Prelims GS Paper I 2022

Answer: (b) International Monetary Fund

Both are emergency lending windows of the International Monetary Fund. They give quick money to a member country hit by an urgent balance of payments need when a full IMF programme is not needed or not possible; the RCF is the concessional (low-income country) version.

• ✓ (b) The IMF's Annual Report 2022 calls the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF) and the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) its emergency financing instruments for urgent balance of payments needs.
• ✗ (d) The World Bank lends for long-term development projects and programmes. Short-term balance of payments rescue is the IMF's job, and the IMF says it does not lend for specific projects.
• ✗ (a) The Asian Development Bank is a regional development lender for Asia and the Pacific; the RFI and RCF are not its facilities.

Remember · IMF emergency finance: RFI for any member with an urgent balance of payments need; RCF, on concessional terms, for low-income members through the PRGT.

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Answer: (c) 1 and 3 only

NEER is a trade-weighted index of the rupee against partner currencies, so a rise means the rupee has appreciated. REER is NEER adjusted for relative prices: a rising REER makes Indian goods dearer abroad, which hurts competitiveness. Higher Indian inflation than abroad pushes REER up faster than NEER, widening the gap.

• ✓ 1. The RBI builds NEER as a weighted average of the rupee's bilateral exchange rates with trading partners; the index rises when the rupee appreciates against that basket.
• ✗ 2. A higher REER means the rupee is stronger in real terms, so exports cost more and imports less. The Economic Survey 2008-09 read an REER of 114.09 as a 14.1 per cent overvaluation of the rupee — a loss of competitiveness.
• ✓ 3. REER is NEER corrected for inflation differentials with trading partners. If Indian inflation keeps rising faster than theirs, REER climbs even when NEER is flat, so the two indices drift apart.

Remember · NEER up = rupee appreciated in nominal terms. REER up = rupee dearer in real terms = exports less competitive. The inflation differential is what separates REER from NEER.

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Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only

When the RBI buys government securities it pays out money and raises the money supply, which would feed inflation, so statement 1 is wrong. Selling dollars supports a falling rupee, and a fall in US or EU interest rates draws funds into India, which the RBI soaks up by buying dollars.

• ✗ 1. Buying bonds in open market operations adds reserves to the banking system and expands money supply. To fight high inflation the RBI would do the opposite and sell securities to absorb money.
• ✓ 2. Under India's managed float the RBI intervenes in the currency market. Selling dollars from its reserves raises the supply of dollars and eases the pressure on a rapidly weakening rupee.
• ✓ 3. Funds move to where returns are higher. Lower rates in the USA or EU make Indian assets more attractive, dollars flow in and the rupee tends to rise; the RBI buys those dollars to smooth the rise and add to reserves.

Remember · RBI buys bonds = injects money (not an anti-inflation step). RBI sells dollars = defends a falling rupee. Capital inflows = RBI buys dollars.

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Answer: (c) Both 1 and 2

The Common Framework for Debt Treatments beyond the DSSI was agreed in November 2020 by the G20 along with the Paris Club of official creditors. Its purpose is to restructure, case by case, the debt of low-income countries whose debt has become unsustainable.

• ✓ 1. The G20 and the Paris Club endorsed it together in November 2020. It brings Paris Club creditors and the other G20 official bilateral creditors into one coordinated process.
• ✓ 2. It targets low-income countries with unsustainable debt. Each eligible country's request is handled case by case by a creditor committee, with the IMF and World Bank supporting the talks through their debt sustainability analysis.

Remember · G20 Common Framework (November 2020): G20 together with the Paris Club; case-by-case debt treatment for low-income countries with unsustainable debt, through creditor committees.

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Answer: (a) 1 and 2 only

Because the principal and payouts of an IIB rise with inflation, investors do not need an extra premium for inflation risk, so the government can borrow at a lower (real) coupon while investors are shielded from inflation. There is no tax break: normal tax rules apply to both interest and capital gains.

• ✓ 1. The RBI's technical paper on IIBs lists cost savings for the government, partly by removing the risk premium that lenders charge for uncertain inflation, so the coupon can be set lower in real terms.
• ✓ 2. The principal is indexed to inflation and the coupon is paid on the indexed principal, so the investor's real return is protected when prices rise.
• ✗ 3. The RBI's FAQ says existing tax provisions apply to interest and capital gains on IIBs; there is no special tax treatment.

Remember · IIBs: principal indexed to inflation, real coupon; cheaper borrowing for government (no inflation risk premium) and inflation protection for investors; fully taxable as usual.

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Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2

India's FDI policy lets foreign-owned e-commerce firms run only a marketplace, not an inventory model, so they cannot sell goods they own. And a seller in which the marketplace or its group companies hold any equity cannot sell on that platform at all — the bar is outright, not a matter of degree — so both statements fail.

• ✗ 1. 100% FDI is allowed only in the marketplace model; FDI is not permitted in the inventory-based model. A marketplace that owns or controls the goods sold becomes an inventory model, so a foreign-owned platform cannot sell its own stock.
• ✗ 2. Press Note 2 (2018) does not set a permitted level of ownership: any entity with equity participation by the marketplace or its group companies, or whose inventory they control, cannot sell on that platform. Owning sellers on the platform is barred, not merely limited.

Remember · FDI in e-commerce: 100% automatic in the marketplace model; none in the inventory model. Sellers with marketplace-group equity cannot sell on that platform (Press Note 2, 2018).

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Answer: (a) 1 and 2 only

The real sector is the part of the economy that actually produces goods and services — farms, factories and the like. Bank lending and bond issues move money and claims around; they belong to the financial sector, however useful they are to production.

• ✓ 1. Harvesting crops is primary-sector production of real goods from natural resources.
• ✓ 2. A textile mill turning raw cotton into fabric is manufacturing — secondary-sector production.
• ✗ 3. A bank loan is a financial transaction: it creates a claim (a debt) rather than producing a good, so it is financial-sector activity.
• ✗ 4. Issuing rupee-denominated (masala) bonds abroad is a way of raising funds in financial markets, not production of goods or services.

Remember · Real sector = production of goods and services (agriculture, industry, services output). Lending, borrowing and bond issues = financial sector.

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Answer: (d) A foreign company transfers shares and such shares derive their substantial value from assets located in India

An 'indirect transfer' is the sale of shares of a company based outside India whose value comes mainly from assets in India — the Indian assets change hands indirectly. The Finance Act, 2012 made such gains taxable in India with retrospective effect, and the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021 withdrew that retrospective tax for deals before 28 May 2012.

• ✓ (d) Since 2012, Section 9(1)(i) of the Income-tax Act treats shares of a foreign company as situated in India if they derive their value substantially from Indian assets, so their transfer offshore can be taxed in India.
• ✗ (b) A foreign investor paying tax at home on its profits is ordinary cross-border taxation; no Indian assets are being transferred through offshore shares.
• ✗ (a) This is simply outward investment by an Indian company taxed abroad; it has nothing to do with Indian assets changing hands through a foreign entity.

Remember · Indirect transfer = offshore sale of shares of a foreign company that derive substantial value from Indian assets. The 2012 retrospective tax on such pre-28 May 2012 deals was withdrawn in 2021.

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Answer: (a) 1 only

Spending that creates a lasting asset — such as new technology, machinery or equipment — is capital expenditure. Debt and equity are ways of raising money, not ways of spending it, so neither can be classed as capital or revenue expenditure.

• ✓ 1. Buying new technology adds a long-lived asset that yields benefits over years, which is exactly what capital expenditure means (like spending on machinery and equipment).
• ✗ 2. Borrowing (debt) and issuing shares (equity) are sources of funds. For a government, loans are capital receipts because they create a liability; they are not expenditure of any kind.

Remember · Capital expenditure creates assets or cuts liabilities (land, machinery, technology). Debt and equity are financing — receipts, not expenditure.

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Answer: (c) Both 1 and 2

The government borrows at home from the public — directly through small savings schemes and indirectly through banks, insurers and provident funds that hold household money — so part of household savings finances it. Most of the Centre's internal debt is in dated securities sold at auctions.

• ✓ 1. Household deposits in small savings schemes are lent to the Centre through the National Small Savings Fund, and bank deposits flow into government bonds that banks must hold under the SLR.
• ✓ 2. At end-March 2022, dated securities alone made up 66.5 per cent of the Centre's public debt, most of which is internal debt; they are sold through auctions at market-determined yields.

Remember · Centre's internal debt: dominated by auctioned dated securities (about two-thirds of public debt, 2022); household savings reach the government via small savings (NSSF) and banks' SLR holdings.

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Answer: (b) 1, 2 and 4

The Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 was enacted on the Sanyal Committee's 1963 report, under Parliament's power in Entry 77 of List I and Entry 14 of List III. Articles 129 and 215 give the Supreme Court and High Courts power to punish contempt of themselves, but the definitions of civil and criminal contempt are in Section 2 of the Act, not the Constitution.

• ✓ 1. A committee under H.N. Sanyal, then Additional Solicitor General, was set up in 1961 and reported in 1963; the 1971 Act was enacted to give effect to its recommendations.
• ✓ 2. Article 129 (Supreme Court) and Article 215 (High Courts) make them courts of record with the power to punish for contempt of themselves.
• ✗ 3. The Constitution does not define the two kinds of contempt. Section 2 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 defines 'civil contempt' and 'criminal contempt'.
• ✓ 4. Entry 77 of the Union List (contempt of the Supreme Court) and Entry 14 of the Concurrent List (contempt of other courts) let Parliament legislate on contempt; the 1971 Act is such a law.

Remember · Contempt: power from Articles 129 and 215 (courts of record); definitions from the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 (Sanyal Committee, 1963); legislative entries — List I Entry 77, List III Entry 14.

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Answer: (b) 2 only

Under the Advocates Act, 1961 an advocate is an individual enrolled on a State Bar Council's roll; a law firm is not an advocate, and corporate lawyers or patent attorneys are not excluded as a class. The Bar Council of India does have statutory functions over legal education and recognition of law degrees.

• ✗ 1. The Act's definition of advocate does not extend to law firms, partnerships or companies, so 'legal firms' are not recognised as advocates. Recognition turns on an individual's enrolment, not on whether one works for government, a company or in patent practice.
• ✓ 2. Section 7 of the Advocates Act gives the Bar Council of India legal-education functions, including recognising universities whose law degree qualifies a person for enrolment, and inspecting them for that purpose.

Remember · Advocates Act, 1961: advocates are enrolled individuals (firms are not); the Bar Council of India sets legal-education standards and recognises law degrees for enrolment.

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Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only

Article 368(2) lets an amendment bill be introduced in either House without any prior recommendation of the President. Each House must pass it separately by a special majority — no joint sitting — and the President then 'shall give his assent', so assent is obligatory.

• ✗ 1. Article 368(2) only says an amendment is initiated by introducing a Bill in either House of Parliament; no prior presidential recommendation is required.
• ✓ 2. Since the 24th Amendment (1971), Article 368(2) says the passed Bill 'shall be presented to the President who shall give his assent'. The President cannot send it back for reconsideration.
• ✓ 3. Each House must pass the Bill separately by a majority of its total membership and two-thirds of members present and voting; there is no provision for a joint sitting.

Remember · Article 368: introduce in either House, no President's prior recommendation; special majority in each House separately; no joint sitting; President must assent.

