Prelims GS Paper I 2020

Answer: (b) 2 and 4 only

The question rests on the Supreme Court's Aadhaar judgment of 26 September 2018 (Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India). The Court fixed the limit for keeping authentication records at six months, not three; struck down the part of Section 57 that allowed Aadhaar use under a mere contract; and upheld Section 7, which lets governments require Aadhaar for benefits paid from the Consolidated Fund of India. Insurance is not such a benefit.

• ✗ 1. The Court said authentication records may be kept for six months at most and struck down the regulation that allowed archiving for five years. The limit is six months, not three.
• ✓ 2. The Court held that Section 57, so far as it let the State or any company use Aadhaar under 'any contract to this effect', was unconstitutional and void, because a contract is not a law.
• ✗ 3. No law made Aadhaar compulsory for buying insurance, and after the judgment private bodies could not demand it on the strength of a contract. Insurance is not a subsidy or benefit funded from the Consolidated Fund of India.
• ✓ 4. Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act, 2016 lets the Centre or a State require Aadhaar authentication for any subsidy, benefit or service paid for from the Consolidated Fund of India; the Court upheld it.

Remember · Aadhaar judgment (2018): Section 7 (benefits from the Consolidated Fund) upheld; Aadhaar use under private contracts struck down; authentication records kept for six months at most.

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Answer: (b) amending the Constitution

A constitutional amendment must be passed separately by each House with a special majority, and there is no joint sitting to override a House that refuses. So on amendments the Rajya Sabha stands level with the Lok Sabha. The other three options are either special to the Rajya Sabha or reserved for the Lok Sabha.

• ✓ (b) Under Article 368 each House must pass an amendment bill by a special majority, so the constituent powers of the two Houses are the same.
• ✗ (a) Creating a new All India Service needs a resolution of the Rajya Sabha alone, backed by two-thirds of members present and voting (Article 312). This is a special power of the Rajya Sabha, not an equal one.
• ✗ (c) The Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha only (Article 75(3)), so only the Lok Sabha can remove the government.
• ✗ (d) Demands for grants are voted only by the Lok Sabha (Article 113(2)), so cut motions, which propose reducing a demand, can be moved only there.

Remember · Equal powers of the two Houses: constitutional amendments, non-money bills, impeaching the President, removing the Vice President. Lok Sabha alone: money bills, grants, no-confidence.

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Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 4 only

Only statement 3 is wrong. MPLADS money is non-lapsable: whatever is left with the district, or not released by the Centre in a year, is carried forward. The scheme's other rules are as stated — durable community assets, a fixed share for SC and ST areas, and inspection of at least 10% of works by the district authority.

• ✓ 1. The scheme lets MPs recommend developmental works with the emphasis on creating durable community assets such as drinking water, education, health and sanitation infrastructure.
• ✓ 2. The guidelines earmark at least 15% of each MP's annual fund for works in areas inhabited by Scheduled Castes and 7.5% for areas inhabited by Scheduled Tribes.
• ✗ 3. MPLADS funds are non-lapsable. Money left with the district is carried forward to later years, and funds not released by the Centre in a year are released in subsequent years.
• ✓ 4. The district authority supervises the works and must inspect at least 10% of the works under implementation every year, involving MPs where feasible.

Remember · MPLADS (1993, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation): durable community assets; funds non-lapsable; 15% SC areas, 7.5% ST areas; district authority inspects at least 10% of works a year.

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Answer: (d) Right to Equality

Article 17, which abolishes untouchability and forbids its practice in any form, sits in the group headed 'Right to Equality' (Articles 14 to 18) in Part III of the Constitution. Untouchability is treated as a denial of equal status, so it is dealt with alongside equality before law and the ban on caste discrimination.

• ✓ (d) Part III places Article 17 (Abolition of Untouchability) under the heading 'Right to Equality', together with Articles 14, 15, 16 and 18.
• ✗ (a) Right against Exploitation (Articles 23 and 24) covers trafficking, forced labour (begar) and hazardous child labour, not untouchability.
• ✗ (b) Right to Freedom (Articles 19 to 22) covers freedoms such as speech, assembly and movement and protection of life and personal liberty.

Remember · Right to Equality = Articles 14–18: equality before law, no discrimination, equal opportunity in public jobs, abolition of untouchability (Art 17), abolition of titles (Art 18).

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Answer: (b) a Directive Principle of State Policy

Article 50, in Part IV (Directive Principles of State Policy), asks the State to work towards keeping the judiciary apart from the executive in its public services. It is a directive to the State, not a Preamble ideal, a Schedule entry or a mere convention.

• ✓ (b) Article 50 ('Separation of judiciary from executive') is one of the Directive Principles in Part IV of the Constitution.
• ✗ (a) The Preamble speaks of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity; it does not mention separating the judiciary from the executive.
• ✗ (d) The separation is not left to convention; the Constitution itself states it in Article 50, although, being a Directive Principle, it cannot be enforced in court.

Remember · Article 50, a Directive Principle in Part IV, enjoins separation of the judiciary from the executive; like other DPSPs it is not enforceable in court.

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Answer: (d) Provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2003

The Macro-Economic Framework Statement is one of the fiscal policy statements that the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act, 2003 requires the Central Government to lay before both Houses along with the annual Budget. The Constitution requires the Budget itself, not this statement.

• ✓ (d) The FRBM Act, 2003 requires the Medium-term Fiscal Policy Statement, the Fiscal Policy Strategy Statement and the Macro-Economic Framework Statement to accompany the annual financial statement; the last assesses GDP growth, the Centre's fiscal balance and the external balance.
• ✗ (b) Article 112 requires the 'annual financial statement' (the Budget), and Article 110(1) defines a Money Bill; neither mentions a macro-economic framework statement.
• ✗ (c) Article 113 lays down how Parliament deals with the estimates, including voting on demands for grants in the Lok Sabha; it does not require this statement.

Remember · FRBM Act, 2003: fiscal policy statements laid with the Budget include the Medium-term Fiscal Policy Statement, the Fiscal Policy Strategy Statement and the Macro-Economic Framework Statement.

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Answer: (d) limited government

The defining idea of constitutionalism is that government power is bounded: a constitution sets limits that the government may not cross, chiefly through rights of citizens and a division of powers. A government bound by such limits is a limited government, whatever its form.

• ✓ (d) A constitution lays down limits on what a government can impose on its citizens, and those limits cannot be trespassed; that is what makes a government 'constitutional'.
• ✗ (b) A popular (elected or well-liked) government can still act without limits; popularity is not what defines constitutional government.
• ✗ (a) Rule by the legislature describes where power sits, not whether it is limited; a legislature too is bound by the constitution.

Remember · Constitutionalism = limited government: the constitution restrains every organ of the State, mainly through fundamental rights and separation of powers.

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Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR, adopted by the UN General Assembly on 10 December 1948) covers dignity and brotherhood, social and economic rights, and the individual's duties to the community. These ideas appear in the Preamble, the Directive Principles and the Fundamental Duties respectively, not only in Part III.

• ✓ 1. UDHR Article 1 speaks of equal dignity and a spirit of brotherhood; the Preamble promises justice, liberty and equality and a fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual.
• ✓ 2. UDHR Article 23 gives the right to work and to equal pay for equal work; Directive Principles such as Article 39(d) (equal pay for men and women) and the right to work and education carry the same social and economic rights.
• ✓ 3. UDHR Article 29 says everyone has duties to the community; Part IVA (Article 51A) lists citizens' duties, such as promoting the spirit of common brotherhood.

Remember · UDHR (10 December 1948) echoes across the Constitution: Fundamental Rights (civil-political), DPSP (socio-economic rights), Preamble (dignity, fraternity) and Fundamental Duties (duties to community, UDHR Art 29).

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Answer: (a) 1 and 2 only

Section 12 of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 lists who gets free legal aid: SC/ST members, women, children, persons with disability, industrial workmen, persons in custody and people below an income ceiling set by the State. Low-income persons and transgender persons within the prescribed ceilings qualify; being OBC is not a category, and senior citizens qualify only as State rules allow.

• ✓ 1. Section 12 covers anyone whose annual income is below the ceiling the State prescribes; most States' ceilings are ₹1,00,000 or higher, so a person earning less than ₹1 lakh qualifies.
• ✓ 2. Delhi's legal aid rules give transgender persons a separate, higher income ceiling (NALSA now lists ₹4,00,000 for Delhi), so a transgender person earning under ₹2 lakh is eligible.
• ✗ 3. Section 12 names Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, not Other Backward Classes. An OBC person qualifies only through another category, such as the income ceiling, not because of being OBC.
• ✗ 4. NALSA says senior citizens' eligibility depends on each State's rules; Delhi, for example, gives it only below an income ceiling. So not all senior citizens qualify.

Remember · Free legal aid (Section 12, Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987): SC/ST, women, children, disabled, trafficking victims, industrial workmen, persons in custody, disaster victims, and persons below a State-set income ceiling.

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Answer: (c) 1 and 3 only

The 1978 Alma-Ata Declaration made primary health care the route to 'Health for All', and the Talanoa Dialogue was the 2018 UN climate process to take stock of Paris Agreement ambition. Biological weapons are banned by the Biological Weapons Convention, not a 'Hague Convention', and the Under2 Coalition is a climate pact of state, regional and city governments, not a child-rights body.

• ✓ 1. The Alma-Ata Declaration came out of the 1978 international conference on primary health care and treats health as a fundamental human right.
• ✗ 2. Biological weapons are prohibited by the Biological Weapons Convention, opened for signature in 1972 and negotiated in Geneva; chemical weapons are covered by the separate Chemical Weapons Convention. Neither is known as the Hague Convention.
• ✓ 3. The Talanoa Dialogue, launched under Fiji's COP23 presidency, invited countries and other stakeholders to ask 'Where are we? Where do we want to go? How do we get there?' on climate action under the Paris Agreement.
• ✗ 4. The Under2 Coalition is a group of state, regional and city governments that pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions to limit warming; it has nothing to do with child rights.

Remember · Alma-Ata (1978): primary health care, Health for All. Talanoa Dialogue (COP23, Fiji): climate stocktake. Under2 Coalition: subnational governments' climate pact (2015). BWC 1972 bans biological weapons.

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Answer: (b) the Government is responsible to the Parliament and can be removed by it

The defining feature of a parliamentary system is that the executive survives only while it keeps the confidence of the legislature. In India the Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha, which can remove it at any time.

• ✓ (b) The Council of Ministers depends on majority support in the legislature and can be removed whenever it loses that support, for example through a no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha.
• ✗ (d) A government with a fixed term that the legislature cannot remove is a feature of the presidential system, as in the USA, not the parliamentary one.
• ✗ (c) Voters elect the legislature, not the government directly; the government is formed from the majority in the legislature and answers to it.

Remember · Parliamentary system: executive drawn from and responsible to the legislature, removable any time by loss of confidence. Presidential system: fixed-term executive not removable by the legislature (except impeachment).

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Answer: (a) Directive Principles of State Policy

The Directive Principles of State Policy (Part IV) set out the welfare goals the State must pursue. Article 38, for instance, asks the State to build a social order in which social, economic and political justice shapes national life, with the people's welfare as the aim; that is the essence of a welfare state.

• ✓ (a) Part IV lists positive duties of the State, such as promoting people's welfare, raising the standard of living and distributing resources equitably; together they describe a welfare state.
• ✗ (c) The Preamble states the objectives of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity, but the concrete welfare programme is laid down in the Directive Principles.
• ✗ (b) Fundamental Rights mainly restrain the State to protect individual liberty; they do not set out the State's welfare obligations.

Remember · Directive Principles (Part IV, Articles 36–51) embody the welfare state; Article 38: State to promote welfare of the people through social, economic and political justice. Not enforceable in courts.

