Prelims GS Paper I 2018

Answer: (b) 2 only

Only the 1969 statement stands. The Communist Party of India, with 16 seats, was the largest opposition party in the first Lok Sabha, and the threshold for recognising a party (and so its leader) is one-tenth of the House, not 75 members.

• ✗ 1. In the first general election (1951–52) the CPI won 16 seats and became the largest opposition party. The Swatantra Party did not yet exist; it was founded in 1959.
• ✓ 2. Until 1969 the opposition had no formally recognised leader in the Lok Sabha. After the Congress split, Ram Subhag Singh of the Congress (O) was recognised in December 1969; the post got statutory backing in 1977.
• ✗ 3. The Speaker's Direction 121 requires a party to have at least the quorum strength, i.e. one-tenth of the House's members (about 55), not 75.

Remember · Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha: first recognised 1969 (Ram Subhag Singh); statutory since the 1977 Act; party needs one-tenth of the House (about 55 members).

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Politics in India since Independence, Ch 2 (practise this chapter)

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Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3

All three are ways in which dry-area plants cut water loss through transpiration. A waxy coat seals the surface, small leaves expose less evaporating surface, and thorns or spines replace leaves almost entirely.

• ✓ 1. A thick, waxy cuticle on hard leaves slows the escape of water vapour; plants of very dry habitats often have such a coat.
• ✓ 2. Small leaves have less surface from which water can evaporate and heat up less in the sun.
• ✓ 3. In plants such as cacti the leaves are reduced to thorns or spines, so the plant loses very little water through leaves at all.

Remember · Desert (xerophytic) plants save water with waxy coats, small leaves, thorns/spines, deep roots and fleshy water-storing stems.

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Answer: (c) 1 and 3 only

The NSS 70th round (2013) found Rajasthan with the highest share of agricultural households among rural households and Kerala as the one major State where most agricultural households earned their main income outside farming. The OBC share was about 45 per cent, not over 60.

• ✓ 1. 78.4 per cent of Rajasthan's rural households were agricultural households, the highest of any State; Kerala had the lowest share (27.3 per cent).
• ✗ 2. About 45 per cent of agricultural households belonged to Other Backward Classes, with about 16 per cent from Scheduled Castes and 13 per cent from Scheduled Tribes.
• ✓ 3. About 61 per cent of Kerala's agricultural households received their maximum income from sources other than agricultural activities.

Remember · NSS 70th round (2013): Rajasthan 78.4% rural households agricultural (highest), Kerala 27.3% (lowest); OBCs about 45% of agricultural households; Kerala the non-farm-income exception.

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Answer: (b) 2 only

Both bodies are creatures of statute: the NGT of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 and the CPCB of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974. So statement 1 fails on the CPCB half, while statement 2 correctly states the role of each.

• ✗ 1. The NGT was set up on 18 October 2010 under the NGT Act, 2010, but the CPCB is also statutory, constituted in September 1974 under the Water Act, 1974, not by an executive order.
• ✓ 2. The NGT's dedicated environmental jurisdiction gives speedy environmental justice and eases the load on higher courts; the CPCB's functions under the Water and Air Acts are to promote cleanliness of streams and wells and to improve air quality.

Remember · CPCB: statutory, 1974, under the Water Act (Air Act powers added 1981). NGT: statutory tribunal, 18 October 2010, under the NGT Act, 2010; principal bench New Delhi.

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Answer: (a) 1 only

Parliament adds laws to the Ninth Schedule through constitutional amendments, and Article 31B shields them from challenge for violating Fundamental Rights. But the shield is not absolute: laws added on or after 24 April 1973 (the Kesavananda Bharati judgment) can be tested against the basic structure.

• ✓ 1. The Ninth Schedule was created by the First Amendment (1951), and Parliament has added many Acts to it by later constitutional amendments.
• ✗ 2. Following Waman Rao (1981) and I.R. Coelho (2007), courts can review a law inserted into the Ninth Schedule after 24 April 1973 if it damages the basic structure of the Constitution.

Remember · Ninth Schedule (Art. 31B, First Amendment 1951) protects listed laws from Part III challenges, but post-24 April 1973 additions remain open to basic-structure review (I.R. Coelho, 2007).

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Answer: (c) The charge to a merchant by a bank for accepting payments from his customers through the bank's debit cards.

The Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) is a fee that flows from the merchant to the bank, charged as a percentage of each card payment the merchant accepts. It is not an incentive or a cashback; the RBI caps it and bars merchants from passing it on to customers.

• ✓ (c) The RBI's December 2017 circular speaks of the MDR 'levied on the merchant' and caps it as a percentage of the transaction value.
• ✗ (a) The money moves the other way: the merchant pays the bank, the bank does not pay the merchant.
• ✗ (b) That describes a cashback to cardholders; the RBI in fact tells banks to ensure merchants do not pass MDR charges on to customers.

Remember · MDR = fee a merchant pays its bank on each card/QR payment, a % of transaction value; RBI caps it (debit-card framework of 6 December 2017) and it cannot be passed to customers.

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Answer: (a) 1 only

The NSG is an informal club of nuclear supplier countries that coordinates export controls, so joining it eases a country's access to nuclear trade and technology. It is not a treaty body, and joining it does not by itself make a country a party to the NPT.

• ✓ 1. NSG participants shape and share the rules of nuclear trade among the main supplier states, which gives them easier access to advanced nuclear technology and equipment.
• ✗ 2. The NSG was not created by a treaty; it is a voluntary, non-legally binding association. NPT membership comes only by signing and ratifying the NPT itself.

Remember · NSG: voluntary supplier-country group formed 1975 after India's 1974 test; controls nuclear and dual-use exports through two sets of Guidelines; not a treaty, so membership does not mean NPT membership.

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Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2

The 6 per cent Equalisation Levy was created as a separate chapter of the Finance Act, 2016, outside the Income-tax Act, 1961. Because it is not a tax on income, tax treaties do not cover it, so the foreign firm gets no treaty credit at home.

• ✗ 1. The Finance Bill, 2016 inserted a new chapter titled 'Equalisation Levy' in the Finance Bill itself (Chapter VIII of the Finance Act, 2016); the Income-tax Act only exempted the same income under section 10 to avoid double taxation.
• ✗ 2. The CBDT's e-commerce committee, which designed the levy, noted that as it is not charged on income, Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements do not apply and no tax credit is available in the country of residence.
• • Since then Since then the 6 per cent levy on online advertisement has been abolished with effect from 1 April 2025 (Finance Act, 2025).

Remember · Equalisation Levy (2016): 6% on payments to non-resident online-ad providers without a PE in India; enacted in the Finance Act, not the Income-tax Act; outside DTAAs, so no foreign tax credit.

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Answer: (c) 1 and 3 only

The N.K. Singh FRBM Review Committee (report made public in 2017) proposed a 60 per cent general-government debt anchor, with the Centre brought down to 40 per cent by FY23 and the States at about 20 per cent. Statement 2 swaps the numbers: it is the Centre whose debt was about 49 per cent of GDP. Article 293(3) makes statement 3 correct.

• ✓ 1. The committee recommended a glide path that brings the Centre's debt to 40 per cent of GDP by FY23 within a general-government anchor of about 60 per cent, leaving roughly 20 per cent for the States together.
• ✗ 2. The figures are reversed. The report puts the Union government's debt at 49.4 per cent of GDP and the States' collective debt at only about 19–21 per cent.
• ✓ 3. Article 293(3) says a State may not raise a loan without the Government of India's consent if any part of a loan made or guaranteed by the Centre is still outstanding.

Remember · FRBM Review (N.K. Singh) Committee: debt anchor 60% of GDP (Centre 40%, States 20%); fiscal deficit 2.5% by FY23. Article 293(3): indebted States need the Centre's consent to borrow.

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Answer: (a) 1 only

India has for years imported more edible oil than it produces, meeting well over half of its needs from abroad, mainly palm and soybean oil. Imports are far from duty-free: the Budget of February 2018 raised customs duty on crude edible vegetable oils from 12.5 to 30 per cent.

• ✓ 1. In the years before 2018 imports supplied roughly 60 per cent of domestic edible-oil consumption, so the quantity imported exceeded domestic output; the government's oil-palm mission itself cites the heavy import burden.
• ✗ 2. Customs duty is levied and adjusted from time to time to protect oilseed farmers; the 2018-19 Budget raised it to 30 per cent on crude and 35 per cent on refined edible vegetable oils.

Remember · India is among the world's largest importers of edible oil (mainly palm and soybean); it imports more than it produces, and uses customs duty to balance farmers' and consumers' interests.

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Answer: (c) Lala Lajpat Rai

The clues of a stay in America and election to the Central Assembly fit Lala Lajpat Rai, the 'Lion of Punjab'. PIB records that he went to the United States and founded the Indian Home Rule League of America in October 1917, that he was a prolific author, and that he was elected Deputy Leader of the Swaraj Party in the Central Legislative Assembly.

• ✓ (c) Lajpat Rai spent time in the USA and founded the Indian Home Rule League of America in October 1917; he later sat in the Central Legislative Assembly as Deputy Leader of the Swaraj Party. PIB calls him a prolific author who wrote many books, which fits the clue about his writing.
• ✗ (b) Bipin Chandra Pal was, with Lajpat Rai and Tilak, one of the Lal-Bal-Pal trio, but no official page ties him to the stay in America and the Central Assembly seat that PIB records for Lajpat Rai.
• ✗ (d) Motilal Nehru helped found the Swaraj Party in 1923 to win seats in the Central Legislative Assembly (Britannica), but he is not recorded as having lived in America, so the combination of clues does not fit him.

Remember · Lala Lajpat Rai ('Punjab Kesari'): Lal-Bal-Pal leader, a founding figure of Punjab National Bank (NCERT), founded the Indian Home Rule League of America (1917), Deputy Leader of the Swaraj Party in the Central Legislative Assembly, died after the 1928 anti-Simon lathi charge.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 8 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 2), Ch 2 (practise this chapter)

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Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2

The Aadhaar Act, 2016 settles both. Section 9 says an Aadhaar number is not proof of citizenship or domicile, and Section 23(2)(g) empowers the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to omit and deactivate Aadhaar numbers as specified by regulations.

• ✗ 1. Aadhaar is a proof of identity (and, for residents, of address), but Section 9 expressly says it confers no right of, and is no proof of, citizenship or domicile.
• ✗ 2. One of UIDAI's statutory functions is 'omitting and deactivating of an Aadhaar number', for example where it was obtained fraudulently, under the manner laid down in its regulations.

Remember · Aadhaar Act, 2016: any resident (182 days in the preceding year) can enrol; the number is identity proof, not citizenship proof (Sec 9); UIDAI can omit or deactivate numbers (Sec 23(2)(g)).

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Answer: (a) 1 only

Only the Aral Sea fits. From the 1960s the Soviet Union diverted its feeder rivers, the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, to irrigate cotton, and the lake that was once the world's fourth largest broke into small remnants. The Black Sea and Lake Baikal have not shrunk in this way.

• ✓ 1. Irrigation diversions starved the Aral Sea (on the Kazakhstan–Uzbekistan border) of inflow; satellite images show it was already a fraction of its 1960 extent by 2000.
• ✗ 2. The Black Sea, a large inland sea linked to the Mediterranean through the Bosporus, faces pollution problems but has not dried up.
• ✗ 3. Lake Baikal in Siberia, the world's deepest lake, still holds its vast volume of fresh water; it has not shrunk immensely.

Remember · Aral Sea: once the world's fourth-largest lake, fed by the Amu Darya and Syr Darya; shrank drastically after Soviet-era irrigation diversions from the 1960s.

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Answer: (d) World Justice Project

The Rule of Law Index is compiled by the World Justice Project (WJP), an independent organisation based in Washington, D.C. It scores countries on how people experience the rule of law, using household and expert surveys.

