UPPCS Prelims 2020 GS Paper I PYQs with explanations

Option (a), the Alagh Committee, is correct. The Y.K. Alagh task force of 1979 defined the poverty line purely on nutritional needs: 2,400 kcal a day per person in rural areas and 2,100 kcal in urban areas, converted into monthly spending. The Lakdawala Committee (b, 1993) kept the calorie basis but used state-specific price indices. The Tendulkar Committee (c, 2009) dropped calorie anchoring for a broader basket including health and education, estimating 21.9% poverty in 2011-12. The Rangarajan Committee (d, 2014) combined food, including protein and fat, with non-food needs, estimating 29.5%. Concept: the first official estimate came from a 1962 working group; NITI Aayog now also uses the Multidimensional Poverty Index.

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Option (d), social inequality, is correct, because it is not one of the HDI's indicators. The UNDP Human Development Index, first published in 1990 and designed by Mahbub ul Haq with Amartya Sen, measures three dimensions: a long and healthy life (life expectancy at birth, a), knowledge (mean and expected years of schooling, b) and a decent standard of living (GNI per capita in PPP dollars, c). It is the geometric mean of the three indices. Inequality is measured separately: the Inequality-adjusted HDI (2010), the Gender Inequality Index and the Multidimensional Poverty Index. Concept: India ranked 130th of 193 in the Human Development Report 2025, in the medium human development group.

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Option (a), Oscar Lewis, is correct. American anthropologist Oscar Lewis proposed the 'culture of poverty' in 1959 in Five Families, from studies of poor families in Mexico and later Puerto Rico. He argued that the poor develop values of fatalism, present-orientation and weak participation in institutions, passing poverty on to the next generation. Gunnar Myrdal (b) wrote Asian Drama (1968) on 'soft states' and cumulative causation. Ashish Bose (c), a demographer, coined the term BIMARU states. Amartya Sen (d) gave the capability approach and entitlement theory of famines. Concept: critics say the theory blames the poor rather than structural causes such as lack of jobs, land or education.

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Option (c), politics and development, is correct, because it was not one of the negative effects of development. The 1980s debate on development's costs, sharpened by the Brundtland report (1987), the Bhopal gas tragedy (1984) and movements such as the Narmada Bachao Andolan, focused on degradation of natural resources (a), such as forest loss and soil erosion; environmental pollution (b), from industry and pesticides; and displacement and rehabilitation of people (d) by dams, mines and large projects. 'Politics and development' is a general field of study, not a harmful outcome. Concept: these debates led to the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, and eventually to the Land Acquisition Act of 2013 with rehabilitation rules.

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Option (b), Devlali to Danapur, is correct. India's first Kisan Rail, a weekly parcel train for perishables such as fruits, vegetables, onions and fish, was flagged off on 7 August 2020 from Devlali near Nashik (Maharashtra) and reached Danapur near Patna (Bihar) on 8 August. Ghaziabad-Howrah (a), Nashik-New Delhi (c) and Nashik-Ahmedabad (d) are distractors. Concept: Kisan Rail was announced in the 2020-21 Union Budget to build a seamless cold supply chain, with a 50% freight subsidy under Operation Greens (TOP to TOTAL). The parallel Krishi Udan scheme uses air transport for farm produce, especially from the North-East and hilly areas.

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Option (b), Haryana, is correct. Haryana launched the Pashu Kisan Credit Card scheme in 2020, giving livestock farmers collateral-free loans for cows, buffaloes, sheep, goats and poultry, with about Rs 1.6 lakh available without collateral at concessional interest. Gujarat (a), Punjab (c) and Rajasthan (d) did not start this particular scheme. Concept: the Kisan Credit Card scheme, introduced in 1998 on the advice of the R.V. Gupta Committee and run through NABARD and banks, was extended to animal husbandry and fisheries farmers in 2018-19. Under the Modified Interest Subvention Scheme, prompt repayment brings the effective rate down to 4%.

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Option (b), the Naandi Foundation, is correct. Hyderabad's Naandi Foundation was named one of the ten top visionaries of the Rockefeller Foundation's Food System Vision Prize 2050, announced in 2020, for its 'Arakunomics' model in Andhra Pradesh's Araku valley, where tribal farmers grow organic coffee sold globally under the Araku brand. Smile Foundation (a) works on education and health. The Adani (c) and Reliance (d) foundations are corporate philanthropy arms. Concept: Arakunomics combines profits for farmers, quality for consumers and regenerative agriculture for the planet. The prize sought visions for regenerative and nourishing food systems by 2050.

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Option (b), Performer, is correct. In NITI Aayog's SDG India Index 2019-20, released in December 2019, Uttar Pradesh scored 55 out of 100. Scores of 50-64 fall in the 'Performer' band, while 65-99 is 'Front Runner' (c), 100 is 'Achiever' (d), and below 50 is 'Aspirant' (a). UP had been an Aspirant in the first edition (2018), so it moved up. Concept: Kerala topped the index in each of its editions. In the 2023-24 edition, India's overall score rose to 71, and UP was among the Front Runners. The index is based on MoSPI's National Indicator Framework and helps states compete and learn from each other.

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Option (b), 1, 2 and 3, is correct. Indian poverty estimates have used calorie norms (2), such as the Alagh (1979) and Lakdawala (1993) methods based on 2,400 rural and 2,100 urban kcal; household consumption expenditure (3) from NSSO surveys, used by Tendulkar (2009) and Rangarajan (2014) to set poverty lines; and the head count ratio (1), the share of people below the line, to report results. Per capita income (4) measures average income and says nothing about how many are poor, so options (a), (c) and (d) fail. Concept: the World Bank's international poverty line was raised to $3.00 a day (2021 PPP) in 2025, and NITI Aayog's Multidimensional Poverty Index uses health, education and living standards.

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Option (b), 2024, is the answer per the question's context. In 2019 the government set the goal of a US$ 5 trillion economy by 2024-25, as stated in the Economic Survey 2018-19 and Budget 2019-20. 2022 (a) was the target year for doubling farmers' income and 175 GW of renewable energy. 2026 (c) and 2030 (d) were not the original target, though 2030 is the date for many climate and SDG goals. Concept: the target slipped because of the COVID-19 pandemic and a weaker rupee. India's economy reached about US$ 4 trillion and became the world's fourth-largest around 2025, and is now projected to cross US$ 5 trillion around 2027-28.

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Option (c), 2010, is correct. The Human Development Report 1997 introduced the Human Poverty Index, later split into HPI-1 for developing and HPI-2 for developed countries. The Human Development Report 2010, the 20th-anniversary edition, replaced it with the Multidimensional Poverty Index, developed with Oxford's Poverty and Human Development Initiative. The MPI uses ten indicators across health (nutrition, child mortality), education (years of schooling, attendance) and living standards (cooking fuel, sanitation, water, electricity, housing, assets). 1999 (a), 2005 (b) and 2015 (d) are wrong. Concept: 2010 also brought the Inequality-adjusted HDI and the Gender Inequality Index. NITI Aayog estimated that 24.8 crore Indians escaped multidimensional poverty between 2013-14 and 2022-23.

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Option (d) is correct: A false, R true. The Assertion fails because the National Infrastructure Pipeline, released in December 2019 by a task force under the Finance Ministry, covers FY 2020-25, not 2020-30, with projects worth about Rs 111 lakh crore in energy, roads, railways, urban and other sectors. The Reason is true: among the NIP's stated aims is to provide world-class infrastructure and improve access to it, so as to raise the quality of life for all citizens. Options (a), (b) and (c) treat A as true. Concept: the National Monetisation Pipeline (2021) aims to fund such projects by leasing existing public assets, and PM Gati Shakti (2021) coordinates infrastructure planning.

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The official key is option (b), only 2. India rose to 63rd of 190 economies in the World Bank's Doing Business 2020 report, released in October 2019, up from 77th in Doing Business 2019, and from 142nd in 2014. Strictly, then, both figures are accurate, and the key's rejection of statement 1 may reflect how the examiner read the report year. Options (a), (c) and (d) are rejected per key. Concept: the World Bank stopped the Doing Business report in September 2021 after data irregularities in the 2018 and 2020 editions. Its successor, the B-READY (Business Ready) report, first appeared in October 2024, assessing regulatory framework, public services and efficiency.

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Option (d), 15%, is correct. Budget 2020-21 raised the limit for Foreign Portfolio Investment in corporate bonds from 9% to 15% of the outstanding stock of corporate bonds, to deepen the bond market and attract foreign capital. 9% (a) was the earlier limit; 10% (b) and 12% (c) are distractors. Concept: the same budget opened certain government securities fully to non-resident investors through the Fully Accessible Route, which later led to Indian bonds being included in JP Morgan's emerging market bond index from June 2024. FPIs are regulated by SEBI, and holdings of 10% or more of a company's equity are treated as FDI, not FPI.

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Option (d), NITI Aayog, is correct. The Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office (DMEO), formed in 2015 by merging the Programme Evaluation Organisation and the Independent Evaluation Office, is an attached office of NITI Aayog. It monitors and evaluates government programmes and schemes, including centrally sponsored schemes, and runs the output-outcome monitoring framework. The PMO (a) runs PRAGATI reviews of projects but does not host DMEO. The Home Ministry (b) handles internal security. The Cabinet Secretariat (c) coordinates between ministries. Concept: NITI Aayog replaced the Planning Commission on 1 January 2015, and the Prime Minister is its chairperson.

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Option (a) is correct: both are true and R explains A. Assertion: Budget 2020-21 focused on rural development with the aim of doubling farmers' income by 2022. Reason: under the theme 'Aspirational India', it announced a 16-point action plan for agriculture, irrigation and rural development, including Kisan Rail, Krishi Udan, expansion of PM-KUSUM solar pumps, warehousing, village storage schemes and a target of Rs 15 lakh crore farm credit. These action points directly explain the budget's rural focus. Options (b), (c) and (d) are therefore wrong. Concept: the doubling farmers' income goal was set in 2016 by the Ashok Dalwai Committee, using 2015-16 as the base year.

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Option (c), the World Economic Forum, is correct. The WEF published the biennial Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index, ranking countries on factors such as policy, infrastructure, natural and cultural resources and safety; India ranked 34th in 2019. It was renamed the Travel and Tourism Development Index in 2021, where India placed 39th in 2024. The World Bank (a), the IMF (b) and the UNDP (d) publish other reports, such as the World Development Report, the World Economic Outlook and the Human Development Report. Concept: the WEF, based in Geneva, also publishes the Global Gender Gap Report and the Global Risks Report, and hosts the annual meeting at Davos.

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Option (a), 4, 1, 2, 3, is correct. Regional Rural Banks were set up in 1975, following the Narasimham working group, with the first on 2 October 1975 (Prathama Bank, Moradabad). NABARD was established on 12 July 1982 on the recommendation of the B. Sivaraman Committee. NABARD's SHG-Bank Linkage pilot began in 1992 and grew into the world's largest microfinance programme. The Kisan Credit Card scheme began in August 1998 on the R.V. Gupta Committee's advice. Options (b), (c) and (d) misplace NABARD or KCC. Concept: RRBs are owned by the Centre (50%), sponsor bank (35%) and state (15%), and have been merged under 'One State One RRB' since 2025.

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Option (d), 2019, is correct. The Environment Ministry launched the National Clean Air Programme on 10 January 2019 as India's first time-bound national plan for air quality. It first aimed to cut PM10 and PM2.5 levels by 20-30% by 2024 against a 2017 baseline in 102 non-attainment cities, later widened to 130-131 cities and revised to up to 40% reduction in PM10 by 2025-26. Options (a) 2018 and (b) 2017 are too early: the draft was released in 2018. Option (c) 2020 is too late. Concept: funding is linked to performance through city action plans and the Fifteenth Finance Commission air-quality grants. Progress is tracked on the PRANA portal, with Swachh Vayu Survekshan city rankings.

