UPSC Prelims 2025 Question Paper (GS Paper I) with Answers

Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) are privately pooled investment vehicles regulated by SEBI under the SEBI (Alternative Investment Funds) Regulations, 2012. Category I AIFs include venture capital funds (along with SME, social-impact, infrastructure and angel funds); Category III AIFs include hedge funds, which use complex trading and leverage. So hedge funds and venture capital are AIFs.

Bonds and stocks are traditional (conventional) investment instruments traded on regulated markets; they are not AIFs, although an AIF may invest in them. Hence only two of the four are AIFs.

The RBI earns mainly from (i) interest on its holdings of Government securities and gains from buying and selling them in open market operations, and (ii) interest on foreign-currency assets and gains from buying and selling foreign exchange. Interest on liquidity (LAF/repo) lending to banks also adds to income. So I and II are sources of income.

III is wrong: pension funds are regulated by PFRDA; the RBI does not manage pension funds for income. IV is wrong: the RBI is the banker to banks and governments and does not lend to private companies. V is wrong: printing and distributing notes is an expenditure item for the RBI (it pays the printing presses), not a source of income.

Row I is incorrect: the Directorate of Enforcement does enforce the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018 (besides PMLA and FEMA), but it works under the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, not the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Row II is correct: the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence is the apex anti-smuggling agency under the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), Department of Revenue, and enforces the Customs Act, 1962.

Row III is treated as incorrect in UPSC's official key: the Directorate General of Systems and Data Management (CBIC) runs the IT systems and data management of Customs and GST (ICEGATE, GST network interface); analytics-based risk management to detect evaders is the remit of other wings such as the Directorate General of Analytics and Risk Management. Hence only one row is correctly matched.

Statement I is incorrect on two counts: the BRSR is mandated by SEBI (the securities market regulator), not the RBI, and it applies to the top 1,000 listed companies by market capitalisation (mandatory from FY 2022-23), not to all listed companies.

Statement II is correct: the BRSR replaced the earlier Business Responsibility Report and asks companies to disclose their performance against the nine principles of the National Guidelines on Responsible Business Conduct, i.e. mostly environmental, social and governance (ESG) information such as energy and water use, emissions, waste, employee welfare and community engagement, which is largely non-financial.

Statement I is not correct. Only "agricultural income" as defined in Section 2(1A) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (rent or revenue from agricultural land, income from cultivation and processing of produce to make it marketable, and certain farm-house income) is exempt under Section 10(1). Income from allied activities such as poultry farming, dairy, wool rearing (sheep rearing), bee-keeping or fisheries does not involve basic operations on land and is therefore taxable as business income, even in rural areas.

Statement II is correct: Section 2(14) excludes agricultural land in rural areas (land outside specified municipal limits and distances) from the definition of "capital asset", so gains on its sale are not taxed as capital gains.

Statement I is correct: India joined the US-led Minerals Security Partnership (MSP), which aims to secure diversified critical-mineral supply chains, as a member in June 2023.

Statement II is incorrect: the Ministry of Mines identified 30 critical minerals in July 2023 precisely because India has limited reserves of many of them and is heavily or fully import-dependent for minerals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, germanium and several rare earths. This is why the KABIL joint venture and the National Critical Mineral Mission (2025) seek overseas assets.

Statement III is correct: the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2023 added critical and strategic minerals in Part D of the First Schedule and empowered the Central Government to exclusively auction mining leases and composite licences for them (lithium, cobalt, nickel, rare earths, etc.), though the revenue still goes to the States.

All three statements are correct. Bondholders are creditors (lenders) of the company: they are entitled to fixed interest whether or not the company makes a profit. Stockholders (shareholders) are the owners and residual claimants: dividends are paid only out of profits and are not guaranteed.

In repayment, and especially in liquidation, the company must pay its creditors, including bondholders, before anything is distributed to shareholders. Both these facts (Statement II: lender vs owner; Statement III: priority in repayment) explain why bondholders bear relatively lower risk (Statement I). Option (b) reverses the logic: lower risk does not explain the lender-owner distinction.

Statement I is correct: by number of contracts, India (mainly NSE index options) accounts for the bulk of equity options traded worldwide; the Futures Industry Association data for 2023-24 put India's share of global equity options volume at over 80%, reflecting a retail-driven boom.

Statement II is correct: in January 2024 the total market capitalisation of Indian listed stocks crossed that of Hong Kong, making India the fourth-largest equity market in the world at the time.

Statement III is incorrect: the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) regulates derivatives trading. It published studies showing that about 9 in 10 individual F&O traders lose money, tightened F&O rules in late 2024, and acts against unregistered investment advisers and "finfluencers".

A circular economy replaces the linear "take-make-dispose" model with one that designs out waste and keeps products and materials in use through reuse, repair, remanufacturing and recycling.

Statement II is correct: recovered materials substitute for virgin raw materials, so less extraction and primary processing is needed. Statement III is correct: resource-efficient design and use of by-products reduce wastage during production. Both explain Statement I: extraction and processing of virgin materials and the disposal of waste (landfill methane, incineration) are major sources of greenhouse gases, so using fewer raw materials and producing less waste both cut emissions. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation estimates that circular strategies could tackle about 45% of global emissions that energy transition alone cannot.

Statement I is correct: by definition, capital receipts either create a liability (e.g. market borrowings, small savings, external loans) or reduce the Government's assets (e.g. disinvestment, recovery of loans it had given).

Statement II is correct: borrowings create a liability and disinvestment reduces the Government's assets (its shareholding in PSUs), so both are capital receipts.

Statement III is incorrect: interest received on loans given by the Government is a non-tax revenue receipt. It neither creates a liability nor reduces an asset. (Interest paid by the Government is revenue expenditure.)

Both statements are correct. Raja Ram Mohan Roy (1772–1833) was a deep scholar of the Upanishads and Vedanta (he translated them into Bengali and English) and of Islamic and Persian thought; he respected the philosophical heritage of the East and argued that the original texts taught monotheism. At the same time he believed that Western rationalism, science and modern education were needed to regenerate Indian society.

He applied reason and the principle of human dignity and equality to attack sati (abolished in 1829 with his support), polygamy, idolatry and caste rigidity, and demanded property rights and education for women. He founded the Atmiya Sabha (1815) and the Brahmo Sabha (1828).

The Non-Cooperation programme adopted at the special Calcutta session (September 1920) and endorsed at Nagpur (December 1920) included: surrender of titles and honorary offices; boycott of government schools and colleges, law courts, legislative councils (elections of 1920) and foreign cloth; and resignation from government service in a later phase. The constructive side included national schools, panchayats/arbitration courts for settling disputes, swadeshi and khadi, Hindu-Muslim unity and removal of untouchability, all under strict non-violence.

So I, II and IV were part of the programme. III is wrong: titles and honours were to be surrendered, not retained. Hence only three.

The araghatta (Sanskrit; rahat/rahant) was a water-lifting wheel: a large wheel carrying earthen pots (ghati) tied to its rim or to the outer ends of its spokes, which dipped into a well and emptied water into a channel as the wheel turned. It is mentioned in early medieval texts and inscriptions, and the geared version turned by bullocks (the "Persian wheel") spread widely in the Sultanate period, as Babur noted in Lahore and Dipalpur.

A leather bag pulled over a pulley is the charsa/mot, and a bucket drawn by rope by hand is the simple well-sweep or dhenkli-type device, so (a) and (d) describe other devices; (c) is not a recognised device.

The Pallava king Mahendravarman I (c. 600–630 CE) bore many birudas (titles), among them Mattavilasa, Vichitrachitta ("curious-minded", for his innovations), Gunabhara, Chaityakari ("temple builder") and Lalitankura. He wrote the Sanskrit farce Mattavilasa Prahasana, introduced rock-cut cave temples in the Tamil country (e.g. Mandagapattu, whose inscription calls him Vichitrachitta), and is associated with the Mamandur and Kudumiyanmalai music inscriptions.

