UPSC Prelims 2019 Question Paper (GS Paper I) with Answers

Statement (b) is the incorrect one: a safe and effective vaccine against Hepatitis B has existed since the 1980s and is part of India's universal immunisation programme; it is Hepatitis C that has no vaccine. Hepatitis B spreads like HIV through blood, sexual contact and from mother to child, the two viruses infect several times more people than HIV, and chronic infection can stay silent for years.

In the Delhi Sultanate the amil was the officer who collected revenue (statement 1 correct). The iqta, a transferable revenue assignment, was brought from the Islamic world by the Turks, not an ancient Indian institution (statement 2 incorrect), and the office of Mir Bakhshi (head of military administration) belongs to the Mughal period, not the Khaljis (statement 3 incorrect). Hence 1 only.

The money multiplier rises when people deposit more of their money in banks instead of holding cash, because banks can lend out most of each deposit and create further deposits. Higher CRR or SLR reduces the funds banks can lend and lowers the multiplier; population size does not affect it.

Extended producer responsibility, under which producers must take back and manage the end-of-life disposal of their products, was introduced in India by the E-waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011, which made producers of electrical and electronic equipment responsible for collecting and recycling e-waste.

Gandhi's campaign led to the abolition of the indentured labour system in 1917 (statement 1), and after the Salt March the government declared the Congress illegal in 1930 (statement 3). At Lord Chelmsford's War Conference in Delhi in 1918 Gandhi supported the resolution on recruiting Indians for the war, so statement 2 is incorrect. Hence 1 and 3.

Pandharpur stands on the Chandrabhaga (Bhima) and Tiruchirappalli on the Cauvery, so pairs 1 and 2 are correct. Hampi, the Vijayanagara capital, lies on the Tungabhadra, not the Malaprabha (which flows past Aihole and Pattadakal). Hence 1 and 2.

Vishti, forced labour exacted by the state, is mentioned in Gupta inscriptions as a source of income for the state, a kind of tax paid in labour by the people, particularly in Madhya Pradesh and Kathiawar. The labourer received no wages and there was no rule about the eldest son.

Tobacco, cocoa and rubber are all native to the Americas (the 'New World') and were carried to Europe, Asia and Africa after Columbus. Cotton, coffee, sugarcane and wheat were domesticated in the Old World (Asia and Africa).

Cas9 is the enzyme of the CRISPR-Cas9 system that acts as 'molecular scissors': guided by an RNA sequence, it cuts DNA at a chosen site so that genes can be removed, edited or inserted. It is the basis of today's targeted gene-editing technology.

Section 3(j) of the Patents Act excludes plants, animals and essentially biological processes for producing them from patentability, so statement 3 is correct and statement 1 is incorrect. India did have an Intellectual Property Appellate Board at the time (it was abolished only in 2021), so statement 2 is incorrect. Hence 3 only.

The Second Plan (1956-61), based on the Mahalanobis model, gave a decisive push to basic and capital-goods industries (statement 1), and the Fourth Plan (1969-74) adopted the objective of reducing the concentration of wealth and economic power (statement 2). The financial sector was not first integrated into planning in the Fifth Plan, so statement 3 is incorrect. Hence 1 and 2.

Poverty lines express the money needed to buy a basic basket of goods and services, and since price levels differ across states the Planning Commission and the Tendulkar and Rangarajan committees fixed state-specific poverty lines. Higher prices in a state mean a higher poverty line there.

Nitrogen fertilisers in agricultural soils are converted by microbes into nitrous and nitric oxides; cattle excreta release ammonia; and poultry litter releases ammonia and other reactive nitrogen compounds. All three statements are correct, as documented in the Indian Nitrogen Assessment.

Hydrogen-enriched CNG cuts carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and hydrocarbon emissions but does not eliminate CO altogether (statement 1 incorrect, statement 2 correct). Hydrogen up to about 18-20 per cent by volume can be blended with CNG (statement 3 correct). H-CNG is somewhat costlier than CNG, not cheaper (statement 4 incorrect). Hence 2 and 3.

The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, 2016 establishes a National Authority and State Authorities to manage the funds (statement 1). It does not make people's participation mandatory, which was one of the criticisms of the Act (statement 2 incorrect). Hence 1 only.

