Prelims GS Paper I 2021

Answer: (c) 1 and 3 only

Everything in this question comes from the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, not from the Constitution. The Act lets the Centre appoint the Governor and give the RBI directions in the public interest, and it is also the source of the Governor's own powers. So only statement 2 is wrong.

• ✓ 1. Section 8(1)(a) of the RBI Act provides that the Governor and the Deputy Governors (not more than four) are appointed by the Central Government.
• ✗ 2. The Constitution contains no such provision. The power to direct the RBI is statutory: Section 7(1) of the RBI Act lets the Centre, after consulting the Governor, issue directions it considers necessary in the public interest.
• ✓ 3. Section 7(3) of the RBI Act gives the Governor powers of general superintendence and direction of the Bank's affairs and business, subject to regulations made by the Central Board.

Remember · RBI Act, 1934: Section 7 lets the Centre direct the RBI in public interest after consulting the Governor; Section 8 has the Centre appoint the Governor and Deputy Governors.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, 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

Why not the tempting option · UPSC's key is (b). Statement 2 looks arguable because the Minimum Wages Act's hours and overtime rules (sections 13–14) bound only scheduled employments; but the Code on Wages, 2019, already enacted when this paper was set, applies those rules to every 'employee' and draws no line between casual and regular workers, which is the frame the key uses. Statement 1 fails on the EPF Act's 20-person threshold, so (b). In the exam, read 'entitled' against the law on the statute book, including a Code passed but not yet brought into force.

Provident Fund coverage depends on the size of the establishment, so it cannot reach every casual worker. Working-hour and overtime protections attach to the employee, whatever the nature of the engagement: the Code on Wages, 2019 lets the government fix a normal working day and makes overtime payable to any employee at not less than twice the normal rate. The same Code, like the 2017 amendment to the Payment of Wages Act before it, lets the government notify establishments that must pay wages only by cheque or bank credit.

• ✗ 1. The EPF and MP Act, 1952 applies to factories in listed industries and to notified establishments employing twenty or more persons, so casual workers in smaller units fall outside it.
• ✓ 2. The Code on Wages, 2019 (passed in August 2019) defines 'employee' as any person employed on wages by an establishment, without distinguishing casual from regular workers; section 13 lets the government fix the hours of a normal working day and section 14 requires overtime for hours beyond it at not less than twice the normal rate. The Minimum Wages Act, 1948 gave the same protection in scheduled employments.
• ✓ 3. Section 15 of the Code on Wages, 2019, like the Payment of Wages (Amendment) Act, 2017 before it, lets the appropriate government notify the establishments that must pay wages only by cheque or by crediting the worker's bank account.
• • Since then The Code on Wages, 2019, which absorbs the Payment of Wages Act and the Minimum Wages Act, has been made effective along with three other labour codes from 21 November 2025 (PIB).

Remember · EPF: establishments with 20 or more persons. Code on Wages, 2019: normal working day (s.13), overtime at twice the normal rate (s.14), government may notify bank-only payment of wages (s.15).

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Answer: (b) Increase in expenditure on public projects

A recession is a shortfall of demand, so the remedy is to add demand. Government spending on public projects is itself part of aggregate demand and, through the multiplier, raises output and income by more than the amount spent.

• ✓ (b) Higher public spending directly adds to aggregate demand, creates jobs and incomes, and so counters the slump.
• ✗ (a) The tax cut helps, but raising interest rates at the same time makes borrowing dearer and holds back investment and consumption, working against recovery.
• ✗ (d) Cutting public spending removes demand from an economy that already lacks it and would deepen the recession.

Remember · Recession = too little demand. Counter it with expansionary fiscal policy (more public spending, lower taxes) and easier money (lower interest rates).

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Answer: (a) 1 and 4 only

Demand for a good rises when a substitute gets dearer and when its own price falls. A dearer complement and higher income for an inferior good both push demand down.

• ✓ 1. If coffee becomes costlier, buyers switch to tea, its substitute, so demand for tea goes up.
• ✗ 2. Complements are used together (tea and sugar), so a rise in the complement's price reduces demand for the good.
• ✗ 3. By definition, demand for an inferior good such as coarse cereals falls as consumers' income rises and they shift to better goods.
• ✓ 4. The law of demand: other things equal, a lower price raises the quantity demanded.

Remember · Demand rises with: dearer substitute, cheaper complement, own price falling, and (for normal goods) higher income. Inferior goods reverse the income effect.

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Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only

Urban cooperative banks (UCBs) are under dual control: the RBI regulates and supervises their banking functions, while the Registrar of Cooperative Societies handles registration and management. There are no 'local boards' of the State for this. They came under the Banking Regulation Act from 1 March 1966 and can raise capital through shares, including preference shares.

• ✗ 1. The RBI (through its Urban Banks Department) regulates and supervises UCBs' banking functions under the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (AACS); the State's role is through the Registrar of Cooperative Societies, not local boards.
• ✓ 2. UCBs raise share capital by issuing shares to members, and the RBI also permits them to issue preference shares and certain debt instruments to strengthen their capital.
• ✓ 3. Cooperative banks were brought under the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 with effect from 1 March 1966, which began the dual control of RBI and the Registrar.

Remember · UCBs: dual control since 1 March 1966 — RBI for banking functions (BR Act, 1949 AACS), Registrar of Cooperative Societies for registration, management and audit.

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Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3

A bond's yield moves opposite to its price, and the RBI lists all three as forces that move the prices of Indian government securities (G-secs): interest rates and expected inflation at home, RBI policy actions, and developments in US Treasuries, which follow the Federal Reserve.

• ✓ 1. When the US Federal Reserve raises rates, US Treasury yields rise and foreign money can leave Indian bonds, pushing Indian yields up; the RBI notes that US Treasury developments affect G-sec prices.
• ✓ 2. RBI actions such as changing the repo rate or CRR, or buying and selling bonds in open market operations, change G-sec prices and therefore yields.
• ✓ 3. Investors demand a higher yield when expected inflation or short-term rates rise, so G-sec prices fall and yields go up.

Remember · Bond price and yield move in opposite directions. Indian G-sec yields respond to domestic inflation and interest rates, RBI policy, and global (especially US) yields.

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Answer: (a) 1, 2 and 3

India's FDI policy counts money raised through FCCBs and depository receipts (GDRs/ADRs) as FDI, and any foreign holding of 10 per cent or more in a listed company is FDI, so portfolio investment crossing that line is reclassified. NRE deposits are bank deposits, a debt flow, not investment in a company's capital.

• ✓ 1. The Consolidated FDI Policy states that inward remittances from issuing FCCBs are treated as FDI and counted towards FDI.
• ✓ 2. The 'certain conditions' is the 10 per cent test: a foreign holding of ten per cent or more of a listed Indian company's paid-up equity is defined as FDI, so an institutional investor crossing it is counted as FDI.
• ✓ 3. Depository receipts such as GDRs represent shares of the Indian company, and the policy counts DR proceeds as FDI.
• ✗ 4. Non-Resident External (NRE) deposits are rupee bank deposits of NRIs; they create a liability of the bank, not an equity stake in a company, so they are not FDI.

Remember · FDI = capital instruments in an unlisted company, or 10% or more of a listed one. FCCB and DR (ADR/GDR) proceeds count as FDI; NRI deposits do not.

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Answer: (a) 1 only

Devaluation makes the domestic currency cheaper, so the country's goods become cheaper for foreign buyers. That is its one certain effect. It lowers, not raises, the currency's foreign value, and whether the trade balance improves depends on how exports and imports respond, so it is not guaranteed.

• ✓ 1. A cheaper rupee means a foreign buyer pays fewer dollars for the same Indian product, so exports become more price-competitive.
• ✗ 2. Devaluation is an official act that raises the exchange rate, making the domestic currency cheaper; its foreign value falls.
• ✗ 3. The trade balance improves only if export and import volumes respond enough; if imports such as crude oil cannot be cut, the import bill can rise and the balance may worsen.

Remember · Devaluation (fixed rate, by government) and depreciation (market-driven) both make the home currency cheaper; exports gain competitiveness, but the trade balance need not improve.

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Answer: (d) Loss of revenue to the State Exchequer due to tax evasion

Black money is, at its core, income hidden from the tax authorities. The Finance Ministry's White Paper on Black Money (2012) describes it as wealth built up by failing to pay dues to the public exchequer, so the loss of tax revenue is the government's central worry; the other options are side effects.

• ✓ (d) Unreported income escapes tax, shrinking the revenue the State needs for public spending and shifting the burden to honest taxpayers.
• ✗ (a) Parking black money in real estate and luxury housing does happen, but it is a consequence of the hidden income, not the main concern.
• ✗ (b) Buying gold and jewellery with black money is a way of storing it; the harm the government stresses is the tax that was never paid.

Remember · Black money = income or wealth concealed from tax authorities; its chief cost to the State is lost revenue through tax evasion.

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Answer: (d) Creation of new money to finance a budget deficit

A deficit can be financed by taxes, borrowing or printing money. Borrowing only moves existing money from lenders to the government, but creating new money adds to the money supply while the supply of goods stays the same, so it pushes prices up the most.

• ✓ (d) New money raises total spending power without adding output, the classic cause of demand-pull inflation.
• ✗ (b) Borrowing from the public takes money people would otherwise have spent or saved, so the net addition to demand is smaller.
• ✗ (c) Bank borrowing uses deposits already in the system; it can add to demand but far less than fresh money creation.

Remember · Deficits are financed by taxation, borrowing or printing money; printing (monetising) the deficit is the most inflationary.

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Answer: (c) Increase in the banking habit of the people

Banks create money by lending out deposits, which come back to the banking system as fresh deposits and are lent again. The more of their money people keep in banks rather than as cash, the more rounds of lending take place, so the multiplier rises. Higher reserve ratios do the opposite.

• ✓ (c) A stronger banking habit lowers the share of money held as cash, so more of each loan returns as a deposit and supports further lending.
• ✗ (a) A higher CRR forces banks to keep a larger share of deposits as reserves with the RBI, leaving less to lend and shrinking the multiplier.
• ✗ (b) A higher SLR likewise locks more deposits into liquid assets such as government securities, reducing the funds available for lending.

Remember · Money multiplier rises when people hold less cash and more deposits; it falls when CRR or SLR is raised.

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Answer: (a) 1, 2 and 4 only

Demand-pull inflation happens when total demand outruns what the economy can supply. Expansionary policy, a fiscal stimulus and higher purchasing power all raise demand. Indexing wages to inflation works through costs, and rising interest rates reduce demand, so 3 and 5 do not fit.

• ✓ 1. Expansionary monetary or fiscal policy puts more money and spending into the economy, lifting aggregate demand.
• ✓ 2. A fiscal stimulus (more government spending or tax cuts) directly raises aggregate demand; if firms cannot raise output fast enough, prices rise.
• ✗ 3. Linking wages to inflation raises firms' labour costs and feeds a wage-price spiral, which is usually classed as cost-push, not demand-pull, inflation.
• ✓ 4. When people have more purchasing power they buy more, and demand racing ahead of supply pulls prices up.
• ✗ 5. Higher interest rates make borrowing dearer and reduce money supply, so they dampen demand; central banks raise rates to fight inflation.

Remember · Demand-pull: too much money chasing too few goods (stimulus, easy money, higher incomes). Cost-push: rising input costs such as wages or oil.

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Answer: (b) 1 and 2

Retail investors can bid for Treasury Bills and dated government bonds in RBI's primary auctions through the non-competitive route, using stock exchanges as aggregators and holding the securities in demat form. NDS-OM is RBI's electronic trading platform for government securities. CDSL was sponsored by the Bombay Stock Exchange and Bank of India; the RBI is not a promoter.