Simhavishnu was his father, who founded the imperial Pallava line; Narasimhavarman I "Mamalla" was his son who defeated Pulakeshin II and took the title Vatapikonda; Simhavarman was an earlier Pallava ruler.

The Chinese Buddhist monk Fa-hien (Faxian) came to India by the land route around 399–400 CE and stayed until about 411–412 CE, collecting Vinaya texts. This falls in the reign of Chandragupta II "Vikramaditya" (c. 375/380–415 CE). His travelogue, Fo-kuo-ki (A Record of Buddhist Kingdoms), describes a peaceful and prosperous Madhyadesha with mild punishments, free hospitals in Pataliputra and Chandalas living outside villages, though he does not name the king.

Samudragupta ruled before (c. 335–375 CE); Kumaragupta I (c. 415–455 CE, founder of Nalanda) and Skandagupta (c. 455–467 CE, who fought the Hunas) ruled after his visit. Hiuen Tsang (Xuanzang) came later, under Harsha.

Rajendra I (1014–1044 CE), son of Rajaraja I, sent a naval expedition around 1025 CE against the Sailendra kingdom of Srivijaya, which controlled the Strait of Malacca and the trade route to China. The Tamil prasasti (meykkirti) in his inscriptions, including one at Tanjore, lists the places captured, including Kadaram (Kedah), Srivijaya (Palembang in Sumatra), Malaiyur, Pannai and Ilamuri-desam. The campaign secured Chola commercial interests in South-East Asia; he also took the title "Gangaikonda" after his northern expedition.

Amoghavarsha I (Rashtrakuta, 9th century) was known for literature (Kavirajamarga) and peace; Prataparudra (Kakatiya) fought the Delhi Sultanate in the 14th century; Vishnuvardhana (Hoysala, 12th century) was a Deccan king with no overseas campaign.

Of the sixteen Mahajanapadas:

• Asmaka (Assaka), the only one south of the Vindhyas, lay on the banks of the Godavari, with its capital at Potana/Potali. Correct.
• Kamboja lay in the far north-west (the Rajouri-Hazara region and beyond, into present-day Afghanistan); the Vipas (Beas) flows through central Punjab, not Kamboja. Incorrect.
• Avanti (western Malwa, capitals Ujjayini and Mahishmati) was watered by the Narmada and the Shipra, not the Mahanadi, which flows through Chhattisgarh and Odisha. Incorrect.
• Kosala (capital Shravasti, with Ayodhya/Saketa) lay along the Sarayu (Ghaghara). Correct.

So only two pairs are correctly matched.

Pandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar (1872–1931), a Hindustani vocalist of the Gwalior gharana, founded the first Gandharva Mahavidyalaya at Lahore on 5 May 1901. It was one of the first institutions to teach classical music to the public through a structured curriculum and public fees rather than the closed guru-shishya system, and was open to the middle classes. He later opened a branch in Bombay (1908) and devised a notation system; he also set the popular tune of "Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram" and sang "Vande Mataram" at Congress sessions.

The Gandharva Mahavidyalaya in New Delhi was founded much later (1939) by his disciple Vinay Chandra Maudgalya. Gwalior is the gharana he trained in, not the place of the 1901 school.

Rock Edict III of Ashoka orders the Yuktas, Rajukas and Pradeshikas to go on tours of inspection every five years to propagate dhamma. Historians read them as the principal officers of the district (ahara/vishaya/janapada) level: the Pradeshika was the head of the district responsible for revenue collection and law and order, the Rajuka was in charge of land survey and assessment and was later given judicial powers (Pillar Edict IV), and the Yukta was a subordinate official handling accounts and revenue records.

Village administration was run by the gramika; provinces were headed by princes (kumaras/aryaputras) at Taxila, Ujjayini, Tosali and Suvarnagiri; and the centre had the mantriparishad and the Mahamatras.

Both statements are correct. At the Nagpur session (December 1920) the Congress changed its creed: the goal became the attainment of Swaraj "by all peaceful and legitimate means", replacing the earlier aim of self-government within the Empire through constitutional means.

The movement was planned as a progressive programme. It began with the surrender of titles and the boycott of schools, courts, councils and foreign cloth; civil disobedience, including the non-payment of taxes, was to be launched as a later stage if Swaraj was not won within a year and the Government resorted to repression. Gandhi promised "Swaraj within a year". Mass civil disobedience was planned for Bardoli in February 1922 but was called off after the Chauri Chaura incident.

Four of the six are NATO members: Bulgaria (joined 2004), Croatia (2009), North Macedonia (2020, after resolving the name dispute with Greece through the Prespa Agreement) and Sweden (March 2024, as the 32nd member after ending its long neutrality following Russia's invasion of Ukraine; Finland joined in 2023).

Austria is constitutionally neutral (since 1955) and is an EU member but not in NATO. Serbia follows a policy of military neutrality (declared in 2007) and is not a NATO member, though it takes part in the Partnership for Peace programme.

The Andes, the world's longest continental mountain range (about 7,000 km), run along the western side of South America through seven countries: Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. Of the six listed, the Andes pass through Bolivia (the Altiplano and the Eastern and Western Cordilleras), Colombia (which splits into three cordilleras), Ecuador (with volcanoes such as Chimborazo and Cotopaxi) and Venezuela (the Cordillera de Mérida, the north-eastern extension of the range).

Brazil lies on the Brazilian Highlands and the Amazon basin east of the Andes, and Paraguay is a landlocked lowland country of the Gran Chaco and Paraná basin; the Andes do not pass through either. Hence four.

The equator passes through none of them.

• Lake Tanganyika, the long, deep rift-valley lake shared by Tanzania, DR Congo, Burundi and Zambia, lies roughly between 3°S and 9°S. The African lake that the equator crosses is Lake Victoria, not Tanganyika.
• Tonle Sap, the great lake of Cambodia whose flow reverses with the Mekong floods, lies at about 12–13°N.
• Patos Lagoon (Lagoa dos Patos), the largest coastal lagoon in South America, lies in Rio Grande do Sul in southern Brazil at about 30–32°S.

All three statements are correct (they match the Government's release on the National Turmeric Board, October 2023).

I: India is the world's largest producer, consumer and exporter of turmeric; in 2022-23 it accounted for more than 75% of global production and over 62% of world trade, exporting about 1.5 lakh tonnes worth about USD 207 million.

II: More than 30 varieties of turmeric are grown in India (e.g. Lakadong of Meghalaya, Erode and Salem turmeric, Sangli, Kandhamal, Waigaon).

III: Turmeric was grown in over 20 States; the major producers are Maharashtra, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The National Turmeric Board was set up in 2023 with headquarters at Nizamabad, Telangana.

All three are evidences of continental drift listed in NCERT (Fundamentals of Physical Geography, Class XI):

I: Matching rocks across the ocean – radiometric dating shows that the belt of ancient rocks (about 2,000 million years old) of the Brazilian coast matches those of Western Africa.

II: Placer deposits – rich placer gold deposits occur on the Ghana coast, but the source rocks are absent there; the gold-bearing veins are in Brazil, showing that the gold was derived from the Brazil plateau when the two continents lay side by side.

III: Tillite – the Gondwana system of sediments of India has counterparts in six different landmasses of the Southern Hemisphere (Africa, Falkland Islands, Madagascar, Antarctica and Australia besides India), indicating a once-united Gondwanaland.

Statement I is correct: dust particles are concentrated in the lower atmosphere, and NCERT notes that their concentration is higher in subtropical and temperate regions than in equatorial and polar regions.

