8th PM Mementos Auction Puts Haryana Sports Items on Sale

The correct answer is the Namami Gange Project. The auction of mementos presented to the Prime Minister is held so that the gifts serve a larger public purpose, and the money raised in this edition is directed to the Namami Gange Project, the programme for cleaning and conserving the river Ganga. Option B, the Swachh Bharat Kosh, is wrong because that fund receives contributions for sanitation work and was not named as the beneficiary here. Option C, the National Sports Development Fund, is a tempting choice because five of the seven mementos in this edition are sports related, but the sporting character of the items does not change where the proceeds go. Option D, Project Tiger, is wrong because it is a wildlife conservation programme and has no connection with this auction. Candidates should hold two details together for such questions, namely the theme of the edition, which here is Haryana and its achievements, and the cause the proceeds support, which has stayed the Ganga programme.

The correct answer is Harwinder Singh. He is identified as the first Indian to win a Paralympic gold medal in archery, and an arrow presented by him is one of the seven mementos from Haryana in this edition of the auction. Option A, Navdeep Singh, is wrong because he is the javelin thrower who won gold in the men's F41 event at the Paris Paralympics; his cap and a signed shirt are in the same collection, which is exactly why the two names must be kept apart. Option B, Nitesh Kumar, is wrong because he is the Paralympic badminton gold medallist who presented a racket and an India team shirt. Option D is wrong because that athlete's name does not appear among the contributors to this collection. The safe way to revise a list of this kind is to pair each name with its discipline, so archery goes with the arrow, athletics with the cap and shirt, and badminton with the racket.

The correct answer is the men's F41 javelin throw. Navdeep Singh won the gold medal in that event at the Paris Paralympics, and the cap and signed shirt he presented are part of the Haryana collection in the eighth edition of the PM Mementos auction. Option B names a different javelin classification, and since para athletics events are separated by classification, a medal in one class cannot be transferred to another in an answer. Option C is wrong because it names a high jump class rather than a throwing event. Option D is wrong because it names a shot put classification, again a different event altogether. The point worth absorbing is that para athletics results must be revised with the classification code attached, because papers often keep the athlete's name and the discipline correct while changing the class, and a candidate who has memorised only the name and the sport cannot tell the options apart.

The correct answer is a souvenir of the Gita Updesh Sthali at Dharmakshetra Kurukshetra. Alongside the sporting memorabilia, the collection includes this souvenir, which reflects Haryana's association with the Bhagavad Gita, and a metal statue of Goddess Sheetala Devi with fine detailing and a lustrous finish. Option B is wrong because the Sun Temple at Konark is in Odisha and has nothing to do with a collection built around Haryana. Option C is wrong because the Charminar stands in Hyderabad, in Telangana. Option D is wrong because Madhubani painting belongs to the Mithila region of Bihar. The lesson for revision is that when an auction edition is built around one state, every item in it points to that state, so a question of this type can be answered by eliminating anything associated with another part of the country. Here, Kurukshetra fixes the answer to Haryana.