Match List-I with List-II and choose the correct answer using the codes given below the lists :
List-I (Biosphere Reserve)
A. Simlipal
B. Nokrek
C. Agasthyamalai
D. Manas
List-II (State)
1. Kerala
2.

Question

Match List-I with List-II and choose the correct answer using the codes given below the lists :
List-I (Biosphere Reserve)
A. Simlipal
B. Nokrek
C. Agasthyamalai
D. Manas
List-II (State)
1. Kerala
2. Odisha
3. Assam
4. Meghalaya
Codes :

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — D, A-2, B-4, C-1, D-3. Simlipal Biosphere Reserve lies in the Mayurbhanj district of Odisha (List-II 2) — designated by the Government of India in 1994 and added to UNESCO's World Network of Biosphere Reserves in May 2009; it also holds Simlipal Tiger Reserve. Nokrek Biosphere Reserve is in the Garo Hills of Meghalaya (4), designated in 1988 and on the UNESCO network since 2009. Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve is centred on the Agastyamalai hills of the southern Western Ghats and is matched here with Kerala (1) — it was designated in 2001 and takes in Neyyar, Peppara and Shendurney Wildlife Sanctuaries in Kerala along with the Kalakad–Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve on the Tamil Nadu side. Manas Biosphere Reserve is in Assam (3), designated in 1989 on the Bhutan border. Only option (d) puts all four in the right state.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) Gets only Manas right. It sends Simlipal to Kerala (it is in Odisha), Nokrek to Odisha (it is in Meghalaya) and Agasthyamalai to Meghalaya (it is in the far south, on the Kerala–Tamil Nadu border) — a straight three-way rotation of the northern and southern reserves.  (b) Every pair is wrong. Simlipal is placed in Assam, Nokrek in Kerala, Agasthyamalai in Meghalaya and Manas in Odisha — the two north-eastern reserves and the two others are completely interchanged.  (c) The dangerous near-miss: it gets Simlipal–Odisha and Nokrek–Meghalaya right, then swaps the last two, putting Agasthyamalai in Assam and Manas in Kerala. Manas sits on the Assam–Bhutan foothills of the eastern Himalaya, while Agasthyamalai is a southern Western Ghats reserve — the two are at opposite ends of the country.

Concept: A biosphere reserve is an internationally recognised unit of conservation created under UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme and notified in India by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. Unlike a national park, it is not a single legal category but a zoned landscape: a legally protected core zone where no human activity is permitted, a buffer zone allowing research, education and limited resource use, and a transition (manipulation) zone where settlements, farming and other economic activity continue. The core is usually an existing national park or wildlife sanctuary, so the same name often appears as a national park, a tiger reserve and a biosphere reserve at once. India has 18 biosphere reserves, 13 of which are on UNESCO's World Network.

State PCS 2024 Q10 — Environment & Ecology PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2024 Q10 — Environment & Ecology PYQ with Answer