Statement II is not correct: the reason for the higher concentration is that subtropical and temperate regions have more dry winds (subtropical high-pressure belts with hot deserts and dry continental interiors), which lift and carry dust. Equatorial regions are humid with frequent rain that washes dust out, and polar regions are ice-covered, so both have less dust.

Both statements are correct and II explains I. January is winter in the Northern Hemisphere. Land loses heat quickly and becomes very cold, while the oceans, with their higher specific heat and mixing, stay relatively warm. Because the air over the oceans is warmer (Statement II), a given isotherm has to move further towards the pole over the ocean to reach the same temperature, and further towards the equator over the cold continents.

Hence, as NCERT explains, in January the isotherms deviate northward (poleward) over the oceans and southward (equatorward) over the continents in the Northern Hemisphere; the North Atlantic Drift and the Gulf Stream make the poleward bend especially sharp over the North Atlantic.

Statement I is correct: chalk (a soft, fine-grained limestone) lets water pass through it readily and is a classic aquifer rock (e.g. the chalk downs of south-east England), whereas clay is practically impermeable and forms aquicludes.

Statement II is correct and explains I: chalk is porous, with connected pore spaces and fissures, so it absorbs and transmits water.

Statement III is not correct: clay is in fact highly porous (its porosity can exceed 40–50%), but its pores are extremely small and poorly connected, and water is held tightly to the clay particles, so it does not let water pass through. Porosity (how much space there is) differs from permeability (whether water can flow through). Hence only one of II and III is correct and that explains I.

All three statements are correct; together they describe the natural greenhouse effect.

I: Without an atmosphere, the Earth's average surface temperature would be about −18 °C, well below freezing; with it, the average is about 15 °C. (The Moon, at the same distance from the Sun but without an atmosphere, swings between about +120 °C and −170 °C.)

II: The atmosphere absorbs the long-wave (infrared) terrestrial radiation emitted by the Earth's surface and re-radiates part of it back, so heat is retained and the planet's average temperature is maintained.

III: Greenhouse gases such as water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide are transparent to incoming short-wave solar radiation but are particularly good at absorbing outgoing long-wave radiation.

Both statements are correct. The Rashtriya Gokul Mission was launched in December 2014 by the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying for the development and conservation of indigenous bovine breeds in a scientific and holistic manner. It now covers both indigenous cattle and buffalo breeds and aims to raise milk productivity through genetic upgradation, artificial insemination, sex-sorted semen, IVF and Gokul Grams/breeding centres.

The scheme document itself notes that it is important for the upliftment of the rural poor because the majority of low-producing indigenous animals are owned by small and marginal farmers and landless labourers. The mission continues under the umbrella Rashtriya Pashudhan Vikas Yojana.

Statement I is correct: cement production accounts for roughly 7–8% of global CO₂ emissions (IEA and Chatham House estimates), well above 5%.

Statements II and III are both correct descriptions of cement making: limestone is mixed with silica- and alumina-bearing clay (or shale), and the mix is heated in a kiln at about 1,450 °C to make clinker. During this, limestone (CaCO₃) is converted to lime (CaO), releasing CO₂.

Only III explains Statement I: this calcination reaction is the source of about 60% of the industry's CO₂ (the rest comes mainly from burning fuel to heat the kiln). Mixing clay with limestone (II) is a correct fact but is not the reason for the high emissions. Hence (b).

Statement I is correct: India (along with a few other countries) did not sign the COP28 UAE Declaration on Climate and Health, which was endorsed by over 120 countries at Dubai in December 2023 on the first-ever Health Day at a COP.

Statement II is not correct: the declaration is non-binding. It calls for climate-resilient and low-carbon health systems but imposes no legal obligation to decarbonise.

Statement III is correct and explains I: Indian officials explained that the declaration's call to cut greenhouse gas emissions from the health sector (including cooling and refrigeration) could hamper the expansion of health-care services and medical infrastructure needed in a developing country, compromising the resilience and reach of its health-care system. Hence only one of II and III is correct and that explains I.

Statement I is correct: studies (e.g. Nature, 2024; Nature Geoscience, 2024) show that the Earth's rotation axis is drifting (polar motion) and that the length of day is changing because of shifts in mass on the planet.

Statement III is correct and explains I: as ice in Greenland and Antarctica melts, the meltwater spreads into the oceans and moves mass from high latitudes towards the equator. This increases the Earth's moment of inertia, slightly slowing its rotation (lengthening the day), and redistributes mass so that the axis shifts. Groundwater depletion has a similar effect.

Statement II is a correct fact (for example, the severe geomagnetic storms of May 2024 caused by solar flares and coronal mass ejections) but such events affect the ionosphere, satellites and power grids, not the Earth's rotation or axis. Hence both are correct but only one explains I.

All three statements are correct and II and III both explain I. Article 6 of the Paris Agreement (2015) allows countries to cooperate voluntarily to achieve their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs):

• Article 6.2 – bilateral/cooperative approaches in which countries trade "internationally transferred mitigation outcomes" (ITMOs), with corresponding adjustments to avoid double counting;
• Article 6.4 – a UN-supervised crediting mechanism (the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism), successor to the Kyoto CDM;
• Article 6.8 – a framework for non-market approaches (finance, technology transfer, capacity building) between countries.

Because it sets out the rules of international carbon markets and non-market cooperation, Article 6 has been central to COP negotiations (its rulebook was largely completed at COP26 Glasgow and COP29 Baku).

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) launched the Nature Solutions Finance Hub for Asia and the Pacific in May 2024 (at its Annual Meeting in Tbilisi, Georgia). The hub aims to mobilise at least USD 2 billion, including from private and institutional investors, for investments in nature-based solutions such as restoring forests, wetlands, mangroves and coastal ecosystems, which help both climate adaptation and biodiversity.

The AIIB (Beijing-headquartered, 2016), the New Development Bank (the BRICS bank, Shanghai) and the IBRD (World Bank Group) have their own climate finance programmes but did not launch this hub.

All three are correct. Direct Air Capture (DAC) uses chemical sorbents (liquid solvents or solid filters) to extract CO₂ directly from ambient air. The captured CO₂ can be:

• stored permanently in deep geological formations, making DAC a carbon-removal/sequestration technology (I);
• used as a feedstock in industry, for example in the production of plastics and other chemicals, and in food processing and beverages (carbonation), greenhouses and other uses (II), as the IEA notes;
• combined with green hydrogen to make synthetic hydrocarbon fuels ("e-fuels" or power-to-liquid sustainable aviation fuel), giving aviation a low-carbon fuel whose carbon comes from the air (III).

Statement I is incorrect: the peacock or Gooty tarantula (Poecilotheria metallica) is a spider (class Arachnida), not a crustacean, and it is carnivorous, feeding on insects and other small animals.

Statement II is correct: it is endemic to India and is known only from a small area of deciduous forest in the Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh (first described from a railway timber yard at Gooty; populations in Nandyal, Giddalur and nearby forests). It is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List because of deforestation and the pet trade.

Statement III is correct: it is an arboreal species that lives in holes and crevices of tall trees. It is known for its striking metallic blue colour.

Statement I is incorrect: India's per capita CO₂ emissions are about 1.9–2 tonnes a year (IEA/Global Carbon Project data for 2022-23), roughly a third of the world average of about 4.7 t, but far above 0.5 t.

Statement II is correct: India is the third-largest emitter of CO₂ from fuel combustion in the world (after China and the USA) and therefore second in the Asia-Pacific region, after China.

Statement III is correct: electricity and heat generation, dominated by coal-fired power plants that supply about three-quarters of India's electricity, is the largest source of India's energy-related CO₂ emissions (roughly half), followed by industry and transport.