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Option (b), Our Common Future, is correct. The World Commission on Environment and Development, chaired by Norway's Gro Harlem Brundtland, presented this report to the UN in 1987. It defined sustainable development as 'development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs'. Options (a), (c) and (d) are IPCC Assessment Reports: the IPCC was set up only in 1988, its first report came in 1990, the second in 1995 and the fifth in 2013-14, so none could have started the debate in 1987. Concept: the report led to the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, Agenda 21 and the UNFCCC.

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Option (c), Rachel Carson, is correct. American marine biologist Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring (1962), showing how pesticides such as DDT built up in food chains and killed birds and other wildlife, so that springs could fall 'silent' without birdsong. The book launched the modern environmental movement and led to the US ban on DDT in 1972 and the creation of the US Environmental Protection Agency in 1970. Carolyn Merchant (a) wrote The Death of Nature (1980), an ecofeminist history. Karl Marx (b) wrote Das Kapital. Rajgopalan (d) is a distractor. Concept: DDT is now restricted under the Stockholm Convention (2001), though India still uses it in limited malaria control.

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The official key is option (d), fast population growth. The examiner treats habitat loss (a), forest fires (b) and illegal wildlife trade (c) as direct causes of extinction, and population growth as only an indirect driver behind them, not a cause in itself. Note that many sources do list human population growth as a root cause, since it drives land clearing and resource demand. Concept: the IPBES Global Assessment (2019) ranks the direct drivers of biodiversity loss as land and sea-use change, direct exploitation (hunting, fishing, trade), climate change, pollution and invasive species, with about a million species at risk. CITES (1973) regulates international wildlife trade.

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Option (b), six, is correct. In January 2020 India added ten new Ramsar sites, six of them in Uttar Pradesh: Nawabganj, Parvati Agra, Saman, Samaspur, Sandi and Sarsai Nawar bird sanctuaries. Before this, UP had only one Ramsar site, the Upper Ganga River stretch from Brijghat to Narora (2005). Options (a) 3, (c) 9 and (d) 12 are wrong. Concept: Sur Sarovar (Keetham Lake) near Agra was added later in 2020, and Bakhira and Haiderpur in 2021. The Ramsar Convention was signed in 1971 at Ramsar, Iran; India joined in 1982, with Chilika and Keoladeo as its first sites. 2 February is World Wetlands Day.

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Option (c), both, is correct. Statement 1: the All India Tiger Estimation 2018 counted 2,967 tigers (range 2,603-3,346), about 70-75% of the world's wild tigers; its detailed report was released on Global Tiger Day, 28 July 2020, and the count entered the Guinness World Records as the largest camera-trap survey. Statement 2: the report said about 30% (roughly a third) of India's tigers live outside tiger reserves, which raises conflict risk and the need for corridors. Options (a), (b) and (d) each leave out a true statement. Concept: the 2022 estimation found about 3,682 tigers (average estimate), and India now has 58 tiger reserves, Madhav (MP) being the latest.

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Option (a) is correct: A-4, B-3, C-2, D-1. Indravati National Park is in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh and is a tiger reserve named after the Indravati river. Mollem, or Bhagwan Mahavir National Park, is in Goa and contains Dudhsagar falls. Kalesar National Park is in Yamunanagar district, Haryana, in the Shiwalik foothills. 'Betva' is evidently Betla National Park in Palamau, Jharkhand, part of the Palamau Tiger Reserve, one of India's first nine reserves of 1973. Options (b), (c) and (d) wrongly place Mollem or Kalesar. Concept: Chhattisgarh's other national parks are Kanger Ghati and Guru Ghasidas, now the Guru Ghasidas-Tamor Pingla tiger reserve.

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Option (c), Delhi, is correct. Delhi notified its Electric Vehicle Policy on 7 August 2020, offering purchase incentives for two-wheelers, autos, e-rickshaws and cars, waiving road tax and registration fees and creating a state EV fund. It aimed for EVs to make up 25% of new vehicle registrations by 2024. Madhya Pradesh (a), Uttar Pradesh (b) and Tamil Nadu (d) have their own EV policies but did not launch them on this date; UP's EV manufacturing policy came in 2019 and was revised in 2022. Concept: the central FAME scheme (2015, FAME-II 2019) was followed by the PM E-DRIVE scheme in 2024. Delhi also runs a large fleet of electric buses.

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Option (c), both, is correct. Statement 2: eutrophication is the enrichment of a water body with nutrients, mainly nitrogen and phosphorus from fertiliser runoff, detergents and sewage. Statement 1: this triggers algal blooms; when the algae die, bacteria decompose them and use up dissolved oxygen, so the biochemical oxygen demand rises, oxygen falls and fish die, sometimes creating 'dead zones'. Options (a), (b) and (d) each leave out a true statement. Concept: natural eutrophication ages a lake slowly over centuries, while human-caused (cultural) eutrophication speeds it up. Water hyacinth spread and the Gulf of Mexico dead zone are well-known examples.

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Option (c), III, I, II, IV, is correct. The Wildlife (Protection) Act was passed in 1972 and set up the schedules of protected species and protected areas. Project Tiger began on 1 April 1973 at Jim Corbett with nine reserves. Project Elephant was launched in 1992 to protect elephants, their habitats and corridors. The Biological Diversity Act was passed in 2002 to implement the CBD, creating the National Biodiversity Authority in Chennai. Option (a) puts Project Tiger before the Act; (b) and (d) put the 2002 Act too early. Concept: Project Tiger and Project Elephant were merged into a single scheme in 2023. The Wildlife Act was amended in 2022 to implement CITES.

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Option (a), the biogeochemical cycle, is correct. Nutrients such as carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur and water move continually between living organisms (bio) and the non-living environment of rocks, soil, air and water (geo), through chemical changes, so the movement is called a biogeochemical or nutrient cycle. 'Bio-geological cycle' (b) is not a standard term. Ecological succession (c) is the gradual change of communities in an area over time. 'Biological cycle' (d) is too vague. Concept: gaseous cycles, such as carbon and nitrogen, have their reservoir in the atmosphere, while sedimentary cycles, such as phosphorus and sulphur, have it in the earth's crust and move more slowly.

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The official key is option (c), Darbhanga in Bihar. Note, however, that most standard accounts place the origin of the Mitti Bachao Abhiyan (Save the Soil Movement) in 1977 in Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh (d), where farmers protested against waterlogging and soil salinity caused by the Tawa dam's command area. Thane (a) and Mysore (b) are unconnected. Concept: the movement is cited alongside other people's environmental struggles: the Chipko movement (1973, Uttarakhand), Appiko (1983, Karnataka), the Silent Valley campaign (Kerala, 1970s), and the Narmada Bachao Andolan (1985). It linked large-dam irrigation to soil damage. Waterlogging and salinity also affect the Indira Gandhi Canal area.

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Option (b), -18°C, is correct. Without the natural greenhouse effect, the earth would balance incoming sunlight and outgoing radiation at about -18°C, its radiative equilibrium temperature. Greenhouse gases, mainly water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, absorb outgoing infrared radiation and re-emit part of it downward, raising the average surface temperature to about +15°C, a warming of about 33°C. 0°C (a), 5°C (c) and -20°C (d) are distractors. Concept: the natural effect makes life possible; the problem is the enhanced greenhouse effect from human emissions. CO₂ is now above 420 ppm, and the Paris Agreement seeks to limit warming to well below 2°C, ideally 1.5°C.

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Option (b), a sere, is correct. The whole sequence of communities that replace one another in an area, from the pioneer community to the stable climax community, is called a sere, and each stage is a seral stage. Ecological succession (a) is the process itself, not the sequence. Community dynamics (c) is the general study of changes in communities. A pyramid of biomass (d) shows the mass of living matter at each trophic level. Concept: a hydrosere begins in water and a xerosere on dry rock; lichens are typical pioneers on bare rock. Primary succession starts on bare land, while secondary succession starts after a disturbance such as fire or abandoned farming, and is faster.

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Option (a), nitrogen oxide, is correct. Carbon dioxide (b), methane (c) and ozone (d) are naturally occurring greenhouse gases that trap outgoing infrared radiation. Nitrous oxide (N₂O), produced naturally by soil bacteria, is also a greenhouse gas. But 'nitrogen oxides' (NO and NO₂, called NOx) are mainly combustion pollutants from vehicles and power plants, not direct greenhouse gases, though they help form ozone, which is what the question intends. Concept: water vapour is the most abundant natural greenhouse gas. Of the six Kyoto gases (CO₂, CH₄, N₂O, HFCs, PFCs and SF₆), methane is about 80 times stronger than CO₂ over 20 years. NF₃ was added later.

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Option (a), operational environment, is correct, because it is not a standard category. Environment is usually classified into the physical or abiotic environment (b) of land, water, air and climate; the biological or biotic environment (d) of plants, animals and microbes; and the cultural or man-made environment (c) of social, economic and political institutions, settlements and technology created by humans. 'Operational environment' is a term from management and military planning, not environmental science. Concept: the lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere make up the physical environment, and the biosphere is where they overlap and support life. Human geography studies the interaction between people and these environments.

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Option (b), Bennett, is correct. Anthropologist John W. Bennett used the term in The Ecological Transition: Cultural Anthropology and Human Adaptation (1976). It describes the shift from societies living within nature's limits to societies that intensively exploit and transform nature through technology and markets. Charles Elton (a) is known for food chains, the ecological niche and the pyramid of numbers. George Berkeley (c) was an 18th-century philosopher. Friedrich Ratzel (d) was a German geographer who founded anthropogeography and the idea of Lebensraum, linked with environmental determinism. Concept: Tansley coined 'ecosystem' (1935), and Haeckel coined 'ecology' (1866).

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Option (d), all four, is correct. Rising sea level (1) results from thermal expansion of warming oceans and melting land ice. Glacier melting (2) is seen worldwide, including the retreat of Himalayan glaciers such as Gangotri. Spread of diseases (3) occurs as warmer, wetter climates extend the range of vectors like mosquitoes carrying malaria and dengue to higher altitudes and latitudes. Coral bleaching (4) happens when marine heatwaves make corals expel their symbiotic algae (zooxanthellae). Options (a), (b) and (c) leave out at least one effect. Concept: the world experienced its fourth global coral bleaching event from 2023, and 2024 was the first calendar year above 1.5°C of warming.

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Option (b), IV, II, III, I, is correct. The Club of Rome's report The Limits to Growth was published in 1972, the year of the Stockholm Conference. The Brundtland Commission report, Our Common Future, came out in 1987. The Montreal Protocol was signed in 1987 and came into force on 1 January 1989. The Rio Earth Summit was held in June 1992. Option (a) puts Rio first; (c) puts the Montreal Protocol before Brundtland; (d) puts Rio second. Concept: Rio produced Agenda 21, the Rio Declaration, the UNFCCC, the CBD and forest principles, while UNCCD followed in 1994. The Montreal Protocol is the only UN treaty ratified by every country.

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Option (c), Haryana, is correct, because the sanctuary does not reach it. The National Chambal Sanctuary, set up in 1978-79, is a tri-state protected area along the Chambal river at the meeting point of Rajasthan (d), Madhya Pradesh (b) and Uttar Pradesh (a), about 5,400 km² in all. It protects the critically endangered gharial, the red-crowned roof turtle and the Ganges river dolphin, and is also an Important Bird Area for Indian skimmers. Concept: the Chambal is one of India's least polluted rivers and holds most of the world's wild gharials. It is administered jointly by the three states, and the Chambal ravines were once home to dacoits.

