Prelims GS Paper I 2019

Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2

A jagir was a revenue assignment given to a mansabdar in place of a cash salary for his military and administrative rank, and it was moved from place to place, so it was never hereditary. Zamindars, by contrast, held proprietary rights they could pass on, and they also rendered services and kept armed men. Both statements reverse the real position.

• ✗ 1. Jagirs were paid in lieu of salary for a mansab (a military-cum-civil rank), not specifically for judicial and police work. Zamindars were not mere revenue collectors either: they performed services (khidmat) for the state and maintained forts and armed contingents.
• ✗ 2. Jagirs were transferred periodically, so they could not be inherited. Zamindars could sell, bequeath or mortgage their milkiyat lands, so their rights passed down in families.

Remember · Mughal jagir = transferable revenue assignment in lieu of salary to a mansabdar (not hereditary). Zamindari = hereditary local proprietary right with service and military obligations.

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Answer: (b) The major aim of land reforms was providing agricultural land to all the landless.

Land reforms after 1947 sought equity: abolish intermediaries, make the tiller the owner, and cap holdings so that surplus land could go to the landless. That redistributive aim is option (b); the other three statements are factually wrong.

• ✓ (b) The reforms aimed to give ownership to those who actually tilled the land and to cut the concentration of land in a few hands, with ceiling-surplus land meant for the landless and rural poor.
• ✗ (a) A ceiling fixes the maximum land a person may own; it was applied to individuals as well as to families (many states later used the family as the unit), so 'not individual holdings' is wrong.
• ✗ (d) State ceiling Acts carried exemptions; the Tamil Nadu Act, for instance, exempted existing plantations and certain orchards and gardens.

Remember · Land reform pillars: abolition of intermediaries, tenancy reform, land ceilings (with state-wise exemptions such as plantations) and redistribution of surplus land to the landless.

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Answer: (c) World Economic Forum

The Global Competitiveness Report, built around the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), is brought out by the World Economic Forum, the Geneva-based foundation. Its 2019 edition reviewed 141 economies.

• ✓ (c) The GCI and the report that presents it are the World Economic Forum's; the 2019 edition assessed 141 countries.
• ✗ (d) The World Bank's country ranking of that period was the Doing Business Report, a different index on business regulation (India was 63rd of 190 in the 2020 edition).

Remember · Global Competitiveness Report / Index = World Economic Forum. Doing Business Report = World Bank (a separate ranking).

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Answer: (a) 1 and 2 only

The 1813 charter opened the India trade to private British merchants while the Company kept its China (tea) trade monopoly, and it declared the Crown's sovereignty over the Company's territories. It did not hand India's revenues to Parliament: the Company went on governing and collecting revenue until the Crown took over in 1858.

• ✓ 1. In 1813 the Company's exclusive right to trade with India was removed and private traders were admitted, but its exclusive right to the China trade (chiefly tea) was retained until 1833.
• ✓ 2. The 1813 charter contained a clause asserting the Crown's undoubted sovereignty over all the Company's territories in India.
• ✗ 3. The Company kept its political and administrative role, including revenue administration; direct Crown control of Indian government came only in 1858.

Remember · Charter Act 1813: India trade opened to all British merchants (China/tea monopoly kept till 1833), Crown sovereignty asserted, missionaries allowed. Company rule itself ended only in 1858.

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Answer: (c) Both 1 and 2

The Swadeshi and boycott campaign that followed the 1905 partition of Bengal pushed people to buy Indian-made goods, which revived handloom weaving and indigenous industry. National education was added to its programme, and the National Council of Education was set up in 1906. Both statements are correct.

• ✓ 1. Swadeshi asked people to boycott foreign goods and buy Indian products, especially cloth spun and woven in India, strengthening indigenous crafts and industries.
• ✓ 2. To counter colonial education, leading citizens created the National Council of Education in 1906 and launched the Bengal National College as part of the Swadeshi programme of national education.

Remember · Swadeshi Movement (1905 onwards): boycott of foreign goods, revival of Indian industry and crafts, national education (National Council of Education and Bengal National College, 1906).

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Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3

All three pairs are correct. The Anti-Untouchability League (later the Harijan Sevak Sangh) grew out of Gandhi's 1932 fast and was guided by him; Swami Sahajanand Saraswati led the Kisan Sabha movement and became the first president of the All India Kisan Sabha formed in 1936; Periyar E. V. Ramaswami Naicker started the Self-Respect Movement in 1925.

• ✓ 1. The All-India Anti-Untouchability League, soon renamed Harijan Sevak Sangh, was founded in September 1932 after Gandhi's fast against separate electorates, to carry out his campaign against untouchability (G. D. Birla was its president).
• ✓ 2. Sahajanand Saraswati founded the Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha (1929) and was the leading figure of the All India Kisan Sabha set up at the Congress's Lucknow session in 1936, becoming its first president.
• ✓ 3. E. V. Ramaswami Naicker (Periyar) started the Self-Respect Movement in 1925 against caste hierarchy and Brahmin domination.

Remember · 1925 Self-Respect Movement (Periyar); 1929 Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha and 1936 All India Kisan Sabha (Sahajanand Saraswati); 1932 Anti-Untouchability League/Harijan Sevak Sangh (Gandhi).

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Answer: (c) Sohgaura

Sohgaura, in Uttar Pradesh, is known for a copper-plate inscription of the 4th–3rd century BCE in Brahmi, a Mauryan-age record far later than the Harappan cities. Chanhudaro, Kot Diji and Desalpur (Kutch) are Harappan settlements.

• ✓ (c) Sohgaura's fame is its copper-plate inscription (4th–3rd century BCE, Prakrit in Brahmi) about storing grain against famine, an early administrative record, not a Harappan settlement.
• ✗ (a) Chanhudaro is marked among the important Mature Harappan sites; it was a small settlement almost wholly given to crafts such as bead-making and shell-cutting.
• ✗ (b) Kot Diji is shown among Mature Harappan sites, and NCERT's map of Early Harappan occupation also names a Kot Diji culture area.

Remember · Sohgaura (Uttar Pradesh) = Mauryan-age copper-plate inscription on famine relief granaries; not Harappan. Chanhudaro, Kot Diji, Desalpur = Harappan sites.

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Answer: (a) Kanganahalli

The ruined stupa at Kanaganahalli, part of the Sannati complex on the Bhima in Kalaburagi (Gulbarga) district of Karnataka, yielded a relief of Ashoka with his queens that carries an inscription naming him, 'Ranyo Ashoka' (King Ashoka). That is the site the question describes.

• ✓ (a) The Sannati–Kanaganahalli stupa in Gulbarga district, the largest stupa site excavated in Karnataka, was decorated with sculptural reliefs; one panel shows Ashoka with his queens together with an inscription mentioning him.
• ✗ (c) Shahbazgarhi (in present-day Pakistan) has one of Ashoka's Major Rock Edicts, a text carved on rock with no portrait of the king.
• ✗ (d) Sohgaura in Uttar Pradesh is known for a copper-plate inscription of the 4th–3rd century BCE, not a relief sculpture.

Remember · Kanaganahalli (Sannati, Kalaburagi, Karnataka): relief of Ashoka with his queens, with the inscription 'Ranyo Ashoka'. Shahbazgarhi and Mansehra: sites of Ashoka's Major Rock Edicts.

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Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3

From about the first century CE, Mahayana turned the Buddha from a human teacher into a saviour figure, made the compassionate Bodhisattva the ideal to follow, and gave the worship of images of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas a central place. All three are Mahayana features.

• ✓ 1. Early Buddhism saw the Buddha as a human who won nibbana by his own effort; Mahayana came to regard him as a saviour who could ensure salvation, in effect deifying him.
• ✓ 2. The Bodhisattva ideal developed in Mahayana: compassionate beings who used their merit to help others rather than to attain nibbana for themselves.
• ✓ 3. Worship of images of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas, with its attendant rituals, became an important part of the Mahayana tradition.

Remember · Mahayana ('great vehicle'): Buddha as saviour, Bodhisattva ideal, image worship; followers of the older way called themselves Theravadins.

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Answer: (a) It was considered a source of income for the State, a sort of tax paid by the people.

Vishti was unpaid labour that subjects owed to the state. Gupta-age accounts list it among the king's rights and contributions, so it worked as a tax paid in labour, and land grants could pass such dues on to the grantee. Being unpaid, it carried no weekly wages, and the sources describe it as a burden on villagers in general rather than confining it to particular regions.

• ✓ (a) Compulsory unpaid labour was a claim of the state on its subjects: the king had a right to vishti along with bali and other contributions, in effect a tax paid in labour. Grants of the period show the king's dues being handed over to the donee along with the land.
• ✗ (b) Sources on the Gupta age describe vishti as imposed on villagers generally and do not limit it to particular regions, so a claim that it was 'totally absent' in Madhya Pradesh and Kathiawar has no support.
• ✗ (c) Vishti was unpaid labour by definition, so the forced labourer had no entitlement to weekly wages.

Remember · Vishti = forced, unpaid labour owed to the state in the Gupta age, counted among royal dues (a tax in labour); grants could transfer it to donees.

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Answer: (d) Vijayanagara

Vijayanagara temple complexes (14th–16th centuries) added new elements: towering raya gopurams, pillared corridors and mandapas, including the kalyana mandapa, a pavilion built to celebrate the ritual marriage of the deities.

• ✓ (d) NCERT's study of Hampi lists mandapas and pillared corridors among the distinctive features of Vijayanagara temples and illustrates a kalyana mandapa meant for divine weddings.
• ✗ (a) The early western Chalukyas built their Deccan temples before about 750 CE, when the Rashtrakutas took over; the kalyana mandapa is not their hallmark.
• ✗ (c) The Rashtrakutas' greatest architectural achievement is the rock-cut Kailashnath temple at Ellora, not kalyana mandapas.

Remember · Vijayanagara temple hallmarks: raya gopurams, pillared mandapas and corridors, kalyana mandapas (divine weddings), chariot streets — e.g. Virupaksha and Vitthala temples, Hampi.

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Answer: (a) 1 only

The amil was the revenue-collecting official, a term that continued into Mughal times (the amil-guzar). The iqta, a transferable assignment of revenue to military officers, came in with the Turkish conquerors from Muhammad Ghuri onwards, so it was not an ancient Indian institution. The Mir Bakhshi was a Mughal office under Akbar, not a Khalji one.

• ✓ 1. Under the Delhi Sultanate the revenue collector at the pargana level was the amil (Barani uses the term), working with the karkun (accountant); the Mughals kept the term, calling the revenue collector the amil-guzar.
• ✗ 2. The Turkish rulers made revenue assignments (iqta) to their nobles after their early 13th-century conquests, and Muhammad Ghuri's more centralised system of temporary land assignments was developed by the Delhi Sultans; the iqta was an imported, not an indigenous, institution.
• ✗ 3. The Mir Bakhshi, in charge of military matters, belongs to Akbar's reorganised Mughal administration, not to the Khalji Sultans.

Remember · Sultanate: iqta/iqtadar (Turkish-introduced revenue assignment), amil (revenue collector). Mughal (Akbar): Diwan (finance), Mir Bakhshi (military), Khan-i-Saman, Sadr.

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Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2

Both statements get the chronology wrong. Nimbarka is placed in the 12th century (some scholars date him as late as the 14th), long before Akbar (reigned 1556–1605). Kabir (c. 14th–15th centuries) died long before the Naqshbandi Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi (d. 1624) was active, so Sirhindi could not have influenced him.

• ✗ 1. Nimbarka, the Vaishnava teacher devoted to Krishna and Radha, is placed in the 12th century after Ramanuja, or by some scholars around the 14th century; either way he lived at least two centuries before Akbar's reign (1556–1605).
• ✗ 2. Kabir belongs to the 14th–15th centuries; Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi was a 17th-century Naqshbandi sufi whose orthodox views are usually contrasted with Akbar's.

Remember · Chronology: Nimbarka (12th c., some say 14th) → Kabir (14th–15th c.) → Akbar (1556–1605) → Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi (Naqshbandi, d. 1624).

