India, Switzerland Launch Indo-Swiss Research Framework

The correct answer is CHF 45 million. President Guy Parmelin announced this further allocation during his bilateral meeting with Dr Jitendra Singh in New Delhi and said Switzerland expects a corresponding commitment from India so that the joint research framework can be consolidated. He also described India as a rapidly emerging global research and development power and said Switzerland wants to position itself as a preferred long-term partner in education, research and innovation. Options A, C and D are near figures meant to test recall of the exact amount, and none of them is the sum announced, so each is wrong. The amount should be remembered alongside the name of the mechanism it supports, the Indo-Swiss Research Framework. The framework is designed to carry cooperation beyond individual projects into a lasting, system-level arrangement between the two countries.

The correct answer is President of the Swiss Confederation. Guy Parmelin held bilateral talks with Dr Jitendra Singh, the Union Minister of State for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, on taking the science and technology partnership into a longer-term phase. Option B names a different person: Maya Tissafi is the Ambassador of Switzerland to India and Bhutan and was among those present. Option D also refers to someone else, Dr Martina Hirayama, the State Secretary for Education, Research and Innovation. Option C points to the head of the Swiss National Science Foundation, a funding agency that signed a Letter of Intent with the Department of Science and Technology. Keeping these four designations apart is useful for interview-style questions.

The correct answer is 2003. The formal foundation of India-Switzerland cooperation in science and technology was laid by the Inter-Governmental Agreement signed in that year, and President Parmelin recalled it while describing how steadily the partnership has grown since. Option C, 2005, is a very close distractor: that is when the Indo-Swiss Joint Research Programme was initiated, which brought together faculty and young researchers from the two countries, but it is not the year of the agreement itself. Options A and D are not connected with either milestone. Candidates should also note that the Indo-Swiss Joint Committee on Science and Technology has held seven rounds so far, the latest of them at Bern in September 2025. Cooperation under these mechanisms now spans quantum technology, clean energy, ocean research, advanced materials, pharmaceuticals and space technologies.

The correct answer is the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), which signed a Letter of Intent with the Department of Science and Technology. Option B, the Zurich University of Applied Sciences, signed a different instrument with the same department, an Implementation Agreement, so it is the commonest trap in this question. Option C, Foundation Switzerland Innovation, was represented at the meeting but did not sign the Letter of Intent. Option D is not among the signatories named. The Swiss National Science Foundation is also the agency working with the Ministry of Earth Sciences on mountain and glacier research and with the Department of Biotechnology and the Indian Council of Medical Research on One Health. Pair each Swiss institution with the exact instrument it signed, since questions on bilateral visits very often turn on that distinction alone.