IT, computing & emerging technologies

Answer: (b) Only two

Radar sends out radio pulses and times their echoes to find the distance and speed of whatever reflects them. That makes it excellent for watching rain, hail and snow and for following flocks of migrating birds or swarms of insects in the sky, but an echo cannot reveal what chemical a passenger is carrying, so radar is not a narcotics detector.

• ✗ 1. Drugs on passengers are found with X-ray and body scanners, trace-detection equipment and sniffer dogs; radar only tells where an object is and how it moves, not what substance it is.
• ✓ 2. Doppler weather radars measure reflected pulses from raindrops and ice; dual-polarisation radars can tell rain, hail, snow and ice pellets apart.
• ✓ 3. Weather-radar networks also pick up birds, bats and insects aloft; ornithologists use these echoes to map and forecast nightly bird migration.

Remember · Radar (RAdio Detection And Ranging) gives range and velocity of targets: rain, storms, aircraft, ships, bird and insect movements. It cannot identify substances such as drugs.

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) Metaverse

The description fits the metaverse: a shared, persistent network of 3D virtual worlds that very many users can be in at the same time, where things like identity, entitlements and objects carry over. Big data analytics and cryptography are ways of handling or securing data, not virtual worlds.

• ✓ (c) ITU's technical report describes the metaverse as an interoperable network of real-time 3D virtual worlds experienced by a very large number of users, with continuity of data such as identity, entitlements and objects.
• ✗ (a) Big data analytics means analysing very large datasets to find patterns. It says nothing about virtual worlds or ownership of virtual items.
• ✗ (b) Cryptography secures information with codes. It supports digital assets, but it is a security technique, not a network of worlds.

Remember · Metaverse: a persistent, interoperable network of 3D virtual worlds where many users are present together and carry identity, entitlements and objects across worlds.

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) 1, 2 and 4

Statements 1, 2 and 4 are features RBI lists for the digital rupee: a sovereign currency issued in line with monetary policy, a liability on the central bank's balance sheet, and freely convertible against commercial bank money and cash. Statement 3 is not: nothing in RBI's design promises protection against inflation, and e₹ is a digital ₹ note that pays no interest.

• ✓ 1. RBI's concept note describes a central bank digital currency as sovereign currency issued by the central bank in alignment with its monetary policy.
• ✓ 2. Like a paper note, it is a direct liability of the central bank and appears on its balance sheet, not on a commercial bank's.
• ✗ 3. RBI calls it a safe store of value, but that is not a promise against rising prices. The design carries no such cover, and no interest is paid on e₹ wallet balances, exactly as with cash.
• ✓ 4. The concept note lists free convertibility against commercial bank money and cash among its features.

Remember · Digital rupee: sovereign currency issued by RBI in line with monetary policy, an RBI liability, freely convertible with bank money and cash. No interest, no inflation cover.

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