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Answer: (b) 1 and 3 only

Statements 1 and 3 are correct. Gandhi led the all-India agitation of 1916–17 that forced the government to stop indentured emigration, and during the Civil Disobedience Movement that began with the Salt March the Congress was declared illegal. Statement 2 is wrong: at Chelmsford's War Conference in Delhi (April 1918) Gandhi supported the recruitment resolution.

• ✓ 1. Gandhi had petitioned against indenture since 1894 and campaigned for its abolition, and a Congress resolution called for abolition; the government officially abolished indentured emigration on 13 March 1917, and NCERT records the system as abolished in 1921.
• ✗ 2. At the War Conference held in Delhi in April 1918, Gandhi spoke one sentence in Hindustani supporting the resolution on recruiting, and later ran a recruitment campaign in Kheda.
• ✓ 3. When Gandhi returned from the Second Round Table Conference (1931), he found Nehru and Ghaffar Khan in jail and the Congress declared illegal, as the government cracked down on civil disobedience.

Remember · Gandhi: anti-indenture campaign (1917); backed WWI recruitment at Chelmsford's Delhi War Conference (April 1918); Congress banned during Civil Disobedience (1930–32).

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Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3

All three pairs are correct in UPSC's key. K. C. Neogy was elected to the Constituent Assembly from Bengal; the other two details are not explained here because we could not confirm them from an official source.

• ✓ 1. Moderates who left the Congress formed the (Indian) National Liberal Federation in 1918-19. UPSC's official key treats this pair as correct; we could not confirm the detail about its presidency from an official source, so we do not explain it here.
• ✓ 2. Kshitish Chandra Neogy was elected to the Constituent Assembly from Bengal on a Congress ticket; he later sat in Nehru's first cabinet and chaired the First Finance Commission (1951).
• ✓ 3. UPSC's official key treats this pair as correct; we could not confirm the detail from an official source, so we do not explain it here.

Remember · Liberal Federation (1919, moderates); K. C. Neogy - Constituent Assembly member, 1st Finance Commission chairman.

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Answer: (a) Tansen was the title given to him by Emperor Akbar.

The musician born Ramtanu Pandey was already famous as Tansen, and a mature musician, when he reached Akbar's court; what Akbar gave him was an honorific title, the 'Mian' of 'Mian Tansen'. So statement (a) is the incorrect one; the other three describe his work accurately.

• ✓ (a) This is the wrong statement. The child known as Ramtanu became famous as Tansen through his musical training, before he reached Akbar's court; what Akbar gave was an honorific title, the 'Mian' in 'Mian Tansen'.
• ✗ (b) This statement is true: Tansen was a dhrupad composer, and NCERT notes that he continued to compose in praise of Krishna and Shiva, besides compositions showing a Sufi influence. NIOS also says his dhrupads ranged from praise of deities to technical terms of music.
• ✗ (c) This statement is true: the National Institute of Open Schooling notes that Tansen wrote several dhrupads in praise of Ramchandra Vaghela, his patron at Bandhavgarh, and of the emperor Akbar.
• ✗ (d) This statement is true: several ragas bearing the prefix 'Miyan' (Miyan ki Sarang, Miyan Malhar, Miyan ki Todi) are associated with him, and he is believed to have popularised Darbari Kanhada.

Remember · Ramtanu Pandey → 'Tansen' (known by that name before Akbar); Akbar made him one of his navratnas and honoured him with the title 'Mian'. Dhrupad composer; Miyan ki Todi, Miyan Malhar, Miyan ki Sarang; popularised Darbari Kanhada.

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Answer: (c) Jahangir

Akbar's large workshop mass-produced illustrated manuscripts such as the Hamzanama and Razmnama. Jahangir preferred fewer, finer works by a single master, and under him individual paintings and portraits mounted in albums (muraqqas) became the fashion.

• ✓ (c) Jahangir's atelier favoured single high-quality paintings by one master artist; muraqqas, albums of individual paintings with gold-illuminated margins, became popular under his patronage.
• ✗ (b) Akbar formalised Mughal painting through a big atelier that mass-produced illustrated manuscripts of political and religious importance.
• ✗ (d) Shah Jahan continued album-making (his reign added ornate borders to earlier album paintings), but the shift itself came under Jahangir.

Remember · Akbar = illustrated manuscripts from a big workshop; Jahangir = albums (muraqqa), portraits and naturalistic studies by single masters like Abul Hasan and Mansur.

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Answer: (d) Valley of Flowers National Park

The Valley of Flowers in Chamoli, Uttarakhand, is a high-altitude West Himalayan park of alpine meadows, lying wholly above the tree-dominated lower zones. The other three begin in the foothills or low valleys and climb through tropical and subtropical forests, so they are not completely temperate alpine.

• ✓ (d) Part of the Nanda Devi and Valley of Flowers World Heritage Site, it is known for meadows of endemic alpine flowers in the high West Himalaya, in the transition between the Zanskar and Great Himalaya ranges.
• ✗ (a) Manas in Assam lies on a gentle slope in the Himalayan foothills with alluvial grasslands and tropical forests — a lowland park.
• ✗ (b) Namdapha in Arunachal Pradesh rises from about 200 m to 4,571 m, so it runs from tropical evergreen forest up to alpine vegetation rather than lying wholly in one zone.
• ✗ (c) Neora Valley in West Bengal is known for dense subtropical and temperate forest on the Eastern Himalayan slopes, not for a park lying wholly in the alpine belt.

Remember · Valley of Flowers NP (Chamoli, Uttarakhand) = wholly alpine meadows; part of the Nanda Devi–Valley of Flowers World Heritage Site (1988, extended 2005).

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Answer: (c) NITI Aayog

The Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) was created in 2016 within NITI Aayog to build a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship, from school tinkering labs to start-up incubators.

• ✓ (c) AIM describes itself as 'Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog', set up in 2016; its best-known programmes are Atal Tinkering Labs in schools and Atal Incubation Centres.
• ✗ (a) The Department of Science and Technology runs its own innovation schemes (such as NIDHI), but AIM is not housed there.
• ✗ (d) The Skill Development ministry handles skilling schemes such as PMKVY; the word 'entrepreneurship' in its name is the trap.

Remember · Atal Innovation Mission (2016) sits in NITI Aayog: Atal Tinkering Labs (schools), Atal Incubation Centres, Atal New India Challenges.

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Answer: (a) does not set below the horizon at the Arctic Circle

21 June is the June (northern summer) solstice: the North Pole is tilted towards the Sun, the noon Sun is overhead at the Tropic of Cancer, and every place on or north of the Arctic Circle (about 66½° N) has the Sun above the horizon for the full 24 hours.

• ✓ (a) The Arctic Circle is defined as the southern limit of the zone where the Sun does not set on at least one day a year — the June solstice.
• ✗ (b) On the same day the Antarctic Circle has the opposite: the Sun does not rise, giving 24 hours of night.
• ✗ (c) The noon Sun is overhead at the Equator only at the equinoxes (around 21 March and 23 September).
• ✗ (d) The Sun is overhead at the Tropic of Capricorn at the December solstice (around 22 December); on 21 June it is over the Tropic of Cancer.

Remember · 21 June: Sun overhead at Tropic of Cancer; midnight sun at and north of the Arctic Circle; polar night at the Antarctic Circle. Reversed around 22 December.

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Answer: (a) Tobacco, cocoa and rubber

The 'New World' is the Americas; the 'Old World' is Asia, Africa and Europe. Tobacco, cacao (cocoa) and Para rubber are all American plants that Europeans carried across the Atlantic after 1492. Every other option contains at least one Old World crop.

• ✓ (a) Tobacco was used by Native Americans before Europeans adopted it; cacao is native to the Amazon and Orinoco basins; the rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis) is native to the Amazon basin and was later planted in Asia.
• ✗ (b) Cotton was domesticated independently in South Asia as well — traces are found at Harappan sites — so it is not solely a New World gift.
• ✗ (c) Coffee comes from Ethiopia and sugarcane from South and Southeast Asia, both Old World crops.
• ✗ (d) Wheat was domesticated in West Asia, and coffee in Africa; only rubber here is American.

Remember · Columbian Exchange, Americas → Old World: tobacco, cocoa, rubber, maize, potato, tomato, chilli, groundnut, pineapple, papaya. Old World → Americas: wheat, sugarcane, coffee.

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Answer: (a) 1 only

Only the Asiatic lion is confined to India today, surviving in and around Gir in Gujarat. The double-humped (Bactrian) camel is a Central Asian animal that survives in India only in Ladakh's Nubra valley, and the one-horned rhinoceros also lives in Nepal's Terai, for example in Chitwan.

• ✓ 1. The Asiatic lion once ranged from West Asia to central India, but since the early 20th century its wild range has shrunk to the Gir National Park and surrounding areas of Gujarat.
• ✗ 2. The Bactrian or two-humped camel belongs to Central Asia; India's small herd in the Nubra valley of Ladakh is a remnant of the old Central Asian trade routes, so the species is not found only in India.
• ✗ 3. The greater one-horned rhinoceros lives in northern India (Kaziranga, Manas, Jaldapara and others) and in southern Nepal, where Chitwan holds one of its last populations.

Remember · India-only: Asiatic lion (Gir). Shared: one-horned rhino (India + Nepal), Bactrian camel (Central Asia; in India only Nubra, Ladakh).

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Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, 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

Pandharpur stands on the Chandrabhaga, the local name of the Bhima, and Tiruchirappalli on the Cauvery (Kaveri). Hampi, the ruins of Vijayanagara, lies on the Tungabhadra, not the Malaprabha, so pair 3 is wrong.

• ✓ 1. The Solapur district administration notes that the Chandrabhaga (Bhima) flows through Pandharpur, home of the Vitthal (Vithoba) temple and the annual wari pilgrimage.
• ✓ 2. Tiruchirappalli, the old Chola stronghold with the Srirangam temple on a river island, lies on the banks of the Kaveri.
• ✗ 3. Vijayanagara (Hampi) was built in the natural basin of the Tungabhadra; the Malaprabha flows past Aihole, Pattadakal and Badami's region further north-west.

Remember · Pandharpur — Bhima (Chandrabhaga); Tiruchirappalli/Srirangam — Kaveri; Hampi — Tungabhadra; Aihole–Pattadakal — Malaprabha.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part II, Ch 3 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) price levels vary from State to State

A poverty line is the money needed to buy a fixed minimum basket of goods and services. Because the same basket costs different amounts in different States, the Planning Commission set separate State poverty lines that reflect inter-state price differences.

• ✓ (b) The Planning Commission's 2011-12 estimates (Tendulkar method) gave all-India lines of Rs 816 (rural) and Rs 1,000 (urban) per person per month and stated that these vary by State because of inter-state price differentials.
• ✗ (a) Poverty rates are the result of applying the line to consumption data; they do not set the line.
• ✗ (c) State income (GSDP) affects how many people fall below the line, not the cost of the minimum basket that defines it.
• ✗ (d) PDS quality influences household consumption, but the official line is priced from the consumption basket, not from PDS performance.

Remember · Poverty line = cost of a minimum consumption basket; State lines differ because prices differ (Tendulkar 2011-12: Rs 816 rural, Rs 1,000 urban per capita per month, all-India).

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Reducing the global warming

Both are proposed geoengineering methods of 'solar radiation modification', meant to cool the planet. Stratospheric sulphate aerosols would reflect sunlight back to space, copying the cooling seen after big volcanic eruptions; thinning heat-trapping cirrus clouds would let more of the Earth's heat escape.

• ✓ (d) The IPCC lists stratospheric aerosol injection and cirrus cloud thinning among the most-studied SRM methods, whose aim is to reduce warming.
• ✗ (a) Artificial rain uses cloud seeding with silver iodide or salt in rain-bearing clouds, not stratospheric sulphate.
• ✗ (b) These methods target the planet's overall heat budget; they are not cyclone-suppression tools.

Remember · Solar radiation modification (geoengineering to cut warming): stratospheric aerosol injection, marine cloud brightening, cirrus cloud thinning, surface albedo change. Carbon dioxide removal is the other branch.

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

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Waste-to-energy technologies

Pyrolysis and plasma gasification are waste-to-energy technologies: they treat waste (such as plastics and municipal solid waste) at high temperature and turn it into fuel oil or syngas that can generate power.