• ✓ 1. Specified stock exchanges act as aggregators in RBI's primary auctions, submitting consolidated non-competitive bids for their clients and transferring the allotted securities to them, so a demat account holder can buy in the primary market.
• ✓ 2. The RBI introduced the Negotiated Dealing System-Order Matching (NDS-OM), an anonymous screen-based order matching system for secondary-market trading in government securities, in August 2005.
• ✗ 3. SEBI's 1998 registration release says CDSL is sponsored by the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and Bank of India. The RBI is not a promoter, and the depository is regulated by SEBI.

Remember · NDS-OM: RBI's screen-based G-sec trading platform (2005). Depositories: NSDL and CDSL (CDSL sponsored by BSE and Bank of India), both regulated by SEBI.

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Answer: (c) 1 and 3 only

WaterCredit is a loan programme created by the non-profit Water.org, not by the WHO or the World Bank. It works with local lenders so that poor households can borrow small sums for a tap connection or toilet and repay over time, instead of waiting for subsidies or charity.

• ✓ 1. Water.org describes WaterCredit as the first programme to apply microfinance to water and sanitation, through partner financial institutions that add such loans to their offerings.
• ✗ 2. The initiative was created by Water.org, a non-governmental organisation; it is not a WHO or World Bank programme.
• ✓ 3. Its premise is that poor families already spend heavily on water and, given affordable credit, will pay for lasting household solutions themselves, a market-based route rather than a subsidy.

Remember · WaterCredit = Water.org's microloan model for household water and toilets; market-driven, repaid by borrowers, not a WHO/World Bank subsidy scheme.

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Answer: (b) 2 only

'Lender of last resort' describes the RBI's readiness to lend to banks at all times, so that a bank short of cash in a crisis does not collapse and trigger a run. Lending to firms is the job of commercial banks, and lending to governments is part of the RBI's separate role as banker to the government.

• ✗ 1. The RBI does not lend to trade and industry; businesses borrow from banks and markets.
• ✓ 2. When a bank faces a temporary liquidity crisis and cannot raise funds elsewhere, the RBI stands ready to lend to it; this is the lender-of-last-resort role.
• ✗ 3. Short-term advances to the Centre and States come under the RBI's function as banker to the government, not as lender of last resort.

Remember · Lender of last resort = the central bank's promise to supply liquidity to banks in distress, protecting depositors and the financial system.

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Answer: (a) environmentally responsible practices in electronics recycling industry

R2 stands for 'Responsible Recycling', a certification standard for electronics recyclers. Recyclers audited against it show that they handle used electronics and e-waste safely for the environment, workers and data security.

• ✓ (a) The R2 (Responsible Recycling) Standard is one of two accredited certification standards the US Environmental Protection Agency recognises for electronics recyclers.
• ✗ (b) Ramsar sites are managed under the Ramsar Convention's own guidance, such as the Montreux Record; R2 has nothing to do with wetlands.
• ✗ (d) Environmental Impact Assessment is a separate regulatory process for projects, not the R2 recycling code.

Remember · R2 = Responsible Recycling, a voluntary certification for electronics (e-waste) recyclers; its main counterpart is the e-Stewards standard.

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Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only

Most copper comes from sulphide ores, so smelting them drives off sulphur dioxide, a major air pollutant. The glassy waste left behind, copper slag, still carries heavy metals that can contaminate soil and water if stored carelessly. Releasing lethal amounts of carbon monoxide is not the recognised hazard of these plants.

• ✗ 1. The air-pollution concern linked to smelting ores that contain sulphur is sulphur dioxide, not lethal quantities of carbon monoxide; UPSC's key treats statement 1 as wrong.
• ✓ 2. Copper slag (Ferro sand) contains arsenic, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, nickel, lead and zinc, and the CPCB guideline asks smelters to store slag on an impermeable base with a garland drain to prevent soil and groundwater contamination.
• ✓ 3. Roasting and smelting sulphide ores releases sulphur dioxide; the WHO lists the smelting of sulphur-bearing ores as a main source of SO2.

Remember · Copper smelters: sulphur dioxide (from sulphide ores) in the air, and heavy-metal leaching from slag heaps.

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Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3

Furnace oil is a heavy residual fuel left after the lighter fractions are distilled from crude oil in a refinery. Industries burn it in boilers, furnaces and captive power plants, and because it is rich in sulphur, burning it releases sulphur dioxide. All three statements hold.

• ✓ 1. It is the heavy residue that remains after refineries distil off the lighter products, which is why it is also called residual fuel oil.
• ✓ 2. Heavy fuel oil is used to produce electric power and for many industrial heating purposes, including captive generation.
• ✓ 3. Burning oil that contains sulphur emits sulphur dioxide, and furnace oil is among the higher-sulphur fuels, so its use adds SO2 to the air.

Remember · Furnace oil = heavy residual refinery product; burnt in industrial boilers and power units; high sulphur, so a source of SO2.

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Answer: (a) Carbon captured by oceans and coastal ecosystems

'Blue carbon' is the carbon taken up and stored by the ocean and by coastal ecosystems such as mangroves, tidal marshes and seagrass meadows. Per unit area these habitats lock away more carbon than land forests, mostly in their waterlogged soils.

• ✓ (a) The term refers to carbon stored in marine and coastal ecosystems; the colour 'blue' signals water.
• ✗ (b) Carbon held in forests and farm soils on land is usually called 'green carbon', not blue carbon.
• ✗ (c) Carbon in petroleum and natural gas is fossil carbon; burning it releases carbon dioxide rather than storing it.

Remember · Blue carbon = carbon stored by oceans and coastal ecosystems (mangroves, salt marshes, seagrasses); green carbon = land vegetation and soils.

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Answer: (c) 2 and 3

Lichens and mosses are pioneer organisms: they cling to bare rock, walls and bark and are among the first to colonise weathered rock before any soil exists. Ferns arrive only after some soil and humus has built up, and mushrooms need dead organic matter to feed on.

• ✗ 1. Ferns are vascular plants with roots; in soil formation they appear later, once humus has accumulated.
• ✓ 2. A lichen is a partnership of a fungus and an alga that grows directly on rocks and tree bark.
• ✓ 3. Mosses have root-like rhizoids rather than true roots and form green mats on damp rocks and old walls.
• ✗ 4. Mushrooms are fungi that cannot make food; they absorb nutrients from dead and decaying matter, so they grow on soil, litter or wood.

Remember · Pioneers on bare rock: lichens and mosses. They start soil formation; ferns, grasses and trees follow.

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Answer: (c) Lemongrass

Lemongrass (Cymbopogon species) yields an aromatic essential oil rich in citral, and this oil is used in insect-repellent preparations and has been shown to repel mosquitoes. Congress grass (Parthenium) is a weed, and elephant grass is a fodder grass.

• ✓ (c) Lemongrass oil, distilled from the leaves, has a strong lemon-like smell from its citral and goes into insect-repellent preparations (National Horticulture Board); laboratory studies show it repels mosquitoes.
• ✗ (a) Congress grass is Parthenium hysterophorus (carrot grass), an invasive weed that causes pollen allergy; it is not used to repel insects.
• ✗ (b) Elephant grass (Napier grass, Pennisetum purpureum) is a tall tropical grass that gives good fodder for grazing animals when young; it is not a repellent.

Remember · Lemongrass (Cymbopogon) oil, rich in citral, is a plant-based mosquito repellent. Congress grass (Parthenium) is an invasive weed; elephant (Napier) grass is fodder.

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Answer: (b) 2 and 3

Primary producers make their own food by photosynthesis. In the sea these are the phytoplankton, which include cyanobacteria and diatoms. Copepods are tiny crustaceans and foraminifera are shelled protists; both eat other organisms, so they are consumers.

• ✗ 1. Copepods are small crustaceans; they graze on phytoplankton or live as parasites on fish, so they are consumers, not producers.
• ✓ 2. Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) are photosynthetic bacteria and form part of the ocean's phytoplankton.
• ✓ 3. Diatoms are single-celled, silica-walled algae that make their own food using sunlight; they are among the most important phytoplankton.
• ✗ 4. Foraminifera are single-celled protists with shells that capture food such as bacteria, diatoms and even copepods; they are consumers, even though some species harbour algae inside.

Remember · Ocean food chains start with phytoplankton (cyanobacteria, diatoms, dinoflagellates, coccolithophores). Zooplankton such as copepods and foraminifera are consumers.

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Answer: (d) 1 and 3

Both the hedgehog (covered in spines) and the pangolin (covered in hard scales) curl into a tight ball when threatened, so that only the armour faces the predator and the soft parts are hidden. The marmot, a burrowing rodent, instead whistles an alarm and runs into its burrow.

• ✓ 1. When frightened, a hedgehog rolls into a tight ball with its snout and limbs tucked under its body, which makes its spines erect and shields the soft parts.
• ✗ 2. Marmots are burrowing rodents; when danger is near, a sentinel marmot whistles sharply so that colony members can escape into the nearest burrow, rather than rolling up.
• ✓ 3. The Indian pangolin is armoured with overlapping horny scales and rolls into a ball when threatened.

Remember · Roll-up defence: hedgehog (spines) and pangolin (scales). Marmots whistle an alarm and flee to burrows.

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Answer: (a) 1, 2 and 4

The New York Declaration on Forests was launched at the UN Secretary-General's Climate Summit in New York on 23 September 2014. It is a voluntary political pledge, not a treaty, signed by a mixed coalition of governments, companies, NGOs and indigenous peoples' groups, with the shared goal of ending natural forest loss by 2030. India is not among its endorsers.

• ✓ 1. It was endorsed on 23 September 2014 at the Climate Summit convened in New York by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
• ✓ 2. Its headline goals are to halve natural forest loss by 2020 and end it by 2030, alongside restoring 350 million hectares of degraded land.
• ✗ 3. It is a voluntary political declaration; it creates no legal obligations.
• ✓ 4. The launch coalition included 32 national governments, 18 sub-national governments, 40 companies, 16 indigenous peoples' groups and 49 NGOs and civil-society bodies.
• ✗ 5. India does not appear on the list of national government endorsers, either in 2014 or later.

Remember · NYDF (2014, UN Climate Summit, New York): voluntary, multi-stakeholder; end natural forest loss by 2030, restore 350 million ha. India has not endorsed it.

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Answer: (b) 1, 2 and 4 only

Pollution-derived magnetite nanoparticles form when iron-bearing material is burnt or heated by friction, so they come from vehicle engine exhaust, brake wear and combustion at power stations. A 2016 study found such particles in human brain tissue and linked them to oxidative damage of the kind seen in Alzheimer's disease. Microwave ovens and telephone lines are not among the sources it names.

• ✓ 1. Frictional heating of brake pads produces high-temperature magnetite nanoparticles at the roadside.
• ✓ 2. Magnetite nanoparticles have been captured from the exhaust plume of diesel engines; combustion is the main source.
• ✗ 3. The study names open fires and poorly sealed cooking or heating stoves as indoor sources of magnetite nanoparticles; microwave ovens are not among them.
• ✓ 4. The study shows spherical, fused magnetite particles collected at a power station, an example of industrial combustion.
• ✗ 5. Telephone lines are not among the sources the study names; they carry electrical signals, not iron-oxide particles from combustion or friction.

Remember · Airborne magnetite nanoparticles come from combustion and friction: vehicle exhaust, brake wear, power plants, open fires. They have been found in human brain tissue.

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Answer: (c) Oyster

A filter feeder draws in water and strains out tiny food particles such as plankton and algae. The oyster, a bivalve mollusc fixed to one spot, feeds exactly this way, pumping water through its gills; the others actively hunt or scavenge.

• ✓ (c) Oysters feed by filtering algae out of the water; one oyster can filter up to about 50 gallons (roughly 190 litres) a day, which also cleans estuary water.
• ✗ (b) The octopus is an active predator that catches crabs, shellfish and fish with its arms.
• ✗ (d) Pelicans scoop up fish in their throat pouch and drain the water out; they are fish-eaters, not strainers of plankton.