• ✓ (d) The WJP describes its Rule of Law Index as its flagship dataset; the 2025 edition covers 143 countries and jurisdictions.
• ✗ (a) Amnesty International is a human-rights campaigning NGO known for its annual report on the state of human rights, not this index.
• ✗ (b) The International Court of Justice is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations and decides disputes between States; it publishes no country index.

Remember · Rule of Law Index = World Justice Project (independent, U.S.-based); measures eight factors such as constraints on government powers, absence of corruption and fundamental rights.

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Answer: (c) National Payments Corporation of India

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) runs the National Financial Switch (NFS), the shared network that lets a card of one bank work at another bank's ATM. NPCI took over the NFS from the RBI's research institute IDRBT on 14 December 2009.

• ✓ (c) The NFS, operated by NPCI, is the largest network of shared ATMs in India, handling interoperable cash withdrawals, card-to-card transfers and cash deposits.
• ✗ (d) The RBI regulates payment systems and authorised NPCI to operate the NFS ATM network in 2009, but it does not itself run the switch.
• ✗ (a) The Indian Banks' Association is an association of bank managements; together with the RBI it promoted NPCI but it operates no ATM network.

Remember · NPCI (2008, promoted by RBI and IBA, not-for-profit) runs NFS (shared ATM switch), IMPS, UPI, RuPay, AePS, NACH and Bharat BillPay.

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Answer: (a) 1 only

A bank's own capital is the cushion that absorbs losses, for instance when borrowers default, and the capital adequacy ratio measures that capital against the bank's risk-weighted assets. The minimum ratio is not left to each bank: in India the Reserve Bank of India prescribes it, following the Basel norms.

• ✓ 1. Capital adequacy means holding enough own funds, relative to risk-weighted assets, so that losses on loans and other assets can be absorbed without the bank becoming insolvent.
• ✗ 2. The RBI's Basel III Master Circular (2014) requires scheduled commercial banks to keep a minimum total capital of 9% of risk-weighted assets; banks may hold more but cannot set the floor themselves.

Remember · CAR (or CRAR) = capital ÷ risk-weighted assets. RBI sets the minimum at 9% (Basel III asks for 8%); with the 2.5% conservation buffer it is 11.5%.

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Answer: (c) Both 1 and 2

An open API is a published, standard way for any software to talk to a service. Because UIDAI publishes its authentication APIs, any device that can build a request in that format (phone, PoS terminal, kiosk, PC) can use Aadhaar, and the service accepts biometric checks by fingerprint or iris as well as OTP.

• ✓ 1. UIDAI chose an API-based approach so that demographic and OTP authentication can start from any device able to create a request as per its API specifications; biometric capture only adds the need for a certified sensor.
• ✓ 2. UIDAI verifies a person online by matching the Aadhaar number with demographic data, OTP or biometrics, and the biometrics accepted include fingerprints, iris and face.

Remember · Aadhaar authentication = online yes/no check against UIDAI's CIDR, using demographic data, OTP, fingerprint, iris or face, through published (open) APIs.

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Answer: (d) Yemen and South Sudan

In 2017 the UN formally declared famine in parts of South Sudan, where civil war had wrecked food supply, and warned that war-torn Yemen had more than 17 million people facing severe food insecurity. Both crises were driven by armed conflict.

• ✓ (d) Famine was declared in parts of South Sudan's Unity region on 20 February 2017, and in March 2017 the UN counted 2.2 million acutely malnourished children in conflict-ridden Yemen.
• ✗ (c) Venezuela's shortages of food and medicine at the time grew out of an economic collapse rather than a war or ethnic conflict, and neighbouring Colombia saw no famine.
• ✗ (a) Angola's civil war ended in 2002 and Zambia has had no recent war; neither saw conflict-driven famine around 2017.

Remember · 2017: UN declared famine in South Sudan (Leer and Mayendit, Unity region); Yemen called one of the world's worst hunger crises, 17 million food-insecure.

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Answer: (a) 1 and 2 only

Charles Wood's education despatch of 1854 set up a grants-in-aid system for schools that met government standards and led to universities at Calcutta, Bombay and Madras in 1857. It wanted English for higher education but the vernacular languages at the school level, so statement 3 is wrong.

• ✓ 1. After 1854 the Company began supporting schools, including village pathshalas, with government grants on condition that they accepted its rules, routines and inspections.
• ✓ 2. Steps were taken to build a university system after the Despatch; in 1857, the year of the revolt, universities were being set up in Calcutta, Madras and Bombay.
• ✗ 3. The Despatch favoured English as the medium of higher education only; for elementary schooling it pushed improvement of vernacular education.

Remember · Wood's Despatch (1854), Charles Wood, President of the Board of Control: grants-in-aid, education departments, universities (1857), English for higher and vernacular for lower education.

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Answer: (b) Committee on Subordinate Legislation

Laws passed by Parliament often leave the details to the executive, which fills them in through rules, regulations and bye-laws. Each House has a Committee on Subordinate Legislation to check that this delegated power is used only within the limits Parliament or the Constitution set.

• ✓ (b) In the Rajya Sabha this committee is constituted under Rules 204–206 of its Rules of Procedure; the Lok Sabha has its own committee of the same name.
• ✗ (a) The Committee on Government Assurances tracks whether promises and undertakings given by Ministers on the floor of the House are carried out.
• ✗ (c) The Rules Committee considers the House's own rules of procedure and conduct of business and recommends amendments; it does not examine executive rule-making.

Remember · Delegated (subordinate) legislation = rules, regulations, bye-laws made by the executive under an Act; watched over by the Committee on Subordinate Legislation in each House.

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Answer: (b) 2 only

Under Section 23 of the RTE Act, teacher qualifications are set by an academic authority notified by the Central Government, and that authority is the national body NCTE, not any State council. NCTE's 2010 notification made passing a Teacher Eligibility Test, held as per NCTE guidelines, part of the minimum qualification. Most teacher education institutions are privately run, not State-run.

• ✗ 1. The Centre notified the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) as the academic authority under Section 23; there is no State Council that fixes these minimum qualifications.
• ✓ 2. NCTE's notification of 23 August 2010 requires a teacher for Classes I–VIII to pass the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET), conducted by the appropriate government in line with NCTE's guidelines.
• ✗ 3. NCTE recognises government, government-aided and self-financing institutions, and the self-financing (private) ones form the great majority; the Justice Verma Commission (2012) put the private share above 90%.

Remember · RTE Act s.23: NCTE (statutory body under the NCTE Act, 1993) is the academic authority for teacher qualifications; TET is mandatory for Classes I–VIII teachers.

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Answer: (b) 1 and 2

Chapchar Kut belongs to Mizoram and Khongjom Parba to Manipur, so pairs 1 and 2 are right. Thang-Ta is a martial art of Manipur, not of Sikkim.

• ✓ 1. Chapchar Kut is Mizoram's spring festival, held in March after the jungle-clearing work of jhum (shifting) cultivation is over.
• ✓ 2. Khongjom Parba is a ballad tradition of Manipur, sung to the dholak. It narrates the Battle of Khongjom fought between the Manipuris and the British in April 1891.
• ✗ 3. Thang-Ta (thang means sword, ta means spear) is the martial art of the Meitei people of Manipur. It has no link with Sikkim.

Remember · Chapchar Kut: Mizoram. Khongjom Parba: Manipur (the 1891 Anglo-Manipuri battle). Thang-Ta: Manipur's sword-and-spear martial art.

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Answer: (a) 1 only

Only statement 1 is correct: the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 folded the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 and several older food orders into one law. FSSAI is an independent statutory authority with its own Chairperson, not a body under the Director General of Health Services.

• ✓ 1. The 2006 Act lists the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 among the laws it repeals, along with orders such as the Fruit Products Order, 1955. This gave India a single law and a single authority for food safety.
• ✗ 2. FSSAI is a statutory authority created by the 2006 Act. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is only its administrative ministry, and the FSSAI Chairperson is in the rank of Secretary to the Government of India, so it does not sit under the Director General of Health Services.

Remember · FSS Act, 2006 replaced the PFA Act, 1954 and created FSSAI, a statutory authority whose administrative ministry is the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

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Answer: (b) Israel

The two-state solution is the proposal to settle the Israel-Palestine conflict by having two independent States, Israel and Palestine, live side by side. It has nothing to do with China, Iraq or Yemen.

• ✓ (b) The idea goes back to UN General Assembly Resolution 181 (1947), which proposed partitioning Palestine into two independent States, one Palestinian Arab and the other Jewish. In 2002 the UN Security Council affirmed a vision of two States, Israel and Palestine.
• ✗ (a) China, Iraq and Yemen are not parties to the Israel-Palestine question. The term 'two-state solution' refers only to the land of former Mandate Palestine (Israel, the West Bank and Gaza).

Remember · Two-state solution: an independent State of Palestine alongside Israel. The UN's plan of 1947 (Resolution 181) first proposed two States.

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Answer: (b) 2 only

Only statement 2 is correct: Section 13 of the National Food Security Act, 2013 makes the eldest woman of 18 years or above the head of the household for the ration card. Subsidised grain is not limited to BPL families, and the take-home ration norm for pregnant women and lactating mothers is 600 kcal, not 1600.

• ✗ 1. The Act covers 'eligible households', meaning priority households and Antyodaya Anna Yojana households, identified by State Governments under the Act's criteria. It does not use the BPL category alone.
• ✓ 2. Section 13(1) says the eldest woman of not less than eighteen years in every eligible household is the head of the household for issue of ration cards. If there is no such woman, the eldest male member is the head.
• ✗ 3. Section 4 entitles pregnant women and lactating mothers to a free meal through the local anganwadi during pregnancy and six months after childbirth, plus maternity benefit of at least Rs 6,000. Schedule II fixes the take-home ration at 600 kcal and 18-20 g protein per day, not 1600 kcal.

Remember · NFSA 2013: eldest woman (18+) heads the ration-card household; coverage is priority plus AAY households; take-home ration for pregnant and lactating women is 600 kcal.

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Answer: (d) WTO

India passed the Geographical Indications Act, 1999 as a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Protection of geographical indications is required by the WTO's TRIPS Agreement (Articles 22 to 24), so the law was needed to meet that obligation.

• ✓ (d) TRIPS, the WTO's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, covers geographical indications in Articles 22 to 24. India enacted its GI Act in 1999 as a WTO member; it came into force on 15 September 2003.
• ✗ (a) The ILO (International Labour Organization) deals with labour standards, not intellectual property.
• ✗ (b) The IMF deals with monetary cooperation and balance-of-payments support, not intellectual property such as GI tags.

Remember · GI Act, 1999 (in force 15 September 2003) follows the WTO's TRIPS Agreement, Articles 22-24.

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Answer: (d) 3 only

Only statement 3 is correct. Rajasthan does produce iron ore, whereas State Governments do hold the auction of mineral concessions and both Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand have gold mines.

• ✗ 1. Since the 2015 amendment of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, mineral concessions are granted by the State Governments and only through auction.
• ✗ 2. Jharkhand has a working private gold mine at Kunderkocha in Singhbhum East district. Andhra Pradesh has a gold mining lease in Kurnool district (Jonnagiri), so both States have gold mines, even though Karnataka produces about 99% of India's gold.
• ✓ 3. Rajasthan does have iron ore mines. In 2021-22 Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka and Jharkhand gave about 96% of India's iron ore, and the rest came from Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.

Remember · States conduct the auction of mineral concessions (MMDR Act, 2015). Gold mines: Karnataka mainly, also Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh. Rajasthan has iron ore.

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Answer: (a) 1 only

Only statement 1 is correct: BHIM is a UPI-based app for direct bank-to-bank transfers. Statement 2 fails because a chip-and-PIN card does not use four factors of authentication; UPI, and so BHIM, uses two.

