International organisations & groupings

Answer: (a) WTO affairs

The coloured 'boxes' are the WTO's way of classifying farm subsidies under the Agreement on Agriculture, borrowed from traffic lights. Green box support is allowed freely, amber box support distorts trade and must be reduced, and blue box support is tied to programmes that limit production.

• ✓ (a) The WTO backgrounder on domestic support explains that subsidies are grouped into green (permitted), amber (to be reduced) and, in agriculture, a blue box for production-limiting programmes.
• ✗ (c) UNFCCC talks use terms like NDCs, Annex I and CDM, not subsidy boxes.
• ✗ (d) An India-EU free trade agreement would negotiate tariffs and market access; the box classification belongs to the multilateral WTO Agreement on Agriculture.

Remember · WTO farm subsidy boxes: green = minimal trade distortion, allowed; amber = trade-distorting, capped and reduced; blue = production-limiting; no red box in agriculture.

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Answer: (d) Renminbi

On 30 November 2015 the IMF Executive Board, in its five-yearly review of the Special Drawing Right (SDR), decided that China's renminbi met the criteria and would join the SDR basket as its fifth currency from 1 October 2016.

• ✓ (d) The renminbi was declared a 'freely usable' currency and added to the basket alongside the U.S. dollar, euro, Japanese yen and British pound.
• ✗ (c) The Indian rupee has never been in the SDR basket; it is not a fully convertible currency on the capital account.
• ✗ (a) The key question in the 2015 review was whether the renminbi qualified; the Russian rouble and the South African rand are not in the SDR basket.

Remember · SDR basket since 1 Oct 2016: U.S. dollar, euro, Chinese renminbi, Japanese yen, British pound (five currencies). The SDR is the IMF's reserve asset, not a currency.

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Answer: (c) Both 1 and 2

The IMFC is the ministerial-level committee of the IMF's Board of Governors. It meets twice a year, reviews developments in the world monetary and financial system and, though it has no formal decision-making power, gives strategic direction to the Fund's work; the World Bank is among the institutions that attend as observers.

• ✓ 1. The IMF describes the IMFC as advising the Board of Governors on the international monetary and financial system and as a key instrument for giving strategic direction to the work and policies of the Fund.
• ✓ 2. The IMF factsheet states that several international institutions, including the World Bank, participate as observers in IMFC meetings.

Remember · IMFC: 25 members (mirrors the IMF Executive Board), meets at the Spring and Annual Meetings, advisory only, works by consensus; World Bank attends as an observer.

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Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only

The OPCW, based in The Hague, is the global body that implements the Chemical Weapons Convention (in force since 29 April 1997); its members are States Parties from all over the world, not the European Union. Its work includes inspecting chemical industry so that weapons do not re-emerge, and helping member states protect themselves against chemical attack.

• ✗ 1. The OPCW is the implementing body of a worldwide treaty with 193 Member States today (India is one); it is not an EU agency, and its formal ties are with the United Nations, not NATO.
• ✓ 2. Through declarations and industry inspections under Article VI of the Convention, the OPCW works to prevent the re-emergence of chemical weapons, including by misuse of existing chemical facilities.
• ✓ 3. Article X of the Convention covers assistance and protection: the OPCW helps members build national protection capacity and can send assistance if chemical weapons are used against them.

Remember · OPCW: The Hague; implements the Chemical Weapons Convention (1997); verifies destruction of stockpiles, inspects industry, gives assistance and protection; Nobel Peace Prize 2013.

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Answer: (b) 2 only

FAO's GIAHS programme exists to recognise and protect living traditional farming systems, together with their landscapes, agro-biodiversity and local knowledge, through 'dynamic conservation'. It does not aim to modernise these systems for higher output, and it has nothing to do with granting Geographical Indication tags.

• ✗ 1. Replacing traditional practice with modern technology to maximise yields runs against the programme's purpose, which is to conserve heritage farming systems while keeping them viable.
• ✓ 2. FAO states the overall goal as identifying and safeguarding these heritage systems with their landscapes, agricultural biodiversity and knowledge systems.
• ✗ 3. Geographical Indications are granted under national law (in India, the Geographical Indications of Goods Act, 1999), not by FAO; a GIAHS listing confers no GI status.

Remember · GIAHS (FAO, launched 2002): dynamic conservation of traditional agricultural systems, their landscapes, agro-biodiversity and knowledge; it is recognition, not modernisation or GI tagging.