Remember · Filter feeders strain food from water: oysters, mussels, clams, sponges, krill, baleen whales, whale sharks, flamingos. Oyster reefs clean estuary water.

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Answer: (c) Phosphorus cycle

Nutrient cycles are either gaseous (reservoir in the air or water) or sedimentary (reservoir in the Earth's crust). Phosphorus has no significant gaseous form, so its supply to soils and water comes mainly from the slow weathering of phosphate-bearing rocks. Carbon, nitrogen and sulphur all have major atmospheric pools.

• ✓ (c) The phosphorus cycle is sedimentary: rocks are its reservoir, and weathering releases phosphate that plants take up from the soil.
• ✗ (a) Carbon cycles mainly through the atmosphere and oceans as carbon dioxide, entering food chains by photosynthesis.
• ✗ (b) The atmosphere is the largest reservoir of nitrogen; it enters living systems mainly through nitrogen fixation, not rock weathering.

Remember · Gaseous cycles: carbon, nitrogen (sulphur has a large gaseous part). Sedimentary cycle: phosphorus, whose reservoir is the Earth's crust and whose source is rock weathering.

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Answer: (c) 1, 3 and 5 only

Detritivores eat detritus, the dead leaves, wood, dead animals and dung on and in the soil, and break it into small fragments, which starts decomposition. Earthworms, millipedes and woodlice all live in leaf litter and feed this way. Jellyfish and seahorses are marine predators that catch live prey.

• ✓ 1. Earthworms are the textbook detritivore: they fragment dead plant matter, the first step of decomposition.
• ✗ 2. Jellyfish are cnidarians that sting and capture live prey with their tentacles.
• ✓ 3. Millipedes feed directly on detritus (dead plant matter) and so speed up decomposition, as a US Forest Service study notes; they are detritivores.
• ✗ 4. Seahorses are ambush predators that suck small live crustaceans such as shrimps and amphipods into their snouts.
• ✓ 5. Woodlice are land crustaceans (isopods) that feed mainly on decomposing plant material, helping recycle nutrients.

Remember · Detritivores fragment dead organic matter: earthworms, millipedes, woodlice, termites, dung beetles, sea cucumbers. Decomposers (bacteria, fungi) then break it down chemically.

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Answer: (a) assessing the carbon footprint of building operations around the world

The Common Carbon Metric (2009) is a UNEP-backed method for measuring energy use and reporting greenhouse gas emissions from the operation of buildings, so that the carbon footprint of buildings anywhere can be assessed and compared on the same basis. It has nothing to do with farm carbon trading or national inventories.

• ✓ (a) Its full title is the 'Common carbon metric for measuring energy use and reporting greenhouse gas emissions from building operations', published by UNEP in 2009 through its Sustainable Buildings and Climate Initiative.
• ✗ (c) National emissions are reported through greenhouse gas inventories under the UNFCCC, not through this building-level metric.
• ✗ (d) The metric measures individual buildings' operational emissions, not global fossil-fuel emissions per unit time.

Remember · UNEP's Common Carbon Metric (2009) = a universal way to measure the operational carbon footprint of buildings (energy use and emissions per square metre or per occupant).

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Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3

All three groups contain species that live in close, often mutually beneficial, partnerships with other organisms. Reef-building corals (cnidarians) host photosynthetic zooxanthellae; fungi form lichens and mycorrhizae; and many protozoa live as symbionts, some carrying algae inside their own cells.

• ✓ 1. Corals, which are cnidarians, house zooxanthellae in their tissues; the algae supply sugars from photosynthesis and the coral gives them shelter and carbon dioxide.
• ✓ 2. Fungi team up with algae or cyanobacteria to form lichens, and with plant roots to form mycorrhizae that help plants absorb phosphorus.
• ✓ 3. Many protozoa live as symbionts; the ciliate Paramecium bursaria, for instance, carries symbiotic Chlorella algae in its cytoplasm. The two benefit each other: the ciliate gives the algae a protected habitat and the algae add to its nutrition through photosynthesis.

Remember · Mutualism examples: coral + zooxanthellae, fungus + alga (lichen), fungus + root (mycorrhiza), Paramecium bursaria + algae, legume + Rhizobium.

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Answer: (c) 1 and 4

The hilltop temple at Mitaoli (Mitawali) in Morena district, Madhya Pradesh, is a circular yogini temple built by the Kachchhapaghata king Devapala in the 11th century. It has 64 cells for the sixty-four yoginis, a Shakta-Tantric cult rather than a Vaishnava one, and is one of very few circular temples, not the only one. Its round plan led many to believe it inspired the circular Parliament House (Sansad Bhavan).

• ✓ 1. An inscription dated 1323 CE records that the Kachchhapaghata king Devapala (c. 1055–1075) built it, and the temple is circular.
• ✗ 2. It is described officially as one of the very few circular temples in India; other yogini temples, such as Hirapur in Odisha, are also circular.
• ✗ 3. It is dedicated to the sixty-four yoginis, goddesses linked to Tantric worship; its cells now hold Shiva lingas, hence the name Ekattarso Mahadeva temple. Nothing links it to the Vaishnava cult.
• ✓ 4. Because both are circular, many visitors have concluded that the temple inspired the design of Parliament House, though this is a popular belief, not a documented fact.

Remember · Chausath Yogini (Ekattarso Mahadeva) temple, Mitaoli, Morena: circular, 64 cells, Kachchhapaghata king Devapala (11th century). Yogini temples: Tantric goddess cult (Hirapur, Bheraghat, Khajuraho).

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Answer: (a) Dholavira

Dholavira, a Harappan city on Khadir island in the Rann of Kachchh, Gujarat, lived in a dry region fed only by two seasonal streams. Its people dammed these streams and led the water through channels into a chain of interconnected stone and rock-cut reservoirs, the most elaborate water-harvesting system known from the Harappan world.

• ✓ (a) Water from two nearby streams was diverted by dams and canals into a series of deep, interconnected tanks within the city; UNESCO, which inscribed Dholavira as a World Heritage Site in 2021, highlights this water management system.
• ✗ (b) Kalibangan in Rajasthan is famous for an Early Harappan ploughed field with furrows at right angles, suggesting two crops grown together.
• ✗ (c) Rakhigarhi in Haryana is known as one of the largest Harappan settlements, not for a reservoir system.

Remember · Dholavira (Kachchh, Gujarat): dams, channels and interconnected reservoirs, stone architecture, signboard inscription; UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2021.

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Answer: (a) 1 only

In its first decades the English East India Company traded mainly in western India: its first factory was at Surat (1608) and by 1619 it had factories at Agra, Ahmedabad and Broach (Bharuch). In the south its early factories were at Masulipatam (1611) and Aramgaon (1626). Neither Chicacole nor Trichinopoly appears among them.

• ✓ 1. Broach (Bharuch), a port-town on the Narmada near Surat known for its cotton cloth, had an English factory: Sir Thomas Roe's embassy (1615–19) left the Company's first settlements confined to Surat, Agra, Ahmadabad and Broach, with the chief factor at Surat.
• ✗ 2. Chicacole (Srikakulam) is not among the Company's early factories: in the south its first factories were at Masulipatam (1611) and Aramgaon (1626), with Madras following in 1639.
• ✗ 3. Trichinopoly (Tiruchirappalli) is not among the Company's early factories; it was an inland rock-fort town, the scene of fighting between Muslim, Maratha, British and French troops from the 17th to the 19th century.

Remember · Early English factories: Surat (1608), Masulipatam (1611), Agra, Ahmedabad and Broach (by 1619), Aramgaon (1626), Madras (1639). Chicacole and Trichinopoly are not on the list.

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Answer: (b) 1, 3, 4 and 6

When the imperial Guptas faded in the 6th century, northern India split among successor kingdoms: the later Guptas in Magadha, the Maukharis at Kanauj, the Pushyabhutis at Thanesar and the Maitrakas at Valabhi in Gujarat. The Paramaras of Malwa (10th century) and the Yadavas of Devagiri (12th–13th centuries) came much later, and Devagiri is in the Deccan.

• ✓ 1. A later line of Guptas ruled in Magadha after the imperial Guptas declined; Devagupta, a Later Gupta ruler, joined Shashanka of Bengal in attacking the Maukhari Grahavarman.
• ✗ 2. The Paramaras emerged as an independent power in Malwa only in the second half of the 10th century.
• ✓ 3. Harshavardhana's own family, the Pushyabhutis (Vardhanas), ruled from Sthaneshvara (Thanesar, Haryana) before he moved to Kannauj in 606.
• ✓ 4. The Maukharis, once subordinate rulers of the Guptas, ruled independently from Kanauj in the 6th century (c. 510–606 CE).
• ✗ 5. The Yadavas ruled Maharashtra from Devagiri (Daulatabad) in the 13th century, far later and outside northern India.
• ✓ 6. The Maitrakas were tributary chiefs of the Guptas who set up an independent kingdom in western India (Saurashtra), with Valabhi as their capital, from about 475 to 776 CE.

Remember · Post-Gupta, pre-Harsha powers: later Guptas (Magadha), Maukharis (Kannauj), Pushyabhutis (Thanesar), Maitrakas (Valabhi). Paramaras (10th c.) and Yadavas (13th c.) are later.

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

Fernao Nuniz, a Portuguese horse-trader who lived in Vijayanagara in the 1530s, described the thousands of women employed inside the king's palace. He wrote that some were wrestlers, some astrologers and soothsayers, and some kept the accounts of palace expenses and records of state affairs. All four skills appear in his chronicle.

• ✓ 1. Nuniz states that the king had 'women who wrestle' within his palace.
• ✓ 2. In the same sentence he names women who were astrologers.
• ✓ 3. Women wrote all the accounts of expenses incurred inside the palace gates and cross-checked the kingdom's records with the scribes outside.
• ✓ 4. He lists soothsayers alongside the astrologers among the palace women.

Remember · Nuniz (Portuguese, 16th century) on Vijayanagara palace women: wrestlers, astrologers, soothsayers, accountants, record-keepers and musicians. Other visitors: Paes, Barbosa, Nicolo de Conti, Abdur Razzaq, Nikitin.

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Answer: (c) Rabindranath Tagore translated the National Anthem from Bengali to English here.

In 1919 Tagore spent a few days at Madanapalle with the Irish poet James H. Cousins, principal of the Besant Theosophical College, and his wife Margaret Cousins. There he rendered 'Jana Gana Mana' into English ('The Morning Song of India'), and Margaret Cousins wrote down its musical notation.

• ✓ (c) A Ministry of Education page records that Tagore sang the song at the Besant Theosophical College, Madanapalle, in February 1919, and that the college adopted its English version as its prayer song; so the translation was made there.
• ✗ (d) The Theosophical Society was founded in New York in 1875; after Blavatsky and Olcott settled in India in 1879, its permanent headquarters was set up at Adyar, Madras, in 1882.

Remember · Madanapalle (1919): Tagore's English translation of Jana Gana Mana, 'The Morning Song of India', at the Besant Theosophical College. Theosophical Society headquarters: Adyar, Madras (1882).

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Answer: (d) 2 and 3

Burzahom in the Kashmir valley is a Neolithic settlement known for subterranean pit dwellings, not rock-cut shrines. Chandraketugarh near Kolkata is famous for its early historic terracotta plaques and figurines, and Ganeshwar in Rajasthan's Khetri copper belt yielded a rich hoard of copper objects.

• ✗ 1. Burzahom is a Neolithic site (Srinagar) where people lived in subterranean pit dwellings cut into the natural soil with stone celts; it has no rock-cut shrines.
• ✓ 2. Chandraketugarh, an early historic town site (from about the 3rd century BCE) in North 24 Parganas, West Bengal, has yielded a rich repository of terracotta art, part of Bengal's long terracotta tradition.
• ✓ 3. The Ganeshwar-Jodhpura culture of the Khetri area in Rajasthan is marked by an unusual wealth of copper objects and probably supplied copper to the Harappans.