• ✓ (d) In pyrolysis, waste is heated (400-600°C) without oxygen to give pyrolysis oil and gas. In plasma gasification, a plasma arc above 3000°C turns waste into syngas, which can run gas engines to make electricity.
• ✗ (a) Rare earth elements are recovered from ores by mining and chemical processing, not by these thermal waste treatments.
• ✗ (b) Natural gas extraction uses drilling and hydraulic fracturing; neither term belongs there.
• ✗ (c) Hydrogen vehicles run on fuel cells or hydrogen engines; pyrolysis and gasification are not vehicle technologies.

Remember · Pyrolysis (heating waste without oxygen) and plasma gasification (waste to syngas in a plasma arc above 3000°C) are waste-to-energy routes for plastics and solid waste.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Neyyar, Peppara and Shendurney Wildlife Sanctuaries; and Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve

Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve, at the southern end of the Western Ghats, takes in three Kerala wildlife sanctuaries (Shendurney, Peppara and Neyyar) and the Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve of Tamil Nadu.

• ✓ (a) UNESCO's description of the reserve names exactly these: the Shendurney, Peppara and Neyyar wildlife sanctuaries and the Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve. The reserve spans districts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
• ✗ (b) This mixes sites from the Nilgiri and Wayanad hills further north in the Western Ghats; none is part of Agasthyamala.
• ✗ (c) Kaundinya, Gundla Brahmeswaram and Papikonda are sanctuaries of Andhra Pradesh, and Mukurthi is in the Nilgiris of Tamil Nadu, so the set cannot belong to Agasthyamala.
• ✗ (d) Kawal, Sri Venkateswara and Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam are in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, far from Agasthyamala.

Remember · Agasthyamala BR (Tamil Nadu and Kerala): Shendurney, Peppara, Neyyar sanctuaries plus Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

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

All four statements are correct. The word 'some' in each only requires that at least one species fits, and each has a well-known example: the green turtle, the grass carp, the dugong and the sea snakes.

• ✓ 1. The green turtle is a herbivore, eating mostly seaweed, seagrasses and algae.
• ✓ 2. Many fish are plant eaters; the grass carp, for example, is a basically herbivorous fish that feeds on aquatic weeds.
• ✓ 3. The dugong (sea cow) is a marine mammal that depends largely on seagrass for food.
• ✓ 4. Viviparous means the young develop inside the mother and are born alive. Sea snakes such as the dusky sea snake do this, and so do boas and many vipers.

Remember · 'Some species' statements are usually true: herbivorous green turtle, grass carp and dugong; viviparous sea snakes.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, 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

Why not the tempting option · UPSC's key is (c). Pair 1 holds on the reading 'lives wild in the Cauvery': the blue-finned mahseer is now the river's dominant mahseer and breeds there. Strictly it is not native to the Cauvery, since peer-reviewed work shows it was stocked from a Maharashtra hatchery from the 1970s–80s and the river's own mahseer is the hump-backed Tor remadevii; but no option offers '3 only', and with pair 2 clearly wrong, (c) is the only answer the options allow. In the exam, when one pair is contestable on fine taxonomy, let the options decide.

UPSC's key accepts pairs 1 and 3 and rejects pair 2. The blue-finned mahseer is the mahseer most often found in the Cauvery today, where it breeds in the wild; the Irrawaddy dolphin's Indian stronghold is Chilika Lagoon, not the Chambal; and the Rusty-spotted Cat does occur in the Eastern Ghats.

• ✓ 1. The blue-finned mahseer (Tor khudree, the Deccan mahseer) is now the common mahseer of the Cauvery: a self-sustaining wild population, which a 2015 study of the river's angler catches found to be recruiting strongly, after decades of stocking by Karnataka's fisheries department and angling bodies.
• ✗ 2. Chilika Lagoon on the east coast is the largest habitat of the endangered Irrawaddy dolphin in India. The Chambal is known for the gharial and the Ganges river dolphin, not this species.
• ✓ 3. The Rusty-spotted Cat lives in forests of peninsular India, including the Eastern Ghats; it has been recorded on camera in Papikonda National Park in the northern Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh.

Remember · Irrawaddy dolphin: Chilika Lagoon (Odisha). Rusty-spotted Cat: peninsular forests including the Eastern Ghats. Blue-finned mahseer: the common mahseer of the Cauvery today.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) They are considered harmful to marine ecosystems.

Microbeads are tiny plastic beads put into cleansers and toothpastes as exfoliants; they slip through water filters, end up in oceans and lakes, and threaten aquatic life.

• ✓ (a) Microbeads are a type of microplastic. They pass easily through water treatment systems into the sea, where marine animals can swallow them and toxins can collect on them, so they are a threat to marine ecosystems.
• ✗ (b) Microbeads are rinsed off the skin and the worry about them is environmental pollution; skin cancer in children is not the reason for the concern.
• ✗ (c) Plastic beads are not taken up into crop plants through their roots; this is not the reason for concern.
• ✗ (d) Microbeads are used in personal care products, not as food additives or adulterants.

Remember · Microbeads are tiny plastic exfoliant beads in cosmetics and toothpaste that escape water treatment and pollute oceans, harming aquatic life.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) textile fibre

Himalayan nettle (Girardinia diversifolia) is prized for the strong bast fibre in its stems, which is spun and woven into cloth, so it is a sustainable source of textile fibre.

• ✓ (d) The bast fibre of its bark is used for clothing, ropes, mats and sacks, and the Ministry of Textiles has supported research on products from Himalayan nettle among natural fibres.
• ✗ (a) Anti-malarial drugs come from plants like cinchona (quinine) and Artemisia (artemisinin), not from Himalayan nettle.
• ✗ (b) Biodiesel comes from oil-bearing seeds such as jatropha and pongamia; nettle is valued for its fibre, not for oil.

Remember · Himalayan nettle (Girardinia diversifolia, 'bichhu buti') yields bast fibre for textiles; Uttarakhand and the Ministry of Textiles have promoted it.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, 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 can be measured or estimated from satellite data: leaf greenness and chlorophyll from visible and near-infrared reflectance, land surface temperature from thermal infrared, and paddy methane by combining satellite-derived rice area and temperature with models.

• ✓ 1. Chlorophyll strongly absorbs visible light and leaves reflect near-infrared, so satellite vegetation indices (such as MODIS NDVI and EVI) track canopy greenness, which depends on leaf area, chlorophyll and canopy structure.
• ✓ 2. Methane from rice paddies has been estimated with a model driven by satellite-mapped rice area, land surface temperature and evapotranspiration, for example over China's Sanjiang Plain.
• ✓ 3. Land surface temperature is retrieved from thermal infrared measurements, for example the MODIS daily product at 1 km pixels.

Remember · Remote sensing gives vegetation greenness and chlorophyll (NDVI), land surface temperature (thermal infrared), and, with models, methane from rice fields.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 3–2–4–1

Lowest to highest forest cover as a share of the State's area is Maharashtra (about 16.5%), Madhya Pradesh (about 25.1%), Odisha (about 33.2%) and Chhattisgarh (about 41.1%). This gives the order 3–2–4–1.

• ✓ 3. Maharashtra has the smallest share: 50,777.56 sq km of forest cover, 16.50% of its area (ISFR 2019).
• ✓ 2. Madhya Pradesh has the largest forest cover in absolute area (77,482.49 sq km) but only 25.14% of its area, because the State is so large.
• ✓ 4. Odisha has 51,618.51 sq km of forest cover, which is 33.15% of its area.
• ✓ 1. Chhattisgarh has the highest share of the four: 55,610.57 sq km, or 41.14% of its area.

Remember · Forest cover share of state area: Maharashtra 16.5% < Madhya Pradesh 25.1% < Odisha 33.2% < Chhattisgarh 41.1%. Madhya Pradesh is first in area but not in percentage.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, 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 correct. Methane hydrate is an ice-like solid holding methane, found in Arctic permafrost and in sea-floor sediments; it releases methane when it warms, and methane that reaches the air lasts about a decade before it is oxidised to carbon dioxide.

• ✓ 1. Methane hydrate is stable only at low temperature and high pressure. Warming makes the hydrate release its methane, which is why global warming could trigger releases.
• ✓ 2. Gas hydrates occur in huge quantities in marine sediments just below the sea floor and in association with permafrost in the Arctic.
• ✓ 3. Methane is short-lived in the air: it lasts about a decade on average (IPCC AR6 gives 11.8 years). It is broken down by oxidation, ending as carbon dioxide and water.

Remember · Methane hydrate = methane locked in ice-like crystals under permafrost and seabed. Warming can release it; airborne methane lasts about 12 years and then oxidises to CO2.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

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

Why not the tempting option · UPSC's key counts ozone among the gases released due to crop-residue burning. Ozone is a secondary pollutant that forms in the air from the nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds in the smoke, but the question says 'due to the burning', which covers that. The doubt does not change the answer: carbon monoxide, methane and sulphur dioxide are certainly emitted, and (d) is the only option that contains all three. In the exam, settle the sure statements first and let the option grid decide the rest.

UPSC counts all four. Burning crop residue puts carbon monoxide, methane and sulphur dioxide straight into the air, and the smoke's nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds go on to form ground-level ozone. Since 1, 2 and 4 are certain, only option (d) can be right.

• ✓ 1. Burning rice straw releases carbon monoxide; about 7% of the carbon in the straw leaves as CO.
• ✓ 2. Methane is also released; about 0.66% of the carbon in burnt rice straw is emitted as CH4.
• ✓ 3. Ozone is not emitted as such; it forms in the air from the nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds in stubble smoke, so it is released into the atmosphere 'due to' the burning. In any case CO, CH4 and SO2 are certain, and (d) is the only option that contains all three.
• ✓ 4. Stubble burning emits sulphur dioxide along with carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, methane and fine particles.

Remember · Crop-residue burning gives CO, CO2, CH4, N2O, NOx, SO2 and particulates; the smoke's VOCs and NOx then form ground-level ozone.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 1, 3 and 4 only

Albania touches the Adriatic, Kazakhstan the Caspian and Morocco the Mediterranean, so pairs 1, 3 and 4 are right. Croatia has no Black Sea coast (it is on the Adriatic), and Syria's coast is on the Mediterranean, not the Red Sea.

• ✓ 1. Albania lies on the southeastern Adriatic, where the Strait of Otranto separates it from Italy.
• ✗ 2. The Black Sea's coastal states are Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine. Croatia is on the Adriatic.
• ✓ 3. Kazakhstan is one of the five Caspian littoral states, with Azerbaijan, Iran, Russia and Turkmenistan.
• ✓ 4. Morocco has a Mediterranean coast, and is a Contracting Party to the Barcelona Convention for the Mediterranean.
• ✗ 5. Syria borders the Mediterranean. The Red Sea states in the regional body PERSGA are Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen; Syria is not among them.

Remember · Caspian littoral states: Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan. Black Sea: Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine. Syria is on the Mediterranean, not the Red Sea.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) India

India has been the world's largest rice exporter every year since 2012, so it was the largest in the five years before the 2019 exam. China grows the most rice but is a minor exporter; Vietnam and Myanmar (Burma) rank below India.

• ✓ (b) USDA's Economic Research Service records India as the largest global rice exporter since 2012, shipping more than the next three largest exporters combined in recent years.
• ✗ (d) Vietnam is among the next largest exporters, after Thailand, but behind India.
• ✗ (a) China is the largest rice producer, but most of its crop is eaten at home and it exports much less than India.
• ✗ (c) Myanmar (Burma) is a smaller exporter than India, Thailand, Vietnam and Pakistan.

Remember · India has been the world's top rice exporter since 2012; then Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan. China is the top producer but not a leading exporter.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1, 2 and 4

Pairs 1, 2 and 4 are correct: the Yamuna rises from the Bandarpunch glacier area, Bara Shigri feeds the Chandra (which becomes the Chenab), and the Siachen glacier gives rise to the Nubra. Milam is the source of the Sarda, not the Mandakini, and Zemu feeds the Teesta, not the Manas.