I is correct: cassava (tapioca, Manihot esculenta) is a perennial woody shrub grown for its starchy tuberous roots.

II is correct: ginger is a herbaceous perennial; its aerial "stem" is a pseudostem formed by rolled leaf sheaths, while the true stem is the underground rhizome.

III is correct: Malabar spinach (Basella alba) is a fast-growing, soft-stemmed herbaceous climbing vine.

IV is incorrect: mint (Mentha) is a perennial aromatic herb that spreads by runners/stolons, not an annual shrub.

V is incorrect: papaya is a fast-growing, short-lived, soft-stemmed tree-like plant, usually described as a large herb (its stem is not truly woody), not a woody shrub.

Hence only three pairs are correctly matched.

Statement II is correct: according to NOAA and other estimates, roughly half (about 50%) of the oxygen produced on Earth comes from the ocean, mainly from drifting phytoplankton and photosynthetic bacteria such as Prochlorococcus (the smallest photosynthetic organism, itself producing up to 20% of the biosphere's oxygen).

Statement I is therefore incorrect: rainforests produce a large share of land-based oxygen, but not more than the oceans (and they consume most of what they produce through respiration and decomposition).

Statement III is incorrect: it is the reverse. Air is about 21% oxygen (about 210 ml per litre), whereas even well-oxygenated surface seawater holds only a few millilitres (around 5–10 mg) of dissolved oxygen per litre, i.e. air contains many times more oxygen than water.

A powertrain is the set of components that generate power and deliver it to the wheels. "Alternative powertrains" are those other than the conventional internal combustion engine running on petrol or diesel.

All three listed are alternative powertrain vehicles: (I) battery electric vehicles run only on electricity stored in a battery; (II) hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles generate electricity on board from hydrogen and oxygen, emitting only water; (III) fuel cell–electric hybrids combine a fuel cell with a battery (or supercapacitor) that stores regenerated energy and supplies peak power. Hybrid, plug-in hybrid, CNG/LPG and biofuel vehicles are also counted among alternative powertrains.

None of the statements is correct, because each says "all types".

I: Only rotary-wing (multirotor/helicopter) and VTOL/hybrid UAVs can land vertically; fixed-wing UAVs (such as the Heron, Predator/MQ-9 or TAPAS) need a runway, catapult or parachute/net recovery.

II: Hovering (holding position in the air) is possible for rotary-wing and VTOL drones, but fixed-wing UAVs must keep moving forward to generate lift, so they cannot hover.

III: Small drones commonly use batteries, but larger UAVs use petrol/heavy-fuel piston engines, turboprops or jet engines, and some use solar power or hydrogen fuel cells.

In lithium-ion EV batteries, the cathode is a lithium metal oxide or phosphate: common chemistries are NMC (lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide), NCA (lithium nickel cobalt aluminium oxide) and LFP (lithium iron phosphate). So lithium, nickel and cobalt usually make up cathodes (with manganese, aluminium or iron).

Graphite is the usual material of the anode (negative electrode), into which lithium ions intercalate during charging; it is not a cathode material. Hence three.

All three contain plastic.

I: Cigarette filters are made of cellulose acetate, a semi-synthetic plastic; discarded butts are among the most common plastic litter items found on beaches (UNEP).

II: Most modern eyeglass lenses are made of plastics such as CR-39 (allyl diglycol carbonate), polycarbonate and high-index polymers, rather than glass.

III: Car tyres are made largely of synthetic rubbers (styrene-butadiene and polybutadiene, which are polymers derived from petroleum) along with natural rubber, and contain nylon/polyester fabric; tyre wear is a major source of microplastics in the environment.

Coal gasification converts coal, with steam and controlled oxygen, into synthesis gas (syngas: mainly CO and H₂), which is a feedstock for many chemicals. The Government's National Coal Gasification Mission (100 MT by 2030) lists products such as methanol, ethanol, ammonia/urea, DME, SNG and olefins.

Ethanol: syngas can be converted to ethanol (directly, via methanol/acetic acid routes, or by gas fermentation). Urea: hydrogen from syngas is used to make ammonia, which reacts with CO₂ to give urea; the revived Talcher fertiliser plant in Odisha is based on coal gasification.

Nitroglycerine is made by nitrating glycerol (a by-product of soap and biodiesel making) with nitric and sulphuric acids; it is not counted among coal-gasification products. UPSC's official key gives "only two".

All three are high-energy military explosives:

• CL-20 (hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane, HNIW) is among the most powerful non-nuclear explosives known, more energetic than HMX.
• HMX (octogen, cyclotetramethylene-tetranitramine) is a high explosive used in warheads, shaped charges and solid propellant formulations.
• LLM-105 (2,6-diamino-3,5-dinitropyrazine-1-oxide) is an insensitive high explosive, valued because it is less likely to detonate accidentally.

They were in the news when DRDO's High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (Pune) reported synthesising them (e.g. CL-20 and LLM-105 for next-generation munitions). They are not refrigerants, and although HMX can be an ingredient in some propellants, they are classed as explosives rather than missile or rocket fuels.

Statement I is correct: Majorana 1, unveiled in February 2025, is a quantum processing unit built on a "topological core" that uses a new class of materials (topoconductors) to create Majorana zero modes; it is designed to give more stable, scalable qubits and is expected to enable practical quantum computing.

Statement II is incorrect: Majorana 1 was introduced by Microsoft, not AWS. (AWS separately announced its own quantum chip, "Ocelot", using cat qubits, a few days later.)

Statement III is correct: artificial intelligence ⊃ machine learning ⊃ deep learning. Deep learning is the branch of machine learning that uses multi-layered artificial neural networks to learn features from large datasets.

All three statements are correct.

I: Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are laboratory-made proteins: identical copies of one antibody, produced from a single clone of cells (originally by hybridoma technology, now often by recombinant methods).

II: Each mAb binds to one specific antigen (epitope). By doing so it can neutralise a pathogen or toxin, flag target cells for destruction by the immune system, or block or activate immune pathways, i.e. they mimic and enhance the body's immune response. They are used against cancers, autoimmune diseases and infections.

III: The human monoclonal antibody m102.4, which targets the Nipah/Hendra virus G glycoprotein, has been used for compassionate treatment; ICMR obtained doses from Australia during the 2023 Kerala Nipah outbreak. mAbs are also used against COVID-19, RSV and Ebola.

None of the statements is correct.

I: The oceans are the largest reservoir of viruses on Earth; a litre of seawater contains billions of virus particles. Marine viruses (mostly bacteriophages) kill a large fraction of marine bacteria each day and drive nutrient cycling (the "viral shunt").

II: Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria (e.g. T4 and lambda phage of E. coli); phage therapy uses them against drug-resistant bacteria.

III: Viruses routinely take over and alter host-cell transcription to make their own proteins. For example, HIV integrates into the host genome, oncogenic viruses such as HPV switch host genes on or off, and many viruses shut down host gene expression.

All three statements are correct and II and III both explain I.

Activated carbon is a highly porous form of carbon produced by carbonising and then "activating" (with steam or chemicals) a carbon-rich raw material. Its network of micro- and mesopores gives a very large surface area (typically 500–1,500 m² per gram) with many functional groups, so it adsorbs organic pollutants, dyes, chlorine and heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, chromium and mercury (II). It can be made cheaply from wastes with high carbon content such as coconut shells, rice husk, sawdust, fruit peels, agricultural residues and sewage sludge (III), which also helps waste management.

High adsorption capacity and low-cost, abundant raw materials together make it an effective and attractive option for treating industrial effluents and remediating contaminants (I).

Under Article 123, an Ordinance promulgated by the President has "the same force and effect as an Act of Parliament".

Statement I is correct: since it has the force of a parliamentary law, an Ordinance can amend or repeal any Central Act (on subjects on which Parliament can legislate). It cannot, however, amend the Constitution.

