Environmental Acts: Chapter test

The new section 62A empowers the Central Government to regulate or prohibit the import, trade, possession or proliferation of invasive alien species, defined as plant or animal species not native to India whose introduction or spread may threaten or adversely affect wildlife or its habitat. The Centre may authorise an officer to seize and dispose of such species. The NBA works under the Biological Diversity Act on access and benefit sharing, and ICAR is a research body without regulatory power under this Act.

Statements 1 and 2 are correct. The amendment (in force from 1 April 2023) rationalised six Schedules into four: Schedule I (animals with the highest protection), Schedule II (animals with a lesser degree of protection), Schedule III (specified plants) and a new Schedule IV for specimens listed in the CITES Appendices. The old Schedule V of vermin was deleted. Statement 3 is wrong because Schedule III now holds the protected plants (the former Schedule VI), not animals.

A proviso added to section 43 permits the transfer or transport of a captive elephant for a religious or any other purpose by a person with a valid certificate of ownership, subject to terms and conditions prescribed by the Central Government (later laid down in rules on captive elephant transfer). The general bar on commercial transfer of captive animals remains. The 'National Heritage Animal' status (2010) was an administrative decision, not part of the Act, and the elephant remains in Schedule I.

Statements 2 and 3 are correct. Section 17A prohibits wilful picking, uprooting, damaging, destroying, acquiring or collecting of any specified plant from forest land or notified areas, while its proviso protects a Scheduled Tribe member's picking, collection or possession of a specified plant in his home district for personal use. Statement 1 is wrong: after the 2022 rationalisation, specified plants such as red vanda, pitcher plant and ladies' slipper orchids sit in Schedule III; Schedule VI no longer exists. Cultivation and trade of specified plants still need a licence.

Statements 1 and 2 are correct. Section 11(1)(a) lets the Chief Wild Life Warden permit the hunting of a Schedule I animal that is dangerous to human life or disabled or diseased beyond recovery, through a written order stating reasons; its proviso adds that killing is the last resort, ordered only if the animal cannot be captured, tranquilised or translocated. Section 11(2) makes killing or wounding in good faith in self-defence not an offence, but section 11(3) declares any animal so killed or wounded to be Government property, so statement 3 is wrong.

After the 2022 amendment there is no standing vermin Schedule. Under section 62, the Central Government may by notification declare any wild animal specified in Schedule II to be vermin for a specified area and period; while the notification is in force, that animal is deemed not to be in Schedule II there, so the hunting ban of section 9 does not apply to it. Schedule I animals can never be declared vermin. Earlier, species such as the Indian flying fox, common crow and rats sat in the old Schedule V as vermin.

Both statements are correct. The 2022 amendment raised fines under section 51: for general violations the maximum fine went up from ₹25,000 to ₹1 lakh, and for violations involving specially protected animals (Schedule I and similar provisions) the minimum fine rose from ₹10,000 to ₹25,000, alongside the existing imprisonment of three to seven years for such offences. Unlike the EP, Air and Water Acts, the Wild Life Act was not decriminalised; it kept and stiffened criminal sanctions because wildlife crime is linked to organised trafficking.

Statements 1 and 2 are correct. To implement CITES domestically, the amendment added sections 49E and 49F, providing for a Management Authority (permits, identification marks, registration of live specimens of Schedule IV animals) and a Scientific Authority (advice on whether trade is detrimental to survival). Statement 3 is wrong: the new section 42A allows voluntary surrender of captive animals, animal articles or specified plants, but no compensation is payable and the item becomes the property of the State Government.