IT, computing & emerging technologies

Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2

The Aadhaar Act, 2016 settles both. Section 9 says an Aadhaar number is not proof of citizenship or domicile, and Section 23(2)(g) empowers the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to omit and deactivate Aadhaar numbers as specified by regulations.

• ✗ 1. Aadhaar is a proof of identity (and, for residents, of address), but Section 9 expressly says it confers no right of, and is no proof of, citizenship or domicile.
• ✗ 2. One of UIDAI's statutory functions is 'omitting and deactivating of an Aadhaar number', for example where it was obtained fraudulently, under the manner laid down in its regulations.

Remember · Aadhaar Act, 2016: any resident (182 days in the preceding year) can enrol; the number is identity proof, not citizenship proof (Sec 9); UIDAI can omit or deactivate numbers (Sec 23(2)(g)).

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) Both 1 and 2

An open API is a published, standard way for any software to talk to a service. Because UIDAI publishes its authentication APIs, any device that can build a request in that format (phone, PoS terminal, kiosk, PC) can use Aadhaar, and the service accepts biometric checks by fingerprint or iris as well as OTP.

• ✓ 1. UIDAI chose an API-based approach so that demographic and OTP authentication can start from any device able to create a request as per its API specifications; biometric capture only adds the need for a certified sensor.
• ✓ 2. UIDAI verifies a person online by matching the Aadhaar number with demographic data, OTP or biometrics, and the biometrics accepted include fingerprints, iris and face.

Remember · Aadhaar authentication = online yes/no check against UIDAI's CIDR, using demographic data, OTP, fingerprint, iris or face, through published (open) APIs.

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) 1 only

Only statement 1 is correct: BHIM is a UPI-based app for direct bank-to-bank transfers. Statement 2 fails because a chip-and-PIN card does not use four factors of authentication; UPI, and so BHIM, uses two.

• ✓ 1. BHIM was launched in December 2016 to enable digital payments using UPI, and it allows direct bank-to-bank transfers from a mobile phone. Because UPI is interoperable, the receiver only needs a UPI-enabled bank account.
• ✗ 2. The official description of UPI says it uses two-factor authentication: the registered mobile phone and the secret UPI PIN. A chip-and-PIN card also works on two things, the card itself and its PIN, so it does not have four factors.

Remember · BHIM is the NPCI's UPI app (launched December 2016). UPI uses two-factor authentication: the registered mobile device plus the UPI PIN.

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: (b) 3 only

Only statement 3 is an aim of Digital India, which is about digital infrastructure, on-demand services and digital empowerment of citizens, including broadband to villages and Wi-Fi at public places. Building Indian rivals to Chinese Internet firms or drawing foreign firms' data centres to India is not among its stated aims.

• ✗ 1. The programme's stated vision is a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy, built on three areas: digital infrastructure as a utility, governance and services on demand, and digital empowerment of citizens. Creating national Internet companies is not one of them.
• ✗ 2. Digital India's official aims do not include a policy framework to pull overseas companies' data centres into India. Its infrastructure work is about broadband, mobile coverage and public access.
• ✓ 3. BharatNet, the backbone of Digital India, aims to take Internet services to every corner of the country, and Digital India also covers public Wi-Fi: BSNL set up hotspots at tourist places such as the Ganga Ghats at Varanasi and the Taj Mahal, and the plan includes Wi-Fi in all universities and broadband in all schools.

Remember · Digital India (launched 1 July 2015) has three vision areas: digital infrastructure as a utility, governance and services on demand, and digital empowerment of citizens.

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: (d) 1, 2 and 3

GPS is used for far more than finding locations: its satellite signals carry very precise atomic-clock time, and that timing is used to synchronise mobile networks, banking and financial systems, and power grids. So all three areas are correct.

• ✓ 1. Wireless and communications networks use GPS time to synchronise their operations and to use limited radio spectrum efficiently.
• ✓ 2. Financial networks use GPS time to synchronise systems and to put traceable time tags on financial transactions and billing.
• ✓ 3. Power grids depend on GPS timing for precise synchronisation across the network.

