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RAS question

The Environment Protection Act, 1986 was enacted in response to which disaster?

Correct answer: (A) Bhopal Gas Tragedy (1984).

The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 was enacted in the wake of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy of 1984.

  1. (A)

    Bhopal Gas Tragedy (1984)

  2. (B)

    Tsunami (2004)

  3. (C)

    Chernobyl (1986)

  4. (D)

    Kerala Floods (2018)

Explanation

The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 followed the Bhopal Gas Tragedy of 2-3 December 1984. In the wake of the Bhopal Tragedy, the Government of India enacted the Environment (Protection) Act of 1986. The Act is also an umbrella legislation for the protection and improvement of the environment. The Act is not tied to one narrow pollution stream; it gives the Central Government powers to take measures needed to protect and improve environmental quality. The disaster connection is Bhopal, and the legislative response was a broad central framework rather than a disaster-specific relief measure.

Why the other options are wrong

  • (B) The 2004 tsunami happened much later than the 1986 Act, so it cannot be the disaster that prompted the law.
  • (C) Chernobyl was a 1986 nuclear disaster in the USSR, while India's Environment (Protection) Act is linked to the Bhopal Tragedy.
  • (D) The Kerala floods occurred in 2018, decades after the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 had already been enacted.

Concept

Indian environmental legislation evolved after major disasters. RAS Environment and Ecology preparation often connects statutes with the trigger events and institutional powers behind them.

Source

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