Which of the following are the objectives of SAARC? 1. To promote the welfare of the peoples of South Asia and to improve the quality of life 2. To promote and strengthen collective self-reliance among the countries of South Asia 3. To contribute to mutual trust, understanding and appreciation of one another's problems 4. To work towards ending cross-border terrorism Select the correct answer using the code given below:

The correct answer is B, Nagpur. The Samruddhi Mahamarg, formally named after Balasaheb Thackeray, is an access-controlled expressway of about 701 kilometres built entirely within Maharashtra, joining Mumbai with Nagpur across the state and passing near several district headquarters of Marathwada and Vidarbha, which is why it is presented as a corridor of economic development rather than only a road. Option A, Pune, is connected to Mumbai by the older and much shorter Mumbai-Pune Expressway of about 94.5 kilometres, opened in 2002 as India's first access-controlled expressway, and that is the pairing most often confused with this one. Option C, Surat, lies on the Mumbai-Delhi route served by NH-48 and the new Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, and it is in Gujarat, not Maharashtra. Option D, Hyderabad, is linked to Mumbai by National Highway and lies in Telangana. Note that this expressway lies wholly within one state.

The correct answer is B, Uttar Pradesh. The Purvanchal Expressway runs about 340.8 kilometres from the Lucknow area to Ghazipur in the eastern part of the state and includes a runway stretch on which air force aircraft can land in an emergency, a feature that made it a favourite with question setters. Uttar Pradesh has the largest network of expressways among the states, including the Yamuna Expressway of 165 kilometres, the Agra-Lucknow Expressway of 302 kilometres, the Bundelkhand Expressway of 296 kilometres and the Ganga Expressway of 594 kilometres from Meerut to Prayagraj. Option A, Bihar, is crossed by National Highways but not by this expressway. Option C, Madhya Pradesh, carries a long stretch of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway. Option D, Maharashtra, has the Mumbai-Pune Expressway and the 701-kilometre Samruddhi Mahamarg from Mumbai to Nagpur. Match each expressway to its state before the exam, since that is the usual form of the question.

The correct answer is B, the Border Roads Organisation. The BRO was raised in 1960 to build and maintain the roads of the frontier regions, works under the Ministry of Defence, and has to its credit the Atal Tunnel under the Rohtang Pass as well as some of the highest motorable roads in Ladakh. Option A, the National Highways Authority of India, was constituted in 1988 and is responsible for the National Highways and most expressways, but it functions under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and is not a defence organisation. Option C, the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation, was created in 2014 and does take up roads in border and north-eastern areas, which makes it the cleverest distractor, but it too sits under the highways ministry and did not build this tunnel. Option D, the Central Public Works Department, builds government offices and residences, not strategic mountain roads.

The correct answer is A, odd numbers. In the system adopted in 2010, highways whose general alignment is east to west carry odd numbers, while those running north to south carry even numbers. NH-27, which runs from Porbandar in Gujarat to Silchar in Assam and is the longest east-west highway in the country, is the clearest illustration, as is NH-19 from Delhi to Kolkata. Option B reverses the rule and is the answer most often marked by mistake; even numbers belong to the north-south highways such as NH-44 from Srinagar to Kanyakumari, NH-16 along the east coast and NH-66 along the west coast. Note the order of the numbers too: even numbers increase from east to west and odd numbers increase from north to south. Option C is wrong because three-digit numbers are not a direction at all; they are given to the subsidiary routes of a main highway, so NH-344 is a branch connected with NH-44. Option D is wrong because letters are only suffixes, as in NH-966B, used to mark a spur or branch of the parent highway rather than to replace a number.

The correct answer is B, 1988. The National Highways Authority of India Act was passed in 1988, and the authority it created became operational in 1995; it develops, maintains and manages the National Highways entrusted to it and is the body behind the Golden Quadrilateral and most of the country's expressways, working under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. Option C, 1995, is the year it actually began functioning, which is the usual trap in this question, so keep the two dates in order: constituted in 1988, operational in 1995. Option A, 1956, is the year of the National Highways Act, the law under which a road is declared a National Highway and tolls are levied. Option D, 2017, is the year the Bharatmala Pariyojana was approved as the umbrella highway programme. Also remember the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation, set up in 2014 for border and north-eastern roads.