Statement II is incorrect: an Ordinance is "law" within the meaning of Article 13, so, like any Act, it is void to the extent that it takes away or abridges a Fundamental Right (Article 123(3) also makes an Ordinance void if Parliament could not have enacted it).

Statement III is correct: like an Act of Parliament, an Ordinance can be given retrospective effect, i.e. come into force from a back date.

All three pairs are correctly matched as per UPSC's key.

I: Arunachal Pradesh's capital Itanagar is named after the Ita Fort (a 14th–15th century brick fort), and the State has two national parks, Namdapha and Mouling.

II: Nagaland was created as the 16th State on 1 December 1963 under the State of Nagaland Act, 1962; the Constitution (Thirteenth Amendment) Act, 1962 inserted Article 371A giving it special provisions, so its statehood rests on this constitutional amendment along with the Act.

III: Tripura, a princely state that acceded in 1949, was a Part 'C' State under the original Constitution; with the States Reorganisation (Seventh Amendment Act, 1956) it became a Union Territory, and it became a full-fledged State on 21 January 1972 under the North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) Act, 1971.

Only one, the Inter-State Council. Article 263 empowers the President to establish an Inter-State Council if it appears that public interest would be served; it was set up in 1990 by a Presidential Order on the recommendation of the Sarkaria Commission, so it was established as per a constitutional provision.

The National Security Council (1998) is an executive body created by a Government resolution and headed by the Prime Minister, with the National Security Adviser as secretary; it has no constitutional basis.

The five Zonal Councils are statutory bodies set up under the States Reorganisation Act, 1956 (the North Eastern Council was set up separately under the NEC Act, 1971), not under the Constitution.

Statement I is correct: Article 163(1) provides for a Council of Ministers to aid and advise the Governor "except in so far as he is by or under this Constitution required to exercise his functions or any of them in his discretion", and Article 163(2) makes the Governor's decision on what is discretionary final. Specific discretionary functions are mentioned, e.g. Article 371A (Nagaland), Article 371H (Arunachal Pradesh) and paragraph 9 of the Sixth Schedule (royalty disputes in tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram).

Statement II is incorrect: under Article 200, it is the Governor who may reserve a State bill for the consideration of the President (Article 201 then applies). The President has no power to reserve a State bill on his/her own; a bill reaches the President only if the Governor reserves it.

All three are correctly matched.

I: Article 50 (Part IV, Directive Principles of State Policy): "The State shall take steps to separate the judiciary from the executive in the public services of the State."

II: Article 51A(f) (Part IVA, Fundamental Duties, added by the 42nd Amendment, 1976): it is the duty of every citizen "to value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture".

III: Article 24 (Part III, Fundamental Rights – Right against Exploitation): "No child below the age of fourteen years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or engaged in any other hazardous employment."

Neither statement is correct.

I: Under paragraph 2 of the Fifth Schedule, "the executive power of a State extends to the Scheduled Areas therein", subject to the Schedule. The State does not lose its executive power, and no local body takes over total administration (the Tribes Advisory Council only advises, and PESA 1996 gives Gram Sabhas certain powers, not total administration).

II: Paragraph 3 provides that the Governor reports annually (or when required) to the President on the administration of Scheduled Areas, and that the executive power of the Union extends to giving directions to the State on their administration. The Governor can also modify the application of laws and make regulations (paragraph 5). There is no provision for the Union to take over the total administration of such areas.

None of the pairs is correctly matched.

I: The National Automotive Board (set up in 2012 to support the automotive sector and implement schemes such as FAME and the auto PLI) works under the Ministry of Heavy Industries.

II: The Coir Board, a statutory body under the Coir Industry Act, 1953 (headquarters at Kochi), works under the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.

III: The National Centre for Trade Information (set up in 1995 by the Ministry of Commerce with ITPO and NIC to collect and disseminate trade data) works under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

The three ministries have simply been rotated among the organisations.

The proviso to Article 368(2) requires ratification by the Legislatures of not less than one-half of the States for amendments affecting: Articles 54 and 55 (election of the President), Article 73 (extent of executive power of the Union), Article 162 (extent of executive power of the States), Article 241 and 279A, Chapter IV of Part V (Union judiciary), Chapter V of Part VI (High Courts), Chapter I of Part XI (legislative relations), any of the Lists in the Seventh Schedule, representation of States in Parliament (Fourth Schedule), and Article 368 itself.

So I (Union List) and II (Article 162) need ratification. III is not in the list: the conditions of the Governor's office (Article 158) can be amended by a special majority of Parliament alone.

All three statements are correct.

I: Article 361(1) – the President and the Governor of a State "shall not be answerable to any court for the exercise and performance of the powers and duties of his office or for any act done or purporting to be done" by them in that capacity.

II: Article 361(2) – "No criminal proceedings whatsoever shall be instituted or continued against the President, or the Governor of a State, in any court during his term of office." (Article 361(3) similarly bars arrest or imprisonment, and civil proceedings need two months' notice under 361(4).)

III: Article 194(2) – no member of the Legislature of a State shall be liable to any proceedings in any court in respect of anything said or any vote given in the Legislature or its committees (the parallel provision for MPs is Article 105(2)).

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB), set up under the PNGRB Act, 2006, regulates the refining, processing, storage, transportation, distribution, marketing and sale of petroleum, petroleum products and natural gas, excluding the production of crude oil and natural gas, so as to protect consumers and ensure uninterrupted supplies. It also authorises city gas distribution networks and pipelines and fixes pipeline tariffs.

So II and III are regulated by PNGRB. Upstream activities, the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas (I and IV), are regulated by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas through the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH). Hence only two.

All three are correct as per UPSC's key.

I: Revenue deficit = revenue expenditure − revenue receipts = 80,000 − 60,000 = ₹20,000 crore.

II: Fiscal deficit = total expenditure − total receipts excluding borrowings, i.e. it equals the Government's total borrowings and other liabilities. The budget shows borrowings of ₹10,000 crore, so the fiscal deficit is ₹10,000 crore.

III: Primary deficit = fiscal deficit − interest payments = 10,000 − 6,000 = ₹4,000 crore.

(The question implicitly assumes non-debt capital receipts large enough to cover part of the revenue gap; the definitions applied are the standard ones.)

The INSTC was agreed in 2000 (St Petersburg) by its founding members India, Iran and Russia; 13 countries have since joined, including several Central Asian states, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey and Oman. It is a 7,200-km multimodal network of ship, rail and road routes that links Mumbai/Nhava Sheva to Bandar Abbas and Chabahar in Iran, and then by road/rail through Iran to the Caspian region, Central Asia, Russia (Astrakhan, Moscow) and onwards to northern Europe. It cuts transit time and cost compared with the Suez route.

(b) refers to China's routes, which the INSTC avoids; (c) describes the India–Myanmar–Thailand Trilateral Highway/Kaladan projects; and Azerbaijan is a member and a western branch of the corridor, not its defining route to Europe.

Statement I is not correct: the United States is the world's largest ethanol producer, accounting for roughly half of global output (about 15–16 billion gallons a year), while Brazil is second with about a quarter. Together they produce over 80% of the world's fuel ethanol.

Statement II is correct: US ethanol is made mainly from corn (maize) starch, whereas Brazil's ethanol programme (Proálcool, since 1975) is based mainly on sugarcane juice and molasses, though corn ethanol is now growing in Brazil too. India's Ethanol Blending Programme uses sugarcane (juice, B-heavy and C-heavy molasses) and grains such as maize and broken rice.

The World Bank report "Climate Investment Opportunities in India's Cooling Sector" (November 2022) warned that India could soon experience heatwaves breaching the human survivability limit and could be one of the first places in the world where wet-bulb temperatures routinely exceed 35 °C. UPSC's key treats both statements as implications.