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Option (b) is the key: A-1, B-3, C-2, D-4. These are regional names for the traditional system in which service castes received grain shares from landowners. Jajmani is the North Indian term, studied by W.H. Wiser in a UP village in 1936. Bara Balute is the Maharashtrian system of twelve village servants. In the key, Mirasi is matched with Karnataka and Adade with Tamil Nadu; note that many sources link Mirasi rights with Tamil Nadu and Adade with Karnataka, so the last two pairs are disputed. Options (a), (c) and (d) misplace Bara Balute. Concept: these systems declined with money wages and industrialisation, and are often cited as examples of caste-based interdependence.

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Option (a), Robert E. Park, is correct. Robert Ezra Park of the Chicago School introduced the 'marginal man' in a 1928 essay on migration: a person living between two cultures, such as an immigrant or someone of mixed descent, who fully belongs to neither and lives with inner conflict. Everett Stonequist developed the idea further in 1937. Robert Redfield (b) gave the folk-urban continuum and the great and little traditions. Louis Wirth (c) wrote 'Urbanism as a Way of Life' (1938). Louis Dumont (d) wrote Homo Hierarchicus (1966) on caste and purity-pollution. Concept: Park also gave the race-relations cycle of contact, conflict, accommodation and assimilation.

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Option (b), the Rengma, is correct, because they are not native to the islands. The Rengma are a Naga tribe of Nagaland and Assam (Karbi Anglong). The Onge (c) live on Little Andaman and the Shompen (d) on Great Nicobar; both are Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups. Halchu (a) is listed as a Nicobarese group. Concept: the six indigenous tribes of Andaman and Nicobar are the Great Andamanese, Jarawa, Onge and Sentinelese (Negrito groups), and the Nicobarese and Shompen (Mongoloid). The Sentinelese of North Sentinel Island are protected from all outside contact. The Great Nicobar project has raised concerns about the Shompen.

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Option (b), the Sutlej, is correct. A trans-Himalayan river rises beyond the Great Himalaya, on the Tibetan plateau, and cuts through the range. The Sutlej rises near Rakshastal, close to Lake Mansarovar in Tibet, and enters India at Shipki La in Himachal Pradesh, forming a deep gorge. The Indus and Brahmaputra (Tsangpo) are the other trans-Himalayan rivers, all older than the Himalaya and so antecedent. The Jhelum (a) rises at Verinag in Kashmir, the Ganga (c) at Gangotri glacier in Uttarakhand, and the Ravi (d) near Rohtang in Himachal, all on the Indian side. Concept: the Bhakra Nangal dam is on the Sutlej.

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Option (c) is the wrongly matched pair. The Khasas (Khas) live mainly in the Jaunsar-Bawar area of Dehradun district in Uttarakhand, and are also found in Himachal Pradesh and Nepal, not Arunachal Pradesh. The other pairs are correct: the Angami are a major Naga tribe of Nagaland, centred on Kohima, known for terrace farming and the Sekrenyi festival (a); the Birhor are a nomadic forest tribe of Jharkhand, a PVTG known for rope-making and monkey-catching (b); and the Toda are buffalo-herding pastoralists of the Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu (d). Concept: Jaunsar-Bawar is famous for fraternal polyandry among the Khasas.

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Option (a) is correct: A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4. Sela (Sala) Lake lies near Sela Pass, about 4,170 m high on the way to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh. Badkhal Lake is in Faridabad, Haryana, and has largely dried up. Loktak Lake in Manipur is the largest freshwater lake in the North-East, famous for floating phumdis and Keibul Lamjao, the world's only floating national park, home of the sangai deer. Kaliveli is a coastal wetland in Villupuram district, Tamil Nadu, declared a bird sanctuary in 2021. Options (b), (c) and (d) misplace Badkhal or Loktak. Concept: Loktak is a Ramsar site on the Montreux Record, and the Sela tunnel opened in 2024.

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Option (d) is the key: A false, R true. The Assertion fails because Mumbai, not Ahmedabad, has traditionally been regarded as the largest centre of India's cotton textile industry; Ahmedabad, the 'Manchester of India', is the second. The Reason is true: Ahmedabad lies in the cotton-growing black-soil belt of Gujarat, so raw cotton is easily available, along with a humid climate, cheap labour, local capital and port access through Kandla. Options (a), (b) and (c) treat A as true. Concept: India's first modern cotton mill was set up in Mumbai in 1854 by C.N. Davar. Coimbatore is called the 'Manchester of South India' and Kanpur the 'Manchester of the North'.

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Option (a), the Himadri range, is correct. The Himadri, or Great Himalaya, is part of young fold mountains raised mainly in the Tertiary period after the Indian plate collided with the Eurasian plate about 50 million years ago, and the range is still rising. The Aravallis (b) are among the oldest fold mountains in the world, from the Precambrian. The Western Ghats (c) are the faulted western edge of the ancient peninsular plateau. The Vindhyas (d) are old block or relict mountains of the peninsula. Concept: the Shiwaliks, the outermost Himalayan range, are the youngest of all, while Mount Everest and Kanchenjunga lie in the Himadri.

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Option (c), 1 and 3, is correct. Pair 1 is taken as wrong because Chitradurga in Karnataka is known chiefly for iron ore and manganese rather than copper, though it has small copper deposits at Ingaldhal. Pair 3 is wrong because Bhilwara in Rajasthan is famed for lead-zinc (Rampura-Agucha, among the world's largest zinc mines) and mica; Rajasthan's manganese comes from Banswara. Pair 2 is correct, since Ballari-Hospet is a major iron-ore belt, and pair 4 is correct, since Katni in MP is known for bauxite. Options (a), (b) and (d) include a correct pair. Concept: India's main copper belts are Khetri (Rajasthan), Singhbhum (Jharkhand) and Malanjkhand (MP).

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Option (b), between the Pir Panjal and Himadri ranges, is correct. The Kashmir valley is a structural basin, about 135 km long, lying between the Pir Panjal range of the Lesser Himalaya to the south-west and the Great Himalaya (Himadri) to the north-east, drained by the Jhelum, which flows through Wular Lake. Its fertile lake deposits, called karewas, are used for saffron. Options (a), (c) and (d) wrongly name the Dhauladhar (Himachal), the Kangra valley or Nepal's Mahabharat range, which do not enclose the valley. Concept: the Banihal pass and the Jawahar tunnel cross the Pir Panjal, and the Zoji La links Kashmir with Ladakh.

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Option (a), 4, 3, 1, 2, is correct. Arranged from west to east, the right-bank tributaries of the Yamuna are the Chambal, Sindh, Betwa and Ken. The Chambal rises at Janapav near Mhow in MP and joins the Yamuna near Etawah. The Sindh joins near the Chambal confluence. The Betwa rises in the Vindhyas near Bhopal and joins near Hamirpur. The Ken flows through Panna and joins near Chilla in Banda. Options (b), (c) and (d) put the Betwa or Ken too far west. Concept: the Ken-Betwa link, India's first river-linking project under the national perspective plan, will move Ken water to the Betwa; its foundation was laid in December 2024.

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Option (c) is the wrongly matched pair. Normandy is a region of north-western France, not Germany, though its Caen basin did have iron ore; Germany's iron came from the Siegerland and Salzgitter, and the Ruhr used Lorraine ore. The other pairs are correct: the Karaganda region of Kazakhstan has iron and coal (a); Krivoy Rog (Kryvyi Rih) is Ukraine's great iron-ore centre (b); and the French Pyrenees have small iron-ore deposits (d). Concept: France's main iron field is Lorraine (minette ore). The world's top iron-ore producers are Australia (Pilbara), Brazil (Carajás), China and India; India's main fields are in Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Karnataka.

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Option (c), the Mediterranean regions, is correct. The Mediterranean climate, with hot dry summers and mild rainy winters, is the world's 'orchard' of citrus fruits such as oranges, lemons, limes and grapefruit. Major areas include Spain, Italy, Israel, California, central Chile, South Africa's Cape and south-western Australia. Monsoon regions (a) focus on rice, tea and jute. Tropical highlands (b) suit coffee and tea. Equatorial regions (d) are too wet for citrus and grow rubber, cocoa and oil palm. Concept: the Mediterranean farming system is known for 'viticulture' (grapes) and olives too. In India, Nagpur oranges and Punjab's kinnow are well-known citrus fruits.

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Option (b) is correct: A-3, B-4, C-2, D-1. Tropical cyclones are called baguios in the Philippines, hurricanes in the Atlantic, Caribbean and the USA, typhoons in the China Sea and western Pacific, and willy-willies in north-western Australia. Option (a) puts typhoons in Australia and willy-willies in China; (c) and (d) put baguios in China and typhoons elsewhere. Concept: in the Indian Ocean they are simply called cyclones. They form over warm seas above about 27°C, between roughly 5° and 30° latitude, and rotate anticlockwise in the northern hemisphere due to the Coriolis force. Names for North Indian Ocean cyclones come from a list prepared by 13 member countries.

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Option (d), the south-western coast, is correct. The Darling Range, or Darling Scarp, is a low escarpment running roughly north-south parallel to the coast just east of Perth in south-western Western Australia. It marks the edge of the ancient Yilgarn block and has important bauxite deposits, mined for alumina. The north-eastern coast (a) has the Great Barrier Reef and Queensland ranges. The southern coast (b) borders the Great Australian Bight and the Nullarbor Plain. The eastern coast (c) is lined by the Great Dividing Range, Australia's main mountain chain, whose highest peak is Mount Kosciuszko in the Australian Alps. Concept: the Murray-Darling river basin lies in the south-east, unrelated to this range.

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Option (c), the Agulhas current, is correct. The warm Agulhas current flows south-westward along the east coast of South Africa in the south-western Indian Ocean, fed by the Mozambique current. It is one of the strongest western boundary currents. The Florida current (a) is a warm Atlantic current that feeds the Gulf Stream. The Canary current (b) is a cold current off north-west Africa in the North Atlantic. The Kurile, or Oyashio (d), is a cold current in the North Pacific off Japan. Concept: in the north Indian Ocean, currents reverse with the monsoon, flowing clockwise in summer and anticlockwise in winter. The Somali current off East Africa is known for this reversal and for upwelling.

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Option (d) is correct: A-4, B-3, C-1, D-2. Jews form the majority of Israel's population. The Teda, a branch of the Toubou, live in the Tibesti mountains of southern Libya and northern Chad. The Beja are Cushitic-speaking pastoralists of the Red Sea hills in south-eastern Egypt, Sudan and Eritrea. The Lurs live in the Zagros mountains of western Iran, in Lorestan province. Option (a) puts Jews in Egypt; (b) puts Beja in Iran; (c) puts Beja in Libya and Lurs in Iran with the Teda in Egypt. Concept: Iran's other groups include Persians, Azeris, Kurds and Baluch, while the Berbers (Amazigh) are the indigenous people of North Africa.

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Option (d) is the wrongly matched pair. The capital of Cape Verde (Cabo Verde), an island nation in the Atlantic off West Africa, is Praia. Bamako is the capital of Mali, on the Niger river. The other pairs are correct: Rabat is the capital of Morocco (a), not Casablanca, which is its biggest city; Tunis is the capital of Tunisia (b); and Algiers is the capital of Algeria (c), Africa's largest country by area. Concept: these three form the Maghreb with Libya and Mauritania. Other tricky African capitals include Abuja (Nigeria, not Lagos), Dodoma (Tanzania, not Dar es Salaam) and Yamoussoukro (Côte d'Ivoire, not Abidjan).

