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UPSC Prelims 2014 · Environment · Wild Places
With reference to ‘Eco-Sensitive Zones’, which of the following statements is/are correct?
- Eco-Sensitive Zones are the areas that are declared under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
- The purpose of the declaration of Eco-Sensitive Zones is to prohibit all kinds of human activities in those zones except agriculture.
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 2 only
- (c) Both 1 and 2
- (d) Neither 1 nor 2
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2
Wrong Act in 1, and an over-absolute “all activities except agriculture” in 2.
Statement by statement
1. ✗ WRONG — wrong Act ESZs are notified by the Environment Ministry under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. The Wildlife Act, 1972 creates the parks and sanctuaries themselves — not the buffer around them.
2. ✗ WRONG — it regulates, it does not ban everything An ESZ is a shock absorber around a protected area. Activities are sorted into three lists:
The idea
A park boundary is a line on a map; animals and pollution do not stop at it. An eco-sensitive zone is a shock absorber around the park, where the strict rules inside fade gradually into the normal rules outside.
Prohibited: commercial mining, polluting industries, saw mills, large hydro projects → Regulated: tree felling, hotels, road widening, night traffic → Permitted: existing farming, rainwater harvesting, organic farming
Why the others are wrong
(a) Statement 1 names the wrong Act — ESZs come under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
(b) Statement 2 is too absolute — ESZs regulate activities, they do not ban all of them.
(c) Both statements have an error, so both cannot be correct.
The trap
Two traps in one question: the familiar-sounding Act (Wildlife Act, 1972) and an absolute word (“all kinds”). In Environment, “all / only / completely” statements are usually wrong.
Also know
Width is decided case by case (up to 10 km is the usual guideline). In June 2022 the Supreme Court ordered a minimum 1 km ESZ around every protected area; it relaxed this in April 2023 for some cases.
🔒 Park or sanctuary = Wildlife Act 1972. The buffer around it (ESZ) = Environment Protection Act 1986. ESZ regulates, it does not freeze.