The ceiling legislation of the 1970s, following the national guidelines of 1972, made the family rather than the individual the unit for applying ceilings, so that holdings could not be split among members to evade the limit. The major aim of land reforms was to abolish intermediaries and give security to tenants, not to give land to all the landless; they did not make cash crops predominant; and exemptions (for plantations, orchards, etc.) were permitted.

Under paragraph 5 of the Fifth Schedule the Governor may make regulations prohibiting or restricting the transfer of land by or among Scheduled Tribes in Scheduled Areas; in the Samatha case (1997) the Supreme Court held that transfer of tribal land to private mining companies in such areas is null and void.

The Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968 lays down the procedure for removing a Supreme Court judge (statement 3), and Article 124(4) requires the address to be passed by each House with a majority of the total membership and two-thirds of those present and voting (statement 4). The Speaker or Chairman can admit or refuse a removal motion (statement 1 incorrect), and the Constitution does not define 'proved misbehaviour or incapacity' (statement 2 incorrect). Hence 3 and 4.

Sand is a minor mineral under the MMDR Act, 1957 (statement 1), and under section 15 the state governments make the rules for granting leases of minor minerals and under section 23C frame rules to prevent their illegal mining (statement 3). The rule-making power for minor minerals lies with the states, not the Centre, so statement 2 is incorrect. Hence 1 and 3.

Albania borders the Adriatic Sea, Kazakhstan the Caspian Sea and Morocco the Mediterranean, so pairs 1, 3 and 4 are correct. Croatia is on the Adriatic, not the Black Sea, and Syria has a Mediterranean coast, not a Red Sea one. Hence 1, 3 and 4.

Augmented reality overlays computer-generated images on the real world seen through a smartphone or PC camera, enhancing rather than replacing it, so statements 3 is correct and 1 and 2 (which swap the definitions) are incorrect. Virtual reality shuts out the physical world and immerses the user in a simulated environment, so statement 4 is correct. Hence 3 and 4.

Article 142 empowers the Supreme Court to pass any decree or order necessary for doing complete justice in a case before it. The Court has held that limitations in ordinary statutes cannot restrict this constitutional power, which means the Supreme Court is not constrained in exercising it by laws made by Parliament.

Vegetable oils (palm, soyabean and sunflower oil) are India's largest agricultural import by value, costing over Rs 1 lakh crore a year as India meets more than half of its edible-oil demand through imports; pulses are the next largest.

PPP exchange rates compare the prices of the same basket of goods and services across countries, so statement 1 is correct. In PPP terms India is the third-largest economy in the world after China and the USA, not the sixth, so statement 2 is incorrect.

Schedule I of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 lays down detailed criteria for selecting sites for sanitary landfills and waste-processing facilities, so option (c) is correct. The rules require segregation into three streams (not five), apply to all urban and census towns, notified industrial townships and other areas, and do not bar movement of waste between districts.

The Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve at the southern end of the Western Ghats, straddling Kerala and Tamil Nadu, includes the Neyyar, Peppara and Shendurney wildlife sanctuaries of Kerala and the Kalakad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve of Tamil Nadu. The other groups belong to the Nilgiri and other reserves.

Nimbarka, the Vaishnava philosopher of dvaitadvaita, lived in the 12th-13th century, long before Akbar (statement 1 incorrect). Kabir (15th century) preceded Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi (1564-1624), the Naqshbandi sufi who criticised Akbar's eclecticism, so he could not have been influenced by him (statement 2 incorrect). Hence neither.

LTE is the 4G standard, not 3G, so statement 1 is incorrect. LTE carries data, and VoLTE is the technology for carrying voice calls as data packets over the same LTE network; VoLTE is therefore not a voice-only technology separate from data, so statement 2 is also incorrect. Hence neither.

The Indian Forest (Amendment) Act, 2017 removed bamboo grown outside forests from the definition of 'tree', freeing it from felling permits; it did not give forest dwellers the right to fell bamboo in forest areas (statement 1 incorrect). The Forest Rights Act, 2006 lists bamboo as a minor forest produce (statement 2) and grants forest dwellers ownership of minor forest produce (statement 3). Hence 2 and 3.

The merger of two giant black holes billions of light-years away was observed by the LIGO and Virgo detectors through the gravitational waves it emitted, ripples in space-time predicted by Einstein's general relativity and first detected in 2015.

The title 'Tansen' was conferred by Raja Vikramjit of Gwalior, not by Akbar, who later made him one of the navaratnas of his court; so statement (a) is the incorrect one. Tansen composed dhrupads on Hindu deities and on his patrons, and created ragas such as Miyan ki Malhar and Darbari Kanada.