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Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was a trade and investment agreement signed on 4 February 2016 by twelve countries. It was not a maritime-security alliance, and it did not cover every Pacific Rim country other than China and Russia, so neither statement is correct.

• ✗ 1. Only twelve countries signed: the United States, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Peru, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam. Many other Pacific Rim economies, such as South Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, were not signatories.
• ✗ 2. The ministers' statement calls it an agreement to set a new standard for trade and investment. It is an economic agreement, not a security alliance.
• • Since then The United States told the other signatories in 2017 that it did not intend to join. The remaining eleven concluded the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which entered into force on 30 December 2018.

Remember · The TPP (signed 4 February 2016) was a 12-country trade and investment pact, not a maritime-security alliance, and it left out many Pacific Rim economies.

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Answer: (a) 1 only

Only statement 1 is correct. The India-Africa Forum Summit series began in New Delhi in 2008, was held again in Addis Ababa in 2011, and its third edition met in New Delhi in October 2015. There is no record of a summit of this kind being started by Nehru in 1951.

• ✓ 1. The Third India-Africa Forum Summit met in New Delhi on 29 October 2015, after the first summit (New Delhi, April 2008) and the second (Addis Ababa, May 2011).
• ✗ 2. The summit series is a twenty-first century process. India's Ministry of External Affairs dates the structured engagement with the African Union to the first summit (IAFS-I) in 2008, not to 1951.

Remember · India-Africa Forum Summits: I New Delhi (April 2008), II Addis Ababa (May 2011), III New Delhi (October 2015).

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Answer: (b) a non-governmental international organization

Doctors Without Borders (French name Medecins Sans Frontieres, MSF) is a private, independent medical aid body working across many countries, that is, a non-governmental international organisation. It was founded in France in 1971 and is not part of the WHO, the European Union or the UN system.

• ✓ (b) The UN's own civil-society database (UN DESA) lists Medecins sans frontieres (International) as a non-governmental organization with international scope. MSF calls itself an independent medical humanitarian organisation, and the Nobel Committee's 1999 speech notes that it insists on half its revenue coming from private donors, to protect its independence.
• ✗ (a) The WHO is a specialised agency of the United Nations; MSF is a separate, independent body and not one of its divisions.
• ✗ (c) MSF is not an agency of the European Union or of any group of governments.

Remember · Doctors Without Borders (MSF): an independent, international, non-governmental medical humanitarian organisation founded in France in 1971; Nobel Peace Prize 1999.

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Answer: (b) 2 only

The New Development Bank (NDB) was set up by the BRICS countries, not by APEC, and its headquarters is in Shanghai. Statement 1 is wrong and statement 2 is correct.

• ✗ 1. The NDB was established by the BRICS countries; its founding agreement was signed at the sixth BRICS Summit in Fortaleza in 2014. It is not an APEC body.
• ✓ 2. The NDB is headquartered in Shanghai; it moved into its permanent HQ there in 2021.
• • Since then Since 2016 the NDB has admitted new members, for example Bangladesh, Egypt, UAE and Uruguay in 2021, and it has set up regional offices, including one in GIFT City, Gujarat, in 2022 (NDB website).

Remember · NDB = the BRICS bank (agreement signed at Fortaleza, 2014; first President K.V. Kamath of India), headquartered in Shanghai. It is not an APEC body.

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Answer: (a) Iran

Iran is not in the Gulf Cooperation Council. The GCC was set up in 1981 by six Arab states of the Gulf: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

• ✓ (a) Iran, although it lies on the Gulf coast, was not among the six founding states and has never joined the GCC.
• ✗ (b) Saudi Arabia is a founding member; the agreement creating the GCC was concluded at Riyadh on 25 May 1981.
• ✗ (c) Oman is one of the six founding members.
• ✗ (d) Kuwait is one of the six founding members.

Remember · GCC (1981, Riyadh) has six members: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE. Iran and Iraq are Gulf countries but not members.

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Answer: (b) ASEAN

RCEP is a trade agreement led by ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Its negotiations were launched in November 2012 by the ten ASEAN members together with ASEAN's six free trade partners: Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea and New Zealand.

