UPSC Prelims 2024— Question 97

The correct answer is option (A). Rainwater contains dissolved carbon dioxide and atmospheric oxygen. Both contribute to weathering: carbon dioxide promotes carbonic-acid formation and oxygen supports oxidation reactions. Thus both statements 2 and 3 are correct and both help explain statement 1. 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 — “Both statements-2 and statement-3 are correct and both of them explain statement-1” is correct. It matches the established fact described above and gives the complete combination or identification required by the question. Option B — “Both statements-2 and statement-3 are correct, but only one of them explains statement-1” 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 C — “Only one of the statements 2 and 3 is correct and that explains statement-1” 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 — “Neither Statement-2 nor Statement-3 is correct” 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.