Prelims GS Paper I 2023

Answer: (a) Only one

Only statement 1 holds. The Jhelum flows through Wular Lake, but Kolleru gets its direct inflow from the Budameru and Tammileru streams rather than the Krishna, and Kanwar Lake belongs to the meander belt of the Burhi Gandak, which is a different river from the Gandak.

• ✓ 1. The Jhelum rises at Verinag, flows past Srinagar and then through Wular Lake before it crosses into Pakistan.
• ✗ 2. Kolleru lies between the Krishna and Godavari basins, but the rivers feeding it directly are two seasonal streams, the Budameru and the Tammileru, along with about 30 drains and channels.
• ✗ 3. Kanwar Lake (Kabartal) in Begusarai, Bihar, is part of a wetland complex in the lower reaches of the meandering Burhi Gandak; the Burhi Gandak and the Gandak are separate rivers.

Remember · Wular Lake: Jhelum. Kolleru: fed by Budameru and Tammileru, between Krishna and Godavari deltas. Kanwar/Kabartal: Burhi Gandak meanders, Bihar's first Ramsar site (2020).

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Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Only two pairs

Kamarajar (Ennore) was the first major port set up as a company, and Mundra in Gujarat is India's largest private port, so the first two pairs match. Visakhapatnam is a big bulk-cargo port on the east coast, but India's container traffic is led by west-coast ports such as Jawaharlal Nehru Port (Nhava Sheva) and Mundra.

• ✓ 1. Ennore Port was declared a major port in March 1999 and incorporated as a company under the Companies Act, 1956 in October 1999; it was later renamed Kamarajar Port Limited, the first corporatised major port.
• ✓ 2. Mundra, on the northern shore of the Gulf of Kutch, is run by a private operator and is India's largest private port.
• ✗ 3. Visakhapatnam is not the leading container port. Jawaharlal Nehru Port at Navi Mumbai handles about half of the containerised cargo of India's major ports.

Remember · Kamarajar (Ennore, Tamil Nadu): first corporatised major port. Mundra (Gujarat): largest private port. Jawaharlal Nehru Port (Navi Mumbai): India's premier container port among major ports.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Only two

Teak and mahua are typical trees of India's tropical deciduous (monsoon) forests and shed their leaves in the dry season. Jackfruit keeps its leathery leaves all year and is an evergreen tree, so only two of the three are deciduous.

• ✗ 1. Jackfruit is an evergreen tree with glossy, leathery leaves; it does not drop its foliage in a dry season.
• ✓ 2. Mahua is listed among the main species of India's tropical deciduous forests, which shed leaves in the dry months.
• ✓ 3. Teak is the best-known tree of the tropical deciduous (monsoon) forests of India.

Remember · Tropical deciduous (monsoon) forests: teak, sal, shisham, mahua, amla, semul, kusum, sandalwood. Jackfruit is an evergreen tree.

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Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Only one

Only the first statement holds. India's arable land (about 155 million hectares) is second only to the USA's and larger than China's, but China irrigates a bigger share of its cropland and harvests far more per hectare.

• ✓ 1. FAO figures compiled by India's Agriculture Ministry put India's arable land at 155.37 million hectares in 2020, second in the world after the USA, which places it ahead of China.
• ✗ 2. About half of India's net sown area is irrigated and the rest depends on rainfall, while China irrigates a larger share of its smaller cropland.
• ✗ 3. China's yields are much higher: in 2020 its paddy yield was 7,043 kg per hectare against India's 4,138, and its wheat yield 5,742 kg against India's 3,440.

Remember · India: more arable land than China (second only to the USA). China: higher irrigation share of cropland and much higher yields per hectare.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Rann of Kutch

The Rann of Kachchh was once a shallow part of the Arabian Sea. A geological shift closed off its connection with the sea, leaving a vast seasonal marshy salt desert that fills with water in the monsoon and dries into a white salt flat in summer.

• ✓ (d) The Rann was a shallow part of the Arabian Sea until a geological shift closed its connection with the sea; it is now a huge seasonal marshy salt desert in Gujarat, made up of the Great Rann and the Little Rann.
• ✗ (a) Bhitarkanika in Odisha is a mangrove forest. NCERT notes that mangroves grow along coasts in salt marshes, tidal creeks, mud flats and estuaries, so it is a coastal tidal wetland, not marshland left behind by a retreating sea.
• ✗ (b) Marakkanam in Tamil Nadu is known for its coastal salt pans, where salt is made from seawater; these are small human-made works, not a vast natural marshland.

Remember · Rann of Kutch: former shallow part of the Arabian Sea, cut off by a geological shift; now a seasonal marshy salt desert (Great Rann and Little Rann) in Gujarat.

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Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Titanium

Ilmenite and rutile are the main ores of titanium. They occur in the heavy-mineral beach sands of coasts such as those of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and titanium dioxide made from them is the white pigment used in paints and toothpaste.

• ✓ (d) Titanium oxide is obtained from the minerals rutile, ilmenite and anatase; ilmenite is found in beach sands along the Kerala and Tamil Nadu coast.
• ✗ (c) Ilmenite does contain iron (it is an iron-titanium oxide), but it is mined for titanium; India's iron comes from haematite and magnetite ores.
• ✗ (a) Aluminium is obtained from bauxite, not from ilmenite or rutile.

Remember · Beach-sand minerals: ilmenite and rutile give titanium; monazite gives thorium. Bauxite gives aluminium; haematite and magnetite give iron.

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Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo dominates cobalt mining, supplying roughly 70 per cent or more of the world's mined cobalt, most of it from its copper-cobalt belt in the south-east. Much of this is refined in China and used in rechargeable batteries.

• ✓ (c) The US Geological Survey reported that Congo (Kinshasa) remained the world's leading source of mined cobalt in 2022, with about 70% of world mine production.
• ✗ (a) Argentina is known for lithium brines, another battery mineral, not cobalt.
• ✗ (d) Kazakhstan is the world's largest uranium producer; it is not a major cobalt source.

Remember · Cobalt: DR Congo mines about 70–75% of world output, mostly as a by-product of copper; China leads in refining and battery use.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Cameroon

South-eastern Cameroon lies in the Congo Basin rainforest: its Dja Faunal Reserve and Lobéké National Park are part of the basin's dense forests. Nigeria drains mainly to the Niger, while South Sudan and Uganda lie in the Nile basin.

• ✓ (a) Cameroon shares the north-western Congo Basin with the Central African Republic and the Republic of Congo; UNESCO sites such as Sangha Trinational and the Dja Faunal Reserve lie in its forests.
• ✗ (b) Nigeria's main river system is the Niger and its tributary the Benue, which flow to the Gulf of Guinea, not the Congo.
• ✗ (d) Uganda, like South Sudan, drains into the White Nile system through Lake Victoria and Lake Albert, so it belongs to the Nile basin.

Remember · Congo Basin countries: DR Congo, Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea. Uganda and South Sudan: Nile basin; Nigeria: Niger basin.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) None

Each statement pairs a hill with the wrong range. Amarkantak is where the Vindhya and Satpura (Maikal) ranges meet, the Biligirirangan Hills in southern Karnataka link the Eastern and Western Ghats, and the Seshachalam Hills in Andhra Pradesh belong to the Eastern Ghats.

• ✗ 1. The Narmada rises on the Amarkantak plateau and flows west between the Satpura to the south and the Vindhya to the north; Amarkantak joins the Vindhya and Satpura systems, while the Sahyadri (Western Ghats) lie far to the south-west.
• ✗ 2. The Satpura range lies in central India and marks the northern edge of the Deccan plateau; the Biligirirangan Hills are in Chamarajanagar district of southern Karnataka, where the Eastern and Western Ghats come together.
• ✗ 3. The Seshachalam Hills, home to the Seshachalam Biosphere Reserve and Tirumala, are in Andhra Pradesh and are part of the Eastern Ghats. The southern end of the Western Ghats is formed by the Anaimalai and Cardamom hills of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Remember · Amarkantak: Vindhya–Satpura junction, source of Narmada and Son. Biligirirangan: meeting of Eastern and Western Ghats. Seshachalam: Eastern Ghats, Andhra Pradesh.

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Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) None

Every statement has a wrong end-point or a wrong project name. The East-West Corridor runs from Silchar to Porbandar and is separate from the Golden Quadrilateral, the Trilateral Highway runs from Moreh to Mae Sot in Thailand, and the BCIM corridor was planned from Kolkata to Kunming.

• ✗ 1. The East-West Corridor links Silchar in Assam with Porbandar in Gujarat (about 3,640 km). It belongs to the North-South and East-West corridor programme, not to the Golden Quadrilateral, which joins Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.
• ✗ 2. PIB states that the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway aims to connect Moreh in Manipur to Mae Sot in Thailand via Myanmar, not Chiang Mai.
• ✗ 3. The Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) Economic Corridor was conceived to link Kolkata with Kunming in Yunnan through Bangladesh and Myanmar; Varanasi is not on it.

Remember · East-West Corridor: Silchar–Porbandar; North-South: Srinagar–Kanniyakumari. Trilateral Highway: Moreh–Mae Sot. BCIM: Kolkata–Kunming.

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Answer: (c) Statement-I is correct but Statement-II is incorrect

Coal generates well over two-thirds of India's electricity even though the country has uranium ores, so Statement-I is right. Statement-II is wrong: India's heavy water reactors burn natural (unenriched) uranium and its light water reactors use only low-enriched uranium, nowhere near 60%.

• ✓ Statement-I Uranium occurs in India, for example in the Dharwar rocks and along the Singhbhum copper belt, but coal-fired plants still supply more than 70% of the electricity generated in the country.
• ✗ Statement-II Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors, the backbone of India's nuclear power, are fuelled by natural uranium, and Light Water Reactors by low-enriched uranium. Enrichment of 60% or more is not needed to produce electricity.

Remember · Coal: about 70–74% of India's electricity. PHWRs run on natural uranium; LWRs on low-enriched uranium. Power generation does not need highly enriched uranium.

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Answer: (c) Statement-I is correct but Statement-II is incorrect

Pouched mammals (marsupials) occur naturally only in Australia, New Guinea and nearby islands and in the Americas, so none are native to India. But they are not confined to predator-free mountain grasslands: they live in deserts, trees, burrows and even water, often alongside predators.

• ✓ Statement-I About 200 marsupial species live in Australia, New Guinea and neighbouring islands and about 70 in the Americas, mostly South and Central America. India has no native marsupials.
• ✗ Statement-II Marsupials occupy many habitats: burrowing, ground-living, tree-living and semi-aquatic species exist. Wallabies, bilbies and the marsupial mole live in the Australian deserts, where NCERT lists dingoes, cats, foxes and snakes among the predators.

Remember · Marsupials (kangaroo, koala, wombat, opossum) are native only to Australasia and the Americas, in habitats from deserts to trees and water; none are native to India.

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Answer: (a) The International Union for Conservation of Nature

The Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG) is one of the expert groups of IUCN's Species Survival Commission, and it built and runs the Global Invasive Species Database (GISD).

• ✓ (a) The GISD was developed and is managed by the ISSG of the Species Survival Commission (SSC) of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
• ✗ (b) UNEP is the UN's environment agency; it does not house the ISSG, which sits inside IUCN's commission structure.
• ✗ (d) WWF is an independent conservation NGO; the ISSG and its database are part of IUCN, the body that also publishes the Red List.

Remember · ISSG → IUCN Species Survival Commission → runs the Global Invasive Species Database (GISD). IUCN also compiles the Red List.

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Answer: (a) Only one

UPSC's key counts one animal: the Malabar civet, a secretive night-time carnivore of the Western Ghats. The lion-tailed macaque is a day-active, tree-dwelling monkey. The sambar is not counted: it feeds mainly at dusk and by night but is also seen grazing by day in quiet protected forests, and the key treats this mixed pattern as not 'generally nocturnal'.