• ✓ 1. BHIM was launched in December 2016 to enable digital payments using UPI, and it allows direct bank-to-bank transfers from a mobile phone. Because UPI is interoperable, the receiver only needs a UPI-enabled bank account.
• ✗ 2. The official description of UPI says it uses two-factor authentication: the registered mobile phone and the secret UPI PIN. A chip-and-PIN card also works on two things, the card itself and its PIN, so it does not have four factors.

Remember · BHIM is the NPCI's UPI app (launched December 2016). UPI uses two-factor authentication: the registered mobile device plus the UPI PIN.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Bengaluru

Bengaluru lies at about 77.6 degrees east, only about 0.4 degrees from Delhi at 77.2 degrees east, so it is the closest in longitude. Hyderabad, Nagpur and Pune lie further east or west of that line.

• ✓ (a) Delhi is at 77.20 E and Bengaluru at 77.58 E, a gap of about 0.4 degrees. Bengaluru is almost directly south of Delhi.
• ✗ (b) Hyderabad is at 78.47 E, about 1.3 degrees east of Delhi.
• ✗ (c) Nagpur is at 79.12 E, about 1.9 degrees east of Delhi.
• ✗ (d) Pune is at 73.85 E, about 3.4 degrees west of Delhi, the farthest of the four.

Remember · Delhi (77.2 E) and Bengaluru (77.6 E) are almost on the same meridian; Pune (73.9 E) is well to the west.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Child labour

ILO Conventions 138 and 182 are the two core conventions on child labour. No. 138 fixes the minimum age for admission to employment, and No. 182 prohibits the worst forms of child labour and calls for immediate action against them.

• ✓ (a) Convention 138 is the Minimum Age Convention, 1973 and Convention 182 is the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999. India deposited its instruments of ratification of both with the ILO on 13 June 2017, which is why they were in the news before the 2018 exam.
• ✗ (d) These two conventions deal only with child labour. Gender parity at the workplace, adaptation to climate change and food prices are not what they cover.

Remember · ILO No. 138 = minimum age for employment; No. 182 = worst forms of child labour. India ratified both in June 2017.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) A Money Bill is concerned with the appropriation of moneys out of the Contingency Fund of India.

Statement (c) is the incorrect one. Article 110(1) lets a Money Bill deal with appropriation of moneys out of the Consolidated Fund of India, not out of the Contingency Fund of India.

• ✓ (c) This is the statement that is not correct, so it is the answer. Article 110(1)(d) speaks only of 'the appropriation of moneys out of the Consolidated Fund of India'. The Contingency Fund is mentioned in clause (c), which covers custody of the Fund and payments into it or withdrawals from it, not appropriation.
• ✗ (a) This statement is true (Article 110(1)(a)): a Bill with only provisions on imposition, abolition, remission, alteration or regulation of any tax is a Money Bill.
• ✗ (b) This statement is true (Article 110(1)(c)): custody of the Consolidated Fund or the Contingency Fund of India, and payment of moneys into or withdrawal from them, is a Money Bill matter.
• ✗ (d) This statement is true (Article 110(1)(b)): regulation of borrowing and the giving of guarantees by the Government of India is a Money Bill matter.

Remember · Article 110: Money Bill matters include tax, borrowing, custody of the Consolidated and Contingency Funds, and appropriation out of the Consolidated Fund only. The Speaker's decision on whether a Bill is a Money Bill is final.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1 only

Only statement 1 is correct: under Article 55 an MLA's vote value is worked out from the population of his or her State, so it differs from State to State. Every elected MP, of the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha, has the same vote value.

• ✓ 1. Article 55(2)(a) gives each MLA as many votes as there are multiples of one thousand in the State's population divided by the number of its elected MLAs. Population and the size of the Assembly differ from State to State, so the vote value differs too.
• ✗ 2. Article 55(2)(c) gives each elected MP of either House the same number of votes: the total of all MLAs' vote values divided by the total number of elected MPs of both Houses. So a Lok Sabha MP's vote is worth exactly as much as a Rajya Sabha MP's.

Remember · President's election (Art. 55): MLA vote value depends on the State's population; every elected MP has one common vote value, whichever House he or she sits in.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) The civilian nuclear reactors come under IAEA safeguards.

India's Additional Protocol is attached to its India-specific safeguards agreement with the IAEA, which covers only India's civilian nuclear facilities. So ratifying it means those civilian facilities stay under IAEA safeguards and get wider IAEA access; military installations are left out.

• ✓ (a) The IAEA Board approved a safeguards agreement with India in 2008 for the application of IAEA safeguards to Indian civilian nuclear facilities. The Additional Protocol to that agreement entered into force on 25 July 2014.
• ✗ (b) Both the safeguards agreement and its Additional Protocol are titled as covering 'Civilian Nuclear Facilities'. India's military installations are not placed under IAEA inspection.
• ✗ (c) The Additional Protocol is an arrangement with the IAEA. It does not give India any right to buy uranium from the Nuclear Suppliers Group, which is a separate body.
• ✗ (d) Ratifying a protocol with the IAEA does not make a country a member of the NSG. NSG membership is a separate matter decided within that group.

Remember · India's Additional Protocol (signed 15 May 2009; in force 25 July 2014) extends IAEA safeguards access to its civilian nuclear facilities only.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 1, 3, 4 and 5

At the time of the exam, ASEAN had free trade agreements with Australia (with New Zealand), China, Japan, South Korea and India. Canada and the USA were not among ASEAN's free-trade partners, so the correct set is 1, 3, 4 and 5.

• ✓ 1. Australia (together with New Zealand) is a party to the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area, AANZFTA.
• ✗ 2. Canada had no free trade agreement with ASEAN in the list of ASEAN's FTAs published in 2018.
• ✓ 3. China is a partner in the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area, ACFTA.
• ✓ 4. India is a partner in the ASEAN-India Free Trade Area, AIFTA.
• ✓ 5. Japan is a partner in the ASEAN-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership, AJCEP.
• ✗ 6. The USA does not appear in ASEAN's list of free trade agreements with dialogue partners.

Remember · ASEAN's FTA partners (as in 2018): China, Japan, South Korea, India, and Australia-New Zealand. Not Canada, not the USA.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2 only

Only statement 2 is correct: GACSA is a voluntary alliance and its members are not bound by any commitments or obligations. It was launched in New York in 2014, not as an outcome of the Paris summit of 2015, and India was not one of its creators.

• ✗ 1. The UN Secretary-General launched GACSA in New York during the Climate Summit on 24 September 2014, more than a year before the Paris climate conference of 2015.
• ✓ 2. GACSA's guiding principles state that members are not bound by any commitments or obligations and decide for themselves how they take part.
• ✗ 3. GACSA was launched by the UN Secretary-General, and FAO hosts its Facilitation Unit. FAO's account of the groundwork conferences names the governments of the Netherlands, Ethiopia, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway and Viet Nam, the World Bank and the FAO, not India, and India is not listed among the government members in GACSA's 2022 annual report.

Remember · GACSA: launched 24 September 2014 at the UN Climate Summit, New York; voluntary, no binding obligations; its Facilitation Unit is hosted by FAO.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 3 only

Only statement 3 is an aim of Digital India, which is about digital infrastructure, on-demand services and digital empowerment of citizens, including broadband to villages and Wi-Fi at public places. Building Indian rivals to Chinese Internet firms or drawing foreign firms' data centres to India is not among its stated aims.

• ✗ 1. The programme's stated vision is a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy, built on three areas: digital infrastructure as a utility, governance and services on demand, and digital empowerment of citizens. Creating national Internet companies is not one of them.
• ✗ 2. Digital India's official aims do not include a policy framework to pull overseas companies' data centres into India. Its infrastructure work is about broadband, mobile coverage and public access.
• ✓ 3. BharatNet, the backbone of Digital India, aims to take Internet services to every corner of the country, and Digital India also covers public Wi-Fi: BSNL set up hotspots at tourist places such as the Ganga Ghats at Varanasi and the Taj Mahal, and the plan includes Wi-Fi in all universities and broadband in all schools.

Remember · Digital India (launched 1 July 2015) has three vision areas: digital infrastructure as a utility, governance and services on demand, and digital empowerment of citizens.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 1 and 4

Aleppo is in Syria and Mazar-i-Sharif is in Afghanistan, so pairs 1 and 4 are correct. Kirkuk and Mosul are both cities of Iraq, not of Yemen or Palestine.

• ✓ 1. Aleppo is a historic city of Syria; its Ancient City is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in that country.
• ✗ 2. Kirkuk is in Iraq, where its Citadel is on the country's UNESCO tentative list. It is not in Yemen.
• ✗ 3. Mosul is in Iraq. India's Ministry of External Affairs records that 39 Indian nationals were killed in Mosul, and their remains were brought back from Baghdad in April 2018. It is not in Palestine.
• ✓ 4. Mazar-i-Sharif (also spelt Mazar-e-Sharif) is one of the main cities of Afghanistan; India has run an Indian Medical Mission there.

Remember · Aleppo: Syria. Mosul and Kirkuk: Iraq. Mazar-i-Sharif: Afghanistan.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Governor General

Under the Government of India Act, 1935 the residuary powers went to the Governor-General, not to the Federal or the Provincial Legislature. Section 104 let him, acting in his own discretion, authorise either legislature to make a law on a matter not listed in the Seventh Schedule.

• ✓ (b) Section 104(1) says the Governor-General may by public notification empower either the Federal Legislature or a Provincial Legislature to legislate on a matter not enumerated in any list of the Seventh Schedule, and Section 104(2) says he acts in his discretion.
• ✗ (a) The Federal Legislature had only the powers given in the Federal List and the Concurrent List. It could make a law on an unlisted matter only if the Governor-General empowered it.
• ✗ (c) The Provincial Legislature likewise held only the Provincial and Concurrent Lists and had no residuary power of its own.

Remember · 1935 Act: residuary powers with the Governor-General (Section 104). The Constitution of India changed this: Article 248 gives them to Parliament.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1 only

The Speaker of a state Legislative Assembly must vacate office on ceasing to be a member of the Assembly, but does not leave office when the Assembly is dissolved. Article 179 lets the Speaker continue until just before the first meeting of the new Assembly.

• ✓ 1. Article 179(a) says a Speaker or Deputy Speaker shall vacate office if he ceases to be a member of the Assembly, for example on disqualification or losing a seat.
• ✗ 2. The second proviso to Article 179 says that on dissolution the Speaker shall not vacate office until immediately before the first meeting of the Assembly after the dissolution. So there is no immediate vacation.

Remember · On dissolution the Speaker stays in office until just before the new Assembly's first meeting (Article 179; Article 94 for the Lok Sabha Speaker).

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) If there are no laws, there is no liberty.

Law and liberty go together: without laws, nobody's freedom is protected from the coercion of others, so there is no real liberty. Law restrains harmful acts and thereby secures the freedom of everyone.

• ✓ (b) Political theory treats law as a support for freedom: legal restraints are needed so that one group cannot coercively impose its views on another, and law protects each person's freedom.
• ✗ (a) This treats law as the enemy of liberty. Only unnecessary or unjustified constraints reduce freedom; the test is whether a restriction is necessary and justified, not how many laws exist.
• ✗ (c) Laws being made by the people is a feature of democratic government and positive liberty, but it does not describe the basic relationship between law and liberty.

Remember · Law and liberty are not opposites: laws protect liberty. Where there is no law, the strong dominate and there is no liberty for others.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Political Theory, Ch 2 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 Political Theory, Ch 2 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Both 1 and 2

Both statements are correct. The Constitution gives a Governor immunity from criminal proceedings during the term of office (Article 361) and bars any reduction of the Governor's emoluments and allowances during that term (Article 158).