Remember · Burzahom (Kashmir): Neolithic pit dwellings. Chandraketugarh (West Bengal): terracotta plaques. Ganeshwar (Khetri, Rajasthan): copper artefacts.

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Answer: (a) 1 only

Only statement 1 is correct: Genghis (Chengiz) Khan chased the Khwarezm prince Jalal al-Din to the Indus during Iltutmish's rule (1211-36). Timur came in 1398, long after Muhammad bin Tughluq, and Vasco da Gama reached Calicut in 1498, about half a century after Deva Raya II.

• ✓ 1. NCERT records that Genghis Khan's forces followed the Khwarezm prince Jalaluddin to the banks of the Indus, where Genghis Khan turned back. Iltutmish was then ruling Delhi (1211-1236).
• ✗ 2. Timur crossed the Indus in 1398, when the Delhi sultan was Mahmud Tughluq. Muhammad bin Tughluq had died in 1351.
• ✗ 3. Vasco da Gama arrived at Calicut (Kozhikode) in 1498. Deva Raya II belonged to the Sangama dynasty, whose control ended in 1485, and the Saluvas ruled at the time of the visit.

Remember · Iltutmish (1211-36): Mongols at the Indus. Timur's invasion: 1398, under Mahmud Tughluq. Vasco da Gama at Calicut: 1498, Saluva rule in Vijayanagara.

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Answer: (c) 1 and 3 only

Statements 1 and 3 are correct; statement 2 fails on one point. Francis Xavier died in 1552 on Sancian island off the coast of China, not in Goa; only his remains rest in Goa, in the Basilica of Bom Jesus.

• ✓ 1. In Paris he joined Ignatius of Loyola and Peter Faber; with four others they professed vows at Montmartre on 15 August 1534, the nucleus of the Society of Jesus, which the Jesuits' own site counts as its seven founding companions.
• ✗ 2. He fell ill and died on 3 December 1552 on Sancian (Shangchuan) island off the coast of China, waiting to enter the mainland. His tomb is in the Church of Bom Jesus in Old Goa, which is why the statement is tempting.
• ✓ 3. His feast is on 3 December, and Goa marks it every year with novenas and the feast at the Basilica of Bom Jesus, Old Goa.

Remember · Francis Xavier: a founding Jesuit (1534), died 3 December 1552 off China; his relics lie in the Basilica of Bom Jesus, Old Goa (UNESCO site); feast on 3 December.

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Answer: (b) 2 only

Only statement 2 is correct. Under Mitakshara a son gets a share in joint family property by birth, so he can claim it in his father's lifetime; under Dayabhaga he gets no right by birth and inherits only after his father's death. The two schools differ by region and by this rule, not by caste or by the sex of the property-holders.

• ✗ 1. The schools are regional, not caste-based: Dayabhaga applies in Assam, Bengal and Tripura, and Mitakshara in the rest of India.
• ✓ 2. In Mitakshara, sons, grandsons and great-grandsons acquire an interest in the joint property by birth. In Dayabhaga, there is no right by birth; the son inherits only on his father's death.
• ✗ 3. Both schools govern the property of a Hindu family. What separates them is when a son's right begins and where each applies, not a split between male-only and male-and-female property.

Remember · Mitakshara: son's right by birth (most of India). Dayabhaga: no birthright, son inherits after father's death (Bengal, Assam, Tripura).

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Answer: (b) playwrights

The three names share one category, and the best known of them, Bhavabhuti, was a Sanskrit playwright: he wrote three surviving plays, Malatimadhava, Mahaviracharita and Uttararamacharita, in the early 8th century at Kanyakubja (Kannauj). So the answer is playwrights.

• ✓ (b) NCERT lists Bhavabhuti among the significant Sanskrit playwrights of the period, with Bhasa, Kalidasa and Sudraka, and IGNOU records his three surviving plays. As the three names are grouped together, playwrights is the only option that fits.
• ✗ (d) NCERT calls Bhavabhuti a scholar proficient in rhetoric and logic, but what he left are plays, and that is what he is remembered for; he is not a philosopher-founder of a school.
• ✗ (c) None of the three is known for building temples; they wrote for the stage.

Remember · Sanskrit dramatists: Bhasa, Kalidasa, Shudraka, Vishakhadatta, Bhavabhuti (Kanyakubja, early 8th century; Malatimadhava, Mahaviracharita, Uttararamacharita).

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Answer: (b) 2 only

Only statement 2 is correct. The 1935 Act reserved seats for women in provincial legislatures. The 1919 Act did not give all women over 21 the vote: it let the provincial councils decide who could vote, and the franchise stayed tied to property qualifications.

• ✗ 1. Under the 1919 Act women could not vote in elections to the Council of State, and the provincial councils could decide on their vote by resolution; the franchise also depended on property qualifications that varied by province. There was no vote for all women above 21.
• ✓ 2. The Government of India Act, 1935 gave women 41 reserved seats in the provincial legislatures, with restricted reservations in the federal legislature, and widened the vote to more women.

Remember · 1919: women's vote left to provincial councils, property-based. 1935: more women voters and reserved seats (41 in provincial legislatures). Universal adult franchise came only with the Constitution (1950).

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Answer: (a) The Quit India Resolution was adopted by the AICC.

On 8 August 1942, at Bombay, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) endorsed the Quit India resolution, which called for a non-violent mass struggle across the country. The other options describe events of other dates.

• ✓ (a) The Congress Working Committee passed the 'Quit India' resolution at Wardha on 14 July 1942, and the AICC endorsed it in Bombay on 8 August 1942, the day Gandhi gave his 'Do or Die' speech.
• ✗ (c) The Congress ministries resigned in 1939, after talks with the Viceroy on India's part in the war broke down, not in 1942.
• ✗ (d) Stafford Cripps came to India in March 1942 with an offer of dominion status after the war; Indian leaders rejected it, and its failure led to Quit India.
• ✗ (b) Expanding the Viceroy's Executive Council with more Indians was the Viceroy's statement of 8 August 1940 (the August Offer), two years earlier, not an event of 8 August 1942.

Remember · 8 August 1942, Bombay: AICC endorses the Quit India resolution; Gandhi's 'Do or Die'. Cripps Mission: March 1942. Congress ministries resigned: 1939.

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Answer: (c) Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi is the person linked to 'Songs from Prison'. He translated hymns from the Ashram Bhajanvali into English while in Yervada jail in 1930, and John S. Hoyland published an adaptation in 1934 under this title.

• ✓ (c) The Bhajanvali was a collection of about 250 devotional songs from several languages, compiled for prayers at Gandhi's ashrams. Gandhi's jail translations of them became 'Songs from Prison'.
• ✗ (a) Tilak is known for his Gita commentary (Gita Rahasya) and for his newspapers, not for a translation of devotional lyrics called 'Songs from Prison'.
• ✗ (b) Nehru wrote from prison too (an autobiography and letters), but his prison writings are not a translation of ancient religious lyrics.

Remember · 'Songs from Prison' (1934): Gandhi's English translation of ashram hymns from the Bhajanvali, made in Yervada jail in 1930; adapted by John S. Hoyland.

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Answer: (a) Paragana—Sarkar—Suba

In the Mughal administrative set-up a suba (province) was divided into sarkars (districts), and a sarkar into parganas. So from smallest to largest the order is pargana, sarkar, suba.

• ✓ (a) NCERT's account of the Ain-i-Akbari lists the subas with their divisions (sarkars, parganas and mahals) and describes the sarkars as lying below the suba. The pargana is the smaller unit inside a sarkar, so the ascending order is pargana, sarkar, suba.
• ✗ (c) This is the descending order, from the largest unit (suba) to the smallest (pargana).
• ✗ (b) It puts the sarkar below the pargana, but parganas are the sub-divisions of a sarkar.

Remember · Mughal units, big to small: suba (province) > sarkar (district) > pargana > mahal. Ascending: pargana, sarkar, suba.

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Answer: (c) Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was the first Secretary of the school J.E.D. Bethune founded in Calcutta in 1849 for girls, then called the Hindu Female School and later Bethune School. Vidyasagar was a Bengali social reformer who backed women's education.

• ✓ (c) Bethune College's own history says Pandit Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar was the first Secretary of Bethune School, which grew out of the girls' school Bethune set up in 1849.
• ✗ (d) Sarojini Naidu (born 1879) was a poet and Congress leader of a later generation, long after the school was founded in 1849.
• ✗ (a) Annie Besant came to India in 1893 and is linked with the Theosophical Society and the Home Rule League, not this Calcutta school.

Remember · Bethune School, Calcutta (1849): founded by J.E.D. Bethune, with Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar as its first Secretary; it became Bethune College in 1879.

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Answer: (d) officers of the Indian National Army

They were officers of the Indian National Army (INA) put on trial by the British at the Red Fort, Delhi, in the INA trials of 1945-46. Their trial drew nationwide protests and weakened British authority.

• ✓ (d) Colonel Prem Sahgal, Colonel Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon and Major General Shah Nawaz Khan were tried by the colonial government at the Red Fort. NCERT lists the INA trials among the events that weakened British authority.
• ✗ (a) The Swadeshi and Boycott Movement belongs to the anti-partition agitation of 1905 onwards, decades earlier, and these three officers played no part in it.
• ✗ (b) The 1946 Interim Government was formed from Congress and Muslim League nominees; these INA officers were not part of it.

Remember · INA trials at the Red Fort (1945-46): Shah Nawaz Khan, Prem Sahgal, Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon; they helped turn public opinion decisively against British rule.

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

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, 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: the Wodeyar (Yadu) rulers of Mysore began as feudatories of the Vijayanagara kings and later ruled on their own. The Carnatic of the Arcot nawabs was a Mughal-era province, not a piece cut out of Hyderabad, and Rohilkhand grew out of Mughal decline, not out of land held by Ahmad Shah Durrani.

• ✗ 1. A Government of Tamil Nadu district page says the Nizam of Hyderabad, as Mughal representative in the south, entrusted the Carnatic to the Nawab of Arcot. The Arcot nawabs were thus Mughal-appointed governors under the Nizam, not a state that 'emerged out of' Hyderabad State.
• ✓ 2. The Mysuru Yadu dynasty rose to power in 1399 as feudatories of the Vijayanagara kings. NCERT adds that many Vijayanagara nayakas set up independent kingdoms in the seventeenth century, and lists Mysore among the nayaka centres.
• ✗ 3. Rohilkhand took shape in the early 18th century, when Mughal rule was fading and Rohilla Afghan settlers built their own power there. It was not carved from territory that Ahmad Shah Durrani, the Afghan invader, had occupied.

Remember · Mysore's Wodeyars were Vijayanagara feudatories; the Carnatic was a dependency of Hyderabad, not carved from it; Rohilkhand arose from Mughal decline.

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

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Ajanta Caves lie in the gorge of Waghora river.

The Ajanta Caves are cut into a cliff above the Waghora river in Maharashtra, so option (a) is right. Each of the other three monuments stands in a different setting from the one named.

• ✓ (a) UNESCO describes the 30 Ajanta caves as excavated out of a vertical cliff above the left bank of the river Waghora, in the hills of Ajanta.
• ✗ (b) Sanchi's Buddhist monuments stand on a hill and forested plateau near Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh. They are not in the gorge of the Chambal.
• ✗ (c) The Pandu-lena (Pandavleni) caves are on Trirasmi Hill just outside Nashik in Maharashtra, far from the Narmada.
• ✗ (d) The Amaravati stupa is on the bank of the Krishna river in Andhra Pradesh, not the Godavari.

Remember · Ajanta caves: horseshoe cliff above the Waghora river, Maharashtra. Pandu-lena is at Nashik, Sanchi is on a hill near Vidisha, Amaravati is on the Krishna.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2 only

Statement 2 is correct and statement 1 is wrong, because International Mother Language Day was proclaimed by UNESCO, not UNICEF. The demand for Bangla was raised in the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan in February 1948.

