UPPSC 2023 Prelims GS Paper-I · Question 105 of 150

Correct — B, Jamnagar. India's first National Centre for Marine Biodiversity (NCMB) is located at Jamnagar in Gujarat, alongside the Gulf of Kutch — home to the country's first Marine National Park and Marine Sanctuary, a region rich in coral reefs, mangroves and marine fauna. Siting the centre here places it at the heart of India's most studied marine-biodiversity zone.

• (a)Puducherry — Puducherry hosts other marine and coastal institutions but not India's first National Centre for Marine Biodiversity.
• (c)Mumbai — Mumbai is a major coastal city with fisheries and oceanographic bodies, but the NCMB is not located there.
• (d)Bhavnagar — Bhavnagar is also in coastal Gujarat, which makes it a tempting trap, but the NCMB is at Jamnagar, on the Gulf of Kutch, not Bhavnagar on the Gulf of Khambhat.

The National Centre for Marine Biodiversity (NCMB) is a dedicated institution to document, study and conserve India's marine biological diversity. Its choice of location — Jamnagar, Gujarat — reflects the exceptional marine ecosystem of the Gulf of Kutch, which holds India's first Marine National Park (notified 1982) and first Marine Sanctuary, with extensive coral reefs, mangroves, seagrass beds and associated fauna.

The trap lies within Gujarat itself: both Jamnagar and Bhavnagar are coastal Gujarat towns, so a candidate who only recalls 'somewhere in Gujarat' can slip to Bhavnagar. The anchor is the Gulf of Kutch marine-biodiversity cluster around Jamnagar, distinct from the Gulf of Khambhat near Bhavnagar.

• India's first National Centre for Marine Biodiversity (NCMB) is at Jamnagar, Gujarat.
• It lies beside the Gulf of Kutch, home to India's first Marine National Park (notified 1982).
• The Gulf of Kutch is noted for coral reefs, mangroves, seagrass and rich marine fauna.
• Bhavnagar (Gulf of Khambhat) is the distractor — a different coastal Gujarat location.

• Picking Bhavnagar because it, too, is coastal Gujarat (Gulf of Khambhat, not Gulf of Kutch)
• Confusing the Gulf of Kutch marine park with the Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park (Tamil Nadu)

UPPSC/UPSC ask the location of new institutions and 'firsts', or link marine-biodiversity centres to the Gulf of Kutch / Gulf of Mannar ecosystems.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  India's first Marine National Park is located in which of the following?

  • (a)Gulf of Mannar
  • (b)Gulf of Kutch
  • (c)Chilika Lake
  • (d)Sundarbans

  Answer(b) Gulf of Kutch, Gujarat — notified in 1982 as India's first Marine National Park.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Gulf of Kutch, near Jamnagar, is best known for which of the following ecosystems?

  • (a)Cold-desert vegetation
  • (b)Coral reefs and mangroves
  • (c)Alpine meadows
  • (d)Tropical rainforest

  Answer(b) Coral reefs and mangroves — a rich marine ecosystem supporting the region's biodiversity.