01
With reference to the Indus Waters Treaty, consider the following statements:
- The Ravi, Beas and Sutlej are classified as eastern rivers under the treaty.
- India is prohibited from constructing every form of hydropower project on the western rivers.
- Questions arising under the treaty may initially be examined by the Permanent Indus Commission.
- The World Bank determines the substantive merits of every dispute between India and Pakistan.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
Correct Answer: (b) 1 and 3 only
Statement-wise Assessment
Statement 1
Correct − The Ravi, Beas and
Sutlej are classified as the eastern rivers under the Indus Waters Treaty.
Statement 2
Incorrect − India may construct
hydropower facilities on the western rivers, subject to the design,
operation and other conditions prescribed by the treaty.
Statement 3
Correct − Questions arising under
the treaty may initially be examined through the Permanent Indus
Commission, which consists of commissioners appointed by India and Pakistan.
Statement 4
Incorrect − The World Bank’s
assigned role is principally procedural, including facilitating
certain treaty mechanisms; it does not decide the substantive merits
of every dispute.
02
Consider the following statements:
- A run-of-the-river project necessarily has no pondage or capacity to regulate flows.
- Drawdown flushing may use low-level outlets to evacuate accumulated sediment.
- Reservoir sedimentation can reduce usable storage and increase turbine abrasion.
- Any short-duration downstream flow variation conclusively establishes hostile diversion.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
Correct Answer: (d) 2 and 3 only
Statement-wise Assessment
Statement 1
Incorrect − Run-of-the-river
projects may possess limited pondage and a degree of operational
flow regulation.
Statement 2
Correct − Drawdown flushing lowers
the reservoir water level and may use low-level outlets to mobilise
and evacuate accumulated sediment.
Statement 3
Correct − Reservoir sedimentation
can reduce usable storage, while sediment-laden water can cause
abrasion of turbines and other hydraulic equipment.
Statement 4
Incorrect − Temporary downstream
flow variations may also result from snowmelt, rainfall, maintenance
activity and routine reservoir operations.
03
With reference to antimicrobial stewardship, consider the following statements:
- Access antibiotics are generally preferred for common bacterial infections when clinically appropriate.
- Watch antibiotics are prohibited from all clinical use.
- A Defined Daily Dose is the mandatory dose for every adult patient.
- One Health recognises links among human, animal and environmental health.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
Correct Answer: (a) 1 and 4 only
Statement-wise Assessment
Statement 1
Correct − Access antibiotics are
generally preferred for common bacterial infections when they are
clinically appropriate.
Statement 2
Incorrect − Watch antibiotics
have legitimate clinical uses but require closer stewardship because
of their greater potential to promote antimicrobial resistance.
Statement 3
Incorrect − A Defined Daily Dose
is a standardised population-level measurement unit and not a
mandatory prescription dose for every adult patient.
Statement 4
Correct − The One Health approach
recognises that human, animal and environmental health are closely
interconnected.
04
Consider the following statements regarding strategic autonomy and economic interdependence:
- Strategic autonomy requires a country to avoid cooperation with all major-power groupings.
- Asymmetric interdependence exists when disruption imposes substantially unequal costs on the parties.
- Supplier diversification can reduce vulnerability to economic coercion.
- A bilateral trade deficit, by itself, proves that the surplus country is practising economic coercion.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
Correct Answer: (c) 2 and 3 only
Statement-wise Assessment
Statement 1
Incorrect − Strategic autonomy
permits cooperation and issue-based partnerships while preserving
independent policy choices.
Statement 2
Correct − Asymmetric
interdependence exists when one party would bear substantially
greater costs than the other if an economic relationship were disrupted.
Statement 3
Correct − Diversifying suppliers
reduces excessive dependence on a single country or source and
limits exposure to economic coercion.
Statement 4
Incorrect − A trade deficit
represents an imbalance in bilateral trade. Economic coercion
requires threatened or actual economic pressure intended to alter
another country’s behaviour.
05
With reference to gold mobilisation and the external sector, consider the following statements:
- Imported gold ordinarily contributes to merchandise imports in the current account.
- Disclosure of privately held gold automatically increases the RBI’s foreign-exchange reserves.
- Import cover relates usable foreign-exchange reserves to prospective import requirements.
- The Gold Bonds (Immunities and Exemptions) Act, 1993 protected subscribers from every criminal and civil proceeding.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
Correct Answer: (b) 1 and 3 only
Statement-wise Assessment
Statement 1
Correct − Imported gold is recorded
as a merchandise import and ordinarily contributes to the goods
component of the current account.
Statement 2
Incorrect − Mere disclosure of
privately held gold does not automatically add to the RBI’s
foreign-exchange reserves. Reserve benefits require a transmission
mechanism such as reduced imports or mobilisation of foreign currency.
Statement 3
Correct − Import cover measures
how many months of prospective imports can be financed through
usable foreign-exchange reserves.
Statement 4
Incorrect − The Gold Bonds
(Immunities and Exemptions) Act, 1993 provided specified immunities
and exemptions subject to defined limits and exclusions; it did not
grant protection from every criminal and civil proceeding.
06
Consider the following statements:
- PRAXIS received NIAC Phase I support for feasibility work rather than approval as an operational flight mission.
- HLA molecules display peptide fragments for examination by immune cells.
- Any improvement achieved using quantum hardware establishes quantum advantage.
- In-situ analysis examines material within or directly sampled from its original environment.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
Correct Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 4 only
Statement-wise Assessment
Statement 1
Correct − PRAXIS received NIAC
Phase I support for preliminary feasibility and concept-development
work rather than approval as an operational flight mission.
Statement 2
Correct − Human leukocyte antigen
molecules bind and display peptide fragments on cell surfaces for
recognition and examination by immune cells.
Statement 3
Incorrect − Quantum advantage
requires a meaningful performance benefit over realistic and
appropriately optimised classical alternatives, not merely any
improvement obtained using quantum hardware.
Statement 4
Correct − In-situ analysis examines
material within its original setting or directly samples and analyses
it at the location where it naturally occurs.
07
With reference to reservoir hydrology, consider the following statements:
- Live storage ordinarily excludes water below the minimum drawdown level.
- Storage as a percentage of designed capacity is identical to storage as a percentage of normal.
- Rainfall outside a reservoir’s catchment may have little effect on its inflow.
- One week of above-normal rainfall necessarily eliminates an earlier cumulative monsoon deficit.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
Correct Answer: (c) 1 and 3 only
Statement-wise Assessment
Statement 1
Correct − Live storage generally
refers to usable water stored between the full reservoir level and
the minimum drawdown level, excluding storage below that level.
Statement 2
Incorrect − Designed capacity
refers to the reservoir’s specified storage capacity, while normal
storage is based on a historical or reference-period value. The two
percentages therefore use different denominators.
Statement 3
Correct − Reservoir inflow depends
substantially on rainfall and runoff within its catchment. Rainfall
outside that drainage area may contribute little or no inflow.
Statement 4
Incorrect − A brief period of
above-normal rainfall may improve current conditions but need not
compensate for a cumulative monsoon deficit built up over a longer period.