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Option (c), manganese, is correct. Postmasburg in South Africa's Northern Cape, together with the adjoining Kalahari manganese field around Hotazel, is one of the world's largest manganese-ore regions; South Africa holds most of the world's manganese reserves and is the top producer. It is not known for uranium (a), mined mainly in Kazakhstan, Canada, Namibia and Australia. Bauxite (b) comes mainly from Australia, Guinea and China. Mica (d) is mined chiefly in India, Madagascar and China. Concept: manganese is used mainly to make steel and in batteries. In India it occurs in the Balaghat-Nagpur belt of MP and Maharashtra and in Odisha.

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Option (a) is correct: A-4, B-3, C-2, D-1. The Atlas Mountains run through Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, with Mount Toubkal in Morocco the highest peak. Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain at 5,895 m, is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. Chimborazo is a volcano in Ecuador whose summit is the farthest point from the earth's centre because of the equatorial bulge. The Pyrenees form the border between France and Spain, with Andorra between them. Option (b) puts Kilimanjaro in France; (c) and (d) put Atlas or Chimborazo in the wrong country. Concept: the Atlas and Pyrenees are young fold mountains of the Alpine system.

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Option (c), tin production, is correct. The Kinta Valley in Perak state, around Ipoh, was once the richest tin-mining area in the world, worked from alluvial deposits by dredging and gravel pumping from the late 19th century, which drew many Chinese migrants. Malaysia is also known for rubber (a) and oil palm, but those are not the Kinta Valley's speciality. Tea (b) is grown in the Cameron Highlands. Coffee (d) is a minor crop. Concept: the South-East Asian tin belt runs through Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia (Bangka-Belitung); China and Indonesia are now the top tin producers. Kinta's old mining pools are now a geopark.

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Option (d), 3 and 4, is correct. The equator passes through Gabon (1) and southern Somalia (2), and also São Tomé and Príncipe, the Republic of Congo, the DR Congo, Uganda and Kenya in Africa. Despite its name, Equatorial Guinea's mainland and Bioko island lie just north of the equator, while only its small Annobón island is south of it, so the line does not cross its territory. Rwanda (4) lies wholly south of the equator. Options (a), (b) and (c) include Gabon or Somalia. Concept: outside Africa the equator crosses Ecuador, Colombia and Brazil in South America, and Indonesia, Kiribati and the Maldives' seas in Asia.

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Option (c), 2.1, is correct. Replacement-level fertility is a total fertility rate of about 2.1 children per woman, at which a population exactly replaces itself over generations without migration. The extra 0.1 above two allows for children who die before reaching reproductive age and for the sex ratio at birth slightly favouring boys. A TFR of 1.0 (a) or 1.6 (b) is below replacement, leading to long-term decline as in Japan or South Korea. A TFR of 2.3 (d) is above replacement. Concept: India's TFR fell to 2.0 in NFHS-5 (2019-21), below replacement, though Bihar, Meghalaya and UP remain above it. The National Population Policy, 2000 aimed for replacement level.

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Option (c) is correct. Sustainable tourism aims to manage tourism and the environment together, meeting the needs of tourists and host communities while preserving cultural integrity, essential ecological processes and biodiversity for the future, as defined by the UN Tourism organisation (formerly UNWTO). Increasing tourist numbers (a) is a growth goal that can harm the environment and communities through over-tourism. Managing mass tourism and small-scale travel (b) is a narrower operational aim. Option (d) is wrong since (c) fits. Concept: ecotourism and responsible tourism are related ideas. India's Swadesh Darshan 2.0 scheme promotes sustainable, destination-focused tourism, and Kerala's responsible tourism mission is often cited.

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Option (b), the Ikshvakus, is correct. The Puranas call the Ikshvakus of the lower Krishna valley the 'Shriparvatiya Andhras', after Sriparvata, the hill near their capital Vijayapuri at Nagarjunakonda. They succeeded the Satavahanas in Andhra in the 3rd century CE; their queens were great patrons of Buddhism, building stupas and viharas at Nagarjunakonda. The Vakatakas (a) ruled the Deccan from Vidarbha and allied with the Guptas. The Shakas (c) were Western Kshatrapas of western India and Malwa. Kharavela (d) was the Chedi king of Kalinga known from the Hathigumpha inscription. Concept: Nagarjunakonda's remains were moved when the Nagarjuna Sagar dam flooded the valley.

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Option (c), construction of roads, is correct. In Megasthenes' Indica, the agronomoi were rural or district officers who supervised rivers and irrigation, measured land, regulated hunting and built roads, setting up a pillar every ten stadia to show distances. The astynomoi were city officials organised in six committees of five members each, including one for weights and measures (a). Administrative management (b) is too general a description. Revenue management (d) was the samaharta's work in the Arthashastra. Concept: Megasthenes was Seleucus Nicator's ambassador at Chandragupta Maurya's court in Pataliputra; his Indica survives only in quotations by later Greek writers such as Arrian, Strabo and Diodorus.

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Option (c) is correct: A-3, B-4, C-1, D-2. Matsya, in present-day Jaipur-Alwar, had its capital at Viratnagar (Bairat in Rajasthan). Kuru, around Delhi and Haryana, had Indraprastha, with Hastinapur as another seat. Surasena, on the Yamuna, had Mathura and was a centre of Krishna worship. Asmaka (Assaka) had Potana or Paudanya on the Godavari and was the only mahajanapada south of the Vindhyas. Option (a) gives Matsya Indraprastha; (b) gives Kuru Mathura; (d) gives Asmaka Mathura. Concept: the Anguttara Nikaya lists sixteen mahajanapadas of the 6th century BCE. Magadha, with capitals at Rajagriha and then Pataliputra, became the strongest of them.

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Option (a) is correct: both are true and R explains A. Assertion: we know much more about the Cholas than earlier Tamil dynasties because of a rich body of inscriptions and copper plates. Reason: from Rajaraja I (985-1014) onward, Chola inscriptions begin with a meykirti, a formal historical preamble listing the king's conquests and titles, carved on temple walls such as the Brihadeeswara temple at Thanjavur. Copper plates such as the Anbil, Tiruvalangadu and Leiden plates add genealogy and grants. Options (b), (c) and (d) are therefore wrong. Concept: the Uttaramerur inscriptions of Parantaka I (10th century) describe how village assemblies (sabha) were elected by lot, using the kudavolai system.

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Option (c), V.S. Wakankar, is correct. Archaeologist Vishnu Shridhar Wakankar spotted the Bhimbetka rock shelters near Bhopal from a train in 1957, recognised them as similar to those he had seen in Spain and France, and documented their prehistoric paintings. Bhimbetka has over 700 shelters, with paintings from the Mesolithic period onward showing hunting, dancing and animals, and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003. Madho Swarup Vats (a) excavated Harappa. H.D. Sankalia (b) was a pioneer of Indian prehistory and excavated Navdatoli. V.N. Misra (d) later excavated at Bhimbetka. Concept: Wakankar was awarded the Padma Shri in 1975.

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Option (d) is correct: A-3, B-2, C-4, D-1. Balu is a Harappan site in Kaithal district of Haryana. Manda, on the Chenab near Akhnoor in Jammu, is the northernmost Harappan site in India. Padri is a coastal site in Bhavnagar district of Gujarat, linked with salt-making. Hulas is in Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh, a late Harappan site that has yielded cereal remains. Option (a) puts Padri in UP; (b) and (c) put Balu in Jammu and Kashmir. Concept: other key UP Harappan sites are Alamgirpur in Meerut, the easternmost site, and Sanauli in Baghpat, known for chariot burials found in 2018.

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Option (c), both, is correct. Statement 1: the sun temple of Multan, dedicated to Aditya, was described by Xuanzang (Hiuen Tsang) in the 7th century and by Arab writers including Abu Zaid, al-Masudi and al-Biruni (11th century), who noted its golden idol and pilgrims. Statement 2: Multan was known as Sambapura, after Krishna's son Samba, who according to the Samba Purana was cured of leprosy by worshipping the sun and set up the image there, so the pilgrimage was tied to sun worship. Options (a), (b) and (d) each leave out a true statement. Concept: other major sun temples are Konark (Odisha), Modhera (Gujarat) and Martand (Kashmir).

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The official key is option (a), Wadia. B.P. Wadia, who founded the Madras Labour Union in 1918, India's first organised trade union, went to the 1919 Washington International Labour Conference as a labour representative. Note, however, that standard sources name N.M. Joshi (b) of the Servants of India Society as the workers' delegate nominated by the Government of India; Joshi later helped found the AITUC in 1920 and drafted the Trade Unions Act, 1926. C.F. Andrews (c) championed indentured labourers. Joseph Baptista (d) was an early AITUC president and Home Rule leader. Concept: India is a founder member of the ILO (1919), and the AITUC was set up with Lala Lajpat Rai as first president.

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Option (c), both, is correct. Statement 1: the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748) ended the War of the Austrian Succession in Europe, and with it the First Carnatic War (1746-48) between the English and French companies in India. Statement 2: Madras, captured by the French under La Bourdonnais in 1746, was returned to the English in exchange for Louisbourg in North America. Options (a), (b) and (d) each leave out a true statement. Concept: the war showed the power of small European-trained armies, as at the Battle of St. Thome (Adyar, 1746). The Second Carnatic War ended with the Treaty of Pondicherry (1754), and the Third with Wandiwash (1760) and the Treaty of Paris (1763).

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Option (d) is correct: A-2, B-1, C-4, D-3. The Indian Arms Act was passed under Lord Lytton in 1878, banning Indians from keeping arms without a licence while exempting Europeans. The Royal Titles Act of 1876 made Queen Victoria 'Empress of India', proclaimed at the Delhi Durbar of 1877. The Indian High Courts Act of 1861 led to High Courts at Calcutta, Bombay and Madras in 1862. The Indian Divorce Act dates from 1869. Option (a) gives the High Courts Act 1876; (b) gives the Arms Act 1869; (c) gives Arms 1876 and Divorce 1861. Concept: Lytton also passed the Vernacular Press Act (1878), repealed by Ripon in 1882.

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Option (d) is correct: A-4, B-3, C-1, D-2. The Indus Valley Civilisation was urban, with planned cities, grid streets, drains and granaries at Harappa, Mohenjo-daro and Lothal. Rig Vedic society was mainly pastoral: cattle were wealth and words like gavishti (search for cows) meant war. Later Vedic society became settled and agrarian, with iron ploughs and rice in the Ganga valley. The medieval period was marked by landlordism through iqta, jagir and zamindari systems. Option (a) calls Rig Vedic society agrarian; (b) calls Harappa landlordism; (c) calls Harappa agrarian. Concept: the Painted Grey Ware culture is linked with Later Vedic settlements in the Ganga-Yamuna doab.

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Option (c), Lord Dalhousie, is the key. Strictly, Sikkim became India's 22nd state only in 1975, by the 36th Amendment after a referendum, so no Governor-General merged it. The question refers to 1850, when the Raja of Sikkim detained two British officials, Hooker and Campbell, and Dalhousie annexed the Sikkim Terai and parts near Darjeeling to British India. Lord Hastings (a) fought the Anglo-Nepal War and the Treaty of Titalia (1817) returned land to Sikkim. William Bentinck (b) acquired Darjeeling on lease in 1835. Lord Auckland (d) led the First Anglo-Afghan War. Concept: Dalhousie's other annexations included Punjab (1849), Lower Burma (1852) and Awadh (1856).

