UPSC Prelims 1998 · General Studies
Question 42: Environment and Ecology
According to Meadows (1972), if the present trends in world population, industrialisation, pollution, food production and resource depletion continue unchanged, the “Limits to Growth” on our planet will be reached in the next
AnswerThe answer is (b).
The Limits to Growth, the 1972 report to the Club of Rome by Meadows and colleagues, used a computer model of world population, industrialisation, pollution, food production and resource depletion. It concluded that if the trends continued unchanged, the limits to growth on the planet would be reached within the next hundred years. Remember the year 1972 and the Club of Rome.
Why each option is right or wrong
- (a) Fifty years is shorter than the report's horizon.
- (b) Right: within the next hundred years.
- (c) One hundred and fifty years is longer than the report's horizon.
- (d) Two hundred years is longer than the report's horizon.
Explanation: written by UPSC Grade, not by UPSC.
Source: UPSC, Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 1998, General Studies. UPSC's own paper isn't online; the words are from a published compilation. The paper on upsc.gov.in.