Independent regulators such as TRAI, IRDAI and the CERC are reviewed by Parliament through its ad hoc committees and the department-related standing committees, which examine their working and reports. The Finance Commission, the FSLRC and NITI Aayog do not review regulators. Hence 1 and 2.

According to the India State of Forest Report, forest cover as a share of state area is about 16.5 per cent in Maharashtra, 25 per cent in Madhya Pradesh, 33 per cent in Odisha and 44 per cent in Chhattisgarh. In ascending order: Maharashtra (3), Madhya Pradesh (2), Odisha (4), Chhattisgarh (1), i.e. 3-2-4-1.

It was the 39th Amendment (1975) that placed the election of the Prime Minister beyond judicial review; the 44th Amendment (1978) undid such Emergency-era changes, so statement 1 is incorrect. In 2015 the Supreme Court struck down the 99th Amendment creating the National Judicial Appointments Commission as violating judicial independence, so statement 2 is correct.

The PNGRB, set up in 2007, regulates refining, transport and marketing of petroleum and gas and is tasked with fostering competitive markets for gas (statement 2); appeals against its orders lie to the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (statement 3). It was not India's first regulatory body (SEBI, TRAI and others came earlier), so statement 1 is incorrect. Hence 2 and 3.

On 21 June, the summer solstice of the northern hemisphere, the Sun is vertically overhead at the Tropic of Cancer and does not set at the Arctic Circle, which has 24 hours of daylight, while the Antarctic Circle has 24 hours of darkness.

Pyrolysis (heating waste in the absence of oxygen) and plasma gasification (breaking down waste with a plasma torch into syngas) are thermochemical waste-to-energy technologies that convert municipal or plastic waste into fuel gas, oil and electricity.

The Service Area Approach (1989) was an extension of the Lead Bank Scheme: each rural and semi-urban bank branch was assigned a cluster of villages for which it prepared credit plans and was responsible for meeting their credit needs. It was later relaxed to allow borrowers to choose their bank.

Rice has the largest area among kharif crops (statement 1), and cotton's area (about 12 million hectares) exceeds sugarcane's (about 5 million) (statement 3). Oilseeds occupy more area than jowar (statement 2 incorrect), and sugarcane area has fluctuated rather than steadily decreased (statement 4 incorrect). Hence 1 and 3.

Social capital refers to the networks, norms and trust that enable people to cooperate; the level of mutual trust and harmony in a society is its social capital. Literacy and working-age population are human capital, and buildings and machines are physical capital.

Green sea turtles graze on seagrass, many fish such as parrotfish and grass carp are herbivores, manatees and dugongs are herbivorous marine mammals, and many snakes, including vipers and sea snakes, give birth to live young (viviparous). All four statements are correct.

Thinning cirrus clouds (which trap outgoing heat) and injecting sulphate aerosols into the stratosphere (which reflect sunlight, as volcanic eruptions do) are proposed geoengineering techniques for reducing global warming by altering the Earth's radiation balance.

The kalyana mandapa, a pillared hall for the ceremonial marriage of the deity and consort, is a distinctive feature of Vijayanagara temple architecture, seen at Hampi (Vitthala temple), Vellore and Kanchipuram, along with tall gopurams and ornate pillars.

Dew forms when the ground cools by radiating heat to a clear night sky until air near the surface reaches its dew point. On a cloudy night the clouds absorb and radiate back the Earth's long-wave radiation, keeping the surface warm, so the temperature does not fall enough for dew to form.

The Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1959 lists offices whose holders are exempt from disqualification for holding an office of profit (statement 1), and it has been amended five times, most recently in 2006 (statement 2). The Constitution does not define 'office of profit'; the tests were evolved by the courts (statement 3 incorrect). Hence 1 and 2.

The Global Competitiveness Report, which ranks countries on the productivity-related institutions, policies and factors of their economies, is published annually by the World Economic Forum, Geneva.

In Shafin Jahan v. Asokan K.M. (the Hadiya case, 2018) and Shakti Vahini v. Union of India (2018) the Supreme Court held that the right to marry a person of one's choice is an integral part of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21.

The AIIB had more than 80 members by 2019 (over 100 now), so statement 1 is correct. China is the largest shareholder with India second, so statement 2 is incorrect, and the bank has many non-Asian members such as the UK, Germany and Canada, so statement 3 is incorrect. Hence 1 only.