• ✗ 1. The lion-tailed macaque, endemic to the evergreen forests of the Western Ghats, is arboreal and diurnal: its troops feed and move through the canopy by day.
• ✓ 2. The Malabar civet is nocturnal and so elusive that researchers have to search for it at night; it is among India's most threatened mammals.
• ✗ 3. The key does not count the sambar. Its activity peaks at dusk and through the night, but in undisturbed forests it is also active by day, and the key treats this crepuscular, mixed pattern as falling short of 'generally nocturnal'.

Remember · Malabar civet: nocturnal, Western Ghats, Critically Endangered. Lion-tailed macaque: diurnal, arboreal, Western Ghats endemic. Sambar: largest Indian deer; most active at dusk and night, also seen by day — not counted as nocturnal in UPSC's key.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Honeybees

The waggle dance is the honeybee's way of telling hive-mates where food lies. Karl von Frisch decoded it and shared the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for this work.

• ✓ (c) A forager returning from a source more than about 50 m away runs a straight line on the vertical comb while wagging her abdomen; the angle of that run shows the direction relative to the sun, and the vigour of wagging signals distance.
• ✗ (d) Wasps are social insects too, but they do not use a symbolic dance to point nestmates to food.
• ✗ (a) Butterflies are solitary foragers and have no dance language for sharing the location of nectar.

Remember · Honeybees: round dance for food close to the hive, waggle dance for food farther away (direction relative to the sun plus distance). Decoded by Karl von Frisch (Nobel 1973).

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) All four

Mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of a very diverse group of fungi, and each property in the list is shown by at least some species: medicine (reishi, turkey tail), mind-altering chemicals (psilocybin), insect-deterring proteins and compounds, and a natural glow.

• ✓ 1. NCERT notes that wild edible mushrooms have high nutritional and medicinal values. Medicinal mushrooms such as reishi and turkey tail have been used against infections for centuries in Asia, and for over 30 years have been approved as an add-on to standard cancer treatment in Japan and China.
• ✓ 2. Psilocybin, a hallucinogen found in certain mushrooms ("magic mushrooms"), alters perception, mood and thought.
• ✓ 3. Some mushrooms are rarely attacked by insects; studies of their fruit bodies have found insecticidal proteins and antifeedant compounds that are being explored for pest control.
• ✓ 4. Several gilled mushrooms glow in the dark through a luciferin–luciferase reaction.

Remember · Fungi, including mushrooms, give medicines (reishi), psychoactive psilocybin, insecticidal proteins and bioluminescence (luciferin–luciferase light).

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Answer: (b) Only two

The three-striped palm squirrel, a common Indian squirrel, nests in treetops, not in burrows. Like other squirrels it buries nuts and seeds to eat later, and its diet mixes fruit and nuts with insects, larvae and eggs, so it is omnivorous. So statements 2 and 3 are right.

• ✗ 1. The three-striped palm squirrel builds its nest in treetops out of grass and branches, not in burrows in the ground.
• ✓ 2. Squirrels bury nuts and seeds and return to some of these caches later; the nuts they forget can grow into trees.
• ✓ 3. The palm squirrel eats mainly fruit and nuts but also takes insects, larvae, eggs and small birds, so it is omnivorous.

Remember · Indian palm squirrel: tree-nesting (not burrowing), buries nuts and seeds, omnivorous (fruit, nuts, insects, eggs).

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Answer: (c) All three

Microbes live in places no other life can: hot vents, snow and ice, and strongly acidic sites. Such extremophiles (thermophiles, psychrophiles, acidophiles) make all three statements true.

• ✓ 1. Hyperthermophiles thrive in hydrothermal vents. Under high pressure, the methanogen Methanopyrus kandleri strain 116 has multiplied at 122 °C in the laboratory, above water's normal boiling point of 100 °C.
• ✓ 2. Cold-loving microbes (psychrophiles) live in permafrost, sea ice and under thick snow, where they stay active below 0 °C in films of salty, unfrozen water.
• ✓ 3. Acidophiles grow in highly acidic places such as acid mine drainage and acidic hot springs; some archaea grow best at a pH below 1.

Remember · Extremophiles: thermophiles (up to 122 °C under pressure), psychrophiles (below 0 °C), acidophiles (pH < 3), halophiles (salt).

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Answer: (b) Orangutan

Among the options, only the orangutan, a great ape, fashions tools from sticks: some wild orangutan populations modify small sticks and use them to probe tree trunks for food such as honey.

• ✓ (b) Some wild orangutan populations modify small sticks and probe tree trunks with them for food such as honey; Sumatran orangutans also modify sticks to open Neesia fruits.
• ✗ (d) The sloth bear eats termites and ants, but it digs them out with its long curved claws and sucks them up; it is not known to make tools.
• ✗ (c) Otters are not known for making stick tools to scrape insects out of wood.

Remember · Orangutan: stick tools to probe tree trunks for food such as honey. Sloth bear: claws and suction to eat termites, no tools.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Only three

Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) replaced ozone-depleting CFCs and HCFCs in cooling, aerosol propellants, foam blowing and fire suppression. Lubricants are not an HFC application, so three of the four are correct.

• ✓ 1. HFCs serve as propellants in aerosol cans, one of the uses listed by the US EPA and UNEP.
• ✓ 2. HFCs are used as blowing agents to make insulating and other foams.
• ✓ 3. Some HFCs are used as fire-suppression (fire-extinguishing) agents, a replacement for ozone-depleting halons.
• ✗ 4. Lubricants are oils and greases; HFCs are gases used as refrigerants, propellants, blowing agents and fire suppressants, not as lubricants.

Remember · HFCs: refrigerants, AC, aerosols, foam blowing, fire suppression, solvents. Not ozone-depleting but potent greenhouse gases; phased down under the Kigali Amendment (2016).

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Statement-I is incorrect but Statement-II is correct

An InvIT is a 'pass-through' vehicle: interest it receives from its project SPVs is not taxed at the trust level but is taxed when distributed to unitholders, so Statement-I gets it the wrong way round. The Finance Act, 2021 widened the SARFAESI Act's definition of 'borrower' to include pooled investment vehicles such as InvITs, so Statement-II is right.

• ✗ Statement-I Under section 115UA of the Income-tax Act, interest income that an InvIT passes on to its unitholders is deemed to be their income and is taxed in their hands; it is not exempt.
• ✓ Statement-II From 1 April 2021, clause (f) of section 2(1) of the SARFAESI Act covers 'any person who, or a pooled investment vehicle' that has taken financial assistance, and business trusts such as InvITs and REITs are pooled investment vehicles. Lenders can therefore enforce security against them.

Remember · InvIT/REIT = business trust = pooled investment vehicle. Interest passed to unitholders is taxable in their hands. Since 2021, InvITs and REITs count as 'borrowers' under SARFAESI.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II is the correct explanation for Statement-I

After the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war pushed prices up, central banks led by the US Federal Reserve raised policy rates in step with one another. They did so because they believe that dearer money cools demand and brings inflation down, so Statement-II explains Statement-I.

• ✓ Statement-I The Economic Survey 2022-23 records synchronised policy rate hikes by central banks across economies to curb inflation, with the US Federal Reserve raising rates at its fastest pace since the 1970s.
• ✓ Statement-II Monetary policy is the main tool central banks use against inflation; in India the RBI Act makes price stability the primary objective of monetary policy, with a flexible inflation target.

Remember · Inflation up → central bank raises policy rate (repo) → borrowing costlier → demand cools → prices ease. RBI: primary objective is price stability, keeping growth in mind.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II is not the correct explanation for Statement-I

Carbon markets put a price on each tonne of emissions and are spreading fast, from the EU's emissions trading system to India's Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (2023). When governments auction emission allowances, money does flow from companies to the State, but that revenue is a by-product; markets are popular because pricing carbon makes polluters cut emissions where it is cheapest.

• ✓ Statement-I Emissions trading and carbon-credit markets are among the most widely adopted climate policy tools; India notified its own Carbon Credit Trading Scheme in June 2023 to put a price on a tonne of CO2-equivalent.
• ✓ Statement-II Where allowances are auctioned, companies pay the government: EU ETS auctions raise revenue for national budgets and climate funds. This transfer is not why carbon markets are used, so Statement-II does not explain Statement-I.

Remember · Carbon market = cap (or intensity target) + tradable permits/credits → carbon gets a price. Auctioned permits raise public revenue. India: Carbon Credit Trading Scheme, 2023 (BEE administers).

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Answer: (a) Conducting ‘Open Market Operations’

Sterilisation means offsetting the effect of the RBI's foreign-exchange dealings on domestic money supply. When the RBI buys dollars it releases rupees; it then sells government securities through open market operations to mop those rupees back up.

• ✓ (a) The RBI's own Working Group on Instruments of Sterilisation calls open market operations, in which the RBI sells securities, the commonly used instrument of sterilisation; the sale mops up the rupees released by forex purchases.
• ✗ (c) Debt and cash management is the RBI's role as banker and debt manager to governments; it does not by itself neutralise the liquidity impact of capital flows.
• ✗ (b) Overseeing payment and settlement systems is a regulatory function about safe transfers of money, not about controlling the money supply.

Remember · Sterilisation = RBI neutralising liquidity from forex intervention, mainly via OMOs (and the Market Stabilisation Scheme). OMO sale absorbs liquidity; OMO purchase injects it.

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Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Only two

The capital market deals in long-term funds (more than a year), such as government bonds and shares, while the money market deals in funds for up to one year, such as call money and treasury bills. So only the government bond market and the stock market are capital markets.

• ✓ 1. Government bonds, or dated securities, have an original maturity of one year or more, so they are long-term capital-market instruments.
• ✗ 2. Call money is overnight inter-bank borrowing and lending, a money-market transaction.
• ✗ 3. Treasury bills are short-term (91, 182 and 364 days) zero-coupon government securities, which the RBI classes as money market instruments.
• ✓ 4. Shares traded on the stock market are long-term (perpetual) claims on companies, the core of the capital market.

Remember · Money market: up to 1 year (call money, T-bills, CPs, CDs, repos). Capital market: over 1 year (shares, dated G-secs/bonds, debentures).

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Many marginal farmers in an area organize themselves into groups and synchronize and harmonize selected agricultural operations

UPSC's official key marks option (b) as correct; we could not confirm the definition of this concept from an official source, so we do not explain it here. A company that supplies loans, inputs and know-how to farmers for the crop it needs is contract farming (NCERT).

• ✓ (b) UPSC's official key marks this option as correct; we could not confirm the detail from an official source, so we do not explain it here.
• ✗ (d) A company supplying loans, inputs and know-how so that farmers grow the crop it needs is contract farming. NCERT describes it: the company identifies the crop, provides seeds and other inputs, and the know-how.
• ✗ (c) This option describes farmers handing their land to a corporate body for a fixed term against a payment; UPSC's official key does not mark it correct.

Remember · Company-led inputs-plus-buyback = contract farming (NCERT).

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Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) All three

Nigerseed is one of the kharif crops for which the Centre announces a Minimum Support Price every year, and it is sown in the rainy season. UPSC's key counts all three statements as correct.

• ✓ 1. Nigerseed appears in the government's list of Minimum Support Prices for kharif crops; for 2022-23 the MSP was ₹7,287 per quintal.
• ✓ 2. Niger is sown in June–September as a kharif (and late-kharif) crop; official crop calendars list 'Niger (Kharif)' and 'Niger (Late Kharif)' seasons.
• ✓ 3. UPSC's official key counts this statement as correct; we could not confirm the detail from an official source, so we do not explain it here.

Remember · Nigerseed (Guizotia abyssinica): a kharif oilseed with an MSP notified every year.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Only three

An intangible asset has no physical substance: brands, patents and copyrights, software, and customer or mailing lists. Inventory (raw materials, work in progress and finished goods) is physical stock, so it is a tangible asset. Three of the four are intangible.