• ✗ 1. UNESCO's General Conference approved International Mother Language Day in 1999, on Bangladesh's initiative, and it has been observed since 2000. UNICEF, the UN children's agency, had no role in proclaiming it.
• ✓ 2. When the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan met at Karachi in February 1948, Dhirendranath Datta moved an amendment to include Bangla among the languages of the Assembly. The motion was rejected, but it began the Bengali language movement.

Remember · 21 February, International Mother Language Day, is a UNESCO day (1999), proposed by Bangladesh to honour the 1952 Bengali language movement, not a UNICEF day.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 1, 2 and 4

Statements 1, 2 and 4 describe real differences: permaculture is built on diverse plantings, builds soil with compost and mulch rather than depending on the fertiliser-and-irrigation practices that salinise soil, and relies on mulch cover. Statement 3 is the odd one out, because permaculture is not held back in dry regions and chemical farming there is itself prone to salt build-up.

• ✓ 1. Permaculture is a design system that stresses diversity, with many different species and perennial polyculture, whereas conventional chemical farming typically grows one crop over large areas.
• ✓ 2. FAO notes that soils become salt-affected through poorly managed irrigation or fertilisation, both of which chemical farming leans on. Permaculture builds soil with on-site compost and mulch instead.
• ✗ 3. UPSC's key treats this as wrong. Food production in arid and semi-arid regions needs irrigation, and FAO notes that most salt-affected soils lie in those climates, so chemical farming there is itself exposed to salinity; permaculture is not held back in dry regions.
• ✓ 4. Mulching means covering the soil with straw, leaves or similar material to protect it. It is a core soil-building habit in permaculture (growing and mulching with cover crops), while chemical farming relies on fertilisers instead.

Remember · Permaculture means diverse perennial polyculture, compost and mulched soil; chemical farming with heavy fertiliser and irrigation tends towards soil salinity.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 8 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Ch 7 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only

The oil palm is native to West Africa, not Southeast Asia, so statement 1 is wrong; statements 2 and 3 are correct. Palm oil goes into cosmetics and other industrial products, and it is also processed into biodiesel.

• ✗ 1. The oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) originated in the tropical forests of West Africa. It reached Southeast Asia later, first as an ornamental plant, and became a major plantation crop there.
• ✓ 2. Processing crude palm oil gives food products, manufactured goods such as cosmetics and soaps, and fuel. Cosmetic industries, including lipstick and perfume makers, use it as a raw material.
• ✓ 3. Biodiesel is the fuel product made from palm oil, which is why palm oil is counted as a biofuel feedstock.

Remember · Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) is African in origin; its oil feeds food, cosmetics, soap and biodiesel industries. India's NMEO-Oil Palm mission promotes it.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Sutlej

Why not the tempting option · UPSC's key is (d). The Jhelum and the Ravi join the Chenab, the Chenab empties into the Sutlej, and the Sutlej's lower course, called the Panjnad once the five rivers have united below Uch, joins the Indus near Mithankot. A strict reader may say the Panjnad, not the Sutlej, is what meets the Indus, but the question treats the Panjnad as the Sutlej's continuation, as standard descriptions do. In the exam, follow the order Jhelum and Ravi → Chenab → Sutlej → Indus.

The Sutlej is the river that carries the other three onward to the Indus: the Jhelum and the Ravi join the Chenab, and the Chenab then empties into the Sutlej, whose combined stream (the Panjnad) meets the Indus near Mithankot.

• ✗ (b) The Jhelum joins the Chenab near Jhang (Trimmu) in Pakistan, so it does not reach the Indus on its own.
• ✗ (c) The Ravi joins the Chenab near Sarai Sidhu in Pakistan, so it too ends in the Chenab.
• ✗ (a) The Chenab receives the Jhelum and the Ravi, but it then empties into the Sutlej west of Bahawalpur instead of reaching the Indus directly.
• ✓ (d) The Sutlej takes in the Beas, receives the Chenab, and its united stream, the Panjnad, links the five Punjab rivers to the Indus near Mithankot.

Remember · Jhelum and Ravi join the Chenab; the Chenab joins the Sutlej; the Sutlej-Chenab stream (the Panjnad) joins the Indus near Mithankot.

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

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) saline lakes

Didwana, Kuchaman, Sargol and Khatu are saline (salt) lakes in the dry interior of Rajasthan, in the Nagaur-Sikar region. They fill briefly after rain and leave salt behind as the water evaporates.

• ✓ (d) These are inland salt lakes of the Thar and Shekhawati region. Didwana is a known playa lake in Nagaur district, and Kuchaman is one of Rajasthan's salt works that draw on lake brine, like Sambhar.
• ✗ (a) Glaciers are found only in high mountain regions such as the Himalaya; Rajasthan has none.
• ✗ (b) Mangroves grow on tidal coasts and river deltas, while these lakes lie hundreds of kilometres inland in a desert region.
• ✗ (c) Sambhar is Rajasthan's famous saline Ramsar site, but these four lakes are not on the Ramsar list.

Remember · Rajasthan's inland salt lakes: Sambhar (largest), Didwana, Kuchaman, Sargol, Khatu, Pachpadra. Playas collect run-off, then evaporation leaves salt.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2 and 4

The Nagavali and the Vamsadhara both rise in the Eastern Ghats of Odisha, so 2 and 4 is right. The Brahmani and the Subarnarekha, by contrast, start near Nagri village in Ranchi district on the Chota Nagpur plateau of Jharkhand.

• ✗ 1. The Brahmani, known as the South Koel in its upper reaches, originates near Nagri village in Ranchi district, Jharkhand, at about 600 m.
• ✓ 2. The Nagavali rises in the Eastern Ghats (near Lakhabahal in Kalahandi district, Odisha) and reaches the Bay of Bengal near Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh.
• ✗ 3. The Subarnarekha also rises near Nagri village in Ranchi district, Jharkhand, at about 600 m elevation, and flows about 395 km to the Bay of Bengal.
• ✓ 4. The Vamsadhara rises in the Eastern Ghats of Odisha and falls into the Bay of Bengal near Kalingapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

Remember · Nagavali and Vamsadhara start in the Eastern Ghats; Brahmani (South Koel) and Subarnarekha both start near Nagri, Ranchi, on the Chota Nagpur plateau.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, 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. Seabed exploration rights in international waters come from the International Seabed Authority, not from the Global Ocean Commission, which was only an independent advisory body.

• ✗ 1. The Global Ocean Commission (launched 2013) was an independent international commission working on threats to the high seas; it issues no licences. Exploration areas are allocated by the International Seabed Authority (ISA), set up under UNCLOS.
• ✓ 2. India holds ISA exploration rights over 75,000 sq. km of the Central Indian Ocean Basin for polymetallic nodules, and a later ISA contract for polymetallic sulphides in the Indian Ocean.
• ✓ 3. Polymetallic nodules lying on the deep seafloor, including in the Central Indian Ocean Basin, carry rare earth elements alongside nickel, copper, cobalt and manganese.

Remember · The International Seabed Authority, not the Global Ocean Commission, licenses seabed exploration beyond national jurisdiction; India holds ISA contracts for nodules and sulphides.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Sugarcane

Sugarcane is the least water-efficient of the four, because it needs a very large amount of water for each tonne of crop and is normally grown with irrigation. Pearl millet and red gram are hardy dryland crops that manage on little water.

• ✓ (a) NCERT lists sugarcane with rice and jute as crops whose water requirement is very high and can be met only through irrigation.
• ✗ (c) Pearl millet (bajra) is sown in hot, dry regions and resists dry spells and drought, so it is among the most water-efficient crops.
• ✗ (d) Red gram (tur) is a pulse grown as a rainfed crop of drylands, so it does not need heavy irrigation.

Remember · Water-hungry crops: sugarcane, rice, jute (irrigation needed). Water-thrifty crops: bajra, ragi, pulses such as gram and tur (dryland, drought-hardy).

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Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Both 1 and 2

Both statements are correct: winds push warm surface water to the western side of tropical oceans, while in the temperate zone the westerlies carry warm water to the eastern side, that is, to the west coasts of continents.

• ✓ 1. In the tropics the easterly trade winds push warm water west and hold it there, so the western side of an ocean is warmer than the east. This matches warm currents along the east coasts of continents in tropical latitudes and cool waters off their west coasts.
• ✓ 2. Ocean circulation follows the planet's wind pattern, and in the middle latitudes the surface winds are the westerlies, which carry warm water eastwards, so the eastern side of the ocean is the warm side. NCERT notes that west coasts of continents in middle and higher latitudes are bordered by warm waters, as in north-western Europe.

Remember · Tropics: trade winds pile warm water in the west of the ocean. Temperate zone: westerlies carry warm water to the east, so west coasts of continents there are mild.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Fundamentals of Physical Geography, Ch 13 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 Fundamentals of Physical Geography, Ch 13 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 Fundamentals of Physical Geography, Ch 13 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 Fundamentals of Physical Geography, Ch 9 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3

All three statements are correct. CCAFS is a CGIAR research programme, it set up Climate-Smart Villages in several Indian states, CGIAR is based in Montpellier, France, and ICRISAT (Patancheru, near Hyderabad) is one of its research centres.

• ✓ 1. CCAFS, the CGIAR programme on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security, tests adaptation options in Climate-Smart Villages. Its list of villages includes sites in Haryana, Bihar, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
• ✓ 2. CCAFS is a CGIAR research programme, and the CGIAR System Organization has its address in Montpellier, France.
• ✓ 3. CGIAR lists ICRISAT, whose headquarters are at Patancheru in India, among its research centres.

Remember · CCAFS is a CGIAR programme; CGIAR is based in Montpellier, France; ICRISAT (Patancheru, Hyderabad) is a CGIAR centre; Climate-Smart Villages began in 2011.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) tropical rain forest

The description fits a tropical rain forest, where constant heat and moisture make dead leaves rot very fast, leaving the ground almost bare, and where climbers and epiphytes reach the tall canopy by using tree trunks and branches.

• ✓ (d) In a rain forest, NASA notes, leaf litter on the floor decomposes rapidly in wet, warm conditions, so the ground stays nearly bare. Woody vines climb the trees to reach the light, and epiphytes such as orchids and ferns grow on the branches. NCERT links tropical evergreen forests with a dense canopy.
• ✗ (a) Coniferous forests grow in cold regions, where decay is slow, so they do not show the fastest leaf-litter breakdown of any biome.
• ✗ (b) Dry deciduous forests have a long dry season, which slows decay, and they lack the dense layered canopy of climbers and epiphytes described here.
• ✗ (c) Mangroves stand in tidal, salty waterlogged mud, so a description of bare forest soil with epiphytes in the canopy does not point to them.

Remember · Tropical rain forest: fast litter decay, thin humus, dense canopy, and climbers and epiphytes reaching the light. Nutrients sit in living plants, not in the soil.

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

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 2, 3 and 4

Why not the tempting option · UPSC's key is (c). The general checks on tree growth in savannas are fire, grazing and browsing animals, and the long dry season of a seasonal-rainfall climate — a university biome guide puts it as frequent fires and large grazing mammals killing seedlings, with climate the most important factor. Soil does shape the tree–grass balance locally (thin or poorly drained soils carry no trees in some East African savannas), but the question asks for the general conditions and no option pairs soil with fire and grazing; termites build the mounds on which trees grow rather than checking them. In the exam, pick the option that holds the two universal controls, fire and grazing, together.

Fire, grazing and browsing animals, and the long dry season of a seasonal-rainfall climate are the recognised checks that keep savannas open and stop them turning into forest, so 2, 3 and 4 is the answer.

