII. The IS code assigns zone factor of 0.24 for Zone 4 Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, the parts of Indo-Gangetic plains (North Punjab, Chandigarh, Western Uttar Pradesh, Terai, North Bengal, Sundarbans) and the capital of the country Delhi fall in Zone 4. In Maharashtra, the Patan area (Koynanagar) is also in zone no-4. In Bihar the northern part of the state like Raxaul, Near the border of India and Nepal, is also in zone no-4.

Zone 3

This zone is classified as Moderate Damage Risk Zone which is liable to MSK VII. and also 7.8 The IS code assigns zone factor of 0.16 for Zone 3.

Zone 2

This region is liable to MSK VI or less and is classified as the Low Damage Risk Zone. The IS code assigns zone factor of 0.10 (maximum horizontal acceleration that can be experienced by a structure in this zone is 10% of gravitational acceleration) for Zone 2.

Zone 1

Since the current division of India into earthquake hazard zones does not use Zone 1, no area of India is classed as Zone 1.

2015 India/Nepal Earthquake

April 2015 Nepal earthquake was the worst natural disaster of Nepal and major aftershock were also reported from neighboring Indian states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and New Delhi. Operation Maitri was the name of rescue and relief operation from India to help Nepal.

2011 Sikkim Earthquake

2011 Sikkim Earthquake was occurred near the border of Nepal and Sikkim, also the earthquake was felt across northeastern India with a moment magnitude of 6.9.

2005 Kashmir Earthquake

2005 Kashmir Earthquake was considered as the deadliest earthquake to hit South Asia with a registered moment magnitude of 7.6.

2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake

2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and tsunami was one of the most devastating natural disaster in India and also deadliest natural disasters in recorded history of 14 countries.

2001 Bhuj Earthquake

2001 Bhuj Earthquake also known as Gujarat earthquake occurred on 26 January 2001 on the Republic Day of India at 08:46 AM IST. The earthquake with a registered moment magnitude of 7.7 destroyed nearly 400,000 homes and damaged millions of structures.

1999 Chamoli Earthquake

1999 Chamoli Earthquake was the strongest earthquake to hit the foothills of the Himalayas and state of Uttarakhand.

1997 Jabalpur Earthquake

1997 Jabalpur Earthquake occurred near Koshamghat village and Jabalpur and Mandla were the worst affected districts.

1993 Latur Earthquake

1993 Latur Earthquake primarily affected the districts of Latur in Maharashtra state of Western India.

1991 Uttarkashi Earthquake

1991 Uttarkashi Earthquake in the Gharwal regions of Uttarakhand .

1941 Andaman Islands Earthquake

1941 Andaman Islands Earthquake primarily struck the Andaman Islands and also near by Bangladesh, Myanmar and Thailand. Andaman Islands are part of the earthquake, cyclones, tsunamis, floods and home to the only active Volcano in India.

1975 Kinnaur Earthquake

1975 Kinnaur earthquake had a magnitude of 6.8 causing extensive damage in Himachal Pradesh with epicentre in Kinnaur district.

1967 Koynanagar Earthquake

1967 Koynanagar earthquake in Maharashtra occurred near the site of Koyna dam and damaged in Koyana Nagar Township.

1956 Anjar Earthquake

1956 Anjar Earthquake in town of Anjar in Kutch caused maximum damage in Anjar along with largely destroyed houses in Bhuj, Kera and Bhachau.

Tsunami

Tsunami waves traveled up to a depth of 3 km from the coast killing more than 10,000 people and affected more than lakh of houses. In India, the worst affected were the coastal areas of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Pondicherry and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

India’s preparedness

The Deep Ocean Assessment and Reporting System (DOARS) was set up in the Indian Ocean post-2004.
The Indian government plans to set up a network with Indonesia, Myanmar and Thailand etc.
A National Tsunami Early Warning Centre, which can detect earthquakes of more than 6 magnitude in the Indian Ocean, was inaugurated in 2007 in India.
Set up by the Ministry of Earth Sciences in the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad, the tsunami warning system would take 10-30 minutes to analyse the seismic data following an earthquake.

Landslides in India

A landslide is the gravitational movement of a mass of rock, or mass of earth or debris, downwards on a slope. It generally occurs when a hilly slope becomes unstable due to natural reasons such as groundwater pressure acting to destabilize the slope, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, erosion, etc.

The major areas affected by landslides in India are divided mainly in following regions as landslide-prone areas in India. These are based on landslide hazard zonation:

The Western Himalayas (in states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir)
The Eastern & North-eastern Himalayas (in states of West Bengal, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh)
The Naga-Arakkan Mountain belt (in states of Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura)
The Western Ghats region including Nilgiris (in states of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala & Tamil Nadu)
The Plateau margins of the Peninsular India and Meghalaya plateau in North-east India.

Epidemics

India has witnessed widespread illnesses and virus outbreaks in parts of the country, including the SARS outbreak between 2002 and 2004. However, statistics show that they were nowhere as widespread as the COVID-19 that has now reached almost every part of the country and almost every country in the world.

What is an Epidemic?

• The WHO defines epidemics as “the occurrence in a community or region of cases of an illness, specific health-related behaviour, or other health-related events clearly in excess of normal expectancy.
• The community or region and the period in which the cases occur are specified precisely.
• The number of cases indicating the presence of an epidemic varies according to the agent, size, and type of population exposed, previous experience or lack of exposure to the disease, and time and place of occurrence.
• Epidemics are characterized by the rapid spread of the specific disease across a large number of people within a short period of time.