Carbofuran, methyl parathion, phorate and triazophos are highly toxic organophosphate and carbamate insecticides used in agriculture; they have been linked to farmer poisonings and bird deaths, and expert committees have recommended banning several of them.

Methane hydrate, an ice-like solid in which methane is trapped in water molecules, occurs in large quantities in Arctic permafrost and under the seafloor on continental margins (statement 2). Warming could destabilise it and release methane (statement 1), and methane in the atmosphere is oxidised to carbon dioxide within a decade or two (statement 3). All three are correct.

Multi-drug resistance arises when microbes are exposed to antibiotics without being killed: incomplete or incorrect doses taken by patients and the routine use of antibiotics as growth promoters in livestock both select for resistant strains. Genetic predisposition and chronic diseases in people do not make bacteria resistant. Hence 2 and 3.

RNA interference uses small RNA molecules to silence specific genes. It is used to develop gene-silencing therapies, including drugs against cancer and genetic disorders, and to produce crops resistant to viral pathogens by silencing viral genes. It is not a hormone replacement technology. Hence 1, 2 and 4.

Most of India's external debt is commercial borrowing, NRI deposits and trade credit owed by private companies and banks, not by the government, so statement 1 is incorrect. The debt is denominated in several currencies, including rupees, SDRs, yen and euros as well as US dollars, so statement 2 is incorrect. Hence neither.

Satellite remote sensing measures the chlorophyll content of vegetation through vegetation indices such as NDVI, estimates methane emissions from paddy fields using sensors on satellites such as GOSAT and Sentinel-5P, and records land-surface temperatures through thermal infrared bands. All three are measured by remote sensing.

India and Russia signed the 'Action Plan for Prioritisation and Implementation of Cooperation Areas in the Nuclear Field' in 2018 during President Putin's visit, covering joint construction of nuclear plants in third countries and further units at Kudankulam.

To check a falling rupee the government curbs non-essential imports and promotes exports, encourages masala bonds that bring in foreign money, and eases external commercial borrowing norms, all of which raise dollar inflows. An expansionary monetary policy would lower interest rates and weaken the rupee further, so it is not a measure taken to stop the slide.

The 2018 amendment to the Standing Orders Rules extended fixed-term employment to all sectors, letting firms hire workers for a fixed period after which employment ends without retrenchment formalities (statement 1), and it provides that no notice of termination is needed for temporary workmen (statement 2). Both statements are correct.

Microbeads, tiny plastic particles added to cosmetics and toothpaste, pass through sewage treatment into rivers and seas, where they are eaten by plankton, fish and shellfish, carry toxic chemicals up the food chain and harm marine ecosystems. Several countries have banned them for this reason.

The Ninth Schedule was added by the First Amendment Act, 1951 during Jawaharlal Nehru's prime ministership to protect land-reform and other laws placed in it from challenge on the ground of violating fundamental rights.

Option (a) is incorrect: although synthetic chromosomes have been assembled and genes from different species can be transferred, functional chromosomes are not made by simply joining DNA segments taken from the cells of different species. Artificial DNA can be synthesised, DNA can be replicated outside cells by PCR, and plant and animal cells divide in culture dishes.

India has been the world's largest rice exporter since 2012, shipping over 10 million tonnes a year of basmati and non-basmati rice, ahead of Thailand and Vietnam. China is a net importer of rice and Myanmar a much smaller exporter.

Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru presided over the All India Liberal Federation, K.C. Neogy was a member of the Constituent Assembly (and later the first chairman of the Finance Commission), and P.C. Joshi was the first General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (1935-47). All three pairs are correct.

The Charter Act of 1813 ended the Company's trade monopoly in India except for tea and the China trade (statement 1) and asserted the sovereignty of the British Crown over the Company's Indian territories (statement 2). Control of Indian revenues by Parliament came later, with the Act of 1858; statement 3 is incorrect. Hence 1 and 2.

The Valley of Flowers National Park in Uttarakhand lies entirely between about 3,200 and 6,700 metres in the temperate alpine zone of the western Himalaya, famous for its alpine meadows. Manas (Assam), Namdapha (Arunachal) and Neora Valley (West Bengal) extend into tropical and subtropical forest.

The Sarkaria Commission on Centre-State Relations (1983-88) recommended that the Governor should be an eminent person from outside the state, a detached figure without intense political links who has not taken part in politics in the recent past; the Punchhi Commission later endorsed this.

