The Scheme of the Wild Life (Protection) Act 1972

In one line

The Act does three things: it prohibits an act, it protects a place, and it controls a trade. Every section belongs to one of the three.

In exam wording: the Wild Life (Protection) Act 1972, Act 53 of 1972, extends to the whole of India and came into force in a State or Union territory on such date as the Central Government appointed by notification, different dates being appointable for different provisions or different States; section 66 repeals every other Act in force in a State relating to a matter contained in it to the extent of correspondence or repugnancy, with savings, and deems a sanctuary or National Park declared under a repealed Act to be one declared under this Act; the Act is arranged in chapters dealing with the authorities, hunting, specified plants, sanctuaries and National Parks, the Central Zoo Authority, the National Tiger Conservation Authority, the Wild Life Crime Control Bureau, trade and commerce in wild animals and articles, the prohibition of trade in scheduled animals, international trade in scheduled specimens, prevention and detection of offences, forfeiture of property derived from illegal hunting and trade, and miscellaneous provisions; and after the Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Act 2022 there are four Schedules, Schedule I and Schedule II holding animals, Schedule III specified plants and Schedule IV specimens of species included in the Appendices to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

MU's own phrase. She asks for the salient features of the Wild Life (Protection) Act 1972, and the three functions above are the frame for that answer.

The three things the Act does

One: it prohibits an act. Section 9: no person shall hunt any wild animal specified in Schedule I or Schedule II. That prohibition follows the animal wherever it is, inside a protected area or outside one.

Two: it protects a place. Chapter IV: sanctuaries under section 18, National Parks under section 35, conservation reserves under section 36A, community reserves under section 36C. Inside those places, sections 27 to 34 and section 35(6) prohibit a much wider range of acts, by anybody, in relation to anything.

Three: it controls a trade. Chapter V licenses dealing; Chapter VA prohibits it altogether for scheduled animals; Chapter VB, inserted in 2022, governs international trade in scheduled specimens.

Everything else serves one of the three. Chapters II and IIA supply the authorities; Chapters VI and VIA supply the enforcement, the penalties and the forfeiture; Chapter VII is miscellaneous.

Say this at the start of any general answer on the Act. A candidate who organises the Act this way can place any section without having memorised the arrangement.