In which year P. C. Hota Committee on Civil Services Reforms was constituted?

The correct answer is A, ₹2,000. Section 141 of the Electricity Act, 2003 deals with the extinguishing of public lamps and says that whoever maliciously puts out a public lamp shall be punished with a fine which may extend to two thousand rupees. The Act replaced the earlier laws of 1910, 1948 and 1998 and brought the generation, transmission, distribution and trading of electricity under one statute; its neighbouring sections cover offences such as theft of electricity under Section 135 and damage to electrical works. The amount here is a ceiling, so a court may impose less. B is wrong because three thousand rupees is not the limit fixed by this section. C is wrong because the section makes no mention of two thousand five hundred rupees. D is wrong because five thousand rupees is higher than the maximum the section allows. Exam tip: Electricity Act, 2003 - Section 135 theft of electricity, Section 141 extinguishing public lamps with a fine up to ₹2,000.

The correct answer is B, Ukraine. The Chernobyl nuclear power plant stands near the town of Pripyat in northern Ukraine, close to the border with Belarus, and was part of the Soviet Union when reactor number four exploded on 26 April 1986 in the worst nuclear accident in history. The explosion during a late night safety test blew off the reactor roof and scattered radioactive material across much of Europe. Pripyat was evacuated, an exclusion zone of 30 kilometres was drawn around the plant and it is still in force. The last working reactor at the site was shut down in December 2000, so the plant is now closed. A is wrong because Russia, though also a Soviet republic at the time, does not contain the site. C is wrong because Belarus received much of the fallout but the plant is not on its soil. D is wrong because Georgia has no connection with the accident. Exam tip: Chernobyl - Ukraine, 26 April 1986; Fukushima - Japan, 2011; Three Mile Island - United States, 1979.

The correct answer is B, France. The International Criminal Police Organization, or Interpol, was founded at Vienna in 1923 and moved its headquarters to Lyon in France in 1989, where its general secretariat works today. It helps police forces of member countries exchange information, issues notices such as the red notice for wanted persons, and runs databases on stolen documents and vehicles. In India the Central Bureau of Investigation acts as the national central bureau for Interpol.

Option A, Austria, is where the body was founded, which makes it the trap, and Vienna still holds the IAEA and OPEC. Option C, Switzerland, holds many international bodies at Geneva and Basel but not Interpol. Option D, Belgium, is the seat of NATO and the European Union at Brussels, and also of Europol's partner institutions, but Europol itself is at The Hague.

The correct answer is C, Kathmandu. SAARC was founded by the declaration signed at Dhaka in December 1985 by seven countries, and Afghanistan joined later as the eighth member. Its permanent secretariat, however, was opened at Kathmandu in Nepal in 1987 and works there under a Secretary-General drawn in turn from the member states. The distinction between the city of founding and the city of the secretariat is exactly what papers test.

Option A, Dhaka, is where the charter was signed, which makes it the favourite wrong answer, and it is also the seat of the BIMSTEC secretariat. Option B, Colombo, hosts no SAARC secretariat, although it holds some regional centres. Option D, New Delhi, is the home of the South Asian University, set up under a SAARC agreement, but not of the secretariat.

The correct answer is B, Vienna. The International Atomic Energy Agency was set up in 1957 and works from Vienna in Austria. It promotes the peaceful use of nuclear energy and applies safeguards and inspections to see that nuclear material is not diverted to weapons, work for which it and its then head shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005. India is a member and several of its civil nuclear plants are under agency safeguards. Vienna also holds UNIDO and the secretariat of OPEC.

Option A, The Hague, holds the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Option C, Geneva, holds the WHO, ILO and WTO. Option D, Stockholm, is the city of the Nobel Foundation and of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, not of the atomic energy agency.