The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 empowers the Central Government to lay down standards for the emission or discharge of pollutants from various sources (statement 2). It does not prescribe any requirement or procedure for public participation; that came through the EIA notifications under the Act (statement 1 incorrect). Hence 2 only.

Under Jahangir the emphasis of Mughal painting moved from the illustrated manuscripts of Akbar's atelier to individual portraits, studies of birds and animals (by Mansur) and album (muraqqa) paintings, reflecting the emperor's interest in naturalism and connoisseurship.

The Himalayan nettle (Girardinia diversifolia), a wild plant of the Himalayan region, yields a long, strong bast fibre that is spun into yarn and woven into textiles by mountain communities; it is promoted as a sustainable, eco-friendly textile fibre.

The Swadeshi Movement (1905) revived indigenous crafts and industries, with new textile mills, soap and match factories and the handloom revival (statement 1), and the National Council of Education was founded in 1906 as part of the movement to promote national education (statement 2). Both are correct.

Denisovans are an extinct species or sub-species of archaic humans known from fossils in the Denisova Cave in Siberia and Tibet; they interbred with modern humans, and traces of their DNA survive in people of Asia and Oceania.

Burning crop residue and biomass releases carbon monoxide and methane from incomplete combustion, sulphur dioxide from the sulphur in the biomass, and nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons that react in sunlight to form ground-level ozone. All four are released.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was adopted by the European Union in April 2016 and became applicable on 25 May 2018, giving EU residents rights over their personal data and imposing heavy penalties on violators.

Sohgaura in Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh is a Mauryan-period site known for its copper-plate inscription on famine relief; it is not a Harappan site. Chanhudaro and Kot Diji (Sindh) and Desalpur (Kachchh) are Harappan sites.

The economic cost of foodgrains to the FCI is the sum of the MSP (plus any bonus) paid to farmers, the procurement incidentals (mandi charges, labour, transport to depots, bagging) and the distribution cost (storage, interest, transport to states and handling losses).

Article 176 requires the Governor to address the Legislative Assembly at the start of the first session each year (statement 1). Where a state legislature's rules are silent on a matter, the rules and practice of the Lok Sabha are followed (statement 2). Both are correct.

Gandhi founded the All India Anti-Untouchability League in 1932 (later the Harijan Sevak Sangh), Swami Sahajanand Saraswati was the first president of the All India Kisan Sabha (1936), and E.V. Ramaswami Naicker (Periyar) started the Self-Respect Movement in 1925. All three pairs are correct.

The UN Convention against Corruption (2003) is the first legally binding global anti-corruption instrument (statement 2), and UNODC is mandated to help states implement both UNCAC and the Convention against Transnational Organised Crime (statement 4). The Smuggling of Migrants Protocol belongs to UNTOC, not UNCAC (statement 1 incorrect), and the asset-recovery chapter is in UNCAC, not UNTOC (statement 3 incorrect). Hence 2 and 4.

The Inter-Creditor Agreement signed by banks in 2018 under Project Sashakt (Sunil Mehta committee) provides a framework in which the lead lender and a majority of lenders can approve a resolution plan for stressed assets of Rs 50 crore and above under consortium or multiple lending, speeding up resolution.

Participatory notes are offshore derivative instruments issued by SEBI-registered foreign portfolio investors to overseas investors who wish to invest in Indian securities without registering with SEBI; they have been criticised for the anonymity they afford.

At the time, chairmen and managing directors of public-sector banks were selected by the Banks Board Bureau, set up in 2016 on the recommendation of the P.J. Nayak committee; it was replaced in 2022 by the Financial Services Institutions Bureau.

The Ramsar Convention requires parties to designate and conserve wetlands of international importance, not to protect all wetlands (statement 1 incorrect). The Wetlands Rules, 2010 were framed under the Environment (Protection) Act, not on Ramsar recommendations (statement 2 incorrect), but they did cover the drainage area or catchment of a wetland as determined by the authority (statement 3). Hence 3 only.

High Courts can declare central laws unconstitutional under Article 226 (statement 1 incorrect), and the Supreme Court can review constitutional amendments on the touchstone of the basic structure, as settled in Kesavananda Bharati (statement 2 incorrect). Hence neither.