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Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2

Neither term is written into the Constitution. The 'basic structure' doctrine was laid down by the Supreme Court in Kesavananda Bharati (1973), and the phrase 'judicial review' appears nowhere in the Constitution: the power is implied from the written Constitution and from provisions such as Articles 13 and 32, not provided for by name. Both statements, which put the terms in quotes, are therefore incorrect.

• ✗ 1. The Constitution does not mention or define a 'basic structure'. The Supreme Court created the doctrine in 1973, and features such as federalism and secularism have been identified case by case by the courts.
• ✗ 2. The term 'judicial review' is not used in the Constitution. Courts derive the power from the written Constitution and from provisions that make laws violating Fundamental Rights void; the statement treats it as something the Constitution expressly provides.

Remember · Basic structure: a judge-made doctrine (Kesavananda Bharati, 1973), not listed in the Constitution. 'Judicial review' is also not a term in the Constitution; the power is implied.

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Answer: (a) the final goal of a stateless society

Both thinkers saw the State as something the ideal society would do without. Marx expected a classless communist society with no government, while Gandhi described an 'enlightened anarchy' in which each person rules himself; they differed sharply on the means.

• ✓ (a) Gandhi wrote (Young India, 1931) that in the ideal state there is no political power because there is no State; IGNOU notes that socialism and communism likewise aim at a classless and stateless society.
• ✗ (b) Class struggle is central to Marxist and communist ideology, but Gandhi rejected class conflict and violence, seeking change through non-violence and a change of heart (IGNOU).
• ✗ (c) Marx held that private ownership of important economic resources is the root cause of entrenched inequality, so Marxism seeks public control of them (NCERT); Gandhi instead proposed trusteeship, in which the wealthy hold their wealth in trust for the community.
• ✗ (d) Economic determinism, the idea that the economic base shapes society, is Marxist; Gandhi held that material considerations had only a limited role in human life and gave primacy to moral and spiritual forces (IGNOU).

Remember · Gandhism and Marxism share only the end-goal of a stateless society. Means differ: non-violence and trusteeship (Gandhi) versus class struggle and revolution (Marx).

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Answer: (d) An agency for the implementation of public policy

The bureaucracy is the permanent executive: trained, merit-selected officers who help ministers frame policy and then carry it out. Its defining job is implementing public policy, whichever party is in power.

• ✓ (d) Civil servants assist ministers in formulating policies and implementing them, and must faithfully implement a new government's policies too.
• ✗ (c) Continuity of administration may help stability, but political stability and growth are outcomes of policy choices made by elected governments, not the defining role of the bureaucracy.
• ✗ (a) Widening parliamentary democracy is a political task of legislators and parties; the bureaucracy is non-partisan and works under ministerial control.

Remember · Bureaucracy = permanent executive (civil service), recruited on merit through UPSC/State PSCs, politically neutral, and tasked with implementing the policies of the political executive.

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Answer: (d) a part of the Constitution but has no legal effect independently of other parts

In Kesavananda Bharati (1973) the Supreme Court held that the Preamble is a part of the Constitution. But it is non-justiciable: it neither grants nor limits powers on its own, and is used to interpret the other provisions, so it has no legal effect independently of them.

• ✓ (d) The Preamble is part of the Constitution but cannot be enforced in a court by itself; its force comes through helping courts read ambiguous provisions.
• ✗ (b) The 1960 Berubari opinion had said the Preamble was not part of the Constitution, but Kesavananda Bharati (1973) overruled that view.
• ✗ (c) It does not carry the same force as operative articles: it cannot override specific provisions, and where the two conflict, the provisions prevail.

Remember · Preamble: part of the Constitution (Kesavananda Bharati, 1973), amendable without touching the basic structure, amended once (42nd Amendment, 1976), non-justiciable, an aid to interpretation.

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Answer: (d) a credit system granted by IMF to its members

The reserve tranche (historically the 'gold tranche', because that share of the quota was once paid in gold) is the part of a member's IMF quota paid in reserve assets. A member can draw on it from the IMF when needed, so it counts in India's foreign exchange reserves as the Reserve Tranche Position.

• ✓ (d) Each IMF member pays its quota partly in SDRs or usable currencies and partly in its own currency; the gap between the quota and the IMF's holdings of its currency is its reserve tranche position, which it can draw on.
• ✗ (a) The World Bank lends for development projects; quotas and tranches belong to the IMF's financing structure.
• ✗ (c) The WTO is a trade-rules body and does not extend credit to its members.

Remember · India's forex reserves = foreign currency assets + gold + SDRs + Reserve Tranche Position (RTP) in the IMF. Reserve tranche = quota share paid in reserve assets.

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Answer: (d) 2 and 3 only

Part IV contains the Directive Principles of State Policy. Article 37 says they cannot be enforced by any court, yet they are fundamental in governance and the State must apply them in making laws.

• ✗ 1. The Directive Principles are non-justiciable: a citizen cannot go to court to compel the government to implement them.
• ✓ 2. Article 37 expressly states that the provisions of Part IV shall not be enforceable by any court.
• ✓ 3. The same Article makes it the duty of the State to apply these principles in making laws, so they are meant to guide legislation.

Remember · Article 37: DPSPs (Part IV, Articles 36–51) are not enforceable by courts but are fundamental in governance; the State must apply them in law-making.

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Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2

A non-member can be a State minister for up to six months, but only if qualified to become a member, which needs an age of at least 25 for the Assembly, not merely voting age (18). And the Representation of the People Act, 1951 bars a convict sentenced to two years or more only for the period of sentence plus six years after release, not permanently.

• ✗ 1. Article 164(4) lets a non-member serve as minister for six consecutive months, but the person must be able to win a seat within that time; Article 173 requires a minimum age of 25 for the Legislative Assembly, so a mere voter (18+) does not qualify.
• ✗ 2. Section 8(3) of the Act disqualifies a person sentenced to imprisonment for at least two years from the date of conviction until six years after release; the bar is not permanent.

Remember · Non-member minister: six-month limit (Articles 75(5), 164(4)). Conviction with 2+ years' sentence: disqualified from conviction until six years after release (RPA 1951, Section 8(3)).

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Answer: (c) 1 and 3 only

Article 85(1) lets the President summon each House to meet at such time and place as he thinks fit, with the only rule being that six months must not pass between sessions. The three-session pattern (Budget, Monsoon, Winter) is a convention, not a constitutional provision, and no minimum number of sitting days is prescribed.

• ✓ 1. Article 85(1) expressly allows the President to summon Parliament at such time and place as he thinks fit.
• ✗ 2. The Constitution does not provide for three sessions; it only requires that the gap between two sessions be less than six months. Three sessions a year is a practice.
• ✓ 3. Neither the Constitution nor any law fixes a minimum number of sitting days for Parliament in a year.

Remember · Article 85: President summons Parliament at a time and place he thinks fit; gap between sessions must be under six months. Three sessions a year is only a convention.

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Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only

An aurang was a place where goods, especially cloth, were made and stored — the Company's weaving depot — not a treasury official. A banian was an Indian broker or agent serving European merchants and the Company, and a mirasidar was the hereditary landholder whom the British recognised as the revenue payer in the Madras region.

• ✗ 1. Aurang (Persian) meant a place where goods were manufactured or stored; in the Company's trading days it was used for its cloth-procurement depots.
• ✓ 2. In Calcutta, 'banian' was the term for Indian brokers attached to European business houses, who handled trade and money matters for the Company and its servants.
• ✓ 3. A mirasidar held hereditary (miras) rights in land; under British settlements in Tanjore and elsewhere in the south, each was given a patta and made responsible for the revenue.

Remember · Aurang = warehouse/manufacturing depot; banian = Indian broker-agent of Europeans; gomastha = Company's paid agent over weavers; mirasidar = hereditary landholder, revenue payer (South India).

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Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only

The first split in the Buddhist order was between the Sthaviravadins (Theravadins, 'followers of the elders') and the Mahasanghikas. The Mahasanghikas saw the Buddha as supramundane (lokottara), a view that paved the way for Mahayana; their best-known subsect was the Lokottaravada.

• ✗ 1. The Sthaviravadins are the Theravada line, the older tradition (Britannica: 'followers of the Way of the Elders'); NCERT notes that Mahayana supporters called this older tradition Hinayana. So the Sthaviravadins do not belong to Mahayana.
• ✓ 2. The Mahasanghika school split into several subsects, the best known being the Lokottaravada, named after its belief in a supramundane Buddha.
• ✓ 3. By treating the Buddha as a transcendent being rather than only a human teacher, the Mahasanghikas became precursors of Mahayana, in which the Buddha came to be worshipped as a saviour.

Remember · First schism (Second Council, Vaishali): Sthaviravadins (Theravada) vs Mahasanghikas. Mahasanghikas → Lokottaravada; their supramundane Buddha idea led towards Mahayana.

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Answer: (a) Indian handicrafts were ruined.

Britain's machine-made cotton goods flooded India in the early nineteenth century while Indian textiles lost their export markets, so traditional handicrafts, especially weaving, were ruined. Mills, railways and tariff protection came only later or not at all.

• ✓ (a) Piece-goods fell from 33 per cent of India's exports in 1811-12 to about 3 per cent by 1850-51, while cheap British cloth captured the Indian market; artisans lost both markets.
• ✗ (b) Large-scale machine production in Indian textiles began only after the first cotton mill in Bombay in 1854, well after the period in question.
• ✗ (c) India's first railway line opened only in 1853; the network spread in the second half of the century.
• ✗ (d) It was the reverse: Britain taxed Indian cloth entering Britain, while British manufactures entered India with little duty.

Remember · Industrial Revolution's early impact on India: de-industrialisation — ruin of handicrafts and weavers as British machine goods flooded in. Railways (1853) and cotton mills (1854) came later.

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Answer: (c) 2 – 4 – 1 – 3

Mahendravarman I ruled the Pallavas in the early seventh century, Gopala founded the Pala dynasty in the eighth century, Bhoja raised the Pratiharas to their height in the ninth, and Parantaka I consolidated Chola power in the tenth. So the order is 2–4–1–3.

• ✓ 2. Mahendravarman I was a contemporary of the Chalukya king Pulakeshin II; the Pallavas reached their peak in the 7th century under him and his son Narasimhavarman I.
• ✓ 4. The Palas came to power in Bengal in the 8th century, when Gopala was chosen as ruler; his son Dharmapala built their empire.
• ✓ 1. The Pratihara king Bhoja built a large empire in the 9th century, stretching from Punjab and Kathiawar to Kannauj.
• ✓ 3. Parantaka I ruled in the 10th century; his Uttaramerur inscription describes village assemblies of the Chola period.

Remember · Order: Mahendravarman I (7th c., Pallava) → Gopala (8th c., Pala) → Bhoja (9th c., Pratihara) → Parantaka I (10th c., Chola).

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Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) A bill of exchange

A hundi was a written instrument of credit and exchange — a bill of exchange — that let merchants transfer money and trade over long distances without carrying cash. References to hundika appear in post-Harsha texts such as the Lekhapaddhati.

• ✓ (c) The hundi was a written order to pay a named person, used by merchants as a bill of exchange and credit note across regions.
• ✗ (a) Royal orders to officials were issued as edicts or grants recorded in inscriptions and copper plates, not as hundis.
• ✗ (d) The hundi was a commercial instrument used by traders and bankers, not a command in the feudal chain of authority.

Remember · Hundi = indigenous bill of exchange/credit note used by merchants for long-distance trade and remittance without moving cash.

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Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1 and 2 only

Statements 1 and 2 are correct and statement 3 is not. Desher Katha (1904) was a hugely popular Bengali book that spread the economic critique of colonial rule during the swadeshi movement, and its 'desh' was the country as a whole, not Bengal alone.