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Option (d), Dr. Rajendra Prasad, is correct, because he did not attend. At the Second Round Table Conference in London (September-December 1931), after the Gandhi-Irwin Pact, Gandhi (a) was the sole representative of the Congress. Sarojini Naidu (b) attended as a representative of Indian women, and Madan Mohan Malaviya (c) attended in his own capacity, linked with the Hindu Mahasabha. Rajendra Prasad attended none of the three conferences. Concept: the conference failed over separate electorates for minorities, which led to Ramsay MacDonald's Communal Award (1932) and the Poona Pact between Gandhi and Ambedkar. Ambedkar was the only Indian to attend all three conferences.

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Option (a) is correct: A-3, B-4, C-1, D-2. Lala Lajpat Rai wrote The Story of My Deportation (1908) about his 1907 exile to Mandalay for supporting the Punjab agrarian unrest. Bal Gangadhar Tilak wrote Gita Rahasya while jailed in Mandalay (1908-14), reading the Gita as a call to karma yoga. Surendranath Banerjea wrote his memoir A Nation in Making (1925). Maulana Abul Kalam Azad's India Wins Freedom was published in 1959, with 30 pages released only in 1988. Options (b) and (d) give Tilak's book to Lajpat Rai or Azad; (c) gives Azad the Deportation book. Concept: Lajpat Rai also wrote Unhappy India, a reply to Katherine Mayo's Mother India.

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Option (b), Haidar Ali, is correct. In 1755 Haidar Ali, then faujdar (military governor) of Dindigul under the Wodeyar kingdom of Mysore, set up a modern arsenal there with the help of French experts, training troops in European methods. Nanjaraj (a) and Devaraj (c) were the Dalwai brothers who held real power in Mysore before Haidar sidelined them. Chikka Krishnaraja Wodeyar II (d) was the nominal king. Concept: Haidar took control of Mysore by 1761, fought the First (1767-69) and Second (1780-84) Anglo-Mysore Wars, and died in 1782 during the second war. His son Tipu Sultan continued the struggle until 1799.

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The official key is option (a): both true, and R explains A. Assertion: the British used the Permanent Settlement in Bengal, Bihar and Odisha (1793), the Ryotwari system in Madras and Bombay (from about 1820), and the Mahalwari system in the North-Western Provinces and Punjab (1822, revised 1833). Reason: these created distinct rural classes such as zamindars, tenants, ryots, moneylenders and landless labourers. Strictly, R is a consequence of A rather than its cause, which is why many would choose (b); the key, however, reads R as explaining the significance of A. Concept: Cornwallis brought the Permanent Settlement, and Thomas Munro and Alexander Read pioneered Ryotwari.

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Option (d), 3, 2, 4, 1, is correct. Al-Biruni's Kitab-ul-Hind (Tahqiq-i-Hind) was written about 1030 after he came to India with Mahmud of Ghazni. Prithviraj Raso is ascribed to Chand Bardai, court poet of Prithviraj Chauhan III (late 12th century), though the surviving text is later. Minhaj-us-Siraj's Tabaqat-i-Nasiri, dedicated to Sultan Nasiruddin Mahmud, appeared around 1260. Ziauddin Barani's Fatawa-i-Jahandari, on statecraft, dates to the mid-14th century under the Tughlaqs. Option (a) puts the Raso first; (b) puts Barani second; (c) puts Minhaj first. Concept: Barani also wrote the Tarikh-i-Firoz Shahi, and Minhaj's work is a key source for early Delhi Sultanate history.

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Option (a), Abul Hasan Qutb Shah, is correct. Abul Hasan, called Tana Shah, was the last Qutb Shahi ruler of Golconda when Aurangzeb took the fort in 1687 after an eight-month siege; the gate was opened through treachery. He was imprisoned at Daulatabad until his death. Sikandar Adil Shah (b) was the last ruler of Bijapur, which fell to Aurangzeb in 1686. Ali Adil Shah II (c) was an earlier Bijapur ruler. Shaista Khan (d) was Aurangzeb's maternal uncle and Mughal governor of the Deccan, famously attacked by Shivaji at Pune in 1663. Concept: the Qutb Shahi dynasty was founded by Quli Qutb Shah in 1518; Hyderabad was founded by Muhammad Quli.

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Option (c), both, is correct. Statement 1: according to Abul Fazl's Ain-i-Akbari, Akbar disapproved of child marriage and laid down minimum ages of 16 for boys and 14 for girls. Statement 2: he insisted on the consent of the bride and bridegroom, along with the approval of their parents, so marriages would not happen under pressure alone. Options (a), (b) and (d) each leave out a true statement. Concept: Akbar's other social reforms included discouraging sati unless voluntary, allowing widow remarriage, abolishing the pilgrim tax (1563) and jizya (1564), and banning the enslavement of prisoners of war (1562). Today the minimum legal age is 21 for men and 18 for women.

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Option (b) is correct: A-3, B-4, C-1, D-2. In the Mughal finance department, the diwan-i-tan handled salaries and jagir assignments. The mustaufi was the auditor who checked state income and expenditure. The mushrif was the chief accountant in charge of office records. The waqia-navis recorded events, news and firmans for the court. Option (a) gives the diwan-i-tan the news records; (c) and (d) swap the mustaufi with other posts. Concept: the diwan-i-kul (wazir) headed finance; the mir bakhshi handled the military and the mansabdari system; and the sadr-us-sudur ran religious grants. Akbar's revenue system, the zabt, was developed by Raja Todar Mal.

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Option (d) is the wrongly matched pair. Shaikh Nizamuddin Auliya's khanqah and dargah are in Delhi, not Multan; Multan was the centre of the Suhrawardi saint Bahauddin Zakariya. The other pairs are correct: Moinuddin Chishti, founder of the Chishti order in India, is buried at Ajmer (a); Burhanuddin Gharib, a disciple of Nizamuddin, was based at Khuldabad near Daulatabad (b); and Syed Muhammad Husaini Gesu Daraz is buried at Gulbarga (c), where he settled under the Bahmanis. Concept: the Chishtis kept away from the court, while the Suhrawardis accepted state patronage. Amir Khusrau was Nizamuddin's disciple and is buried near him.

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Option (b), the Shahab Nahr, is correct. Firuz Shah Tughlaq's Rajabwah carried Yamuna water towards Hisar Firuza but silted up. Under Akbar it was cleared and revived by Shihabuddin Ahmad Khan, governor of Delhi, and named the Shahab Nahr after him. The Nahr-i-Bihisht (c) was a separate Shah Jahan-period canal, linked with Ali Mardan Khan, that brought Yamuna water to Shahjahanabad and the Red Fort. Shekhnu-Ni (a) and Nahr-i-Agra (d) are distractors. Concept: these Mughal canals were forerunners of the Western Yamuna Canal, which the British restored in the 1820s. Firuz Shah was the sultan most known for canal building.

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Option (a), Ibrahim Adil Shah II, is correct. Ibrahim Adil Shah II of Bijapur (1580-1627) wrote the Kitab-i-Nauras, a collection of songs in Dakhni set to ragas, praising Saraswati, Ganesha and Sufi saints. His tolerance and love of music earned him the title 'Jagadguru'; he founded a new city called Nauraspur. Ali Adil Shah (b) was his predecessor, known for the Battle of Talikota (1565). Quli Qutb Shah (c) founded the Golconda kingdom. Akbar II (d) was a late Mughal emperor. Concept: Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah of Golconda was the first Urdu-Dakhni poet to compile a diwan, and Bijapur's Gol Gumbaz was built by Muhammad Adil Shah.

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Option (c), 22 July 1947, is correct. The Constituent Assembly adopted the tricolour of saffron, white and green, with the navy-blue 24-spoke Ashoka Chakra in place of the charkha, as the national flag on 22 July 1947, weeks before independence; the resolution was moved by Jawaharlal Nehru. 24 January 1950 (b) is when the Assembly adopted the national anthem and national song and elected Rajendra Prasad President. 22 January 1950 (a) and 22 July 1948 (d) are distractors. Concept: the flag was designed by Pingali Venkayya. The Flag Code of India, 2002 governs its use, and it was amended in 2022 to allow polyester flags and flying day and night.

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Option (a), Hubballi, is correct. In August 2020 the Railway Minister dedicated the South Western Railway's Railway Museum at Hubballi, Karnataka, to the nation. It was the zone's second museum after Mysuru, displaying old locomotives, coaches and heritage artefacts. Mysore (b) already had its railway museum, opened in 1979. Silvassa (c), in Dadra and Nagar Haveli, has no such museum. Chittaranjan (d) in West Bengal is known for the Chittaranjan Locomotive Works, India's oldest locomotive factory. Concept: the National Rail Museum in New Delhi opened in 1977. India's Mountain Railways (Darjeeling, Nilgiri and Kalka-Shimla) are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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Option (d), Bangladesh, is correct. In July 2020 Bangladesh's telecom regulator, the BTRC, directed mobile operators to stop free or zero-rated access to social media platforms, which ended Facebook's Free Basics service in the country. Nepal (a), Bhutan (b) and Myanmar (c) took no such step at the time. Concept: India banned differential pricing for data in February 2016, when TRAI's regulations upheld net neutrality and effectively ended Free Basics in India. In 2018 India adopted strict net neutrality principles. Zero-rating means a provider does not charge for data used on selected apps, which critics say favours some platforms and breaks net neutrality.

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Option (a), only 1, is correct. Statement 1: the US-India Business Council held the virtual India Ideas Summit on 21-22 July 2020, marking its 45th anniversary, and the Prime Minister gave the keynote address on 22 July inviting investment in sectors such as health, infrastructure and defence. Statement 2 is wrong because the theme was 'Building a Better Future', not 'Empowering India'. So options (b), (c) and (d) fail. Concept: the USIBC is part of the US Chamber of Commerce and promotes trade between India and the US. The summit came in the middle of India's 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' push and US-China tensions, when India pitched itself as an alternative supply chain base.

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Option (a), Haryana, is correct. On 25 July 2020 the Sports Minister announced that Haryana would host the fourth Khelo India Youth Games in 2021, with Panchkula as the main venue. Because of the pandemic they were finally held in June 2022. Uttar Pradesh (b) later hosted the Khelo India University Games 2023. Karnataka (c) hosted the first Khelo India University Games in 2020. Maharashtra (d) hosted the 2019 Youth Games in Pune. Concept: the Khelo India programme began in 2018, with the first games in Delhi (school games), then Pune 2019 and Guwahati 2020. Khelo India Winter Games are held in Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir.

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Option (c), Mohun Bagan, is correct. On 29 July 2020, Mohun Bagan Day, which marks the club's historic 1911 IFA Shield final win over the East Yorkshire Regiment, Mohun Bagan became the first Indian football club to appear on the NASDAQ billboard in New York's Times Square. East Bengal (a) is its great Kolkata rival. Churchill Brothers (b) is a Goa club. Bengaluru FC (d) was founded in 2013. Concept: Mohun Bagan, founded in 1889, merged with ATK in 2020 to become ATK Mohun Bagan, renamed Mohun Bagan Super Giant in 2023, and plays in the Indian Super League. The 1911 win, by barefoot players, is seen as a nationalist landmark.

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Option (a) is the wrongly matched pair. The 15th East Asia Summit in November 2020 was hosted virtually by Vietnam as ASEAN chair, not Singapore. The other pairs are correct: the 2019 G20 summit was held at Osaka, Japan (b); the 2019 G7 summit at Biarritz, France (c); and the 14th East Asia Summit in 2019 at Bangkok, Thailand (d). Concept: the EAS, begun in 2005, has 18 members: the ten ASEAN states plus India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, the US and Russia. India hosted the G20 at New Delhi in September 2023, where the African Union became a permanent member.

