UPSC Prelims 2016 GS Paper I · Q72 of 100 Current Events easy

'Belt and Road Initiative' is sometimes mentioned in the news in the context of the affairs of

  1. (a) African Union
  2. (b) Brazil
  3. (c) European Union
  4. (d) China ✓ UPSC's answer

Why the answer is (d)

• The Belt and Road Initiative (formerly One Belt One Road), announced by President Xi Jinping in 2013, is China's trillion-dollar programme of roads, railways, ports and pipelines linking Asia, Europe and Africa through the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-century Maritime Silk Road — option (d).

• India has refused to join, chiefly because the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

• Hence option (d).

Why the other options are wrong

(a) African Union
BRI is Chinese, though African countries participate.
(b) Brazil
Brazil has no such initiative.
(c) European Union
The EU has its own 'Global Gateway', not BRI.

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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