• ✓ 1. The Yamuna has its source in the Yamunotri glacier on the western slopes of the Banderpunch range (spelt Bandarpunch in the question).
• ✓ 2. Bara Shigri, the largest glacier of Lahaul, lies on the left bank of the Chandra; the Chandra and the Bhaga join at Tandi to form the Chandrabhaga, i.e. the Chenab.
• ✗ 3. The Milam glacier gives rise to the Sarda (Goriganga), a tributary of the Ghaghara. The Mandakini is a different stream of the Alaknanda system, so this pair fails.
• ✓ 4. The Siachen glacier is the source of the Nubra river, a tributary of the Shyok, which in turn joins the Indus.
• ✗ 5. The Zemu glacier on the eastern side of Kanchenjunga in Sikkim feeds the Zemu Chu, a stream of the Teesta basin. The Manas is a different river, a tributary of the Brahmaputra that flows through Bhutan and Assam.

Remember · Bandarpunch feeds the Yamuna, Bara Shigri the Chandra-Chenab, Siachen the Nubra, Milam the Sarda and Zemu the Teesta.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 India: Physical Environment, Ch 3 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 India: Physical Environment, Ch 3 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) pesticides in agriculture

Carbofuran, methyl parathion, phorate and triazophos are toxic insecticides used on crops. They feature in the Government of India's lists of pesticides that are banned or restricted because of their harm to health and to birds, fish and bees.

• ✓ (a) All four names appear in the Ministry of Agriculture's list of banned and restricted pesticides. Methyl parathion was banned by an August 2018 order, and phorate and triazophos were barred from manufacture and import from 1 January 2019, with use to end by 31 December 2020.
• ✗ (b) Food preservatives are additives regulated under food-safety rules; none of these four is a preservative.
• ✗ (c) Fruit ripening is done with ethylene-releasing agents or, illegally, calcium carbide. These chemicals are insecticides, not ripening agents.
• ✗ (d) Moisturisers in cosmetics are humectants and emollients; these four are toxic to humans and have no cosmetic use.
• • Since then The Government's list of pesticides banned for manufacture, import and use, updated to 1 October 2022, includes methyl parathion, phorate and triazophos; carbofuran appears as a banned 50% SP formulation.

Remember · Carbofuran, methyl parathion, phorate and triazophos are hazardous agricultural insecticides, banned or being phased out in India.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 3 only

Only statement 3 is correct. The 2010 Wetlands Rules were made under India's own Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, and their definition of a wetland expressly takes in the drainage area or catchment region determined by the authority. The Ramsar Convention imposes no duty to protect every wetland.

• ✗ 1. Article 3 of the Convention asks parties to promote conservation of the wetlands on the Ramsar List and, only 'as far as possible', the wise use of wetlands generally. It is not a mandatory duty to protect all wetlands.
• ✗ 2. The 2010 Rules were framed by the Central Government under Section 25 read with Section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. Ramsar is only recalled in their preamble; they are domestic rules, not a set of Ramsar recommendations.
• ✓ 3. The Rules define a wetland to include the zone of direct influence, that is the drainage area or catchment region of the wetland as determined by the authority.
• • Since then The Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017 (G.S.R. 1203(E), 26 September 2017) superseded the 2010 Rules, and now speak of a 'zone of influence' within the wetland's catchment.

Remember · India's wetland rules come from the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, not from Ramsar; the 2010 definition of wetland included its drainage area or catchment.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, 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 correct, because farming is a major source of reactive nitrogen. Fertilised soils release nitrous oxide, and manure and urine from cattle and poultry give off ammonia.

• ✓ 1. When reactive nitrogen such as fertiliser reaches the soil, microbes convert part of it into nitrous oxide, an oxide of nitrogen and a greenhouse gas.
• ✓ 2. Much of the protein that cattle eat is lost in manure and urine, and this nitrogen escapes as ammonia and other nitrogenous gases.
• ✓ 3. Poultry waste is rich in nitrogen, and under aerobic conditions it can evaporate as ammonia, which is a reactive nitrogen compound.

Remember · Agriculture is a big source of reactive nitrogen: soils give nitrous oxide, while cattle and poultry manure gives ammonia.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Water reservoirs

Aliyar, Isapur and Kangsabati are all water reservoirs behind dams: Aliyar in Tamil Nadu, Isapur on the Penganga in Maharashtra and Kangsabati in West Bengal. Each stores water mainly for irrigation.

• ✓ (d) Aliyar reservoir (Parambikulam-Aliyar Project) is in Tamil Nadu, the Isapur dam is on the Penganga river in Yavatmal district of Maharashtra, and the Kangsabati Reservoir Project irrigates Bankura, Midnapore and Hooghly in West Bengal.
• ✗ (a) These places are known for dams and irrigation reservoirs, not for mining.
• ✗ (b) The three sites lie in three different states and are known for their dams, not for tropical rain forest.

Remember · Aliyar (Tamil Nadu), Isapur (Maharashtra) and Kangsabati (West Bengal) are all dam reservoirs.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only

Statements 2 and 3 are correct. Blending hydrogen, which has no carbon, into CNG lowers carbon dioxide and hydrocarbon emissions, and India's trials and rules use a blend of about 18% hydrogen by volume, which is within one-fifth. H-CNG does not eliminate carbon monoxide and is not cheaper than plain CNG.

• ✗ 1. H-CNG is still mostly natural gas, a carbon fuel, so it can lower carbon monoxide but cannot eliminate it. Official pages describe the benefit as emissions reduction, not elimination.
• ✓ 2. Part of the fuel is carbon-free hydrogen, so less carbon is burnt per unit of energy and the blend gives lower carbon dioxide and hydrocarbon emissions; the Petroleum Ministry calls H-CNG an interim technology for emissions reduction.
• ✓ 3. The Road Transport Ministry allowed H-CNG with an 18% hydrogen mix in CNG engines, which is under one-fifth (20%) by volume; the Delhi bus trials also used 18%.
• ✗ 4. Making the blend is costly: the Petroleum Ministry notes that the high cost of producing and blending hydrogen offsets the fuel-economy savings over plain CNG, and its Secretary called commercial viability the main challenge.
• • Since then After the exam year, the Road Transport Ministry notified (GSR 585(E), 25 September 2020) H-CNG with an 18% hydrogen mix as an automotive fuel.

Remember · H-CNG is CNG blended with up to about 18% hydrogen by volume: it lowers emissions but does not remove them, and it is costlier than plain CNG.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Clouds reflect back the Earth's radiation.

Dew forms only when the ground and grass cool below the dew point, and that needs a clear night in which the Earth's heat escapes freely to space. On a cloudy night the clouds send the Earth's heat back down, so the surface stays warmer and no dew forms.

• ✓ (b) Clouds hold back the Earth's outgoing radiation and return part of it towards the surface, keeping the ground from cooling enough for water vapour to condense on it. UPSC treats this as the cause.
• ✗ (a) This is the tempting option. Clouds do take in some of the Earth's radiation, but the answer UPSC accepts is that they send it back, which is what keeps the surface warm.
• ✗ (c) It is the reverse of the truth: with cloud cover the surface stays warmer, and it is a clear, calm, cold night that gives low surface temperature and dew.
• ✗ (d) Dew needs calm air, but clouds do not act by blowing wind down to the ground; the deciding factor is heat loss.

Remember · Dew needs a clear, calm, cold night; cloud cover returns the Earth's heat and stops the surface cooling to the dew point.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Fundamentals of Physical Geography, Ch 10 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, 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. It was the 39th Amendment (1975) that inserted Article 329A to shield the Prime Minister's election from the courts, and the 44th Amendment (1978) removed it. The Supreme Court did strike down the 99th Amendment, which created the NJAC, in October 2015.

• ✗ 1. Article 329A, on elections of the Prime Minister and the Speaker, was inserted by the 39th Amendment in 1975. The 44th Amendment, passed after the Emergency, omitted it instead of introducing it.
• ✓ 2. In the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association case (16 October 2015), a five-judge Bench struck down the 99th Amendment and the NJAC scheme, holding that the Union Law Minister's place in the Commission and the 'eminent persons' clause breached judicial independence, part of the basic structure.

Remember · 39th Amendment (1975) inserted Article 329A for the Prime Minister's election; the 44th (1978) omitted it. The 99th Amendment (NJAC) was struck down on 16 October 2015.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Politics in India since Independence, Ch 6 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 3 and 4 only

Statements 3 and 4 are correct. Article 124(4) sets the voting rule for removing a Supreme Court Judge and leaves the procedure to a law of Parliament, which is the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968. That Act lets the Speaker refuse to admit the motion, and the Constitution never defines 'misbehaviour'.

• ✗ 1. Under section 3 of the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968, the Speaker (or Chairman) may, after consulting such persons as he thinks fit, either admit the motion or refuse to admit it. So it can be rejected at that stage.
• ✗ 2. Article 124(4) speaks of 'proved misbehaviour or incapacity' but does not define either term. The Supreme Court has observed that 'misbehaviour' is advisedly not defined.
• ✓ 3. Article 124(5) lets Parliament regulate by law the presentation of the address and the investigation and proof of misbehaviour or incapacity. The Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968 does this, including the inquiry committee.
• ✓ 4. Article 124(4) requires an address by each House, supported by a majority of the total membership of that House and by at least two-thirds of the members present and voting.

Remember · A Supreme Court Judge is removed by a Presidential order on an address of both Houses (special majority in each); the process is in the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968, and the Speaker may refuse to admit the motion.

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Answer: (a) Jawaharlal Nehru

The Ninth Schedule was added by the Constitution (First Amendment) Act, 1951, which came into force on 18 June 1951. Jawaharlal Nehru was Prime Minister from 15 August 1947 to 27 May 1964, so it was introduced in his time.

• ✓ (a) The First Amendment, 1951, inserted Article 31B and the Ninth Schedule so that the listed laws, mainly land-reform laws, could not be declared void for clashing with Fundamental Rights. Nehru was Prime Minister then.
• ✗ (c) This is the tempting option because Indira Gandhi's period saw many later additions to the Schedule, but the Schedule itself dates from 1951.
• ✗ (b) Lal Bahadur Shastri was Prime Minister only from 1964 to 1966, long after 1951.
• ✗ (d) Morarji Desai headed the government from 1977 to 1979, well after the Ninth Schedule had been created.

Remember · Ninth Schedule and Article 31B came with the First Amendment, 1951, under Nehru; the Fourth Amendment, 1955, added entries 14 to 20.

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Answer: (a) 1 only

Only statement 1 is correct. Coking coal mines were nationalised in 1971-72 and non-coking coal mines in 1973, while Indira Gandhi was Prime Minister. Coal blocks are given out by competitive auction, not by lottery, and India still imports coal.

• ✓ 1. The Central Government nationalised private coal mines in two phases: coking coal mines in 1971-72 and non-coking coal mines in 1973 (Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act, 1973). Indira Gandhi was Prime Minister from 1966 to 1977.
• ✗ 2. Blocks are now allotted through competitive bidding, that is auctions, conducted by the Nominated Authority under the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015. There is no lottery.
• ✗ 3. India is not self-sufficient. It still imports coking coal and high-grade thermal coal that its domestic reserves do not supply in sufficient quantity.

Remember · Coal was nationalised in 1971-73 under Indira Gandhi; blocks are now auctioned (not lotteried), and India still imports coking coal.

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Answer: (a) 1 and 2 only

Why not the tempting option · UPSC's key is (a). Statement 3 is wrong — Article 102 uses 'office of profit' without defining it — and (a) is the only option without statement 3, so the answer is fixed. Statement 2's count is loose: the Act's own footnotes record changes made by Acts of 1960, 1962, 1977, 1992, 1993, 1999, 2000, 2006 and 2013, several of them consequential amendments by other Acts, so 'five' depends on what one counts; UPSC's key takes the statement as broadly correct, the Act having been amended repeatedly. In the exam, let the clearly wrong statement decide the option.

The 1959 Act lists offices whose holders are not disqualified from Parliament for holding an office of profit, and Parliament has amended it repeatedly since. The Constitution, however, uses 'office of profit' in Article 102 without defining it, so statement 3 is wrong — and (a) is the only option that leaves statement 3 out.