Remember · GPS gives position and precise time. Precise time is used to synchronise communications, financial networks and power grids.

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) Cyber attacks

All three names belong to cyber attacks in 2017. WannaCry and Petya are ransomware, meaning malware that locks a victim's files, and EternalBlue is the Windows exploit through which they spread.

• ✓ (c) WannaCry encrypted files on infected Windows systems and spread through a Windows Server Message Block vulnerability, an exploit named EternalBlue. Variants of Petya ransomware later spread using the same exploit. India's CERT-In issued alerts for both in 2017.
• ✗ (b) These are malicious programs and an exploit, not digital currencies. CERT-In classifies WannaCry and Petya as ransomware.
• ✗ (a) Exoplanets are planets outside the Solar System and have no connection with these computer-security terms.
• ✗ (d) Mini satellites are small space vehicles. WannaCry, Petya and EternalBlue are software threats.

Remember · WannaCry and Petya = ransomware (2017). EternalBlue = the Windows SMB exploit that helped them spread. CERT-In is India's nodal agency for such alerts.

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: (b) 2 only

Only the blockchain pair is right. Blockchain is the technology behind cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. Belle II is a particle-physics experiment in Japan, and CRISPR-Cas9 is a gene-editing tool used in biotechnology.

• ✗ 1. Belle II is a particle-physics experiment at the SuperKEKB collider at KEK, Tsukuba, Japan. It studies rare decays of B and D mesons and tau leptons, with an Indian team led by TIFR.
• ✓ 2. Blockchain is a shared, distributed ledger. NITI Aayog notes that it is the Bitcoin paper of 2008 that is most credited for the advent of the technology, so it is closely tied to digital currency.
• ✗ 3. CRISPR-Cas9 is a genome-editing technology; the Cas9 enzyme cuts DNA at a location set by a guide RNA. It belongs to biotechnology, not particle physics.

Remember · Belle II = particle physics (KEK, Japan); blockchain = ledger behind cryptocurrencies; CRISPR-Cas9 = gene editing.

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: (b) Internet of Things

The scenario is the Internet of Things (IoT): everyday objects such as a phone, geyser, refrigerator, mirror, door lock and car are connected through the internet, sense their surroundings and exchange data, so they act on their own. Every event in the story is one connected device talking to another.

• ✓ (b) IoT connects physical objects (cars, phones, appliances) to the internet so they can send and receive data. Here the alarm triggers the geyser, the refrigerator places an order and the car reports traffic and sends a message.
• ✗ (a) Border Gateway Protocol is a routing protocol that lets large networks on the internet exchange path information. It is not a way for home devices to act on their own.
• ✗ (c) Internet Protocol is the addressing and packet-delivery rule set of the internet. IoT devices use it, but it does not name the smart, self-acting behaviour described.
• ✗ (d) A Virtual Private Network creates a secure, private link over a public network. Nothing in the story concerns secure remote access.

Remember · IoT = everyday objects with sensors and internet connections that exchange data and act automatically.

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: (d) 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5

3D printing (additive manufacturing) builds objects layer by layer from a digital design, so it works across food, medicine, vehicles and electronics. All five uses listed have been demonstrated, which makes 'all of the above' the answer.

• ✓ 1. Chocolate and other food inks can be 3D printed; India's national strategy on additive manufacturing also names food processing as a sector.
• ✓ 2. Princeton researchers 3D printed a 'bionic ear' by combining a cell-seeded hydrogel with an embedded conducting antenna.
• ✓ 3. IIT Madras (Institute of Eminence) lists the industrialisation of additive manufacturing for aerospace, automotive, tooling and biomedical applications among its goals, and designs lattice structures and sandwich panels for automotive applications.
• ✓ 4. 3D printed patient-specific implants, for example in PEEK plastic, are used in reconstructive surgery.
• ✓ 5. Additive manufacturing sits at the intersection of computing and electronics, and India's strategy targets 3D printed electronics; UPSC's key counts this as an application.

Remember · 3D printing is layer-by-layer manufacturing from a digital file, used in food, medicine (implants, bionic organs), vehicles and electronics.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error