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General Studies 2021 GS Paper I 10 marks 150 words Compulsory Explain

GS Paper I — Q6

What are the environmental implications of the reclamation of water bodies into urban land use ? Explain with examples. (Answer…

What are the environmental implications of the reclamation of water bodies into urban land use ? Explain with examples. (Answer in 150 words) 10 marks

हिंदी में प्रश्न पढ़ें

शहरी भूमि उपयोग के लिए जल निकायों से भूमि-उद्धार के पर्यावरणीय प्रभाव क्या हैं ? उदाहरणों सहित समझाइए । (150 शब्दों में उत्तर दीजिए)

Q6 of the 2021 UPSC Mains General Studies GS Paper I, as printed
The question as printed in the 2021 General Studies paper
Evaluate your answer to this question → See all 2021 General Studies questions

Model answer

Written by UPSC Answer Check against this question's marking rubric, to the 150-word length. UPSC does not publish answers for Mains — this is one way to score well, not an official key.

Reclamation of water bodies—converting lakes, wetlands, and floodplains into built-up urban spaces—replaces permeable sponges with impervious surfaces, triggering severe environmental consequences:

Hydrological Disruption: Infilling floodplains prevents natural percolation and stormwater absorption, causing acute groundwater depletion and catastrophic urban flooding, as seen during the 2015 Chennai floods linked to the loss of the Pallikaranai marshland.

Biodiversity and Water Quality Loss: Draining aquatic ecosystems destroys local fauna and migratory bird habitats (e.g., encroachment around the Okhla Bird Sanctuary). Furthermore, losing natural bio-filtration capacity leads to wastewater stagnation and eutrophication in surviving water spreads.

Microclimate Alteration: Replacing water surfaces with concrete eliminates latent heat absorption and evaporative cooling, intensifying the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect.

Socio-Environmental Costs: It deprives traditional fishing communities of livelihoods and erodes local cultural ecosystem services.

Such encroachments violate the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017, inviting judicial scrutiny from the National Green Tribunal (NGT) over toxic hazards like Bengaluru's Bellandur Lake. Sustainable urban master plans must adopt blue-green infrastructure to preserve these critical hydrological buffers.

What "Explain" is asking you to do

Make the working of something clear — what sets it off, what follows from what, and what it produces. Explain is the Commission's mechanism word: it dominates the technical papers and the “explain why” stems, where the marks sit in the causal chain and not in the label.

Structure that answers it

State what it is → the initiating condition → the chain of cause, step by step → an instance where it plays out → what the chain produces

Where marks are lost

Describing what something looks like instead of why it works that way. Naming the stages without linking them reads as description too.

All UPSC directive words, compared →

How this answer will be evaluated

Approach

Framework: GS1 Geography/Environment. explain: definition/context > points in order > small example > short close Full marks: Explains mechanisms (hydrology, ecology) with specific urban examples.

Key points expected

  • Loss of biodiversity and aquatic habitat
  • Disruption of hydrological cycle (groundwater recharge)
  • Reduction in urban heat island mitigation
  • Specific examples of reclaimed water bodies

Evaluation rubric

Each sub-part is marked on its own, against the marks and word limit printed on the paper.

  1. The answer Mechanism of environmental degradation from water body reclamation with examples.  · 150 words

    explain— definition/context → points in order → small example → short close

    Must cover

    • Loss of biodiversity and aquatic habitat
    • Disruption of hydrological cycle (groundwater recharge)
    • Reduction in urban heat island mitigation
    • Specific examples of reclaimed water bodies

    Loses marks

    • Listing impacts without explaining the mechanism
    • Generalizing without specific urban examples
    • Focusing on economic benefits rather than environmental costs

    Earns more

    • Impact on urban drainage and flood risk
    • Loss of cultural or ecological services
    • Reference to specific urban planning failures

    Extra mark

    • Specific statistic on water body loss in a city
    • Reference to a specific court order or policy

Practice this exact question

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