II: Wet-bulb temperature combines heat and humidity. At a wet-bulb temperature of about 35 °C, sweat can no longer evaporate to cool the body, so humans and other mammals cannot shed body heat and even healthy people in the shade can die within hours.

I: The same warming that drives such extreme humid heat also intensifies the hydrological cycle; the report and related assessments note that India (including peninsular India with its long, low-lying coastline) faces more frequent and intense floods, cyclones and droughts along with heat stress, affecting lives, labour productivity and food security.

Gross primary deficit = gross fiscal deficit − interest payments = 50,000 − 1,500 = ₹48,500 crore.

The figure for non-debt creating capital receipts (₹10,000 crore, e.g. recovery of loans and disinvestment) is a distractor: such receipts are already counted while calculating the fiscal deficit (fiscal deficit = total expenditure − revenue receipts − non-debt capital receipts), so they are not deducted again. The primary deficit shows the borrowing needed for expenditure other than interest payments.

The 15th Finance Commission (Chairman N.K. Singh; report for 2021-22 to 2025-26):

I is correct: it recommended performance-based grants of ₹4,800 crore from 2022-23 to 2025-26 to incentivise States to improve educational outcomes.

II is incorrect: it recommended that 41% of the divisible pool of Union taxes be shared with States (42% in its interim report for 2020-21, reduced by 1 percentage point after the creation of the UTs of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh), not 45%.

III is correct: it recommended ₹45,000 crore as performance-based incentives for all States for carrying out agricultural reforms (2022-23 to 2025-26).

IV is correct: it reintroduced tax effort (weight 2.5%) as a criterion in horizontal devolution to reward States with higher tax collection efficiency; it had been used by earlier Commissions but dropped by the 14th.

Statement I is correct: the IBRD, the original World Bank institution, provides loans, guarantees, risk management products and advisory services to middle-income and creditworthy lower-income countries (the poorest countries get concessional finance from IDA).

Statement II is incorrect: the IBRD does not work single-handedly. It is one of the five institutions of the World Bank Group (with IDA, IFC, MIGA and ICSID) and works with governments, other multilateral development banks, the private sector and civil society towards the twin goals of ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity.

Statement III is correct: it was created at the Bretton Woods Conference (1944) and began operations in 1946 to finance the reconstruction of Europe after the Second World War; its first loan (1947) went to France.

Both RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement) and NEFT (National Electronic Funds Transfer) are owned and operated by the RBI.

Statement I is correct: RTGS settles each transaction individually and in real time (gross settlement), so funds move instantly; NEFT settles transactions in half-hourly batches (deferred net settlement), so it takes some time.

Statement II is incorrect: under RBI rules no charges are levied on inward (receiving) transactions in either RTGS or NEFT; and since July 2019 the RBI has also waived its charges on outward transactions, with banks not charging savings account customers for online NEFT (from January 2020).

Statement III is incorrect: NEFT has been available 24x7x365 since December 2019 and RTGS since 14 December 2020, so neither has restricted operating days now.

Through NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL), UPI is accepted for merchant payments in a growing list of countries, including Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Singapore, the UAE, France and others. Of those listed:

• UAE – UPI accepted at merchants through NIPL's partnerships (e.g. NeoPay/Mashreq) since 2022–23; the RuPay-JAYWAN and IPP–UPI links followed in 2024.
• France – UPI launched in February 2024, starting with ticket bookings at the Eiffel Tower via Lyra.
• Singapore – UPI–PayNow linkage (February 2023) for cross-border transfers, and UPI QR payments accepted at some merchants.

Germany and Bangladesh did not accept UPI for merchant payments at the time of the exam (UPI in Bangladesh was only under discussion). Hence three.

All three statements are correct. PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana was approved in February 2024 with an outlay of about ₹75,021 crore up to 2026-27, and is implemented by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).

I: It aims to install rooftop solar systems in one crore households in the residential sector, with central financial assistance (up to ₹78,000) and up to 300 units of free electricity a month.

II and III: Under its capacity-building component, MNRE plans grassroot-level training in the installation, operation, maintenance and repair of rooftop solar systems, aiming to create more than three lakh skilled workers through fresh skilling and up-skilling (including about one lakh Solar PV technicians). The scheme also includes model solar villages and incentives to urban local bodies and panchayats.

During the Civil Disobedience Movement, after Gandhi publicly broke the salt law at Dandi on 6 April 1930, he called on the people to defy the law everywhere. In his speeches and writings of that period (e.g. at Dandi and in Young India), he declared that sedition against the British Government had become his religion ("Sedition has become my religion"), since he regarded disaffection towards a system that had ruined India as a duty. UPSC's key accepts (b).

At Champaran (1917) he insisted on the legal, non-confrontational investigation of indigo cultivators' grievances; at the Second Round Table Conference (1931) he was negotiating after the Gandhi–Irwin Pact; and the slogan associated with the Quit India Movement (1942) is "Do or Die". (In his 1922 trial he had said that preaching disaffection had become almost a passion with him.)

The "Dancing Girl" (c. 2500 BCE), discovered by Ernest Mackay at Mohenjo-daro in 1926, is a small (about 10.5 cm) bronze statuette cast by the lost-wax (cire perdue) technique. She stands nude in a confident pose, with one hand on the hip, the other arm covered with bangles, and is now in the National Museum, New Delhi. It is the finest example of Harappan metal casting.

Harappans made many terracotta (clay) figurines, including "mother goddess" figures, and carnelian beads (e.g. at Lothal and Chanhudaro), and some gold ornaments, but the Dancing Girl is bronze. The steatite "Priest-King" is another famous Mohenjo-daro sculpture.

After the Chauri Chaura incident of 5 February 1922 (Gorakhpur district), in which a crowd set fire to the police station and 22 policemen died, Gandhi withdrew the Non-Cooperation Movement. The colonial courts tried 228 people; the Sessions Court sentenced 172 of them to death.

Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, assisted by Krishna Kant, argued the appeal in the Allahabad High Court in 1923. As a result, the High Court confirmed the death sentence for 19 accused, while the others were acquitted or had their sentences commuted to imprisonment.

C.R. Das was in jail at the time and soon formed the Swaraj Party; Saifuddin Kitchlew is associated with the Jallianwala Bagh protests; Jinnah had left the Congress in 1920 over non-cooperation.

The British Communal Award (August 1932) gave separate electorates to the Depressed Classes. Gandhi, then in Yerawada jail, began a fast unto death against it, and the Poona Pact (24 September 1932) between Gandhi and Dr B.R. Ambedkar replaced separate electorates with reserved seats (148 instead of 71) in a joint electorate.

After the Pact, Gandhi made the upliftment of the "Harijans" a central part of his work: he founded the Harijan Sevak Sangh (September 1932, first called the Anti-Untouchability League), started the weekly Harijan (1933), undertook fasts in 1933, and made a nationwide Harijan tour (November 1933 – August 1934) to raise funds and campaign for temple entry and against untouchability.

The Gandhi–Irwin Pact (1931) came before; the Quit India arrests (1942) and the 1935 Act are unrelated to this shift.

All three are New World (American) plants that reached India through the Portuguese in the 16th–17th centuries, as part of the Columbian exchange.

• Papaya, native to Central America and southern Mexico, was brought to India by the Portuguese in the 16th century, via the Philippines/Malacca.
• Pineapple, native to South America (Brazil–Paraguay), was introduced in the 16th century; Abul Fazl's Ain-i-Akbari mentions it as a fruit from the European ports, and Jahangir praised it.
• Guava, native to tropical America, was introduced in the 17th century.

The Portuguese also brought chillies, tobacco, potato, maize, cashew, groundnut, sapota (chikoo) and custard apple.