• ✓ 1. UPSC's key counts this as correct. The book was an exposition in Bengali of the Naoroji-Digby-Dutt critique of colonial economic rule (the drain of wealth and the devastation of Indian industry), which it spread widely.
• ✓ 2. UPSC's key counts this as correct. The book ran to four editions and 10,000 copies between 1904 and 1907, and the themes of economic drain, swadeshi and boycott it carried were then being heard in songs, plays and jatras.
• ✗ 3. 'Desh' in the title means 'the country' (Story of the Country), and its subject was the economic condition of India as a whole. Deuskar was himself a Maharashtrian settled in Bengal who also promoted Shivaji and Tilak's ideas among Bengalis, so 'desh' was not limited to Bengal.

Remember · Desher Katha (1904), by Sakharam Ganesh Deuskar, popularised the drain-of-wealth critique in Bengali during the swadeshi movement; its 'desh' meant India, not just Bengal.

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UPSC dropped this question from evaluation in its final answer key.

UPSC dropped this question from evaluation in its final answer key. The facts: the Gandhi-Irwin Pact of March 1931 suspended civil disobedience in return for withdrawal of the civil-disobedience ordinances, release of prisoners held for non-violent offences and Congress participation in further constitutional talks. Gandhi's demand for a public enquiry into police excesses was not accepted; he agreed not to press it.

• ✓ 1. The settlement provided for the participation of Congress representatives in further discussions on constitutional reform, which followed at the Second Round Table Conference in London (late 1931), where Gandhi represented the Congress.
• ✓ 2. Paragraph 10 of the settlement says ordinances promulgated in connection with the civil disobedience movement would be withdrawn (the terrorism ordinance of 1931 was excluded).
• ✗ 3. Gandhi had asked for a public enquiry into police conduct, but the Government saw great difficulty in it, and the text records that he agreed not to press the matter.
• ✓ 4. Prisoners were to be released only if they had been imprisoned in connection with the movement for offences that did not involve violence (other than technical violence) or incitement to it.

Remember · Gandhi-Irwin Pact (March 1931): civil disobedience suspended; ordinances withdrawn; non-violent prisoners released; Congress to attend the Round Table Conference; no public enquiry into police excesses.

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Answer: (a) Gopal Baba Walangkar

Gopal Baba Walangkar, a retired Mahar soldier from Ratnagiri, began the first newspaper of the Mahar community and campaigned to have Untouchables taken back into the army.

• ✓ (a) Walangkar, a pensioned soldier from Ratnagiri, began the first Mahar newspaper, petitioned the British against the closure of army service to Untouchables and appealed publicly to Hindu leaders for better treatment.
• ✗ (b) Jyotiba Phule is remembered for founding the Satyashodhak Samaj and for his book Gulamgiri, not for this newspaper (Zelliot notes that Phule only helped and guided Walangkar in his early petition effort).
• ✗ (d) Ambedkar (born 1891), a distant relative of Walangkar, became a public leader later; Mooknayak was the first of his many newspapers.

Remember · Gopal Baba Walangkar, a retired Mahar army man from Ratnagiri, began the first Mahar newspaper.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Indian Society, Ch 3 (practise this chapter)

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Answer: (a) measurement of land

Kulyavapa and dronavapa were units for measuring the area of land, used in Gupta-age copper-plate land grants from Bengal. The Paharpur copper plate of Gupta year 159 (479 CE) fixes their relation: 4 adhavapas made 1 dronavapa and 8 dronavapas made 1 kulyavapa.

• ✓ (a) Inscriptions of the Gupta age give the popular area units in Bengal as kulyavapa, dronavapa and adhavapa, and the same names survived in eastern Bengal as local land measures.
• ✗ (b) These are not coins. Grants record prices in coins (dinaras) per unit of land (the Faridpur plates give the price of one kulyavapa as 4 dinaras), while kulyavapa itself is the unit of land area.
• ✗ (c) The terms measure the size of the land granted or sold; they are not a classification of urban land.
• ✗ (d) They have no ritual meaning; they occur in land-grant records as area measures.

Remember · Kulyavapa, dronavapa and adhavapa were Gupta-age land-area units in Bengal copper-plate grants: 8 dronavapas = 1 kulyavapa; 4 adhavapas = 1 dronavapa.

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Answer: (a) Ashoka

The inscription is Ashoka's Rock Edict XII. In it he urges restraint in speech: no praising one's own sect or running down others, because that harms one's own sect most and every sect deserves honour.

• ✓ (a) Ashoka's rock edicts advise respect for all sects; Rock Edict XII says a person who extols his own sect and disparages others out of attachment to it injures his own sect very severely. His Dhamma officers were also appointed to work among all sects.
• ✗ (b) Samudragupta (Gupta period) is known for conquests recorded in the Allahabad pillar inscription, not for edicts advising subjects on sectarian restraint.
• ✗ (c) Harshavardhana patronised several faiths, but no such edict is associated with him.
• ✗ (d) Krishnadeva Raya of Vijayanagara (16th century) is known for the Telugu poem Amuktamalyada and for his patronage of temples and scholars, not for edicts advising subjects on sectarian restraint.

Remember · Ashoka's Rock Edict XII: praising your own sect and blaming others harms your own sect; all sects should be honoured. Tolerance was a core part of his Dhamma.

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Answer: (c) Perfections whose attainment led to the Bodhisattva path

Paramitas are the perfections, or transcendental virtues, that Mahayana Buddhism says a bodhisattva (a Buddha-to-be) practises on the path to enlightenment. 'Paramita' means 'perfection', as in Prajnaparamita, the 'Perfection of Wisdom'.

• ✗ (a) The earliest Dharmashastra texts in sutra style are the Dharmasutras, which NCERT says were compiled from about 500 BCE; they have nothing to do with the word paramita.
• ✗ (b) Schools that reject the authority of the Vedas are called nastika schools (NCERT lists the Carvaka, Bauddha and Jaina among them); paramita is a Buddhist ethical-spiritual term, not a school.
• ✓ (c) The Perfection of Wisdom (Prajnaparamita) is one such perfection, and Mahayana treats these perfections as the practice of bodhisattvas, who are compassionate beings working to help others.
• ✗ (d) Merchant guilds of early medieval South India are a different subject altogether; paramitas are Buddhist virtues, not guilds.

Remember · Paramita = perfection. In Mahayana Buddhism the paramitas (generosity, morality, patience, effort, meditation, wisdom, etc.) are the virtues perfected along the bodhisattva path.

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Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only

The Rakhmabai case (1884) was a husband's suit for restitution of conjugal rights, that is, to force his wife, married as a child, to live with him. It became a landmark in the age-of-consent controversy that ended with the Age of Consent Act of 1891. It was not a case about a woman's right to education.

• ✗ 1. Rakhmabai was educated, and she disliked her marital home's lack of intellectual atmosphere, but the legal question before the court was not education. It was whether she could be compelled to live with her husband.
• ✓ 2. The case, filed in 1884, kept the issue of child marriage in public debate until the 'consent' controversy of 1888 onwards, which produced the Age of Consent Act of 1891 (minimum age 12 for cohabitation with girl-brides).
• ✓ 3. Dadaji Bhikaji sued Rakhmabai for restitution of conjugal rights. She had been married at nine, her marriage was never consummated, and she was living in her parents' home.

Remember · Rakhmabai case (1884): Dadaji Bhikaji's suit for restitution of conjugal rights against his child-bride wife. It fed the age-of-consent debate leading to the 1891 Act.

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Answer: (b) its unprofitability in the world market because of new inventions

Indigo lost its market because synthetic (man-made) dyes were discovered in the late nineteenth century, which made the plant dye unprofitable in world trade. Peasant revolt and political protest hurt the planters earlier, but the final decline was economic.

• ✗ (a) The peasants' Indigo Revolt of 1859-60 collapsed indigo production in Bengal, but the planters simply shifted their operations to Bihar. Resistance did not end the crop.
• ✓ (b) The discovery of synthetic dyes in the late nineteenth century severely hit the planters' business, since man-made dye competed with the plant-based indigo on the world market.
• ✗ (c) Gandhi's Champaran visit of 1917 was about the cultivators' plight under the planters, not a national campaign against growing indigo, and it came after synthetic dyes had already hurt the trade.
• ✗ (d) Nothing in this history shows the government's control over planters ending the crop; the fall came from the market once synthetic dyes arrived.

Remember · Natural indigo collapsed because synthetic dyes arrived in the late 1800s. The 1859-60 revolt only pushed planters from Bengal to Bihar.

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Answer: (d) he wanted to train British civilians for administrative purpose in India

Lord Wellesley founded the College of Fort William at Calcutta in 1800 as a training centre for the East India Company's British civil servants. Its purpose was to prepare officials for administration in India, not to promote oriental scholarship or to find work for particular individuals.

• ✗ (a) The official record credits Wellesley himself, as Governor-General, with founding the college; it does not present it as an instruction from the Board of Directors in London.
• ✗ (b) The stated role of the college was to train British civil servants. Reviving oriental learning is not given as its purpose.
• ✗ (c) Employment for William Carey and his associates is not the purpose recorded for the institution.
• ✓ (d) The National Archives of India describes it as a college founded in 1800 by Wellesley that served as a training centre for British civil servants.

Remember · Fort William College (Calcutta, 1800), founded by Lord Wellesley, trained the Company's British civil servants for Indian administration.

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Answer: (d) Birsa Munda's Revolt of 1899 – 1900

"Ulgulan" (also spelt Ulgulaan), meaning the Great Tumult, is the name of the tribal uprising led by Birsa Munda in the Chota Nagpur region in 1899-1900. It is remembered as a Munda movement against colonial authority, not as any of the other revolts listed.

• ✗ (a) The Revolt of 1857 was the wide uprising against Company rule in north and central India. It is not called Ulgulan.
• ✗ (b) The Mappila Rebellion of 1921 took place in the Malabar region of Kerala and has no link with the Munda tribe of Chota Nagpur.
• ✗ (c) The Indigo Revolt of 1859-60 was a peasant revolt in Bengal against planters who forced cultivators to grow indigo.
• ✓ (d) NCERT records that in 1899-1900 Birsa Munda led a widespread uprising known as Ulgulaan or the Great Tumult, in which tribal communities rejected colonial authority and tried to reclaim their land.

Remember · Ulgulan (Great Tumult) = Birsa Munda's uprising of 1899-1900 in Chota Nagpur; he was arrested in early 1900 and died in jail that year.

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Answer: (c) 3 only

UPSC's key counts only statement 3 as correct. NCERT places Kalidasa in the Gupta age, Panini lived several centuries before the Shungas, and Harsha's seventh-century court is known for Banabhatta.

• ✗ 1. Panini, author of the Sanskrit grammar Ashtadhyayi, is dated to about 500 BCE. Pushyamitra Shunga founded the Shunga dynasty around 185 BCE, more than three centuries later.
• ✗ 2. Harshavardhana ruled Kanauj from about 606 to 647 CE, and NCERT names Banabhatta as his court poet. 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.
• ✓ 3. NCERT places Kalidasa's works in the Gupta age and describes Chandragupta II as surrounding himself with learned men, poets and artists. UPSC's key counts this statement correct.

Remember · Panini c. 500 BCE (grammar); Kalidasa in the Gupta age; Harsha's court poet was Banabhatta.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part I, Ch 3 (practise this chapter) · Class 9 Understanding Society: India and Beyond, Ch 5 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part I, Ch 2 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part I, Ch 2 (practise this chapter) · Class 7 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Ch 7 (practise this chapter) · Class 7 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Ch 7 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) prevention of mitochondrial diseases in offspring

Pronuclear transfer is a form of mitochondrial donation, used to stop a mother from passing a serious mitochondrial disease to her child. The nuclear DNA of her fertilised egg is moved into a donor egg that has healthy mitochondria, so the baby gets the parents' genes but the donor's healthy mitochondria.

