World: places, rivers & mapping

Answer: (c) Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana

Cocoa needs a hot, wet equatorial climate, and West Africa's Gulf of Guinea coast supplies most of the world's crop. Côte d'Ivoire is the largest producer and Ghana the second; the other pairs lie in drier parts of Africa and are not significant cocoa growers.

• ✓ (c) Côte d'Ivoire is the world's largest cocoa producer, and it and Ghana are the largest cocoa exporters; with Cameroon they account for nearly two-thirds of global cocoa exports.
• ✗ (a) Algeria and Morocco lie in North Africa's dry belt; neither is among the handful of countries that grow almost all of the world's cocoa.
• ✗ (d) Neither Madagascar nor Mozambique is among the nine countries that the International Cocoa Organization says produce over 93% of world cocoa.

Remember · Cocoa belt = West Africa's Gulf of Guinea coast. Côte d'Ivoire is No. 1, Ghana No. 2; together they dominate world cocoa supply.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2024, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Only two

The North Sea lies between Great Britain and the North European mainland. Its shores belong to Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and the United Kingdom (with Sweden on the Kattegat side). Finland and Russia face the Baltic Sea instead, so only Germany and Norway qualify.

• ✗ 1. Finland's coasts are on the Baltic Sea — the Gulf of Bothnia and the Gulf of Finland — not the North Sea.
• ✓ 2. Germany's north-western coast, with the Elbe and Weser estuaries, opens onto the North Sea.
• ✓ 3. Norway's southern and western coast borders the North Sea.
• ✗ 4. Russia's European coasts are on the Baltic (Gulf of Finland, Kaliningrad), the Barents and White Seas and the Black Sea — none on the North Sea.

Remember · North Sea countries: UK, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France. Finland and Russia are Baltic, not North Sea, states.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2024, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Only two

Rows 3 and 4 are right: the Appalachians and the Andes are fold mountains raised where plates converged. Row 1 is wrong twice over — the Vosges are in Europe (France) and are a block mountain beside the Rhine rift valley; row 2 is wrong because the Alps are young fold mountains, not block mountains.

• ✗ 1. The Vosges are in north-eastern France, west of the Rhine Graben — a sunken block of crust. They are a classic block (horst) mountain of Europe, not a fold range of Central Asia.
• ✗ 2. The Alps belong to the young zone of continental collision that runs from the Himalayas to Europe; they are fold mountains, not block mountains.
• ✓ 3. The Appalachians formed in continental collisions 500–300 million years ago; their sedimentary layers were folded and faulted. They are old, worn-down fold mountains.
• ✓ 4. The Andes were raised as the oceanic Nazca Plate pushed under the South American Plate — a convergent-boundary fold range.

Remember · Fold: Himalayas, Alps, Andes, Rockies (young); Appalachians, Aravallis, Urals (old). Block: Vosges and Black Forest on either side of the Rhine rift valley.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2024, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) None

Every pair is shuffled. The indri is a lemur that lives only in Madagascar, the bonobo is an African ape found in the Congo basin forests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the elk is a large deer of North America and the cold uplands of Asia; none of them occurs wild in the country it is paired with.

• ✗ 1. The indri (Indri indri), the largest of the lemurs, lives in the eastern rainforests of Madagascar and is Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List. Lemurs do not occur naturally in South America, so Brazil is wrong.
• ✗ 2. The elk (wapiti) is a large deer known from North America, where scientists call it Cervus canadensis, and it is also found in parts of Central and East Asia. Tropical Indonesia has no wild elk.
• ✗ 3. The bonobo, or pygmy chimpanzee, is an African great ape; UNESCO notes it as a threatened species of Salonga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Madagascar has no apes.

Remember · Indri = Madagascar (largest lemur). Bonobo = DR Congo only (Salonga NP). Elk/wapiti = North America and Central/East Asia. Madagascar has lemurs but no apes.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2024, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Canada and the United States of America

Canada and the United States share the longest international border in the world, about 8,891 km (5,525 miles) as maintained by the International Boundary Commission. Every other pair listed, including Chile-Argentina, China-India and Kazakhstan-Russia, has a shorter border.

• ✓ (a) The Government of Canada describes the Canada-US land border, at close to 9,000 km, as the longest international border in the world. The joint International Boundary Commission gives its length as 8,891 km.
• ✗ (d) Kazakhstan and Russia share a very long land border, but it is shorter than the Canada-US boundary.
• ✗ (b) The Chile-Argentina border is long and runs along the Andes, but it too is shorter than the Canada-US boundary.

Remember · World's longest international border: Canada-United States, about 8,891 km (5,525 miles).

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2024, 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 explains Statement-I

The SUMED pipeline runs across Egypt and carries crude oil from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. Together with the Suez Canal it forms a strategic route for Persian Gulf energy shipments to Europe. The Red Sea-Mediterranean link is exactly what makes it a route to Europe, so Statement-II explains Statement-I.

• ✓ Statement-I The US Energy Information Administration calls the Suez Canal and the SUMED Pipeline strategic routes for Persian Gulf crude oil, petroleum products and LNG shipments to Europe and North America.
• ✓ Statement-II The roughly 200-mile SUMED Pipeline carries crude oil northbound through Egypt from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. It is the only alternative for such crude if ships cannot pass through the Suez Canal, which is why it works as a route to Europe.

Remember · SUMED pipeline: about 200 miles across Egypt, carrying crude oil from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean; the alternative to the Suez Canal for such crude.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2024, 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 Red Sea lies in an arid region: no river drains into it and rainfall is scant. With very high evaporation and little fresh water coming in, it is one of the saltiest seas.

• ✓ 1. The Red Sea region is arid with little precipitation. The UN Regular Process assessment calls it an arid area with high evaporation, and NOAA explains its high salinity by very high evaporation and little fresh-water inflow.
• ✓ 2. No river brings water into the Red Sea; the UN assessment marks it as a sea with 'no rivers'. With so little fresh water, evaporation keeps the sea very salty; NCERT gives its salinity as high as 41 parts per thousand.

Remember · Red Sea: arid, no rivers, scant rain, very high evaporation and very high salinity (about 41 parts per thousand).

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Fundamentals of Physical Geography, Ch 12 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2024, 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 explains Statement-I

Both statements are correct. UN briefings to the Security Council describe armed groups and violent extremists gaining influence across West Africa and the Sahel, with security deteriorating in large parts of the region. Repeated military coups, in Mali and Burkina Faso among others, are themselves destabilizing governments, so Statement-II helps explain Statement-I.

• ✓ Statement-I UN officials told the Security Council that security had again deteriorated in large parts of the region, and voiced concern at terrorist threats spreading from the Sahel towards coastal West African countries.
• ✓ Statement-II The President of the ECOWAS Commission cited a recent spate of military coups in the region, including in Mali and Burkina Faso. The UN briefing noted that such repeated coups are destabilizing governments, which adds to the instability in Statement-I.

Remember · Sahel: rising armed-group violence and repeated military coups (Mali, Burkina Faso and others) feed each other's instability.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2024, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error