Answer: B

Explanation:

Statement 1 is incorrect: The 1996 Ganges Water Sharing Treaty was signed for a fixed tenure of 30 years and is set to expire in December 2026. It is currently under review, making it a critical, non-permanent diplomatic issue rather than an indefinite treaty.

Statement 2 is incorrect: The Padma Barrage Project is fully financed and executed by Bangladesh internally. Bangladesh's Ministry of Water Resources noted that the infrastructure serves its national interest to assert lower-riparian rights and did not involve bilateral co-financing with India.

Statement 3 is correct: The core utility of the project is to harvest and store approximately 2,900 million cubic metres of water. This will directly reverse dry-season water scarcity, optimize crop irrigation, and reduce the regional over-extraction of groundwater across the affected delta zones.

Answer: B

Explanation:

Statement 1 is correct: The Ganga River modifies its nomenclature as it enters transboundary territory, flowing through Bangladesh under the name Padma River.

Statement 2 is incorrect: The proposed 2.1-km Padma Barrage will be built approximately 180 km downstream of India's Farakka Barrage, not upstream. It sits entirely within Bangladesh's borders (Rajbari district) to safeguard lower-riparian water allocation.

Statement 3 is correct: India built the Farakka Barrage in West Bengal specifically to channel up to 40,000 cusecs of water into the Feeder Canal connecting to the Bhagirathi-Hooghly River. This flushing mechanism clears silt buildup and preserves vital navigation lanes for the Kolkata Port.

Answer: A

Explanation:

Statement 1 is correct: Despite an impressive overall growth of Indian institutions in the QS World University Rankings 2027, no Indian institute has managed to breach the top 100 globally. This is primarily because of systemic deficits in international faculty ratios, student diversity, and the heavily-weighted academic reputation metric.

Statement 2 is correct: IIT-Delhi climbed five places to reach the 118th rank, officially becoming the top institution in India. Its success was bolstered by excellent employment outcomes, citations per faculty, and employer reputation.

Statement 3 is incorrect: The parameter "Citations per Faculty" is one of the key performance indicators used by QS to measure research impact and output, not teaching quality. Indian institutions historically perform very well in this specific metric.

Answer: B

Explanation:

Statement 1 is incorrect: India is ranked 5th globally in terms of the total number of institutions featured in the list (52 universities), trailing behind the United States, United Kingdom, China, and Germany.

Statement 2 is correct: The IITs continue to dominate India's higher education landscape. In the latest rankings, a substantial share of the top Indian institutions were IITs, with many holding positions within the global top 500.

Statement 3 is incorrect: India's presence in the rankings has not declined. In fact, it has expanded considerably. Over the past decade, India’s presence has increased by 271%, rising from only 11 featured institutions in 2015 to 52 institutions in 2027.

Answer: C

Explanation:

Statement 1 is incorrect: While the overall defence production indeed crossed a record ₹1.78 lakh crore in FY 2025–26, the private sector's share reached a record high of 24% (amounting to ₹42,000 crore). Therefore, the private sector's share is well above 10%.

Statement 2 is correct: Although the private sector's contribution is growing, Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) and other public sector units continue to dominate the sector, holding approximately 76% of the total production share in 2025–26.

Statement 3 is correct: India's push for indigenous manufacturing and defence exports yielded substantial results, with defence exports reaching a record high of ₹38,424 crore in FY 2025–26.

Answer: A

Explanation:

Statement 1 is correct: The CETA covers more than 99% of tariff lines in goods trade. The UK will eliminate tariffs on almost all Indian exports, while India provides greater market access in sectors like machinery, defence, and advanced manufacturing.

Statement 2 is correct: The Double Contribution Convention (DCC) allows Indian professionals working in the UK to be exempted from paying UK National Insurance for up to 3 years. This prevents them from having to make dual contributions to both Indian and UK social security systems.

Statement 3 is incorrect: India currently maintains a trade surplus with the UK India-UK Vision 2035 and CETA - Drishti IAS. Bilateral trade currently stands at $56 billion (with India’s exports exceeding its imports from the UK). While the UK will eliminate tariffs on Indian goods, it is India that has the surplus.