• ✓ 1. Article 361(2) bars criminal proceedings of every kind, whether starting or continuing, against the President or a State's Governor in any court while the term of office lasts.
• ✓ 2. Article 158(4) says the emoluments and allowances of the Governor shall not be diminished during his term of office, which secures the Governor's financial independence.

Remember · Article 361 shields the President and Governors from criminal proceedings during their term; Article 158(4) protects the Governor's emoluments from reduction.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Kishangarh school

Bani Thani belongs to the Kishangarh school of Rajasthani painting. It was painted by the court artist Nihal Chand, based on a poem by Kishangarh's ruler Sawant Singh, and shows Radha with an elongated face, curved eyes and pointed nose.

• ✓ (d) Nihal Chand painted Bani Thani for Sawant Singh of Kishangarh, who wrote poetry on Radha and Krishna. Its exaggerated facial type became the hallmark of the Kishangarh school.
• ✗ (a) Bundi is another Rajasthani centre of painting, but it is not the school associated with Bani Thani.
• ✗ (b) Jaipur is another Rajasthani school, with no link to Nihal Chand or Bani Thani.
• ✗ (c) Kangra belongs to the Pahari (hill) schools of the western Himalayas, not to Rajasthan.

Remember · Bani Thani, Nihal Chand and Sawant Singh (Nagari Das) go with the Kishangarh school. Its trademark is the elongated face with sharp features.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 An Introduction to Indian Art, Part II, Ch 2 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 An Introduction to Indian Art, Part II, Ch 2 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) An American anti-missile system

THAAD is an American anti-missile system. It is a land-based system of the US Missile Defense Agency and US Army that destroys ballistic missiles in their final (terminal) phase of flight, using hit-to-kill interceptors.

• ✓ (c) THAAD batteries have a launcher, interceptors, an AN/TPY-2 radar and fire control. They are procured and fielded to the US Army, and the interceptor destroys the warhead by direct impact.
• ✗ (b) India's own anti-missile effort is the Ballistic Missile Defence programme of DRDO, which flight-tests indigenous interceptors. It is a separate programme from THAAD.
• ✗ (a) THAAD is developed and fielded by the United States (US Missile Defense Agency and US Army), not by Israel, and it is an interceptor system rather than only a radar.
• ✗ (d) THAAD is fielded to the US Army to protect US forces and allies. It is not a joint Japan–South Korea defence arrangement.

Remember · THAAD = Terminal High Altitude Area Defense: a US ground-based, hit-to-kill system against ballistic missiles in their terminal phase. India's own shield is DRDO's BMD.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2 and 4 only

Tyagaraja created new ragas, and Annamacharya's kirtanas praise Lord Venkateswara of Tirumala, so 2 and 4 are correct. The two composers are separated by about three centuries.

• ✗ 1. UPSC's official key treats this statement as incorrect; we could not confirm the detail from an official source, so we do not explain it here.
• ✓ 2. The Ministry of Culture's CCRT notes that later composers like Tyagaraja invented many beautiful ragas, following the scheme of 72 melakartas.
• ✗ 3. Annamacharya belongs to the Tallapaka composers of the 15th century. Tyagaraja was one of the Musical Trinity born between 1750 and 1850, so they lived centuries apart.
• ✓ 4. Annamacharya of Tallapaka composed over thirty-two thousand devotional sankeerthanas on Lord Venkateswara of Tirumala, his family deity.

Remember · Tyagaraja: Trinity of Carnatic music, new ragas. Annamacharya (15th century, Tallapaka): sankeerthanas on Venkateswara of Tirumala.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 1, 2 and 4 only

Rule of law means that power is limited by law, that everyone stands equal before the law, and that people's rights are protected against arbitrary action. It does not make people responsible to the government, so 1, 2 and 4 are its features.

• ✓ 1. Rule of law means no one, including those in power, is above the law. This limits the powers of rulers and prevents misuse of power.
• ✓ 2. All individuals, rich or poor, are subject to the same law and get equal protection of the law.
• ✗ 3. The principle checks those who govern, and it is not about citizens owing responsibility to the government. Accountability runs from the government to the people.
• ✓ 4. No one can be punished except by procedure established by law, and everyone gets a fair chance to defend their rights against arbitrary action, so liberty and civil rights are protected.

Remember · Rule of law: no one above the law, equality before law, and protection of liberty and rights against arbitrary power.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 9 Understanding Society: India and Beyond, Ch 6 (practise this chapter) · Class 9 Understanding Society: India and Beyond, Ch 6 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 Indian Constitution at Work, Ch 6 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) The money which a creditor is under compulsion to accept in settlement of his claims

Legal tender is money that the law says must be accepted in settlement of a debt, so a creditor cannot refuse it. Currency notes and coins issued by the state are legal tender.

• ✓ (b) Notes and coins are legal tender because no citizen can refuse them when settling any transaction. The creditor has to accept them.
• ✗ (c) Cheques and drafts are bank money. Anyone can refuse them as a mode of payment, so demand deposits are not legal tender.
• ✗ (d) Legal tender is defined by the compulsion to accept, not by the metal. Paper currency notes are legal tender too.
• ✗ (a) Nothing in the idea of legal tender concerns paying court fees. It only concerns settling a debt.

Remember · Legal tender = money a creditor cannot refuse (notes and coins). Cheques and other demand deposits are not legal tender.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Introductory Macroeconomics, Ch 3 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Introductory Macroeconomics, Ch 3 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) the opportunity cost is transferred from the consumers of the product to the tax-paying public.

Free public provision does not remove the cost. The resources used still have other uses, and the bill is met through the government budget, which taxes help to fund, so the burden moves from the user to the tax-paying public.

• ✓ (c) When goods are provided publicly, they are financed through the budget and users pay nothing directly. Tax revenue is an important part of budget receipts, so taxpayers bear the cost that consumers would otherwise have paid.
• ✗ (a) Opportunity cost is what is given up when resources are used for one purpose instead of another. Producing the commodity always uses scarce resources, so the cost cannot be zero.
• ✗ (b) The cost is not ignored in economics. It has only moved from the consumer to someone else.
• ✗ (d) The government pays for the commodity out of the budget, which is funded mainly by receipts such as taxes. The burden therefore falls on taxpayers, not on the government as a separate bearer.

Remember · Free to the user is not free to society: public provision shifts the cost from the consumer to taxpayers through the budget.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Introductory Macroeconomics, Ch 5 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Introductory Macroeconomics, Ch 5 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Introductory Microeconomics, Ch 1 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) poverty and unemployment increase.

Rising GNP and per capita GNP show growth, but development also needs the gains to reach people. If poverty and unemployment increase, the income growth has not improved living standards, so it does not signal a higher level of development.

• ✓ (c) Development is wider than income growth. NCERT notes that even countries with high growth saw poverty rise quickly because the gains were shared unequally. Growth with rising poverty and unemployment is not development.
• ✗ (a) The balance between industry and agriculture affects the structure of the economy but says nothing about whether people are better off.
• ✗ (b) Industry growing faster than agriculture is a normal feature of structural change and does not by itself deny development.
• ✗ (d) Imports growing faster than exports widens the trade deficit. It is a balance-of-payments concern, not a test of whether GNP growth means development.

Remember · Growth (GNP, per capita income) is not the same as development. Rising poverty and unemployment show that growth has not turned into development.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 India: People and Economy, Ch 6 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 India: People and Economy, Ch 6 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 2 and 4

Human capital formation means building up the knowledge, skills and capacities of people, and what is built is intangible. So statements 2 and 4 describe it, while accumulating capital or tangible wealth describes physical capital.

• ✗ 1. Accumulating more capital, in the sense of money or assets, is physical capital formation. Human capital formation is about improving people themselves.
• ✓ 2. Human capital is the specialised skills, knowledge and abilities that people bring to work. Investment in education, health and training raises them.
• ✗ 3. Tangible wealth such as machines or buildings is physical capital, which can be sold in the market like a commodity.
• ✓ 4. Human capital is intangible: it is built into the body and mind of its owner and cannot be separated from that person.

Remember · Physical capital is tangible and separable from its owner. Human capital (skills, knowledge, health) is intangible and inseparable from its owner.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Indian Economic Development, Ch 4 (practise this chapter) · Class 8 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Ch 7 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) high capital-output ratio

A high capital-output ratio means that a lot of capital is needed to produce each extra unit of output. Even with high saving and investment, growth then stays low because each unit of capital adds little to output.

• ✓ (d) The incremental capital-output ratio (ICOR) links investment to growth: roughly, the investment rate divided by the growth rate. India's Ninth Plan invested more than the Eighth yet grew more slowly, so its ICOR rose from 3.43 to 4.53.
• ✗ (a) Weak administration can hinder projects, but it is not the measure that ties capital formation to output. It shows up through a high capital-output ratio.
• ✗ (b) Illiteracy affects human capital and productivity in general. It is not the standard reason why saving and investment fail to raise output.
• ✗ (c) Population density is a demographic feature, not a measure of how efficiently capital is turned into output.

Remember · Growth = investment rate divided by ICOR. A high capital-output ratio means investment is inefficient, so high saving does not give proportionate output.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Both 1 and 2

Both measures were taken. After the Santhal Revolt of 1855–56 the British carved out a separate Santhal Pargana territory, and special laws there protected Santhal land from passing to outsiders.

• ✓ 1. The Santhal Pargana was created after the revolt, carved out of Bhagalpur and Birbhum districts, in 1855, as a separate territory to conciliate the Santhals.
• ✓ 2. The special laws for the Santhal Pargana barred the transfer of raiyati land: Regulation III of 1872 (Section 7) made the holdings non-transferable, and Regulation III of 1908 declared their non-transferability and empowered the Deputy Commissioner to act against illegal alienation. Santhals had lost land to moneylenders and outsiders. The protection continues today in the Santal Parganas Tenancy (Supplementary Provisions) Act, 1949, which makes a raiyat's transfer invalid unless the right is recorded.

Remember · Santhal Hul (1855–56, Sido–Kanhu) led to the separate Santhal Pargana district and special land-protection laws against transfer to outsiders.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part III, Ch 1 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part III, Ch 1 (practise this chapter)

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Answer: (c) commercialization of Indian agriculture

British rule commercialised Indian agriculture: farmers were pushed towards cash crops for the market and for export instead of growing mainly for their own needs. The railways helped this trend, while India's handicraft industries declined.

• ✓ (c) Railways, introduced in 1850, fostered commercialisation of Indian agriculture, and cash crops gave higher yields in some areas. It weakened the self-sufficiency of village economies.
• ✗ (a) The country's world-famous handicraft industries declined under colonial rule. Cheap machine-made goods, such as those from Manchester, replaced native manufactures.
• ✗ (b) India could not build a sound industrial base under colonial rule. No modern industrial base was allowed to take the place of the declining handicrafts.

Remember · 19th-century colonial economy: commercialised agriculture, decline of handicrafts (de-industrialisation), and railways serving colonial interests.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Indian Economic Development, Ch 1 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 Indian Economic Development, Ch 1 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) the powers of the Legislature of that State shall be exercisable by or under the authority of the Parliament.

Under Article 356 the President can declare that the State Legislature's powers will be exercised by or under the authority of Parliament. This is the constitutional core of President's Rule, and it is the option that uses the Article's own words.

• ✓ (b) Article 356(1)(b) allows the President to declare that the powers of the State Legislature shall be exercisable by or under Parliament's authority.
• ✗ (d) The President does not get lawmaking power directly from the Proclamation. Under Article 357, Parliament may confer on the President the State Legislature's power to make laws.
• ✗ (a) Article 356 does not dissolve the Assembly. It only takes over the Legislature's powers, so the Assembly can stay in suspended animation.
• ✗ (c) Article 19 is suspended under Article 358, and only while an Emergency for war or external aggression is in operation. A President's Rule Proclamation under Article 356 does not suspend it.