• ✓ 1. Spending on building a brand creates value that has no physical form; accounting standards treat brands and trademarks as intangible items.
• ✗ 2. Inventory consists of physical goods held for production or sale, a tangible (current) asset.
• ✓ 3. Intellectual property such as patents, copyrights and trademarks is the classic example of an intangible asset.
• ✓ 4. A mailing list of clients is a customer list, which accounting standards list alongside brands and publishing titles as an intangible item.

Remember · Intangible = no physical substance: brands, IP (patents, copyrights, trademarks), software, customer lists, goodwill. Inventory, machinery and buildings are tangible.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Only three

The Fifteenth Finance Commission shared the divisible pool among states on six criteria: income distance (45%), population (15%), area (15%), forest and ecology (10%), demographic performance (12.5%) and tax and fiscal efforts (2.5%). Governance reforms and stable government were not criteria, so three of the listed items were used.

• ✓ 1. Demographic performance carried a 12.5% weight: the Commission used Census 2011 population but wanted to reward states that had done better on the demographic front.
• ✓ 2. Forest and ecology carried a 10% weight in the 15th Finance Commission's formula.
• ✗ 3. Governance reforms were not a criterion in the devolution formula.
• ✗ 4. 'Stable government' was never part of the formula.
• ✓ 5. Tax and fiscal efforts carried a 2.5% weight: the Commission re-introduced the tax effort criterion to reward fiscal performance.

Remember · 15th FC horizontal devolution: income distance 45, population (2011) 15, area 15, demographic performance 12.5, forest and ecology 10, tax and fiscal efforts 2.5. States' share: 41%.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Only three

UNOPS ran the S3i initiative to invest directly in infrastructure in developing countries, and named three areas: affordable housing, renewable energy and health. Mass rapid transport was not one of them.

• ✓ 1. Affordable housing was a core S3i area. The independent review of S3i lists social-housing loans for projects in Kenya, Ghana, India and Antigua and Barbuda.
• ✗ 2. Mass rapid transport was not among S3i's declared investment areas.
• ✓ 3. Health was one of the three areas UNOPS itself named for S3i, alongside affordable housing and renewable energy.
• ✓ 4. Renewable energy was the third area. S3i's first investment, in August 2018, went to a wind project in Mexico.

Remember · UNOPS S3i invested in affordable housing, renewable energy and health infrastructure. Mass rapid transport was not among its areas.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) The principle of natural justice

'Due process of law', borrowed from the US Constitution, lets courts ask not only whether a law was properly made but whether the law itself is fair, just and reasonable. At its core it is the principle of natural justice: no one is condemned unheard and no one judges their own cause.

• ✓ (a) Due process asks whether a law and its procedure are fair, not only whether it was properly made. In Maneka Gandhi (1978) the Supreme Court held that the Article 21 procedure must be right, just and fair, and that natural justice, such as a fair hearing, is part of that fairness.
• ✗ (b) 'Procedure established by law' is the narrower phrase actually used in Article 21: it asks only whether a validly enacted law was followed, which is why the framers preferred it to due process.
• ✗ (d) Equality before law is a separate guarantee under Article 14, not the meaning of due process.

Remember · Article 21 says 'procedure established by law'; courts have read in 'due process' (fair, just, reasonable; natural justice) since Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India (1978).

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Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II is the correct explanation for Statement-I

Why not the tempting option · UPSC's key is (a). The 1894 Act does not use the words 'expressly kept', but it does expressly vest prisons in the provincial (now State) government: section 3 makes a prison a place used under that government's orders and section 59 gives it the rule-making power, so Statement II is a fair description. Option (b) fails because that rule-making power is precisely why each State has its own rules (Statement I); the State List entry of 1950 added the constitutional footing. In the exam, treat a statement as 'expressly' true when the Act's sections say it, even if not in those words.

Prisons are a State subject, and each State runs its prisons under its own manual and rules. The Prisons Act, 1894 is the framework law that placed prisons under the provincial (now State) government: a prison is a place used under that government's orders, and section 59 gives it the power to make the rules. That is exactly why States have their own rules, so Statement II explains Statement I.

• ✓ Statement-I 'Prisons' is in the State List of the Seventh Schedule. The Ministry of Home Affairs says management and administration lie exclusively with State Governments, under the 1894 Act and each State's Prison Manual.
• ✓ Statement-II The Act vests prisons in the provincial government throughout: section 3 defines a prison as a place used under the orders of the (then provincial, now State) Government, and section 59 says the State Government may make rules consistent with the Act. So it kept the subject under provincial control; Entry 4 of the State List later gave this constitutional footing.
• ✓ (a) Statement-II is the legal reason for Statement-I: the 1894 Act's rule-making power is why each State has its own prison rules.
• ✗ (b) This option accepts both statements but treats Statement-II as unrelated to Statement-I. The two are directly linked.

Remember · Prisons: State List, Seventh Schedule. States run them under the Prisons Act, 1894 and their own Prison Manuals; the Centre only advises (e.g. Model Prison Manual, 2016).

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) It defines and limits the powers of government.

A constitution's chief purpose is to define what powers a government has and to limit them, so that those in office cannot trespass on citizens' fundamental rights. The other options describe secondary functions or goals that only some constitutions pursue.

• ✓ (c) NCERT lists one core function of a constitution as setting limits on what a government can impose on its citizens, for example through fundamental rights. Defining and limiting government power is common to every constitution.
• ✗ (b) Creating a government and deciding who holds decision-making power is a real function, but it is a means of organising power, not the chief purpose.
• ✗ (d) Enabling a government to pursue a just society is another function, and it depends on the aims a particular constitution sets. Not every constitution promises social security.
• ✗ (a) A constitution lays down the basic rules and the source of law-making authority; it does not fix the objective of each law.

Remember · A constitution gives basic rules, says who holds power, limits government power to protect citizens, and enables a just society. 'Limits government power' is its core purpose.

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Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

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

UPSC dropped this question from evaluation in its final answer key. The classic answer is the 1st Amendment (1951): its own Statement of Objects says difficulties had surfaced from court rulings on Fundamental Rights, and it added Articles 31A and 31B and the Ninth Schedule to protect land-reform laws.

• • (a) The Constitution (First Amendment) Act, 1951 was brought in because judicial decisions on Fundamental Rights, especially on free speech, trade and property, were blocking social and land-reform laws. It inserted Article 31B, which protects Acts in the Ninth Schedule from being struck down for violating Part III.
• • (b) The 42nd Amendment (1976) also asserted parliamentary supremacy after the Kesavananda Bharati ruling, but the Court repeated its stand in Minerva Mills (1980). This overlap may be why the question was contested.
• • (c) The 44th Amendment (1978) went the other way: it undid many changes made by the 38th, 39th and 42nd Amendments, and removed the right to property from the Fundamental Rights.

Remember · 1st Amendment (1951): a response to court rulings on Fundamental Rights; added Articles 31A, 31B and the Ninth Schedule.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Indian Constitution at Work, Ch 9 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Only one

Only the National Commission for Backward Classes is a constitutional body, since it works under Article 338B. The NHRC and the NCDRC are statutory bodies set up by Acts of Parliament, and the Law Commission is a non-statutory body set up by the Government.

• ✓ 1. The NCBC was given constitutional status under Article 338B, inserted in 2018, and functions like the National Commissions for SCs (Article 338) and STs (Article 338A).
• ✗ 2. The NHRC is statutory. Section 3 of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 says the Central Government shall constitute it.
• ✗ 3. The Law Commission of India is a non-statutory body, constituted by the Government of India from time to time, and is neither in the Constitution nor created by an Act.
• ✗ 4. The NCDRC is statutory. Section 53 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 provides for the Central Government to establish it by notification.

Remember · Constitutional: NCBC (Art. 338B), NCSC (338), NCST (338A). Statutory: NHRC, NCDRC. Non-statutory: Law Commission.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) None

None of the three statements is correct. Article 71 protects acts already done by a President whose election is later voided, Articles 62 and 71 do not allow the election to be delayed because of vacancies in the electoral college, and Article 111 sets no time limit for the President to assent to a Bill.

• ✗ 1. Article 71(2) says acts done by the President on or before the date of the Supreme Court's decision are not invalidated by the declaration that the election was void.
• ✗ 2. Article 62(1) requires the election to be completed before the term ends, and Article 71(4) says the election cannot be questioned because of vacancies in the electoral college, such as dissolved Assemblies.
• ✗ 3. Article 111 says the President shall declare that he assents or withholds assent, and may return a non-Money Bill for reconsideration, but it fixes no time limit.

Remember · Presidential election: acts done before a voided election stand (Art. 71(2)); vacancies in the electoral college do not stop it (71(4)); Art. 111 sets no deadline for assent.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Only two

Statements 1 and 2 are correct and statement 3 is not, so two are correct. The question sets a Finance Bill against a Money Bill, so the Finance Bill here is a financial Bill that is not a Money Bill: the Rajya Sabha can amend or reject it like any other Bill (1), while a Money Bill it can only return with recommendations within 14 days (2). Statement 3 fails on 'becomes necessary': Article 108 lets the President summon a joint sitting on a non-Money Bill, but it is never compulsory.

• ✓ 1. Article 117(1) restricts a financial Bill only at introduction: the President's recommendation, and no introduction in the Rajya Sabha. Once transmitted, the Rajya Sabha can amend or reject it; Article 108 itself contemplates such a Bill being 'rejected by the other House' or the Houses disagreeing on amendments.
• ✓ 2. Article 109(2): the Council of States must return a Money Bill within fourteen days with recommendations, and the House of the People may accept or reject any of them.
• ✗ 3. No joint sitting for a Money Bill is right (Article 108 proviso), but a joint sitting never 'becomes necessary': on a disagreement the President 'may' notify a joint sitting, and the Bill may simply lapse. A possible remedy is not a necessary one.

Remember · Money Bill: Lok Sabha only; Rajya Sabha may only recommend within 14 days; no joint sitting. Other financial Bills: Rajya Sabha can amend or reject; a joint sitting is possible (the President 'may' summon one), never necessary.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Only two

Why not the tempting option · UPSC's key is (b): statements 2 and 3 are correct, 1 and 4 are not. The Act settles 1 (a Community Reserve management committee, not the Chief Wild Life Warden, manages the reserve) and supports 2 (the general ban on hunting applies, and the sanctuary duty to secure wild animals is extended to community reserves). On 3 and 4 the Act grants no positive rights: it does not extend the sanctuary bar on removing forest produce (section 29) to community reserves, so collection of non-timber produce continues, but it freezes the land-use pattern (section 36C(3)), which rules out opening reserve land to cultivation — forest officials in Nagaland describe community reserves as areas where people can neither hunt nor farm, 'leave alone jhum cultivation'. A looser reading that treats settled farming as unchanged land use would give three, but the key does not take it; and the stem's 'Central Government notifies' is loose (the State Government declares a community reserve) without changing the count. In the exam, read the land-use freeze as excluding agriculture.

A Community Reserve is declared by the State Government on private or community land whose owners volunteer to conserve wildlife, and it is run by a Community Reserve management committee, so statement 1 is wrong. Hunting stays banned (2) and the Act does not bar the collection of forest produce there (3), but the land-use pattern is frozen, so reserve land cannot be turned over to cultivation (4): two statements are correct.

