Which of the following statements about National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) with reference to India is/are correct? 1. It emphasises that maintaining a high growth rate is essential for raising the living standards of the vast majority of the people of India and reducing their vulnerability to the impact of climate change. 2. It was released in 2014. Select the correct answer using the code given below:
- (a)1 only
- (b)2 only
- (c)Both 1 and 2
- (d)Neither 1 nor 2
Correct — A, 1 only. The Government of India launched the National Action Plan on Climate Change on 30 June 2008, not in 2014, which settles statement 2 on its own. The Department of Science and Technology's own page records it in those words — the plan was launched on 30 June 2008, outlining eight National Missions on climate change. Statement 1 restates the plan's governing idea: India frames climate action as something to be pursued along with, not instead of, rapid growth, on the argument that higher incomes are themselves what lift people out of exposure to climate damage. The eight missions that follow from it — solar energy, enhanced energy efficiency, sustainable habitat, water, sustaining the Himalayan ecosystem, a green India, sustainable agriculture and strategic knowledge — are all written as development programmes with a climate payoff, which is the same idea in operational form.
- (b)2 only — Keeps the wrong year and drops the correct principle. The plan is from June 2008, six years before the date printed here.
- (c)Both 1 and 2 — Fails only on the date. 2014 is a tempting year because several later climate and energy programmes date from then, but the parent plan is older.
- (d)Neither 1 nor 2 — Rejects statement 1, which is the plan's stated approach — growth and climate resilience treated as complements rather than a trade-off.
The National Action Plan on Climate Change is India's umbrella climate policy document, released by the Prime Minister's Council on Climate Change on 30 June 2008. It set out eight National Missions: the National Solar Mission, the National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency, the National Mission on Sustainable Habitat, the National Water Mission, the National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Eco-system, the National Mission for a Green India, the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture, and the National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change. States were later asked to prepare State Action Plans on Climate Change aligned to it.
Dates are the cheapest thing an examiner can falsify, and this paper does it twice in the same block. Anchor the plan to 2008 by its context: it came in the year India was arguing at the UNFCCC that developing countries should not be asked to cap emissions, and its growth-first framing is the domestic version of that argument. One honest caution about statement 1 — the sentence in the paper reads like a quotation from the plan, and it does track the plan's stated principle, but the plan's own text could not be pulled from an official server while this card was written, so treat the wording as a paraphrase rather than something to reproduce as a quotation. The launch date, which is what actually decides the question, is on the record with the Department of Science and Technology.
- The National Action Plan on Climate Change was launched on 30 June 2008.
- It contains eight National Missions, of which the National Solar Mission and the National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency are the two most often asked about.
- The National Mission for a Green India is the forestry mission — restoring and enhancing forest cover as both adaptation and mitigation.
- The plan was issued by the Prime Minister's Council on Climate Change, and States were later asked to write State Action Plans on Climate Change under it.
- Its framing is that a high growth rate and reduced climate vulnerability go together, which is why every mission is written as a development programme.
Launched 30 June 2008 — the date that decides this question.
- Attaching the plan to 2014 or 2015, when several better-publicised energy programmes began.
- Counting more or fewer than eight missions — later additions such as coastal and health missions were proposed, but the founding set is eight.
- Assuming the plan is a law; it is a policy document, not a statute.
As a statements item pairing one correct description of the plan's approach with a wrong launch year, or as a straight count-the-missions question.
Which of the following best describes/describe the aim of 'Green India Mission' of the Government of India? 1. Incorporating environmental benefits and costs into the Union and State Budgets thereby implementing the 'green accounting' 2. Launching the second green revolution to enhance agricultural output so as to ensure food security to one and all in the future 3. Restoring and enhancing forest cover and responding to climate change by a combination of adaptation and mitigation measures Select the correct answer using the code given below.
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 2 and 3 only
- (c) 3 only
- (d) 1, 2 and 3
Answer(c) 3 only
One rung down the same ladder. The Green India Mission is one of the eight missions created by the 2008 plan, and that UPSC item tests what the mission does while this one tests when the parent plan was written and what it was written for.
- practice — not a real PYQ
In which year was India's National Action Plan on Climate Change launched?
- (a)2005
- (b)2008
- (c)2010
- (d)2014
Answer(b) 2008 — it was launched on 30 June 2008 with eight National Missions.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which one of the following is a National Mission under the National Action Plan on Climate Change?
- (a)National Mission for Clean Ganga
- (b)National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change
- (c)National Mission on Food Processing
- (d)National Mission for Financial Inclusion
Answer(b) National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change — the research and modelling mission, one of the eight in the 2008 plan.