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Answer: (b) 2 only

The Constitution speaks only of a Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister; ranks such as cabinet minister, minister of state and deputy minister are allotted by the Prime Minister by convention. The 15 per cent cap on the size of the Council of Ministers is in Article 75(1A).

• ✗ 1. No article lists ranks of ministers. The Prime Minister allocates ranks and portfolios, depending on seniority and political importance.
• ✓ 2. Article 75(1A), added by the 91st Amendment (2003), says the total number of ministers including the Prime Minister shall not exceed fifteen per cent of the total membership of the Lok Sabha.

Remember · Article 75(1A): Council of Ministers ≤ 15% of Lok Sabha strength (Article 164(1A) for States, minimum 12). Ministerial ranks are the PM's arrangement, not constitutional categories.

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Answer: (b) 2 only

The Council of Ministers is responsible to the Lok Sabha alone, so only the Lok Sabha can remove it through a no-confidence motion. Approving an Emergency proclamation needs resolutions of both Houses, and impeachment of the President can begin in either House.

• ✗ 1. Under Article 352(4), an Emergency proclamation lapses after one month unless approved by resolutions of both Houses of Parliament, so the Rajya Sabha shares this power.
• ✓ 2. Article 75(3) makes the Council of Ministers collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha. The Rajya Sabha can criticise the government but cannot remove it.
• ✗ 3. Article 61(1) says the impeachment charge against the President may be preferred by either House; the other House then investigates it.

Remember · Lok Sabha only: no-confidence motion; money bills. Both Houses: approving Emergency (Art. 352), impeaching the President (Art. 61), amending the Constitution.

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Answer: (b) 2 only

The Tenth Schedule works the other way round for nominated members: they may join a party within six months of taking their seat and are disqualified only if they join after that. It leaves defection cases to the Speaker or Chairman but sets no deadline for deciding them.

• ✗ 1. Paragraph 2(3) disqualifies a nominated member who joins a political party after the expiry of six months from taking the seat — so joining within the first six months is allowed.
• ✓ 2. Paragraph 6 refers disqualification questions to the Chairman or Speaker, whose decision is final, but prescribes no time limit for the decision.

Remember · Tenth Schedule: nominated member may join a party within 6 months of taking seat; independents may never join one; Speaker/Chairman decides, with no statutory deadline.

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Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2

Article 88 gives every Minister and the Attorney-General — not the Solicitor General — the right to speak and take part in Parliament's proceedings without a vote. The Constitution only says the Attorney-General holds office during the pleasure of the President; resigning with the government is a convention, not a constitutional rule.

• ✗ 1. Article 88 names Ministers and the Attorney-General as the persons who may take part in the proceedings of either House and its committees; the Solicitor General has no such constitutional right.
• ✗ 2. Article 76(4) says only that the Attorney-General holds office during the pleasure of the President. Stepping down when the government changes is a practice, not something the Constitution provides.

Remember · Article 76: Attorney-General (office at President's pleasure; right of audience in all courts). Article 88: AG and Ministers may speak in either House and committees but cannot vote.

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Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3

Mandamus commands the performance of a statutory or public duty, so it reaches a private body only when the law entrusts it with a public duty, and not a company registered under the Companies Act merely because the government owns it: in Praga Tools Corporation (1969) the Supreme Court refused mandamus against a company in which the Union and Andhra Pradesh governments held 88 per cent of the shares. Quo warranto tests a person's title to a public office, and any member of the public may seek it.

• ✓ 1. Mandamus is a command to do a thing that is in the nature of a public duty. The Supreme Court in Praga Tools said it can issue to companies or corporations to carry out duties placed on them by the statutes authorising their undertakings, so a private body is reached only when a statute entrusts it with a public duty.
• ✓ 2. In Praga Tools the company was a government company in substance (56 per cent Union and 32 per cent Andhra Pradesh shareholding), yet the Court held that, being a non-statutory body incorporated under the Companies Act, it bore no statutory or public duty enforceable by mandamus. Government ownership alone does not expose a company to the writ.
• ✓ 3. Quo warranto asks by what authority a person holds a public office. Because the aim is to stop usurpation of public office, the petitioner need not be personally affected — any public-minded person may apply.

Remember · Mandamus: enforces a statutory or public duty; not against a private body without one, nor against a company merely because the government owns it (Praga Tools, 1969). Quo warranto: challenges title to a public office; any public-minded person can file.

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Answer: (b) 3 only

The Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), launched in September 2021, builds a digital backbone so health records can move with a patient anywhere in India. The government describes it as voluntary, so neither hospitals nor citizens are compelled to join; only the portability statement holds.

• ✗ 1. ABDM is voluntary. Hospitals, clinics and labs, public or private, choose to register on the Health Facility Registry; nothing makes adoption compulsory.
• ✗ 2. Creating an ABHA (Ayushman Bharat Health Account) number is a citizen's choice. The mission encourages enrolment through awareness drives but does not require every citizen to be part of it.
• ✓ 3. The ABHA number and linked records are designed to work across providers and states, so a patient can share records and get care seamlessly wherever they are.

Remember · ABDM (2021, run by the National Health Authority): voluntary, consent-based digital health ecosystem; ABHA number gives each person a portable, interoperable health record.

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Answer: (a) 1 and 3 only

Rule 8 of the Lok Sabha Rules lets the Speaker fix the date of the Deputy Speaker's election, and under Article 95 the Deputy Speaker acts as Speaker when presiding, with the Chair's full authority. No rule reserves the post for any party, and the election motion is moved by members, not by the Speaker.

• ✓ 1. Rule 8(1) of the Lok Sabha procedure rules says the election of a Deputy Speaker is held on a date the Speaker fixes, and the Secretary-General notifies every member.
• ✗ 2. Neither Article 93 nor the Rules restrict the post to any party. Giving it to the opposition has been a practice in many Lok Sabhas, not a legal requirement.
• ✓ 3. Under Article 95 the Deputy Speaker performs the Speaker's duties when the office is vacant, and Rule 10 of the Lok Sabha Rules gives the Deputy Speaker, when presiding, the same powers as the Speaker, so his rulings carry the Chair's authority.
• ✗ 4. Under Rule 8(2) any member gives notice of a motion that another member be chosen Deputy Speaker, and a third member seconds it. The Speaker presides over the election and does not move the motion.

Remember · Deputy Speaker: elected under Article 93 on a date fixed by the Speaker (LS Rule 8); acts as Speaker under Article 95; opposition claim to the post is only convention.

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Answer: (b) Rice

Paddy is grown in standing water, and bacteria decomposing organic matter in that oxygen-free soil release methane; the heavy nitrogen fertiliser used on rice, poorly taken up by the plant, adds nitrous oxide. No other field crop contributes so much of both gases.

• ✓ (b) Flooded paddy fields are one of the largest human-made sources of methane (about a tenth of global methane emissions), and fertiliser applied to rice releases nitrous oxide as well.
• ✗ (d) Wheat is grown on drained, aerated soil, so it produces little methane; its fertiliser gives some nitrous oxide but not both gases on rice's scale.
• ✗ (c) Sugarcane is a heavy user of water and fertiliser, but it is not grown under continuous flooding, so it is not a major methane source.

Remember · Flooded rice = anaerobic soil = methane; nitrogen fertiliser = nitrous oxide. Alternate wetting and drying, SRI and direct-seeded rice cut paddy methane.

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Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3

SRI transplants young seedlings singly at wide spacing and keeps the field moist rather than flooded. Fewer seedlings means far less seed; drying the soil between irrigations curbs methane-producing bacteria; and less irrigation means less pumping, so less electricity. All three follow.

• ✓ 1. Because one young seedling is planted per hill at wide spacing, SRI needs only a small fraction of the seed used in conventional transplanted rice.
• ✓ 2. Methane forms in oxygen-free, waterlogged soil. Alternate wetting and drying lets air into the soil, so methane emission falls; ICAR lists SRI among its methane-mitigation technologies for rice.
• ✓ 3. SRI uses roughly a fifth to a third less water than flooded paddy. Where fields are irrigated by electric pumps, less water pumped means lower electricity use.

Remember · SRI: young single seedlings, wide square spacing, moist (not flooded) soil, weeding that aerates the soil — less seed, less water, less methane, similar or higher yield.

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Answer: (b) Lake Faguibine

Lake Faguibine, near Timbuktu in northern Mali, was fed by overflow from the Niger. Droughts in the 1970s dried it, and sand then choked the channels from the river, so even when rains returned the water could not reach it; the lake bed has largely turned to desert.

• ✓ (b) UNEP reports that Lake Faguibine has been dry since the 1970s: droughts emptied the lake system and sand-filled channels cut it off from the Niger's floods.
• ✗ (a) Lake Victoria is in East Africa (shared by Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania), not West Africa, and it has not dried up.
• ✗ (d) Lake Volta in Ghana is a large artificial reservoir behind the Akosombo Dam and still holds water for hydropower; Lake Oguta in Nigeria is also a living lake.

Remember · Lake Faguibine (Mali, near Timbuktu): Niger-fed lake system dried since the 1970s droughts — a Sahel symbol of desertification; UNEP has worked on reviving it.

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Answer: (c) Pennar

The Gandikota gorge in Kadapa district, Andhra Pradesh, is cut by the Pennar (Penna) river through the Erramala hills. The name itself joins the Telugu words for gorge ('gandi') and fort ('kota'), after the medieval fort perched above the canyon.

• ✓ (c) The Kadapa district administration describes the Penna river gorge, about 200 metres wide, flowing between the cliffs of the Erramala hills at Gandikota.
• ✗ (d) The Tungabhadra is a Krishna tributary flowing past Hampi in Karnataka; it does not flow through Kadapa district.
• ✗ (b) The Manjira is a tributary of the Godavari in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Telangana, far north of Gandikota.

Remember · Gandikota ('gorge fort'), Kadapa district, Andhra Pradesh: canyon of the Pennar/Penna river through the Erramala hills — often called India's Grand Canyon.

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Answer: (b) 2 only

Why not the tempting option · The tempting objection is that Nanda Devi stands in Chamoli, in the Garhwal division of Uttarakhand; but 'Kumaon Himalaya' in the regional divisions of the range means the whole stretch between the Satluj and the Kali, which takes in Garhwal, and Nanda Devi is its highest peak.

Only pair 2 is right. In the regional divisions of the Himalaya, the Kumaon Himalaya is the stretch between the Satluj and the Kali, the whole of Uttarakhand including Garhwal, and Nanda Devi (7,816 m) is its highest peak. Namcha Barwa stands at the eastern end of the range, where the Brahmaputra bends round it into Arunachal Pradesh, nowhere near Garhwal; Nokrek is in Meghalaya, not in the Himalaya at all.

• ✗ 1. Namcha Barwa (7,755 m) is in the eastern Himalaya, at the great bend where the river emerges from the foothills as the Siang or Dihang and enters Arunachal Pradesh. Garhwal is at the other end of the range.
• ✓ 2. Nanda Devi (7,816 m) is the highest peak of the Kumaon Himalaya. The peak itself stands in Chamoli, in Uttarakhand's Garhwal division, but 'Kumaon Himalaya' in the regional divisions of the range means the whole stretch between the Satluj and the Kali, which takes in Garhwal; NCERT uses this very division.
• ✗ 3. NCERT lists Nokrek as a biosphere reserve in Meghalaya (1988), in the Garo Hills of the north-east, not in the Sikkim Himalaya.

