Security, defence & exercises

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 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.

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 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.

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) 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