Counting overseas territories and dependencies, four of the five have more than four time zones:

• United Kingdom – 9 (with its overseas territories scattered across the Atlantic, Caribbean, Pacific and Indian Ocean).
• Denmark – 5 (Denmark proper, the Faroe Islands and several zones in Greenland).
• New Zealand – 5 (mainland, Chatham Islands, and the realm's Tokelau, Niue and Cook Islands).
• Australia – 9 (three main mainland zones plus Lord Howe Island and external territories such as Norfolk, Christmas and Cocos Islands, Heard Island and the Antarctic Territory).

Brazil has exactly 4 time zones (UTC−2 for Fernando de Noronha, −3 Brasília, −4 Amazon and −5 Acre), so it does not have more than four. France has the most time zones of any country (12–13).

Anadyr (Chukotka, Russia) and Nome (Alaska, USA) face each other across the Bering Sea, with the International Date Line (roughly the 180° meridian, bent to pass through the Bering Strait) running between them.

Statement I is correct (as accepted in UPSC's key): although the two towns are close on the map, they lie on opposite sides of the Date Line, so at breakfast time it is a different calendar day in each.

Statement II is incorrect: places west of the Date Line (Asia) are a day ahead of places east of it (America). Anadyr is on the western (Asian) side, so when it is Monday in Anadyr it is still Sunday in Nome, not Tuesday.

The Self-Respect Movement (Suyamariyathai Iyakkam) was founded in 1925 in Tamil Nadu by E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker "Periyar", after he left the Congress over caste discrimination at the Cheranmadevi gurukulam. It attacked Brahminical dominance, caste, untouchability and religious superstition, promoted rationalism and women's rights, and popularised "self-respect marriages" without priests. Periyar later led the Justice Party and founded the Dravidar Kazhagam (1944).

Dr B.R. Ambedkar led the Mahad Satyagraha and founded the Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha; Bhaskarrao Jadhav and Dinkarrao Javalkar were leaders of the non-Brahmin movement and Satyashodhak tradition in Maharashtra (Javalkar wrote "Deshache Dushman").

All three rows are correctly matched.

I: Botswana is one of the world's largest producers of diamonds by value (Jwaneng and Orapa mines, run by Debswana); diamonds dominate its exports and government revenue.

II: Chile has the world's largest lithium reserves, in the brines of the Salar de Atacama, and is the second-largest producer after Australia; it is part of the "lithium triangle" with Argentina and Bolivia.

III: Indonesia has the world's largest nickel reserves and is by far the largest producer (about half of global output), helped by its ban on nickel ore exports to promote domestic processing for steel and EV batteries.

None of the rows is correctly matched; the countries have been shuffled.

• Mallorca (Majorca) is the largest of the Balearic Islands in the western Mediterranean and belongs to Spain; its capital is Palma.
• Normandy is a region of northern France on the English Channel, famous for the D-Day landings of 6 June 1944 and Mont-Saint-Michel.
• Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean (after Sicily) and is an autonomous region of Italy; it lies just south of the French island of Corsica.

Both statements are correct and II explains I. Rare earth elements (the 15 lanthanides plus scandium and yttrium) such as europium, terbium, yttrium, gadolinium and cerium have unusual electronic structures (partly filled 4f orbitals) that make them strongly luminescent: they absorb energy and re-emit light at sharp, specific wavelengths (phosphorescence/fluorescence).

This is why their compounds are used as phosphors that produce red (europium, yttrium), green (terbium) and blue colours in television screens, computer monitors, LED backlights and energy-efficient lamps. Indium, cerium (for polishing glass) and neodymium magnets in speakers are other display-related uses. So the phosphorescent property explains their use in screens.

The question asks for the statements that are not correct.

Statement I is not correct: the National Rail Plan (2020) aims to create a "future ready" railway system by 2030 (with a horizon up to 2050) and to raise the Railways' modal share in freight to 45%; the year 2028 is wrong.

Statement II is not correct: Kavach is an indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection system, designed by the Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO) with Indian industry partners; it is certified to Safety Integrity Level 4 (SIL-4). It was not developed with Germany.

Statement III is correct: Kavach uses RFID tags fitted on the track (including station sections), on-board loco units, station units and radio communication towers to track trains and apply brakes automatically.

So I and II are not correct.

UPSC's key gives "only two": Axiom-4 and Gaganyaan.

Axiom-4 (Ax-4) is a private crewed mission by Axiom Space, NASA and SpaceX to the International Space Station, with ISRO astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla as pilot; its crew conducted about 60 microgravity experiments, including seven Indian ones (e.g. on muscle loss, microalgae and crop seed sprouting). Gaganyaan, India's human spaceflight programme, includes microgravity experiments in its uncrewed and crewed missions and is the precursor to the Bharatiya Antariksh Station.

SpaDeX (Space Docking Experiment, launched on PSLV-C60 in December 2024) is a technology demonstration of autonomous rendezvous and docking of two small satellites (achieved in January 2025), needed for future space stations and Chandrayaan-4; its objective is not microgravity research.

I is correct: the Dornier-228, a twin-turboprop light aircraft built under licence by HAL Kanpur, is used by the Indian Navy and Coast Guard for maritime surveillance/patrol (and by the IAF for transport and communication duties).

II is incorrect: the Ilyushin IL-76 (Gajraj in IAF service) is a four-engine, subsonic heavy-lift strategic transport aircraft; it is also the platform for India's Phalcon AWACS and the IL-78 tanker. It is not a supersonic combat aircraft (examples of those are the Su-30MKI, Rafale and Tejas).

III is correct: the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is the IAF's largest strategic military transport aircraft, used for troop and equipment airlift and disaster relief/evacuation missions.

Hence two pairs.

Artificial rain is induced by cloud seeding: substances are dispersed into suitable clouds (by aircraft, rockets or ground generators) to provide nuclei around which water droplets or ice crystals form and grow heavy enough to fall. The common seeding agents are silver iodide and potassium iodide (for glaciogenic seeding, because their crystal structure resembles ice), dry ice (solid CO₂), and hygroscopic salts such as sodium chloride and calcium chloride.

Rain washes particulate matter (PM2.5, PM10) and soluble gases out of the air, which is why cloud seeding has been tried or proposed to tackle smog, e.g. in Delhi (IIT Kanpur trials). Silver nitrate, potassium nitrate and potassium chloride are not used as standard seeding agents.

Statement I is correct: the President's power under Article 72 to grant pardons, reprieves, respites, remissions or commutations is subject to limited judicial review. In Maru Ram v. Union of India (1980), Kehar Singh (1989) and Epuru Sudhakar v. Govt. of A.P. (2006), the Supreme Court held that courts can examine whether the decision was taken without application of mind, with mala fides, on extraneous or irrelevant considerations, or arbitrarily, though not the merits of the decision.

Statement II is incorrect: under Article 74(1) the President acts on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers, and the Supreme Court (Maru Ram, Kehar Singh) has held that the pardoning power is exercised on the advice of the Central Government, not independently.

Statement I is correct: the proviso to Article 94 says that whenever the House of the People is dissolved, the Speaker shall not vacate office until immediately before the first meeting of the House after the dissolution.

Statement II is incorrect: the Constitution contains no requirement that the Speaker resign from his or her political party. (Paragraph 5 of the Tenth Schedule only protects a Speaker who voluntarily gives up party membership from disqualification; resigning is a convention in the UK, not a constitutional rule in India.)

Statement III is correct: under Article 94(c) the Speaker may be removed by a resolution passed by "a majority of all the then members of the House" (effective majority), and no such resolution can be moved unless at least 14 days' notice has been given. While the resolution is under consideration, the Speaker cannot preside but may speak and vote in the first instance (Article 96).

