UPSC Prelims 2016 · Question 93 of 98

UPSC Prelims 2016 question on Gadgil Kasturirangan Western Ghats

‘Gadgil Committee Report’ and ‘Kasturirangan Committee Report’, sometimes seen in the news, are related to

  1. constitutional reforms
  2. Ganga Action Plan
  3. linking of rivers
  4. protection of Western Ghats
Show answer

Answer: D. protection of Western Ghats

Verdict

The answer is protection of the Western Ghats. Both committees reported on the ecology of the Western Ghats.

Analysis

The Gadgil committee, formally the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel, recommended that about sixty four per cent of the Western Ghats be designated as ecologically sensitive with graded restrictions. The Kasturirangan panel was then set up to examine that report and recommended bringing about thirty seven per cent under Ecologically Sensitive Area status, with prohibitions on mining, thermal power, polluting industry and large housing projects in those zones. Neither concerned constitutional reform, the Ganga action plan or river interlinking.

Source

The Hindu reporting on the dispute over the Western Ghats.

How to crack it

Committee questions are answered by translating the chairman's name into a subject, so build the table for the names that recur: Gadgil and Kasturirangan for the Western Ghats, Swaminathan for farmers, Rangarajan for poverty estimation and for elephants, and Punchhi and Sarkaria for centre state relations. Note also the pattern here, where a second committee is appointed to review the first, which usually means the first was considered too restrictive.

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