• ✓ (b) ASEAN adopted the RCEP framework and drove the talks, on the principle of ASEAN centrality.
• ✗ (a) The G20 is a forum of major economies for financial and economic coordination; it did not negotiate RCEP.
• ✗ (c) The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation deals mainly with regional security and cooperation in Eurasia, not this trade pact.
• ✗ (d) SAARC is a South Asian grouping and was not involved in RCEP.
• • Since then The RCEP Agreement was signed on 15 November 2020 by ASEAN's ten members with Australia, China, Japan, Republic of Korea and New Zealand; India was not among the signatories (ASEAN).

Remember · RCEP = ASEAN plus its six FTA partners (Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea, New Zealand); talks launched November 2012 at Phnom Penh.

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Answer: (d) It can build fusion reactors for power generation

ITER is an experiment to show that nuclear fusion, the joining of light atomic nuclei as in the Sun, can work at power-plant scale. Every ITER member shares the experimental results and intellectual property, so if it succeeds, India can build its own fusion reactors for power.

• ✓ (d) ITER is meant to prepare the way for future fusion power plants, and members share its results and intellectual property. Fusion power reactors are the natural next step for India.
• ✗ (a) Using thorium as fuel belongs to India's fission reactor programme; ITER is a fusion project and does not test thorium.
• ✗ (b) Satellite navigation depends on satellite systems (such as India's own navigation constellation), which have nothing to do with a fusion experiment.
• ✗ (c) Fusion is a different process from fission. A fusion success would not by itself make fission reactors more efficient.

Remember · ITER (in France; members China, EU, India, Japan, Korea, Russia, USA) tests nuclear fusion; the payoff is knowledge to build fusion power plants.

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Answer: (a) 1 only

Only statement 1 is correct. India and France launched the International Solar Alliance at the COP21 climate conference in Paris in 2015, but it is a coalition of sunshine-rich countries that join voluntarily, not a body that includes every UN member.

• ✓ 1. The Alliance was launched in 2015 by India and France at COP21, the UN Climate Change Conference held in Paris.
• ✗ 2. When launched, the ISA was a coalition of sunshine-rich countries, and joining is a choice made by each state. It has around 120 member and signatory countries, well short of all UN members.
• • Since then Since the ISA Framework Agreement was amended in 2020, every UN member state is eligible to join, but the Alliance still does not automatically include all of them (ISA, PIB).

Remember · ISA: launched by India and France at COP21, Paris (30 November 2015); headquartered in India; a voluntary alliance, open to all UN members only since the 2020 amendment.

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

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Answer: (b) agency of EU that provides financial assistance to eurozone countries

The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) is the permanent rescue fund of the euro area. It lends money and gives other financial help to euro area countries in severe financial distress, acting as a lender of last resort. Strictly, the ESM calls itself an intergovernmental organisation of the euro-area states rather than an EU agency, so (b) is the closest option.

• ✓ (b) Set up on 8 October 2012 as the successor to the temporary European Financial Stability Facility, the ESM gives loans and other assistance to euro area members that cannot borrow from markets at sustainable rates.
• ✗ (a) Refugee arrivals are handled through other EU policies and funds; the ESM is a financial crisis fund and has no refugee role.
• ✗ (c) Trade agreements are dealt with by the EU's own institutions. The ESM is a financial-crisis fund and has no trade role.
• ✗ (d) The ESM does not settle disputes among members; it lends money to countries in financial trouble.

Remember · ESM (set up 2012) is the permanent euro-area bailout fund, successor to the EFSF; it lends to eurozone countries in severe financial distress.

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Answer: (b) 2 only

Statement 2 is correct and statement 1 is wrong. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are part of the UN's 2030 Agenda, adopted in 2015 and to be achieved by 2030, and the UN decided to develop them at the Rio+20 conference in 2012. The Club of Rome's 1972 contribution was a book, Limits to Growth.

• ✗ 1. The idea of SDGs was launched by UN Member States at the 2012 Rio+20 Conference, not by the Club of Rome. NCERT says the Club of Rome, a global think tank, published Limits to Growth in 1972, a warning about the depletion of the Earth's resources.
• ✓ 2. The 2030 Agenda, adopted by the UN in 2015 with 17 Goals and 169 targets, commits countries to working for its full implementation by 2030.

Remember · SDGs: 17 goals, adopted by the UN in 2015, target year 2030; idea launched at Rio+20 (2012). The Club of Rome's 1972 work was Limits to Growth.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Contemporary World Politics, Ch 6 (practise this chapter)

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