• ✗ 1. Section 36D of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 makes the Community Reserve management committee, constituted by the State Government, the authority for conserving, maintaining and managing the reserve. The Chief Wild Life Warden controls sanctuaries, not community reserves.
• ✓ 2. Hunting of protected wild animals is banned by section 9 everywhere, and section 36C(2) extends to a community reserve the sanctuary duty under section 33(b) to ensure the security of wild animals.
• ✓ 3. The Act applies only selected sanctuary provisions to a community reserve — sections 18(2), 27(2) to (4), 30, 32 and 33(b) and (c). The sanctuary bar on removing forest produce (section 29) is not among them, so the community's collection of non-timber produce on its own land continues under the management committee.
• ✗ 4. Section 36C(3) freezes the land-use pattern after notification: no change is allowed without a resolution of the management committee and State Government approval, so reserve land cannot be opened to cultivation. In Nagaland, which has the most community reserves, forest officials describe them as areas where people can neither hunt nor farm, leave alone practise jhum.

Remember · Community Reserve (Wild Life (Protection) Act, s. 36C-36D, added 2002): private or community land, declared by the State Government, managed by a Community Reserve management committee; hunting banned, land-use pattern frozen, forest-produce collection not barred.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Only two

Scheduled Areas under the Fifth Schedule are declared by a Presidential Order, and they can be as large as a whole district or as small as a cluster of villages in a block, so statements 1 and 2 are correct. Statement 3 is wrong because the report on administering Scheduled Areas is made by the Governor to the President, not by the Chief Minister to the Home Ministry.

• ✓ 1. Under paragraph 6 of the Fifth Schedule, the President specifies Scheduled Areas in a State by a notified order, after consulting the Governor of that State.
• ✓ 2. The Tribal Affairs Ministry looks for a viable administrative entity such as a district, block or taluk. In practice the area varies: Rajasthan's 2018 declaration covered three whole districts as well as gram panchayats covering 227 villages in other districts.
• ✗ 3. Paragraph 3 of the Fifth Schedule requires the Governor, not the Chief Minister, to report to the President each year (or when asked) on the administration of Scheduled Areas.

Remember · Fifth Schedule: President declares Scheduled Areas by order (para 6); Governor reports to the President annually (para 3); Tribes Advisory Council in each such State.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Statement-I is correct but Statement-II is incorrect

Statement-I is correct: the Supreme Court, notably in M. Nagaraj (2006), has treated Article 335 as a limit that reservation in services must respect. Statement-II is wrong because Article 335 only says SC and ST claims are considered consistently with the maintenance of efficiency of administration; it never defines that phrase.

• ✓ Statement-I The Court has held that the State must comply with Article 335 when providing reservation in public employment, in addition to showing backwardness and inadequacy of representation with data (M. Nagaraj, as restated in Jarnail Singh, 2022).
• ✗ Statement-II Article 335 uses the words 'efficiency of administration' without defining them. The Court has said there is no fixed yardstick for efficiency, which varies with the facts of each case.
• ✓ (c) Only Statement-I is right, so the option that accepts Statement-I and rejects Statement-II is the answer.

Remember · Article 335: SC/ST claims to services are considered consistently with efficiency of administration. The Constitution does not define 'efficiency'; the Supreme Court treats it as a fact-specific test.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Andhra

Dhanyakataka is the old name of Amaravati, in the Andhra region (present-day Andhra Pradesh). It was the site of the great Amaravati stupa and served as a capital of the Satavahanas.

• ✓ (a) The Andhra Pradesh government's own history of Amaravati says Dhanyakataka–Amaravati was the capital city of the Satavahanas, and NCERT shows Amaravati (Andhra Pradesh) as a major Buddhist site with a famous sculpted stupa.
• ✗ (b) Gandhara lay in the north-west, around Taxila and Peshawar (NCERT), far from Amaravati; it is known for Buddha images based on Greek models.
• ✗ (c) Kalinga is modern-day Odisha (NCERT); it is linked with Ashoka's war, not with Dhanyakataka.
• ✗ (d) Magadha, in present-day Bihar (NCERT), had Rajgir as its early capital; it is not the region of Dhanyakataka.

Remember · Dhanyakataka = Amaravati (Andhra): great Buddhist stupa and Satavahana capital.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part I, Ch 4 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part I, Ch 4 (practise this chapter) · Class 7 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Ch 5 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part I, Ch 2 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Only two

Statements 2 and 3 are correct, and statement 1 is not. Stupas were mounds that held sacred relics and were built as commemorative and votive structures in Buddhism, but NCERT notes the tradition of raising stupas may be older than Buddhism.

• ✗ 1. NCERT says the tradition of erecting stupas may have been pre-Buddhist; it later came to be associated with Buddhism. So the idea is not purely Buddhist in origin.
• ✓ 2. Places were held sacred because relics of the Buddha, such as his bodily remains or objects he used, were buried there, and these mounds were called stupas.
• ✓ 3. In Buddhist tradition stupas were built to honour sacred sites and as offerings. NCERT's art book describes many votive stupas, for example the small rock-cut ones around the hillock at Anakapalli.

Remember · Stupa: a mound holding relics, tied to Buddhism but with possibly pre-Buddhist roots; built as commemorative and votive monuments.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part I, Ch 4 (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 (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) ports

All three were seaports of the early Tamil kingdoms. Korkai served the Pandyas' overseas trade, Poompuhar (Puhar or Kaveripattinam) was the Chola port at the mouth of the Kaveri, and Muchiri, the port that Greek and Roman writers called Muziris, lay on the Chera coast of Kerala. Ports are the one description that fits all three.

• ✓ (b) NCERT lists Korkai among the ports through which the Pandyas traded with Southeast Asia, and names Poompuhar (Kaveripattinam) and Muziris among the major ports of early historical India, linked by trade routes to inland towns such as Kanchipuram and Madurai.
• ✗ (a) Puhar did double as a Chola capital in the Sangam period, but Madurai was the Pandya capital and Korkai and Muchiri were trading harbours, so 'capital cities' is not the shared identity of the three.
• ✗ (c) Iron and steel working in the early Tamil country is associated with inland sites such as Kodumanal, not with these coastal towns.

Remember · Sangam-age ports: Korkai (Pandya, Gulf of Mannar), Puhar/Poompuhar/Kaveripattinam (Chola, Kaveri mouth), Muchiri/Muziris (Chera, Kerala coast); Arikamedu near Puducherry.

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

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) A king defeated in a battle committing ritual suicide by starving himself to death

Vattakirutal (Tamil vaṭakkiruttal, literally sitting facing north) was the Sangam-age practice of fasting until death, chiefly by a king or hero who felt disgraced, for instance by defeat or a wound in the back. It is described in Puṟanāṉūṟu poems.

• ✓ (d) The Tamil Virtual Academy notes that the Chera king Perum Cheralathan, hurt in the back in his battle with Karikala, thought it a disgrace and starved himself to death, and calls this act vatakkiruttal. It also records that the poet Pisiranthaiyar died with his friend King Kopperuncholan when Kopperuncholan died this way.
• ✗ (a) Women bodyguards have nothing to do with the term; it names a form of voluntary death.
• ✗ (c) Girls guarding fields is a scene from love poetry, not the meaning of this word.
• ✗ (b) Scholars debating in a royal court is not what the term means; vatakkiruttal is a fast unto death.

Remember · Vatakkiruttal: Sangam-age ritual fast unto death facing north, by a king or hero who felt disgraced; Perum Cheralathan and Kopperuncholan are the famous cases.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) None

None of the four belongs to the early eighth century. All are kingdoms of the eleventh to thirteenth centuries: the Hoysalas and Kakatiyas rose as the Western Chalukyas faded in the twelfth century, the Gahadavalas of the Ganga plain were contemporaries and rivals of the Chahamana Prithviraja III (1168-1192), and the Yadavas of Devagiri ruled Maharashtra in the thirteenth century.

• ✗ 1. The Hoysalas of southern Karnataka, with their capital region around Belur, Halebidu and later Mysore, became a major power only after Chola and Pandya power waned, from the twelfth century onwards.
• ✗ 2. The Gahadavalas ruled the Kanauj-Varanasi tract of western Uttar Pradesh in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, opposing the eastward expansion of the Chahamanas of Ajmer and Delhi under Prithviraja III (1168-1192).
• ✗ 3. The Kakatiyas of Warangal rose in the twelfth century, replacing the Western Chalukyas in the Telugu country; their best-known ruler, Rudramadevi, reigned from 1262 to 1289.
• ✗ 4. The Yadavas ruled most of Maharashtra from Devagiri (present-day Daulatabad) during the thirteenth century and were overcome by the Khalji Sultanate of Delhi in the early fourteenth century.

Remember · Hoysalas, Kakatiyas, Gahadavalas and Yadavas are all post-1000 CE regional kingdoms (11th-13th centuries), not early eighth century; the early eighth century belongs to the Chalukyas, Pallavas and Pratiharas' rise.

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Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Only two

Only pairs 2 and 4 are correct: the Hammira-Mahakavya is by Nayachandra Suri and the Nitivakyamrita is by Somadeva (Suri). Devichandragupta is the play of Vishakhadatta, not Bilhana, and the Milinda-panha is a Buddhist dialogue tied to the monk Nagasena, not Nagarjuna.

• ✗ 1. Devichandragupta (Devi-Chandraguptam) is the play of Vishakhadatta, who is better known for the Mudrarakshasa (NCERT names him as that play's author); it is not by Bilhana.
• ✓ 2. The Hammira-Mahakavya, a poem on King Hammira, is by Nayachandra Suri.
• ✗ 3. The Milinda-panha records questions of King Milinda (Menander) answered by the monk Nagasena. NCERT calls it a Buddhist text traditionally attributed to Nagasena, and it is not by Nagarjuna.
• ✓ 4. The Nitivakyamrita is by Somadeva Suri, who also wrote the Yashastilaka.

Remember · Devichandragupta: Vishakhadatta. Hammira-Mahakavya: Nayachandra Suri. Milinda-panha: Nagasena's dialogue with Menander. Nitivakyamrita: Somadeva Suri.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 9 Understanding Society: India and Beyond, Ch 5 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 Knowledge Traditions and Practices of India, Part I, Ch 3 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Jainism

The belief that the whole world is animated, so that even stones, rocks and water possess life (jiva), is the central idea of Jainism. It is this idea that makes ahimsa, non-injury to every living thing, the heart of Jaina practice.

• ✓ (b) Jaina teaching holds that souls reside not only in humans, animals and plants but also in earth, water, fire and air bodies; hence the extreme care Jaina monks and nuns take not to harm any form of life.
• ✗ (a) Buddhism also preaches non-violence, but it does not attribute souls to rocks or water; the Buddha in fact denied a permanent soul (anatta) altogether.
• ✗ (c) Shaivism and Vaishnavism are theistic traditions of devotion to Shiva and Vishnu; they do not treat inanimate natural objects as ensouled beings.

Remember · Jainism: the entire world is animated, even stones, rocks and water have life; ahimsa towards all beings follows. Buddhism: no permanent self (anatta).

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part I, Ch 4 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Devaraya I

Devaraya I of the Sangama dynasty built the great dam on the Tungabhadra and the long aqueduct that carried its water to Vijayanagara, according to the Portuguese chronicler Nuniz. NCERT confirms that the Hiriya canal drawing water from a dam across the river was built by Sangama kings.

• ✓ (a) Nuniz's account, as summarised by Robert Sewell, credits the ruler of this time, identified as Deva Raya I, with a huge dam on the Tungabhadra and an aqueduct fifteen miles long into the city.
• ✗ (b) Mallikarjuna was also a Sangama king, but Nuniz's account, as read by Sewell, names the ruler identified as Deva Raya I, not Mallikarjuna, as the builder.
• ✗ (c) Vira Vijaya is not the king named in Nuniz's account of the dam and aqueduct.
• ✗ (d) Virupaksha is likewise not named in that account; several of these kings were Sangamas, so the dynasty alone cannot pick the answer.

Remember · Devaraya I (Sangama): dam on the Tungabhadra and a long canal-aqueduct to Vijayanagara; the Hiriya canal is one of the surviving waterworks.