Epidemics in India

• Many Indian citizens born at the start of the 21st century have not fully witnessed or experienced circumstances surrounding the mass outbreak of epidemics.
• This is not to say however, that as a nation, India is completely unfamiliar with dealing with epidemics and public health crises, some with exceptional success such as:

1915-1926⁠ — Encephalitis lethargica

• Encephalitis lethargica, also known as ‘lethargic encephalitis’ was a type of epidemic encephalitis that spread around the world between 1915 and 1926.
• The disease was characterized by increasing languor, apathy, drowsiness and lethargy and by 1919, had spread across Europe, the US, Canada, Central America and India.
• It was also called encephalitis A and Economo encephalitis or disease.
• Approximately 1.5 million people are believed to have died due to this disease.

1918-1920 — Spanish flu

• This epidemic was a viral infectious disease caused due to a deadly strain of avian influenza.
• The spread of this virus was largely due to World War I which caused mass mobilization of troops whose travels helped spread this infectious disease.
• In India, approximately 10-20 million people died due to the Spanish flu that was brought to the region a century ago, by Indian soldiers who were part of the war.

1961–1975 — Cholera pandemic

• Vibrio cholerae, one type of bacterium, has caused seven cholera pandemics since 1817.
• In 1961, the El Tor strain of the Vibrio cholerae bacterium caused the seventh cholera pandemic when it was identified as having emerged in Makassar, Indonesia.
• In a span of less than five years, the virus spread to other parts of Southeast Asia and South Asia, having reached Bangladesh in 1963 and India in 1964.

1974 — Smallpox epidemic

• According to WHO, smallpox was officially eradicated in 1980. The infectious disease was caused by either of the two virus variants Variola major and Variola minor.
• Although the origins of the disease are unknown, it appears to have existed in the 3rd century BCE.
• This disease has a history of occurring in outbreaks around the world and it is not clear when it was first observed in India. India was free of smallpox by March 1977.

1994 — Plague in Surat

• In September 1994, pneumonic plague hit Surat, causing people to flee the city in large numbers. Rumours and misinformation led to people hoarding essential supplies and widespread panic.
• This mass migration contributed to the spread of the disease to other parts of the country. Within weeks, reports emerged of at least 1,000 cases of patients afflicted with the disease and 50 deaths.

2002-2004 — SARS

• SARS was the first severe and readily transmissible new disease to have emerged in the 21st century.
• In April 2003, India recorded its first case of SARS, severe acute respiratory syndrome, that was traced to Foshan, China.
• Similar to COVID-19, the causative agent of SARS was a type of coronavirus, named SARS CoV that was known for its frequent mutations and spread through close person-to-person contact and through coughing and sneezing by infected people.

2014-2015 — Swine flu outbreak

• In the last few months of 2014, reports emerged of the outbreak of the H1N1 virus, one type of influenza virus, with states like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Delhi, Maharashtra and Telangana being the worst affected.
• By March 2015, according to India’s Health Ministry, approximately 33,000 cases had been reported across the country and 2,000 people had died.

2018 — Nipah virus outbreak

• In May 2018, a viral infection attributed to fruit bats was traced in the state of Kerala, caused by the Nipah virus that had caused illness and deaths.
• The spread of the outbreak remained largely within the state of Kerala, due to efforts by the local government and various community leaders who worked in collaboration to prevent its spread even inside the state.
• Between May and June 2018, at least 17 people died of Nipah virus and by June, the outbreak was declared to have been completely contained.

2020 – COVID-19 

What is corona virus
Corona viruses are a large family of viruses which may cause illness in animals or humans. In humans, several coronaviruses are known to cause respiratory infections ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). The most recently discovered coronavirus causes coronavirus disease COVID-19.

What is COVID-19
COVID-19 is the infectious disease caused by the most recently discovered corona virus. This new virus and disease were unknown before the outbreak began in Wuhan, China, in December 2019.

UPSC_Pre_MCQ

[tippy title=“UPSC_Pre_MCQ” height=“300” width=“650”] Assertion (A) : The frequency of floods in north Indian plains has increased during the last couple of decades. Reason (R) : There has been a reduction in the depth of river valleys due to deposition of silt. [2000] (a) Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A (b)Both A and R are true but R is not a correct explanation of A (c)A is true but R is false (d)A is false but R is true
Ans.(a)Siltation is the process of deposition of silt on the river bed through rain water, by which the depth of the river reduces. The flood water crosses the river embankment, by which flood occurs in most part of north India. [/tippy]

UPSC Questions

1. What do you understand by Environmental Pollution’? Mention the various kinds of pollution and their effects on the human health in 1ndia. [1992]
2. Write a note on causes of droughts in India. [2005]
3. How has the Indian State tackled the trade-off between environment and development? [2005]
4. Blue Revolution has definite advantages for India but it is not free from environmental impacts. Discuss. [2006]
5. The diminishing population of Vultures. Comment. [2011]
6. The recent cyclone on the east coast of India was called ‘Phalin. How are the tropical cyclones named across the world? Elaborated [2013]
7. Major cities of India are becoming more vulnerable to Flood conditions. Discuss. [2016]

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