UPSC Prelims 2014 IR and Current Affairs questions: topic-wise weightage
UPSC Prelims 2014 asked 7 current affairs questions in GS Paper I, spread over 2 topics. See the current affairs weightage for 2014 below, then attempt each question with the official answer and an explanation.
IR and Current Affairs 2014: questions by topic
- International organisations, groupings and India's relations4
- Schemes, reports, indices and other current affairs3
Counted from the 7 questions on this page, tagged by topic in the Battle IAS PYQ bank.
Seeing 7 IR and Current Affairs questions spread over 2 topics can feel overwhelming. That's exactly why the Battle IAS PYQ Book maps every question topic by topic, so you know what to study first. Download free sample
International organisations, groupings and India's relations 4
With reference to a grouping of countries known as BRICS, consider the following statements :
- 1. The First Summit of BRICS was held in Rio de Janeiro in 2009.
- 2. South Africa was the last to join the BRICS grouping.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer (b) & explanation
Statement 1 is wrong: the first BRIC summit was held at Yekaterinburg, Russia, in 2009, not Rio. Brazil hosted the second, in Brasília in 2010. Statement 2 was correct in 2014: South Africa joined in 2010–11 and turned BRIC into BRICS.
The group has since grown: Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the UAE joined in 2024 and Indonesia in 2025. Its New Development Bank (Shanghai) and Contingent Reserve Arrangement were agreed at the Fortaleza summit in 2014. Notice how a question set in one year can age; always read membership questions in the year they were asked.
Answer as of 2014. The expansion from 2024 came after this question was set.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Recently, a series of uprisings of people referred to as ‘Arab Spring’ originally started from
Answer (d) & explanation
The Arab Spring began in Tunisia in December 2010, after street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in protest (d). President Ben Ali fled in January 2011. Protests then spread to Egypt (a), where Hosni Mubarak fell in February 2011, and to Libya, Yemen, Syria (c) and Bahrain. Lebanon (b) was not the starting point.
The outcomes varied widely: Tunisia moved to democracy for a decade, Libya and Yemen slid into conflict, and Syria descended into a long civil war that ended with Assad's fall in December 2024. Notice how food prices, youth unemployment and social media fuelled these protests.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Consider the following countries :
- 1. Denmark
- 2. Japan
- 3. Russian Federation
- 4. United Kingdom
- 5. United States of America
Which of the above are the members of the ‘Arctic Council’?
Answer (d) & explanation
The Arctic Council (1996, Ottawa Declaration) has eight members: Canada, Denmark (through Greenland), Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the USA. So 1, 3 and 5 are correct (d). Japan and the UK are only observers, so options with 2 or 4 fail.
India became an observer in 2013, along with China, Japan and others. India runs the Himadri research station in Svalbard and released an Arctic Policy in 2022. Notice how melting ice opens new shipping routes and resources, linking climate change to geopolitics and trade.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Consider the following pairs :
| Region often in news | Country
| 1. Chechnya | Russian Federation
| 2. Darfur | Mali
| 3. Swat Valley | Iraq
Which of the above pairs is/are correctly matched?
Answer (a) & explanation
Only pair 1 is correct (a). Chechnya is a republic of the Russian Federation in the North Caucasus, where two separatist wars were fought in the 1990s and 2000s. Darfur, scene of mass atrocities since 2003, is in western Sudan, not Mali. The Swat Valley, where the Pakistani Taliban were active and Malala Yousafzai was shot in 2012, is in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, not Iraq.
Swat was also an old centre of Gandhara Buddhist culture. Notice how "places in news" questions reward a mental world map built steadily from current affairs.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Schemes, reports, indices and other current affairs 3
With reference to Agni-IV Missile, which of the following statements is/are correct?
- 1. It is a surface-to-surface missile.
- 2. It is fuelled by liquid propellant only.
- 3. It can deliver one-tonne nuclear warheads about 7500 km away.
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
Answer (a) & explanation
Agni-IV is a surface-to-surface ballistic missile (1 correct). It has two solid-fuel stages, so statement 2 is wrong, and it carries a one-tonne warhead about 4,000 km, not 7,500 km, so statement 3 is wrong too.
The longer range of 5,000 km and more belongs to Agni-V, which tested MIRV technology in Mission Divyastra in 2024. The Agni series is built by DRDO and grew out of the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme led by A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. Notice how solid fuel matters: such missiles can be stored ready and launched quickly.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Consider the following statements regarding ‘Earth Hour’ :
- 1. It is an initiative of UNEP and UNESCO.
- 2. It is a movement in which the participants switch off the lights for one hour on a certain day every year.
- 3. It is a movement to raise the awareness about the climate change and the need to save the planet.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer (c) & explanation
Earth Hour was started by WWF in Sydney in 2007, not by UNEP or UNESCO, so statement 1 is wrong. People switch off non-essential lights for one hour on a set day each year, usually the last Saturday of March (2 correct), to raise awareness about climate change and protecting the planet (3 correct). So the answer is (c).
It has grown into one of the world's largest grassroots environmental events, with landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower and India Gate going dark. Notice how symbolic actions build public will, the same idea behind India's Mission LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment).
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Chaitra 1 of the national calendar based on the Saka Era corresponds to which one of the following dates of the Gregorian calendar in a normal year of 365 days?
Answer (a) & explanation
India adopted the Saka national calendar on 22 March 1957. Chaitra 1 falls on 22 March in a normal year and 21 March in a leap year, close to the spring equinox (a). The other dates do not match: 15 May (b), 31 March (c) and 21 April (d) are not linked to the national calendar's new year.
The Saka era began in 78 CE and is linked with the Kushana king Kanishka. The calendar was reformed by the Calendar Reform Committee led by Meghnad Saha. It is used alongside the Gregorian calendar in the Gazette of India and government notices. Notice how astronomy shaped the calendar's design.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
All years by topic
Every question from 2011 to 2026, grouped by syllabus topic, with year-wise trends.