• ✓ 1. The Act declares that the offices it lists (in section 3 and its Schedule) shall not disqualify their holders from being chosen as, or being, members of Parliament.
• ✓ 2. Correct in UPSC's key: the Act has been amended repeatedly to add exempted offices, most recently in 2013, when the chairpersons of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes were covered after the two commissions were separated.
• ✗ 3. Article 102(1)(a) disqualifies the holder of an 'office of profit' but does not define the term. The Supreme Court has noted that the expression is defined neither in the Constitution nor in the Representation of the People Act.

Remember · 'Office of profit' is not defined in the Constitution; Parliament exempts listed offices through the Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1959.

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Answer: (b) Fifth Schedule

The Fifth Schedule protects tribal land in Scheduled Areas: the Governor can make regulations that prohibit or restrict transfer of tribal land, and the Supreme Court has used this scheme to hold that such land cannot be leased to private parties for mining.

• ✓ (b) Paragraph 5(2) of the Fifth Schedule lets the Governor prohibit or restrict transfer of land by or among Scheduled Tribe members in a Scheduled Area. In Samatha v. State of Andhra Pradesh (1997) the Supreme Court held that tribal land in Scheduled Areas cannot be leased to non-tribals or private industries.
• ✗ (c) The Ninth Schedule lists Acts and Regulations protected from challenge on the ground of clashing with Fundamental Rights; it does not deal with tribal land.
• ✗ (a) The Third Schedule contains the forms of oaths and affirmations of officials, nothing on land.
• ✗ (d) The Twelfth Schedule lists the functions of municipalities, not protection of tribal land.

Remember · Fifth Schedule = Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes (Governor's regulations on tribal land); Samatha (1997) barred mining leases on tribal land to private parties.

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Answer: (c) 1, 2 and 4

Statements 1, 2 and 4 are correct. India has 75 PVTGs, not 95, spread over 18 States and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and a stagnant or declining population is one of the four criteria. Irular and Konda Reddi are both on the list.

• ✓ 1. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs states that 75 such groups in 18 States and one Union Territory (Andaman and Nicobar Islands) have been identified as PVTGs.
• ✓ 2. The Ministry's criteria are a pre-agriculture level of technology, a stagnant or declining population, low literacy and a subsistence level of economy.
• ✗ 3. The number notified is 75, not 95, so this statement fails.
• ✓ 4. The Ministry's state-wise list includes Konda Reddi (Andhra Pradesh and Telangana) and Irular (Tamil Nadu).

Remember · 75 PVTGs in 18 States and 1 UT; criteria: pre-agricultural technology, stagnant or declining population, low literacy, subsistence economy.

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Answer: (b) The Supreme Court of India is not constrained in the exercise of its powers by laws made by the Parliament.

Article 142 belongs to the Supreme Court: it lets the Court pass whatever order is necessary for 'complete justice' in a case before it. The statement therefore means the Supreme Court is not held back, in using this power, by the limits found in ordinary laws made by Parliament.

• ✓ (b) Article 142(1) empowers the Supreme Court to make such order as is necessary for doing complete justice in any cause or matter pending before it, a power drawn from the Constitution itself and not from Parliament's ordinary laws.
• ✗ (a) Article 142 is about the Supreme Court's orders, not about decisions of the Election Commission of India.
• ✗ (c) A Financial Emergency is a power of the President under Article 360 and has nothing to do with Article 142, which concerns the Supreme Court.
• ✗ (d) State legislative powers are dealt with in Articles 245 to 255, not in Article 142.

Remember · Article 142: the Supreme Court may pass any order necessary for doing complete justice in a matter before it.

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Answer: (c) Both 1 and 2

UPSC's key treats both statements as correct. Statement 1 rests on Article 176, under which the Governor addresses the Assembly at the start of the first session of each year. Article 208 lets each State House frame its own rules of procedure.

• ✓ 1. Article 176(1) requires the Governor to address the Legislative Assembly (or both Houses together, where there is a Council) at the start of the first session after each general election and at the start of the first session of each year.
• ✓ 2. Article 208 lets each State House make its own rules of procedure. UPSC's official key treats this statement as correct; we could not confirm the detail from an official source, so we do not explain it here.

Remember · Article 176: the Governor's special address opens the first session of each year (and the first session after a general election); Article 208: each House frames its own rules.

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Answer: (c) 2 and 4 only

Statements 2 and 4 are correct. UNCAC (in force since December 2005) is the first legally binding global anti-corruption instrument, and UNODC is mandated to help States implement both UNCAC and UNTOC. The migrants-smuggling Protocol belongs to UNTOC, and the chapter on returning assets belongs to UNCAC, so statements 1 and 3 have them the wrong way round.

• ✗ 1. The migrant-smuggling Protocol (covering land, sea and air routes) is one of the three Protocols supplementing UNTOC, not UNCAC.
• ✓ 2. UNODC describes UNCAC, in force since December 2005, as the ever-first binding global anti-corruption instrument.
• ✗ 3. The asset-return chapter, Chapter V (asset recovery), is a feature of UNCAC. UNTOC has no such chapter.
• ✓ 4. UNODC is mandated by its Member States to assist in the implementation of both Conventions.

Remember · UNCAC (2003): first binding global anti-corruption treaty, with an asset-recovery chapter. UNTOC (2000): three Protocols, including migrant smuggling.

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Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only

Statements 2 and 3 are correct. The Forest Rights Act, 2006 lists bamboo as minor forest produce and gives forest dwellers ownership of such produce. The 2017 amendment to the Indian Forest Act only freed bamboo grown on non-forest land; it gave forest dwellers no right to fell bamboo in forests.

• ✗ 1. The Indian Forest (Amendment) Act, 2017 removed 'bamboos' from the definition of 'tree' so that bamboo grown in non-forest areas needs no felling or transit permit. Bamboo in forest areas stays under the Indian Forest Act, 1927.
• ✓ 2. Section 2(i) of the Forest Rights Act, 2006 defines minor forest produce to include all non-timber forest produce of plant origin, naming bamboo among them.
• ✓ 3. Section 3(1)(c) recognises ownership of minor forest produce by forest dwellers, with rights to collect, use and dispose of it, wherever it has traditionally been gathered, inside or outside village boundaries.

Remember · FRA 2006: bamboo is minor forest produce and forest dwellers own it; the 2017 Forest Act amendment freed only bamboo grown outside forests.

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Answer: (b) Article 21

Article 21, the protection of life and personal liberty, safeguards this right. In Shafin Jahan v. Asokan K.M. (2018) the Supreme Court held that an adult's freedom to choose whom to marry forms part of Article 21.

• ✓ (b) Article 21 protects life and personal liberty, and the Supreme Court reads into it the freedom of an adult to choose a life partner.
• ✗ (a) Article 19 gives the freedoms of speech, assembly, association, movement, residence and profession; the Court has named Article 21 as the one that protects the choice of a spouse.
• ✗ (c) Article 25 protects freedom of conscience and the right to profess, practise and propagate religion; it is not the source of the right to marry.
• ✗ (d) Article 29 protects the interests of minorities, their language, script and culture, and is unrelated to choice of spouse.

Remember · An adult's freedom to choose a spouse falls under Article 21 (life and personal liberty): Shafin Jahan v. Asokan K.M., 2018.

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Answer: (c) 3 only

Only statement 3 is correct. Section 3(j) of the Patents Act, 1970 rules out plants, seeds, varieties and essentially biological processes as patentable inventions. An Intellectual Property Appellate Board did exist when the question was set in 2019.

• ✗ 1. Section 3(j) treats seeds, varieties and species, and processes that are essentially biological, as non-inventions, so a biological method of making a seed cannot be patented.
• ✗ 2. In 2019 the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) was still in existence, so the statement was wrong at the time.
• ✓ 3. Section 3(j) excludes plant varieties from patenting. New plant varieties are protected under the separate Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act, 2001.
• • Since then The Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021 (13 August 2021) lists the IPAB among the bodies it wound up, with pending cases transferred to the courts. Statement 2 would now read differently, but the answer for the 2019 paper stands.

Remember · Patents Act, section 3(j): plants, seeds, varieties and essentially biological processes are not patentable; plant varieties go to the PPV&FR Act, 2001.

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Answer: (b) 2 only

Only statement 2 is correct: section 3(2)(iv) of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 lets the Central Government lay down standards for emission or discharge of pollutants from various sources. The list of measures in section 3(2) has no item that requires the Government to prescribe public participation.

• ✗ 1. Section 3(2) lists the measures the Centre may take (coordination, standards, restriction of areas, safeguards, research, laboratories, information and so on). Prescribing a requirement of public participation is not one of them; public hearings arise from separate subordinate notifications, not from this section.
• ✓ 2. Section 3(2)(iv) names 'laying down standards for emission or discharge of environmental pollutants from various sources whatsoever', and allows different standards for different sources.

Remember · Section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 gives the Centre wide powers, including emission and discharge standards; it does not itself prescribe public participation.

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Answer: (c) The Rules provide for exact and elaborate criteria for the identification of sites for landfills and waste processing facilities.

Option (c) is correct because Schedule I of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 gives detailed site-selection criteria for sanitary landfills, such as minimum distances from rivers, ponds, highways, habitations and airports. The other three options misstate the rules.

• ✗ (a) Rule 4 asks every waste generator to segregate waste into three streams: bio-degradable, non bio-degradable and domestic hazardous waste. There is no five-way split.
• ✗ (b) Rule 2 applies the Rules far more widely than 'only' urban local bodies, notified towns and industrial townships. It also covers census towns, outgrowths of urban agglomerations, railways, airports, ports, defence establishments, SEZs and more.
• ✓ (c) Schedule I lays down criteria such as a landfill 100 metres from a river, 200 metres from a pond, highways, habitations, public parks and water supply wells, and 20 km from airports.
• ✗ (d) The Rules contain no ban on moving waste between districts. They say the State Pollution Control Board regulates inter-State movement of waste.
• • Since then The Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 have since been superseded by the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2026, notified in January 2026 and in force from 1 April 2026. The new Rules make four-stream segregation (wet, dry, sanitary and special care waste) mandatory (PIB).

Remember · Under the 2016 Rules, waste is segregated into three streams and Schedule I fixes landfill siting distances; the 2026 Rules replaced these with four-stream segregation.

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Answer: (c) Both 1 and 2

Both statements are correct. The 2018 amendment (G.S.R. 235(E), 16 March 2018) added 'fixed term employment workman' as a category for all sectors, which the Labour Ministry described as giving employers flexibility, and the standing orders, as amended, excuse notice of termination for temporary workmen.

• ✓ 1. A fixed-term workman is engaged on a written contract for a fixed period, and the amended rules say no notice or pay in lieu is due when such a contract expires without renewal. So the employer can let the engagement end at expiry instead of retrenching a permanent employee. The Labour Ministry itself stated the aim as flexibility for employers, while giving the worker the same statutory benefits as a regular worker in proportion to service.
• ✓ 2. The 2018 amendment itself (G.S.R. 235(E), para 13 of Schedule I) says no notice of termination of employment is necessary for a temporary workman, whether monthly-rated, weekly-rated or piece-rated, or for probationers and badli workmen. (Under the model orders in Schedule IA, a temporary workman with three months' service gets two weeks' notice only if terminated outside the terms of his contract.)
• • Since then The Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 has since been folded into the new Labour Codes. On 21 November 2025 the Government consolidated 29 labour laws into four Labour Codes, and fixed-term employees now become eligible for gratuity after one year of service (PIB).

Remember · The 2018 amendment made fixed-term employment available in all sectors, with benefits proportionate to permanent workmen. Temporary workmen need no termination notice under the standing orders.

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Answer: (b) Lead Bank Scheme

The Service Area Approach was part of the Reserve Bank of India's Lead Bank Scheme. Introduced in April 1989, it assigned each rural and semi-urban bank branch a service area of 15 to 25 villages whose credit needs it had to meet.

• ✓ (b) RBI's Master Circular on the Lead Bank Scheme has a section on the Service Area Approach. It applied to all scheduled commercial banks including Regional Rural Banks and aimed to link bank credit with production, productivity and incomes.
• ✗ (a) The Integrated Rural Development Programme was an anti-poverty self-employment programme run by the government. It did not allocate villages to bank branches.
• ✗ (c) MGNREGS is a wage-employment guarantee scheme with no link to bank-branch service areas.
• • Since then RBI reviewed the approach in December 2004 and dropped its restrictive provisions. Banks are now free to lend in any rural or semi-urban area; village allocation applies only to Government-sponsored schemes (RBI Master Circular).