• ✗ 1. Termites are decomposers that break down about 30 per cent of dead organic matter; in parts of East Africa trees grow only on termite mounds, so termites aid rather than check tree growth. Burrowing animals are not a recognised control.
• ✓ 2. Wildfire is an important part of savanna ecosystems in all regions; annual burning of dry grass and litter helps keep woody plants from taking over.
• ✓ 3. Browsing and grazing animals alter the balance between trees and grass. Rising elephant numbers in Virunga National Park, for example, destroyed woody plants and turned a heavily wooded savanna into grass savanna with very few trees.
• ✓ 4. Savanna is a vegetation type of hot, seasonally dry climates: a long dry season each year limits tree growth and keeps the grass cover open.
• ✗ 5. Soil shapes the tree–grass balance only locally — thin or poorly drained soils carry no trees in some savannas — so it is not one of the general checks, and no option pairs it with fire and grazing.

Remember · Savannas stay open through fire, grazing and browsing animals, and a long dry season; without these, woody plants tend to spread and the savanna turns to forest.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2 only

Only statement 2 is correct: ice caps and glaciers hold about 2 per cent of Earth's water, well above the 0.68 per cent held as groundwater, while rivers and lakes together hold only about 0.009 per cent.

• ✗ 1. NCERT's table gives fresh water lakes 0.009 per cent and rivers 0.0001 per cent of all water, far less than groundwater at 0.68 per cent.
• ✓ 2. The same table gives ice caps 2.0 per cent (glaciers are counted with them), which is roughly three times the groundwater share of 0.68 per cent.

Remember · Earth's water: oceans 97.3%, ice caps and glaciers 2.0%, groundwater 0.68%, lakes 0.009%, atmosphere 0.0019%, rivers 0.0001%.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 3, 4 and 5

UPSC's key marks statements 3, 4 and 5 correct, while 1 and 2 are wrong: moringa is a deciduous tree of its own family, not a legume, and tamarind is not endemic to South Asia, having originated in Madagascar (Spices Board).

• ✗ 1. Moringa (Moringa oleifera) is a small deciduous tree of the family Moringaceae, so it is neither a legume nor evergreen.
• ✗ 2. The Spices Board says tamarind originated in Madagascar and is now cultivated widely in India and other countries, so it is not endemic to South Asia.
• ✓ 3. Tamarind, with seeds and de-seeded, is on the Ministry of Tribal Affairs' list of minor forest produce with a minimum support price, the gathering of which is a livelihood for tribal collectors.
• ✓ 4. 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.
• ✓ 5. UPSC's official key treats this statement as correct; we could not confirm the detail from an official source, so we do not explain it here.

Remember · Moringa is a deciduous Moringaceae tree, not a legume; tamarind originated in Madagascar and is a listed minor forest produce with an MSP.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) fissure volcanic rock

Black cotton soil (regur) forms from the weathering of the basalt lava that poured out of fissures to make the Deccan Traps, so the parent rock is fissure volcanic rock.

• ✓ (b) NCERT calls black soil typical of the Deccan trap (basalt) region and says it is made up of lava flows. The Deccan Traps are a flood basalt province built by lava outpourings through cracks in the crust.
• ✗ (c) Granite and schist are crystalline rocks; NCERT links red soil, not black soil, with crystalline igneous rocks on the Deccan plateau.
• ✗ (a) Brown forest soil is itself a soil, not a rock, so it cannot be the rock whose weathering produces black soil.
• ✗ (d) Shale and limestone are sedimentary rocks; black soil forms from volcanic basalt.

Remember · Black (regur) soil comes from Deccan Trap basalt, which erupted from fissures; it holds moisture well and suits cotton.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 10 Contemporary India – II, Ch 1 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 Fundamentals of Physical Geography, Ch 3 (practise this chapter) · Class 10 Contemporary India – II, Ch 1 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Both 1 and 2

Both statements are correct: a recombinant vector vaccine is built by genetic engineering, and the carrier (vector) that delivers the disease-causing agent's gene into our cells is a harmless virus or bacterium.

• ✓ 1. Recombinant DNA technology lets scientists make a pathogen's antigen in bacteria or yeast, as with the hepatitis B vaccine from yeast. Recombinant vector vaccines rest on the same gene-splicing methods.
• ✓ 2. NIAID, part of the US National Institutes of Health, describes recombinant vector vaccines as those that use a harmless virus or bacterium as a vector, or carrier, to introduce genetic material into cells. Covishield is a vectored vaccine that uses a virus as the carrier.

Remember · Recombinant vector vaccine = genetic engineering plus a harmless virus or bacterium as the carrier that delivers the pathogen's gene into our cells.

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Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Both 1 and 2

Both statements are correct: mitochondrial DNA comes only from the mother's egg, and mitochondrial replacement therapy swaps the faulty mitochondria either before fertilisation (spindle transfer) or after it (pronuclear transfer).

• ✓ 1. Two techniques are used: in maternal spindle transfer the mother's nuclear genetic material is moved into a donor egg before fertilisation, and in pronuclear transfer the fertilised embryo's nuclear material is moved into a donor embryo after fertilisation. Either way the child gets healthy donor mitochondria.
• ✓ 2. Only egg cells contribute mitochondria to the embryo, so only females pass on mitochondrial DNA variants; a father's sperm does not pass them on.

Remember · Mitochondrial DNA is inherited only from the mother. Mitochondrial replacement therapy: spindle transfer (before fertilisation) or pronuclear transfer (after fertilisation).

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) developing genetically modified crop plants

Bollgard I and Bollgard II are brand names of Bt cotton technology, that is, genetically modified cotton carrying Bt genes that protect it from bollworm pests. So they belong to developing genetically modified crop plants.

• ✓ (b) Bt cotton is a genetically modified crop: a Bt toxin gene from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis is expressed in the plant to resist insects. In Bollgard II hybrids, both the Cry1Ac and Cry2Ab proteins are present in the transgenic plant.
• ✗ (a) Clonal propagation copies plants from cuttings or tissue culture without adding genes; Bollgard involves inserted genes.
• ✗ (c) Plant growth substances are hormones such as auxins; Bollgard is not a hormone-making technology.
• ✗ (d) Biofertilizers are living microbes added to soil, whereas Bollgard is a trait built into the cotton plant itself.

Remember · Bollgard I and Bollgard II = Bt cotton (GM cotton); Bollgard II carries two Bt proteins, Cry1Ac and Cry2Ab.

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

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, 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 cooking temperature is the boiling point of water at the pressure held inside the cooker, and that pressure is fixed by the weight of the lid's regulator and the area of the vent hole it covers. A hotter flame only makes steam faster; it does not raise the cooking temperature.

• ✓ 1. Steam escapes through the vent hole once its push (pressure × hole area) exceeds the regulator's weight. So the hole area helps decide how much pressure builds up, and water boils at a higher temperature at higher pressure.
• ✗ 2. A bigger flame makes steam sooner, but once the regulator lifts, the extra steam simply escapes. The pressure, and hence the boiling temperature, stays the same.
• ✓ 3. The weight placed over the vent is what the steam must lift. A heavier weight lets more pressure build up, so the water boils at a higher temperature (well above 100 °C).

Remember · Water boils at a higher temperature under higher pressure. In a pressure cooker the vent weight and vent-hole area set the pressure; the flame only sets how fast it is reached.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, 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

Bacteria and fungi are living cells that can feed and multiply on a lab-made nutrient medium, so they can be cultured in it. A virus has no cell machinery of its own and multiplies only inside a living host cell, so it cannot grow in a cell-free artificial medium.

• ✓ 1. Bacteria grow as visible colonies on nutrient-rich gel or broth in a petri dish.
• ✓ 2. Fungi also grow as colonies in a petri dish on a suitable nutrient medium.
• ✗ 3. Viruses are acellular and multiply only after entering a living cell. To grow them, labs use living cells (cell culture, or fertilised eggs), not a synthetic medium.

Remember · Bacteria and fungi grow on artificial nutrient media; viruses need living host cells, so they cannot be cultured on a synthetic medium alone.

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Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2 only

Statement 2 is correct: adenoviruses can cause cold-like illness, and AIDS is caused by HIV, which is a retrovirus. Statement 1 is wrong on both counts, because adenoviruses have double-stranded DNA genomes, while retroviruses carry an RNA genome.

• ✗ 1. Adenoviruses are non-enveloped viruses with double-stranded DNA, not single-stranded DNA. Retroviruses, such as HIV, have an RNA genome (later copied into DNA inside the host cell), not a double-stranded DNA genome.
• ✓ 2. Adenoviruses cause respiratory infections, including mild cold-like illness. AIDS is caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), a retrovirus.

Remember · Adenovirus: double-stranded DNA, respiratory infections. Retrovirus (HIV, cause of AIDS): RNA genome.

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Answer: (a) it is dipolar in nature

Water dissolves so many substances because its molecule is dipolar (polar): the oxygen end carries a slight negative charge and the hydrogen end a slight positive charge. These charged ends attract ions and other polar molecules and pull them apart, so they dissolve.

• ✓ (a) The two charged ends of a water molecule attract the particles of many solids, such as the ions in common salt, and separate them into the liquid.
• ✗ (b) Conducting heat well has nothing to do with dissolving. Water is in fact a poor conductor of heat compared with metals.
• ✗ (c) High specific heat means water needs a lot of heat to change its temperature. It explains slow heating and cooling, not solvent power.
• ✗ (d) Being an oxide of hydrogen only describes water's composition (H2O). Many other compounds are oxides and dissolve little or nothing.

Remember · Water is called the universal solvent because its molecule is polar (dipolar), with a positive and a negative end that pull other substances apart.

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Answer: (c) 1 and 3 only

Sodium lamps throw light out in all directions and give a narrow spectrum weighted towards yellow and red, whereas LEDs emit from one side of the chip in a directional beam and can produce broad-spectrum white light. LEDs also last longer than sodium lamps, so statement 2 is the wrong one.

• ✓ 1. Lamp-type sources, such as sodium lamps, give light in nearly all directions, so reflectors and lenses are needed to send it to the road. An LED emits from one side of its chip and is directional.
• ✗ 2. LED products typically last far longer than conventional lamps, with good-quality ones rated at 30,000 to 50,000 hours or more. Sodium lamps do not outlast them.
• ✓ 3. Sodium lamps are narrow-spectrum sources that put most of their output into longer wavelengths such as yellow and red, so the visible light is almost monochromatic. LEDs can give a broad white spectrum, which is the colour advantage the statement claims.

Remember · Against sodium lamps, LED street lights are directional, longer-lasting, more efficient and broad-spectrum; sodium lamps radiate in all directions with a narrow yellow-red-weighted spectrum.

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Answer: (d) spread of viral diseases

ACE2, short for angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, sits on the outer surface of human cells, and the spike of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus behind COVID-19) latches onto it to get inside. So it was discussed in the context of how a viral disease spreads.

• ✓ (d) The spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 binds to ACE2 on host cells, which lets the virus enter them. The earlier SARS coronavirus used the same receptor.
• ✗ (a) ACE2 is a human protein, not a gene introduced into genetically modified plants.
• ✗ (b) India's own satellite navigation system is NavIC; ACE2 has nothing to do with navigation or radio collars.

Remember · ACE2 is the human cell-surface receptor that SARS-CoV-2 (and SARS-CoV) binds to for entry into cells.

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Answer: (b) Polycarbonate

BPA is the building-block chemical of polycarbonate, the hard, clear plastic used in reusable bottles and food containers. It is also used in epoxy resins, such as the lining of food cans. The official agencies name only these two plastics as its main uses, so the other options fail.

• ✓ (b) Polycarbonate is made by joining BPA units, so BPA is a structural part of it. Small amounts can leach into food or drink, which is why BPA is a health concern (it can act on the hormone system).
• ✗ (a) Low-density polyethylene (carry bags and films) is not among the plastics that US and EU agencies name as made with BPA; they name polycarbonate and epoxy resins.
• ✗ (c) PET, the plastic of soft-drink and water bottles, is not among the plastics that US and EU agencies name as made with BPA; polycarbonate is the BPA-based bottle plastic.
• ✗ (d) Polyvinyl chloride is not among the plastics that US and EU agencies name as made with BPA; they name polycarbonate and epoxy resins.