• ✗ (a) Fertilising an egg in the lab with donor sperm is ordinary IVF. Pronuclear transfer is an extra step done on embryos, not a way of fertilising an egg.
• ✗ (b) The technique does not modify sperm-producing cells or edit genes; it swaps whole nuclear material between embryos.
• ✗ (c) It does not turn stem cells into embryos. It moves the nuclear genetic material of one embryo into another embryo whose own nucleus has been removed.
• ✓ (d) Mitochondrial donation treatment lets people with severe mitochondrial disease avoid passing it to their children. Pronuclear transfer is one of the two approved techniques, the other being maternal spindle transfer.

Remember · Pronuclear transfer = swap the nuclear DNA of an embryo into a donor embryo with healthy mitochondria, to prevent mitochondrial disease.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 1, 3 and 4 only

In the exam year AI was already used effectively for saving energy in industry, for diagnosing diseases and for converting text into speech. It could not reliably write meaningful stories or songs, and sending electrical energy wirelessly is a physics and engineering method, not something AI does.

• ✓ 1. AI models forecast and optimise energy use, raising efficiency in how power is balanced and used, including in factories.
• ✗ 2. UPSC's key treats this as beyond the effective ability of AI in 2020: machines could not reliably produce meaningful short stories and songs.
• ✓ 3. AI-driven diagnostics and imaging diagnostics are among the standard healthcare uses of AI.
• ✓ 4. Text-to-speech, along with speech-to-text, is a routine AI application in voice assistants and accessibility tools.
• ✗ 5. Wireless power transfer works through electromagnetic coupling. AI may help control such a system, but it does not transmit the energy.
• • Since then Since ChatGPT's launch in November 2022, generative AI tools can produce text, images, videos and music, so statement 2 would be judged differently today (UNESCO).

Remember · In 2020, AI = optimising energy, diagnosing disease, text-to-speech; not meaningful creative writing, and never wireless power transfer.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 1, 3 and 4 only

VLC sends data by rapidly varying visible light, roughly 380 to 780 nm in wavelength, from LEDs. It is a high-speed, indoor, short-range technology, so statement 2 (long-range) is the wrong one; the other three statements are correct.

• ✓ 1. VLC works in the visible part of the spectrum, taken as about 380-780 nm in the ITU standard; UPSC's 375 nm lower limit is a marginal variation of the same band.
• ✗ 2. VLC is designed for high-speed indoor, in-premises use, not for long-range links. It is short-range optical wireless communication.
• ✓ 3. Light offers a far wider bandwidth than radio waves, and a peer-reviewed review lists a higher transmission rate and high bandwidth among VLC's advantages over radio-frequency links, which is why it can carry large amounts of data faster than Bluetooth.
• ✓ 4. UPSC's key counts this as correct: VLC carries data on light, not on radio waves, so it is not subject to radio-frequency electromagnetic interference (the review lists reduced interference among VLC's advantages over radio).

Remember · VLC (Li-Fi) = data on visible light (about 380-780 nm): fast, short-range, indoor, free of radio interference.

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Answer: (d) 1 and 3 only

A blockchain is a shared, tamper-resistant record spread over many computers, so no single person owns or controls it, and on an open (public) blockchain anyone can read it and build on it. It is not limited to cryptocurrency: it can hold any kind of record.

• ✓ 1. A blockchain is a shared database distributed across a peer-to-peer network, so no single entity can own it or change its data alone. On an open blockchain like Bitcoin, anyone can read the record.
• ✗ 2. Blockchain was first used for Bitcoin, but the design is general. NITI Aayog ran pilots on subsidy claims, pharmaceutical supply-chain tracking, university certificates and land records, none of which is cryptocurrency.
• ✓ 3. A public (permissionless) blockchain has no central authority granting access, so developers can build applications on its basic features without anyone's approval. Only permissioned blockchains restrict access and editing rights.

Remember · Blockchain = shared ledger with no single controller; not only for crypto; public chains are open to read and to build on.

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Answer: (c) 1, 3 and 4 only

Carbon nanotubes are tiny hollow tubes of rolled-up carbon sheets that are used in medicine to carry drugs and in biochemical sensors, and living systems can break them down with enzymes. Making artificial blood capillaries from them is not an established use, so statement 2 is the one that fails.

• ✓ 1. Carbon nanotubes are used as carriers, for example to deliver drugs and other payloads in the body, and are studied for bioimaging as well.
• ✗ 2. The established medical uses are bioimaging, drug delivery and biosensing. Building artificial blood capillaries for an injured body part is not one of them.
• ✓ 3. Biosensing is one of the main biomedical uses of functionalised carbon nanotubes.
• ✓ 4. Enzymes such as peroxidases can degrade carbon nanotubes, so they can be cleared from the body after delivering their payload; research is now focused on this route.

Remember · Carbon nanotubes: drug carriers and biosensors, and enzyme-degradable; not used as artificial blood capillaries.

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Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3

All three jobs can be done with drones: farm drones spray pesticides, drones fly over volcano craters to take images and gas readings where people cannot go safely, and drones hover over surfacing whales to catch the breath they blow out. The last sample is then used for DNA analysis.

• ✓ 1. Drone spraying of pesticides is an approved farm use in India. The Agriculture Ministry issued a Standard Operating Procedure for it in December 2021.
• ✓ 2. A drone flew over Alaska's Makushin volcano, beyond its pilots' sight, to capture images and detect volcanic gases. Such flights make monitoring hazardous volcanoes safer.
• ✓ 3. Researchers fly drones over surfacing whales to collect the breath (blow) on a petri dish. Genes sequenced from such samples show the whale's microbial community.

Remember · Drones now do dull, dirty and dangerous jobs: spraying farms, sampling volcano gases and collecting whale breath.

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Answer: (d) Evolved LISA

The description fits eLISA (Evolved Laser Interferometer Space Antenna), a proposed space observatory for gravitational waves. Three spacecraft would fly in a triangle with arms about one million kilometres long and measure tiny changes in their separation using laser links.

• ✗ (a) Voyager-2 is a single probe travelling through the outer Solar System; it does not fly in a formation of three.
• ✗ (b) New Horizons is also a single probe, sent to Pluto and beyond, not a triangle of laser-linked spacecraft.
• ✗ (c) LISA Pathfinder was a technology demonstrator: one spacecraft carrying two test masses just 38 cm apart, to prove the techniques needed for a future space gravitational-wave observatory.
• ✓ (d) eLISA was designed as three spacecraft, one 'mother' and two 'daughters', linked by laser interferometry, with arms shorter than the original LISA, at 1 million km.
• • Since then The gravitational-wave mission now planned by ESA with NASA is called LISA and uses larger arms: three spacecraft with each side 2.5 million km long (NASA).

Remember · eLISA = three spacecraft, laser-linked triangle with 1 million km arms, to detect gravitational waves. LISA Pathfinder was only the one-spacecraft test.

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Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3

All three statements describe things that science can already do: edit the genes of egg- and sperm-producing cells, edit the genome of a very early embryo, and inject human stem cells into a pig embryo to make a human-pig chimera. The word 'can' asks about technical possibility, not legal permission.

• ✓ 1. Gene editing of germ-line stem cells and gametes (eggs and sperm) is possible. India's stem cell guidelines name it and restrict such work to laboratory (in vitro) studies.
• ✓ 2. Germline editing means changing genes in eggs, sperm or very early embryos, and the change is heritable. So a person's genome can be edited at the early embryonic stage.
• ✓ 3. Human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs, adult cells reprogrammed to an embryo-like state) have been injected into pig embryos. Some of the human iPSCs took part in the pig embryos' development, giving a chimera.

Remember · Germline and embryo editing and human-animal chimeras are technically possible today, though India restricts them to regulated laboratory work.

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Answer: (b) 1 and 2 only

Pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) protect against the diseases caused by the pneumococcus bacterium, chiefly pneumonia, meningitis and blood infection (sepsis), and fewer infections mean less reliance on antibiotics against resistant strains. No vaccine is free of side effects, so the claim in statement 3 is too absolute.

• ✓ 1. The Health Ministry says PCV protects children against severe pneumococcal disease such as pneumonia and meningitis. Pneumococcus (Streptococcus pneumoniae) also causes blood infection (sepsis), and the vaccine greatly reduced this burden where it was introduced.
• ✓ 2. After PCVs were introduced across the world, the share of pneumococci resistant to first-line antibiotics for pneumonia fell. Fewer infections and less resistance mean less dependence on failing antibiotics.
• ✗ 3. WHO's vaccine safety notes list mild reactions, such as swelling, redness, tenderness and fever, and say severe allergic reactions are very rare, not absent.

Remember · PCV prevents pneumonia, meningitis and sepsis and helps check antibiotic resistance, but every vaccine can have mild side effects and, rarely, allergy.

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Answer: (a) Digital security infrastructure

Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is the digital security system behind digital signatures. In India, the Controller of Certifying Authorities (CCA) under the Information Technology Act runs it: the Root Certifying Authority of India sits at the top, and licensed Certifying Authorities issue Digital Signature Certificates below it.

• ✓ (a) India's PKI is a hierarchy of trust starting at the Root Certifying Authority of India. Licensed CAs issue Digital Signature Certificates, which let people sign electronic records and be verified.
• ✗ (b) Food security relates to grain storage, distribution and the PDS. PKI has nothing to do with it.
• ✗ (c) Health and education infrastructure means hospitals and schools; PKI is a cryptographic trust system, not a service network.
• ✗ (d) Telecommunication and transport infrastructure means networks and roads or railways; PKI is not one of these. It secures electronic communication rather than carrying it.

Remember · PKI = digital security infrastructure: Root CA of India, licensed CAs and Digital Signature Certificates under the IT Act, overseen by the CCA.

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Answer: (c) 1 and 3 only

A plant cell has a cellulose cell wall and, when mature, usually one large central vacuole, while an animal cell has no cell wall and only small vacuoles, if any. Statement 2 is wrong because every cell, plant or animal, is enclosed by a plasma membrane.

• ✓ 1. The plant cell wall is made mainly of cellulose. Animal cells lack a rigid cell wall, which lets them change shape easily.
• ✗ 2. The plasma membrane (cell membrane) is the universal boundary of a cell. Plant cells have it too, just inside the cell wall.
• ✓ 3. A mature plant cell usually has one large central vacuole filled with cell sap. Animal cells may have vacuoles, but they are not as large.

Remember · Cell wall (cellulose) and one big central vacuole belong to plant cells. The plasma membrane is present in all cells.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 9 Exploration, Ch 2 (practise this chapter) · Class 9 Exploration, Ch 2 (practise this chapter) · Class 9 Exploration, Ch 2 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1, 2 and 3 only

Benzene is a volatile chemical released when fuels and other organic material burn, so vehicle exhaust, tobacco smoke and wood burning are all recognised sources of exposure. Varnished wooden furniture and polyurethane products are not named in the official lists of benzene sources.

• ✓ 1. Benzene is present in motor vehicle exhaust and in petrol (gasoline) vapour.
• ✓ 2. Tobacco smoke contains benzene, and WHO calls active and passive smoke exposure a significant source of exposure.
• ✓ 3. Wood-burning fires are named among the common sources of benzene in air.
• ✗ 4. UPSC's key does not count this as a benzene source. EPA's summary names glues, paints and furniture wax among household sources, but not varnished wooden furniture itself.
• ✗ 5. Polyurethane products are not named among the recognised benzene sources in the EPA and WHO summaries, and UPSC's key does not count them.

Remember · Benzene comes from burning and fuels: vehicle exhaust, tobacco smoke, wood-burning fires, petrol vapour, and some glues and paints.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1 only

UPSC's key accepts only staying away from short-term foreign borrowing: such loans must be repaid or rolled over within a year, and lenders stop rolling them over when panic hits. UPSC's key does not count statements 2 and 3 as protection.