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

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Bahadur Shah

Bahadur Shah, Sultan of Gujarat, is the ruler who let the Portuguese into Diu. Squeezed between the Mughal emperor Humayun and the Portuguese, he signed a treaty with the Portuguese governor Nuno da Cunha on 25 October 1535 and allowed them to build a fortress at Diu.

• ✓ (c) Bahadur Shah made the 1535 treaty with Nuno da Cunha, which gave the Portuguese permission to build a fort in Diu harbour. He later regretted it, but the Portuguese kept Diu and took full control in 1546.
• ✗ (b) Mahmud Begarha's long reign ended by the early 1510s, more than twenty years before the 1535 treaty. The Diu concession came in Bahadur Shah's reign.
• ✗ (a) The 1535 treaty was made by the reigning Sultan, Bahadur Shah, not by any ruler named Ahmad Shah.

Remember · Bahadur Shah of Gujarat, pressed by Humayun, gave the Portuguese a fort at Diu in 1535; Diu passed fully to them in 1546 and stayed Portuguese until 1961.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) The Charter Act of 1833

The Charter Act of 1833 turned the Governor General of Bengal into the Governor General of India. It gave one authority, the Governor General in Council, charge of the whole of British India and vested law-making power in it.

• ✓ (d) The Charter Act of 1833 changed the title from Governor General of Fort William in Bengal to Governor General of India (William Bentinck was in office). It also vested legislative power for the first time in a single authority, the Governor General in Council.
• ✗ (a) The Regulating Act (1773) is earlier. Before 1833 the top post still carried the Bengal title, so no earlier Act could have created the all-India title.
• ✗ (c) The Charter Act of 1793 only renewed the Company's charter; it also predates 1833 and left the Bengal title unchanged.

Remember · Charter Act of 1833: Governor General of Bengal became Governor General of India; one all-India legislative authority, the Governor General in Council.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Only two

Only statements 2 and 3 are correct. Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) is a centrally sponsored safe motherhood scheme under the National Health Mission that promotes institutional delivery among poor pregnant women to cut maternal and newborn deaths. Free care for sick infants comes from a different scheme, JSSK.

• ✗ 1. The Health Ministry describes JSY as a safe motherhood intervention under the National Health Mission and as a centrally sponsored scheme, not a scheme of the State Health Departments.
• ✓ 2. Reducing maternal and neonatal mortality is the stated objective of JSY, which targets poor pregnant women.
• ✓ 3. JSY pursues that objective by promoting institutional delivery, with cash assistance linked to delivery and post-delivery care, and ASHA workers as the link to pregnant women.
• ✗ 4. Treatment of sick newborns and infants up to one year in public health institutions, free of charge, is the job of Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK, 2011), not JSY.

Remember · JSY (2005): centrally sponsored, under NHM, cash aid to poor women for institutional delivery. Sick infants up to one year are covered by JSSK, a separate scheme.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Only three

Statements 2, 3 and 4 are correct; statement 1 is wrong. Anaemia Mukt Bharat supplies prophylactic iron and folic acid, not calcium, and adds deworming, a behaviour-change campaign that includes delayed cord clamping, and action on non-nutritional causes such as malaria, haemoglobinopathies and fluorosis.

• ✗ 1. The first of the six interventions is prophylactic Iron Folic Acid supplementation (for example, 60 mg iron plus 500 mcg folic acid tablets for pregnant women). Calcium supplementation is not part of it.
• ✓ 2. The year-round Behaviour Change Communication campaign includes promoting the practice of delayed cord clamping.
• ✓ 3. Periodic deworming runs through National Deworming Day, with mass deworming of children and adolescents aged 1 to 19 years twice a year, on 10 February and 10 August.
• ✓ 4. The strategy includes awareness, screening and treatment of non-nutritional causes of anaemia in endemic pockets, with special focus on malaria, haemoglobinopathies and fluorosis.

Remember · Anaemia Mukt Bharat's six interventions: iron-folic acid, deworming, behaviour-change (incl. delayed cord clamping), testing and treatment, fortified foods, non-nutritional causes. No calcium.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1 only

Only statement 1 is correct. Carbon fibre is a light, strong material used in vehicle bodies and in aircraft parts, and it can be recovered from used composites and reused, so it is not a one-time material.

• ✓ 1. Carbon-fibre composites go into vehicle chassis, body panels and doors, and into aircraft fairings, fuselages and floor panels. Their strength for low weight is the reason.
• ✗ 2. Carbon fibre can be recycled. Recycled fibre is already used in new products and needs far less energy than making virgin fibre, which is highly energy intensive.

Remember · Carbon fibre is strong and light, used in cars and aircraft, and is recyclable: recovered fibre is reused in new composites.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) All three

All three actions need an accelerometer. An accelerometer is a sensor that measures changes in motion, and a crash, a free fall and a tilt each show up as a change in acceleration that the device can read.

• ✓ 1. Airbag systems decide whether to deploy from how abruptly the car's speed changes, which an accelerometer measures.
• ✓ 2. Drives in laptops use an accelerometer to sense free fall; the drive then parks its read-write head or powers down before impact to avoid damage.
• ✓ 3. A phone's accelerometer senses the direction of gravity, so it knows how the phone is tilted and rotates the display between portrait and landscape.

Remember · An accelerometer senses changes in motion. It triggers airbags, protects laptop drives in free fall and rotates phone screens.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Only two

Statements 1 and 2 are counted as correct, and statement 3 is wrong. A biofilter is the waste-treatment unit of a recirculating fish farm: its bacteria turn toxic ammonia from fish waste and feed into less harmful nitrate, and it does not add phosphorus.

• ✓ 1. Waste treatment in a recirculating system includes removing waste solids, both faeces and uneaten feed, and the biofilter is part of that treatment train. Strictly, the mechanical filter removes solids and the biofilter handles dissolved nitrogen; UPSC's key counts this statement as correct.
• ✓ 2. Nitrifying bacteria in the biofilter convert ammonia into nitrite and finally into nitrate, which is far less toxic to fish than ammonia.
• ✗ 3. The biofilter removes toxic ammonia; it does not add phosphorus. Phosphate is an inert dissolved compound that simply passes through the filtration stage.

Remember · In a recirculating aquaculture system, the biofilter's nitrifying bacteria convert toxic ammonia to nitrite and then to less toxic nitrate. It adds no phosphorus.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Only one

Only pair 3 is correctly matched. Pairs 1 and 2 have their descriptions swapped: Cepheids are stars whose brightness varies in a regular cycle, and nebulae are giant clouds of gas and dust. Pulsars are indeed neutron stars left when a massive star runs out of fuel and collapses.

• ✗ 1. Cepheids are pulsating variable stars, not clouds. Their regular changes in brightness are used to measure distances to galaxies.
• ✗ 2. A nebula is a very large cloud of gas (and dust), the place where stars form. It is not a star that brightens and dims.
• ✓ 3. A neutron star forms when a massive star runs out of fuel and its core collapses. Pulsars are neutron stars that spin fast and sweep a beam of radiation across space.

Remember · Cepheids are stars that brighten and dim in a regular cycle; nebulae are clouds of gas and dust; pulsars are spinning neutron stars.

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

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Japan

Japan has its own satellite navigation system, the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS, also called Michibiki). It is a regional system that works alongside GPS; the other three countries operate no navigation constellation of their own.

• ✓ (d) QZSS is Japan's own satellite positioning system, run by the Cabinet Office. The UN's navigation committee (ICG) lists Japan as a provider of a regional system, as it lists India for NavIC.
• ✗ (a) Australia takes part in the ICG only as a country with an active navigation-applications programme. It does not run a navigation constellation of its own.
• ✗ (b) Canada does not run its own navigation satellite system, and it is not listed among the ICG's system providers.
• ✗ (c) Israel does not run its own navigation satellite system, and it is not listed among the ICG's system providers.

Remember · Own navigation systems: USA (GPS), Russia (GLONASS), EU (Galileo), China (BeiDou), India (NavIC), Japan (QZSS). Australia, Canada and Israel have none.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2

Neither statement is correct, because both swap the facts. Ballistic missiles are rocket-boosted and then coast on an arc, while cruise missiles fly under jet power. Agni-V is India's solid-fuelled intercontinental ballistic missile, and BrahMos is a supersonic cruise missile.

• ✗ 1. It is reversed. A ballistic missile has a short powered boost phase and then flies a mostly unpowered ballistic path, so it is not jet-propelled throughout. A cruise missile is normally powered by jet engines for most or all of its flight.
• ✗ 2. Again reversed. Agni-V is a three-stage solid-propellant Inter Continental Ballistic Missile with a range of over 5,000 km. BrahMos is a long-range supersonic cruise missile, launched from land, sea or air.

Remember · Ballistic: rocket boost, then unpowered arc. Cruise: jet-powered flight in the atmosphere. Agni-V is a solid-fuelled ICBM; BrahMos is a supersonic cruise missile.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Only two

Statements 1 and 2 are correct; statement 3 is not. Gold mining and coal-fired power stations are both major sources of mercury releases, but international health bodies have set tolerable intake levels for mercury, so it is wrong to say that no safe level is known.

• ✓ 1. WHO lists mining for mercury, gold and other metals among the main human causes of mercury release, and warns that mercury use in artisanal and small-scale gold mining is particularly hazardous.
• ✓ 2. WHO names coal-fired power stations among the main sources of mercury releases. Coal contains mercury, which escapes when it is burned.
• ✗ 3. The FAO/WHO expert committee JECFA set a tolerable intake of 1.6 micrograms per kg of body weight per week for methylmercury. Exposure is harmful at high levels, but a tolerable level has been defined.

Remember · Mercury comes from coal burning and gold mining, among other sources. WHO and FAO experts have set a tolerable weekly intake for methylmercury, so a safe level is defined.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) All three

All three statements are correct. Green hydrogen is hydrogen made by splitting water with renewable electricity, and it is chemically the same fuel as any other hydrogen: it can burn in an engine, be mixed into natural gas, or feed a fuel cell.

• ✓ 1. Hydrogen internal combustion engines are in use: India's pilot projects under the National Green Hydrogen Mission include 22 hydrogen internal-combustion vehicles.
• ✓ 2. Hydrogen is already being blended into gas networks in India, for example up to 8% by volume in a piped natural gas network in Surat, for use as fuel.
• ✓ 3. Hydrogen fuel cells power vehicles; the same pilot projects include 15 fuel-cell vehicles, and hydrogen fuel-cell buses already run in Leh and Greater Noida.

Remember · Green hydrogen (made by electrolysis with renewable power) works as engine fuel, as a blend in natural gas, and in fuel cells for vehicles.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Only two

Only two of the six, Hungary and Romania, share a land border with Ukraine. Ukraine has seven land neighbours: Russia, Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Moldova.

• ✗ 1. Bulgaria does not touch Ukraine; it is separated from it by Romania and the Black Sea.
• ✗ 2. The Czech Republic has no border with Ukraine; Slovakia and Poland lie between them.
• ✓ 3. Hungary lies on Ukraine's southwest border, so it counts.
• ✗ 4. Latvia is a Baltic state. It borders Estonia, Lithuania, Russia and Belarus, not Ukraine.
• ✗ 5. Lithuania borders Latvia, Belarus, Poland and Russia (Kaliningrad), not Ukraine.
• ✓ 6. Romania also borders Ukraine to the southwest, so it counts.

Remember · Ukraine's seven land neighbours: Russia, Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Moldova. Of the countries in this list only Hungary and Romania qualify.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Infrared waves are largely absorbed by water vapour that is concentrated in the lower atmosphere.

Statement (c) is correct: water vapour, ozone and other gases in the lower atmosphere (the troposphere) absorb much of the near-infrared radiation passing through. The other options misstate insolation values or the nature of infrared light.