Remember · Service Area Approach (April 1989) sits under RBI's Lead Bank Scheme: one rural branch, 15 to 25 villages. Its village-allocation rule was relaxed in 2004.

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Answer: (a) 1 and 3 only

Statements 1 and 3 are correct; statement 2 is wrong. The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 lists ordinary sand as a minor mineral, and it is the State Government, not the Centre, that makes the rules for granting minor mineral leases (section 15) and for preventing illegal mining (section 23C).

• ✓ 1. Section 3(e) of the MMDR Act defines minor minerals as building stones, gravel, ordinary clay and ordinary sand (other than sand used for prescribed purposes), plus any mineral the Centre notifies as minor.
• ✗ 2. Section 15 says the State Government may make rules for regulating the grant of quarry leases, mining leases and other concessions for minor minerals. The rule-making power lies with the State, not the Centre.
• ✓ 3. Section 23C lets the State Government make rules for preventing illegal mining, transportation and storage of minerals.

Remember · Minor minerals (including ordinary sand) are regulated by States: they frame the leasing rules (s.15) and the anti-illegal-mining rules (s.23C). The Centre only notifies which extra minerals count as minor.

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Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2

Neither statement is correct. At end-March 2019 the Government's own (sovereign) share was only 19.1% of India's external debt, so most of it is owed by non-government borrowers, and US dollar debt was about half (50.5%), with a large rupee-denominated share.

• ✗ 1. The Ministry of Finance's status report gives the Government (sovereign) share as 19.1% of total external debt at end-March 2019. The rest is owed by banks, public-sector firms and private companies, including NRI deposits.
• ✗ 2. US dollar debt was the largest currency component at 50.5%, but rupee-denominated debt made up 35.7% and the rest was in yen, SDR, euro and other currencies.
• • Since then At end-March 2025 the US dollar share of external debt was 54.2%, still not the whole; rupee, yen, SDR and euro debt remain (Ministry of Finance status report 2024-25).

Remember · India's external debt is mostly non-government (government share about one-fifth) and only about half is in US dollars; the rest is in rupees, yen, SDR, euro and others.

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Answer: (b) Deposits

Deposits are not an asset of a bank; they are its liability, because the bank owes that money back to depositors. What a bank holds and earns from, such as loans and advances, investments, and money lent at call and short notice, are its assets.

• ✓ (b) In the prescribed bank balance sheet (Form A, Third Schedule to the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, reproduced by RBI), Deposits appear under Capital and Liabilities. NCERT's model bank balance sheet likewise records deposits as liabilities and loans and reserves as assets.
• ✗ (a) Advances (loans given to borrowers) are the bank's main earning asset and are listed under Assets in Form A.
• ✗ (c) Investments, mainly in government and other securities, are held by the bank and appear on the assets side (Form A lists Investments under Assets).
• ✗ (d) Money at call and short notice is short-term lending to other banks and is an asset; Form A lists 'Balance with banks and money at call and short notice' first among the assets after cash and balances with RBI.

Remember · For a bank, deposits are liabilities (owed to customers); loans and advances, investments, and cash and short-term lending are assets.

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Answer: (b) 1 and 3 only

IT export earnings and remittances from Indians abroad both bring foreign currency into India, which helps pay for imports and supports the rupee, so they lower the risk of a currency crisis. Higher government spending does not earn any foreign exchange and tends to push up demand and prices, so it does not reduce that risk.

• ✓ 1. NCERT notes that India is earning large foreign exchange through the export of information technology. RBI's balance of payments releases likewise credit software services exports for rising services receipts.
• ✓ 3. Private transfer receipts, mainly remittances by Indians employed overseas, are a large steady inflow of foreign currency in the balance of payments (US$ 27.4 billion in July-September 2022).
• ✗ 2. Extra government spending raises aggregate demand and is criticised as inflationary (NCERT). It adds no foreign-currency receipts, so it is not a factor that reduces currency-crisis risk.

Remember · Stable foreign-exchange inflows, such as IT and services exports and remittances, protect the currency; expansionary government spending brings no such inflow.

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Answer: (c) Sarkaria Commission (1983)

The Sarkaria Commission on Centre-State Relations, set up in 1983, laid down these criteria for a Governor in its report. He should be eminent in some walk of life, come from outside the State, be a detached figure not too intimately connected with the State's local politics, and not have taken too great a part in politics, particularly in the recent past.

• ✓ (c) Paragraph 4.6.09 of the Sarkaria Commission report (Chapter IV, Role of the Governor) lists four criteria for appointing a Governor, and the question paraphrases three of them. The Commission drew on Jawaharlal Nehru's remarks in the Constituent Assembly.
• ✗ (a) The Administrative Reforms Commission is cited in the Sarkaria report only for stressing that a Governor should be impartial and command the respect of all parties. The four-part test in the question is Sarkaria's own.

Remember · Sarkaria (1983) on Governors: eminent, from outside the State, detached from local politics, and not too active in politics recently.

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Answer: (d) Participatory Note

A Participatory Note (P-Note, now officially called an Offshore Derivative Instrument) is what a registered foreign portfolio investor issues abroad to an overseas investor who wants exposure to Indian securities without registering with SEBI. The FPI keeps the securities; the economic benefit passes to the note-holder.

• ✓ (d) SEBI describes ODIs (the erstwhile P-Notes) as derivative instruments issued overseas by FPIs against securities held in India; the FPI stays the owner of the underlying securities while the investor gets the economic benefit.
• ✗ (a) A Certificate of Deposit is a deposit-type instrument issued by banks to raise funds, not an instrument through which a foreign investor buys exposure to Indian shares.
• ✗ (b) Commercial Paper is a short-term borrowing instrument issued by companies, not a route for foreign investors to hold Indian equities indirectly.

Remember · P-Notes (Offshore Derivative Instruments) are issued abroad by SEBI-registered FPIs to foreign investors who avoid direct registration; the FPI holds the underlying Indian securities.

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Answer: (a) 1 only

Only statement 1 is correct. The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, 2016 sets up a National Authority (section 8) and a State Authority in each State (section 10), but it does not make people's participation mandatory in compensatory afforestation.

• ✓ 1. Section 8 constitutes the 'National Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority', and section 10 constitutes a 'State Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority' in each State.
• ✗ 2. The Act lays down the Authorities, their governing bodies and how the National and State Funds are managed and used. Nowhere does it make people's participation a compulsory part of compensatory afforestation.

Remember · The CAF Act, 2016 creates a National Authority and State Authorities to manage compensatory-afforestation money; it does not mandate people's participation.

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Answer: (a) 1 and 2

Parliament itself reviews the independent regulators, through its committees: ad hoc committees appointed for a specific inquiry, and the Departmentally Related Standing Committees that scrutinise ministries and their work. The Finance Commission, the Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission and NITI Aayog have other jobs and do not review regulators.

• ✓ 1. Ad hoc committees are appointed by Parliament from time to time to enquire into specific subjects, and can be set up to examine a regulator's working.
• ✓ 2. Departmentally Related Standing Committees examine the annual reports, Bills and demands for grants of the ministries they cover, and PRS notes that parliamentary committees such as the Standing Committees on Health and on Energy have examined the working of regulators under those ministries.
• ✗ 3. The Finance Commission's constitutional duty is to recommend how tax proceeds are shared between the Union and the States and the principles for grants-in-aid; supervising sectoral regulators is not its task.
• ✗ 4. The Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission was set up on the Budget 2010-11 announcement to rewrite and harmonise financial-sector law; it was a law-reform commission, not a standing reviewer of regulators.
• ✗ 5. NITI Aayog is the Government's policy think tank, formed by a Cabinet resolution of 1 January 2015 to replace the Planning Commission; it has no oversight role over regulators.

Remember · Independent regulators answer to Parliament through its committees (ad hoc and Departmentally Related Standing Committees), not through the Finance Commission, FSLRC or NITI Aayog.

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Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1 and 2 only

Statements 1 and 2 are correct. The Second Plan (1956-61) made heavy and capital-goods industries the core of its strategy, and the Fourth Plan (1969-74) set out to reduce the concentration of income, wealth and economic power. UPSC's key treats statement 3 as wrong.

• ✓ 1. The Second Plan document stresses that basic and capital goods industries are 'major determinants of the rate of growth' and says it is desirable to go farthest in developing heavy and capital goods industries. This was the industrialisation strategy of the Second Plan.
• ✓ 2. The Fourth Plan document says that benefits of development must reach the less privileged and there should be 'progressive reduction of the concentration of incomes, wealth and economic power'. It also noted no sign of any reduction in that concentration so far.
• ✗ 3. 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.

Remember · Second Plan: heavy and capital-goods industry. Fourth Plan: reduce concentration of wealth and economic power.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, 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. AIIB already had 84 members by the end of 2017, so it had more than 80 members. India is the second-largest shareholder after China, and AIIB has many non-Asian (non-regional) members.

• ✓ 1. AIIB approved 27 new members in 2017, bringing the total to 84. It has kept growing and now has 111 approved members.
• ✗ 2. China is the largest shareholder, with more than 25 per cent of the voting power. India is the second-largest shareholder, followed by Russia.
• ✗ 3. AIIB has both regional (Asian) and non-regional members. Of the 84 members at the end of 2017, 48 were regional and 36 non-regional, so many members are from outside Asia.

Remember · AIIB (headquarters Beijing, operational since 2016) has regional and non-regional members; China is the largest shareholder and India the second-largest.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) To aim at faster resolution of stressed assets of ₹ 50 crore or more which are under consortium lending

An Inter-Creditor Agreement is a pact among the lenders to one borrower so that they can settle on a resolution plan for a stressed loan together, by majority, instead of each bank holding out separately. That is why UPSC's answer is faster resolution of stressed assets under consortium lending.

• ✓ (d) RBI's framework says lenders to a borrower with facilities from more than one lender must enter into an ICA to set ground rules for finalising and implementing the resolution plan. It binds all lenders once lenders holding 75 per cent by value and 60 per cent by number agree.
• ✗ (a) The ICA is an agreement between lenders about individual stressed accounts. It has nothing to do with the Government's fiscal deficit or current account deficit.
• ✗ (b) It does not fund infrastructure projects; it only sets how lenders decide on a resolution plan for an already stressed loan.
• ✗ (c) An ICA is a contract between lenders, not a regulator. Banks are regulated by the Reserve Bank of India.
• • Since then RBI's Prudential Framework for Resolution of Stressed Assets, dated 7 June 2019, made signing an ICA mandatory for lenders when a resolution plan is to be implemented (RBI; PIB).

Remember · Inter-Creditor Agreement: lenders in a consortium agree to decide a stressed loan's resolution by majority (75 per cent by value and 60 per cent by number), for faster resolution.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Banks Board Bureau

In 2019 the Banks Board Bureau (BBB) was the body that recommended the selection of heads of public sector banks. The Government set it up as an autonomous body, functioning from 1 April 2016, to improve governance of public sector banks.

• ✓ (a) The Government's announcement of the Bureau said it would recommend for selection of the heads of public sector banks and financial institutions, and help banks with strategy and capital-raising plans.
• ✗ (b) The Reserve Bank of India regulates and supervises banks; it is not the selecting body for public sector bank heads. Its Deputy Governor was only one ex-officio member of the Bureau.
• ✗ (c) The Ministry of Finance owns the banks, but the Bureau was created as an autonomous body so that selection would not rest with the Ministry alone.
• ✗ (d) A bank's own management does not choose its chairman.
• • Since then On 1 July 2022 the Government revamped the Banks Board Bureau into the Financial Services Institutions Bureau (FSIB), which recommends whole-time directors and non-executive chairpersons for financial services institutions (Department of Financial Services).