Remember · Article 356 (President's Rule): the State Legislature's powers pass to Parliament; the President legislates only if Parliament confers that power (Art. 357). Art. 19 is suspended only under Art. 358.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1 only

Only pair 1 is correct. Toda embroidery belongs to Tamil Nadu, while Sujni (Sujini) embroidery belongs to Bihar and Uppada Jamdani saris to Andhra Pradesh.

• ✓ 1. Toda Embroidery, the craft of the Toda community of the Nilgiris, is a Geographical Indication registered for Tamil Nadu. UPSC's official key treats this pair as correct; we could not confirm the craft's local name from an official source, so we do not explain it here.
• ✗ 2. Sujini Embroidery Work is a Bihar craft, registered as a Geographical Indication for Bihar and practised by women around Bhusra and Madhubani. It is not from Maharashtra.
• ✗ 3. Uppada Jamdani saris are woven in Uppada and the Kothapalli area of East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh. The Geographical Indication is registered for Andhra Pradesh, not Karnataka.

Remember · Toda embroidery: Tamil Nadu. Sujini: Bihar. Uppada Jamdani: Andhra Pradesh.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3

GPS is used for far more than finding locations: its satellite signals carry very precise atomic-clock time, and that timing is used to synchronise mobile networks, banking and financial systems, and power grids. So all three areas are correct.

• ✓ 1. Wireless and communications networks use GPS time to synchronise their operations and to use limited radio spectrum efficiently.
• ✓ 2. Financial networks use GPS time to synchronise systems and to put traceable time tags on financial transactions and billing.
• ✓ 3. Power grids depend on GPS timing for precise synchronisation across the network.

Remember · GPS gives position and precise time. Precise time is used to synchronise communications, financial networks and power grids.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 2 and 3 only

Statements 2 and 3 are correct. Only the Central Government issues treasury bills, and they are issued at a discount to face (par) value and redeemed at par. Statement 1 is wrong because the RBI also manages the public debt of State Governments.

• ✗ 1. Under the RBI Act, the RBI can manage a State's public debt by agreement, and it has done so with State Governments for their State Development Loans (SDLs).
• ✓ 2. The Central Government issues both treasury bills and dated securities, while State Governments issue only dated securities (SDLs), so there are no State treasury bills.
• ✓ 3. T-bills are zero-coupon securities that pay no interest. They are sold below face value and redeemed at face value on maturity, and the difference is the investor's return.

Remember · T-bills: issued only by the Centre, at a discount, redeemed at par (91, 182 and 364 days). States issue only SDLs, which the RBI also manages.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 1 and 3 only

Statements 1 and 3 are correct. The Earth's magnetic field has flipped repeatedly in the geological past, and early life released oxygen that changed the atmosphere. Statement 2 is false because the early atmosphere had carbon dioxide and very little free oxygen.

• ✓ 1. Rocks record past polarity flips of the magnetic field. NASA describes a history of flipping every few hundred thousand years, though the flips are irregular and the last was about 780,000 years ago.
• ✗ 2. The early atmosphere was mostly water vapour, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, methane and ammonia, with very little free oxygen. It was not 54% oxygen and it did contain carbon dioxide.
• ✓ 3. Once life evolved in the oceans, photosynthesis added oxygen to the water and later the air. About 2,000 million years ago oxygen began to flood the atmosphere.

Remember · Early atmosphere: water vapour, nitrogen, CO2, methane, ammonia, almost no free oxygen. Oxygen came from photosynthesis by early life.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Fundamentals of Physical Geography, Ch 2 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 Fundamentals of Physical Geography, Ch 2 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Cyber attacks

All three names belong to cyber attacks in 2017. WannaCry and Petya are ransomware, meaning malware that locks a victim's files, and EternalBlue is the Windows exploit through which they spread.

• ✓ (c) WannaCry encrypted files on infected Windows systems and spread through a Windows Server Message Block vulnerability, an exploit named EternalBlue. Variants of Petya ransomware later spread using the same exploit. India's CERT-In issued alerts for both in 2017.
• ✗ (b) These are malicious programs and an exploit, not digital currencies. CERT-In classifies WannaCry and Petya as ransomware.
• ✗ (a) Exoplanets are planets outside the Solar System and have no connection with these computer-security terms.
• ✗ (d) Mini satellites are small space vehicles. WannaCry, Petya and EternalBlue are software threats.

Remember · WannaCry and Petya = ransomware (2017). EternalBlue = the Windows SMB exploit that helped them spread. CERT-In is India's nodal agency for such alerts.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 2, 4 and 5

Why not the tempting option · UPSC's key is (c). Statement 3 is plainly wrong — Conservation Agriculture governs how soil and crops are managed, not which crops may be grown — and every option other than (c) includes it, so the answer is settled whatever one makes of statement 1. 'Avoiding monoculture' is close to FAO's diversification principle, but FAO states that principle as rotations and associations of at least three crop species (statement 5), and no option pairs 1 with 2, 4 and 5 without 3. In the exam, eliminate by the clearly wrong statement first.

Conservation Agriculture (CA) rests on three practices: minimum soil disturbance (minimum or no tillage), a permanent organic cover on the soil (crop residues or mulch), and diversification of crops through rotations and associations. Statements 2, 4 and 5 are these three practices; nothing in CA asks farmers to stop growing plantation crops, and every option except (c) includes that wrong statement 3.

• ✗ 1. Not counted by UPSC's key. FAO states its diversification principle positively — rotations and associations of at least three crop species — which is statement 5; 'avoiding monoculture' is not listed as a separate practice, and no option combines 1 with 2, 4 and 5 without the wrong statement 3.
• ✓ 2. Minimum mechanical soil disturbance, meaning low-disturbance no-till or direct seeding, is the first CA principle.
• ✗ 3. CA is a way of managing the soil and crops, not a restriction on crop type. None of its principles asks a farmer to avoid plantation crops.
• ✓ 4. Keeping the soil covered with crop residue or other organic material (permanent soil organic cover) is the second CA principle.
• ✓ 5. Species diversification through crop rotation or association is the third CA principle; FAO asks for at least three different crop species in the rotation.

Remember · Conservation Agriculture = minimum soil disturbance + permanent soil cover + crop rotation or diversification; CA restricts how soil is managed, not which crops are grown.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Mankind's over-exploitation/misuse of natural resources, fragmentation/loss of natural habitats, destruction of ecosystems, pollution and global climate change.

The "sixth extinction" is the loss of species happening now, at a pace far above the natural rate, and it is driven by human activity: habitat loss and fragmentation, over-exploitation, invasive species and the like. Option (d) names these human pressures. Earlier mass extinctions were natural events, and the current one is what makes this episode different.

• ✓ (d) Species are now disappearing an estimated 100 to 1,000 times faster than before humans, and human activities are responsible. Habitat loss and fragmentation, over-exploitation, alien species and co-extinctions are the main causes.
• ✗ (b) This describes a feared natural event, a meteorite impact. The sixth extinction is not a fear about the future but an ongoing loss caused by people.
• ✗ (a) Monoculture and chemical use damage ecosystems, but they are only some of the pressures. They do not define the term, which covers the whole human-driven loss of species.
• ✗ (c) Loss of native crop varieties is a narrower concern, agricultural biodiversity. The sixth extinction is about species loss across all ecosystems.

Remember · Five natural mass extinctions came before; the sixth is human-driven, at 100 to 1,000 times the pre-human rate. The four main causes are the 'Evil Quartet'.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Biology, Ch 13 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Biology, Ch 13 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1 only

Only statement 1 is correct: IRNSS (now called NavIC) has seven satellites, three in geostationary orbit and four in inclined geosynchronous orbit. It is a regional system that reaches about 1,500 km beyond India's boundary, not 5,500 sq. km, and India has announced no global-coverage system for 2019.

• ✓ 1. ISRO describes a seven-satellite constellation: three satellites in geostationary orbit and four in inclined geosynchronous orbit.
• ✗ 2. The primary service area is India plus the region up to 1,500 km from its boundary. The statement gives 5,500 sq. km, which is a wrong figure and the wrong kind of unit for a distance.
• ✗ 3. IRNSS is 'an independent regional navigation satellite system', meant for India and its neighbourhood. ISRO's own description names no plan for global coverage by 2019.

Remember · IRNSS/NavIC: 7 satellites (3 geostationary + 4 inclined geosynchronous); primary service area is India plus 1,500 km beyond its boundary; regional, not global.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3

All three follow from Einstein's General Theory of Relativity (1915-16). It treats gravity as the curving of space-time by matter, so matter warps space-time, and light, which follows that curved space, is bent by gravity. Applied to the whole universe, the same equations allow an expanding universe.

• ✓ 1. A massive body such as the Sun curves space-time, so light passing it no longer travels in a straight line. This bending was tested during the solar eclipse of 29 May 1919.
• ✓ 2. Einstein's theory suggested that the universe expands. Einstein himself doubted this and added a 'cosmological constant' to avoid it; Friedmann's solutions of the equations and Hubble's observations supported expansion.
• ✓ 3. This is the core idea: mass and energy curve the space-time around them, and objects, including light, move along that curvature.

Remember · General Relativity: matter curves space-time, and that curvature is gravity. It bends light and allows an expanding universe.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2 only

Only statement 2 is correct. India's GM mustard hybrid (DMH-11) carries the barnase, barstar and bar genes, which give a pollination-control system for producing hybrid seed. It was developed at the University of Delhi, not by IARI and Punjab Agricultural University, and its genes do not give pest resistance.

• ✗ 1. The transgenes are barnase (makes the plant male-sterile), barstar (restores fertility) and bar (tolerance to the herbicide Basta, and a marker for selecting transformed lines). None is a pest-resistance gene like Bt.
• ✓ 2. The barnase-barstar system controls pollination, so two chosen diverse parent lines can be cross-pollinated to make a high-yielding hybrid.
• ✗ 3. It was developed by the Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants (CGMCP), University of Delhi South Campus, and cleared by the GEAC in 2022, not by IARI and Punjab Agricultural University.

Remember · GM mustard DMH-11 (Delhi University's CGMCP) uses the barnase-barstar-bar genes for hybrid seed production through pollination control, not for pest resistance.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2 only

Only the blockchain pair is right. Blockchain is the technology behind cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. Belle II is a particle-physics experiment in Japan, and CRISPR-Cas9 is a gene-editing tool used in biotechnology.

• ✗ 1. Belle II is a particle-physics experiment at the SuperKEKB collider at KEK, Tsukuba, Japan. It studies rare decays of B and D mesons and tau leptons, with an Indian team led by TIFR.
• ✓ 2. Blockchain is a shared, distributed ledger. NITI Aayog notes that it is the Bitcoin paper of 2008 that is most credited for the advent of the technology, so it is closely tied to digital currency.
• ✗ 3. CRISPR-Cas9 is a genome-editing technology; the Cas9 enzyme cuts DNA at a location set by a guide RNA. It belongs to biotechnology, not particle physics.

Remember · Belle II = particle physics (KEK, Japan); blockchain = ledger behind cryptocurrencies; CRISPR-Cas9 = gene editing.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Increased plant growth due to increased concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere

Carbon fertilization (CO2 fertilization) means plants photosynthesise more, and often grow more, when the CO2 in the air rises. CO2 acts like a nutrient for plants, so the effect is on plant growth. Whether the extra photosynthesis becomes real growth still depends on temperature, moisture and nutrients.

• ✓ (a) The IPCC defines CO2 fertilization as the increase of plant photosynthesis and water-use efficiency in response to higher atmospheric CO2; it can lead to more plant growth and carbon storage.
• ✗ (b) Rising temperature from extra CO2 is the greenhouse effect (global warming), a different process.
• ✗ (c) Falling ocean pH because the sea absorbs CO2 is ocean acidification, a separate consequence of higher CO2.
• ✗ (d) 'Fertilization' refers to boosted plant growth, not to all living things adapting to climate change.