• ✓ (c) NCERT says water vapour, ozone and other gases within the troposphere absorb much of the near-infrared radiation. Water vapour is concentrated in the lower atmosphere.
• ✗ (a) NCERT gives insolation at the surface as about 320 W/m2 in the tropics and about 70 W/m2 at the poles, a ratio of under five, and it says the equator receives less than the tropics. Ten times is far too high.
• ✗ (d) Infrared waves lie just beyond the visible spectrum; the human eye cannot see them. They are not part of the visible spectrum.

Remember · In the troposphere, water vapour, ozone and other gases absorb much of the near-infrared radiation. Insolation is about 320 W/m2 in the tropics and 70 W/m2 at the poles.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Fundamentals of Physical Geography, Ch 8 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 Fundamentals of Physical Geography, Ch 8 (practise this chapter)

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Answer: (d) Statement-I is incorrect but Statement-II is correct

The soil of a tropical rain forest is poor, not rich, in nutrients. Heat and moisture make bacterial action intense, so dead plant matter is oxidised quickly and very little humus builds up in the soil; heavy rain also leaches nutrients out of tropical soils.

• ✗ Statement-I Fast decay leaves the soil with very low humus content, and heavy rain leaches away nutrients; lateritic soils of heavy-rain tropical areas are generally deficient in plant nutrients.
• ✓ Statement-II In humid tropical and equatorial climates bacterial growth and action is intense, so dead vegetation is rapidly oxidised. This is the reason the humus content of the soil stays low, not a sign of richness.

Remember · Fast decay plus heavy rain leave tropical rain forest soil low in humus and nutrients; in cold climates decay is slow, so humus and peat accumulate.

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Answer: (d) Statement-I is incorrect but Statement-II is correct

The land-ocean temperature contrast is sharper in winter than in summer, so Statement-I is wrong. Statement-II is right: water has a higher specific heat than land and therefore heats up and cools down slowly.

• ✗ Statement-I In January the isotherms bend north over the warm oceans and south over the cold continents, and the departure from the latitudinal pattern is stronger in January than in July. The contrast is therefore greater in winter.
• ✓ Statement-II Water needs more heat than land to rise by one degree, so it heats up and cools down more slowly than the landmass. This is why continents swing more in temperature than oceans.

Remember · Higher specific heat makes water heat and cool slowly, so continents swing more. The land-ocean contrast is sharpest in northern winter (January), when isotherms bend most.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Fundamentals of Physical Geography, Ch 8 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 India: Physical Environment, Ch 4 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Both 1 and 2

Both statements are correct. P-waves travel faster, so a seismograph records them first, and they vibrate along the direction of travel. S-waves arrive later and vibrate at right angles to that direction.

• ✓ 1. P-waves are the primary waves: they move faster and are the first to reach the surface. S-waves, the secondary waves, arrive after a time lag, so they are recorded later.
• ✓ 2. P-waves vibrate parallel to the direction of the wave, pushing and squeezing the material to and fro. S-waves vibrate perpendicular to the wave direction in the vertical plane, so they create troughs and crests.

Remember · P-waves: primary, fastest, particles move to and fro along the path, pass through solids, liquids and gases. S-waves: secondary, slower, particles move up and down, only through solids.

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

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) None

None of the statements is correct, because each says that no coal plant in India does something that at least one plant does. The private Mundra plant in Gujarat uses seawater, and many coal plants stand in water-stressed areas.

• ✗ 1. The 4,000 MW Mundra Ultra Mega Power Project, a coastal plant, uses seawater; the Central Electricity Authority lists its water source as seawater, with fresh water made by desalination.
• ✗ 2. A World Resources Institute study, cited in a NITI Aayog-hosted report, found that more than 70% of India's coal power plants are in water-stressed or water-scarce areas.
• ✗ 3. Mundra UMPP is developed and run by Coastal Gujarat Power Limited, a Tata Power company, so privately owned coal plants exist. Coal capacity is spread across central, state and private owners.

Remember · A single counter-example defeats an 'none of them' claim: Mundra (Tata Power) is a private coal plant using seawater, and most coal plants lie in water-stressed areas.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Controlling the viral diseases spread by mosquitoes

The Wolbachia method is used to control viral diseases spread by mosquitoes, mainly dengue. Wolbachia is a bacterium that lives naturally in many insects; when it is introduced into Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, they transmit dengue virus much less.

• ✓ (a) Wolbachia has been transferred into Aedes aegypti mosquitoes and reduces their transmission of dengue virus. WHO's Vector Control Advisory Group has assessed the approach and confirmed its public health value for dengue control.
• ✗ (b) Turning crop residue into packing material is a materials process and has nothing to do with a bacterium living inside insects.
• ✗ (d) Biochar comes from heating biomass in a thermochemical process such as pyrolysis. It is not a mosquito-control method.

Remember · Wolbachia is an insect-dwelling bacterium. Released in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, it cuts dengue transmission, so it is a mosquito-borne disease control method.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) All three

All three activities are discussed as ways to capture and lock away carbon dioxide. Spreading crushed basalt (enhanced weathering) and adding lime to the sea (ocean alkalinity enhancement) are carbon-removal options assessed by the IPCC, and abandoned mines are listed among niche sites for underground CO2 storage.

• ✓ 1. Enhanced weathering spreads crushed silicate rock such as basalt on soil so that it reacts with atmospheric CO2. The IPCC cites estimates that spreading basalt on farmland in 12 countries could remove up to 2 GtCO2 a year by 2050.
• ✓ 2. Ocean alkalinity enhancement adds alkaline material such as lime to the sea so that it takes up and stores more CO2. The IPCC notes this idea goes back to a 1995 proposal to dissolve highly reactive lime in surface ocean water.
• ✓ 3. The IPCC's report on CO2 capture and storage names abandoned mines, along with basalts and salt caverns, as niche options for geological storage of captured CO2.

Remember · Enhanced weathering (crushed basalt on land), ocean alkalinity enhancement (lime in the sea) and storing captured CO2 underground, even in abandoned mines, are all discussed for carbon removal.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Collecting DNA samples from air in a habitat at one go

Aerial metagenomics means collecting DNA from the air in a habitat and sequencing it all together to see which organisms are present. Metagenomics studies the combined genetic material of many organisms in one bulk sample, and here the sample is air.

• ✓ (a) Air carries tiny particles (bioaerosols) shed by microbes, plants and animals. Sampling that air and sequencing the DNA in it at one go reveals the species around, without catching or disturbing any animal.
• ✗ (b) This describes genetic study of birds only. Metagenomics covers a whole mixed community of organisms in one sample, not one group such as avian species.
• ✗ (d) Drones collecting physical plant and animal samples from land and water are a sampling method, not a study of DNA collected from air.

Remember · Metagenomics reads the DNA of a whole community from one bulk sample. In aerial metagenomics that sample is air, giving a snapshot of the species around.

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Answer: (a) Studying the evolutionary relationships among various species of fauna

Microsatellite DNA is used to study genetic variation between individuals and populations, which is why it helps in tracing evolutionary relationships among species. Microsatellites are short DNA stretches repeated many times, and the number of repeats varies from one organism to another.

• ✓ (a) Because repeat numbers in microsatellites differ so much between individuals and populations, they work as genetic markers. Comparing them shows how closely related organisms or populations are.
• ✗ (b) Turning stem cells into different tissues is done with growth signals and culture conditions. It does not use microsatellite DNA.
• ✗ (d) Drug trials in a population test how well a medicine works. Microsatellites do not assess drug efficacy.

Remember · Microsatellites are short repeated DNA stretches whose repeat number varies between individuals. They serve as genetic markers, for DNA fingerprinting and for studying relationships and diversity.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Biology, Ch 5 (practise this chapter)

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Answer: (b) 2 only

Only statement 2 is correct. RBI's priority sector lending rules say that all bank loans to MSMEs qualify as priority sector loans, while the MSMED Act's medium-enterprise ceiling was never a band of ₹15 crore to ₹25 crore.

• ✗ 1. At the time of the exam (2023), the 2020 classification under the MSMED Act treated a medium enterprise as one with investment in plant and machinery up to ₹50 crore and turnover up to ₹250 crore. The ₹15-25 crore band does not exist.
• ✓ 2. The RBI Master Direction on priority sector lending says that all bank loans to MSMEs qualify for classification under priority sector lending.
• • Since then Budget 2025-26 announced higher ceilings: for a medium enterprise, investment up to ₹125 crore and turnover up to ₹500 crore (PIB, 1 February 2025).

Remember · All bank loans to MSMEs qualify as priority sector lending. Medium enterprise under the 2020 norms: investment up to ₹50 crore and turnover up to ₹250 crore.

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Answer: (c) Both 1 and 2

Both statements are correct. A central bank digital currency (CBDC) is the central bank's own money in digital form, so it can be moved directly between participants without a dollar leg or the SWIFT messaging network, and it can be programmed with rules such as an expiry date.

• ✓ 1. Multi-CBDC platforms such as the BIS-led Project mBridge let central banks and banks exchange their digital currencies peer to peer on a shared network, as an alternative to routing cross-border payments through correspondent banks and the dollar.
• ✓ 2. RBI's concept note on CBDC says money can be programmed by tying its end use, and that tokens may carry an expiry date by which they must be spent.

Remember · CBDC is sovereign money in digital form; it can settle cross-border payments directly between currencies and can be programmed, for example with an expiry date or a restricted use.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) a numeric value that measures the fluctuations of a stock to changes in the overall stock market

Beta is a number that shows how much a stock's price tends to move when the overall market moves. A beta of 1 means the stock moves in step with the market; above 1 means it swings more, below 1 means it swings less.

• ✓ (d) Beta compares a stock's movement with a market benchmark (for example, the Nifty 50). It measures sensitivity to market-wide movement, which is why it is used as a gauge of market (systematic) risk in the Capital Asset Pricing Model.
• ✗ (a) Buying and selling the same asset at the same time on different platforms to earn from a price gap is arbitrage, not beta.
• ✗ (b) Balancing risk against reward across a portfolio is asset allocation or portfolio construction. Beta is only one input to that decision; it is not the strategy itself.

Remember · Beta = a stock's sensitivity to the overall market. Beta 1 moves with the market; above 1 is more volatile than the market; below 1 is less volatile.

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Answer: (b) Only two

Only statements 2 and 3 are correct. The SHG-Bank Linkage Programme was started by NABARD, not the State Bank of India, but in an SHG the group as a whole stands behind each member's loan, and banks lend to and refinance SHGs.

• ✗ 1. NABARD launched the SHG-Bank Linkage pilot in 1992-93, linking about 500 SHGs to banks. The State Bank of India did not initiate the programme.
• ✓ 2. The group decides on loans and is responsible for repayment, and other members follow up seriously if any one member does not repay; this collective responsibility is why banks lend to poor households without collateral.
• ✓ 3. Banks finance SHGs with 100% refinance support from NABARD, and Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) are among the rural financial institutions that promote and link SHGs to credit. Commercial banks take part in the same bank linkage.

Remember · SHG-Bank Linkage began with NABARD in 1992-93. SHG members share responsibility for repayment, and banks (commercial banks, RRBs, cooperatives) lend to SHGs with NABARD refinance.

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Answer: (b) Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II is not the correct explanation for Statement-I

Both statements are correct, but Statement-II does not explain Statement-I. Public health and hospitals are State subjects, so States organise health services, while the National Health Policy 2017 itself calls for moving primary care from a very selective package to a comprehensive one.

• ✓ Statement-I The National Health Policy 2017 calls for an important change from a very selective primary care package to a comprehensive one that adds geriatric, palliative and rehabilitative care, and it treats preventive and promotive care as needing a stronger place in the system.
• ✓ Statement-II 'Public health and sanitation; hospitals and dispensaries' is entry 6 of the State List in the Seventh Schedule, so States are primarily responsible for organising health services.
• • link The Seventh Schedule fixes who holds the health subject; it does not say what the services must emphasise. Statement-II therefore does not by itself explain Statement-I, which rules out option (a).