Remember · Regional divisions of the Himalaya by rivers: Punjab (Indus to Satluj), Kumaon (Satluj to Kali), Nepal (Kali to Teesta), Assam (Teesta to Dihang). Nanda Devi: highest peak of the Kumaon Himalaya, Uttarakhand. Namcha Barwa: eastern end, at the Brahmaputra's bend. Nokrek: Meghalaya.

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Answer: (a) Region along the eastern Mediterranean shores

The Levant is the land along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean — today's Syria, Lebanon, Israel, the Palestinian territories and Jordan, often with Cyprus and Turkey's Hatay province. The word comes from the French for 'rising', the direction of the sunrise as seen from Europe.

• ✓ (a) The Levant covers the coastal lands of the eastern Mediterranean and their hinterland: Syria, Lebanon, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, and Jordan.
• ✗ (b) The North African coast west of Egypt — Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco — is called the Maghreb, not the Levant.
• ✗ (d) The Levant is only the eastern end of the Mediterranean; it does not include the European or North African coasts.

Remember · Levant = eastern Mediterranean coast (Syria, Lebanon, Israel–Palestine, Jordan); Maghreb = north-west Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya).

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Answer: (c) 3, 4 and 5 only

Afghanistan's northern neighbours are three Central Asian republics — Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan — along with Iran to the west, Pakistan to the east and south, and China at the tip of the Wakhan Corridor. Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan do not touch it.

• ✗ 1. Azerbaijan lies in the South Caucasus on the western shore of the Caspian Sea, with Iran and Turkmenistan's sea front between it and Afghanistan.
• ✗ 2. Kyrgyzstan lies north of Tajikistan; the narrow Wakhan Corridor keeps Afghanistan from reaching it.
• ✓ 3. Tajikistan shares Afghanistan's long north-eastern border, much of it along the Amu Darya (Panj) river.
• ✓ 4. Turkmenistan borders Afghanistan in the north-west.
• ✓ 5. Uzbekistan has a short border with Afghanistan along the Amu Darya, near Termez.

Remember · Afghanistan's six neighbours: Pakistan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and China (via the Wakhan Corridor). India also claims a border through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 1, 2 and 4 only

Monazite is a phosphate mineral of the beach sands that carries both rare earth elements and thorium. Because of the thorium, it is a 'prescribed substance' under the Atomic Energy Act, 1962, so only government entities licensed by the Department of Atomic Energy handle it. It is concentrated on particular stretches of coast, not all of it.

• ✓ 1. Monazite is one of the world's principal economic sources of rare earth elements, along with bastnasite and loparite.
• ✓ 2. Monazite contains thorium; India's thorium comes mainly from monazite in the beach sands of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
• ✗ 3. Monazite-bearing sands occur along particular stretches of the peninsular coast (notably Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Odisha), not along the entire Indian coastline.
• ✓ 4. The Department of Atomic Energy has licensed no private entity to produce, process or export monazite; the public sector IREL (India) Limited handles it.

Remember · Monazite: beach-sand mineral with rare earths + thorium; 'prescribed substance' under the Atomic Energy Act, 1962; handled only by government entity IREL; richest deposits in Kerala.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 India: People and Economy, Ch 5 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Second half of the month of June

The Northern Hemisphere's longest day is the summer solstice, around 21 June, when the North Pole is tilted most towards the Sun and the Sun is overhead at the Tropic of Cancer. 21 June falls in the second half of June.

• ✓ (b) The summer solstice falls on 20, 21 or 22 June; after it, days in the Northern Hemisphere grow shorter and nights longer.
• ✗ (a) Days are still lengthening through the first half of June; the maximum comes only at the solstice around 21 June.
• ✗ (c) July is often the hottest month because of the lag in heating, but day length is already decreasing by then.

Remember · Summer solstice ~21 June: Sun overhead at the Tropic of Cancer, longest day in the Northern Hemisphere; winter solstice ~22 December: shortest day.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 7 Curiosity, Ch 12 (practise this chapter)

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Answer: (b) Only two pairs

All four are Ramsar sites. Renuka (Sirmaur, Himachal Pradesh) and Rudrasagar (Melaghar, Tripura) are correctly placed, but Hokera (Hokersar) lies near Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir, and Sasthamkotta is in Kollam district, Kerala. So only two pairs match.

• ✗ 1. Hokera, also called Hokersar, is a wetland near Srinagar in the Kashmir valley, a winter halt for migratory birds from Siberia and Central Asia — not in Punjab.
• ✓ 2. Renuka lake and the Renuka Wildlife Sanctuary around it are in Sirmaur district, Himachal Pradesh.
• ✓ 3. Rudrasagar Lake is at Melaghar in Sepahijala district, Tripura; the Neermahal water palace stands in the middle of it.
• ✗ 4. Sasthamkotta (Sasthamcotta) Lake, Kerala's largest freshwater lake, is about 19 km from Kollam town and supplies Kollam's drinking water — it is in Kerala, not Tamil Nadu.

Remember · Hokera/Hokersar — J&K; Renuka — Himachal Pradesh; Rudrasagar (Neermahal) — Tripura; Sasthamkotta — Kerala (largest freshwater lake of the state). All are Ramsar sites.

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

All four are parts of India's digital public infrastructure (the 'India Stack') and are built on open-source software that the government offers to other countries: DIKSHA on the Sunbird platform, DigiLocker on an open-source stack, Aarogya Setu's code published on OpenForge and GitHub, and CoWIN's certificates on the open-source DIVOC building block.

• ✓ 1. The National Informatics Centre released Aarogya Setu's source code in 2020; its Android, iOS/KaiOS and backend code is hosted on the government's OpenForge platform.
• ✓ 2. At the CoWIN Global Conclave on 5 July 2021 the Prime Minister announced that the CoWIN platform was being made open source and offered to any country; its certificates use the open-source DIVOC building block.
• ✓ 3. MeitY's India Stack portal states that DigiLocker is developed on an open-source stack whose components can be shared with other countries.
• ✓ 4. DIKSHA, NCERT's national platform for school education, is built on Sunbird, a free and open-source platform.

Remember · India Stack (digital public goods): Aadhaar, UPI, DigiLocker, CoWIN, Aarogya Setu, DIKSHA (built on Sunbird) — open-source, interoperable, offered to other countries.

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Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3

Web 3.0 (Web3) is the idea of a decentralised internet built on blockchains: users hold their own data and digital assets, applications such as social networks run on shared ledgers, and platforms are governed by their users through tokens instead of by one company. All three statements describe it.

• ✓ 1. In Web3, identity, data and assets sit in a user's own wallet rather than on a company's servers, so the user decides who can use them.
• ✓ 2. Decentralised applications, including social networks, can run on blockchains, so a user's profile and followers are not locked inside one platform.
• ✓ 3. Ownership is spread among builders and users; through decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs), token holders collectively vote on how a platform is run.

Remember · Web 1.0 read-only; Web 2.0 read-write (platforms own data); Web 3.0 read-write-own — decentralised, blockchain-based, user-owned data, governed collectively via DAOs.

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Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3

In SaaS the provider runs the application on its cloud and users reach it over the internet from any device. The provider controls the underlying software, but customers can still configure their own settings, such as the look of the interface and the fields they use. Web-based email is the textbook example.

• ✓ 1. While the provider controls the application itself, SaaS products let each customer configure user-level settings — layouts, branding and data fields — within the options the provider offers.
• ✓ 2. Because the application and data live in the provider's cloud, NIST notes that the applications are accessible from various client devices, so users can reach them from a mobile device as well as a computer.
• ✓ 3. Web-based email services such as Outlook, Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail run on the provider's servers and are used through a browser or app — classic SaaS.

Remember · Cloud service models: SaaS (use the provider's app, e.g. web email, Office 365), PaaS (build and deploy your own apps), IaaS (rent computing, storage, networks).

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Answer: (c) A missile is put into a stable orbit around the Earth and deorbits over a target on the Earth.

A Fractional Orbital Bombardment System (FOBS) sends a warhead into a low Earth orbit and brings it down over the target before it completes a full circuit — hence 'fractional'. Because it can approach from any direction, even over the South Pole, it is hard for early-warning radars to track. The Soviet Union built one in the 1960s, and it returned to the news in 2021 after reports of a Chinese test.

• ✓ (c) FOBS places a weapon in orbit around the Earth and then deorbits it onto a target, instead of following the arcing path of an intercontinental ballistic missile.
• ✗ (a) Deflecting or destroying an incoming asteroid is planetary defence (for example NASA's DART mission), not a bombardment system aimed at Earth.
• ✗ (b) Orbiting a planet several times before landing describes a planetary landing mission, unrelated to weapons.

Remember · FOBS: nuclear warhead put into low partial Earth orbit, deorbited onto target — evades radars facing the usual ICBM routes; Soviet system banned under SALT II (1979).

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Answer: (b) Quantum Computing

A qubit is a quantum bit, the basic unit of information in a quantum computer. An ordinary bit is either 0 or 1, but a qubit can be 0, 1 or a mix of the two at the same time (a superposition).

• ✓ (b) Quantum computers use qubits in place of the classical bits of a normal computer. Qubits can also be entangled with one another, which gives quantum machines their extra power. India's National Quantum Mission aims at quantum computers with 50-1000 physical qubits.
• ✗ (a) Cloud services supply storage and computing over the internet; they run on ordinary bits and bytes, not qubits.
• ✗ (c) Visible light communication (Li-Fi) sends ordinary digital data as flickers of light, so it has nothing to do with qubits.
• ✗ (d) Wireless communication technologies such as Wi-Fi and mobile networks carry classical bits by radio waves.

Remember · Qubit = quantum bit, the unit of a quantum computer. It can be 0, 1 or a superposition of both.

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Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3

All three are treated as short-range devices. The ITU (the UN body for radio spectrum) defines them as low-power radio transmitters with little chance of interfering with other radio equipment, and its list of SRD uses includes cordless video cameras for monitoring, RFID systems and wireless local area networks.

• ✓ 1. Under 'voice and video' the ITU lists non-professional cordless cameras used for controlling or monitoring, which is how wireless CCTV works. A CCTV set-up wired by cable is not a radio device at all.
• ✓ 2. An RFID system carries data between tags and readers over short radio links; the ITU lists RF identification systems among short-range device applications.
• ✓ 3. Broadband radio local area networks (RLANs), the Wi-Fi kind, replace cables inside a building; the ITU lists them as a short-range device application.

Remember · Short-range devices are low-power, low-interference radios: RFID, Wi-Fi/WLAN, cordless cameras, remote controls, alarms, radio microphones.

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Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3

All three statements are true. A biofilm is a community of microbes attached to a surface and wrapped in a protective matrix; it can grow on implants inside the body and on food and food-processing equipment, and the microbes in it survive antibiotics far better than free-floating ones.

• ✓ 1. Biofilms form on medical implants and other devices in the body and cause serious chronic infections that are hard to clear.
• ✓ 2. Food and food-processing surfaces give biofilms nutrients to grow on, which makes them a food-safety problem.
• ✓ 3. The biofilm lifestyle makes bacteria more resistant to antibiotics and to the body's immune defences.