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Option (a), the United Kingdom, is correct. The UK hosted the virtual Global Vaccine Summit on 4 June 2020, which raised about US$ 8.8 billion for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to immunise about 300 million children by 2025 and support COVID-19 vaccine work. India pledged US$ 15 million. The USA (b), India (c) and China (d) took part but did not host. Concept: Gavi, founded in 2000 with the Gates Foundation's support and based in Geneva, later co-led the COVAX facility with CEPI and WHO to give fair access to COVID-19 vaccines. India's Serum Institute was the largest supplier to COVAX, and India ran 'Vaccine Maitri' to send doses abroad.

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Option (d), Canada, is correct. In June 2020 the UN General Assembly elected India, Ireland, Mexico and Norway as non-permanent Security Council members for 2021-22, with Kenya elected after a run-off against Djibouti. Canada lost to Norway and Ireland in the Western European and Others group. So Ireland (a), Norway (b) and Mexico (c) were elected. Concept: non-permanent members serve two-year terms and are elected by a two-thirds majority, five each year. India won with 184 of 192 votes, its eighth term. India held the Council presidency in August 2021 and December 2022 and seeks a permanent seat as part of the G4 with Brazil, Germany and Japan.

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Option (d), Chattogram (Chittagong), is correct. In July 2020 the first trial container shipment from Kolkata to Agartala went by sea to Chattogram port under the India-Bangladesh agreement on using Chattogram and Mongla ports, signed in 2018. The cargo was then trucked to Tripura through Akhaura. Benapole (a) is a land port on the Petrapole border. Maloti (b) is a distractor. Payra (c) is a newer seaport in Bangladesh's south. Concept: transit through Bangladesh cuts the long road route through the 'chicken's neck' Siliguri corridor. Related links include the Maitri Setu bridge over the Feni river (2021) and the Agartala-Akhaura rail line (2023).

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Option (d), Ashok Sahni, is correct. The Ministry of Earth Sciences gave its Lifetime Excellence Award in Earth System Science for 2020 to palaeontologist Prof. Ashok Sahni, known for his work on Indian vertebrate fossils, dinosaur eggs and nests from Gujarat and MP, and early mammals. S. Suresh Babu (a) and P.L.N. Raju (b) are other scientists honoured for atmospheric and remote-sensing work, while S.P.S. Kushwaha (c) is a forestry remote-sensing scientist. Concept: Sahni helped show that India held important dinosaur fossils, including at Balasinor (Raiyoli) in Gujarat, now a fossil park. The awards are given on the ministry's foundation day, 27 July.

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Option (b), NITI Aayog, is correct. The Atal Innovation Mission was set up by NITI Aayog in 2016 to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship. It runs Atal Tinkering Labs in schools, Atal Incubation Centres, Atal New India Challenges and Atal Community Innovation Centres. The Ministry of Human Resource Development (a), renamed the Ministry of Education in 2020, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (c) and the Ministry of Science and Technology (d) run their own schemes but did not set up AIM. Concept: the Union Cabinet extended AIM until March 2028 (AIM 2.0, 2024). Startup India is run by DPIIT under the Commerce Ministry.

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Option (d), family planning, is correct, because it is not an ICDS service. The Integrated Child Development Services scheme, launched on 2 October 1975, delivers six services through anganwadi centres for children under six and pregnant and nursing women: supplementary nutrition (a), immunisation (b), health check-ups, referral services, pre-school non-formal education, and nutrition and health education (c). Family planning is run separately under the health ministry's national family planning programme, started in 1952. Concept: ICDS is now part of Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 under the Ministry of Women and Child Development, tracked through the Poshan Tracker app.

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Option (c), Chhattisgarh, is correct. The Chhattisgarh State Legal Services Authority held India's first e-Lok Adalat in June 2020, settling cases through video conferencing during the COVID-19 lockdown. Uttar Pradesh (a), Maharashtra (b) and Bihar (d) followed with their own online sessions later. Concept: Lok Adalats get statutory status under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987. Their award counts as a civil court decree and no appeal lies against it, and no court fee is charged. Permanent Lok Adalats for public utility services were added in 2002. National Lok Adalats are organised by NALSA, and the first Lok Adalat was held in Gujarat in 1982.

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Option (a), only 1, is correct. Statement 1: NEP 2020, approved by the Union Cabinet on 29 July 2020, was based on the draft by a committee headed by former ISRO chief Dr K. Kasturirangan, submitted in 2019. Statement 2 is wrong because it replaced the National Policy on Education of 1986 (revised in 1992), which had been in force for 34 years, not 38. So options (b), (c) and (d) fail. Concept: NEP 2020 replaces the 10+2 structure with 5+3+3+4, promotes the mother tongue as the medium of instruction to at least Class 5, aims for a 50% gross enrolment ratio in higher education by 2035, and plans a single regulator. The first education policy came in 1968.

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Option (a), Part IX, is correct. Part IX of the Constitution (Articles 243 to 243-O), added by the 73rd Amendment Act of 1992, deals with Panchayats: a three-tier system, Gram Sabha, reservation for SCs, STs and at least one-third for women, a five-year term, State Election Commissions and State Finance Commissions. The Eleventh Schedule lists 29 subjects. Part VI (b) deals with the States. Part III (c) has the Fundamental Rights. Part IVA (d) has the Fundamental Duties. Concept: Part IXA covers Municipalities (74th Amendment, Twelfth Schedule, 18 subjects), and Part IXB covers co-operative societies (97th Amendment, 2011).

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Option (c), 1992, is correct. Parliament passed the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts in December 1992, giving constitutional status to panchayats and municipalities as the third tier of government. They came into force on 24 April 1993 and 1 June 1993 respectively. 1990 (a) and 1991 (b) are too early: the 64th Amendment Bill on panchayats failed in the Rajya Sabha in 1989, and the bills were reintroduced in 1991. 1993 (d) is when they took effect, which is the trap. Concept: the idea came from the Balwant Rai Mehta (1957), Ashok Mehta (1978) and L.M. Singhvi (1986) committees. 24 April is National Panchayati Raj Day.

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Option (d), admission of new states, is correct, because it is done under Article 2, not Article 3. Article 2 lets Parliament admit or establish new states that were not part of India, as with Sikkim in 1975. Article 3 lets Parliament form new states from existing ones (a), alter their areas (b), boundaries (c) or names, by ordinary law. The bill needs the President's recommendation, and the state legislature's views are sought but are not binding. Concept: such laws are not constitutional amendments under Article 368. The Berubari case (1960) held that ceding Indian territory to another country needs an amendment, as done by the 100th Amendment (2015) for Bangladesh enclaves.

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Option (d), only 3, is correct. The Chairman of the UPSC is removed by the President under Article 317: for misbehaviour after an inquiry by the Supreme Court, or for insolvency, paid outside work or infirmity, with no role for Parliament. Judges of the High Courts (1) and Supreme Court (2) are removed by the President only after an address by both Houses of Parliament, passed by a special majority, on grounds of proved misbehaviour or incapacity (Articles 124(4) and 217). The CAG (4) is removed in the same way as a Supreme Court judge (Article 148). So options (a), (b) and (c) fail. Concept: no Supreme Court judge has yet been removed by this process.

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Option (d), the State Election Commission, is correct. Under Article 243K, the superintendence, direction and control of panchayat elections, including preparing electoral rolls, are vested in the State Election Commission, headed by a State Election Commissioner appointed by the Governor. The commissioner can be removed only like a High Court judge. Article 243ZA does the same for municipalities. The Governor (a) only appoints the commissioner. The Election Commission of India (b) handles elections to Parliament, state legislatures and the offices of President and Vice-President (Article 324). The District Panchayat Raj Officer (c) is an administrative official. Concept: the ECI and SECs are separate and independent bodies.

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The official key is option (c), the administrative tribunal pair. As printed, however, all four pairs agree with the Constitution: Article 263 provides for an Inter-State Council (set up in 1990 on the Sarkaria Commission's advice); Article 280 for the Finance Commission every five years; Article 323A, added by the 42nd Amendment (1976), for administrative tribunals for public service matters; and Article 315 for Public Service Commissions for the Union and States. The key likely reflects a misprint in the original paper. Concept: Article 323B covers tribunals for other matters such as taxation and land reform. The Central Administrative Tribunal was set up in 1985 under the Administrative Tribunals Act.

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Option (d), none of the above, is correct. The Central Vigilance Commission is not mentioned in any Article of the Constitution. It was set up in 1964 by an executive resolution on the Santhanam Committee's recommendation, and became a statutory body under the CVC Act, 2003. Article 268 (a) deals with duties levied by the Union but collected by states. Article 280 (b) provides for the Finance Commission. Article 276 (c) concerns taxes on professions, trades and employment. Concept: the CVC is a multi-member body (a Central Vigilance Commissioner and up to two Vigilance Commissioners), appointed by the President on the advice of a committee of the PM, Home Minister and Leader of the Opposition.

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Option (d), 1, 4, 3, 2, is correct. Jayanti Patnaik was the first chairperson of the National Commission for Women in 1992. Dr Poornima Advani served from 2002, Dr Girija Vyas from 2005 (and earlier in 1993), and Mamta Sharma from 2011. Options (a) and (b) put Mamta Sharma first; (c) puts Girija Vyas before Poornima Advani. Concept: the NCW was set up on 31 January 1992 under the National Commission for Women Act, 1990, as a statutory body to review legal safeguards for women and handle complaints. It is not a constitutional body. Recent chairpersons include Rekha Sharma (2018-2024) and Vijaya Rahatkar, appointed in 2024.

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Option (b), the Hyderabad-Karnataka region, is correct. Article 371J, inserted by the 98th Amendment (2012), allows a separate development board for the Hyderabad-Karnataka region, now renamed Kalyana-Karnataka, with fair allocation of development funds and local reservation in education and state jobs. Nagaland (a) has special provisions under Article 371A protecting Naga customary law and land. Maharashtra and Gujarat (c) are covered by Article 371, which allows development boards for Vidarbha, Marathwada, Saurashtra and Kutch. Ladakh (d) has no Article 371 provision; it became a UT in 2019. Concept: Articles 371 to 371J cover twelve states.

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Option (c) is the wrongly matched pair. The Attorney General of India is provided for in Article 76, in Part V (The Union), not Part XIII. Part XIII (Articles 301-307) deals with trade, commerce and intercourse within India. The other pairs are correct: Fundamental Duties are in Part IVA, Article 51A, added by the 42nd Amendment (a); the States are in Part VI (b); and Services under the Union and States are in Part XIV, Articles 308-323, which covers the UPSC (d). Concept: the state's counterpart of the AG is the Advocate General (Article 165). The AG has the right to speak in Parliament but cannot vote (Article 88).

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Option (b), the Estimates Committee, is correct. The Estimates Committee has 30 members, all from the Lok Sabha, making it the largest parliamentary committee. It examines budget estimates and suggests economies, and is called a 'continuous economy committee'. The Public Accounts Committee (a) has 22 members (15 Lok Sabha, 7 Rajya Sabha) and examines the CAG's reports; by convention it is chaired by an opposition member. The Committee on Public Undertakings (c) also has 22 members. The Committee on Petitions (d) is smaller. Concept: these three financial committees are elected by proportional representation, and ministers cannot be members. The PAC dates from 1921 and the Estimates Committee from 1950.

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Option (c), Articles 5 to 11, is correct. Part II of the Constitution, Articles 5 to 11, deals with citizenship: Article 5 covers citizenship at the commencement of the Constitution; Articles 6 and 7 cover migrants to and from Pakistan; Article 8 people of Indian origin abroad; Article 9 loss of citizenship on voluntarily acquiring another; Article 10 continuance; and Article 11 lets Parliament regulate citizenship by law. Options (a), (b) and (d) give wrong ranges; Articles 1-4 deal with the Union and its territory. Concept: the Citizenship Act, 1955 provides for citizenship by birth, descent, registration, naturalisation and incorporation of territory. The Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 has rules notified in March 2024.

