Defence, nuclear & energy technology

Answer: (a) 1 only

The NSG is an informal club of nuclear supplier countries that coordinates export controls, so joining it eases a country's access to nuclear trade and technology. It is not a treaty body, and joining it does not by itself make a country a party to the NPT.

• ✓ 1. NSG participants shape and share the rules of nuclear trade among the main supplier states, which gives them easier access to advanced nuclear technology and equipment.
• ✗ 2. The NSG was not created by a treaty; it is a voluntary, non-legally binding association. NPT membership comes only by signing and ratifying the NPT itself.

Remember · NSG: voluntary supplier-country group formed 1975 after India's 1974 test; controls nuclear and dual-use exports through two sets of Guidelines; not a treaty, so membership does not mean NPT membership.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) The civilian nuclear reactors come under IAEA safeguards.

India's Additional Protocol is attached to its India-specific safeguards agreement with the IAEA, which covers only India's civilian nuclear facilities. So ratifying it means those civilian facilities stay under IAEA safeguards and get wider IAEA access; military installations are left out.

• ✓ (a) The IAEA Board approved a safeguards agreement with India in 2008 for the application of IAEA safeguards to Indian civilian nuclear facilities. The Additional Protocol to that agreement entered into force on 25 July 2014.
• ✗ (b) Both the safeguards agreement and its Additional Protocol are titled as covering 'Civilian Nuclear Facilities'. India's military installations are not placed under IAEA inspection.
• ✗ (c) The Additional Protocol is an arrangement with the IAEA. It does not give India any right to buy uranium from the Nuclear Suppliers Group, which is a separate body.
• ✗ (d) Ratifying a protocol with the IAEA does not make a country a member of the NSG. NSG membership is a separate matter decided within that group.

Remember · India's Additional Protocol (signed 15 May 2009; in force 25 July 2014) extends IAEA safeguards access to its civilian nuclear facilities only.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) An American anti-missile system

THAAD is an American anti-missile system. It is a land-based system of the US Missile Defense Agency and US Army that destroys ballistic missiles in their final (terminal) phase of flight, using hit-to-kill interceptors.

• ✓ (c) THAAD batteries have a launcher, interceptors, an AN/TPY-2 radar and fire control. They are procured and fielded to the US Army, and the interceptor destroys the warhead by direct impact.
• ✗ (b) India's own anti-missile effort is the Ballistic Missile Defence programme of DRDO, which flight-tests indigenous interceptors. It is a separate programme from THAAD.
• ✗ (a) THAAD is developed and fielded by the United States (US Missile Defense Agency and US Army), not by Israel, and it is an interceptor system rather than only a radar.
• ✗ (d) THAAD is fielded to the US Army to protect US forces and allies. It is not a joint Japan–South Korea defence arrangement.

Remember · THAAD = Terminal High Altitude Area Defense: a US ground-based, hit-to-kill system against ballistic missiles in their terminal phase. India's own shield is DRDO's BMD.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error