A digital signature is an electronic method of signing a document that verifies the signer and ensures the content has not been altered (statement 3). It is not itself a record identifying the certifying authority (that is the digital signature certificate), nor a login credential for accessing servers. Hence 3 only.

Coal mining was nationalised in 1971-73 under Indira Gandhi's government (statement 1). Coal blocks are now allocated by auction, not lottery (statement 2 incorrect), and India still imports coal, both coking coal and thermal coal, to meet demand (statement 3 incorrect). Hence 1 only.

At Kanaganahalli near Sannati in Karnataka, excavations of a Satavahana-period stupa revealed a relief sculpture of a king with the inscription 'Ranyo Asoko' (King Ashoka), the only known portrait of Ashoka with his name.

The RBI's 2018 directive on storage of payment system data requires all payment system providers to store the entire data relating to payment systems operated by them only in India (statement 1). It does not require the systems to be owned by public-sector enterprises, and the system audit report goes to the RBI, not the CAG. Hence 1 only.

Mahayana Buddhism, which emerged around the first century AD, deified the Buddha as a transcendent being, held up the bodhisattva path of compassion for all as the ideal, and adopted image worship and elaborate rituals, unlike the earlier Theravada. All three are features of Mahayana.

The Yamuna rises from the Bandarpunch glacier (Yamunotri), the Bara Shigri glacier in Lahaul feeds the Chenab, and the Siachen glacier feeds the Nubra; pairs 1, 2 and 4 are correct. The Milam glacier feeds the Goriganga, not the Mandakini, and the Zemu glacier in Sikkim feeds the Teesta, not the Manas. Hence 1, 2 and 4.

A bank's assets are what it owns or is owed: loans and advances, investments in securities, cash and money at call and short notice. Deposits are money the bank owes to its customers and appear on the liabilities side of its balance sheet.

The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017 raised paid maternity leave to 26 weeks for the first two children, but only 12 weeks for a woman with two or more children (statement 3). The leave is not split as three months before and three after delivery, and establishments with creches must allow four visits a day, not six. Hence 3 only.

Wearable devices such as smartwatches, fitness bands and hearing aids use GPS to identify a person's location, sensors to monitor sleep, and amplification and connectivity to assist the hearing impaired. All three tasks are accomplished by wearables.

In political theory liberty is understood positively as the opportunity for each person to develop his or her personality fully, within a framework of reasonable restraints, rather than as mere absence of restraint or freedom to do anything one likes.

Foreign-currency earnings of the IT sector and remittances from Indians abroad are steady inflows that build reserves and cushion the current account, reducing the risk of a currency crisis. Higher government expenditure widens the fiscal deficit and tends to weaken the currency. Hence 1 and 3.

Jagirdars were mansabdars given revenue assignments (jagirs) in lieu of salary, with no judicial or police duties attached to the jagir itself, and jagirs were transferable, not hereditary, whereas zamindari rights were usually hereditary. Both statements are therefore incorrect.

PVTGs live in 18 states and one union territory (Andaman and Nicobar), a stagnant or declining population is one of the criteria for the status, and the Irulas of Tamil Nadu and Konda Reddis of Andhra Pradesh are PVTGs; so statements 1, 2 and 4 are correct. There are 75 PVTGs, not 95, so statement 3 is incorrect. Hence 1, 2 and 4.

The Atal Innovation Mission was set up in 2016 under NITI Aayog to promote innovation and entrepreneurship through Atal Tinkering Labs in schools, Atal Incubation Centres and the Atal New India Challenges.

The World Bank's Ease of Doing Business index (discontinued in 2021) had ten sub-indices: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency. Maintenance of law and order was not one of them.

Aliyar (Tamil Nadu), Isapur (Maharashtra) and Kangsabati (West Bengal) are all dams and reservoirs built for irrigation and water supply.

The blue-finned (Deccan) mahseer is native to the Cauvery river and the rusty-spotted cat, the world's smallest wild cat, is found in the Eastern Ghats and other parts of India, so pairs 1 and 3 are correct. The Irrawaddy dolphin lives in Chilika lake and coastal waters, not the Chambal, where the Gangetic dolphin is found. Hence 1 and 3.

The Asiatic lion survives in the wild only in Gir, Gujarat, so statement 1 is correct. The double-humped Bactrian camel of Ladakh is also found in Mongolia and China, and the one-horned rhinoceros lives in Nepal as well as India, so statements 2 and 3 are incorrect. Hence 1 only.