India Joins 153rd IPU Assembly at Arusha in Tanzania

The correct answer is Arusha, Tanzania. The Indian parliamentary delegation led by Harivansh, Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, is taking part in the assembly at Arusha, and the Parliament of the United Republic of Tanzania organised the formal inaugural ceremony there. President Dr Samia Suluhu Hassan addressed that ceremony and declared the assembly open, and the delegation also met the Speaker of the Tanzanian Parliament, Mussa Azzan Zungu, along with several ministers of the Tanzanian government. Options A, C and D name other East African capitals and are offered because candidates often remember only that the assembly was held in East Africa. Note that Arusha, not the Tanzanian capital, is the host city, which is the kind of detail a question setter likes: the country and the city both have to be carried in memory, along with the edition number of the assembly.

The correct answer is the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, Harivansh. He headed the delegation at the assembly and attended the inaugural ceremony along with members of Parliament Aparajita Sarangi, Anurag Singh Thakur, N. K. Premachandran and Dr Sasmit Patra, and he also led the bilateral meetings with the Speakers of the Australian House of Representatives and the Tanzanian Parliament. Option A is wrong because the Speaker of the Lok Sabha did not head this delegation, though presiding officers of either House do lead such delegations on other occasions. Option B is wrong because the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha is the Vice-President of India and was not part of this delegation. Option D is wrong because no such role is recorded for this assembly. The safest approach is to remember the office and the name together, since questions are set on either one.

The correct answer is the President of the United Republic of Tanzania, Dr Samia Suluhu Hassan. The Parliament of Tanzania organised the formal inaugural ceremony of the assembly, she addressed the gathering and she declared the 153rd Assembly open. Option A is wrong, and is the closest trap: Mussa Azzan Zungu, the Speaker of the Tanzanian Parliament, did feature in the proceedings, but as one of the dignitaries the Indian delegation met in a bilateral meeting, not as the person who declared the assembly open. Option C is wrong because no such role is recorded in this account of the opening. Option D is wrong because Milton Dick, Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives, was also a bilateral interlocutor of the Indian delegation rather than the person who opened the assembly. Keep the three names in their separate boxes.