In which of the following years, the Environment (Protection) Act passed by the Government of India?

1. A

   1982

   1982 is not the year of the Environment (Protection) Act. That year sits in the run-up to Bhopal and to later umbrella legislation, but Parliament had not yet passed this statute. Treating 1982 as the Act year therefore misdates the Union’s principal environmental enabling law.

2. B

   1986

   (b) Official key: The Environment (Protection) Act was passed in 1986. It followed the Bhopal gas disaster of December 1984 and gave the Union an umbrella power to protect and improve the environment and to control pollution. Rules, notifications and later sectoral laws rest on this 1986 parent statute. Among the years listed, only 1986 matches the Act.

3. C

   1990

   1990 is after the Act. By then the 1986 statute was already in force and the Union was using it for rules and standards. Dating the Act to 1990 therefore places the law four years too late.

4. D

   1992

   1992 is the year of the Rio Earth Summit and of India’s stronger international environmental diplomacy, not of this Act. The Environment (Protection) Act had already been on the statute book for six years. Confusing Rio with the Indian Act is a common calendar mix-up.

Summary. Official key is (b). The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 is India’s umbrella environmental statute, enacted after Bhopal to let the Centre set standards, restrict industry and issue directions. 1982 is too early; 1990 and 1992 belong to later rule-making and to Rio, not to the parent Act. The keyed year is therefore 1986, not the neighbouring calendar options.