Remember · Carbon (CO2) fertilization = more atmospheric CO2 boosts plant photosynthesis and growth; warming is the greenhouse effect and ocean pH fall is acidification.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Internet of Things

The scenario is the Internet of Things (IoT): everyday objects such as a phone, geyser, refrigerator, mirror, door lock and car are connected through the internet, sense their surroundings and exchange data, so they act on their own. Every event in the story is one connected device talking to another.

• ✓ (b) IoT connects physical objects (cars, phones, appliances) to the internet so they can send and receive data. Here the alarm triggers the geyser, the refrigerator places an order and the car reports traffic and sends a message.
• ✗ (a) Border Gateway Protocol is a routing protocol that lets large networks on the internet exchange path information. It is not a way for home devices to act on their own.
• ✗ (c) Internet Protocol is the addressing and packet-delivery rule set of the internet. IoT devices use it, but it does not name the smart, self-acting behaviour described.
• ✗ (d) A Virtual Private Network creates a secure, private link over a public network. Nothing in the story concerns secure remote access.

Remember · IoT = everyday objects with sensors and internet connections that exchange data and act automatically.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2

Neither statement is correct. India is not a leading maker of silicon wafers; the wafers and ingots used in solar cells are still largely imported. Solar tariffs in India are found through competitive bidding, not fixed by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), which only conducts the bidding and buys the power as an intermediary.

• ✗ 1. Ingots and wafers, the first step of the solar supply chain, remain heavily import-dependent in India, so it is not the world's third-largest wafer maker.
• ✗ 2. SECI conducts tariff-based reverse bidding and acts as an intermediary procurer. The tariff is discovered by bidders under Government of India guidelines issued under Section 63 of the Electricity Act, 2003.

Remember · In India solar tariffs come from competitive (reverse) auctions run by agencies like SECI; SECI does not set them. Wafer manufacturing is still import-dependent.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Cotton, silk, saltpetre and opium

In the mid-18th century the Company's main exports from Bengal were cotton and silk cloth, saltpetre (used for gunpowder) and opium. Bengal was the Company's source of fine textiles, and after 1765 its revenue was used to buy these goods rather than importing bullion from Britain.

• ✓ (d) The Company bought fine cotton and silk cloth in Bengal, held a monopoly of Indian saltpetre from the middle of the 18th century, and by the late 18th century was expanding opium cultivation.
• ✗ (a) The Company bought finished cotton and silk cloth from Bengal, not raw cotton or oil-seeds; only opium in this list fits.
• ✗ (c) Gold and silver went the other way: before 1765 the Company brought them from Britain to pay for Indian goods.
• ✗ (b) Sugar, salt, zinc and lead were not the Company's staple Bengal exports of this period.

Remember · Bengal exports of the Company in the 1750s: cotton and silk textiles, saltpetre, opium. Before Diwani (1765) it paid for them with bullion from Britain.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Joining of peasant unrest to India's National Movement

The Champaran Satyagraha (1917-18) linked a peasant grievance, the harsh treatment of Bihar's peasants by British indigo planters, to the national movement under Gandhi's leadership. Earlier peasant revolts had stayed local and disconnected from the wider freedom struggle.

• ✓ (c) NCERT notes that peasant issues, under Gandhi's leadership, became partially linked to the Independence movement, and names the Champaran Satyagraha as an example.
• ✗ (a) Champaran was a regional peasant struggle in Bihar, not an all-India mobilisation of lawyers, students and women; wider participation of that kind came with the later mass movements.
• ✗ (b) The campaign was about tenants and indigo planters. Dalit and tribal communities were not its defining feature.
• ✗ (d) Gandhi sought security of tenure and freedom for peasants to grow crops of their choice; the campaign did not aim at, or cause, a drastic fall in plantation or commercial crops.

Remember · Champaran (1917), Gandhi's first satyagraha in India, against indigo planters: it tied peasant unrest to the national movement.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Social Change and Development in India, Ch 8 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part III, Ch 3 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Ashok Mehta, T.S. Ramanujam and G.G. Mehta

The Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS) was formed in December 1948 by socialists who had broken away from the Congress and the AITUC, and Ashok Mehta, named in option (d), was one of its founders and its first General Secretary. Option (d) is the only one that names him.

• ✓ (d) Ashok Mehta, a founder-member of the Congress Socialist Party, is recorded in his Lok Sabha biography as founder and first General Secretary of the HMS. T.S. Ramanujam and G.G. Mehta are the other names in UPSC's key; no official page was found that names them.
• ✗ (a) This list does not include Ashok Mehta, the HMS founder confirmed in an official record.
• ✗ (b) This list does not include Ashok Mehta, the HMS founder confirmed in an official record.
• ✗ (c) This list does not include Ashok Mehta, the HMS founder confirmed in an official record.

Remember · HMS: formed December 1948 by socialists (Ashok Mehta, first General Secretary). INTUC (1947, Congress), AITUC (1920), HMS (1948, socialists).

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Jainism

The Sthanakvasi (also spelt Sthanakavasi) are a Jain sect, a modern subsect of the Shvetambara ("white-clad") branch of Jainism. They pray and perform religious duties in a sthanak (a monks' meeting hall) rather than a temple, and they reject image worship.

• ✓ (b) Sthanakvasi is a subsect of the Shvetambara branch of Jainism, a reformist sect that criticised image worship and the temple cult. IGNOU traces the reform to about the 15th century, while Britannica dates the subsect's founding to the 17th century by Lava of Surat, who belonged to an earlier sect that also rejected idol worship.
• ✗ (a) Buddhism is a separate religion; the sthanak (monks' meeting hall) and the rejection of image worship belong to Jain practice.
• ✗ (c) Vaishnavism is a Hindu tradition centred on Vishnu, and Sthanakvasi is not one of its sects.
• ✗ (d) Shaivism is a Hindu tradition centred on Shiva, and Sthanakvasi is not one of its sects.

Remember · Sthanakvasi = a Jain (Shvetambara) reformist sect that rejects idol worship and prays in a sthanak, not a temple.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2

Neither statement is correct. Fatehpur Sikri's buildings are mainly of red sandstone with little marble, and the Nawabs of Awadh built Lucknow's Rumi Darwaza of lime-coated brick instead of the red sandstone the Mughals favoured.

• ✗ 1. UNESCO describes Fatehpur Sikri's buildings as constructed in red sandstone with little use of marble, and ASI says its palaces were built of red sandstone. White marble is not the material of Buland Darwaza or the Khankah.
• ✗ 2. The Rumi Darwaza (Nawab Asaf-ud-Daula's gateway of the 1780s) is made of bricks coated in lime, not red sandstone and marble. Nawabi Lucknow moved away from the Mughal use of red sandstone.

Remember · Fatehpur Sikri (Akbar) = red sandstone; Awadhi Lucknow (Bara Imambara, Rumi Darwaza) = lime-plastered brick.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Jean-Baptiste Tavernier

Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, a French jeweller and gem merchant who made six journeys to India between 1631 and 1668, is the traveller known for describing India's diamond mines in detail. He wrote about them in his Six Voyages (1676).

• ✓ (b) Tavernier was a French jeweller who travelled to India at least six times (NCERT), and the Smithsonian calls him the first European to describe the diamond mines in India. A peer-reviewed Indian geoscience paper likewise cites his Travels in India (1676) for the size of the Golkonda stone later known as the Koh-i-Noor.
• ✗ (a) Francois Bernier was a French doctor, political philosopher and historian who stayed in the Mughal Empire from 1656 to 1668, serving Dara Shukoh and later Danishmand Khan; he is known for his account of Mughal society and politics, not diamonds.

Remember · Tavernier = French jeweller, six journeys to India, first European to describe India's diamond mines; Bernier = physician, Mughal court and society.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part II, Ch 1 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part II, Ch 1 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Maitreya

Maitreya ("the loving one") is the future Buddha of Buddhist tradition, the only bodhisattva venerated by both Hinayana and Mahayana followers (IGNCA). Avalokiteshvara, Lokeshvara and Padmapani are named as bodhisattva figures or forms in the sources, not as the Buddha still to come.

• ✓ (c) The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts describes Maitreya as the future Buddha and the only bodhisattva venerated by both Hinayana and Mahayana followers.
• ✗ (a) Avalokiteshvara is the most popular Mahayana bodhisattva, known for his compassion for all beings; he vowed not to enter nirvana until all beings are freed from suffering.
• ✗ (b) Lokesvara appears in the Sadhanamala as a name for forms of the compassionate bodhisattvas, listed by IGNCA in its account of Avalokitesvara, who vowed not to enter nirvana until all beings are freed from suffering. It is not a name for the Buddha of the future, who is Maitreya.
• ✗ (d) Padmapani is another bodhisattva image of the Buddhist pantheon, listed by NCERT among the sculpted Bodhisattvas; it is not the future Buddha.

Remember · Maitreya = the Buddha of the future; Avalokiteshvara (with Lokeshvara forms and Padmapani) = bodhisattva figures of compassion.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 An Introduction to Indian Art, Part I, Ch 4 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) To secure a fixed income for the Company

Why not the tempting option · UPSC's key is (c). The subsidy an ally paid was a reimbursement for the British force kept in its territory, and rulers who could not pay lost territory instead (Awadh gave up half its land in 1801), so a fixed income for the Company was not an object of the system; its purposes were a large army at Indian expense, exclusion of the French and British paramountcy. In the exam, judge a policy by its stated aims, not by its incidental receipts.

The Subsidiary Alliance was a military and political device. It planted a British force in an ally's territory at the ally's cost, offered the ruler protection against external threats, and tied the states to British control. Securing a fixed income for the Company was never its aim: the subsidy was the price of the troops, and when a ruler could not pay it, territory was taken instead. So (c) is the statement that does not apply.

• ✓ (c) The money an ally paid was the cost of maintaining the British contingent stationed with it, not a revenue for the Company. NCERT notes that if the ruler failed to pay, part of his territory was taken away as a penalty; the object was control, not a steady income.
• ✗ (a) This did apply: the ally had to provide the resources for maintaining the British armed contingent stationed in its territory, which gave the Company a large army at Indian expense.
• ✗ (b) This did apply: NCERT says the British Resident was installed to protect rulers against internal or external threats, and Britannica names Napoleon's Egyptian expedition of 1798-99, which created a new French threat to India, among the immediate causes of the Company's drive towards paramountcy in Wellesley's time.
• ✗ (d) This did apply: an ally could not negotiate with other rulers or go to war without British permission and had to accept a Resident, and NCERT says the system effectively transferred real power to the British, which placed British power above the Indian states.

Remember · Wellesley's Subsidiary Alliance: British troops in the ally's state, paid for by the ally (territory taken if unpaid); foreign relations only through the British, no wars without the Company's consent; protection against external threats. Its aims were military and political, not revenue.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part III, Ch 2 (practise this chapter) · Class 8 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Ch 4 (practise this chapter) · Class 8 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Ch 4 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3

All three were links in one chain. The Charter Act of 1813 first set aside public money for Indian education, the General Committee of Public Instruction (1823) was set up to spend it, and the Orientalist-Anglicist controversy inside that committee ended with Macaulay's Minute (1835) and the English Education Act, which made English the medium of higher education.

• ✓ 1. When the Company's charter was renewed in 1813, a clause required the governor-general to spend not less than 100,000 rupees a year on the education of Indians. This created the funds and the official responsibility for education.
• ✓ 2. The General Committee of Public Instruction, formed in Calcutta in 1823, disbursed the grant. Younger members on it later argued for spreading Western knowledge through English, which led to the controversy.
• ✓ 3. The dispute over funding Oriental learning or Western knowledge was settled for the Anglicists by Macaulay's Minute of 1835, followed by the English Education Act of 1835.