Statement I is incorrect: under paragraph 6 of the Tenth Schedule, a question of disqualification on the ground of defection is decided by the Chairman or Speaker of the House, and his decision is final (subject to judicial review, as held in Kihoto Hollohan v. Zachillhu, 1992). The President decides, on the opinion of the Election Commission (not the Council of Ministers), only questions of disqualification under Article 102(1) (Article 103).

Statement II is incorrect: the term "political party" appears in the Constitution in the Tenth Schedule, inserted by the 52nd Amendment Act, 1985 (e.g. paragraph 1(c) defines "original political party" and paragraph 2 deals with members belonging to a political party).

Statement I is not correct: under Section 15 of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, State Governments make rules for regulating the grant of quarry leases, mining leases and other mineral concessions for minor minerals, and they collect the royalty. Each State has its own Minor Mineral Concession Rules.

Statement II is correct: under Section 3(e) of the MMDR Act, minor minerals are building stones, gravel, ordinary clay, ordinary sand (other than for prescribed purposes) and "any other mineral which the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare to be a minor mineral". The Centre has used this power several times (e.g. notifying 31 minerals as minor minerals in 2015).

The European Union's Nature Restoration Law, a key part of the European Green Deal and the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, was adopted by the Council of the EU in June 2024 after approval by the European Parliament, and entered into force in August 2024. It is the first continent-wide law of its kind: Member States must put restoration measures in place for at least 20% of the EU's degraded land and sea areas by 2030, and for all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050, covering forests, wetlands, rivers, farmland, urban green spaces and pollinators. Restoring ecosystems helps both carbon storage and biodiversity.

The World Bank, OECD and FAO cannot enact binding laws; they finance, advise or set standards.

All three statements are incorrect.

I: Under Article 243B(2), Panchayats at the intermediate level need not be constituted in a State whose population does not exceed 20 lakh (e.g. Goa, Sikkim, Manipur, Tripura have no intermediate tier), so they do not exist in all States.

II: Under Article 243F(1)(a), a person is not disqualified on the ground of age if he or she has attained the age of 21 years (for the Panchayats); the age of thirty is not the requirement.

III: Under Article 243I, it is the Governor of the State who constitutes a State Finance Commission every five years to review the financial position of the Panchayats (at all levels) and recommend the distribution of State taxes, duties, tolls and fees and grants-in-aid; not the Chief Minister.

Statement I is correct: BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) has seven members: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

Statement II is incorrect: it was established through the Bangkok Declaration of 6 June 1997 (initially as BIST-EC). Its Charter was adopted at the 5th Summit in Colombo (2022).

Statement III is incorrect: the founding members were Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand; Myanmar joined in December 1997 (becoming BIMST-EC), and Nepal and Bhutan joined in 2004.

Statement IV is incorrect: after the 2022 restructuring into seven sectors, India leads the security sector (counter-terrorism, disaster management, energy). Tourism falls under the people-to-people contact sector led by Nepal (earlier, tourism was a separate sector led by India, which is why the statement is a trap).

The Gandhi Peace Prize, instituted by the Government of India in 1995 (the 125th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi), carries ₹1 crore, a citation and a plaque, and is given for social, economic and political transformation through non-violence and other Gandhian methods.

Its Jury is chaired by the Prime Minister and includes the Chief Justice of India, the Leader of the single largest Opposition party in the Lok Sabha, and two eminent persons (e.g. the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and a distinguished person, as in recent juries). The President is not a member of the Jury. Hence II, III and IV.

GAGAN is India's Satellite-Based Augmentation System (SBAS), developed jointly by ISRO and the Airports Authority of India. A network of ground reference stations monitors GPS signals, master control centres compute corrections, and these are broadcast through geostationary satellites (GSAT-8, GSAT-10, GSAT-15).

Statement I is correct: it improves the accuracy and integrity (reliability with timely warnings) of GPS positioning. Statement II is correct: certified by the DGCA in 2015 for precision approaches, it enables more uniform, efficient and safer air traffic management across the Indian airspace, including approaches at airports without instrument landing systems.

Statement III is incorrect: its benefits extend beyond aviation, to railways (e.g. unmanned level-crossing alerts), shipping, road transport, fisheries (GAGAN-based messaging to fishermen, GEMINI), agriculture, surveying and disaster management.

Statement I is correct: the AI Action Summit (10–11 February 2025, Grand Palais, Paris) was hosted by France and co-chaired by India (Prime Minister Modi and President Macron). It was the third in the series of global AI summits, building on the AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park, UK (November 2023) and the AI Seoul Summit, South Korea (May 2024). India will host the next summit (AI Impact Summit, 2026).

Statement II is incorrect: about 60 countries, including India, China and France, signed the "Statement on Inclusive and Sustainable Artificial Intelligence for People and the Planet", but the United States and the United Kingdom declined to sign, citing concerns about over-regulation and national security/global governance.

All four are correctly matched with the years proclaimed by the UN General Assembly:

• 2026 – International Year of the Woman Farmer (also the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists).
• 2027 – International Year of Sustainable and Resilient Tourism.
• 2025 – International Year of Peace and Trust (2025 is also the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, of Cooperatives and of Glaciers' Preservation).
• 2029 – International Year of Asteroid Awareness and Planetary Defence, marking the close approach of asteroid 99942 Apophis to Earth in April 2029.

Statement I is correct: the 16th BRICS Summit was held in Kazan, Russia, on 22–24 October 2024 under Russia's chairship; it was the first summit after the 2024 expansion (Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the UAE joined) and adopted the Kazan Declaration and created the "partner country" category.

Statement II is correct: Brazil, as 2025 chair, announced in January 2025 that Indonesia had joined BRICS as a full member, the first South-East Asian member.

Statement III is incorrect: the theme of the Kazan summit was "Strengthening Multilateralism for Just Global Development and Security", not multiculturalism.

Under the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013:

I is incorrect: the Act expressly states that it applies to public servants "in and outside India", so Indian public servants posted abroad are covered.

II is incorrect: the Chairperson or a Member cannot be an MP or MLA (Section 3(4)), but the Chairperson may be a person who is or has been the Chief Justice of India, or a Judge of the Supreme Court, or an eminent person with the prescribed qualifications. (The first Lokpal, Justice P.C. Ghose, was a former SC judge.)

III is correct: a person below 45 years of age on the date of assuming office cannot be appointed Chairperson or Member.

IV is incorrect: Section 14(1)(a) allows the Lokpal to inquire into allegations against a person who is or has been Prime Minister, with safeguards: not on matters of international relations, external and internal security, public order, atomic energy and space; and only if the full bench and at least two-thirds of members approve, held in camera.

The first Kho Kho World Cup was held at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, New Delhi, from 13 to 19 January 2025, organised by the Kho Kho Federation of India and the International Kho Kho Federation, with teams from over 20 countries. So Statement I is correct.

India won both titles by beating Nepal in the finals, but the scores in the statements are swapped: the women's team won 78-40 and the men's team won 54-36. Hence Statements II and III are incorrect.

Statement I is incorrect: it mixes up two events. The 45th Chess Olympiad (Budapest, September 2024) is a team event, in which India won both the open and women's gold medals for the first time; Gukesh won the individual gold on board 1 (Russia was barred from the event), but there is no "final" making anyone the youngest winner. Gukesh became the youngest-ever (undisputed) World Champion at 18 by defeating Ding Liren of China in the World Championship match at Singapore in December 2024. (He had won the Candidates Tournament in April 2024, where Nepomniachtchi also played.)

Statement II is correct: Abhimanyu Mishra of the USA became the youngest Grandmaster in history in June 2021, aged 12 years, 4 months and 25 days, breaking Sergey Karjakin's 2002 record.