UPSC Prelims 2015 GS Paper I · Q73 of 100 General Science medium

The term 'IndARC', sometimes seen in the news, is the name of

  1. (a) an indigenously developed radar system inducted into Indian Defence
  2. (b) India's satellite to provide services to the countries of Indian Ocean Rim
  3. (c) a scientific establishment set up by India in Antarctic region
  4. (d) India's underwater observatory to scientifically study the Arctic region ✓ UPSC's answer

Why the answer is (d)

• IndARC, deployed in July 2014 by NCAOR and NIOT in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard, is India's first underwater moored observatory in the Arctic, measuring temperature, salinity and currents to study Arctic processes and their links to the Indian monsoon — option (d).

• India's Antarctic stations (c) are Maitri and Bharati; IndARC is not a radar (a) or a satellite (b).

• Hence option (d).

Why the other options are wrong

(a) an indigenously developed radar system inducted into Indian Defence
IndARC is not a radar system.
(b) India's satellite to provide services to the countries of Indian Ocean Rim
IndARC is not a satellite.
(c) a scientific establishment set up by India in Antarctic region
India's Antarctic bases are Maitri and Bharati; IndARC is in the Arctic.

Asked in the GS Paper I of the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2015, held on 23 August 2015. Question and answer key: Union Public Service Commission. Explanation: UPSC Answer Check.

Reading the answer is not the same as getting it right under a clock. Practise this question with UPSC's negative marking, and anything you miss goes into an error notebook until you get it right twice.

Practise this paper free