Remember · Route to English education: Charter Act 1813 (Rs 1 lakh grant), General Committee of Public Instruction 1823, Orientalist-Anglicist debate, Macaulay's Minute and English Education Act 1835.

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Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Kodaikanal (Tamil Nadu)

Kodaikanal Lake is the artificial one: it is a star-shaped lake dug in 1863 in the hill town of Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu. Kolleru and Renuka are described as natural in their Ramsar information sheets, and the district administration lists Nainital's Naini Lake under natural scenic beauty, with no source calling it man-made.

• ✓ (a) Tamil Nadu Tourism describes it as a star-shaped artificial lake, built in 1863 under the Collector of Madurai, Sir Vere Henry Levinge.
• ✗ (b) The Ramsar information sheet calls Kolleru a natural eutrophic lake between the Godavari and Krishna river basins, working as a natural flood-balancing reservoir.
• ✗ (c) The Nainital district administration lists Naini Lake under 'Natural / Scenic beauty' and notes that the Skanda Purana already refers to Nainital as Tri-Rishi-Sarovar; none of the sources describes it as built. Since Kodaikanal is the artificial lake, this option does not fit.
• ✗ (d) The Ramsar information sheet describes Renuka as a natural wetland in the Western Himalayas that has survived natural calamities and tectonic upheavals.

Remember · Kodaikanal Lake (TN) is man-made (1863); Kolleru and Renuka are natural wetlands (Ramsar sheets), and Naini Lake is listed as natural scenic beauty.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 2 and 3 only

Statements 2 and 3 are correct, and statement 1 is wrong. Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) is the flagship scheme of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, not the Ministry of Labour and Employment. Its training centres teach soft skills, entrepreneurship, financial and digital literacy, and its Recognition of Prior Learning part brings the unregulated workforce into the NSQF.

• ✗ 1. PMKVY, launched in 2015, is implemented by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship as its flagship scheme.
• ✓ 2. The PMKVY 2016-20 guidelines say that, apart from NSQF-based training, training centres also impart training in soft skills, entrepreneurship, financial and digital literacy.
• ✓ 3. The same guidelines say the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) component aims to align the competencies of the unregulated workforce with the National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF).

Remember · PMKVY = flagship scheme of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), launched in 2015; short-term training plus Recognition of Prior Learning, both linked to the NSQF.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) All India Home Rule League

The All India Home Rule League, the self-government body of the 1916 Home Rule movement, changed its name to Swaraj (Swarajya) Sabha in 1920. Its Joint General Secretary, Jawaharlal Nehru, wrote in October 1920 of 'the Swaraj Sabha (till lately the All-India Home Rule League)'; the new name and new objects were adopted at a members' meeting in Calcutta under President M. K. Gandhi.

• ✓ (a) Nehru's letter of 18 October 1920 says the League's name was altered and its objects changed, and calls it 'the Swaraj Sabha (till lately the All-India Home Rule League)'.
• ✗ (b) The Hindu Mahasabha is a separate organisation; Nehru's letter names the All-India Home Rule League as the body renamed, and no source ties the Mahasabha to the renaming.
• ✗ (c) The South Indian Liberal Federation was the Justice Party of Madras; NCERT mentions the Justice party of Madras province. It was a separate body and not the Home Rule body named in Nehru's letter.
• ✗ (d) The Servants of India Society was founded by G. K. Gokhale (NCERT) for public service and is not the body Nehru's letter says was renamed the Swaraj Sabha.

Remember · The All India Home Rule League of 1916 was renamed Swaraj (Swarajya) Sabha in 1920, when its aim moved from home rule to swaraj.

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Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Dinabandhu Mitra wrote Neeldarpan.

Dinabandhu Mitra's play Neeldarpan (Nildarpan), on the oppression of indigo growers, dates from 1860, which is earlier than the other three events (1863, 1875 and 1882). Line the four dates up and the earliest is the play.

• ✗ (a) Swami Dayananda Saraswati founded the Arya Samaj in 1875, fifteen years after Neeldarpan.
• ✓ (b) Neeldarpan is listed among Dinabandhu Mitra's plays as of 1860, the year of the indigo agitation in Bengal; this is the earliest date in the set.
• ✗ (c) Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay's novel Anandamath came out in 1882, the latest of the four.
• ✗ (d) Satyendranath Tagore, eldest brother of Rabindranath, qualified for the Indian Civil Service in 1863, three years after Neeldarpan.

Remember · Order to remember: Neeldarpan (1860), Satyendranath Tagore in the ICS (1863), Arya Samaj (1875), Anandamath (1882).

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Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only

Heavy sand mining harms groundwater in two ways: it can pollute it and it can pull the water-table down. It does not lower river salinity; near the coast it makes salt-water intrusion more likely.

• ✗ 1. Removing sand deepens the channel and weakens natural barriers, so salt water can enter aquifers; UNEP lists 'salination of aquifers' as a result of sand extraction. Salinity goes up, not down.
• ✓ 2. The sand layer filters water that seeps into the ground. The MoEFCC guidelines say mining can pollute groundwater by thinning this filter material, especially over recharge fissures.
• ✓ 3. Mining lowers the riverbed and river level, and groundwater in the adjoining flood plain drains towards it, so the water-table falls. The guidelines record this as a listed effect.

Remember · Heavy riverbed sand mining lowers the water-table, weakens the sand filter that protects groundwater, and raises salt intrusion risk near the coast.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 3 only

Only statement 3 is correct: repeated irrigation can leave salts in the soil and make farmland saline. Organic matter (humus) helps soil hold water, and soil is where sulphur is stored and converted into a form plants can use.

• ✗ 1. Humus, the dark organic matter of soil, is rich in nutrients and retains moisture. More organic matter raises water-holding capacity; it does not drastically reduce it.
• ✗ 2. Soil is a main site of the sulphur cycle. Sulphur added as elemental S must be oxidised to sulphate in the soil before plants can take it up.
• ✓ 3. NCERT notes that intensive irrigation in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh is increasing soil salinity, because irrigation water leaves dissolved salts behind as it evaporates.

Remember · Organic matter (humus) holds water; soil is a working part of the sulphur cycle; long-term irrigation can make soil saline.

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Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development 2012, Rio de Janeiro

PAGE was created as a response to the call made at Rio+20, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development held in Rio de Janeiro in 2012, and was launched in 2013. It brings UN agencies together to help countries build greener, more inclusive economies.

• ✓ (b) The UN describes PAGE as launched in 2013 in response to the call at Rio+20, whose outcome document 'The Future We Want' recognised the green economy as a route to sustainable development.
• ✗ (a) The 2002 Johannesburg summit came ten years before PAGE's origin and is not linked to it.
• ✗ (c) The 2015 Paris climate conference produced the Paris Agreement, two years after PAGE had started.
• ✗ (d) The World Sustainable Development Summit in New Delhi is an Indian conference series; it is not a UN conference and did not give rise to PAGE.

Remember · PAGE is a UN partnership born from Rio+20 (2012) and launched in 2013 to help countries build green, inclusive economies.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5

3D printing (additive manufacturing) builds objects layer by layer from a digital design, so it works across food, medicine, vehicles and electronics. All five uses listed have been demonstrated, which makes 'all of the above' the answer.

• ✓ 1. Chocolate and other food inks can be 3D printed; India's national strategy on additive manufacturing also names food processing as a sector.
• ✓ 2. Princeton researchers 3D printed a 'bionic ear' by combining a cell-seeded hydrogel with an embedded conducting antenna.
• ✓ 3. IIT Madras (Institute of Eminence) lists the industrialisation of additive manufacturing for aerospace, automotive, tooling and biomedical applications among its goals, and designs lattice structures and sandwich panels for automotive applications.
• ✓ 4. 3D printed patient-specific implants, for example in PEEK plastic, are used in reconstructive surgery.
• ✓ 5. Additive manufacturing sits at the intersection of computing and electronics, and India's strategy targets 3D printed electronics; UPSC's key counts this as an application.

Remember · 3D printing is layer-by-layer manufacturing from a digital file, used in food, medicine (implants, bionic organs), vehicles and electronics.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1 only

Only statement 1 is correct: Barren Island, in the Andaman Sea, is India's only active volcano. It lies north-east of Port Blair, not east of Great Nicobar, and it has erupted again after 1991, most recently in 2017 as of the exam.

• ✓ 1. NCERT calls Barren Island, in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the only active volcano in India.
• ✗ 2. The island is about 138 km north-east of Port Blair (now Sri Vijaya Puram), the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Great Nicobar is at the far southern end of the island chain, much farther away.
• ✗ 3. The volcano did not stay quiet after 1991; the Ministry of Tourism's page says it last erupted in 2017.

Remember · Barren Island, about 138 km north-east of Port Blair, is India's only active volcano and has erupted as recently as 2017.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 India: Physical Environment, Ch 2 (practise this chapter)

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Answer: (b) It tends to reduce the biodiversity in the area in which it grows.

Prosopis juliflora (vilayati babul or vilayati kikar) is an invasive alien tree from South America. It spreads fast and pushes out native plants and the animals that depend on them, so it is in the news for removal drives.

• ✓ (b) The Wildlife Institute of India calls it one of the worst invaders affecting ecosystems and local biodiversity in Tamil Nadu. NCERT explains that alien species that turn invasive cause decline or extinction of native species.
• ✗ (a) The plant is not in the news for any cosmetics extract; in India it was introduced for fuelwood and to green degraded land.
• ✗ (c) It is not in the news as a source of pesticide raw material; it is in the news for the harm it does as an invader.

Remember · Prosopis juliflora (vilayati babul) is an invasive alien tree that displaces native species and lowers biodiversity.

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Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3

All three statements are taken as correct. NCERT places coral reefs in the tropical oceans; half of all reef area is in just five countries, and Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines alone hold about 42% of it; and reefs host 32 of the 34 recognised animal phyla (UN).

• ✓ 1. NCERT describes atolls as low islands of coral reefs found in the tropical oceans, so most reefs lie in tropical waters.
• ✓ 2. Half of the world's reef surface lies in only five countries: Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines, France and Papua New Guinea. The GCRMN ranking gives Australia 16.88%, Indonesia 15.26% and the Philippines 9.74% of reef surface, a cumulative 41.88% for the three, which is more than one-third.
• ✓ 3. The UN's World Ocean Assessment says reefs host 32 of the 34 recognised phyla, nearly all of them. UPSC's official key treats this statement as correct; we could not confirm the comparison with rainforests from an official source, so we do not explain it here.

Remember · Reefs: mostly tropical, concentrated in a few countries (Australia, Indonesia, Philippines hold about 42%), and home to 32 of 34 animal phyla.

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Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) The UNFCCC Secretariat

Climate Neutral Now was launched in 2015 by the secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), based in Bonn. It urges individuals, companies and governments to measure their emissions, cut them and offset the rest with UN-certified emission reductions; 'Momentum for Change' is the secretariat's linked programme that recognises such action.

• ✓ (c) The UNFCCC's own page calls Climate Neutral Now one of several initiatives launched by the UNFCCC secretariat to engage non-Party stakeholders such as companies, cities and individuals.
• ✗ (a) The IPCC assesses climate science for governments; it does not run voluntary action or offsetting campaigns.
• ✗ (b) The UNEP secretariat works on environmental programmes generally; this climate-neutrality drive belongs to the UN climate convention's secretariat.
• ✗ (d) The World Meteorological Organization deals with weather, climate and water observation and data, not this campaign.

Remember · Climate Neutral Now (2015) belongs to the UNFCCC secretariat: measure, reduce, offset with UN-certified credits, aiming at a climate-neutral world by 2050.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2 only

Only pair 2 is correct: Warren Hastings set up the Calcutta Madrasa in 1781. The Benaras Sanskrit College came from Jonathan Duncan in 1791, and Fort William College was set up by Governor-General Lord Wellesley in 1800.

