IT, computing & emerging technologies

Answer: (b) 2 only

Smart India Hackathon is a competition, not a scheme or a digitisation target: ministries post real problems and student teams build technology solutions to them. The first edition, SIH 2017, was held on 1–2 April 2017 with 598 problem statements from 29 ministries and departments.

• ✗ 1. The hackathon builds no cities. The centrally sponsored programme for urban renewal is the separate Smart Cities Mission, which covers 100 selected cities, not every city.
• ✓ 2. Its stated aim is to give students a platform to solve pressing everyday problems and to build a culture of product innovation, using problem statements set by government departments.
• ✗ 3. The hackathon sets no target for digital payments; promoting cashless transactions was the work of other initiatives such as Digital India and UPI-based payments.

Remember · Smart India Hackathon (first held 1–2 April 2017): students solve problem statements posted by ministries; a hunt for tech innovations, not a scheme.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2017, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Mobile wallets will not be necessary for online payments.

UPI moves money straight from one bank account to another through a single mobile app, so users need not first load money into a mobile wallet. That makes 'wallets will not be necessary' the most likely consequence; the other three options are sweeping claims that UPI does not directly cause.

• ✓ (a) UPI links bank accounts to a phone app and transfers money instantly, round the clock. NCERT notes that such mediums directly transfer money from one person's bank account into another, so a separate wallet is not needed.
• ✗ (b) UPI is a way of moving money between bank accounts, not a new currency. Nothing about it points to physical currency being totally replaced within two decades.
• ✗ (c) FDI depends on investment policy, markets and regulation. A domestic payment system does not make foreign investment rise drastically.
• ✗ (d) Subsidy transfers depend on a beneficiary's bank account being identified and linked to the scheme. UPI is a payment channel and does not by itself make them very effective.

Remember · UPI (NPCI, launched 2016) connects bank accounts to one mobile app for instant 24x7 transfers, so a mobile wallet becomes unnecessary.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 7 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Ch 11 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2017, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 1, 2 and 3

All three statements are advantages of OLED displays. Each OLED pixel makes its own light, so the panel needs no rigid backlight unit as an LCD does, and it can be built thin, on flexible plastic, see-through or rolled up.

• ✓ 1. OLED layers can be deposited on flexible substrates, not only on glass, which is why bendable and foldable phone screens use them. An LCD needs a backlight and a rigid liquid-crystal cell.
• ✓ 2. Because the panel can be made on a flexible base, roll-up and wearable displays, including ones stitched into clothing, are possible. Curved, bendable, foldable and rollable OLED screens already exist.
• ✓ 3. OLEDs can be made transparent, so a see-through display is possible. An LCD depends on a backlight behind the screen, which blocks that.

Remember · OLED pixels emit their own light (no backlight), so screens can be thin, flexible, rollable and transparent. LCDs cannot do this easily.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2017, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3

All three are covered. Section 70B of the Information Technology Act, 2000 lets the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) call for information and give directions to service providers, intermediaries, data centres, body corporate and any other person. Failing to comply is punishable, so reporting is a legal duty.

• ✓ 1. Service providers are named in Section 70B(6) as bound by CERT-In's calls for information and directions.
• ✓ 2. Data centres are also named in Section 70B(6).
• ✓ 3. A body corporate (a company or firm) is named too, and Section 70B(7) makes non-compliance punishable with up to one year's imprisonment, a fine of up to one lakh rupees, or both.
• • Since then CERT-In's directions of 28 April 2022 spell this out: any service provider, intermediary, data centre, body corporate and Government organisation must report specified cyber incidents to CERT-In within 6 hours of noticing them.

Remember · Under Section 70B of the IT Act, service providers, intermediaries, data centres and body corporate must give CERT-In the information it seeks; the 2022 directions set a 6-hour reporting window.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2017, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error