• ✓ 1. Short-term debt (original maturity of one year or less) is a key indicator of debt sustainability in volatile conditions. In 2008-09 short-term trade credit reversed to a net outflow, so low dependence on such funds leaves less to be pulled out.
• ✗ 2. UPSC's official key does not count this as protection; we could not confirm the reasoning from an official source, so we do not explain it here. The Economic Survey records that banking capital, including NRI deposits, was among the flows that turned into net outflows in 2008-09.
• ✗ 3. UPSC's official key does not count this as protection; we could not confirm the reasoning from an official source, so we do not explain it here. The Economic Survey records that reversal of capital flows was the main route through which the 2008 shock reached emerging economies, with portfolio outflows alone at US$ 14 billion.

Remember · In a global crisis, short-term foreign money runs first. Less short-term borrowing leaves less to be pulled out.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) to leave it unchanged

Money supply does not change, because the ₹ 1,00,000 only moves from one part of money supply to another. Demand deposits fall by ₹ 1,00,000 and the currency you hold rises by the same amount.

• ✗ (a) Money supply counts currency held by the public as well as demand deposits. Your deposit falls by ₹ 1,00,000, but your cash in hand rises by ₹ 1,00,000, so the total is unchanged.
• ✗ (c) Cash leaving the bank reduces its reserves, so it cannot start a larger expansion of money. Any later effect would work through banks lending less, not through this withdrawal itself.
• ✓ (d) Narrow money is M1 = currency held by the public + demand deposits. A cash withdrawal only converts one component into the other, so M1 stays the same.

Remember · M1 = currency with the public + demand deposits. Converting a deposit into cash, or the reverse, leaves money supply unchanged.

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

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) It is a largely non-debt creating capital flow.

FDI is largely a non-debt-creating capital flow: the foreign investor buys ownership (equity) in an Indian company, so India owes no loan repayment or interest, unlike a borrowing. The other options describe listed-company portfolio investment, loans, or investment in government bonds.

• ✗ (a) FDI is investment through capital instruments in an unlisted Indian company, or 10 per cent or more of the post-issue paid-up equity of a listed company. It is not limited to listed companies.
• ✓ (b) Foreign investment (FDI and portfolio investment) is a non-debt liability in India's balance of payments, while loans, trade credit and NRI deposits are debt liabilities.
• ✗ (c) Debt-servicing means repaying interest and principal on a loan. FDI brings ownership capital and involves no such obligation; that is the mark of external borrowing.
• ✗ (d) Investment by foreign institutional investors in government securities is portfolio investment, not FDI. FDI carries a 'lasting interest' in an enterprise, unlike portfolio investment.

Remember · FDI = ownership stake (equity), non-debt creating, with a lasting interest. Loans, trade credit and NRI deposits are debt.

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

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

UPSC dropped this question from evaluation in its final answer key.

UPSC dropped this question from evaluation in its final answer key. The facts behind it: India normally imports more goods than it exports (a merchandise trade deficit), earns more from services than it pays for them (a services surplus led by software), and usually runs a current account deficit overall, though that turned into a surplus in the pandemic period of 2020.

• ✓ 1. India has a long-standing merchandise trade deficit: goods imports exceed goods exports (Economic Survey 2019-20 puts it at about 6 per cent of GDP in 2014-19 and the largest component of the current account deficit).
• • 2. UPSC dropped this question; we could not confirm this claim from an official source, so we do not explain it here.
• ✓ 3. India runs a net services surplus, which Economic Survey 2019-20 says has been significantly financing the merchandise trade deficit; software services make up the bulk of service exports (around 40-45 per cent).
• • 4. A current account deficit is India's usual position, but the current account moved to a small surplus in Q4 2019-20 and a larger one in H1 2020-21, so 'at present' was open to dispute in 2020.

Remember · India: goods trade in deficit, services trade in surplus, current account normally in deficit but in surplus during the 2020 pandemic slump.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Crude oil

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) is a grade of crude oil produced in Texas and southern Oklahoma. It is a reference ("marker") crude whose price is used to price many other crude streams, which is why it appears so often in oil-price news.

• ✓ (a) WTI is a crude stream from Texas and southern Oklahoma, traded in the US spot market at Cushing, Oklahoma, and used as a pricing benchmark for other crude oils.
• ✗ (b) Bullion means precious metal, mainly gold or silver, held in bulk; WTI is a grade of oil, not a metal.
• ✗ (d) Uranium is a nuclear fuel mineral; WTI has nothing to do with it.

Remember · WTI is a US crude oil benchmark, traded in the spot market at Cushing, Oklahoma.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, 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

Non-financial debt is the debt owed by the non-financial sectors of the economy: households, non-financial companies and the government. Housing loans and credit-card dues are household debt, and Treasury bills are short-term borrowing by the government, so all three count.

• ✓ 1. A housing loan is borrowing by a household. Households are part of the non-financial sector, which is split into non-financial corporations and households (BIS classification).
• ✓ 2. Money outstanding on a credit card is a loan to a household, so it is also household debt.
• ✓ 3. Treasury bills are short-term government securities (maturity under one year) issued by the Central Government; they are debt of the government sector, which is counted within the non-financial sector.

Remember · Non-financial debt = borrowings of households, non-financial companies and the government, i.e. everyone except banks and other financial institutions. Loans, credit-card dues and T-bills all count.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Some use imported uranium and others use domestic supplies

The dividing line is the fuel: India's reactors that run on imported fuel are under IAEA safeguards, while those fuelled by India's own (indigenous) supplies are outside them. This follows the Separation Plan, notified under India's India-specific Safeguards Agreement with the IAEA, which covers only the civilian facilities India listed.

• ✓ (b) In a 2015 reply to the Lok Sabha, the Government said 13 reactors (Tarapur 1&2, Rajasthan 1 to 6, Kakrapar 1&2, Narora 1&2 and Kudankulam 1) are under IAEA Safeguards and use imported fuel, while the other eight, such as Kaiga 1 to 4, run on indigenous fuel.
• ✗ (c) Ownership or operator is not the divider: Tarapur Units 1&2 are safeguarded, but Tarapur Units 3&4 at the same station, fuelled by indigenous fuel, are not.
• ✗ (a) Official statements draw the line between imported and indigenous fuel, not between uranium and thorium.

Remember · Indian power reactors that use imported fuel (e.g. Tarapur 1&2, Kudankulam) are under IAEA safeguards; those on indigenous fuel (e.g. Kaiga, Madras, Tarapur 3&4) are not.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, 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

The WTO's TRIMs Agreement bans investment conditions that break the GATT rules on national treatment and quantitative restrictions, but it covers only trade in goods and does not regulate foreign investment as such. So statements 1 and 3 are correct and 2 is wrong.

• ✓ 1. Members may not apply any TRIM inconsistent with GATT Articles III or XI. The Agreement's illustrative list includes rules that limit an enterprise's imports of inputs, so import restrictions on investors are prohibited.
• ✗ 2. Article 1 says the Agreement applies to investment measures related to trade in goods only; services are not covered.
• ✓ 3. The WTO states that, being based on GATT disciplines on trade in goods, the Agreement is not concerned with the regulation of foreign investment.

Remember · TRIMs (Uruguay Round) cover only goods-related investment measures such as local-content and trade-balancing rules; they do not regulate foreign investment itself.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2 only

Raising the Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rate is the one step RBI would not take, because it makes emergency overnight borrowing costlier for banks and so tightens money. An expansionary policy pushes the other way: it cuts reserve requirements such as the SLR and cuts the Bank Rate and repo rate to make credit cheaper.

• ✓ 1. Consistent with an expansionary policy: a lower reserve requirement leaves banks more money to lend, which raises credit and money supply. So RBI would do this.
• ✗ 2. The MSF rate is the penal rate at which banks borrow overnight from RBI against their SLR securities, and the Bank Rate moves with it. Raising it makes borrowing dearer, a tightening step, so RBI would not do this (this is the answer).
• ✓ 3. Consistent with an expansionary policy: NCERT notes that a fall in the bank rate can increase money supply; a lower repo rate likewise makes borrowing from RBI cheaper. So RBI would do this.

Remember · Expansionary policy = cheaper and more plentiful credit: lower SLR, Bank Rate and repo rate. A higher MSF rate (the penal borrowing rate) is a tightening step.

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

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Answer: (b) 3 and 4 only

After liberalisation, rural India's non-farm economy grew faster while rural employment growth slowed and even turned negative, so statements 3 and 4 are correct. Statements 1 and 2 are wrong: output per worker rose in rural areas too, and the rural share of the workforce kept falling.

• ✗ 1. Rural productivity did not fall. Rural output at 2004-05 prices rose from Rs 3,199 billion (1970-71) to Rs 21,107 billion (2011-12) while rural employment rose only from 191 to 336 million, so output per rural worker went up from about Rs 16,700 to about Rs 62,800 (our calculation from these figures).
• ✗ 2. The rural share of the workforce fell, from 84.1 per cent in 1970-71 to 70.9 per cent in 2011-12, as urbanisation proceeded.
• ✓ 3. Growth of rural non-farm output rose from 5.70 per cent a year (1971-94) to 7.93 per cent (1994-2005) and 9.21 per cent (2005-12), while agriculture lagged.
• ✓ 4. Total rural employment growth fell from 2.16 per cent a year (1973-94) to 1.45 per cent (1994-2005) and turned negative (-0.28 per cent) in 2005-12.

Remember · Since liberalisation, rural non-farm output has grown faster and faster, but rural employment growth has fallen; the rural share of India's workforce has kept declining.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, 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: DCCBs are the middle tier of the short-term cooperative credit structure and channel funds to the village-level Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS). Statement 1 fails because commercial banks, not cooperative banks, supply most crop loans.

• ✗ 1. NABARD's analysis of crop loans puts commercial banks at 65.30 per cent and all cooperative banks together at 17.97 per cent in 2019-20, with Regional Rural Banks at 16.73 per cent. DCCBs are only one part of the cooperative share, so they do not out-deliver Scheduled Commercial Banks.
• ✓ 2. The short-term cooperative credit structure runs State Cooperative Banks, then DCCBs at district level, then PACS at village level. PACS are refinanced through DCCBs and State Cooperative Banks, so DCCBs supply them with funds.

Remember · Short-term cooperative credit flows StCB, then DCCB, then PACS (village). Commercial banks, not cooperative banks, supply most short-term (crop) farm credit.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 1, 3 and 4 only

Personal cyber-insurance policies in India pay for restoring data and programs damaged by malware, for security-consultant costs when fighting cyber extortion, and for legal defence costs if a third party makes a claim. They do not pay for a replacement computer, because damage to tangible property is excluded.

• ✓ 1. The cover pays the reasonable and necessary cost to restore, retrieve or reinstall data or programs damaged by malware, including software licences needed to reproduce them.
• ✗ 2. Physical damage to hardware is not covered: policy wordings exclude any damage to or destruction of tangible property. The cover is for data and programs, not the machine.
• ✓ 3. Under the cyber extortion cover the insured is expected to involve a security consultant, with the insurer's prior written consent, to limit the loss; reasonable and necessary costs resulting from the extortion threat are covered.
• ✓ 4. The malware cover pays defence costs if an affected person or entity makes a claim for legal liability arising from malware entering the insured's computer system.

Remember · Personal cyber cover pays for data restoration, extortion-response consultants and legal defence costs, but not for replacing damaged hardware. Always read the policy wording.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 2, 3 and 6 only

Public investment in agriculture means government spending that builds lasting capacity, such as institutions and infrastructure. Computerising PACS and building cold storage do this, whereas MSP, free electricity and loan waivers are price support or subsidies that add no new capacity.

