UPSC CIVIL SERVICES PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION
UPSC Prelims 2024— Question 55
Q55
Question
With reference to the sectors of the Indian economy, consider the following pairs: Economic activity — Sector: 1. Storage of agricultural produce — Secondary; 2. Dairy farm — Primary; 3. Mineral exploration — Tertiary; 4. Weaving cloth — Secondary. How many of the pairs given above are correctly matched?
AnswerOption B
Explanation
The correct answer is option (B). Storage of agricultural produce is a service activity and is classified in the tertiary sector, so pair 1 is wrong. Dairy farming is primary, mineral exploration is part of the primary/extractive sector rather than tertiary, and weaving cloth is secondary. Therefore only two pairs are correctly matched: dairy farming and weaving. The key to this question is to distinguish the exact constitutional provision, factual association, scientific principle, or current-affairs detail being tested from statements that are partly true but incomplete or incorrectly framed. UPSC often makes the distractors plausible by changing one institutional role, date, classification, geographic association, or causal relationship. Option A — “Only one” is incorrect. It does not match the established fact or contains the incorrect combination, institution, relationship, classification, or proposition identified in the explanation above. Choosing it would therefore introduce a factual error or omit a necessary element. Option B — “Only two” is correct. It matches the established fact described above and gives the complete combination or identification required by the question. Option C — “Only three” is incorrect. It does not match the established fact or contains the incorrect combination, institution, relationship, classification, or proposition identified in the explanation above. Choosing it would therefore introduce a factual error or omit a necessary element. Option D — “All four” is incorrect. It does not match the established fact or contains the incorrect combination, institution, relationship, classification, or proposition identified in the explanation above. Choosing it would therefore introduce a factual error or omit a necessary element. For examination purposes, the safest approach is to verify each statement independently before looking at the answer-code combination. This is particularly important in statement-based questions, because one false clause makes an entire combination wrong. In factual questions, compare the defining characteristic asked in the stem with each alternative rather than relying on superficial familiarity. The answer recorded here follows the verified Set C key used for this database.
Question Classification
SubjectEconomy
TopicBasic Economics
SubtopicEconomic Development
Question TypeMatching / Multi-statement
Difficultymoderate
VerificationVerified