IT, computing & emerging technologies

Answer: (b) 1, 3 and 4 only

In the exam year AI was already used effectively for saving energy in industry, for diagnosing diseases and for converting text into speech. It could not reliably write meaningful stories or songs, and sending electrical energy wirelessly is a physics and engineering method, not something AI does.

• ✓ 1. AI models forecast and optimise energy use, raising efficiency in how power is balanced and used, including in factories.
• ✗ 2. UPSC's key treats this as beyond the effective ability of AI in 2020: machines could not reliably produce meaningful short stories and songs.
• ✓ 3. AI-driven diagnostics and imaging diagnostics are among the standard healthcare uses of AI.
• ✓ 4. Text-to-speech, along with speech-to-text, is a routine AI application in voice assistants and accessibility tools.
• ✗ 5. Wireless power transfer works through electromagnetic coupling. AI may help control such a system, but it does not transmit the energy.
• • Since then Since ChatGPT's launch in November 2022, generative AI tools can produce text, images, videos and music, so statement 2 would be judged differently today (UNESCO).

Remember · In 2020, AI = optimising energy, diagnosing disease, text-to-speech; not meaningful creative writing, and never wireless power transfer.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 1, 3 and 4 only

VLC sends data by rapidly varying visible light, roughly 380 to 780 nm in wavelength, from LEDs. It is a high-speed, indoor, short-range technology, so statement 2 (long-range) is the wrong one; the other three statements are correct.

• ✓ 1. VLC works in the visible part of the spectrum, taken as about 380-780 nm in the ITU standard; UPSC's 375 nm lower limit is a marginal variation of the same band.
• ✗ 2. VLC is designed for high-speed indoor, in-premises use, not for long-range links. It is short-range optical wireless communication.
• ✓ 3. Light offers a far wider bandwidth than radio waves, and a peer-reviewed review lists a higher transmission rate and high bandwidth among VLC's advantages over radio-frequency links, which is why it can carry large amounts of data faster than Bluetooth.
• ✓ 4. UPSC's key counts this as correct: VLC carries data on light, not on radio waves, so it is not subject to radio-frequency electromagnetic interference (the review lists reduced interference among VLC's advantages over radio).

Remember · VLC (Li-Fi) = data on visible light (about 380-780 nm): fast, short-range, indoor, free of radio interference.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) 1 and 3 only

A blockchain is a shared, tamper-resistant record spread over many computers, so no single person owns or controls it, and on an open (public) blockchain anyone can read it and build on it. It is not limited to cryptocurrency: it can hold any kind of record.

• ✓ 1. A blockchain is a shared database distributed across a peer-to-peer network, so no single entity can own it or change its data alone. On an open blockchain like Bitcoin, anyone can read the record.
• ✗ 2. Blockchain was first used for Bitcoin, but the design is general. NITI Aayog ran pilots on subsidy claims, pharmaceutical supply-chain tracking, university certificates and land records, none of which is cryptocurrency.
• ✓ 3. A public (permissionless) blockchain has no central authority granting access, so developers can build applications on its basic features without anyone's approval. Only permissioned blockchains restrict access and editing rights.

Remember · Blockchain = shared ledger with no single controller; not only for crypto; public chains are open to read and to build on.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, 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 jobs can be done with drones: farm drones spray pesticides, drones fly over volcano craters to take images and gas readings where people cannot go safely, and drones hover over surfacing whales to catch the breath they blow out. The last sample is then used for DNA analysis.

• ✓ 1. Drone spraying of pesticides is an approved farm use in India. The Agriculture Ministry issued a Standard Operating Procedure for it in December 2021.
• ✓ 2. A drone flew over Alaska's Makushin volcano, beyond its pilots' sight, to capture images and detect volcanic gases. Such flights make monitoring hazardous volcanoes safer.
• ✓ 3. Researchers fly drones over surfacing whales to collect the breath (blow) on a petri dish. Genes sequenced from such samples show the whale's microbial community.

Remember · Drones now do dull, dirty and dangerous jobs: spraying farms, sampling volcano gases and collecting whale breath.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) Digital security infrastructure

Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is the digital security system behind digital signatures. In India, the Controller of Certifying Authorities (CCA) under the Information Technology Act runs it: the Root Certifying Authority of India sits at the top, and licensed Certifying Authorities issue Digital Signature Certificates below it.

• ✓ (a) India's PKI is a hierarchy of trust starting at the Root Certifying Authority of India. Licensed CAs issue Digital Signature Certificates, which let people sign electronic records and be verified.
• ✗ (b) Food security relates to grain storage, distribution and the PDS. PKI has nothing to do with it.
• ✗ (c) Health and education infrastructure means hospitals and schools; PKI is a cryptographic trust system, not a service network.
• ✗ (d) Telecommunication and transport infrastructure means networks and roads or railways; PKI is not one of these. It secures electronic communication rather than carrying it.

Remember · PKI = digital security infrastructure: Root CA of India, licensed CAs and Digital Signature Certificates under the IT Act, overseen by the CCA.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 1, 3 and 4 only

Personal cyber-insurance policies in India pay for restoring data and programs damaged by malware, for security-consultant costs when fighting cyber extortion, and for legal defence costs if a third party makes a claim. They do not pay for a replacement computer, because damage to tangible property is excluded.

• ✓ 1. The cover pays the reasonable and necessary cost to restore, retrieve or reinstall data or programs damaged by malware, including software licences needed to reproduce them.
• ✗ 2. Physical damage to hardware is not covered: policy wordings exclude any damage to or destruction of tangible property. The cover is for data and programs, not the machine.
• ✓ 3. Under the cyber extortion cover the insured is expected to involve a security consultant, with the insurer's prior written consent, to limit the loss; reasonable and necessary costs resulting from the extortion threat are covered.
• ✓ 4. The malware cover pays defence costs if an affected person or entity makes a claim for legal liability arising from malware entering the insured's computer system.

Remember · Personal cyber cover pays for data restoration, extortion-response consultants and legal defence costs, but not for replacing damaged hardware. Always read the policy wording.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error