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Option (a) is correct: both are true and R explains A. Assertion: Indian politics combines continuity with change, as modern democratic institutions coexist with traditional social structures such as caste and religion. Reason: the political scientist W.H. Morris-Jones, in The Government and Politics of India (1964), described Indian politics as working in three 'idioms': the modern (constitutional, legal, bureaucratic), the traditional (caste and community) and the saintly (Gandhian, moral and self-sacrificing). This blend of old and new is exactly why continuity and change go together. Options (b), (c) and (d) are therefore wrong. Concept: Rajni Kothari described the 'Congress system' of one-party dominance in the same era.

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Option (b), 12, is correct. Article 164(1A), inserted by the 91st Amendment (2003), says the total number of ministers including the Chief Minister in a state shall not exceed 15% of the total strength of the legislative assembly, but shall not be less than 12. So 10 (a) is too low, and 13 (c) and 14 (d) are not the constitutional minimum. Concept: the same amendment capped the Union Council of Ministers at 15% of the Lok Sabha's strength and disqualified defectors from becoming ministers until re-elected. Small assemblies like Goa, Sikkim and Mizoram can still have 12 ministers. Delhi's council is capped separately at 10% under Article 239AA.

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Option (b), the Kesavananda Bharati case of 1973, is correct. In Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala (24 April 1973), a 13-judge bench ruled 7:6 that Parliament can amend any part of the Constitution under Article 368, including Fundamental Rights, but cannot alter its 'basic structure'. Golaknath (a, 1967) held that Parliament could not amend Fundamental Rights at all. Shankari Prasad (c, 1951) and Sajjan Singh (d, 1965) upheld Parliament's power to amend Fundamental Rights. Concept: later cases such as Indira Gandhi v. Raj Narain (1975), Minerva Mills (1980) and S.R. Bommai (1994) added free elections, judicial review and secularism to the basic structure.

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Option (b), only 2, is correct. Statement 1 is wrong because Ayushman Bharat-PMJAY, launched on 23 September 2018, gives free health cover of Rs 5 lakh per family per year, not per person, for secondary and tertiary hospitalisation at empanelled hospitals. Statement 2 is right: costs are shared 60:40 between the Centre and states, 90:10 for north-eastern and Himalayan states, and 100% central for UTs without legislatures. Options (a), (c) and (d) fail. Concept: it is the world's largest government-funded health assurance scheme. Since October 2024 it covers all citizens aged 70 and above regardless of income, through the Ayushman Vay Vandana card, with an extra Rs 5 lakh top-up.

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Option (d) is the wrongly matched pair. Separation of the judiciary from the executive is Article 50, not Article 48. Article 48 deals with organising agriculture and animal husbandry on modern lines and preserving breeds, including banning cow slaughter; Article 48A, added by the 42nd Amendment, covers protecting the environment. The other pairs are correct: Article 39A provides equal justice and free legal aid, added in 1976 (a); Article 40 the organisation of village panchayats (b); and Article 44 a Uniform Civil Code (c). Concept: Directive Principles are in Part IV (Articles 36-51) and are not enforceable in courts. Uttarakhand adopted a Uniform Civil Code in 2024, effective January 2025.

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Option (a), only 1, is correct. Statement 1: under Article 76, the President appoints as Attorney General a person qualified to be a judge of the Supreme Court. Statement 2 is wrong because the AG receives such remuneration as the President determines, not Parliament, and holds office during the President's pleasure, with no fixed term. Options (b), (c) and (d) fail. Concept: the AG is India's highest law officer and can appear in any court and speak in Parliament without voting (Article 88). The AG is not a member of the Cabinet and can do private practice, though not against the government. R. Venkataramani became AG in October 2022.

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Option (c), both, is correct. Statement 1: Hausla 2018 was organised by the Ministry of Women and Child Development in New Delhi from 16 to 20 November 2018, during Child Rights Week. Statement 2: it was a national festival for children living in Child Care Institutions, such as orphanages and shelter homes, set up under the Juvenile Justice Act. The festival included athletics, football, chess, painting and debating, and a 'Bal Sansad' (children's parliament). Options (a), (b) and (d) each leave out a true statement. Concept: India's child care institutions are regulated under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, amended in 2021 to give district magistrates more powers over adoption.

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Option (b) is correct: both true, but R does not explain A. Assertion: K.C. Wheare called the Indian Constitution 'quasi-federal', federal in form but unitary in spirit, because of a strong Centre, a single Constitution and citizenship, centrally appointed Governors, emergency powers (Articles 352-360), Parliament's power to reorganise states (Article 3) and to legislate on state subjects in the national interest (Article 249). Reason: India does have an independent judiciary with judicial review, but that is a federal feature, which protects the division of powers rather than explaining the quasi-federal label. Options (a), (c) and (d) fail. Concept: the Supreme Court held federalism to be part of the basic structure in S.R. Bommai (1994).

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Option (a), ordinary legislation, is correct. Under Article 108 the President can call a joint sitting of both Houses, presided over by the Lok Sabha Speaker, to resolve a deadlock on an ordinary bill when one House rejects it, the Houses disagree on amendments, or six months pass without a decision. There is no joint sitting for a Money Bill (b), since the Lok Sabha prevails and the Rajya Sabha can only delay it for 14 days. A Constitutional Amendment Bill (c) must be passed by each House separately by a special majority. An Appropriation Bill (d) is a Money Bill. Concept: only three joint sittings have been held: Dowry Prohibition (1961), Banking Service Commission (1978) and POTA (2002).

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Option (c), 2 and 4, is correct. The national lockdown from 25 March 2020 was imposed through orders of the National Disaster Management Authority and the Home Ministry under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, after COVID-19 was treated as a notified disaster. States used the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 to issue regulations on testing, quarantine and gatherings; it was amended by ordinance in April 2020 (later an Act) to protect health workers from violence. The Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 (1) deals with the rights of people with mental illness, and the Enemy Property Act, 1968 (3) with property of people who moved to enemy countries, so options (a), (b) and (d) fail.

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Option (c) is correct: A-2, B-3, C-4, D-1. Article 61 lays down the procedure for impeaching the President for violating the Constitution, by a two-thirds majority of the total membership of each House. Article 67(b) provides for removing the Vice-President by a Rajya Sabha resolution passed by an effective majority and agreed to by the Lok Sabha. Article 94 covers the removal of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker by a Lok Sabha resolution. Article 90 covers the removal of the Rajya Sabha's Deputy Chairman. Options (a), (b) and (d) mismatch these. Concept: no President has ever been impeached; 14 days' notice is needed before a removal resolution for the Speaker or Vice-President.

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Option (a) is the key: A-2, B-3, C-1, D-4. PM Jan Arogya Yojana (Ayushman Bharat) was launched on 23 September 2018. PM Vaya Vandana Yojana, a pension scheme for those aged 60 and above run by LIC, began in 2017. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan was launched on 2 October 2014. PM Rojgar Protsahan Yojana was announced in the 2016-17 budget and became operational in August 2016, so 2015, the only year left in the list, is matched with it. Options (b), (c) and (d) misplace Swachh Bharat or Ayushman Bharat. Concept: PMRPY paid the employer's EPF contribution for new workers; it was later followed by ABRY (2020) and the ELI scheme (2025).

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Option (c) is the incorrect statement. People already covered by the National Pension System, ESIC or EPFO, or who are income-tax payers, are excluded from the National Pension Scheme for Traders and Self-Employed Persons, so NPS members are not eligible. The other statements are correct: it is for those aged 18-40 at entry (a); with annual turnover not exceeding Rs 1.5 crore (b); and it gives a minimum assured pension of Rs 3,000 a month from age 60 (d). It is voluntary and contributory, with the Centre matching the subscriber's contribution. Concept: it was launched in 2019 alongside PM Shram Yogi Maan-dhan, for unorganised workers earning up to Rs 15,000 a month.

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Option (a), only 1, is correct. Statement 1: the Prime Minister launched the Skill India Mission on 15 July 2015, World Youth Skills Day, together with the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana and the National Skill Development Mission. Statement 2 is wrong because the aim was to train over 40 crore people by 2022 in a wide range of trades, such as construction, healthcare, retail, manufacturing and agriculture, not only information technology. Options (b), (c) and (d) fail. Concept: the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship was set up in 2014, and the National Skill Development Corporation is its PPP arm. Skill India Digital Hub was launched in 2023.

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Option (c), the United Arab Emirates, is correct. The UAE's Hope probe (Al-Amal) was launched on a Japanese H-IIA rocket from Tanegashima on 20 July 2020 and entered Mars orbit on 9 February 2021, making the UAE the first Arab nation to send a mission to Mars and the fifth to reach Mars orbit. It studies the Martian weather and atmosphere. Saudi Arabia (a), Kuwait (b) and Qatar (d) have not launched Mars missions. Concept: three Mars missions launched in July 2020 — Hope, China's Tianwen-1 and NASA's Perseverance rover. India's Mangalyaan (2013) made it the first country to reach Mars orbit on its first attempt.

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Option (c), an offshore patrol vessel, is correct. ICGS Sarthak is the fourth of five offshore patrol vessels built by Goa Shipyard Limited for the Indian Coast Guard. It was launched in August 2020 and commissioned in 2021, for patrolling the Exclusive Economic Zone, fighting smuggling and search and rescue. It is not a smart bomb (a), rocket launcher (b) or light combat aircraft (d); India's LCA is the Tejas, and its rocket launcher is the Pinaka. Concept: the Coast Guard was set up in 1978 under the Ministry of Defence. Its sister ships in the series include Sachet, Sujeet and Sajag; the vessels use largely indigenous equipment under Make in India.

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Option (b), Kolkata, Noida and Mumbai, is correct. On 27 July 2020 the Prime Minister virtually inaugurated high-throughput COVID-19 testing labs at three ICMR institutes: the National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research, Noida; the National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health, Mumbai; and the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, Kolkata, each able to test about 10,000 samples a day. Options (a), (c) and (d) include New Delhi or Chennai, which were not part of this launch. Concept: ICMR, India's apex body for biomedical research, is in New Delhi. The National Institute of Virology, Pune, isolated the virus strain used for Covaxin.

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Option (d), myoglobin, is correct. Myoglobin is the oxygen-storing protein of muscle, and its haem group has an iron ion at the centre that binds oxygen, much like haemoglobin in red blood cells. Chlorophyll (a) has a similar porphyrin ring but with magnesium at its centre. Collagen (b), the main protein of connective tissue, and keratin (c), the protein of hair, nails and horn, are structural proteins with no metal. Concept: vitamin B12 (cobalamin) contains cobalt, and the enzyme carbonic anhydrase contains zinc. Iron deficiency anaemia is the most common nutritional deficiency in India, addressed through the Anaemia Mukt Bharat programme.

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Option (a), mutation, is correct. A mutation is a change in the DNA base sequence of a gene, such as a substitution, insertion or deletion of bases. It can be caused by copying errors, radiation or chemicals, and may change the protein the gene codes for. Sickle-cell anaemia is caused by a single base substitution. Cloning (b) makes genetically identical copies, as with Dolly the sheep (1996). Fusion (c) is the joining of cells or nuclei. Breeding (d) is the controlled mating of organisms to get desired traits. Concept: Hugo de Vries coined the word 'mutation'; mutations are the raw material of evolution. Mutation breeding with radiation produced several Indian crop varieties.