• ✗ 1. MSP is a price-support instrument, not investment. NITI Aayog treats price support as a separate policy tool from subsidies and public investment.
• ✓ 2. Primary Agricultural Credit Societies are cooperative institutions, and public spending on cooperative institutions counts as public investment. Computerising them is a Government of India project with its own outlay, and it builds institutional capacity.
• ✓ 3. 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. It is a different kind of item from the price-support and subsidy options.
• ✗ 4. Free or cheap power to farmers is a subsidy; NITI Aayog lists power subsidy (borne by State Governments) among the major subsidies, not investments.
• ✗ 5. A loan waiver only writes off existing debt and creates no new asset or capacity; it is a fiscal relief measure, not investment.
• ✓ 6. Cold storage is physical post-harvest infrastructure that cuts wastage and raises farmers' realisation; government schemes finance it as infrastructure investment.

Remember · Public investment in agriculture = asset- and institution-building spending (irrigation, R&D, cooperatives, storage). MSP, free power and loan waivers are support or subsidies.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Indian Society, Ch 5 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 Indian Economic Development, Ch 3 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, 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

The Interest Coverage Ratio (ICR) is a firm's earnings before interest and tax divided by its interest expenses, so a higher ICR means the firm can pay its interest more easily. That makes statement 3 wrong. Banks use ICR to gauge a borrower's current repayment strength and, by tracking it over time, its emerging risk.

• ✓ 1. ICR shows how many times current earnings cover interest due. RBI treats an ICR below unity (below 1) as an indicator of a firm's financial vulnerability, so it shows the borrower's present risk.
• ✓ 2. ICR is worked out period after period. A falling trend warns that repayment strength is eroding before default happens, so it also helps a bank see emerging risk.
• ✗ 3. It is the reverse: a higher ICR means better ability to service debt. RBI describes an improving ICR as a sign of improved debt servicing.

Remember · ICR = EBIT ÷ interest expenses. Higher is safer; below 1 means earnings do not even cover interest.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, 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 affect rice prices. The Government assures MSP, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) holds buffer stocks and also sells rice in the open market, and subsidised grain through the Public Distribution System (PDS) changes what consumers pay.

• ✓ 1. MSP is an assured price for agricultural products, including paddy, and works as a floor for the rice price.
• ✓ 2. The Government trades in rice itself: in 2020-21, up to 9 December 2020, FCI sold 11.02 lakh tonnes of rice in the open market under the Open Market Sale Scheme (Domestic) to moderate prices.
• ✓ 3. FCI maintains buffer stocks of wheat and rice; buying for and releasing from these stocks changes market supply.
• ✓ 4. Foodgrains distributed through the PDS are provided at a subsidised rate to the poor, which shapes demand and prices of rice.

Remember · MSP, FCI buffer stocks, government open-market sales and subsidised PDS grain all shape rice prices in India.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Indian Economic Development, Ch 5 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 Indian Economic Development, Ch 5 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, 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: textiles are among the main traded sectors between India and Bangladesh. India-Sri Lanka trade has gone up and down rather than rising every year, and Bangladesh, not Nepal, is India's biggest trading partner in South Asia.

• ✗ 1. Sri Lanka's trade data show total India-Sri Lanka merchandise trade of US$ 4,648 million in 2014, 4,911 in 2015, then a fall to 4,369 in 2016, a rise to 5,218 in 2017 and falls to 5,008 in 2018 and 4,667 in 2019. It did not rise consistently.
• ✓ 2. In a Lok Sabha reply the Government of India listed Textiles first among the most traded sectors between India and Bangladesh; Bangladesh's readymade garment exports to India have also grown since 2011.
• ✗ 3. India's High Commission in Dhaka states that Bangladesh is India's biggest trading partner in South Asia, so Nepal is not the largest.

Remember · Bangladesh is India's biggest trading partner in South Asia. Textiles are a major traded sector with Bangladesh, while India-Sri Lanka trade rises and falls from year to year.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Argentina, Mexico, South Africa and Turkey

Argentina, Mexico, South Africa and Turkey are all G20 members. Every other group includes a non-member: Malaysia and New Zealand in (b), Iran and Vietnam in (c), and Singapore in (d).

• ✓ (a) The G20 comprises 19 countries including Argentina, Mexico, South Africa and Turkey, along with the European Union.
• ✗ (b) Australia and Canada are members, but Malaysia and New Zealand are not.
• ✗ (c) Brazil and Saudi Arabia are members, but Iran and Vietnam are not.
• ✗ (d) Indonesia, Japan and South Korea are members, but Singapore is not.
• • Since then Since India's 2023 presidency the African Union is also a permanent G20 member, besides the 19 countries and the European Union. The answer is unchanged.

Remember · G20 = 19 countries plus the European Union (the African Union joined in 2023). Not members: Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Iran, New Zealand.

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Answer: (b) 1, 3 and 4 only

The short-term limit under the Kisan Credit Card covers crop cultivation, post-harvest expenses, produce marketing loans, the consumption needs of the farmer's household and working capital for maintaining farm assets. Buying machinery or building assets such as a cold store is investment credit, which forms the separate long-term portion, so only 1, 3 and 4 are correct.

• ✓ 1. Working capital for maintenance of farm assets and allied activities is one of the listed purposes and is part of the short-term limit.
• ✗ 2. Buying combine harvesters, tractors or mini trucks is investment in assets. The KCC's investment credit forms the long-term limit portion, not the short-term one.
• ✓ 3. Consumption requirements of the farmer household are a listed purpose and count in the short-term limit.
• ✓ 4. Post-harvest expenses are a listed purpose and count in the short-term limit.
• ✗ 5. Building a family house is not among the listed purposes, and setting up a cold storage facility is an investment (long-term) need rather than a short-term one.

Remember · KCC short-term limit: crop cultivation, post-harvest expenses, produce marketing loan, household consumption and farm-asset maintenance. Asset purchases fall under the long-term investment component.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1 and 2 only

Statements 1 and 2 are correct, and 3 is wrong. Food has a far larger weight in CPI (45.86 per cent in the combined index) than in WPI (24.38 per cent), and WPI tracks goods only, so it misses services that CPI includes. The RBI's inflation target is fixed in terms of CPI, not WPI.

• ✓ 1. In CPI (base 2012, combined) food and beverages carry a weight of 45.86 per cent; the WPI Food Index has a weight of 24.38 per cent.
• ✓ 2. WPI covers commodities, and RBI's expert committee noted that it does not capture price movements in services such as those in the CPI basket (housing, health, transport and communication).
• ✗ 3. Under Section 45ZA of the RBI Act the Central Government sets the inflation target in terms of CPI (4 per cent, with a 2 to 6 per cent band, notified in August 2016), and the RBI works to it.

Remember · CPI measures retail prices, has a heavy food weight, includes services and is the RBI's inflation-target anchor. WPI is wholesale prices of goods only, with a lighter food weight.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, 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

The Volga drains into the Caspian Sea and the Zambezi empties into the Indian Ocean, so pairs 3 and 4 are correctly matched. The Mekong ends in the South China Sea, not the Andaman Sea, and the Thames flows into the North Sea, not the Irish Sea.

• ✗ 1. The Mekong flows through Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam and drains into the South China Sea, south of Ho Chi Minh City; it does not reach the Andaman Sea.
• ✗ 2. The Thames's fresh water enters the North Sea. The Irish Sea is the arm of the Atlantic that separates Ireland from Great Britain, on the island's western side.
• ✓ 3. The Volga, Russia's great waterway, drains into the Caspian Sea (NCERT).
• ✓ 4. The Zambezi flows east across southern Africa (NCERT places Victoria Falls on it) and empties into the Indian Ocean.

Remember · Volga: Caspian Sea. Zambezi: Indian Ocean. Mekong: South China Sea. Thames: North Sea.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Fundamentals of Human Geography, Ch 7 (practise this chapter) · Class 6 Exploring Society: India and Beyond, Ch 3 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2

Neither statement is correct. The Government buys at MSP in approved quantities, not unlimited amounts of every crop in every State, and MSP is only a floor: it is the price at which the Government agrees to buy, so market prices can rise above it.

• ✗ 1. Procurement is planned and approved in specified quantities. For example, in Kharif Marketing Season 2019-20 the Government approved procurement of 3,49,250 tonnes of coarse grains, so buying at MSP is not unlimited for all cereals, pulses and oilseeds in every State or UT. Today's rule (PIB): under the Price Support Scheme, procurement of notified pulses, oilseeds and copra is sanctioned up to 25% of a State's production at first, with the ceiling lifted only for some pulses such as tur, urad and masur.
• ✗ 2. A support price helps ensure a minimum income to farmers because it is the price at which the Government agrees to buy. It is a floor, not a ceiling, so open-market prices can and do rise above MSP.

Remember · MSP is a floor price at which the Government agrees to buy, not a ceiling, and it does not mean unlimited buying of every crop in every State.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Indian Society, Ch 4 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 1 and 3 only

Statements 1 and 3 are correct. Commercial paper is a short-term unsecured promissory note, and call money is very short-term, mostly overnight, lending among banks and primary dealers. A certificate of deposit is issued by banks, not by the RBI, and a zero-coupon bond pays no interest.

• ✓ 1. RBI describes Commercial Paper as an unsecured money market instrument issued as a promissory note; the money market is for a maximum tenor of one year, so it is short-term.
• ✗ 2. A Certificate of Deposit is a negotiable money market instrument issued by banks (7 days to one year) or eligible financial institutions for funds deposited with them. It is not issued by the RBI and is not a long-term instrument.
• ✓ 3. The call money market is for uncollateralised lending and borrowing, mostly overnight, and open only to scheduled commercial banks and primary dealers, so it is short-term interbank finance.
• ✗ 4. Zero-coupon bonds carry no coupon payments; they are issued at a discount and redeemed at face value. They are not interest-bearing and are not bonds issued by commercial banks to corporations.

Remember · CP: unsecured promissory note. CD: banks' negotiable deposit certificate. Call money: overnight interbank funds. Zero-coupon bond: issued at a discount, pays no interest.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 1 and 3 only

A parivrajaka is a wandering renunciant and an upasaka is a lay follower of Buddhism, so pairs 1 and 3 are correct. A shramana is an ascetic who strives for spiritual goals, not a priest of high status.

• ✓ 1. NCERT says the renunciants who chose to live as ascetics and wanderers rather than householders were called parivrajaka (wanderer), among other terms.
• ✗ 2. NCERT gives the meaning of shramana as one who strives, that is, an ascetic seeker outside the householder's life. It does not mean a priest of high status.
• ✓ 3. An upasaka is a lay devotee of the Buddha, that is, a Buddhist who is not a member of a monastic order.

Remember · Parivrajaka = wandering renunciant. Shramana = ascetic who strives (not a priest). Upasaka = lay follower of Buddhism, not a monk.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 9 Understanding Society: India and Beyond, Ch 5 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, 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: an elephant herd is led by the oldest female (the matriarch), and gestation lasts about 22 months. Statement 3 is wrong because females keep reproducing until their 60s, and statement 4 is wrong because Karnataka, not Kerala, has India's largest elephant population.

• ✓ 1. An elephant herd is led by its oldest female, the matriarch, and consists of her calves and grand-calves; young bulls leave at puberty.
• ✓ 2. MoEFCC puts the gestation period of elephants at about 22 months, so 22 months is the maximum.
• ✗ 3. Female elephants begin reproducing at about 15 years of age and continue until they are in their 60s, so a cut-off at 40 years is not the norm. UPSC's key treats this statement as wrong.
• ✗ 4. Among Indian States, Karnataka has the largest elephant population in the 2017 synchronized census (6,049, against 5,706 for Kerala and 5,719 for Assam, per MoEFCC's Project Elephant table); Kerala is not the leader.

Remember · Elephants: matriarch-led herds; gestation about 22 months; females reproduce till their 60s; Karnataka has the most elephants among Indian States.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 1, 3 and 4 only

Nagarhole, Sathyamangalam and Wayanad are all drained by the Kaveri (Cauvery) and its tributaries, but Papikonda National Park lies along the Godavari in Andhra Pradesh, so 2 is the only one that does not belong.