Remember · BPA goes into polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins (can linings). It is a suspected hormone disruptor.

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Answer: (d) Toiletries

Triclosan is an antibacterial chemical added to personal-care products such as some soaps, skin cleansers, deodorants and toothpastes, which are toiletries. It is a suspected endocrine (hormone-system) disruptor, so long exposure to high levels is a worry.

• ✓ (d) The US FDA says triclosan is added to some antibacterial soaps and body washes, toothpastes and cosmetics, all toiletries. Some short-term animal studies link high doses to lower levels of some thyroid hormones, which is why long exposure is a concern.
• ✗ (a) Food preservatives keep food from spoiling; triclosan is not a permitted food preservative. It is an antibacterial for personal-care products.
• ✗ (b) Fruit-ripening substances are chemicals that release ethylene, the ripening hormone of plants. Triclosan is not a ripening agent.
• ✗ (c) Triclosan is mainly an antibacterial added to personal-care products. The usual worry about reused plastic containers is a different one: chemicals such as BPA leaching out of the plastic.

Remember · Triclosan is an antibacterial agent in toiletries (soaps, toothpaste, deodorants) and a suspected endocrine disruptor.

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Answer: (d) Speed of light is always same.

A light-year is the distance light covers in one year, and it works as a fixed yardstick because the speed of light in vacuum is constant. Space distances are so large that a unit with a fixed, known value is far more convenient than kilometres.

• ✓ (d) Light travels at about 3 × 10^8 m/s in vacuum, always the same value. So the distance it covers in one year is a fixed length, roughly 9 trillion km.
• ✗ (a) Distances between stars and galaxies do change, because they move; the light-year is chosen for another reason.
• ✗ (c) Light does not always go straight: it bends when it passes from one medium to another, so straight-line travel is not the basis of the unit.
• ✗ (b) The strength of gravity of a star has no role in defining a unit of length.

Remember · A light-year is a distance (about 9.46 trillion km), not a time. It is usable because the speed of light in vacuum is constant.

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Answer: (c) Both 1 and 2

Both statements are correct as UPSC frames them. The British Parliament is sovereign, but India's Parliament works within a written Constitution and can be checked by the courts. Also, cases on the meaning of the Constitution go to a Constitution Bench of at least five Supreme Court judges.

• ✓ 1. In the UK, Parliament is the supreme legal authority and the courts generally cannot overrule its laws. In India, the Constitution limits Parliament: it must respect Fundamental Rights, the division of powers between the Union and the States, and the basic structure, and the Supreme Court can strike down laws that breach them.
• ✓ 2. Article 145(3) requires at least five judges to decide any case involving a substantial question of law on the interpretation of the Constitution. So challenges to the constitutional validity of a law or an amendment are placed before a Constitution Bench. The statement's phrase 'Amendment of an Act' is loose, but the key treats it as correct.

Remember · UK: parliamentary sovereignty. India: constitutional supremacy, with judicial review, and Constitution Bench (five or more judges) for substantial questions on interpreting the Constitution (Article 145(3)).

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Answer: (b) 2 only

Only statement 2 is correct. The Department of Personnel was created on 1 August 1970 in the Cabinet Secretariat on the First Administrative Reforms Commission's advice, under the Prime Minister. The Gopalaswami Ayyangar Committee of 1949 made no proposal of a minister and secretary solely for administrative reform.

• ✗ 1. The Ayyangar Committee (1949) said a Department should be under a Secretary and a Ministry under a Minister, grouped the economic and social departments into four bureaus, and suggested an Organization and Methods machinery. It did not propose a minister and secretary meant only for administrative reform.
• ✓ 2. The First Administrative Reforms Commission (set up in 1966) recommended a separate Department of Personnel directly under the Prime Minister. The Government accepted this and the Department came into being on 1 August 1970, as part of the Cabinet Secretariat.

Remember · Department of Personnel: created 1 August 1970 in the Cabinet Secretariat, on the First ARC's advice, under the Prime Minister. Ayyangar Committee (1949): Secretary for a Department, Minister for a Ministry, and O&M machinery.

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Answer: (c) Article 21

The Supreme Court held in Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) v. Union of India (24 August 2017) that the right to privacy is an intrinsic part of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21. It also forms part of the freedoms guaranteed by Part III of the Constitution.

• ✓ (c) Article 21 says no person shall be deprived of life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law. The nine-judge bench read privacy into this right, overruling earlier decisions (M.P. Sharma and Kharak Singh) to the extent they denied it.
• ✗ (a) Article 15 is the equality guarantee against discrimination by the State on the basis of religion, race, caste, sex or birthplace. Privacy is not derived from it.
• ✗ (b) Article 19 protects freedoms such as speech and movement. The Court said privacy also draws on the Part III freedoms, but its main anchor is Article 21, which is the answer sought.
• ✗ (d) Article 29 protects the interests of minorities in their language, script and culture; it has nothing to do with privacy.

Remember · Right to privacy is a fundamental right under Article 21 (Puttaswamy, 2017), and is subject to reasonable restrictions.

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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 it tests: since a 1996 amendment, Section 33(7) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 lets a person contest from at most two constituencies in a general election, and no rule makes a candidate's party pay for the resulting bye-election.

• ✗ 1. There is a law: Section 33(7) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 allows a person to contest a general election from a maximum of two constituencies. It was inserted by a 1996 amendment; before that there was no limit.
• • 2. This is a point of election history, not of law, and it is left unjudged in this write-up; UPSC dropped the question from evaluation anyway.
• ✗ 3. No existing rule makes the party bear the cost. The Election Commission has only proposed that, if two-seat contests continue, the candidate (not the party) should pay for the bye-election to the seat he or she vacates.

Remember · Section 33(7), RPA 1951 (since 1996): a person may contest from a maximum of two constituencies. Under Section 70, a person winning both must leave one seat.

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Answer: (d) 2 and 3

‘Right to the City’ is a vision of cities for all, in which every inhabitant, including those in informal settlements, can use public spaces and take part in city life. It is not an agreed human right that UN-Habitat monitors country by country, so statement 1 fails while statements 2 and 3 fit the idea.

• ✗ 1. The UN's New Urban Agenda (2016) only notes that some national and local governments have written this vision, called ‘right to the city’, into their laws, declarations and charters. It is not an agreed international human right with country-wise commitments.
• ✓ 2. The idea stresses equal use and enjoyment of cities by all inhabitants, with participation in city life and safe, inclusive public spaces open to everyone.
• ✓ 3. The vision covers all inhabitants, whether they live in formal or informal settlements. UPSC's key therefore treats the State's duty not to deny services to unauthorised colonies as part of it.

Remember · Right to the City: a vision of equal use of cities by all inhabitants, informal settlements included. Some governments have legislated it; it is not an agreed international right.

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Answer: (b) 2 only

Statement 1 is wrong because a person in judicial custody is kept in prison (jail) on the Magistrate's order, while a police-station lock-up is police custody. Statement 2 is the one UPSC treats as correct: a person in judicial custody is under the court's control, so the police need the court's approval to question him.

• ✗ 1. The law separates the two: detention is either in a police station under police custody, or in prison under judicial custody. Judicial custody is therefore not a lock-up in a police station.
• ✓ 2. Police custody is granted by the Magistrate only for a limited period. Once the accused is remanded to judicial custody, he is in prison under the court's control, and the MHA Model Prison Manual allows only police officers authorised by the Judge or Magistrate to interrogate an undertrial prisoner there.
• • Since then The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Section 167) has since been replaced by the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, where the same remand rules appear in Section 187.

Remember · Police custody means the police station; judicial custody means prison under the Magistrate's order. Questioning in judicial custody needs the court's approval.

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Answer: (b) 2 only

Parole and furlough rules are made by each State, not by the Centre, so statement 2 is correct. Statement 1 is wrong because these rules do not give a prisoner a legal right to be released; parole is a conditional, discretionary release.

• ✗ 1. The Ministry of Home Affairs' Model Prison Manual says release on parole is not an absolute right: an eligible prisoner has a legal right only as per the conditions laid down, and the concession can be cancelled. So parole cannot be claimed as of right merely on making out a case.
• ✓ 2. Each State frames its own rules: the MHA Model Prison Manual says the respective State Government or Union Territory may enact a local and special law or issue instructions on parole and furlough. An example is the Bombay Furlough and Parole Rules, made under Section 59 of the Prisons Act, 1894, which apply in Gujarat.

Remember · Parole is a conditional, discretionary release, not a right. Each State has its own parole rules, as prisons are a State subject.

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Answer: (d) Ministry of Tribal Affairs

Section 11 of the Forest Rights Act, 2006 names the Central Government's Ministry dealing with Tribal Affairs as the nodal agency for implementing the Act. So it is the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, not the environment ministry, even though the Act concerns forest land.

• ✓ (d) The Act itself makes the Ministry of the Central Government dealing with Tribal Affairs the nodal agency for its implementation.
• ✗ (a) The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change manages forest and wildlife laws, and it is the tempting wrong answer. It is not the nodal agency for this Act.
• ✗ (b) The Ministry of Panchayati Raj deals with local-government institutions, not the Forest Rights Act.
• ✗ (c) The Ministry of Rural Development runs rural livelihood and housing schemes, not this Act.

Remember · Forest Rights Act, 2006: Ministry of Tribal Affairs is the nodal agency (Section 11); Gram Sabha starts the recognition of rights.

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Answer: (a) Article 14

Article 14, the guarantee of equality before the law and equal protection of the laws, is violated by a law that gives officials unguided and uncontrolled discretion. Such a power can be used arbitrarily, and the Supreme Court has held that arbitrariness and equality cannot go together.

• ✓ (a) With no guidelines to control the discretion, the authority can treat similar persons differently at will. The Supreme Court has held that a statute vesting unguided and unrestricted power in an authority is vitiated by discrimination, and so violates Article 14.
• ✗ (b) Article 28 is about religious instruction and worship in educational institutions, not administrative discretion.
• ✗ (c) Article 32 gives the right to move the Supreme Court for enforcing Fundamental Rights. It is a remedy, not a right that such a law would breach.
• ✗ (d) Article 44 is a Directive Principle on a uniform civil code, which is not enforceable in court and is unrelated to discretionary powers.

Remember · Arbitrary or unguided discretion in a law offends Article 14: equality is the enemy of arbitrariness.

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Answer: (a) The independence of judiciary is safeguarded.

An independent judiciary is an essential mark of a federation, because someone neutral must settle disputes between the Centre and the States over who holds which power. India has this: the Supreme Court has original jurisdiction over Centre–State and inter-State disputes.

• ✓ (a) Two levels of government need an umpire on the division of powers. Article 131 gives the Supreme Court exclusive original jurisdiction in disputes between the Government of India and States, or between States.
• ✗ (b) Elected representatives from States sitting in the Union legislature also happens in unitary systems, where regions send members to the national legislature. It does not show a federal character.
• ✗ (c) Regional-party members in the Union Cabinet arise from coalition politics, not from a constitutional feature of federalism.
• ✗ (d) Fundamental Rights being enforceable in court protect individuals against the State. They are found in unitary democracies too, so they do not mark a federation.

Remember · Federal features: two levels of government, a written constitution, division of powers and an independent judiciary to resolve Centre–State disputes (Article 131).

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Answer: (a) A community of persons permanently occupying a definite territory independent of external control and possessing an organized government

A State in political science has four essentials: people, a definite territory, a government, and sovereignty (freedom from outside control). Option (a) is the only one that names all four.