Remember · Health is a State subject (State List, entry 6: public health and sanitation, hospitals and dispensaries). NHP 2017 moves primary care from selective to comprehensive, adding preventive, promotive and rehabilitative care.

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Answer: (c) Statement-I is correct but Statement-II is incorrect

Statement-I is correct: India is the world's largest user of groundwater, taking more than a quarter of the global total. Statement-II is wrong because most of that water goes to irrigation, not to drinking water and sanitation.

• ✓ Statement-I India is the largest groundwater user in the world, drawing an estimated 230 cubic kilometres a year, which is over a quarter of the global total.
• ✗ Statement-II Agriculture accounts for about 92 per cent of India's groundwater use (NCERT); drinking water and other domestic needs take only a small share. The high extraction is driven by irrigation, so the stated reason is false.

Remember · India draws over a quarter of the world's groundwater, but about nine-tenths of it goes to irrigation, not to drinking water and sanitation.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 India: People and Economy, Ch 4 (practise this chapter)

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Answer: (b) Only two

Statements 1 and 2 are correct; statement 3 is wrong. The Constitution makes the Union protect every State from internal disturbance and denies a preventive detainee the right to a lawyer, while the Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002 allowed certain confessions made to a senior police officer to be used in court.

• ✓ 1. Article 355 says it is the duty of the Union to protect every State against external aggression and internal disturbance.
• ✓ 2. Article 22(1) gives an arrested person the right to consult and be defended by a lawyer, but Article 22(3)(b) says this does not apply to anyone arrested or detained under a preventive detention law.
• ✗ 3. Section 32 of the Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002 made a confession recorded by a police officer not below the rank of Superintendent of Police admissible in trial under that Act, and required the officer to warn the person that it may be used against him. The Act was repealed in 2004.

Remember · Article 355: Union protects States from external aggression and internal disturbance. Article 22(3)(b): no right to a lawyer under preventive detention. POTA 2002 (repealed 2004) admitted confessions made to a police officer of SP rank or above.

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Answer: (d) Somalia

Somalia, in the Horn of Africa, is the country that fits: years of conflict plus a prolonged drought pushed it to the edge of famine in 2022, and UN agencies issued repeated famine warnings.

• ✓ (d) In April 2022 the UN agencies FAO, OCHA, UNICEF and WFP warned that millions of Somalis were at risk of sliding into famine because of prolonged drought, and WFP describes the country as facing protracted conflict, drought and displacement.
• ✗ (a) Angola is in southern Africa. It was not the subject of the UN famine warnings that made Somalia the news in 2022.
• ✗ (b) Costa Rica (Central America) and Ecuador (South America) had no comparable civil strife or famine warning, so options (b) and (c) are easily ruled out.

Remember · Somalia (Horn of Africa): protracted conflict plus a prolonged drought led UN agencies to warn of famine in 2022.

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Answer: (c) Both 1 and 2

Both statements are correct. The Nagoya Protocol is about fair sharing of benefits from genetic resources, and in India the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 gives village-level Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) a say in access decisions and the power to levy collection fees.

• ✓ 1. The Nagoya Protocol aims at fair and equitable sharing of benefits from genetic resources. India's law for this, the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, requires the National Biodiversity Authority and State Biodiversity Boards to consult the local BMC before decisions on using resources in its area, which makes BMCs the local channel for access and benefit sharing.
• ✓ 2. Section 41(3) of the Act says BMCs may levy charges by way of collection fees from any person accessing or collecting biological resources for commercial purposes from their territorial jurisdiction.

Remember · BMCs are set up by local bodies under Section 41 of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002. They are consulted on access to local biological resources and can levy collection fees, which is India's ground-level route to Nagoya-style benefit sharing.

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Answer: (a) Only one

Only statement 4 is correct. The Electoral College has only elected members, and the value of each MLA's vote equals the 1971 population of the State divided by its number of elected MLAs (then divided by 1,000), so more seats make each vote worth less, not more.

• ✗ 1. Article 54 limits the Electoral College to the elected members of both Houses of Parliament and of the State Legislative Assemblies. Nominated members are not eligible.
• ✗ 2. Under Article 55(2)(a) the number of elected MLAs is the divisor, so for a given population, more elective seats means a lower value for each MLA's vote.
• ✗ 3. Using 1971 Census population, each MLA vote is worth 152 in Kerala (about 2.13 crore people, 140 seats) and 131 in Madhya Pradesh (about 3.00 crore people, 230 seats). Madhya Pradesh's value is lower, not greater.
• ✓ 4. Puducherry (1971 population 4,71,707; 30 elected seats) gives 16 per MLA, while Arunachal Pradesh (4,67,511; 60 seats) gives 8. The populations are almost equal but Puducherry has half the seats, so its ratio of population to seats is higher.

Remember · Value of an MLA's vote = (State's 1971 population ÷ elected MLAs) ÷ 1,000, rounded. Only elected members vote, and states with fewer seats per head of population get a higher vote value.

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Answer: (a) archaeological excavations

These five were colonial-era archaeologists and antiquarians who surveyed, recorded and dug up India's ancient sites, so the link is archaeological excavation.

• ✓ (a) Alexander Rea dug the Iron Age burial site of Adichanallur and was the first Superintendent of the Archaeological Survey's Southern Circle (1902), where A. H. Longhurst later served. James Burgess founded the Indian Antiquary journal (1872) and worked on the survey of monuments. Walter Elliot collected sculptures at Amaravati in 1854.
• ✗ (b) None of them is known for setting up the press or newspapers in colonial India.
• ✗ (d) Railway building was the work of engineers and railway companies; these five are known for antiquarian and archaeological work.

Remember · Rea (Adichanallur), Longhurst (ASI Southern Circle), Burgess (Indian Antiquary, monument surveys), Sewell (South Indian antiquities) and Elliot (Amaravati sculptures) are colonial-era archaeology names.

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Answer: (b) Only two

Pairs 2 and 3 are correct; pair 1 is not. Besnagar is known for the Heliodorus pillar set up in honour of Vasudeva (a Vaishnava monument), not for a Shaivite cave shrine.

• ✗ 1. Besnagar, near Vidisha, is famed for the Khamb Baba (Heliodorus) pillar, raised as a Garuda pillar in honour of Vasudeva. It is a Vaishnava monument, not a Shaivite cave shrine.
• ✓ 2. Bhaja, in Maharashtra, is one of the Buddhist rock-cut cave sites of western India dating from the second century BCE onwards, with a chaitya hall.
• ✓ 3. Sittanavasal in Pudukkottai district, Tamil Nadu, has a Jain cave monastery of the seventh century with painted walls and ceilings.

Remember · Besnagar: Heliodorus (Garuda) pillar for Vasudeva. Bhaja: Buddhist caves and chaitya hall, Maharashtra. Sittanavasal: Jain cave shrine with paintings, Tamil Nadu.

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Answer: (a) Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II is the correct explanation for Statement-I

Both statements are true, and they are connected. National Handloom Day is observed on 7 August because that date marks the anniversary of the Swadeshi Movement of 1905, which urged Indians to boycott foreign goods and use Indian-made ones.

• ✓ Statement-I 7 August is observed as National Handloom Day. It was first celebrated in 2015, when the Prime Minister inaugurated it in Chennai.
• ✓ Statement-II The Swadeshi Movement of 1905 was launched on 7 August, the very day now kept as National Handloom Day. The Ministry of Textiles chose the date to mark that anniversary, so Statement-II explains Statement-I; the movement urged people to boycott foreign goods and back Indian-made ones.

Remember · National Handloom Day is 7 August, first observed in 2015. The date honours the Swadeshi Movement of 1905, launched on 7 August.

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Answer: (d) Statement-I is incorrect but Statement-II is correct

Statement-II is right: the Flag Code fixes the length-to-height (width) ratio of the National Flag at 3:2. Statement-I is wrong: the Code lists nine standard sizes and 600 × 400 mm is not among them, even though it has the same 3:2 shape.

• ✗ Statement-I Paragraph 1.4 lists nine standard sizes, No. 1 to No. 9: 6300 × 4200, 3600 × 2400, 2700 × 1800, 1800 × 1200, 1350 × 900, 900 × 600, 450 × 300, 225 × 150 and 150 × 100 mm. There is no 600 × 400 mm size; the nearest are 900 × 600 mm (No. 6) and 450 × 300 mm (No. 7).
• ✓ Statement-II Paragraph 1.3 says the National Flag is rectangular and that the ratio of its length to its height (width) shall be 3:2. Every standard size in the table follows this ratio.

Remember · Flag Code 2002: ratio 3:2 (para 1.3); nine standard sizes, 6300 × 4200 mm down to 150 × 100 mm (para 1.4). 600 × 400 mm is not one.

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Answer: (c) Statement-I is correct but Statement-II is incorrect

Statement-I is correct: 26 November, the day the Constitution was adopted, is observed as Constitution Day (Samvidhan Divas) to bring constitutional principles and values before citizens. Statement-II is wrong: the Drafting Committee under Dr B. R. Ambedkar was set up on 29 August 1947, over two years before the Assembly passed the finished Constitution on 26 November 1949.

• ✓ Statement-I 26 November is kept every year as Constitution Day, also called Samvidhan Divas, to mark the adoption of the Constitution in 1949. The Government of India began the observance in 2015, Dr Ambedkar's 125th birth anniversary year, to highlight constitutional principles and values.
• ✗ Statement-II The Drafting Committee, chaired by Dr B. R. Ambedkar, was set up on 29 August 1947. On 26 November 1949 the Constituent Assembly did not set up a committee; it adopted the Constitution that the committee's draft had led to.

Remember · Drafting Committee: set up 29 Aug 1947, Chairman Dr Ambedkar. Constitution adopted 26 Nov 1949 (Constitution Day), in force 26 Jan 1950 (Republic Day).

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Answer: (c) Statement-I is correct but Statement-II is incorrect

Switzerland is one of the world's main centres for refining and trading gold, so it ranks among the leading gold exporters by value. But it is far from having the second largest gold reserves: the Swiss National Bank holds 1,040 tonnes, several times less than the United States and Germany.

• ✓ Statement-I Switzerland refines and trades most of the world's gold, and it was the largest exporter of unwrought non-monetary gold by value in 2022 (about US$90 billion, ahead of the United States and the UAE), according to World Bank WITS trade data.
• ✗ Statement-II The Swiss National Bank holds 1,040 tonnes. The Deutsche Bundesbank states that Germany holds the second largest gold reserve in the world after the United States, so Switzerland is not second.

Remember · Switzerland is a gold refining and trading hub, hence a leading exporter by value, but its own official reserve (1,040 tonnes) is far below the top holders, the USA and Germany.

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Answer: (c) Statement-I is correct but Statement-II is incorrect

The US-EU Trade and Technology Council is real: it was set up in 2021 and first met in Pittsburgh on 29 September 2021. Its stated aims are to coordinate approaches on technology, economic and trade issues and to deepen transatlantic economic ties, not to bring technological progress under the two powers' control.

• ✓ Statement-I The Trade and Technology Council (TTC) was launched by the United States and the European Union in 2021: the European Commission says it was set up at the EU-US Summit in Brussels on 15 June 2021, and its first ministerial meeting took place in Pittsburgh on 29 September 2021.
• ✗ Statement-II The TTC is a forum where the two sides align their approaches on trade, economic and technology questions and strengthen transatlantic commerce, resting on shared democratic values. Neither side says it is putting technological progress or productivity under its control.

Remember · US-EU Trade and Technology Council (2021): a coordination forum on technology, economic and trade issues built on shared democratic values; first met in Pittsburgh on 29 September 2021.