• ✓ 1. Nagarhole's own stream, the Nagarahole, joins the Kabini, and the Kabini is a right-bank tributary of the Kaveri.
• ✗ 2. Papikonda National Park is in the Papi Hills of Andhra Pradesh, where the Godavari cuts through the range; it belongs to the Godavari basin, not the Cauvery.
• ✓ 3. Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve in Erode district (Tamil Nadu) is drained by the Bhavani, Moyar and Suvarnavathi, which are Kaveri tributaries.
• ✓ 4. Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala is drained by the Kabini, which rises in Wayanad and joins the Kaveri in Karnataka.

Remember · Nagarhole, Wayanad and Sathyamangalam sit in the Kabini-Bhavani part of the Cauvery basin; Papikonda sits on the Godavari.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Birds

All four are birds: a nocturnal frogmouth, a barbet (a small fruit-eating bird), a minivet (a small insect-eating songbird) and a redstart (a chat-like songbird).

• ✓ (a) The Ceylon frogmouth (Batrachostomus moniliger) is a Western Ghats bird, the coppersmith barbet is listed among the birds of Keoladeo, the White-throated redstart (Phoenicurus schisticeps) is a Himalayan bird, and the Gray-chinned minivet (Pericrocotus solaris) is a forest bird of the eastern Himalaya.
• ✗ (d) The word 'frogmouth' misleads: it names the wide, frog-like beak of this night bird, not a frog. None of the four is an amphibian, reptile or primate.

Remember · Frogmouths, barbets, minivets and redstarts are all birds; a bird's common name can mislead, so check the scientific name (Batrachostomus is a bird genus).

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Kanha National Park

Kanha National Park (Madhya Pradesh) is the home of the hard-ground barasingha, Rucervus duvaucelii branderi, the swamp-deer sub-species that lives on firm ground and feeds only on grass. It is Madhya Pradesh's State animal.

• ✓ (a) The Madhya Pradesh Forest Department calls the hard-ground barasingha the State animal and says it is found exclusively in Kanha; until recently Kanha held the only world population of this sub-species.
• ✗ (b) Manas (Assam) also shelters swamp deer, so it tempts, but it is known for the rhino, tiger, pygmy hog and Bengal florican; the hard-ground form is Kanha's.
• ✗ (c) Mudumalai (Tamil Nadu, Nilgiris) is known for elephant, gaur and tiger; its official fauna list has no swamp deer.
• ✗ (d) Tal Chhapar (Churu, Rajasthan) is known as a haven for blackbuck and birds, not for barasingha.

Remember · Hard-ground barasingha (Rucervus duvaucelii branderi) is Kanha's flagship deer and Madhya Pradesh's State animal.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, 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

Steel slag, the solid waste left when steel is made, is usable in all three ways: as stone-like aggregate in road layers, as a soil conditioner in farming, and as an ingredient in cement.

• ✓ 1. Processed steel slag replaces natural stone aggregate in roads; CSIR-CRRI has framed guidelines for using it in various road works, and a six-lane highway near Surat was built with it.
• ✓ 2. The Ministry of Steel lists agriculture as a use, where the slag stands in for soil nutrients and fertilisers, and its website mentions soil conditioning.
• ✓ 3. The Ministry of Steel names 'green cement' among the uses of steel slag; note that blast-furnace (iron) slag is the type mostly used in cement making today.

Remember · Steel slag is a waste-to-wealth material: road aggregate, soil conditioner, cement ingredient and rail ballast.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, 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

Musk deer (Moschus chrysogaster) is a high-Himalayan animal, so the Uttarakhand mountain areas, Askot Wildlife Sanctuary and Gangotri National Park, are its likely homes, not the plains and foothill areas of Kishanpur and Manas.

• ✓ 1. Askot Wildlife Sanctuary in Pithoragarh district, Uttarakhand, is listed as a home of musk deer, alongside snow leopard, bharal and tahr.
• ✓ 2. The Wildlife Institute of India lists Musk deer (Moschus chrysogaster) among the mammals documented in Gangotri National Park, Uttarakhand.
• ✗ 3. Kishanpur is a lowland sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh, part of Dudhwa Tiger Reserve on the Gangetic alluvial plain; its deer are swamp deer, hog deer, spotted deer and the like, not musk deer.
• ✗ 4. Manas (Assam) is known for tiger, greater one-horned rhino, swamp deer, pygmy hog and Bengal florican; musk deer is not among its species.

Remember · Musk deer lives in high, cold Himalayan forests (Uttarakhand, Kashmir, Sikkim); look for Askot and Gangotri, not the Terai or Assam plains.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1, 2 and 3 only

Copper slag, cold mix and geotextiles are the green options for rural roads: they reuse industrial waste, save the fuel needed to heat bitumen, or cut the stone and soil needed. Hot mix asphalt and Portland cement are the conventional, energy-hungry materials.

• ✓ 1. Iron, steel and copper slag are on the list of proven technologies with Indian Roads Congress specifications (IRC SP:121-2018) that the rural roads agency (NRIDA) promotes; using this waste reduces demand for quarried aggregate.
• ✓ 2. Cold mix does not require heating the bitumen, which saves fuel and reduces pollution, and PMGSY lists it as a green technology.
• ✓ 3. Geotextiles, such as coir, strengthen the sub-grade soil and protect slopes, and the Rural Development Ministry lists coir geo-textiles among the new technologies under PMGSY.
• ✗ 4. Hot mix needs bitumen and aggregate to be heated, which is exactly what cold mix avoids, so it is the conventional, higher-fuel method.
• ✗ 5. Portland cement is the conventional binder; PMGSY's green list is about waste materials, cold mix, waste plastic and geosynthetics, not adding Portland cement.

Remember · Under PMGSY, green rural-road technologies include cold mix, waste plastic, industrial slags and geotextiles, which save fuel and natural aggregate.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, 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: coal ash carries toxic trace metals such as arsenic, lead and mercury, coal-burning power plants emit sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, and Indian coal is high in ash.

• ✓ 1. Coal and its fly ash hold toxic trace elements; the US Geological Survey names arsenic, selenium, lead and mercury among those tested in fly ash.
• ✓ 2. CPCB's standards for coal-based thermal power plants set limits for sulphur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen in the flue gas, because burning coal releases both.
• ✓ 3. The Ministry of Coal states that coal produced in India generally has 25 to 45 per cent ash, against 10 to 20 per cent for imported coal, which is why washing of coal is promoted.

Remember · Coal power means SO2 and NOx in the air and ash laden with arsenic, lead and mercury on the ground; Indian coal is high in ash.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Indian Economic Development, Ch 7 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, 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: biochar, the porous charcoal made by heating plant waste without oxygen, can be mixed into growing media, it supports biological nitrogen fixation, and it helps the medium hold water for longer.

• ✓ 1. Biochar is a stable, porous carbon material that can be blended into potting and soil-less growing mixes, which is how vertical farms grow plants; UPSC's key accepts this use.
• ✓ 2. The IPCC lists enhanced biological nitrogen fixation among the effects of adding biochar to soil, along with lower nitrogen losses and less fertiliser need.
• ✓ 3. The IPCC notes that applying biochar enhances soil water-holding capacity, which raises resilience to drought.

Remember · Biochar (pyrolysed plant waste) locks up carbon and improves soil: more water held, more nitrogen fixed, less fertiliser needed.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) A licence is required to cultivate that plant.

A plant placed in Schedule VI, the list of 'specified plants', can be cultivated only with a licence. The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 does not ban its cultivation outright, and the listing has nothing to do with genetic modification or invasiveness.

• ✓ (a) Section 17C says no person shall cultivate a specified plant except under a licence granted by the Chief Wild Life Warden or an officer authorised by the State Government.
• ✗ (b) Cultivation is allowed, but only with that licence; the Act regulates it rather than forbidding it in all circumstances.
• ✗ (c) Schedule VI is a conservation list of protected wild plants; it says nothing about genetic modification.
• ✗ (d) Plants are listed to protect them, not because they are invasive or harmful to the ecosystem.
• • Since then The Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Act, 2022 (in force from 1 April 2023) cut the schedules to four; 'specified plant' now means a plant in Schedule III instead of Schedule VI, and the licence rule of Section 17C continues.

Remember · Schedule VI plants (now Schedule III) are 'specified plants': cultivation needs a licence from the Chief Wild Life Warden, and picking or uprooting them in forests is prohibited.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) ports handling foreign trade

UPSC's key is (a), ports handling foreign trade. Gupta-period India traded by sea with the Mediterranean world, Southeast Asia and China, and Chaul (Cheul) appears in the Maharashtra Gazetteer as an ancient trading emporium.

• ✓ (a) Gupta-period India traded by sea with the Mediterranean world, Southeast Asia and China. Chaul (Cheul) appears in the Maharashtra Gazetteer as an ancient trading emporium, with a fifth-century Kanheri inscription naming it. UPSC's official key gives this option; we could not confirm the role of Ghantasala and Kadura from an official source, so we do not explain it here.
• ✗ (b) The Gupta capital was Pataliputra (present-day Patna), an inland city, not any of these towns.
• ✗ (c) The Gupta age's famous stone art is at Sarnath, Udayagiri and the Deogarh temple, not at these three towns.
• ✗ (d) The sacred places of the Buddha's life are Lumbini, Bodh Gaya, Sarnath and Kusinagara; these three towns are not pilgrimage centres.

Remember · Gupta-age India traded by sea; Chaul (Cheul) was an ancient trading emporium on the Konkan coast.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 7 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Ch 7 (practise this chapter) · Class 7 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Ch 7 (practise this chapter) · Class 7 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Ch 7 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 An Introduction to Indian Art, Part I, Ch 6 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part I, Ch 4 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, 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

Why not the tempting option · UPSC's key is (d). Statement 3 says carbon sequestration 'is possible', which is the standard claim for no-till with residue retention — FAO's own account is that such systems accumulate more carbon in the soil and turn it into a net sink; the IPCC's caution that the evidence for net sequestration from no-till alone is not compelling qualifies the size of the gain, not the possibility. Statements 1 and 2 describe zero-till wheat sown through paddy stubble and no-till direct-seeded rice, both established practices. In the exam, read 'is possible' as a soft claim: one documented mechanism is enough.

Zero tillage means sowing the next crop directly into undisturbed soil without ploughing. All three are its advantages: wheat can be sown straight through paddy stubble without burning it, paddy can be direct-seeded without raising a nursery, and the undisturbed, residue-covered soil accumulates organic carbon.

• ✓ 1. Zero-till drills such as the Happy Seeder sow wheat straight through paddy stubble, so the residue need not be burnt; the Government promotes them for in-situ crop residue management in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.
• ✓ 2. Direct seeding of rice into unpuddled, untilled soil skips the nursery and transplanting; trials in the Indo-Gangetic Plains found yields equal to puddled transplanting with 35–40 per cent less irrigation water.
• ✓ 3. Leaving the soil unploughed with residue on the surface slows the breakdown of organic matter; FAO notes that systems based on high residue addition and no tillage accumulate more carbon in the soil than plough-based tillage, turning the soil into a net carbon sink. It also cuts erosion and nutrient loss.

Remember · Zero tillage means sowing without ploughing: it lets farmers skip stubble burning and the rice nursery, cuts soil erosion, and builds up carbon in the soil.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1, 2, 5 and 6 only

The National Policy on Biofuels (2018) allows ethanol to be made from cassava, sugar beet, rotten potatoes and damaged food grains such as wheat that are unfit for human consumption. Groundnut and horse gram are edible crops, and the policy's biodiesel route is limited to non-edible oils.

