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Pollution and Its Diseases: asked and not asked.

UPSC has asked 13 of these 26. 6 came more than once. 13 have not come yet. Lock the repeated ones first, then read the rest.

First, the concept

A pollutant is anything that harms living things when it is in the wrong place or in too large an amount. Some break down naturally (sewage); some do not (DDT, plastics, heavy metals).

Clean water has low BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand). Sewage raises BOD and uses up the oxygen fish need.

Many diseases are named after the place where they were first seen, and UPPCS pairs the disease with its metal or chemical.

🔁 Asked again and again (6)

Tap a year to open that solved question.

Diseases from metals and chemicals

  • Arsenicosis and black foot disease · Arsenic in groundwater; West Bengal and Bangladesh 2 times:20202013

Air

  • Carbon monoxide · Binds haemoglobin far more strongly than oxygen 10 times:202220212019201920162014
  • Acid rain · Sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides; damages the Taj Mahal's marble 5 times:20222013201319931988
  • Photochemical smog · Ozone and PAN made by sunlight acting on car exhaust 2 times:20132003

Water

  • Eutrophication · Too many nutrients in a lake cause algal bloom and kill fish 2 times:20112011

Waste, noise and soil

  • Bioremediation · Using microbes or plants to clean polluted soil or water (oil-eating bacteria) 4 times:2017201719901990

✅ Asked once (7)

Diseases from metals and chemicals

  • Minamata disease · Mercury; Japan 1993
  • Fluorosis · Too much fluoride; teeth and bones 2013

Air

  • PM2.5 and PM10 · Fine particles that reach deep into the lungs 2022
  • Air Quality Index · Launched in 2014; tracks 8 pollutants 2016

Water

  • BOD · Biochemical Oxygen Demand; high BOD means dirty water 2017

Waste, noise and soil

  • Fly ash · Ash from coal power plants; used to make bricks and cement
  • E-waste · Old electronics; contain lead, mercury, cadmium; E-Waste Rules 2022 2019

❌ Not asked by UPSC yet (13)

Items marked 'asked in UPPCS' have already come in the UP state exam, so examiners do use them.

Diseases from metals and chemicals

  • Itai-itai disease · Cadmium; Japan; painful bones asked in UPPCS
  • Blue baby syndrome · Nitrate in drinking water asked in UPPCS
  • Lead poisoning · Old petrol and paints; harms children's brains asked in UPPCS
  • Bhopal gas tragedy · 1984; methyl isocyanate (MIC) asked in UPPCS
  • Silicosis and asbestosis · Lung diseases of miners and stone and asbestos workers asked in UPPCS

Air

  • Radon · A radioactive gas from rocks that collects indoors asked in UPPCS
  • National Clean Air Programme · 2019; cut particulate pollution in cities

Water

  • COD · Chemical Oxygen Demand; counts all oxidisable matter asked in UPPCS
  • Thermal pollution · Hot water from power plants lowers dissolved oxygen
  • Namami Gange · 2014; mission to clean the Ganga

Waste, noise and soil

  • Noise and the decibel · Noise is measured in decibels; above about 85 dB harms hearing asked in UPPCS
  • Single-use plastic ban · From 1 July 2022 in India
  • Microplastics · Plastic bits under 5 mm, now found in seas, salt and blood

⚠️ Minamata is mercury and Itai-itai is cadmium: do not swap them. Blue baby comes from nitrate, not from lead. High BOD means more pollution, not less.

'Asked' is checked against the solved UPSC questions on this site. 'Not asked yet' does not mean it will surely come.

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