At which place did the Defence Correspondents Course conclude?

The correct answer is 24. The course was made up of 24 journalists, who went through legs with the Navy, the Air Force and the Army before the programme closed at Tezpur. It stretched over three weeks, during which the group was given briefings, taken on field visits and allowed to interact directly with serving military personnel, so that each participant came away with an understanding of the roles, capabilities and operational environments of all three Services. The remaining options are simply other numbers of the kind a reader might half remember, and none of them matches the strength of the group that attended. Options A and C are close enough to be tempting, while option D is far higher than the actual number. Only option B is correct.

The correct answer is the General Officer Commanding, Gajraj Corps. Lieutenant General Neeraj Shukla, who holds that command, chaired the closing ceremony at Tezpur at the end of the three-week course taken by 24 journalists. Option A is wrong because the Defence Secretary had no part in this function. Option B is wrong as well, since the Chief of the Army Staff did not preside over it, even though the Army leg was one of the three legs of the course. Option D is the most tempting distractor, because Vijay Kumar, the Additional Director General for Media and Communication in the Ministry of Defence, was indeed present at the ceremony along with officials of the Directorate of Public Relations; he attended it, however, rather than chairing it. Only option C names the officer who chaired the function.

The correct answer is Goa Shipyard Limited and GRSE Kolkata. Construction of the Next Generation Offshore Patrol Vessels is being carried out at these two yards at the same time, and the ships are both designed and built in India. Options B, C and D each pair one correct or plausible yard with one that is not part of this programme, which is what makes them attractive but wrong. Mazagon Dock, Cochin Shipyard and Hindustan Shipyard are all important Indian builders with other orders, yet none of them is listed for this class. These vessels will supplement the existing Offshore Patrol Vessels and Naval Offshore Patrol Vessels of the fleet, and the programme is tied to the goals of Aatmanirbhar Bharat and Make in India in warship construction.

The correct answer is 'best' or 'most excellent', which is what Shreyas means in Sanskrit. Ships of this class are named from India's rich heritage, and this vessel's name was chosen in that spirit. Option A is wrong because courage and valour are the sense of other Sanskrit warship names, not of Shreyas. Option C is wrong because no such meaning was given for this name, although guarding the seas does describe the vessel's duties of maritime surveillance and protection of offshore assets. Option D is wrong for the same reason; invincibility is a common theme in naval naming but is not the meaning here. Candidates should remember both the name and its meaning, since questions often pair a warship with the sense of its name.

The correct answer is Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers, Kolkata, where Shreyas, carrying the yard number 3040, was launched. Option A, Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders in Mumbai, builds destroyers and submarines for the Navy but had no part in this launch. Option C, Cochin Shipyard in Kochi, is the yard associated with the indigenous aircraft carrier, not with this class of patrol vessels. Option D, Hindustan Shipyard in Visakhapatnam, is another defence yard that is not involved in this programme. The point to remember is that the Next Generation Offshore Patrol Vessels are being built at two yards at the same time, Goa Shipyard Limited in Goa and GRSE in Kolkata, and this particular hull came from the Kolkata yard.