Question

The wildlife protection act was implemented in the year___
a) 1970
b) 1972
c) 1973
d) 1974

Answer 1

Hint: India is home to a wide number of beasts. With its diverse habitats ranging from the Himalayas in the north to the evergreen rain-forests in the south, the desert sands of the west to the marshy mangroves of the east, it is a biodiversity hotspot. Around 7.6 percent of mammals, 14.7 percent of amphibians, 6 percent of birds, 6.2 percent of reptilians, and 6.0 percent of flowering plant species are in India, found within the Indomalayan domain.

Complete Answer:
- The Wild Life Protection Act, 1972, is a plant and animal species protection act passed by the Parliament of India. India had only five named national parks before 1972.
- Among other amendments, the Act defined protected plant and animal species schedules; the killing or harvesting of these species was largely prohibited; the Act provides for the protection of wild animals, birds and plants; and for matters relevant to or ancillary to them or incidental to them.
- It has six schedules that have various degrees of security. Absolute protection is provided for in Schedule I and Part II of Schedule II - the maximum fines are prescribed for crimes under these.
- Also covered are species specified in Schedule III and Schedule IV, although the fines are much smaller.
- Animals under Schedule V are legally considered vermin, e.g. common crows, fruit bats, rats and mice, and can be openly hunted. Cultivation of the endemic plants mentioned in Schedule VI is prohibited.

Hence, the answer is option b).

Note: Northeast Greenland National Park is the largest of its kind in the world, stretching across almost half of all of Greenland. Established in 1974, the only national park in Greenland is said to be 77 times larger than Yellowstone National Park and protects a designated international biosphere reserve of 375,000 square miles.