• ✓ 1. The policy names cassava among the starch-containing materials for bioethanol.
• ✓ 2. It lists damaged food grains like wheat and broken rice that are unfit for human consumption as ethanol feedstock.
• ✗ 3. Groundnut is an edible oilseed; the policy's biodiesel feedstock is non-edible vegetable oil, acid oil, used cooking oil or animal fat.
• ✗ 4. Horse gram is a food pulse and is not named as a biofuel raw material.
• ✓ 5. Rotten potatoes are listed among the starch-containing materials.
• ✓ 6. Sugar beet is named among the sugar-containing materials, along with sugar cane and sweet sorghum.

Remember · Biofuel policy feedstock: sugar (cane, beet, sweet sorghum), starch (corn, cassava, rotten potato), unfit food grains for ethanol; non-edible oils and used cooking oil for biodiesel.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) long-term damage done by a tonne of CO2 emissions in a given year.

The Social Cost of Carbon is the money value of the long-term damage caused by one extra tonne of carbon dioxide emitted in a given year. Governments use it to weigh the benefits of cutting emissions against the costs of a policy.

• ✓ (a) This is the standard definition: a measure, in money terms, of the long-term damage done by a tonne of CO2 emitted in a given year; the same figure equals the damage avoided by cutting that tonne.
• ✗ (b) This describes a country's fossil-fuel demand, which is not a monetary damage measure.
• ✗ (c) The cost of adaptation by a climate refugee is not what the term measures; it values damage from emissions.
• ✗ (d) An individual's contribution is a personal carbon footprint, not the Social Cost of Carbon.

Remember · Social Cost of Carbon = money value of the long-term damage from one extra tonne of CO2 emitted in a year; equally, the benefit of avoiding it.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, 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: black gram (urad) is sown in both the kharif and rabi seasons. Green gram (moong) gives only about a tenth of India's pulses, and rabi pulses have not shrunk; they now make up the larger share of production.

• ✓ 1. Government crop statistics list urad separately for the kharif and the rabi season, so it is grown in both.
• ✗ 2. ICAR-IIPR says mungbean (green gram) accounts for 10% of India's pulse production; it is gram (chickpea), at about 10.4 of 23.4 million tonnes, that comes close to half.
• ✗ 3. Rabi pulses have not decreased: in the 2016-17 to 2020-21 average, rabi pulses gave 14.69 million tonnes against 8.73 million tonnes from kharif pulses.

Remember · Gram (chickpea) is about 45% of India's pulses; moong is about 10% and urad about 11%; rabi pulses give the larger share.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Cotton

The clue that decides it is '210 frost-free days': NCERT gives this requirement for cotton, a kharif crop that needs high temperature, light rainfall and bright sunshine and dislikes frost.

• ✓ (a) Cotton needs high temperature, light rainfall or irrigation, 210 frost-free days and bright sunshine, and takes 6 to 8 months to mature.
• ✗ (b) Jute needs high temperature and well-drained fertile flood-plain soil renewed every year, and is grown in West Bengal, Bihar and Assam; there is no 210-day frost-free rule.
• ✗ (c) Sugarcane wants hot, humid weather at 21°C to 27°C with 75 to 100 cm of rainfall, and needs irrigation where rainfall is low.
• ✗ (d) Tea needs warm, moist, frost-free weather and deep, humus-rich, well-drained soil, and is a plantation crop of humid hill and plain areas.

Remember · '210 frost-free days' is cotton's signature requirement; also high temperature, light rain and bright sunshine.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 10 Contemporary India – II, Ch 4 (practise this chapter) · Class 10 Contemporary India – II, Ch 4 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, 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. A solar panel only supplies electricity, so it can drive any suitable motor-pump: the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy's own specification lists both surface and submersible pump sets for solar water pumping, and piston (positive-displacement) pumps can be powered too.

• ✗ 1. MNRE's specification says solar photovoltaic water pumping systems may use a surface mono-set or a submersible motor-pump set.
• ✗ 2. MNRE's PM-KUSUM material names two types of solar water pump, centrifugal and positive displacement, and MNRE has a separate specification for solar pumping systems with positive-displacement pumps. Solar power is not limited to centrifugal pumps.

Remember · Solar pumps are just electric pumps fed by panels: surface or submersible, AC or DC, centrifugal or positive-displacement can all be used.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 1 and 4 only

Statements 1 and 4 are correct: bud-chip nursery seedlings save a lot of seed cane, and tissue-culture plantlets can be used to raise sugarcane. Statements 2 and 3 are wrong because single-budded setts are the weaker option, with poorer germination and survival than larger setts.

• ✓ 1. ICAR-SBI says sugarcane needs nearly 7.5 to 10 tonnes of seed cane per hectare and calls planting of pre-germinated settlings the best answer for seed multiplication. In the bud-chip method only a bud with a small piece of stem is cut and raised in a nursery, so far less seed cane is needed.
• ✗ 2. Setts with several buds germinate better than single-budded setts, because the extra buds and reserves give a better chance of sprouting.
• ✗ 3. In bad weather, larger setts survive better, since they hold more food and moisture; single-budded setts are the more fragile.
• ✓ 4. ICAR-SBI produces virus-free tissue-culture seedlings of sugarcane and supplies them to sugar factories and farmers, so sugarcane can be raised from such seedlings.

Remember · Sugarcane seed saving: bud-chip and tissue-culture settlings use far less seed cane; single-budded direct planting is riskier than multi-budded setts.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1, 2 and 3 only

Crop diversification, legume intensification and tensiometer use are eco-friendly practices: they cut risk and chemical inputs and save water. Vertical farming, a factory-like indoor system, is not counted among India's eco-friendly farming practices.

• ✓ 1. Diversification means changing the cropping pattern and adding other activities. The Centre's Crop Diversification Programme shifts water-guzzling paddy to pulses, oilseeds and other crops, and restores soil fertility through leguminous crops.
• ✓ 2. ICAR's review calls legumes in cropping systems a pathway to sustainable production, because they fix nitrogen and improve soil fertility while cutting water use and pest pressure.
• ✓ 3. A tensiometer measures soil matric potential, which ICAR research uses to schedule irrigation by the soil's need instead of a fixed interval, so water is not wasted.
• ✗ 4. Vertical farming is a high-technology indoor system whose benefits the IPCC calls unproven so far, so it is not treated as an established eco-friendly practice in India.

Remember · Eco-friendly farming: diversify crops, put legumes in rotation, irrigate by soil-moisture readings (tensiometer); vertical farming is not on this list.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Indian Economic Development, Ch 5 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 1, 3 and 4 only

Fertigation, applying water-soluble fertiliser through the drip irrigation water, makes nutrients more available near the roots and cuts losses by leaching, and acid injection can lower the alkalinity of irrigation water. It cannot be used for rock phosphate or other phosphatic fertilisers that do not dissolve.

• ✓ 1. Acidifying fertilisers such as phosphoric acid injected with the water lower the pH of alkaline irrigation water; this is a recognised benefit, and UPSC's key treats it as correct.
• ✗ 2. Phosphate fertilisers tend to precipitate in irrigation water; the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University guide says super phosphate must be avoided, and only soluble forms such as phosphoric acid or mono-ammonium phosphate suit fertigation. Rock phosphate does not dissolve.
• ✓ 3. The Centre's Per Drop More Crop scheme promotes fertigation to improve nutrient application efficiency, because fertiliser is delivered with irrigation water straight to the root zone, so more of it reaches the plant.
• ✓ 4. Small, frequent doses given near the roots are absorbed quickly, so less fertiliser is lost by leaching.

Remember · Fertigation = fertiliser through drip water: soluble fertilisers only, more nutrient use efficiency, less leaching; no rock phosphate.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) 2, 3 and 4 only

Chromite, kyanite and sillimanite are major minerals, which the Central Government regulates and the Indian Bureau of Mines tracks in its national mineral inventory. Bentonite is not a major mineral; it is treated as a minor mineral, which States regulate.

• ✗ 1. The Indian Bureau of Mines states that bentonite has been declared a minor mineral under Section 3(e) of the MMDR Act, 1957, so its production is reported to the States, not to IBM, and it is not counted as a major mineral.
• ✓ 2. Chromite, the ore of chromium, is a major (metallic) mineral and is listed in the national mineral inventory.
• ✓ 3. Kyanite is a major mineral and is listed in the national mineral inventory.
• ✓ 4. Sillimanite is a major mineral and is listed in the national mineral inventory.

Remember · Chromite, kyanite and sillimanite are major minerals tracked in the national mineral inventory; bentonite, a clay, is not a major mineral.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2 only

Statement 2 is right and statement 1 is wrong. OMT (the average temperature of the ocean from the surface down to the 26°C isotherm) in the south-western Indian Ocean during January–March helps predict whether the coming monsoon rainfall will be above or below average, but the 26°C isotherm there lies at about 59 m, not 129 m.

• ✗ 1. OMT is the mean temperature of the layer from the surface down to the 26°C isotherm, which is the first half of the statement. But the January–March climatic mean depth of that isotherm in the south-western Indian Ocean is about 59 m, not 129 m.
• ✓ 2. The January–March south-western Indian Ocean OMT is a better qualitative predictor of Indian summer monsoon rainfall than sea surface temperature; it correctly signals above-average or below-average rain about 80% of the time, against 60% for SST.

Remember · OMT = mean temperature from the surface to the 26°C isotherm; south-western Indian Ocean OMT in January–March forecasts monsoon rain (isotherm depth about 59 m there).

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, 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; statement 1 is not. Urea, India's main fertiliser, is sold at a maximum retail price fixed by the Government, so the retail price of chemical fertilizers is not wholly market-driven.

• ✗ 1. Urea is sold to farmers at a statutorily notified Maximum Retail Price, whatever its cost of production. Only phosphatic and potassic fertilizers (under the Nutrient Based Subsidy scheme) have prices set by the companies, so 'not administered' is not true for fertilizers in general.
• ✓ 2. Ammonia is made from hydrogen and nitrogen, and natural gas is the main source of the hydrogen (steam reforming). Ammonia is then reacted to make urea.
• ✓ 3. India's elemental sulphur output is largely recovered as a by-product at petroleum refineries. It is turned into sulphuric acid, which is used to make phosphoric acid from rock phosphate.

Remember · Urea has a Government-fixed MRP; P&K prices are company-set under the NBS scheme. Ammonia comes from natural gas; by-product sulphur comes from refineries.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, 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

Desert National Park in Rajasthan lies in two districts, Jaisalmer and Barmer, and shelters the Great Indian Bustard, but it is not free of people. Dozens of villages and hamlets exist inside its boundary, so statement 2 fails.

• ✓ 1. The Park covers 3,162 sq km, of which 1,900 sq km is in Jaisalmer district and 1,262 sq km in Barmer district of Rajasthan.
• ✗ 2. People live inside the Park. The official nomination lists 73 villages and other settlements (dhanis) within it, though the population density is low, about 4-5 persons per sq km.
• ✓ 3. The Park has a good population of the Great Indian Bustard, called Godawan locally, and it is one of the bird's natural habitats.

Remember · Desert National Park (Rajasthan, gazetted 1980): Jaisalmer and Barmer districts, villages inside it, and a stronghold of the Great Indian Bustard.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) North of Nubra Valley

Siachen Glacier lies in the eastern Karakoram range, up the Nubra Valley of Ladakh, so it is north of the Nubra Valley. It is not east of Leh, east of Aksai Chin or north of Gilgit.

• ✓ (d) The Nubra Valley runs up towards the Siachen Glacier, which sits at its head in the eastern Karakoram; the glacier is therefore north of the valley.
• ✗ (b) Siachen is north of Leh, across the Ladakh range and the Nubra and Shyok valleys, not to its east.
• ✗ (c) Gilgit lies to the west of the Karakoram range, so Siachen is south-east of Gilgit, not north of it.
• ✗ (a) Aksai Chin is on the plateau to the east of the Karakoram, so Siachen lies west of it.

Remember · Siachen Glacier: eastern Karakoram, at the head of the Nubra Valley, Ladakh; the Nubra River begins from its snout.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error