• ✓ (a) It has the community of persons (population), permanent occupation of a definite territory, an organised government and independence from external control (sovereignty).
• ✗ (b) It never mentions freedom from outside control, and it adds functions (protecting natural rights, sustenance) that are duties of a good State, not part of what makes a State.
• ✗ (c) Living together for a long time with a shared culture describes a nation or community. It leaves out sovereignty.
• ✗ (d) Adding an executive answerable to a central authority and an independent judiciary describes a particular form of government, not the basic definition of a State. Sovereignty is missing here too.

Remember · State = population + definite territory + government + sovereignty. The government can change; the State continues.

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Answer: (a) 1 only

Why not the tempting option · UPSC's key is (a). Statement 2 tempts because High Courts do review their own orders — under the Civil Procedure Code and, as courts of record, under an inherent power the Supreme Court recognised in Shivdeo Singh v. State of Punjab (1963). But that power is not 'as the Supreme Court does': the Supreme Court's review is an express, general constitutional power (Article 137), while a High Court's is statutory or inherent and narrower, and the criminal procedure code bars it from altering or reviewing a signed criminal judgment except to correct a clerical or arithmetical error. In the exam, 'as the Supreme Court does' invites a comparison of constitutional provisions, and the High Court has none.

Statement 1 is correct: under Article 128 the Chief Justice of India, with the President's previous consent, may request a retired Supreme Court judge to sit and act as a judge of the Court. Statement 2 is not: the Constitution confers an express, general power of review only on the Supreme Court (Article 137). A High Court reviews its own judgments only under statute (the Civil Procedure Code on the civil side) or its inherent powers as a court of record, and the criminal procedure code bars a court from altering or reviewing a signed judgment except to correct a clerical or arithmetical error — so its power is not 'as the Supreme Court does'.

• ✓ 1. Article 128 lets the Chief Justice of India, with the President's previous consent, request a person who has held office as a Supreme Court judge (or a qualified former High Court judge) to sit and act as a Supreme Court judge. The person cannot be forced to sit unless he consents.
• ✗ 2. Article 137 expressly gives the Supreme Court power to review any judgment or order it has made, in any kind of proceeding. No article gives a High Court such a power; Article 215 only makes it a court of record. A High Court's review is narrower and comes from elsewhere — Section 114 and Order 47 of the CPC in civil cases and its inherent power to correct grave errors — and in criminal cases the procedure code bars altering or reviewing a signed judgment except for clerical or arithmetical errors. So the High Court does not have the power 'as the Supreme Court does'.

Remember · Article 128: the CJI, with the President's previous consent, may request retired Supreme Court judges to sit as judges. Article 137 expressly gives review power to the Supreme Court; High Courts have no equivalent article — their review is statutory or inherent, and barred in criminal cases.

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Answer: (a) 1 only

Only statement 1 is correct: India has a single citizenship (and a single domicile, that of India), unlike federal countries that give people citizenship of both the nation and a state. Statement 2 is wrong because Article 58 requires the President to be a citizen of India, not a citizen by birth, and statement 3 is wrong because the Citizenship Act allows the Central Government to deprive some citizens of citizenship.

• ✓ 1. The Constitution provides only one citizenship, that of India; Article 5 speaks of domicile 'in the territory of India', not of any state. Some federal countries have dual citizenship; India does not.
• ✗ 2. Article 58 lists three conditions to be President: citizen of India, at least 35 years of age, and qualified to be elected to the Lok Sabha. Birth in India is not a condition, so a naturalised citizen can be eligible.
• ✗ 3. Section 10 of the Citizenship Act, 1955 lets the Central Government deprive a citizen who got citizenship by naturalisation or registration of it, for example where it was obtained by fraud, after giving notice. The Citizenship Rules, 2009 lay down the notice procedure.

Remember · One citizenship, one domicile. The President must be a citizen of India, not necessarily by birth. Section 10 of the Citizenship Act, 1955 allows deprivation of some citizens.

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Answer: (d) Separation of powers

Separation of powers is the best safeguard of liberty because it keeps law-making, law-enforcing and law-interpreting power in different hands, so each organ can check the others and none can rule unchecked. Centralised power removes those checks, and an elected government is itself the body that needs to be restrained.

• ✗ (a) A judiciary protects liberty only when it is independent of the legislature and executive. That independence is itself a product of separating the powers, so the judiciary alone is not the 'best' safeguard.
• ✗ (b) Centralising powers puts them in one place and removes the checks that protect individual freedom.
• ✗ (c) Elections choose the government but do not limit what it may do once in office; a majority can still override individual rights unless other organs hold it in check.
• ✓ (d) Dividing power among the legislature, executive and judiciary creates checks and balances: each organ can check what the others do and restore balance if one goes beyond its role.

Remember · Liberty is safest when no single organ holds all state power: separation of powers, with checks and balances among legislature, executive and judiciary, is the best safeguard.

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Answer: (b) the Directive Principles of State Policy

Concentration of wealth violates the Directive Principles of State Policy. Article 39(c) directs the State to steer the economy so that wealth and the means of production do not pile up in a few hands to the public's harm.

• ✗ (a) The Right to Equality (Articles 14-18) covers equality before law, non-discrimination and equal opportunity in public employment; it does not deal with how wealth is distributed.
• ✓ (b) Article 39(c), a Directive Principle, directs the State to see that the working of the economy does not gather wealth and the means of production into a few hands to the common detriment.
• ✗ (c) The Right to Freedom (Articles 19-22) protects freedoms such as speech, movement and profession; it says nothing about limiting concentration of wealth.
• ✗ (d) 'Welfare' is a general goal, not a specific constitutional provision; the specific direction on wealth is Article 39(c).

Remember · Article 39(c), a Directive Principle: the State must prevent wealth and the means of production from concentrating in a few hands, to the common detriment.

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Answer: (b) Legal right available to any person

The Right to Property is an ordinary legal (constitutional) right under Article 300A, and it is available to any person, not only citizens. The 44th Amendment (1978) removed it from the list of Fundamental Rights.

• ✗ (a) It is a legal right, but Article 300A begins 'No person', so it protects everyone, citizen or not.
• ✓ (b) Article 300A says no person shall be deprived of his property save by authority of law. It is a right recognised by the Constitution, but it is not a Fundamental Right.
• ✗ (c) The 44th Amendment (1978) removed the right to property from the list of Fundamental Rights, so it is no longer one.
• ✗ (d) It is not a Fundamental Right, but it is still a right: Article 300A gives it constitutional protection against deprivation without authority of law.

Remember · Right to Property: no longer a Fundamental Right after the 44th Amendment (1978); now a legal right under Article 300A ('No person...'), available to every person.

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Answer: (b) A Sovereign Democratic Republic

On 26 January 1950 India was a Sovereign Democratic Republic. The words 'Socialist' and 'Secular' were added to the Preamble only by the 42nd Amendment in 1976, which took effect on 3 January 1977.

• ✗ (a) It leaves out 'Sovereign', which was in the Preamble from the start.
• ✓ (b) The original Preamble read 'Sovereign Democratic Republic'; the 42nd Amendment replaced these words with 'Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic' from 3 January 1977.
• ✗ (c) 'Secular' was inserted in 1976, so it was not part of the description in 1950.
• ✗ (d) This is the present wording, adopted only after the 42nd Amendment (1976), so it describes India after 1977, not in 1950.

Remember · 1950 Preamble: Sovereign Democratic Republic. 'Socialist' and 'Secular' (and 'integrity') were added by the 42nd Amendment, 1976, effective 3 January 1977.

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Answer: (d) a government limited by the terms of the Constitution

Constitutional government means a government whose powers are limited by the terms of the Constitution. A constitution sets limits on what the government may do, and the government may not go beyond them.

• ✗ (a) This describes a representative, federal government. Whether a government is federal or unitary is a separate question from whether its powers are limited by a constitution.
• ✗ (b) A Head with nominal powers describes the parliamentary system (for example India's President in practice, or a constitutional monarch); it is not the definition of constitutional government.
• ✗ (c) A Head with real powers describes the presidential system; the size of the Head's powers does not define constitutional government.
• ✓ (d) The third function of a constitution is to set limits on what a government can impose on its citizens; these limits are fundamental, so the government may never trespass them.

Remember · Constitutional government = government limited by the Constitution. It is defined by limits on power, not by federal structure or by how strong the Head is.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Indian Constitution at Work, Ch 1 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) tribal languages

Halbi, Ho and Kui are tribal languages. In the Census of India's classification Halbi (spelt 'Halabi') is an Indo-Aryan language, Ho belongs to the Austro-Asiatic family and Kui to the Dravidian family.

• ✗ (a) None of the three is a dance form; the Census lists all three among India's languages and mother tongues.
• ✗ (b) They are not musical instruments; Census C-16 lists them as languages.
• ✗ (c) They are not cave-painting traditions; they are living languages spoken by communities.
• ✓ (d) Halbi, Ho and Kui are languages spoken chiefly by tribal communities, and state education programmes have used Halbi and Kui (with Gondi, Saora and Santali) for early schooling.

Remember · Halbi (Indo-Aryan), Ho (Austro-Asiatic) and Kui (Dravidian) are tribal languages, not dances, instruments or paintings.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3

All three statements are wrong, so the answer is 1, 2 and 3. The awards are not 'titles' (they cannot be used as a prefix or suffix to the name), the Padma Awards were interrupted twice (1978-79 and 1993-97), and Bharat Ratna is limited to three a year, not five.

• ✗ 1. Article 18(1) bars the State from conferring titles. The Ministry of Home Affairs states that the Padma award does not amount to a title and cannot be used as a suffix or prefix to the awardee's name; Bharat Ratna is treated the same way.
• ✗ 2. The Padma Awards were instituted in 1954 but were interrupted in 1978-79 and again from 1993 to 1997, so they were suspended twice, not once.
• ✗ 3. The number of Bharat Ratna awards is restricted to a maximum of three in a particular year, not five.

Remember · Bharat Ratna: maximum three a year. Padma Awards (1954) were interrupted in 1978-79 and 1993-97. Neither is a 'title' under Article 18(1); neither may be a name prefix or suffix.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Statement 1 is not correct but Statement 2 is correct

Statement 1 is wrong because the 'Tree Cities of the World' recognition is given by the Arbor Day Foundation together with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), not the UN Capital Development Fund. Statement 2 is correct: Hyderabad was among the 120 cities recognised for 2020 for meeting the programme's urban-forest standards.

• ✗ Statement 1 The programme is a partnership of FAO and the Arbor Day Foundation, launched in 2019. UNCDF, which is a UN fund for least developed countries' finance, has no role in it, so naming it makes the statement wrong although Hyderabad and the Arbor Day Foundation are right.
• ✓ Statement 2 Hyderabad was one of 120 cities in 23 countries recognised for 2020. Each city has to meet five qualifying standards on managing and celebrating its urban forests.

Remember · Tree Cities of the World = FAO + Arbor Day Foundation (from 2019). Hyderabad was recognised for 2020. The UN Capital Development Fund is not involved.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 1 and 3 only

Statements 1 and 3 are correct. Tiger Woods won the very first Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award (2000), and Roger Federer had won more Laureus awards than anyone else. Statement 2 is wrong: Formula One drivers won only a handful of the Sportsman awards, while tennis players, athletes and golfers won most.

• ✓ 1. The Laureus list of past winners begins with Tiger Woods for 2000 (and 2001) in the Sportsman of the Year category. The first Laureus World Sports Awards were held in 2000.
• ✗ 2. Among the Sportsman of the Year winners from 2000 to 2021, Formula One drivers won only four times (Michael Schumacher twice, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton). Federer, Djokovic, Bolt and Nadal won far more.
• ✓ 3. Federer won the Sportsman award in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2018 and also the Comeback award in 2018; Laureus called him the most decorated winner in its history.
• • Since then Since the exam, Novak Djokovic has also reached five Sportsman of the Year awards (2012, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2024 on Laureus's list).

Remember · Laureus World Sports Awards began in 2000: Tiger Woods won the first Sportsman award; Roger Federer, with five Sportsman awards plus others, was the most decorated winner.