India & the world: places, pacts & relations

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.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 India: People and Economy, Ch 7 (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: (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.

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 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.

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: 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.

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