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Answer: (d) Statement-I is incorrect but Statement-II is correct

Statement-I is wrong: India's share of world merchandise (goods) exports in 2022 was 1.8%, not 3.2%. Statement-II is correct: both Indian and foreign firms have been approved for incentives under the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme.

• ✗ Statement-I The WTO's World Trade Statistical Review 2023 ranks India 18th among merchandise exporters in 2022, with exports of about US$ 453 billion, a 1.8% share of world exports. The figure of 3.2% does not match.
• ✓ Statement-II The PLI scheme for large-scale electronics manufacturing drew foreign players such as Foxconn, Samsung, Pegatron and Wistron, and domestic firms such as Lava, Micromax, Optiemus and Padget Electronics.

Remember · India's share of world goods exports in 2022 was 1.8% (18th largest exporter, WTO). PLI incentives have gone to both domestic and global manufacturers.

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Answer: (a) Only one

Only statement 1 is correct. The Stability and Growth Pact is a set of fiscal rules that keeps member states' budget deficits (3% of GDP) and public debt (60% of GDP) within limits; it says nothing about sharing infrastructure or technology.

• ✓ 1. The Pact is meant to ensure sound public finances and coordinated fiscal policies, and compliance is checked against reference values of 3% of GDP for the government deficit and 60% for gross debt.
• ✗ 2. The Pact is a budgetary-discipline framework. It does not oblige countries to pool or share infrastructure facilities.
• ✗ 3. Technology sharing is not part of the Pact, which deals only with fiscal policy.

Remember · EU Stability and Growth Pact: fiscal rules limiting deficits (3% of GDP) and debt (60% of GDP), enforced through the excessive deficit procedure.

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Answer: (d) None

None of the statements is correct. The UN General Assembly endorsed the Global Compact by a vote, not unanimously; it is non-binding; and it deals with international migration, not internal migration or internally displaced people.

• ✗ 1. The General Assembly endorsed the GCM in December 2018 with 152 votes in favour, 12 abstentions and 5 against (Czech Republic, Hungary, Israel, Poland, United States); another 24 members did not vote. So not all UN members adopted it.
• ✗ 2. The Compact describes itself as a non-legally binding, cooperative framework.
• ✗ 3. The Compact is about international migration in all its dimensions. It refers to migrants moving across borders and does not take up internal migration or internally displaced persons.

Remember · GCM (Marrakech, Dec 2018; UNGA vote 152-5-12): the first UN-negotiated global framework on international migration, non-legally binding, and it does not cover internal displacement.

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Answer: (b) Only two

Statements 2 and 3 are correct; statement 1 is wrong because Home Guards are a State subject raised under the Home Guards Acts and Rules of the States and Union Territories. There is no Central Home Guards Act.

• ✗ 1. The Ministry of Home Affairs has told Parliament that Home Guards are a State subject governed by the Home Guards Acts and Rules of the respective States/UTs, and that there is no Central Act on them.
• ✓ 2. The role of Home Guards is to serve as an auxiliary force to the police in maintaining internal security, and also to help the community in emergencies such as fire, cyclone or earthquake.
• ✓ 3. In border States, Border Wing Home Guards battalions (Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Meghalaya, Tripura and West Bengal) serve as an auxiliary to the Border Security Force for preventing infiltration on the international border and coastal areas.

Remember · Home Guards: a State subject, raised under State/UT Home Guards Acts (no Central Act); auxiliary to the police; Border Wing battalions assist the BSF in border States.

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Answer: (b) Only two

Pairs 1 and 3 are correct; pair 2 is wrong. Misleading or interfering with police or armed-forces personnel on guard near a prohibited place is an offence under the Official Secrets Act, 1923, not the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, which only lays down rules of evidence in court.

• ✓ 1. Section 6 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923 punishes wearing, without lawful authority, any naval, military, air force, police or other official uniform for the purposes the section lists.
• ✗ 2. Section 7 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923 (interfering with officers of the police or members of the Armed Forces) bars anyone near a prohibited place from obstructing, knowingly misleading or otherwise interfering with them. The Indian Evidence Act, 1872 has no such offence.
• ✓ 3. The Arms (Amendment) Act, 2019 added sub-section (9) to section 25 of the Arms Act, 1959: using a firearm in celebratory gunfire so as to endanger human life or the personal safety of others is punishable with up to two years' imprisonment, a fine up to rupees one lakh, or both.

Remember · Uniform misuse and interference with police or armed forces near a prohibited place: Official Secrets Act, 1923 (sections 6 and 7). Celebratory gunfire: Arms Act, 1959 section 25(9), inserted in 2019.

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Answer: (d) None

None of the pairs is correct; each region has been paired with the wrong conflict. North Kivu and Ituri are in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nagorno-Karabakh is at the centre of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, and Kherson and Zaporizhzhia are regions of Ukraine occupied by Russia.

• ✗ 1. North Kivu and Ituri are provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where armed attacks and clashes between armed groups (including M23) and the army have displaced millions. The Armenia-Azerbaijan war is a different conflict.
• ✗ 2. Nagorno-Karabakh is the region at the heart of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict; the UN Security Council has discussed the Lachin Corridor linking it with Armenia. The Mozambique insurgency is unrelated.
• ✗ 3. Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, with Donetsk and Luhansk, are Ukrainian regions that the UN General Assembly said are temporarily occupied by Russia. They have nothing to do with an Israel-Lebanon dispute.

Remember · North Kivu and Ituri: DR Congo. Nagorno-Karabakh: Armenia-Azerbaijan. Kherson and Zaporizhzhia: Ukraine, occupied by Russia.

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Answer: (c) Statement-I is correct but Statement-II is incorrect

Statement-I is correct: Israel has normalised relations with several Arab States, including the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in 2020. Statement-II is wrong: the Arab Peace Initiative was a Saudi proposal adopted by the Arab League in 2002, and Israel never signed it.

• ✓ Statement-I In September 2020 Israel signed the Abraham Accords with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, establishing normal relations. Egypt (1979) and Jordan (1994) had earlier made peace with Israel.
• ✗ Statement-II The Arab League summit in Beirut (27-28 March 2002) adopted the initiative presented by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah. It asks Israel to withdraw from Arab territories occupied since 1967 and offers normal relations from Arab States in return. Israel is the party addressed, not a signatory.

Remember · Arab Peace Initiative (2002): Saudi proposal adopted by the Arab League at Beirut; land for peace and normal relations. Israel did not sign. Abraham Accords (2020): Israel with UAE and Bahrain.

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Answer: (b) Only two

Only pairs 1 and 3 are correct. The Arjuna Award rewards good performance over the previous four years, not lifetime achievement, and the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar goes to corporate entities, sports bodies and NGOs, not to retired sportspersons.

• ✓ 1. The Khel Ratna, the highest sports honour, rewards a sportsperson whose performance has been spectacular and among the very best across the four years before the award.
• ✗ 2. The Arjuna Award rewards good performance across the previous four years, along with leadership, sportsmanship and discipline. Lifetime achievement is honoured by the Dhyan Chand Award.
• ✓ 3. The Dronacharya Award honours coaches whose consistent and meritorious work has helped their trainees perform well at international events.
• ✗ 4. The Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar is given to corporate entities, sports control boards and NGOs (including sports bodies) that have played a visible role in promoting sports. Honouring sportspersons for what they do after retirement belongs to the Dhyan Chand Award for lifetime achievement.

Remember · Khel Ratna and Arjuna: performance over the previous four years. Dronacharya: coaches. Dhyan Chand Award: lifetime achievement. Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar: corporates, sports bodies and NGOs.

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Answer: (b) Only two

Statements 1 and 2 are correct; statements 3 and 4 have the two trophies swapped. The open-section winner gets the Hamilton-Russell Cup and the women's-section winner gets the Vera Menchik Cup.

• ✓ 1. The 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai (28 July to 10 August 2022) was the first Olympiad hosted in India.
• ✓ 2. The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister released the official logo and mascot 'Thambi' before the event.
• ✗ 3. The Vera Menchik Cup goes to the winning team in the women's section, not the open section.
• ✗ 4. The Hamilton-Russell Cup goes to the winning team in the open section, not the women's section.

Remember · Chess Olympiad trophies: Hamilton-Russell Cup for the open section, Vera Menchik Cup for the women's section. The 2022 Chennai edition was India's first, with mascot Thambi.

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Answer: (d) None

None of the pairs is correct: Donbas is in Ukraine, Kachin is in Myanmar and Tigray is in Ethiopia. Each conflict zone has been attached to the wrong country.

• ✗ 1. Donbas is the coal-and-industry region of eastern Ukraine made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, where fighting has displaced people since 2014. It has nothing to do with Syria.
• ✗ 2. Kachin is a state in northern Myanmar, on the border with China. Fighting between government troops and Kachin rebels (the Kachin Independence Organization) has displaced tens of thousands there. It is not in Ethiopia.
• ✗ 3. Tigray is a region in northern Ethiopia, the centre of the northern Ethiopia conflict that began in November 2020. It has no link with North Yemen.

Remember · Donbas: Ukraine. Kachin: Myanmar. Tigray: Ethiopia. Place every conflict zone in its own country before matching.

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Answer: (d) Successful coups

All four countries saw armed forces seize power in 2020-21: Mali in 2020 and again in May 2021, Chad in April 2021, Guinea in September 2021 and Sudan in October 2021. The UN itself described these as a wave of takeovers across the Sahel and West Africa.

• ✓ (d) Military takeovers happened in Mali, Chad, Guinea and Sudan between 2020 and 2021. This is the one feature common to all four; the UN linked them together while reacting to another coup in Burkina Faso in January 2022.
• ✗ (a) None of these events was about a rare-earth discovery. The four countries are in the news for political instability, not for a shared mineral find.
• ✗ (b) No shared story of Chinese military bases links the four countries.
• ✗ (c) Desertification of the Sahel is a regional concern, but it does not apply to all four: Guinea is a humid Atlantic-coast country, far from the Sahara, and the option does not describe why they were in the news.

Remember · Mali (2020, 2021), Chad (2021), Guinea (2021), Sudan (2021) and later Burkina Faso (2022) all saw military seizures of power; the common thread is coups.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) All three

All three. Green hydrogen, made by splitting water with renewable electricity, can replace the fossil-based hydrogen that fertilizer plants and refineries use today and the coal and coke that steel plants use for reducing iron ore. The Government of India names all three sectors in its National Green Hydrogen Mission.

• ✓ 1. Ammonia for nitrogenous fertilizers is made from hydrogen obtained from natural gas. Green hydrogen, or green ammonia made from it, can replace that and cut gas imports.
• ✓ 2. Refineries already use large amounts of hydrogen made from fossil fuels; swapping it for green hydrogen lowers a refinery's carbon footprint.
• ✓ 3. Hydrogen can replace coal and coke in iron and steel production, one of the biggest carbon-emitting industries; the Mission funds pilot projects for low-carbon steel.

Remember · Green hydrogen targets hard-to-abate sectors: fertilizer (green ammonia), refining, steel, and long-haul transport and shipping. India's mission aims at 5 MMT a year by 2030.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Both 1 and 2

Both statements are correct. The G20 began in 1999, after the Asian financial crisis, as a forum of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, and India made digital public infrastructure one of the three priority areas of its 2023 G20 Presidency.

• ✓ 1. The G20 was founded in 1999 after the Asian financial crisis as a meeting place for finance ministers and central bank governors. It was later raised to the level of heads of state or government.
• ✓ 2. During India's 2023 Presidency the G20 Digital Economy Working Group named three priority areas: digital public infrastructure, security in the digital economy and digital skilling.

Remember · G20: founded 1999 for finance ministers and central bank governors, upgraded to a leaders' summit later. India's 2023 presidency put digital public infrastructure on its agenda.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error