Remember · Biofilm = microbes stuck to a surface in a protective matrix. Found on implants and food surfaces; tolerates antibiotics, so infections turn chronic.

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Answer: (c) 1 and 3

Statements 1 and 3 are correct. Probiotics are live microbes, mostly bacteria but also some yeasts, and certain probiotic bacteria help digest lactose, the sugar in milk. Statement 2 is wrong because many probiotic organisms are the same as or similar to microbes that already live naturally in our body.

• ✓ 1. Most probiotics are bacteria (Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium are the commonest), but some are yeasts such as Saccharomyces boulardii.
• ✗ 2. Many probiotic microbes are the same as or similar to those that naturally live in our bodies. NCERT too notes that lactic acid bacteria in our stomach help check disease-causing microbes.
• ✓ 3. Probiotic bacteria that carry the enzyme beta-galactosidase help break down lactose. Yogurt cultures such as L. bulgaricus and S. thermophilus give a similar benefit to people who cannot digest milk sugar well.

Remember · Probiotics: live microbes, mostly bacteria (Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium) plus some yeasts; they resemble our natural gut flora and can ease lactose digestion.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Biology, Ch 8 (practise this chapter)

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Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only

Statements 2 and 3 are correct. Sputnik V is a vector vaccine and COVAXIN is a whole-virus inactivated vaccine. Statement 1 is wrong because Covishield, made by the Serum Institute of India, is a viral-vector vaccine (adenovirus carrier), not an mRNA vaccine.

• ✗ 1. Covishield is the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine produced in India by the Serum Institute. It uses a weakened chimpanzee adenovirus as a carrier, so it is a viral-vector vaccine. No mRNA is involved.
• ✓ 2. Sputnik V (Gam-COVID-Vac) from Russia's Gamaleya Institute is a combined vector vaccine given in two components.
• ✓ 3. COVAXIN by Bharat Biotech, developed with ICMR-NIV, uses a whole-virion inactivated Vero-cell platform: dead virus that cannot infect but still trains the immune system.

Remember · Covishield and Sputnik V: viral-vector vaccines. COVAXIN: inactivated whole virus. ZyCoV-D: DNA. mRNA is the Pfizer and Moderna type.

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Answer: (c) 1, 3, 4, 6 and 7 only

Items 1, 3, 4, 6 and 7 are genuine effects of a strong solar storm: it disturbs GPS, damages power grids, brightens auroras, drags on satellites and blacks out high-frequency radio near the poles. Tsunamis (item 2) come from undersea earthquakes and forest fires (item 5) are not an effect of space weather, so they are ruled out.

• ✓ 1. Solar-flare disturbances of the ionosphere range from errors of a few metres to complete loss of the GPS signal.
• ✗ 2. A tsunami needs an earthquake tremor centred below the ocean; solar storms do not generate them, at the equator or anywhere else.
• ✓ 3. Geomagnetic storms drive large ground currents (GICs) that can damage high-voltage transformers and have caused widespread power outages.
• ✓ 4. The same storms create the aurora borealis and aurora australis, and a strong one can push the northern lights as far south as Florida.
• ✗ 5. None of the recognised effects of space weather (radio, GPS, satellites, power lines, pipelines) is a ground-level fire hazard.
• ✓ 6. A strong storm heats and expands the upper atmosphere, raising drag on low-Earth-orbit satellites, which can slow them or make them lose altitude.
• ✓ 7. Near the poles, Earth's magnetic field funnels charged particles down. Severe space weather can cut radio contact with aircraft on transpolar routes, so they may need to reroute.

Remember · Solar storms hit technology: GPS, HF radio, satellites, power grids; and give auroras. They do not cause tsunamis or forest fires.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Fundamentals of Physical Geography, Ch 3 (practise this chapter)

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Answer: (a) Database created by coalition of research organisations

The Climate Action Tracker is an independent research project run jointly by two research organisations, Climate Analytics and NewClimate Institute. It has assessed countries' climate pledges and actions since 2009 and belongs to no UN or treaty body.

• ✓ (a) It is a collaboration of two research organisations, Climate Analytics and NewClimate Institute, that compares each government's targets and policies with the Paris Agreement goal. UNEP's Emissions Gap Report itself uses it as one of the independent assessments.
• ✗ (b) The IPCC (properly the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) assesses climate science for governments. The Tracker is a separate, independent project and not a wing of it.
• ✗ (c) It is not a committee of the UNFCCC, the climate treaty secretariat; it is an outside analysis that tracks what governments do.
• ✗ (d) It is not an agency promoted and financed by UNEP and the World Bank; UNEP only cites it, alongside other independent studies.

Remember · Climate Action Tracker: independent tracker of national climate pledges, run by Climate Analytics and NewClimate Institute since 2009. Not an IPCC, UNFCCC or UNEP body.

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Answer: (b) 1, 3 and 4 only

Statements 1, 3 and 4 are correct. The Climate Group, not the International Energy Agency, launched EP100 and is the secretariat of the Under2 Coalition, so statements 2 and 5 fail.

• ✓ 1. The Climate Group is an international non-profit that describes its method as building and running networks of businesses and governments, such as EP100 and the Under2 Coalition.
• ✗ 2. EP100 was launched by The Climate Group in 2016 as an action of the We Mean Business coalition. The International Energy Agency did not launch it.
• ✓ 3. EP100 is a campaign inviting influential companies to pledge to double their energy productivity, that is, to get more economic output from each unit of energy used, which cuts emissions and raises competitiveness.
• ✓ 4. Mahindra & Mahindra, the tractor maker, joined EP100 in April 2016 and pledged to double its energy productivity by 2030.
• ✗ 5. The Climate Group has acted as secretariat of the Under2 Coalition, the network of state and regional governments, since 2015. The IEA holds no such role.

Remember · The Climate Group runs EP100 (energy productivity, business) and is secretariat of the Under2 Coalition (sub-national governments). Mahindra & Mahindra is an Indian member.

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Answer: (d) Aquatic plants absorb heavy metals and excess nutrients.

The kidney comparison is about purification: kidneys filter waste out of blood, and wetlands filter pollutants out of water. Option (d), aquatic plants absorbing heavy metals and excess nutrients, is the function that does this cleaning job.

• ✓ (d) Wetlands are called the earth's kidneys because they filter pollutants. Wetland plants take up heavy metals, and plant roots and microbes absorb excess nutrients from fertilizer, manure and sewage.
• ✗ (a) Runoff, percolation and evaporation describe how water moves through a wetland. This is the water cycle, not the removal of wastes.
• ✗ (b) Algae as the base of the food chain is a habitat and food-web function, closer to a 'nursery' role than to a kidney's cleaning role.
• ✗ (c) Sediment balance and soil stabilisation are physical, erosion-control functions. They do not purify water the way kidneys do.

Remember · Wetlands = kidneys of the landscape: they filter and purify water, with plants trapping heavy metals, pesticides and excess nutrients.

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Answer: (b) 1 and 4 only

Statements 1 and 4 are correct. WHO's 2021 guidelines set PM2.5 at 5 µg/m3 a year and 15 µg/m3 over 24 hours, and ozone can trigger asthma. Ozone peaks in hot, sunny weather, not bad weather, and it is PM2.5, not PM10, that WHO says can enter the bloodstream.

• ✓ 1. The WHO Air Quality Guidelines (2021) recommend an annual average of 5 µg/m3 and a 24-hour average of 15 µg/m3 for PM2.5.
• ✗ 2. Ground-level ozone forms when pollutants react in sunlight, so it is most likely to reach unhealthy levels on hot sunny days, not in inclement weather.
• ✗ 3. Both PM2.5 and PM10 can go deep into the lungs, but WHO says only the finer PM2.5 can even enter the bloodstream.
• ✓ 4. Ozone irritates and inflames the airways, aggravates asthma and increases the frequency of asthma attacks.

Remember · WHO 2021: PM2.5 annual 5, 24-hour 15 µg/m3 (PM10: 15 and 45). Ozone peaks on hot sunny days and worsens asthma. Only PM2.5 reaches the blood.

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Answer: (c) 1 and 2

Statements 1 and 2 are correct. Gucchi is the morel mushroom (genus Morchella), an edible fungus that grows wild in Himalayan forests such as those of Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. It is gathered from the forest; Indian research describes commercial cultivation as unsuccessful, and it is not farmed in north-eastern India.

• ✓ 1. Gucchi is a mushroom of the genus Morchella, which belongs to the fungal group Ascomycota (family Morchellaceae).
• ✓ 2. Gucchi grows on the ground in coniferous and mixed coniferous forests; in J&K and Himachal Pradesh it is collected from forests.
• ✗ 3. Gucchi is a wild-collected forest produce of the western Himalaya. ICAR's Mushroom Research journal notes that commercial cultivation of Morchella has not succeeded, and no source shows it being farmed in north-eastern India.

Remember · Gucchi = morel (Morchella), a wild Himalayan forest fungus from J&K and Himachal; hand-collected, not commercially farmed.

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Answer: (a) 1 and 3

Statements 1 and 3 are correct: PET is the polyester of clothing, blended with cotton and wool, and PET bottles are recycled, mostly into polyester fibre. Statement 2 is wrong because PET lets in oxygen and is unsuited to long storage of some alcoholic drinks. Statement 4 is wrong because burning PET turns its carbon into carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.

• ✓ 1. PET fibres are used alone or blended with natural fibres such as cotton, and wool-polyester and cotton-polyester blends are common textile mixes.
• ✗ 2. PET has only moderate oxygen permeability, so it suits short storage but harms the aroma of an alcoholic drink such as wine when kept for long. It is not fit for any and every alcoholic beverage.
• ✓ 3. PET bottles are mechanically recycled; in India most recycled PET, about 95% by one estimate, is spun into polyester fibre.
• ✗ 4. Burning plastic releases CO2 in proportion to its carbon. EPA's model takes PET as 63% carbon, with about 98% of that carbon turning into CO2 on combustion.

Remember · PET = polyester: blended with cotton and wool, and recycled (mostly into fibre). Burning it releases CO2, and it is a poor container for long-stored alcoholic drinks.

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Answer: (a) Golden Mahseer

Golden Mahseer is a fish, not a bird. Tor putitora is a freshwater fish of Himalayan rivers, assessed Endangered by the IUCN. The nightjar, spoonbill and ibis are all birds.

• ✓ (a) The Wildlife Institute of India lists the Golden Mahaseer (Tor putitora) in class Actinopterygii, the ray-finned fishes, and calls it a column-feeding freshwater fish.
• ✗ (b) The Indian Nightjar (Caprimulgus asiaticus) is a bird; it appears in the bird checklist of an Indian Ramsar wetland.
• ✗ (c) Spoonbills, such as the Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia), are wading birds of class Aves.
• ✗ (d) The White Ibis is a wading bird. Ibises belong to the same family, Threskiornithidae, as the spoonbills.

Remember · Golden Mahseer (Tor putitora) is a Himalayan freshwater fish, IUCN Endangered. Nightjar, spoonbill and ibis are birds.

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Answer: (a) 1, 3 and 4 only

Only alfalfa, chickpea and clover fix nitrogen, because they are legumes. Legume roots carry nodules housing Rhizobium bacteria that turn nitrogen from the air into a form the plant can use. Amaranth, purslane and spinach are not legumes.

