President Murmu Attends 75th MS University Convocation, Vadodara

The correct answer is the President of India, Droupadi Murmu. She attended the 75th annual convocation ceremony of the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda at Vadodara in Gujarat and addressed the graduating students, telling them that education will be meaningful only if the country and society benefit from it. Option A, the Prime Minister, is wrong because the release comes from the President's Secretariat and names the President alone as the dignitary at the ceremony. Option C, the Vice-President, is a common distractor in convocation questions because Vice-Presidents also attend such events, but that is not the case here. Option D, the Union Education Minister, is likewise not named in this release. In her address the President pressed the case for a multidisciplinary approach, saying no important problem today can be solved within a single stream of study.

The correct answer is Vadodara, in Gujarat. The President attended the 75th annual convocation of the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda in that city, and the university takes its name from the ruler of the former princely state of Baroda, which is the older name of Vadodara itself. That link between the two names is what the question is really testing. Option A, Ahmedabad, option B, Surat, and option D, Rajkot, are other major cities of Gujarat, and each is home to universities of its own, but none of them hosts this institution. The President noted that the university has spent 75 years bringing several streams of knowledge together and said higher education institutions must remain alert and dynamic in that direction as the country works towards the goal of a developed India.

The correct answer is 2047. The President said the country is moving ahead with the national goal of building a developed India by that year, a hundred years after independence, and described what such a country would look like: quality education and healthcare reaching everyone, science and technology used for human welfare, equality of opportunity, full use of the potential of women and youth, and a life of dignity for every citizen. She added that universities and young people have an important role in reaching these goals. Options A, B and C name earlier years that are sometimes attached to other national targets, such as energy or climate commitments, but the Viksit Bharat goal is fixed to the centenary year of independence. Candidates should attach the year firmly to the phrase, because it recurs in scheme and speech questions alike.