Remember · Banks Board Bureau (from 1 April 2016) recommended heads of public sector banks; since July 2022 the Financial Services Institutions Bureau has taken over this role.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only

Statements 2 and 3 are correct. The PNGRB Act, 2006 aims to promote competitive markets in petroleum and natural gas, and appeals against the Board's orders go to the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity. PNGRB is not the first regulator set up by the Government: the Reserve Bank of India, for one, dates from 1935.

• ✗ 1. The PNGRB Act was passed in 2006, whereas the Reserve Bank of India, a regulator of banking, was established on 1 April 1935. PNGRB is therefore far from the first regulatory body.
• ✓ 2. The Act's stated purpose includes promoting competitive markets, and the Board's functions include protecting consumers by fostering fair trade and competition among entities and regulating pipeline access to ensure fair competition.
• ✓ 3. Under section 30 of the PNGRB Act, the tribunal that hears appeals against Board orders is the same one that the Electricity Act, 2003 (section 110) created, now known as APTEL.

Remember · PNGRB (Act of 2006) regulates downstream petroleum and natural gas, promotes competitive markets, and its appeals go to the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, 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. LTE is a 4G mobile network standard, not 3G, and VoLTE is not 'advanced 3G': it is simply the way voice calls are carried as data over an LTE network. LTE is therefore not 'data-only', and VoLTE is not a separate 'voice-only' technology.

• ✗ 1. LTE is marketed as 4G. TRAI's regulations treat VoLTE as voice over a 4G network (they cite ITU-T G.1028, end-to-end quality of service for voice over 4G mobile network). Nothing about either is '3G' or 'advanced 3G'.
• ✗ 2. An LTE network can carry voice as well as data. When it does, that voice service is VoLTE; when it does not, calls fall back to older circuit-switched networks (CSFB), as TRAI's explanatory memorandum notes. VoLTE runs on LTE, so the two are not data-only versus voice-only.

Remember · LTE is the 4G data network; VoLTE is voice calls carried over that LTE network, so a phone without VoLTE falls back to 2G or 3G for calls.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 3 only

Only statement 3 is correct. The 2017 Amendment raised paid maternity leave to 26 weeks, but only for the first two children; a woman with two or more surviving children gets 12 weeks. The crèche rule allows four visits a day, not six, and the leave is 26 weeks in all, not three months before and three after.

• ✗ 1. The Act replaces the old twelve weeks with twenty-six weeks, of which not more than eight weeks may come before the expected delivery. So it is at most 8 weeks before birth and the rest after, not three months on each side.
• ✗ 2. Section 11A requires every establishment with fifty or more employees to have a crèche facility, and the employer must allow four visits a day, including the woman's rest interval. It does not say six.
• ✓ 3. For a woman with two or more surviving children the maximum maternity benefit is twelve weeks, of which not more than six weeks may precede expected delivery, which is less than the 26 weeks for the first two children.
• • Since then The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 is one of the nine social-security laws that the Code on Social Security, 2020 incorporates; the four Labour Codes were announced on 21 November 2025 (PIB).

Remember · Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017: 26 weeks (max 8 before delivery) for the first two children, 12 weeks from the third; crèche needed at 50+ employees, four visits a day.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Maintenance of law and order

Maintenance of law and order is not one of the ten areas the World Bank's Doing Business ranking measured. Paying taxes, registering property and dealing with construction permits are all among the ten.

• ✓ (a) The ten areas in the ease of doing business score were: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency. Law and order is not on the list.
• ✗ (b) Paying taxes is one of the ten areas.
• ✗ (c) Registering property is one of the ten areas.
• ✗ (d) Dealing with construction permits is one of the ten areas.
• • Since then After data irregularities were found in Doing Business 2018 and 2020, the World Bank Group discontinued the Doing Business report in September 2021; no new rankings have been published.

Remember · Doing Business had ten indicators (starting a business to resolving insolvency); law and order was never one. The World Bank discontinued the report in September 2021.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) The e-Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011

India's e-Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011 introduced extended producer responsibility (EPR), which makes the producer of electrical and electronic equipment answerable for the product until its safe disposal after use. The rules were notified in May 2011 and came into force on 1 May 2012.

• ✓ (c) The official guidelines on these rules say they place the main responsibility for e-waste on producers of electrical and electronic equipment by introducing the concept of extended producer responsibility.
• ✗ (a) The 1998 bio-medical waste rules pre-date the e-waste rules and are not the ones credited with bringing in EPR.
• ✗ (b) The 1999 recycled plastics rules likewise pre-date the 2011 e-waste rules, which are the ones that introduced EPR in India.
• ✗ (d) The Food Safety and Standards Regulations, 2011 deal with food safety, not with waste, so producer responsibility for end-of-life products is not their feature.

Remember · EPR = the producer stays responsible for a product until its safe disposal. In India it came with the e-Waste Rules, 2011 (in force 1 May 2012).

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) procurement incidentals and distribution cost

The economic cost of food grains to the FCI is its acquisition cost (the price paid to farmers plus procurement incidentals) plus the cost of distributing the grain. Procurement incidentals and distribution cost together are what is added to the MSP and bonus paid to farmers.

• ✓ (c) The Economic Survey names the economic cost of foodgrains as MSP (and central bonus if applicable), procurement incidentals and the cost of distribution. Procurement incidentals (State levies are a large part of them) form part of the acquisition cost, and distribution cost is added to it.
• ✗ (a) Transport is only one item inside these costs. Leaving out procurement incidentals makes the answer incomplete.
• ✗ (b) Interest is one charge among several, and 'only' makes this option too narrow.
• ✗ (d) Godown (storage) charges are only one part of the picture. Distribution cost is missing, so this option is incomplete.

Remember · FCI economic cost = acquisition cost (price paid to farmers + procurement incidentals) + distribution cost. Food subsidy = economic cost minus Central Issue Price.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) The level of mutual trust and harmony in the society

Social capital means the networks, shared norms and trust that let people in a society cooperate, so the level of mutual trust and harmony is part of it. Literacy, buildings and machines, and the size of the workforce are other kinds of resource, not social capital.

• ✓ (d) The World Bank defines social capital in terms of social networks and norms, and measures it through dimensions such as trust and solidarity and social cohesion.
• ✗ (a) Literacy is education and skill, which economists count as human capital, not social capital.
• ✗ (b) Buildings, infrastructure and machines are physical capital: material assets, not relationships between people.
• ✗ (c) The size of the working-age population is a demographic (labour) resource; it says nothing about how far people trust and cooperate with each other.

Remember · Social capital = networks, shared norms and trust that help people cooperate. Roads and machines are physical capital; literacy and skills are human capital.

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Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, 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

Both statements are wrong. High Courts, like the Supreme Court, can examine any law and declare it unconstitutional, and the Supreme Court can strike down even a constitutional amendment if it violates the basic structure.

• ✗ 1. Judicial review is the power of the Supreme Court or the High Courts to test whether any law conforms to the Constitution. A High Court can therefore hold a central law invalid.
• ✗ 2. In the Kesavananda Bharati case (1973) the Supreme Court held that even Parliament cannot violate the basic structure through an amendment. When the 42nd Amendment tried to assert parliamentary supremacy, the Court repeated its stand in Minerva Mills (1980).

Remember · Judicial review belongs to High Courts as well as the Supreme Court, and after Kesavananda Bharati (1973) the courts can strike down amendments that violate the basic structure.

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Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1 only

PPP exchange rates are worked out by comparing what the same goods and services cost in different countries, so statement 1 is correct. In PPP terms India was the third largest economy, behind China and the USA, not the sixth, so statement 2 is wrong.

• ✓ 1. The World Bank's International Comparison Program collects prices of the same goods and services in many economies and uses them to compute PPPs, which convert a common basket of goods into 'international dollars'.
• ✗ 2. In the 2017 ICP round India's GDP in PPP terms was $8,051 billion, 6.7 per cent of the world total and third after China (16.4 per cent) and the USA (16.3 per cent). India has held third place in PPP terms since 2008, when it passed Japan.

Remember · PPP compares the price of the same basket across countries. On a PPP basis India has been the world's third largest economy since 2008.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1 and 3 only

Rice covers by far the largest kharif area, and cotton covers more land than sugarcane, so statements 1 and 3 are correct. Jowar covers far less area than oilseeds, and sugarcane area has moved up and down rather than falling steadily, so statements 2 and 4 are wrong.

• ✓ 1. In the Government's five-year normal (average of 2016-17 to 2020-21), kharif rice covers 39.54 million hectares, far above any other kharif crop, such as maize (7.54) or bajra (7.40).
• ✗ 2. Kharif jowar covers only 1.91 million hectares, while kharif soyabean alone covers 11.21 million hectares, so jowar is well below oilseeds.
• ✓ 3. Cotton covers about 12.38 million hectares against about 4.71 million hectares for sugarcane.
• ✗ 4. Sugarcane area (million hectares) went 5.07 (2014-15), 4.93, 4.44, 4.74 and 5.06 (2018-19). It fell, then rose again, so it did not steadily decrease.

Remember · Among kharif crops rice has the largest area; cotton area is well above sugarcane's; jowar covers much less than oilseeds; sugarcane area fluctuates rather than falls steadily.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Vegetable oils

Vegetable (edible) oils are India's largest agricultural import by value. Imports of vegetable oils bridge the gap between domestic demand and supply; spices, fresh fruits and pulses all account for a smaller share.

• ✓ (d) The Ministry of Agriculture names vegetable oils as the major agricultural import. Official import data for April-March 2014 to 2017 (Lok Sabha reply, Government of India open data) show vegetable oils at the top every year, well above pulses, fresh fruits and spices; and in 2019-20, of agricultural imports worth USD 19.91 billion, vegetable oils took the largest share, 48 per cent.
• ✗ (c) Pulses are among the major agri imports, but vegetable oils hold the largest share by value.
• ✗ (b) Fresh fruits are named among the major agri imports, but vegetable oils hold the largest share by value.
• ✗ (a) Spices are named among the major agri imports, but vegetable oils hold the largest share by value.

Remember · Vegetable (edible) oils are India's largest agricultural import by value (48 per cent of agri imports in 2019-20); pulses, fresh fruits, cashew nuts and spices are other major imports.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Opportunity to develop oneself fully

Liberty is best understood as the chance to develop one's talents and potential to the full, within reasonable social limits. Merely having no restraint is only one side of freedom, and no one can have unlimited freedom in society.

• ✓ (d) NCERT describes freedom as the condition in which people can develop their creativity and capabilities, and a free society as one that lets all its members develop their potential with the minimum of social constraints.
• ✗ (b) Absence of restraint is what NCERT calls only one aspect of freedom (negative liberty); it leaves out the conditions needed to develop oneself.
• ✗ (c) No individual living in society can enjoy a total absence of constraints, so doing whatever one likes cannot be the definition of liberty.
• ✗ (a) Protection from rulers' tyranny is one purpose of liberty, but it is narrower than the full idea, which also covers the opportunity to develop oneself.

Remember · Liberty has two sides: freedom from unjustified constraints (negative) and freedom to develop one's potential (positive). The fullest definition stresses the opportunity to develop oneself.

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Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Following an expansionary monetary policy

An expansionary monetary policy lowers interest rates, which makes holding rupee assets less attractive and tends to push the rupee down further. The other three steps reduce the demand for dollars or bring foreign money in, so they support the rupee.

• ✓ (d) NCERT explains that a rise in interest rates at home often leads to an appreciation of the domestic currency, so a policy of lower rates does the opposite and would not stop the slide.
• ✗ (a) Fewer imports and more exports narrow the trade gap. In September 2018 the Government raised customs duty on 19 non-essential items to narrow the current account deficit.
• ✗ (b) Masala bonds are rupee bonds sold abroad, so they bring foreign money in. In September 2018 the Government exempted from tax the interest paid on masala bonds issued between 17 September 2018 and 31 March 2019, to raise foreign exchange inflows.
• ✗ (c) Easier external commercial borrowing lets Indian firms raise foreign money more freely. The RBI liberalised the ECB and rupee-bond framework in January 2019.

Remember · To stop the rupee sliding, the authorities reduce dollar demand and attract foreign inflows (curb imports, ease ECB, masala bonds); cutting interest rates makes it worse.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Introductory Macroeconomics, Ch 6 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, 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. The RBI's directive of 6 April 2018 requires payment system providers to keep all payment data in a system located only in India. It says nothing about public-sector ownership, and the audit report goes to the RBI, not to the CAG.

