UPSC Prelims 2016 GS Paper I · Q51 of 100 Current Events easy

'Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres)', often in the news, is

  1. (a) a division of World Health Organization
  2. (b) a non-governmental international organization ✓ UPSC's answer
  3. (c) an inter-governmental agency sponsored by European Union
  4. (d) a specialized agency of the United Nations

Why the answer is (b)

• Médecins Sans Frontières, founded in Paris in 1971 by doctors and journalists, is an independent international medical humanitarian NGO that delivers emergency care in conflicts, epidemics and disasters — option (b).

• It won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999 and is funded mostly by private donations, which keeps it independent of governments.

• It is not part of WHO (a), the EU (c) or the UN (d).

• Hence option (b).

Why the other options are wrong

(a) a division of World Health Organization
MSF is independent of WHO.
(c) an inter-governmental agency sponsored by European Union
MSF is not an EU agency.
(d) a specialized agency of the United Nations
MSF is not a UN agency.

Asked in the GS Paper I of the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2016, held on 7 August 2016. 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.

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