• ✓ 1. Alfalfa (lucerne) is a legume with its own Rhizobium partner, Rhizobium meliloti, in nodules on its roots.
• ✗ 2. Amaranth is a leafy green and grain crop, not a legume, so it has no Rhizobium root nodules.
• ✓ 3. Chickpea (gram) is a pulse and a legume crop, so its root nodules host nitrogen-fixing Rhizobium.
• ✓ 4. Clover is a legume; its roots form nodules with Rhizobium bacteria (the clover group).
• ✗ 5. Purslane (kulfa) is a leafy vegetable, not a legume, and does not fix nitrogen.
• ✗ 6. Spinach is a leafy vegetable, not a legume, and does not fix nitrogen.

Remember · Nitrogen fixers here are legumes: alfalfa, chickpea, clover. Rhizobium in root nodules does the fixing. Leafy greens such as spinach, amaranth and purslane are not legumes.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Fundamentals of Physical Geography, Ch 5 (practise this chapter)

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Answer: (a) Restoration of damaged coral reefs

Biorock technology is used to restore damaged coral reefs. A low-voltage electric current is passed through seawater between a submerged metal frame and an anode, so that minerals in the water deposit as limestone on the frame, and corals attached to it grow quickly.

• ✓ (a) With an anode and a cathode in sea water and a current between them, calcium and carbonate ions combine and stick to the cathode structure as calcium carbonate; corals adhere to it and grow fast. The UN has cited biorock artificial reefs as successful in certain areas.
• ✗ (b) Biorock is not a plant-residue building material; it is limestone grown from seawater minerals on an electrified frame.
• ✗ (c) Nothing in Biorock concerns locating or extracting shale gas.
• ✗ (d) Biorock has no link to salt licks for forest animals; it is an undersea technology.

Remember · Biorock (mineral accretion): low-voltage current in seawater grows limestone on metal frames, letting corals attach and recover. Used to restore reefs.

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Answer: (c) Creation of mini forests in urban areas

The Miyawaki method is famous for creating dense mini forests in urban areas. Named after Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki, it plants saplings of many native species very close together so that they grow into a thick forest in a few years.

• ✓ (c) Saplings of various species are planted close to each other and grow into a dense urban forest, ten times faster and thirty times denser than by the traditional method, according to the Prime Minister's Office.
• ✗ (a) The method makes forests, not commercial farms, and it is not a dryland-farming scheme.
• ✗ (b) It uses mixed native tree species, not genetically modified plants.
• ✗ (d) It has no connection to wind energy.

Remember · Miyawaki method (Akira Miyawaki, Japan): close planting of many native species to raise dense mini urban forests within 2-3 years.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 1, 3 and 4

Administration of justice, land revenue and police were reserved subjects, kept with the Governor and his Executive Council. Local self-government was a transferred subject, handed to Indian ministers answerable to the provincial legislature.

• ✓ 1. Administration of justice was not on the transferred list, so it stayed with the Governor and his Executive Council as a reserved subject.
• ✗ 2. Local self-government headed the list of transferred subjects, along with medical administration, public health, education, public works and agriculture.
• ✓ 3. Land revenue was a core reserved subject; even a provincial Bill touching land revenue had to be reserved for the Governor-General's assent.
• ✓ 4. Police, like other matters of law and order, was not transferred to ministers and remained reserved.

Remember · Dyarchy in the provinces (1919): law and order, justice, police and land revenue were reserved; local self-government, health, education and agriculture were transferred to Indian ministers.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Coins

UPSC's key is coins. NCERT notes that variations of the word 'pana' (paṇaṁ in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam) are still used for money.

• ✓ (b) UPSC's official key treats this option as correct; we could not confirm the meaning of the term from an official source, so we do not explain it here. The RBI Museum notes that the Vijayanagara kingdom's coinage, largely in gold and copper, was a standardised issue that later served as a model for the European trading companies.
• ✗ (a) UPSC's official key treats this option as incorrect; we could not confirm the detail from an official source, so we do not explain it here.
• ✗ (c) UPSC's official key treats this option as incorrect; we could not confirm the detail from an official source, so we do not explain it here.

Remember · Per UPSC's key, the answer is coins; NCERT notes the 'pana'/'panam' family of words is still used for money.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 7 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Ch 11 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) 3 only

Only Rash Behari Bose worked with the Ghadar plan for a pan-Indian mutiny in 1914-15. Barindra Kumar Ghosh and Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee belonged to the Bengal revolutionary groups, not the Ghadar Party.

• ✗ 1. Barindra Kumar Ghosh (Barin Ghose) led the Bengali paper Yugantar and the revolutionaries linked to the Anushilan Samiti; he was jailed in the Alipore case and sent to the Cellular Jail. He was not part of the Ghadar Party.
• ✗ 2. Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee was a Bengal revolutionary of the Anushilan circle who later helped found the Hindustan Republican Association, not the Ghadar Party.
• ✓ 3. Rash Behari Bose, with Sachindra Nath Sanyal and Kartar Singh Sarabha, tried to get the army infiltrated as part of the Ghadar Movement's plan of 1914-15.

Remember · Ghadar Party: Indian migrants in North America (Lala Hardayal, Sohan Singh Bhakna); in India, Rash Behari Bose and Kartar Singh Sarabha. Barindra Ghosh belonged to the Bengal groups.

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

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, 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 not: the Cripps draft let a non-acceding province keep its position and settle its own future status with Britain, but the Constituent Assembly's British Indian members were to be elected, not nominated.

• ✗ 1. Under the draft declaration of March 1942 the members from British India were elected by the lower houses of the provincial legislatures, sitting as one electoral college, by proportional representation. Only the Indian States named their members by other means, being represented by their Ruling Princes rather than by elected representatives.
• ✓ 2. Any province of British India not ready to accept the new constitution could stay out and keep its present position, with the option to accede later. Britain was ready to agree a new constitution with such provinces, on the same full status as the Indian Union.

Remember · Cripps Mission (March 1942): post-war Constituent Assembly, British India's members elected by provincial lower houses, States' members appointed, and provinces free to stay out.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2 and 4 only

Parishishtaparvan and the Trishashtilakshana Mahapurana are Jaina works. Avadanashataka (a collection of avadanas) is Buddhist. UPSC's key gives only 2 and 4 as Jaina.

• ✗ 1. UPSC's official key treats this statement as incorrect; we could not confirm the detail from an official source, so we do not explain it here.
• ✓ 2. Parishishtaparvan is a Jaina work: IGNOU's study material lists it among the Jain scriptures known as the Parvas.
• ✗ 3. Avadanashataka means 'a hundred avadanas'. Avadanas are Buddhist stories, centred on the Buddha's explanations of a person's worthy deeds in a previous life, so this is a Buddhist work.
• ✓ 4. The Mahapurana is a Jaina work; NCERT names it among the manuscript works portraying Jain subjects.

Remember · Jaina: Parishishtaparvan and the Mahapurana. Buddhist: Avadanashataka (a collection of avadanas).

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 An Introduction to Indian Art, Part II, Ch 1 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 An Introduction to Indian Art, Part I, Ch 4 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Only two pairs

Two pairs are correct: Dignaga was a Buddhist logician and Nathamuni a Vaishnava (Shrivaishnava) teacher. Aryadeva was a Buddhist, a disciple of Nagarjuna, not a Jaina.

• ✗ 1. Aryadeva was a Mahayana Buddhist philosopher, the disciple of Nagarjuna, who with him is credited with founding the Madhyamaka school; he was not a Jaina.
• ✓ 2. Dignaga (c. 480-540 CE) was a Buddhist logician whose Pramanasamuccaya laid the foundations of Buddhist logic.
• ✓ 3. Nathamuni (10th century), the first acharya of the Shrivaishnava sect, gathered the hymns of the Alvars and had them sung in Vaishnava temples.

Remember · Aryadeva: Buddhist (Madhyamaka, Nagarjuna's disciple). Dignaga: Buddhist logic. Nathamuni: Shrivaishnava, collected the Alvars' hymns.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, 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: in 1303 a Mongol army besieged Delhi itself during Ala-ud-din Khalji's reign. Mongol attacks on the Sultanate had begun in Iltutmish's time, long before Jalal-ud-din Khalji, and the sources do not record Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq losing north-western territory to them.

• ✗ 1. The Mongols under Genghis Khan reached the Sultanate's frontier in the 13th century, during Iltutmish's reign (1211-36). Jalal-ud-din Khalji (1290-96) came much later and is remembered for defeating a large Mongol force.
• ✓ 2. The Chagatai Mongols pushed beyond the Punjab and Delhi endured a two-month siege in 1303, after which Ala-ud-din fortified the capital and built up a large army.
• ✗ 3. NCERT notes that Mongol attacks continued in the early years of Muhammad Tughluq's rule, but none of the cited sources says he lost north-western territory to them.

Remember · Mongols first reached the Sultanate under Iltutmish; Delhi itself was besieged in 1303 under Ala-ud-din Khalji, who answered with a large standing army.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Sayyids

UPSC's key is Sayyids, the descendants of the Prophet Muhammad. We could not confirm the meaning of the term Kulah-Daran from an official source, so we do not explain it here.

• ✓ (d) UPSC's official key gives the Sayyids; we could not confirm the term from an official source, so we do not explain it here.
• ✗ (b) Qalandars were wandering Sufi mendicants who scorned the khanqah and defied the shari'a; they were known by that name.
• ✗ (a) Arab merchants were traders on the coasts and are not associated with this title.
• ✗ (c) Persian calligraphists were court scribes and artists; the term did not denote them.

Remember · Qalandars = wandering ascetic Sufis who defied the shari'a. UPSC's key for Kulah-Daran: Sayyids.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part II, Ch 2 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, 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

Statements 2 and 3 are correct: Albuquerque took Goa from the Bijapur (Adil Shahi) rulers in 1510, and the English got the Madras site in 1639 from a local Nayak acting under the Raja of Chandragiri, a successor of the Vijayanagara Rayas. The Dutch did not get their east-coast bases from Gajapati rulers.

• ✗ 1. The Dutch arrived in the early 17th century. Their fort at Pulicat, for example, was built with the permission of a Nayak chief under the Raja of Chandragiri, not a Gajapati ruler of Orissa.
• ✓ 2. Goa was held by the Adil Shahis of Bijapur; in 1510 the Portuguese, under Afonso de Albuquerque, defeated the Bijapur rulers there and made Old Goa their permanent base.
• ✓ 3. In 1639 the Company obtained from Damarla Venkatappa Nayaka, the local chief acting for the Raja of Chandragiri (a descendant of the Vijayanagara Rayas), a strip of coast as a factory site; Fort St George grew from it.

Remember · Goa: Portuguese from Bijapur, 1510. Madras: English from Damarla Venkatapathy Nayak (Chandragiri, Vijayanagara successors), 1639. Dutch east-coast base: Pulicat.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, 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: a female slave who bore her master a son was legally free, and the child took the legal status of the master's son. UPSC's key does not count statement 1: Kautilya lays down that an Arya cannot be reduced to slavery, lists slaves as those born in the house, inherited, bought, pledged, self-sold or captured in war, and treats a man sentenced to a fine as one who works the fine off, not as a slave.

