Regional Groupings

Statement I is Correct: The 16th BRICS Summit was held in Kazan, Russia, from October 22 to 24, 2024. Russia held the rotating chairship for the year 2024.

Statement II is Correct: Indonesia officially announced its intention to join BRICS and has been integrated into the bloc as a full member following the 16th Summit in Kazan, as part of the group's ongoing expansion to include key emerging economies from the Global South.

Statement III is Incorrect: The official theme of the 16th BRICS Summit was "Strengthening Multilateralism for Just Global Development and Security." The statement incorrectly uses the word "Multiculturalism," which changes the diplomatic meaning of the theme.

Statement I: Correct *BIMSTEC currently has seven members: Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal, and Bhutan.*

Statement II: Incorrect *BIMSTEC was established by the Bangkok Declaration in 1997, not the Dhaka Declaration in 1999.*

Statement III: Incorrect *Founding members were Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Myanmar; Nepal and Bhutan joined later.*

Statement IV: Incorrect *Nepal leads tourism subsector, not India; India leads sectors like Counter-Terrorism and Energy.*

Correct Answer: Only Statement I is correct.

The Assertion is Correct: The European Parliament officially approved the Net-Zero Industry Act in April 2024 to scale up the manufacturing of clean technologies within the EU.

The Reason is Incorrect: The European Union's target for achieving carbon neutrality is 2050 (as per the European Climate Law), not 2040, and the Act sets a target to meet 40% of its clean technology needs by 2030 rather than developing all of its own technology by 2040.

Statement-II is factually incorrect and therefore does not explain Statement-I.

The Assertion is Correct: The 'Trade and Technology Council' (TTC) was launched by the United States and the European Union during the EU-US Summit in Brussels on June 15, 2021. The Reason is Incorrect: The USA and EU do not aim to bring technological progress and physical productivity under their control; instead, the TTC aims to foster cooperation on digital transformation, supply chain resilience, and shared democratic values. Since the Reason is incorrect, it does not serve as an explanation for the Assertion.

* The Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) is an agreement, among all of the 27 member states of the European Union, to facilitate and maintain the economic stability of the EU countries.The European Commission and the Council of the European Union, monitors the fiscal condition of EU member countries from time to time to ensure their fiscal stability.

* Statement 1 is correct: It is true that SGP aims to level the budget deficits of European countries. The corrective arm of the Stability and Growth Pact ensures that Member States adopt appropriate policy responses to correct excessive deficits (and/or debts) by implementing the Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP). Also the SGP requires the EU Member States to lay out their fiscal plans for the next three years to limit their budget deficits.

* Statement 2 and 3 are incorrect: The SGP treaty does not require its members to share their infrastructure facilities nor their technologies with other countries. The purpose of the SGP was to ensure that fiscal discipline would be maintained and enforced in the European Union.

Statement 1 is Incorrect: Armenia is not a member of the Organization of Turkic States. Statement 2 is Correct: Azerbaijan is a founding member of the Organization of Turkic States. Statement 3 is Incorrect: Croatia is not a member of the Organization of Turkic States. Statement 4 is Incorrect: Romania is not a member of the Organization of Turkic States. Statement 5 is Correct: Uzbekistan is a full member of the Organization of Turkic States, having officially joined in 2019.

The Organization of Turkic States (formerly known as the Turkic Council) is an intergovernmental organization established to promote comprehensive cooperation among Turkic-speaking states. Its current full members are Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, and Uzbekistan. Hungary, Turkmenistan, and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus hold observer status.

* The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was adopted by the European Union (EU) in April 2016 and came into effect on 25th May 2018.

* The GDPR is a landmark regulation aimed at strengthening data protection and privacy rights for individuals within the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA).

* It sets strict guidelines on how personal data is collected, stored, and processed, and applies to organizations handling the data of EU citizens, regardless of where they are based.

* Australia, Canada, and the United States of America have their own data protection laws, but they are separate from GDPR.

Statement 1 is Incorrect: At the fourth BRICS Summit in New Delhi (2012), the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa considered the possibility of setting up a new Development Bank to mobilize resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS and other emerging economies, as well as in developing countries.

Statement 2 is Correct: The bank is headquartered in Shanghai, China.

Hence, option B is the correct answer.

The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) is an intergovernmental organization located in Luxembourg City, which operates under public international law for all eurozone Member States having ratified a special ESM intergovernmental treaty.

It was established on 27 September 2012 as a permanent firewall for the eurozone, to safeguard and provide instant access to financial assistance programmes for member states of the eurozone in financial difficulty, with a maximum lending capacity of 500 billion.

The Fortaleza Declaration is related to the affairs of the BRICS group of countries.

BRICS stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. The Fortaleza Declaration was signed during the Sixth BRICS Summit held in Fortaleza, Brazil, in July 2014.

Statement 1 is incorrect. IOR-ARC is a regional cooperation initiative of the Indian Ocean Rim countries. It was established in Mauritius in March 1997 with the aim of promoting economic and technical cooperation. IOR-ARC is the only pan-Indian ocean grouping. It brings together countries from three continents having different sizes, economic strengths, and a wide diversity of languages, cultures. Statement 2 is incorrect. It aims to create a platform for trade, socio-economic and cultural cooperation in the Indian Ocean rim area. The Indian Ocean Rim is rich in strategic and precious minerals, metals and other natural resources, marine resources and energy, all of which can be sourced from Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ), continental shelves and the deep seabed.

Statement 1 is Correct: Denmark is one of the eight member states of the Arctic Council, representing the Kingdom of Denmark, which includes Greenland and the Faroe Islands.

Statement 2 is Incorrect: Japan is not a member state; it holds observer status within the Arctic Council.

Statement 3 is Correct: The Russian Federation is a member state of the Arctic Council as it is one of the eight nations with sovereignty over lands within the Arctic Circle.

Statement 4 is Incorrect: The United Kingdom is an observer state, not a member state of the Arctic Council.

Statement 5 is Correct: The United States of America is a member state of the Arctic Council due to its territory in Alaska.

The Arctic Council consists of eight member states: Canada, the Kingdom of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, the Russian Federation, Sweden, and the United States.

India is a member of all the Organizations mentioned. Shanghai Cooperation Organisation: SCO has 10 full members: China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan (founding members), India, Pakistan (joined 2017), Iran (joined 2023), and Belarus (joined 2024).

Missile Technology Control Regime: India became a full member of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) on June 27, 2016, becoming the 35th partner country and strengthening international efforts to prevent the spread of missile technology.

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank: India joined the AIIB as a founding member in 2015, signing the Articles of Agreement on June 29, 2015, in Beijing, becoming one of the 50 initial signatories to establish the multilateral development bank. India is the second-largest shareholder in the AIIB after China.

Statement 1 is incorrect: The first BRIC Summit (before South Africa joined) was held in Yekaterinburg, Russia, in 2009 — not in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The grouping originally included Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC).

Statement 2 is correct: South Africa joined the group in 2011, turning BRIC into BRICS. It was indeed the last country to join the grouping, representing the African continent.