• ✓ 1. The directive says all system providers must ensure that the entire data relating to payment systems operated by them is stored in a system only in India. Only the foreign leg of a transaction may also be stored abroad.
• ✗ 2. The directive is about where data is stored. It does not require the systems to be owned or run by public sector enterprises.
• ✗ 3. Providers had to submit a System Audit Report, prepared by CERT-In empanelled auditors and approved by their Board, to the Reserve Bank by 31 December 2018. It was not to be sent to the CAG.

Remember · RBI's data-localisation directive (6 April 2018): all payment data stored only in India; system audit report by a CERT-In empanelled auditor goes to the RBI.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) The European Union

The European Union adopted the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Regulation (EU) 2016/679, on 27 April 2016, and it has applied since 25 May 2018. It is an EU-wide law, so it is not a law of Australia, Canada or the USA.

• ✓ (c) The European Parliament and the Council of the EU adopted Regulation (EU) 2016/679 on 27 April 2016. It entered into force on 24 May 2016 and has applied since 25 May 2018.
• ✗ (a) Australia is not the source of the GDPR; the regulation is EU law.
• ✗ (b) Canada did not adopt the GDPR; the regulation is EU law.
• ✗ (d) The USA did not adopt the GDPR; the regulation is EU law.

Remember · GDPR = EU Regulation 2016/679: adopted 27 April 2016, in force 24 May 2016, applicable from 25 May 2018.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Russia

India signed this Action Plan with Russia during President Vladimir Putin's visit to New Delhi for the 19th annual summit, on 5 October 2018. It was signed by Rosatom, Russia's state atomic energy corporation, and India's Department of Atomic Energy.

• ✓ (b) The India-Russia Joint Statement of 5 October 2018 records satisfaction over the signing of this Action Plan. The official list of agreements shows Rosatom's Director General and the Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy, as signatories.
• ✗ (a) The action plan was signed with Russia, not Japan.
• ✗ (c) The action plan was signed with Russia, not the United Kingdom.
• ✗ (d) The action plan was signed with Russia, not the USA.

Remember · Action Plan for Prioritization and Implementation of Cooperation Areas in the Nuclear Field: India-Russia, signed 5 October 2018 (Putin's visit), between Rosatom and India's DAE.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Increase in the banking habit of the population

The money multiplier rises when people keep more of their money as bank deposits rather than as cash, because banks then have more deposits to lend and re-lend. A better banking habit lowers the share of money held as currency, so the multiplier goes up.

• ✓ (b) The multiplier depends on the currency/deposit ratio. When more people use banks, less money stays outside the banking system as cash, so the ratio falls and the multiplier rises.
• ✗ (a) A higher cash reserve ratio leaves banks with less to lend. In NCERT's example a 20 per cent CRR limits credit creation, giving a multiplier of 5; a higher CRR would lower it.
• ✗ (c) SLR is a further requirement to hold reserves in liquid form. It is not part of the cash-reserve multiplier NCERT derives, and raising it would not increase money creation.
• ✗ (d) The multiplier depends on ratios such as the CRR and the currency/deposit ratio, not on how many people live in the country.

Remember · Money multiplier rises when the currency/deposit ratio falls (more banking habit) and falls when the cash reserve ratio rises.

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Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 3 and 4

Statements 3 and 4 are correct; statements 1 and 2 swap the definitions. Augmented reality adds computer-generated content to the real world you are still in, while virtual reality replaces your surroundings with a simulated one.

• ✗ 1. This describes VR, not AR. AR does not shut out the physical world; it adds digital elements to it.
• ✗ 2. This describes AR, not VR. VR places the user inside an artificial, computer-generated reality instead of projecting images onto real surroundings.
• ✓ 3. AR keeps the user in the real world and adds to it, using devices as simple as a smartphone camera or as advanced as AR headsets.
• ✓ 4. VR, typically through a headset, transposes the user into an artificial, computer-generated world for a fully immersive experience.

Remember · AR adds digital content to the real world you can still see; VR replaces the real world with a simulated one.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) an early human species

Denisovans are an early human group (an archaic hominin population of the Late Pleistocene) first identified from DNA taken from a finger bone found in Denisova Cave in southern Siberia. The name has nothing to do with dinosaurs, a cave system in North-East India or a geological period.

• ✓ (b) In 2010 researchers sequenced the genome of an archaic hominin from a finger bone found in Denisova Cave in southern Siberia, and named this hominin population 'Denisovans'. Their DNA shows they shared a common origin with Neanderthals.
• ✗ (a) Denisovans were hominins, that is, relatives of modern humans, not dinosaurs.
• ✗ (c) Denisova Cave lies in southern Siberia, not in North-East India.
• ✗ (d) 'Denisovan' names a human population, not a geological period.

Remember · Denisovans: an archaic early human group, first identified in 2010 from DNA of a finger bone in Denisova Cave, southern Siberia; related to Neanderthals.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Functional chromosomes can be created by joining segments of DNA taken from cells of different species.

UPSC's key treats statement (a) as the one that is not correct. Statements (b), (c) and (d) each name an established laboratory technique: recombinant DNA made in vitro, copying of DNA outside a cell by PCR, and plant and animal cell culture. Statement (a) claims more, that a working chromosome is created simply by joining DNA pieces from different species; the key treats that as an overstatement, since such splicing yields recombinant DNA, a molecule, not by itself a functioning chromosome.

• ✓ (a) UPSC's key marks this as the statement that is not correct. The key's reading: joining DNA segments from different species is the making of recombinant DNA, whereas a functional chromosome is an organised structure of DNA and proteins with its own origins, centromere and telomeres, and a splice of foreign DNA is not treated as creating one. By elimination too, (a) is the only candidate, since the other three are textbook techniques.
• ✗ (b) This statement is true. NCERT describes recombinant DNA, a new combination of DNA made in vitro by joining cut DNA pieces with the enzyme DNA ligase.
• ✗ (c) This statement is true. In the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), multiple copies of a DNA segment are synthesised in vitro, that is, outside a living cell.
• ✗ (d) This statement is true. Plant and animal cells can be grown outside the body in a nutrient-rich medium, where they grow and multiply; this is cell culture.

Remember · Lab techniques that are real: recombinant DNA (joined in vitro), PCR (copying DNA outside cells) and cell culture (cells dividing in dishes). UPSC's key treats 'creating a functional chromosome by splicing DNA from different species' as the overstatement.

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Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 3 only

Why not the tempting option · UPSC's key is (c). Statement 2 is tempting because the Controller of Certifying Authorities says a digital signature 'provides the electronic authentication of individual', but the same sentence binds that authentication 'to the documents or transactions being signed': a digital signature authenticates a record, whereas proving one's identity to get access to information or a server is the job of a login credential or of a Digital Signature Certificate presented as one. Statements 1 and 2 both describe the certificate, not the signature. In the exam, keep the IT Act's distinction between the signature (section 2(1)(p)) and the certificate (section 35).

A digital signature is a method of authenticating an electronic record, and it also shows whether the record has been altered, so statement 3 is correct. Statement 1 describes a digital signature certificate issued by a Certifying Authority, and statement 2 describes proof of identity for access, which is not what a digital signature is.

• ✗ 1. This describes a Digital Signature Certificate, not the signature. The IT Act defines the two separately, and certificates are issued to users by licensed Certifying Authorities.
• ✗ 2. This too describes what a Digital Signature Certificate is used for. The signature itself authenticates a particular electronic record and ties the signer to it: the CCA says it provides electronic authentication of the individual and binds it to the documents or transactions being signed. A one-time proof of identity to get access to information or a server is a different thing.
• ✓ 3. Under the IT Act, 2000 a digital signature authenticates an electronic record through an asymmetric crypto system and a hash function, and anyone can verify the record with the signer's public key. Since the same record always gives the same hash result, a changed record fails verification.

Remember · Digital signature = electronic authentication of a record (asymmetric keys plus hash), which also shows the content is unchanged. The certificate that names the Certifying Authority is separate.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, 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 tasks are done by wearable devices. Wrist-worn trackers and watches with GPS locate the wearer, their motion sensors estimate sleep patterns, and worn hearing aids help people with hearing loss.

• ✓ 1. WHO describes global positioning system locators that track the location of the wearer, used for example to find people with dementia who wander. Some fitness wearables also carry a built-in GPS receiver that records position, speed and altitude.
• ✓ 2. WHO notes that wrist- or hip-worn accelerometers give continuous data on physical activity and potentially sleep; accelerometer-based fitness wearables can estimate sleep patterns, along with steps and energy use.
• ✓ 3. Hearing aids are among the assistive products WHO prioritises to mitigate hearing loss, and they are worn on or in the ear, so wearable devices can assist the hearing impaired.

Remember · Wearables include GPS trackers (location), fitness bands and watches (sleep, activity) and hearing aids: all three tasks are covered.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1, 2 and 4

RNA interference is a natural process in which a small RNA switches off a specific gene, so it is used for gene-silencing therapies, is being developed for cancer, and can make plants resist viruses. It is a way of switching genes off, not of supplying a hormone, so statement 3 does not fit.

• ✓ 1. Synthetic small interfering RNAs use RNAi to modulate gene function. The world's first RNAi drug, for a rare genetic liver disorder, has been approved.
• ✓ 2. Anticancer RNAi drugs are in development and have reached early clinical trials, although delivering them to tissues other than the liver remains a challenge.
• ✗ 3. Hormone replacement therapy supplies a hormone the body lacks. RNAi works by silencing a specific gene or mRNA, so it is not the basis of such therapies.
• ✓ 4. Plants can be engineered to carry sequences that target viral genes, so that RNAi silences the invading virus. NCERT notes that RNAi is a cellular defence that can be triggered by infection with RNA-genome viruses, and describes transgenic RNAi used to make plants resistant to a nematode pest.

Remember · RNAi silences a specific mRNA. Uses: gene-silencing drugs, cancer therapies under development, and virus-resistant crops; it does not supply hormones.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Biology, Ch 10 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Biology, Ch 10 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Biology, Ch 10 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 'Gravitational waves' were detected.

The merger of two black holes was significant because it produced gravitational waves, ripples in space-time that scientists detected directly for the first time on 14 September 2015 using the LIGO detectors. The waves, predicted by Einstein a hundred years earlier, travelled for 1.3 billion years before reaching Earth.

• ✓ (b) The Nobel Prize in Physics 2017 press release says the first observed gravitational waves came from a collision between two black holes. An Indian team was part of the group that announced the discovery in 2016.
• ✗ (c) NASA states that black holes do not provide shortcuts between different points in space, so nothing about travel through wormholes was confirmed.
• ✗ (a) The Higgs boson is a particle searched for in particle-physics experiments; the black-hole merger observation was about gravitational waves, not that particle.
• ✗ (d) The observation is remembered for detecting gravitational waves, not for explaining the 'singularity' inside a black hole.

Remember · First direct detection of gravitational waves (LIGO, 14 September 2015): two black holes merging about 1.3 billion light-years away; Nobel Prize in Physics 2017.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Knowledge Traditions and Practices of India, Part I, Ch 5 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only

Multi-drug resistance builds up when disease-causing microbes are repeatedly exposed to antibiotics they can survive, so wrong use of antibiotics in people and in farm animals is the cause. A patient's genes or other illnesses do not make a microbe resistant.

• ✗ 1. Resistance is a trait of the microbe, not of the patient. It spreads when misused antibiotics let the hardiest microbes survive and multiply; a person's genetic make-up plays no part in that.
• ✓ 2. Wrong doses, or stopping a course early, leave part of the bacterial population alive to multiply. WHO names the misuse and overuse of antimicrobials as the driver of drug-resistant pathogens.
• ✓ 3. Antibiotics given to food-producing animals expose bacteria on farms to the same drugs. India's animal husbandry department has advised all States and Union Territories to stop the use of antibiotics in animal feed for this reason.
• ✗ 4. Long-term illnesses may mean more infections and more medicines, but it is the misuse of antibiotics, not the patient's other disease, that produces resistant microbes.