• ✗ 1. The Arthashastra (Book III, ch. 13) says 'never shall an Arya be subjected to slavery'; a man pledged to raise money for a fine or decree must be redeemed, and one sentenced to a fine works it off (3.13.18). Judicial punishment is not among the text's own categories of slaves: born in the house, inherited, bought, pledged, self-sold, captured in war.
• ✓ 2. If a female slave bore her master a son, she was legally free.
• ✓ 3. Such a child was entitled to the legal status of the master's son.

Remember · Arthashastra on slaves (dasa): no slavery for an Arya; a slave-mother who bore her master a son became free, and her son took the legal status of the master's son.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

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

UPSC dropped this question from evaluation in its final answer key. The facts it tests: tighter US monetary policy can pull capital out of emerging economies (statement 1), and a weaker domestic currency raises, not lowers, the currency risk on foreign-currency borrowing (statement 3 is wrong).

• ✓ 1. When the US Federal Reserve tightens, spillovers to emerging market economies can trigger capital outflows and currency depreciation, as the RBI's Financial Stability Report of June 2022 noted.
• • 2. Arguable, which is probably why the question was dropped. Capital flight weakens the rupee and raises risk premia, so servicing dollar loans costs more in rupee terms; whether the interest cost itself rises depends on whether the loan carries a floating rate.
• ✗ 3. Most ECBs are in US dollars, so a fall in the rupee raises the rupee cost of interest and principal. That increases the currency risk unless the borrower has hedged; about 56 per cent of ECB loans were hedged in 2022.

Remember · Fed tightening can trigger capital flight from emerging markets; a weaker rupee makes unhedged dollar borrowing (ECB) costlier to repay, so currency risk rises.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) All four States

All four States grow tea. Kerala is one of the major tea-producing States, and Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Tripura are named among the other tea-producing States.

• ✓ 1. Andhra Pradesh is listed among the other tea-producing States.
• ✓ 2. Kerala is one of the major tea States, along with Assam, West Bengal (Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri) and Tamil Nadu.
• ✓ 3. Himachal Pradesh is also named among the tea-producing States.
• ✓ 4. Tripura is also named among the tea-producing States.

Remember · Major tea States: Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala. Also tea-growing: Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Meghalaya, Andhra Pradesh, Tripura.

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

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, 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

SEBI, not the RBI, regulates credit rating agencies in India, so statement 1 is wrong. ICRA Limited and Brickwork Ratings India are both Indian agencies registered with SEBI, so statements 2 and 3 are correct.

• ✗ 1. Credit rating agencies are regulated by SEBI under the SEBI (Credit Rating Agencies) Regulations, 1999. The RBI only accredits agencies to rate bank loans and similar instruments under its own guidelines.
• ✓ 2. ICRA Limited is a public limited company, as its name under company law shows (a private company would be 'Pvt. Ltd.'); it is on SEBI's list of registered rating agencies.
• ✓ 3. Brickwork Ratings India Pvt. Ltd. is an Indian agency on SEBI's list of registered credit rating agencies, with its registered address in Bengaluru.

Remember · SEBI regulates credit rating agencies (CRA Regulations, 1999); the RBI merely accredits them for bank-loan ratings.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, 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

The Banks Board Bureau recommended who should head public sector banks and helped them with strategy and capital-raising plans, so statements 2 and 3 are correct. Its chairman was not the RBI Governor: the first Chairman was Vinod Rai, former CAG, and the RBI was represented only by a Deputy Governor as ex-officio member.

• ✗ 1. The Bureau was chaired by Vinod Rai, a former Comptroller and Auditor General. The RBI's seat was that of a Deputy Governor, an ex-officio member.
• ✓ 2. The Bureau was set up to recommend the selection of heads of public sector banks and financial institutions.
• ✓ 3. It was also mandated to help banks develop strategies and capital-raising plans.

Remember · Banks Board Bureau (from 1 April 2016): recommends PSB heads and helps with strategy and capital raising; Chairman Vinod Rai; RBI Deputy Governor an ex-officio member.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, 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

UPSC's key treats both statements as correct. A convertible bond can be swapped for the issuer's shares; a plain fixed-interest bond loses purchasing power when prices rise.

• ✓ 1. 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.
• ✓ 2. Interest on a plain bond is a fixed amount, and inflation reduces the purchasing power of a fixed rate of interest. UPSC's official key treats this statement as correct; we could not confirm the rest of the detail from an official source, so we do not explain it here.

Remember · Convertible bond = bond plus option to turn into shares. A plain fixed-interest bond loses purchasing power to inflation.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, 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

India belongs to all three: it is a founding member of the AIIB, joined the Missile Technology Control Regime in 2016, and became a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in June 2017.

• ✓ 1. India is a Founding Member and the second largest shareholder in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
• ✓ 2. India was admitted to the MTCR in 2016; the MTCR's own partner list carries the entry 'India (2016)'.
• ✓ 3. India and Pakistan officially joined the SCO as full members at the Astana summit on 9 June 2017.

Remember · India: AIIB founding member; MTCR member since 2016; SCO full member since 9 June 2017 (Astana).

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 1, 3 and 4

Statements 1, 3 and 4 are correct. Vietnam's growth has been rapid and export-led, but it is a one-party state led by the Communist Party, not a multi-party system, and its strength lies in manufacturing rather than services.

• ✓ 1. The World Bank describes four decades of rapid growth in Viet Nam since the Doi Moi reforms of 1986.
• ✗ 2. Article 4 of Vietnam's Constitution makes the Communist Party of Vietnam the force leading the State and society; it is a one-party system.
• ✓ 3. Growth was amplified by strategic integration into global trade and investment flows, as the World Bank notes.
• ✓ 4. The OECD lists competitive labour costs (with proximity, trade agreements and infrastructure) among the reasons manufacturers relocate to Viet Nam. UPSC's official key counts the statement as correct; we could not confirm the exchange-rate detail from an official source, so we do not explain it here.
• ✗ 5. UPSC's key treats this as incorrect. Vietnam's growth story is built on manufacturing exports; nothing in the sources supports a claim of regional leadership in e-services.

Remember · Vietnam: Doi Moi (1986), export-led growth in global supply chains, one-party Communist state.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Reserve Bank of India

The Reserve Bank of India is responsible for price stability and for keeping inflation on target. Its Monetary Policy Committee sets the policy rate to meet the inflation target that the Central Government notifies.

• ✓ (d) Under the RBI Act, 1934 the primary objective of monetary policy is price stability, keeping growth in mind. The Act gives a statutory basis to flexible inflation targeting, and the RBI controls money supply through the bank rate, open market operations and reserve ratios.
• ✗ (a) The Department of Consumer Affairs is a government department and has no power over money supply or the policy rate, so it cannot be the body that controls inflation through monetary policy.
• ✗ (c) The Financial Stability and Development Council is a coordination forum for financial-sector regulators; the inflation target and policy rate are the RBI's job.

Remember · Price stability and the inflation target (4 per cent CPI, with a 2-6 per cent band) are the RBI's mandate, delivered by its six-member Monetary Policy Committee.

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

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1 and 2 only

Statements 1 and 2 are correct; statement 3 is wrong. An NFT is a one-of-a-kind token recorded on a blockchain, which can stand for a digital or a physical asset. Because each NFT is unique and not interchangeable, it cannot be traded 'at equivalency' and does not serve as money.

• ✓ 1. An NFT can record ownership of a physical item as well as a digital one, so it can act as a digital representation of a physical asset.
• ✓ 2. NFTs are unique crypto tokens that run on blockchain (distributed ledger) technology; the FATF describes them as digital assets that are unique rather than interchangeable.
• ✗ 3. 'Non-fungible' means not interchangeable: one NFT is not equal in value to another. The FATF notes such tokens are in practice used as collectibles rather than as payment or investment instruments, so they are not a medium of commercial exchange.

Remember · NFT = unique, non-interchangeable blockchain token (can represent physical or digital assets); unlike cryptocurrencies, it is not a medium of exchange.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Only three pairs

Only Gandhi Sagar (Madhya Pradesh) is correctly matched, so three pairs are wrong. Ghataprabha (Hidkal) is in Karnataka, Indira Sagar is in Madhya Pradesh and Maithon is in Jharkhand.

• ✗ 1. The Ghataprabha (Hidkal) reservoir is in Karnataka, not Telangana.
• ✓ 2. Gandhi Sagar is on the Chambal river in Madhya Pradesh.
• ✗ 3. Indira Sagar is a multipurpose project on the Narmada in Madhya Pradesh, not Andhra Pradesh.
• ✗ 4. Maithon dam is on the Barakar river near Dhanbad in Jharkhand, not Chhattisgarh.

Remember · Gandhi Sagar (Chambal) and Indira Sagar (Narmada) are in Madhya Pradesh; Maithon (Barakar, DVC) is in Jharkhand; Ghataprabha's Hidkal reservoir is in Karnataka.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Labour Bureau

The Labour Bureau, an attached office of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, brings out the annual statistics on industrial disputes, closures, retrenchments and lay-offs. It builds them from monthly returns sent by State Labour Departments and the Regional Labour Commissioners (Central).

• ✓ (c) The Labour Bureau (headquartered in Chandigarh, with a Shimla office) publishes the yearly report 'Statistics on Industrial Disputes, Closures, Retrenchments and Lay-offs in India' from voluntary monthly returns.
• ✗ (a) The Central Statistics Office (part of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation) handles national accounts, industrial production and price indices, not industrial-dispute returns.
• ✗ (b) DPIIT frames industrial and trade promotion policy and FDI policy; it does not compile labour-dispute statistics.

Remember · Labour Bureau (Ministry of Labour and Employment) is the official compiler of labour statistics, including industrial disputes, closures, retrenchments and lay-offs, and the CPI for Industrial Workers.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1, 2 and 3

The Coal Controller's Organisation is a subordinate office of the Ministry of Coal that collects coal statistics, monitors allocated coal blocks and hears objections under the coal-area acquisition law, but it does not police delivery of coal to consumers.

• ✓ 1. It works under the Collection of Statistics Act and has a Statistics Section; its yearly Coal Directory of India and Provisional Coal Statistics are the standard government source for coal data.
• ✓ 2. The CCO has a section that monitors allocated coal blocks, including captive coal and lignite blocks.
• ✓ 3. The Coal Controller hears objections to the Central Government's notification for acquiring coal-bearing land under the Coal Bearing Areas (Acquisition and Development) Act, 1957, and reports to the Centre.
• ✗ 4. Its listed duties cover grade and quality checks, mining and closure plans, opening permissions and statistics; ensuring that mining companies deliver coal to end users on time is not among them.

Remember · Coal Controller's Organisation: subordinate office of the Ministry of Coal; coal statistics, grade disputes, mining and closure plans, monitoring of coal blocks, and hearings under the 1957 coal-area acquisition Act.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) This would prevent the transfer of land of tribal people to non-tribal people.

Once an area is declared a Scheduled Area under the Fifth Schedule, the Governor can make regulations that prohibit or restrict transfer of tribal land, which is the main protection the Schedule gives. It creates no local self-governing body, does not make the area a Union Territory and has no link with Special Category status.