• ✗ 1. The Benaras Sanskrit College was founded in 1791 by Jonathan Duncan, the British Resident at Benaras. Sir William Jones is remembered for founding the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1784.
• ✓ 2. Warren Hastings founded the Calcutta Madrasa in 1781 to train Muslim gentlemen for posts in the Company's administration; NCERT says Hastings took the initiative to set it up.
• ✗ 3. Fort William College, Calcutta (1800), was set up by Lord Wellesley, the Governor-General, to train Company civilians. Arthur Wellesley was his younger brother, the soldier who later became Duke of Wellington.

Remember · Calcutta Madrasa: Hastings (1781). Benaras Sanskrit College: Jonathan Duncan (1791). Fort William College: Lord Wellesley (1800).

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 1 and 3 only

Catalonia is in Spain and Mindanao is in the Philippines, so pairs 1 and 3 are right. Crimea is a Black Sea peninsula that belongs to Ukraine, not Hungary, and Oromia is a region of Ethiopia, not Nigeria.

• ✓ 1. Catalonia is an autonomous community of north-eastern Spain. In October 2017 the Spanish Government announced it would suspend the region's autonomy and impose direct rule, as a UN human-rights expert's statement records; its independence movement kept it in the news.
• ✗ 2. Crimea, with the port of Sevastopol, is part of Ukraine. Russia took control of it in 2014, and the UN General Assembly called on states not to recognise any change in its status.
• ✓ 3. Mindanao is the southern island group of the Philippines. The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao was created there after a 2019 plebiscite under the Bangsamoro Organic Law.
• ✗ 4. Oromia is a region of Ethiopia; UN experts wrote about protests in the Oromia region of Ethiopia in 2015-16. It is not in Nigeria.

Remember · Catalonia: Spain. Crimea: Ukraine (annexed by Russia in 2014, not recognised by the UN General Assembly). Mindanao: Philippines. Oromia: Ethiopia.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 3 – 2 – 1 – 4

The order is Air India (1953), State Bank of India (July 1955), the Kerala communist government (1957) and Goa (December 1961), so the sequence is 3-2-1-4. Fixing the years of these four landmarks of the 1950s and early 1960s settles the question.

• • 3. Air India was created under the Air Corporations Act, 1953, when the government nationalised air transport. This is the earliest event.
• • 2. The Imperial Bank of India passed into state ownership and became the State Bank of India in July 1955.
• • 1. In the March 1957 elections in Kerala the Communist Party won the most seats, and E. M. S. Namboodiripad formed a ministry. It was the first communist government to come to power through elections.
• • 4. Goa, Diu and Daman were liberated by the Indian army in December 1961, the last of the four events.

Remember · Order: Air India nationalised 1953, Imperial Bank to SBI 1955, Kerala's communist ministry 1957, Goa's liberation 1961.

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Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Article 21 and the freedoms guaranteed in Part III

In Justice K. S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (24 August 2017), a nine-judge Supreme Court bench held privacy to be a Fundamental Right. It flows from Article 21, which protects life and personal liberty, and from the freedoms in Part III taken together. Only option (c) names both.

• ✓ (c) Article 21 says no person shall be deprived of life or personal liberty except by procedure established by law. In Puttaswamy the Court read privacy into this Article and into the wider Part III freedoms.
• ✗ (a) Article 14 is equality before law, and the 42nd Amendment (1976) has no provision on privacy; neither is the source of the right.
• ✗ (b) Article 17 abolishes untouchability, and Directive Principles in Part IV are not enforceable rights; privacy was held to be a Fundamental Right.
• ✗ (d) Article 24 bars employment of children in factories and similar hazardous work; the 44th Amendment (1978) does not create the right to privacy.

Remember · Privacy is a Fundamental Right, grounded in Article 21 and the Part III freedoms (Puttaswamy, 2017, nine judges).

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2, 4, 5 and 6 only

MSP is announced only for a fixed list of cereals, pulses, oilseeds and a few commercial crops. Barley, finger millet (ragi), groundnut and sesamum are on that list; areca nut, coffee and turmeric are not.

• ✗ 1. Areca nut is a plantation crop with no MSP announced by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).
• ✓ 2. Barley is one of the rabi crops for which MSP is announced.
• ✗ 3. Coffee is not among the crops for which MSP is announced.
• ✓ 4. Finger millet is called ragi, and ragi is a kharif crop with an announced MSP.
• ✓ 5. Groundnut is a kharif oilseed with an announced MSP.
• ✓ 6. Sesamum (sesame) is a kharif oilseed with an announced MSP.
• ✗ 7. Turmeric, a spice, is not on the MSP list.

Remember · MSP covers cereals (incl. barley, ragi), pulses, oilseeds (groundnut, sesamum), copra, cotton, jute and sugarcane's FRP; not coffee, areca nut or turmeric.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Arunachal Pradesh

Pakhui Wildlife Sanctuary is in the East Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh. Pakhui and Pakke are two spellings of the same protected area, which is also a tiger reserve.

• ✓ (a) The National Tiger Conservation Authority places Pakke Tiger Reserve in East Kameng district, Arunachal Pradesh. PIB records that it was declared the Pakhui Wildlife Sanctuary in 2002 and was made a tiger reserve in the same year.
• ✗ (b) Pakhui is not in Manipur. The reserve lies in Arunachal Pradesh and is contiguous with Assam's Nameri Tiger Reserve.
• ✗ (c) Pakhui is not in Meghalaya; it is in East Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh.
• ✗ (d) Pakhui is not in Nagaland; it is in East Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh.

Remember · Pakhui (Pakke) Wildlife Sanctuary and Tiger Reserve: East Kameng, Arunachal Pradesh, next to Assam's Nameri.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1 only

Only statement 1 is correct. PSLV is ISRO's workhorse for earth-observation (remote-sensing) satellites in low, sun-synchronous polar orbits, while GSLV's main job is communication satellites for geosynchronous transfer orbit. GSLV Mk III has three stages, not four.

• ✓ 1. Government of India's science portal says PSLV is designed mainly to deliver earth-observation or remote-sensing satellites, and VSSC says GSLV places INSAT and GSAT communication satellites into geosynchronous transfer orbit.
• ✗ 2. A satellite looks fixed in the sky only if it is in geostationary orbit, about 35,786 km up. PSLV mainly puts satellites in polar orbits at 600-900 km, which sweep across the sky.
• ✗ 3. GSLV Mk III (LVM3) is a three-stage vehicle: two solid strap-on motors (S200), a liquid core stage (L110) and a cryogenic upper stage (C25). It has no fourth stage.
• • Since then ISRO now names this rocket LVM3 (GSLV Mk III); the configuration described on ISRO's LVM3 page is the same three-stage design.

Remember · PSLV: earth-observation satellites into polar sun-synchronous orbits. GSLV: communication satellites into geostationary transfer orbit. GSLV Mk III (LVM3): three stages.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2 only

Statement 2 is correct: SBI absorbed its five associate banks and Bharatiya Mahila Bank in 2017. Statement 1 is wrong because the Government's yearly capital infusion into public sector banks (PSBs) went up and down rather than rising steadily.

• ✗ 1. The CAG's audit records infusions of ₹1,900 crore (2008-09), ₹1,200 crore (2009-10), ₹20,117 crore (2010-11), ₹12,000 crore, ₹12,517 crore, ₹14,000 crore, ₹6,990 crore (2014-15), then ₹25,000 crore in each of 2015-16 and 2016-17. The dips in between mean it was not a steady increase; the jump to ₹88,139 crore came only in 2017-18.
• ✓ 2. With Government sanction and in consultation with the RBI, State Bank of India took over State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur, Hyderabad, Mysore, Patiala and Travancore, plus Bharatiya Mahila Bank. The merger took effect on 1 April 2017.

Remember · SBI merged its five associate banks and Bharatiya Mahila Bank on 1 April 2017; recapitalisation of PSBs was uneven year to year before the 2017-18 surge.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 1, 2 and 4 only

Hulled cereal grains, cooked eggs and newspapers are on the GST exemption list, but processed and canned fish is taxed at 12%. So items 1, 2 and 4 are exempt and item 3 is not.

• ✓ 1. 'Cereal grains hulled' (heading 1104) is in the list of goods exempt from GST in Notification 2/2017-Central Tax (Rate).
• ✓ 2. The exemption list covers birds' eggs, in shell, fresh, preserved or cooked (heading 0407), which includes chicken eggs.
• ✗ 3. Prepared or preserved fish (heading 1604) is in Schedule II of the GST rate notification, at 12%. Only fresh, chilled or frozen fish gets the lower rate or exemption.
• ✓ 4. Newspapers, journals and periodicals, whether or not illustrated or containing advertising material (heading 4902), are exempt.

Remember · GST exempts unprocessed staples: hulled cereal grains, eggs, newspapers. Canned or preserved fish is taxed (12% at launch).

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1 and 2 only

Statements 1 and 2 are correct; statement 3 is wrong. The Forest Rights Act, 2006 defines 'critical wildlife habitat' itself, and provides habitat rights for primitive tribal groups. But habitat rights are recognised under the Act through the Gram Sabha and district-level process, with the Ministry of Tribal Affairs as nodal agency, not by the environment ministry.

• ✓ 1. Section 2(b) of the Forest Rights Act defines 'critical wildlife habitat' as areas of National Parks and Sanctuaries that must be kept inviolate for wildlife conservation, notified by the Central Government after expert consultation.
• ✓ 2. UPSC's key treats this as correct. The Baiga are a very vulnerable tribal group of Madhya Pradesh (Dindori district page), and the Act provides habitat rights for primitive tribal groups: Section 2(h) defines 'habitat' to cover their customary habitat, and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs lists habitat rights for PVTGs among the Act's community rights. No official page was found stating that the Baiga were the first community to receive them.
• ✗ 3. Section 11 makes the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, not the environment ministry, the nodal agency for the Act. Rights are initiated by the Gram Sabha and settled through the Sub-Divisional and District Level Committees. The environment ministry's role is in notifying critical wildlife habitats.

Remember · Forest Rights Act, 2006: it defines 'critical wildlife habitat' and 'habitat'; habitat rights for PVTGs are part of the Act; the Ministry of Tribal Affairs is the nodal agency.

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Answer: (d) 1, 2, 3 and 4

All four spread plant diseases. Most plant pathogens travel as spores or bacteria, and these are carried by wind, blown dust, splashing rain and even by birds.

• ✓ 1. Spores stick to birds' feathers and beaks and are dropped on other plants. Chestnut blight spores, for example, are spread by many bird species, and powdery mildew fruiting bodies are carried on feathers.
• ✓ 2. Dust is lifted soil, and soil is a recognised carrier of fungal spores. Blowing dust moves them from diseased fields to healthy ones.
• ✓ 3. Rain splash and running water carry spores and bacteria from an infected leaf to healthy plant surfaces.
• ✓ 4. Wind brings the first spores from neighbouring fields or far away, and then spreads the secondary infection from plant to plant.

Remember · Plant pathogens are dispersed by wind, water (rain), dust or soil, insects and birds. Every listed agent can spread plant diseases.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only

Statement 1 is wrong: NPOP was launched by the Department of Commerce in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, not by the Ministry of Rural Development. Statements 2 and 3 are correct.

• ✗ 1. NPOP began in 2001 under the Department of Commerce (Ministry of Commerce and Industry), mainly to certify organic products for export. It does not run under the Ministry of Rural Development.
• ✓ 2. APEDA, which also works under the Commerce Ministry, acts as the Secretariat for implementing NPOP.
• ✓ 3. Sikkim converted its entire agricultural area to certified organic by 2015 and was formally declared a 100 per cent organic state in 2016, the first in India.

Remember · NPOP: launched 2001 by the Commerce Ministry; APEDA is its Secretariat. Sikkim was declared India's first fully organic State in 2016.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error