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Option (a), a photo cell, is correct. Photoelectric smoke detectors use a light source and a photocell (photodetector). When smoke enters the chamber it scatters or blocks the light, the photocell's current changes and the alarm sounds. Water (b) is a firefighting agent, as in sprinklers, not a detector. A solar cell (c) converts sunlight into electricity for power, not detection. Option (d) is wrong because (a) fits. Concept: ionisation smoke detectors use a tiny amount of radioactive americium-241 to ionise air, and smoke interrupts the current. Photocells also work in automatic street lights, burglar alarms and door sensors, using the photoelectric effect explained by Einstein.

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Option (b), neoprene, is correct, because it is not a thermoplastic. Neoprene (polychloroprene) is a synthetic rubber, an elastomer that is vulcanised, or cross-linked, for use in gaskets, wetsuits and hoses, so it does not simply melt and remould. Teflon (a, polytetrafluoroethylene), polystyrene (c) and polythene (d) soften on heating and can be remoulded many times, so they are thermoplastics. Concept: thermosetting plastics such as Bakelite and melamine set permanently on heating because of strong cross-links. Teflon is used in non-stick pans for its heat resistance. Polythene is the commonest plastic, with low-density polythene in bags and high-density polythene in bottles.

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Option (d), the stomach, is correct. Protein digestion begins in the stomach, where pepsinogen is activated to pepsin by hydrochloric acid, and pepsin breaks proteins into smaller peptides. It is completed in the small intestine (c) by trypsin and chymotrypsin from the pancreas and peptidases from the intestinal wall, which yield amino acids. The mouth (b) digests only starch, through salivary amylase. The liver (a) makes bile, which emulsifies fats but has no enzymes. Concept: in infants, rennin in the stomach curdles milk protein (casein). Carbohydrate digestion begins in the mouth and fat digestion mainly in the small intestine, through pancreatic lipase.

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Option (d), beriberi, is correct. Polishing rice removes the bran and germ, which contain thiamine (vitamin B1). Diets based on polished rice therefore cause beriberi, which damages nerves (dry beriberi) or the heart (wet beriberi); Christiaan Eijkman showed the link in Java in the 1890s and won the Nobel Prize in 1929. Rickets (a) is due to vitamin D deficiency. Anaemia (b) comes mainly from iron, folate or B12 deficiency. Goitre (c) is caused by iodine deficiency. Concept: parboiling rice before milling drives thiamine into the grain and reduces the risk. Pellagra comes from niacin (B3) deficiency, common in maize-eating populations.

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Option (a), vitamin K, is correct. Vitamin K is needed in the liver to make clotting factors, including prothrombin (factor II) and factors VII, IX and X, so its deficiency causes bleeding; newborns are given a vitamin K injection at birth. Vitamin E (b) is an antioxidant protecting cell membranes. Vitamin A (c) supports vision, and its lack causes night blindness. Vitamin C (d) is needed for collagen, and its deficiency causes scurvy with bleeding gums, though not through clotting. Concept: vitamin K is made partly by gut bacteria and found in green leafy vegetables. Warfarin, a blood thinner, works by blocking vitamin K, and calcium is also needed for clotting.

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Option (c), both, is correct. Statement 1: the heartbeat starts at the heart's own pacemaker, the sinoatrial (SA) node, so the heart is myogenic, but its rate is regulated by the cardiovascular centre in the medulla oblongata of the brain, which speeds it up through sympathetic nerves and slows it through the vagus nerve. Statement 2: the cerebellum maintains balance, posture and coordination of voluntary movement, using inputs from the inner ear. Options (a), (b) and (d) each leave out a true statement. Concept: the medulla also controls breathing, swallowing and vomiting; the hypothalamus regulates temperature, hunger and thirst; and the cerebrum handles thinking, memory and voluntary action.

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Option (a), asafoetida, is correct. Asafoetida (hing) is the dried gum-resin from the roots of Ferula plants, especially Ferula assa-foetida, grown in Iran and Afghanistan. These are large perennial herbs rather than true trees, but of the options only asafoetida comes from a plant. Bitumen (b) is a black, sticky petroleum product used in road surfaces, obtained from crude oil refining or natural deposits. Tincal (c) is natural borax, a mineral used in glass, detergents and as a flux. Option (d) is wrong since (a) fits. Concept: in 2020 CSIR-IHBT began India's first cultivation of asafoetida in Lahaul-Spiti, Himachal Pradesh, as India imports nearly all its hing.

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Option (b) is correct: both true, but R does not explain A. Assertion: invert sugar is sweeter than sucrose because it contains free fructose, the sweetest common sugar, about 1.7 times as sweet as sucrose. Reason: invert sugar is obtained by hydrolysing sucrose with acid or the enzyme invertase into an equal mixture of glucose and fructose; it is called 'invert' because the optical rotation changes from right (dextrorotatory) to left (laevorotatory). The method of making it does not itself explain why it is sweeter, so options (a), (c) and (d) are rejected. Concept: honey is largely natural invert sugar, and invert syrup keeps sweets moist and stops crystallisation.

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Option (c) is correct: A-4, B-2, C-1, D-3. Sodium is a soft alkali metal that can be cut easily with a knife; it is stored under kerosene because it reacts violently with water and air. Mercury is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature, used in thermometers and barometers. Silver is the best conductor of electricity, followed by copper. Lead is a comparatively poor conductor of heat among metals. Option (a) makes sodium liquid; (b) makes sodium a conductor and mercury cut with a knife; (d) makes mercury the best conductor. Concept: potassium is also soft, and gallium and caesium melt just above room temperature.

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Option (a), fibroin, is correct, because it is natural. Fibroin is the protein that forms silk fibres, made by silkworms (Bombyx mori) and spiders; with sericin it makes up raw silk. Lexan (b) is a polycarbonate plastic, strong and transparent, used in bullet-resistant glass and helmets. Neoprene (c) is polychloroprene, a synthetic rubber. Teflon (d) is polytetrafluoroethylene, used in non-stick pans. All three are synthetic polymers. Concept: natural polymers include proteins (silk, wool keratin), cellulose (cotton), starch and natural rubber (polyisoprene). Nylon (1935) was the first fully synthetic fibre. India is the second-largest silk producer and the only country producing all four main types.

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Option (c) is correct: A-2, B-3, C-1, D-4. Blue vitriol is copper sulphate pentahydrate, used as a fungicide, for example in Bordeaux mixture with lime against grape and potato blights. Eosin is a red dye used in red ink and to stain cells under the microscope. Silver iodide is sprayed for cloud seeding because its crystal structure resembles ice, helping droplets form rain. Zinc phosphide is a rodenticide (rat poison) that releases toxic phosphine gas in the stomach. Option (a) gives silver iodide as rat poison; (b) gives eosin for artificial rain; (d) gives eosin as rodenticide. Concept: green vitriol is ferrous sulphate and white vitriol is zinc sulphate.

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The official key is option (c), both. Statement 1: NIDHI (National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations), launched by the Department of Science and Technology in 2016, is an umbrella programme to turn ideas and innovations, largely from students and young innovators, into start-ups. Statement 2: the examiner accepts that it aims to support a set number of student start-ups each year, linked to its PRAYAS and student-innovation components; in practice NIDHI works through components such as PRAYAS, the Seed Support System, Entrepreneur-in-Residence and technology business incubators, without a single fixed annual figure. Options (a), (b) and (d) are rejected per key. Concept: Atal Innovation Mission and Startup India are related schemes.

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Option (a), 10, is correct. Ten cities of Uttar Pradesh were selected under the Smart Cities Mission launched in June 2015: Agra, Aligarh, Bareilly, Jhansi, Kanpur, Lucknow, Moradabad, Prayagraj, Saharanpur and Varanasi. Options (b) 12, (c) 15 and (d) 18 are distractors; UP later added seven more cities under its own state smart city scheme, but that is a separate programme. Concept: the national mission covers 100 cities chosen through a competitive 'City Challenge' in rounds from 2016 to 2018. Each city runs it through a special purpose vehicle, with about Rs 500 crore of central funds over five years. The mission's deadline was extended to 31 March 2025.

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Option (c), 1971 and 1981, is correct. Kanpur first crossed one million people in the 1971 Census, at about 1.27 million, as a major industrial centre known as the 'Manchester of the East'; India then had nine million-plus cities. Lucknow crossed the mark in the 1981 Census, at about 1.0 million, when the count rose to twelve. Options (a) and (b) are too early, since both were below a million in 1951 and 1961. Option (d) is too late. Concept: by Census 2011, Uttar Pradesh had seven million-plus urban agglomerations: Kanpur, Lucknow, Ghaziabad, Agra, Varanasi, Meerut and Prayagraj. India had 53 such cities in 2011.

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Option (d), Prayagraj, is correct. On 29 July 2020 the UP cabinet approved a bill to set up a National Law University at Prayagraj, later named after Dr Rajendra Prasad. It is the state's second NLU after Dr Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University, Lucknow (2005). Kanpur (a) and Gorakhpur (c) were not chosen. Lucknow (b) already had its NLU. Concept: Prayagraj is the seat of the Allahabad High Court, one of India's oldest, set up in 1866. The first NLU in India was the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru (1987). Admission to most NLUs is through the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT).

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Option (d), Mirzapur, is correct. The 75 MW (101 MWp) solar plant at Dadar Kalan in Mirzapur, built by the French company ENGIE, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron on 12 March 2018, then UP's largest solar plant. Agra (a), Ballia (b) and Deoria (c) were not its location. Concept: Macron's visit also included the founding conference of the International Solar Alliance in New Delhi; the ISA was launched by India and France at COP21 in Paris (2015) and is headquartered in Gurugram. UP's solar push includes Bundelkhand parks and the Ayodhya solar city plan. India targets 500 GW of non-fossil capacity by 2030.

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Option (d), Kushinagar, is correct. On 24 June 2020 the Union Cabinet declared Kushinagar airport an international airport to serve Buddhist pilgrims, since Kushinagar is where the Buddha attained Mahaparinirvana. The Prime Minister inaugurated it on 20 October 2021, with the first flight from Colombo. Agra (a) and Prayagraj (b) are domestic airports. Gorakhpur (c) is a domestic airport at an Air Force base. Concept: UP's international airports include Lucknow, Varanasi, Kushinagar and Ayodhya (Maharishi Valmiki), with the Noida International Airport at Jewar set to be one of India's largest. The Buddhist circuit also covers Sarnath, Sravasti and Kapilvastu.

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Option (c), 1 and 2, is correct. The Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY), launched in January 2015 by the Ministry of Urban Development, covered 12 heritage cities: Ajmer, Amaravati, Amritsar, Badami, Dwarka, Gaya, Kanchipuram, Mathura, Puri, Varanasi, Velankanni and Warangal. Only Varanasi and Mathura are in Uttar Pradesh. Prayagraj (3) and Ayodhya (4) were not included, so options (a), (b) and (d) are wrong. Concept: HRIDAY aimed to preserve the heritage character of cities through better infrastructure around heritage sites and was fully funded by the Centre. It ended in 2019, with work later continuing under schemes such as PRASHAD and Swadesh Darshan.

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Option (d), Lucknow, is correct. The Biotech Park in Lucknow, on Kursi Road, was set up in 2003 with support from the Department of Biotechnology and the UP government as the state's biotechnology park and incubator, helping start-ups and research in health, agriculture and environmental biotechnology. Kanpur (a) is known for IIT Kanpur and leather and textile industries. Ghaziabad (b) and NOIDA (c) are industrial and IT hubs near Delhi, but the state's designated biotech park is at Lucknow. Concept: Lucknow also hosts CSIR labs such as CDRI (drugs), NBRI (botany), CIMAP (medicinal plants) and IITR (toxicology). Genome Valley in Hyderabad is India's best-known biotech cluster.

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