• ✓ (a) Paragraph 5 lets the Governor make regulations for a Scheduled Area, including prohibiting or restricting transfer of land by or among Scheduled Tribe members. Of the four options, this is the real consequence.
• ✗ (b) Autonomous District Councils, which are self-governing bodies, belong to the Sixth Schedule (parts of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram). Fifth Schedule areas are governed through the Governor and a Tribes Advisory Council.
• ✗ (c) Scheduled Areas stay part of their State. Only Parliament, under Articles 2 to 4, can create a Union Territory; a Schedule does not do so.
• ✗ (d) Special Category Status is a separate device for extra central assistance to States with features such as hilly terrain, international borders and low population density. It is not linked to Scheduled Areas.

Remember · Fifth Schedule: Scheduled Areas run through the Governor and a Tribes Advisory Council, with power to restrict land transfer from tribals. Sixth Schedule: autonomous district councils in the North-East.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2

UPSC's key treats both statements as wrong. The India Sanitation Coalition is a multi-stakeholder platform launched at FICCI in 2015; the National Institute of Urban Affairs is an autonomous body of the Ministry, not an apex body of it.

• ✗ 1. The coalition was launched in June 2015 at FICCI (the industry chamber) and brings many organisations onto one platform for sanitation. UPSC's key marks this statement incorrect; we could not confirm the funding detail from an official source, so we do not explain it here.
• ✗ 2. NIUA describes itself as an autonomous body under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs — a research and capacity-building institute, registered as a society, that the Ministry funds and works with. It is not an 'apex body of the Ministry': the Ministry has no apex body, and NIUA's advisory role to the Government does not make it one, so UPSC's key marks the statement wrong.

Remember · India Sanitation Coalition: FICCI-hosted, multi-stakeholder platform (2015). NIUA: autonomous research institute of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (est. 1976), not a department.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Central Ground Water Authority

The Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) is the groundwater regulator that the Centre created using its powers under Section 3(3) of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. The Water Commission, the Ground Water Board and the Water Development Agency were set up by executive decision or as a society, not under this Act.

• ✓ (c) CGWA is the statutory regulator for groundwater. It grants No Objection Certificates for groundwater abstraction in the States and Union Territories where it is notified to do so.
• ✗ (b) The Central Ground Water Board is a subordinate office of the Jal Shakti Ministry that gives scientific inputs on groundwater (survey, monitoring, assessment). It is a technical body, not one created by the 1986 Act.
• ✗ (d) The National Water Development Agency was set up in July 1982 as an autonomous society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, to study inter-basin water transfer.
• ✗ (a) The Central Water Commission, working since 1945, is the Ministry's technical body for river and water-resources planning, and it too is not a creation of the 1986 Act.

Remember · CGWA is the statutory groundwater regulator set up under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986; CGWB is only a technical board.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 3 only

Only statement 3 is right: the Credentials Committee checks the credentials of member states' representatives and reports to the General Assembly. It is a body of the General Assembly, not of the Security Council, and the Assembly's rules give it no fixed March–June–September calendar.

• ✗ 1. The Committee is appointed by the General Assembly, on the President's proposal, at the beginning of each session. It has no link to the Security Council.
• ✗ 2. Rule 28 of the Assembly's rules of procedure only says the Committee is appointed at the start of each session, and the UN's own notes say its members are traditionally appointed at the first plenary meeting. No UN page gives a March, June and September meeting calendar.
• ✓ 3. The Committee has nine members and examines the credentials that delegations submit, then reports to the Assembly, which acts on the report.

Remember · The UN Credentials Committee is a nine-member General Assembly committee, appointed each session, that examines delegates' credentials and reports to the Assembly.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) It is the international code of safety for ships operating in polar waters.

The Polar Code is the International Maritime Organization's safety and pollution-prevention code for ships sailing in the Arctic and Antarctic waters. It is made binding through the SOLAS and MARPOL conventions and applies from 1 January 2017.

• ✓ (a) Its full name is the International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters. It covers ship design, equipment, crew training, search and rescue and protection of the polar environment.
• ✗ (b) It says nothing about territorial claims or boundaries around the poles; it is a shipping rule-book.
• ✗ (c) Norms for scientific research in the polar regions come from other instruments, such as the Antarctic Treaty system, and not from the Polar Code.
• ✗ (d) The Arctic Council is a forum for cooperation on Arctic issues; the Polar Code was adopted by the IMO and is not a trade or security pact.

Remember · Polar Code = IMO's International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters, mandatory under SOLAS and MARPOL since 1 January 2017.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3

All three statements are correct. The General Assembly, by its own decisions, lets non-member States and inter-governmental organisations take part as observers, and Permanent Observers keep missions at UN Headquarters in New York.

• ✓ 1. The Holy See and the State of Palestine are non-member observer States. In 2012 (resolution 67/19) the Assembly gave Palestine that status.
• ✓ 2. Many inter-governmental organisations, such as the African Union and the OECD, hold a standing invitation to take part as observers in the Assembly's sessions and work.
• ✓ 3. Non-member States with a standing invitation, and some inter-governmental organisations, maintain Permanent Observer Missions or offices at Headquarters.

Remember · Observers at the UN General Assembly: non-member States (Holy See, Palestine) and inter-governmental organisations. Both can keep permanent missions or offices at UN Headquarters.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) 1 and 4

The Tea Board is a statutory body set up under Section 4 of the Tea Act, 1953, and it runs promotion offices abroad, including Dubai and Moscow. It works under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, not Agriculture, and its head office is in Kolkata, not Bengaluru.

• ✓ 1. The Tea Board was constituted on 1 April 1954 under Section 4 of the Tea Act, 1953, so it is a statutory body of the Central Government.
• ✗ 2. It functions under the Ministry of Commerce (Department of Commerce), not the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
• ✗ 3. The Board's head office is at 14, BTM Sarani, Kolkata, not in Bengaluru.
• ✓ 4. Its published list of offices abroad includes Dubai and Moscow, besides London.

Remember · Tea Board: statutory body under the Tea Act, 1953; Ministry of Commerce and Industry; head office in Kolkata; overseas offices include London, Dubai and Moscow.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Conveying a false impression that a company’s products are eco-friendly and environmentally sound

Greenwashing means misleading people into believing that a company or other entity is doing more for the environment than it really is. Option (a) says exactly this, in terms of a company's products.

• ✓ (a) It is a deceptive claim of environmental friendliness, for example labelling a product 'green' or 'eco-friendly' without real proof. The UN treats it as an obstacle to climate action because it promotes false solutions.
• ✗ (b) Leaving environmental costs out of a country's accounts is a gap in national accounting (green accounting), not greenwashing.
• ✗ (c) Ignoring ecological damage during infrastructure building is environmental negligence, not a false green claim.
• ✗ (d) Making provision for environmental costs in a project is a genuine safeguard, the opposite of misleading claims.

Remember · Greenwashing: a false or exaggerated claim that a company, product or policy is environmentally friendly; it misleads consumers and delays real climate action.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2

Both statements swap the roles of the two cloud types. It is low, thick clouds that mainly bounce sunlight back and cool the surface, while high, thin clouds let sunlight through but hold back part of the Earth's outgoing heat and so warm the surface.

• ✗ 1. Reflection of sunlight (the cooling effect) is the main job of low, thick clouds. High, thin clouds such as cirrus mostly transmit incoming solar radiation.
• ✗ 2. The warming effect comes from high, thin clouds, which trap some of the infrared radiation leaving the Earth and send it back down. Low clouds are dominated by the cooling effect.

Remember · Low, thick clouds cool the surface (they reflect sunlight); high, thin clouds warm it (they trap outgoing infrared). Deep convective clouds are roughly neutral.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 2 and 3

Bidibidi is in Uganda, not Kenya, so statement 1 is wrong. Statements 2 and 3 are right: Bidibidi shelters refugees from South Sudan's conflict, and Kenya's Dadaab complex was set up for refugees escaping the civil war in Somalia.

• ✗ 1. Bidibidi settlement lies in Uganda's Yumbe district, in the north of that country. It was opened in August 2016 and was described as the largest refugee settlement in the world by December 2016.
• ✓ 2. It was opened to house part of the flow of South Sudanese refugees who crossed into northern Uganda after the conflict spread to South Sudan's Equatoria region.
• ✓ 3. Dadaab, in Kenya, was established in 1991 when refugees fleeing the civil war in Somalia began crossing the border, with a large second influx in 2011.

Remember · Bidibidi = northern Uganda (South Sudanese refugees). Dadaab = Kenya (refugees from Somalia's civil war). Do not swap the countries.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 2 and 5

Of the five countries, only Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan belong to the Organization of Turkic States. As of 2022 its members were Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Türkiye and Uzbekistan; Armenia, Croatia and Romania are not in it.

• ✓ 2. Azerbaijan is one of the five member States listed by the Organization.
• ✓ 5. Uzbekistan is also a member State, so 2 and 5 together give the right code.
• ✗ 1. Armenia is on neither the official list of members nor the list of observers.
• ✗ 3. Croatia is on neither the official list of members nor the list of observers.
• ✗ 4. Romania is on neither the official list of members nor the list of observers.
• • note The 2022 listing shows Hungary, Turkmenistan and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus as observers. Membership and observer status can change at later summits, so check the Organization's current page.

Remember · Organization of Turkic States members (2022): Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Türkiye, Uzbekistan. Hungary and Turkmenistan were observers.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, 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: Cochin International Airport in Kerala was the world's first fully solar powered airport. In the exam year the largest solar park was Bhadla in Rajasthan, not a Gujarat park, and Goa did not host India's largest floating solar project.

• ✗ 1. The Bhadla Solar Park in Rajasthan has a total capacity of 2,245 MW, which made it the largest operating solar park in India when this question was set.
• ✓ 2. UNEP calls Cochin International Airport, in Kerala, the world's first solar powered airport.
• ✗ 3. In the exam year (2022) India's largest floating solar project was NTPC's 100 MW plant at Ramagundam in Telangana, which the Ministry of Power announced as fully operational on 1 July 2022. It is not in Goa.
• • Since then A Central Electricity Authority report of September 2025 shows Gujarat's planned solar-park capacity (12,150 MW, including the Khavda parks) now above Rajasthan's (11,355 MW). The answer for 2022 is unchanged.

Remember · Bhadla (Rajasthan, 2,245 MW) was India's largest operating solar park in 2022; Cochin Airport (Kerala) is the world's first fully solar powered airport.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, 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 follow directly from the text of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS, 1982): Article 3 fixes the 12-nautical-mile limit of the territorial sea, Article 17 gives every State's ships the right of innocent passage, and Article 57 caps the Exclusive Economic Zone at 200 nautical miles.

• ✓ 1. Article 3 lets a State set its territorial sea up to 12 nautical miles, measured from baselines fixed under the Convention.
• ✓ 2. Article 17 gives ships of all States, coastal or land-locked, the right of innocent passage through the territorial sea.
• ✓ 3. Article 57 says the EEZ cannot go beyond 200 nautical miles from the same baselines used to measure the territorial sea.

Remember · UNCLOS 1982: territorial sea up to 12 nautical miles (Art. 3); innocent passage for all ships (Art. 17); EEZ up to 200 nautical miles from the baselines (Art. 57).

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) China and Japan engage in maritime disputes over these islands in East China Sea.

