UPSC Prelims 2018— Question 73

**Concept and analysis:** Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, a French traveller and gem merchant, provided detailed descriptions of India's diamond mines and diamond trade. His accounts are particularly valuable for understanding diamond-producing regions and the commercial networks of the seventeenth century. Bernier, Thevenot and Carré wrote important travel accounts but are not the traveller specifically associated with the detailed diamond discussion in this question. The question is testing precise UPSC-level identification rather than a broad association. The key is to distinguish the exact institutional, constitutional, historical, geographical, economic or scientific feature being asked. **Option-wise evaluation** **Option A:** Incorrect. Francois Bernier is a different institution, place, definition, proposition or description and does not satisfy the specific requirement of the question. **Option B:** Correct. Jean-Baptiste Tavernier directly matches the concept or factual identification established in the analysis. **Option C:** Incorrect. Jean de Thevenot is a different institution, place, definition, proposition or description and does not satisfy the specific requirement of the question. **Option D:** Incorrect. Abbe Barthelemy Carre is a different institution, place, definition, proposition or description and does not satisfy the specific requirement of the question. **UPSC takeaway:** The safest way to solve this type of question is to anchor the answer in the defining feature of the concept and then test every option against that feature. Closely related institutions or terms are often used as distractors. In statement-based questions, do not judge the option as a whole before checking each statement independently. In factual questions, compare the wording of each option with the exact definition, location, institutional role, chronology or scientific property. The correct answer follows from that verification rather than from familiarity with a keyword.