UPSC Prelims 2021— Question 7

Hyderabad was recognized as a 2020 Tree City of the World by the Arbor Day Foundation and UN-linked urban forestry initiative, reflecting its urban forest efforts. The recognition relates to commitment to planting, conserving and managing urban trees. The second statement explains the basis of the recognition, so both statements are correct and the explanatory relationship is accepted. The final answer-key position for Set C identifies option D as the correct option. Option A — Both Statement 1 and Statement 2 are correct and Statement 2 is the correct explanation for Statement 1 — is not correct because it does not satisfy the specific condition tested in the question; it represents an alternative that is contradicted, incomplete, or less precise than the accepted answer. Option B — Both Statement 1 and Statement 2 are correct but Statement 2 is not the correct explanation for Statement 1 — is not correct because it does not satisfy the specific condition tested in the question; it represents an alternative that is contradicted, incomplete, or less precise than the accepted answer. Option C — Statement 1 is correct but Statement 2 is not correct — is not correct because it does not satisfy the specific condition tested in the question; it represents an alternative that is contradicted, incomplete, or less precise than the accepted answer. Option D — Statement 1 is not correct but Statement 2 is correct — is correct because it is the alternative that matches the constitutional, historical, geographical, scientific or economic principle established above. For PYQ interpretation, the distinction between the correct alternative and merely related facts is important. UPSC often places plausible distractors beside the precise statement that matches the underlying rule, chronology, definition or empirical relationship. The answer should therefore be read against the exact wording of the question rather than against a broadly related fact.