The Senkaku Islands are a group of small uninhabited islands in the East China Sea that Japan administers and China (and Taiwan) also claim, so China and Japan are in a maritime dispute over them. The other options describe things that have no basis: they are natural islands, not in the South China Sea, and no US base or ICJ ruling is involved.

• ✓ (b) Japan administers the islands, which it places under Ishigaki City, Okinawa. China and Taiwan press their own claims, which they began asserting around 1970-71 after a UN-linked survey pointed to possible oil under the seabed.
• ✗ (a) They are natural islands and rocks in the East China Sea, not artificial islands and not in the South China Sea.
• ✗ (c) The islands are uninhabited and no permanent American base has been set up on them to help Taiwan.
• ✗ (d) The International Court of Justice has not ruled on them, and the claimants are Japan, China and Taiwan, not South-East Asian countries.

Remember · Senkaku (Japanese name) or Diaoyu (Chinese name) islands: East China Sea, administered by Japan, claimed by China and Taiwan.

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Answer: (c) Only three pairs

Pairs 2, 3 and 4 are correct and pair 1 is wrong, so three pairs match. Guinea's army seized power in September 2021, Lebanon is in its worst economic collapse, and Tunisia's President suspended Parliament in July 2021. China's overseas base is in Djibouti, not Chad.

• ✗ 1. China's overseas military base is in Djibouti. A 2021 US Defense Department report says China was only pursuing further facilities and does not name Chad among the countries it likely considered.
• ✓ 2. After the army's takeover of 5 September 2021, the junta suspended Guinea's constitution and dissolved the institutions of government.
• ✓ 3. Since 2019 Lebanon has faced the most severe economic and financial collapse in its history, with a banking system left insolvent.
• ✓ 4. The UN human rights office records that on 25 July 2021 the Tunisian President suspended Parliament and assumed all executive functions, so the pair matches.

Remember · 2021 in the news: Guinea military coup (Sept), Tunisia's President suspends Parliament (July), Lebanon's economic collapse. China's overseas military base: Djibouti.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Only two pairs

Only pairs 1 and 2 are correct: Anatolia is the region of modern-day Turkey and Amhara is a region of Ethiopia. Cabo Delgado is a province of Mozambique and Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain.

• ✓ 1. Anatolia is the region that forms modern-day Turkey; NCERT places the Hittite empire in 'Anatolia (modern-day Turkey)'.
• ✓ 2. Amhara is one of Ethiopia's regions, listed by the UN among those hit by conflict and displacement.
• ✗ 3. Cabo Delgado is a northern province of Mozambique, where conflict has displaced many people. It is not in Spain.
• ✗ 4. Catalonia is an autonomous community within Spain: its Statute of Autonomy speaks of a State that respects 'the peoples of Spain'. It is not part of Italy.

Remember · Anatolia = Turkey; Amhara = Ethiopia; Cabo Delgado = northern Mozambique; Catalonia = Spain.

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Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, 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. Under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, a listed animal is protected from hunting wherever it is, inside or outside protected areas. But only some wild animals become Government property, and a mere fear of danger does not justify killing or capturing one.

• ✗ 1. Section 39 makes only certain animals Government property, such as those hunted under a permit, kept or hunted against the Act, or found dead. It does not make every wild animal the sole property of the government.
• ✓ 2. Section 9 bars hunting of any animal listed in the Schedules, and the rule is not tied to protected areas. The protection applies inside or outside sanctuaries and parks.
• ✗ 3. Section 11 lets the Chief Wild Life Warden permit hunting only if satisfied that the animal has actually become dangerous to human life (or is beyond recovery), and, since 2003, that it cannot be captured, tranquilised or translocated. Fear of danger alone is not enough.

Remember · Under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, hunting of scheduled animals is barred everywhere. A dangerous animal may be killed only as a last resort, on the Chief Wild Life Warden's written order.

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Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Ant

Ants are the well-known fungus farmers among these options. The fungus-gardening (attine) ants, including leafcutter ants of the American tropics, grow fungus in their nests as their food.

• ✓ (a) Attine ants, more than 250 species, cultivate fungi as their main food. Leafcutter ants cut leaves, carry them into underground nests and use them to feed the fungus.
• ✗ (b) Cockroaches are not known as fungus cultivators.
• ✗ (c) Crabs are not known as fungus cultivators.
• ✗ (d) Spiders are not known as fungus cultivators.

Remember · Fungus-growing (attine) ants, such as leafcutter ants, farm fungus in their nests as food. This is an example of mutualism between an insect and a fungus.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Only two pairs

Only pairs 1 and 2 are correct: Dhauli is in Odisha and Erragudi is in Andhra Pradesh. Jaugada is also in Odisha (Ganjam district), and Kalsi is in Uttarakhand (near Dehradun), so pairs 3 and 4 fail.

• ✓ 1. Dhauli, near Bhubaneswar in Khurda district, has Ashoka's Kalinga rock edicts and is a centrally protected monument of the Archaeological Survey of India in Odisha.
• ✓ 2. Erragudi (also spelt Yerragudi) is a major rock edict site in Andhra Pradesh, in the south-west of the state near the Karnataka border.
• ✗ 3. Jaugada is in Ganjam district of Odisha, on the Rushikulya river; its edicts duplicate those at Dhauli. It is not in Madhya Pradesh.
• ✗ 4. Kalsi lies near Dehradun in Uttarakhand, at the meeting of the Yamuna and the Tons. Karnataka's Ashokan sites are other places, for example Brahmagiri, which has minor rock edicts.

Remember · Major rock edicts: Dhauli and Jaugada (Odisha), Kalsi (Uttarakhand), Erragudi (Andhra Pradesh), Girnar (Gujarat), Sopara (Maharashtra), Mansehra and Shahbazgarhi (Pakistan).

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Only two pairs

Only pairs 1 and 3 are correct: Nannuka began the Chandela line and Nagabhata II was a Gurjara-Pratihara king. Jayashakti was another Chandela ruler, not a Paramara, and the famous Bhoja was a Pratihara king, not a Rashtrakuta.

• ✓ 1. Nannuka is the first ruler in the standard list of Chandela kings (early 9th century), the dynasty of Jejakabhukti (Bundelkhand) that built the Khajuraho temples.
• ✗ 2. Jayashakti, with his brother Vijayashakti, appears in the same Chandela list, after Vakpati. He is not a Paramara.
• ✓ 3. Nagabhata II was a Gurjara-Pratihara king who captured Kannauj in the early 9th century, before Bhoja made the Pratiharas the strongest power of north India.
• ✗ 4. Bhoja is the celebrated Pratihara king in NCERT, not a Rashtrakuta. The Rashtrakutas of the Deccan began with Dantidurga in the mid-8th century.

Remember · Chandela: Nannuka, Vakpati, Jayashakti. Gurjara-Pratihara: Nagabhata I and II, Bhoja. Rashtrakuta: Dantidurga.

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Answer: (b) The social classification of Varna was known to Sangam poets.

The Sangam texts knew the four-fold varna scheme: the Tolkappiyam speaks of a four-fold division of society, though it ties the groups to occupation. The other statements claim the poems lack material life or warriors, which is the opposite of what the poems show.

• ✓ (b) NCERT notes that Sangam literature such as the Tolkappiyam refers to a four-fold division of society and names groups such as Arasar (kings), Vanigar (traders) and Velar (farmers), along with Antanar (brahmanas).
• ✗ (a) The poems are full of everyday life. The Pattinappalai, for example, describes a prosperous, trade-oriented society of merchants, salt-makers, fishermen, artisans and agriculturists.
• ✗ (c) Sangam poems were composed by bards who sang the praise of chiefs, and they list warriors among the groups of society, so warriors and their conduct are not missing.

Remember · Sangam poems know varna, but link it to occupation: Arasar (kings), Vanigar (traders), Velar (farmers), Antanar (brahmanas).

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

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Akbar

UPSC's key is Akbar (1556-1605). Akbar ran a translation bureau at Fatehpur Sikri that turned major Sanskrit works into Persian; we could not confirm the date of the Yogavasistha translation from an official source.

• ✓ (a) Akbar had Sanskrit classics rendered into Persian, including the Mahabharata (Razmnama) and the Ramayana. UPSC's official key gives Akbar for this question; we could not confirm the date of the Yogavasistha translation from an official source, so we do not explain it here.
• ✗ (b) Humayun's rule was short and unsettled (he lost the throne and regained it), and it is not associated with a Sanskrit-to-Persian translation programme.
• ✗ (c) Shah Jahan is remembered for architecture such as the Taj Mahal; the large state-backed translation bureau is an Akbar-era feature.

Remember · Akbar's translation bureau put Sanskrit works into Persian: Mahabharata as Razmnama, Ramayana, Bhagavad Gita and Panchatantra.

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Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) The best means of salvation was devotion.

Ramanuja taught that devotion (bhakti) to Vishnu, with surrender to Him, is the best way to reach salvation. His school, vishishtadvaita, is a devotional form of Vedanta.

• ✓ (a) NCERT: according to Ramanuja the best means of attaining salvation was intense devotion to Vishnu, whose grace lets the devotee reach the bliss of union with Him.
• ✗ (c) The route of knowledge and reasoning about Brahman is Shankara's advaita, which Ramanuja challenged; his own path stressed bhakti and surrender.
• ✗ (d) Ramanuja's texts as summarised in NCERT stress bhakti and surrender to the divine, not meditation, as the path to liberation.

Remember · Ramanuja (11th century, Tamil Nadu): vishishtadvaita, Vishnu-bhakti and surrender as the way to salvation, in contrast to Shankara's advaita and path of knowledge.

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Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1 and 2 only

Statements 1 and 2 are correct; statement 3 is not. The present Somnath temple was consecrated on 11 May 1951 by Dr Rajendra Prasad, the then President, not by S. Radhakrishnan.

• ✓ 1. Somnath, at Prabhas Patan near Veraval in Gujarat, is revered as the first of the twelve Jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva.
• ✓ 2. Al-Biruni, the scholar who came to Ghazni after Mahmud took Khwarizm and who travelled with Mahmud's army, wrote about the shivalinga worshipped at Somnath and about its destruction by Mahmud; NCERT quotes him on this.
• ✗ 3. The temple rebuilt after independence was consecrated on 11 May 1951, with President Rajendra Prasad performing the installation ceremony.

Remember · Somnath: first of the 12 Jyotirlingas, raided by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1026, described by Al-Biruni; present temple installed by President Rajendra Prasad on 11 May 1951.

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Answer: (d) They protect the body from the diseases caused by pathogens.

B cells and T cells are the two lymphocytes that run the body's specific immune response, so they protect us from diseases caused by pathogens (disease-causing microbes). B cells make antibodies; T cells help B cells make them.

• ✓ (d) NCERT: immune responses are carried out by B-lymphocytes and T-lymphocytes. B cells produce antibodies against pathogens, and T cells help B cells produce them.
• ✗ (a) An allergy is an exaggerated immune response to harmless substances in the environment such as pollen or mites. That reaction is the problem, not the protection.
• ✗ (c) Immunosuppressants are drugs that damp down the immune system. B and T cells are what carry out the immune response.

Remember · B cells make antibodies against pathogens; T cells help B cells do so. Together they carry out the body's immune response, with memory of the first encounter.

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