UPSC Prelims 2021— Question 17

A state, in political science, combines a population, definite territory, organized government and sovereignty or independence from external control. Option A most closely states these classic elements. Option B describes an organized political community but does not clearly capture sovereignty; C focuses on long residence and culture, which are not essential elements; D incorrectly narrows the state to a particular institutional form. The final answer-key position for Set C identifies option A as the correct option. Option A — A community of persons permanently occupying a definite territory independent of external control and possessing an organized government — is correct because it is the alternative that matches the constitutional, historical, geographical, scientific or economic principle established above. Option B — A politically organized people of a definite territory and possessing an authority to govern them, maintain law and order, protect their natural rights and safeguard their means of sustenance — 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 — A number of persons who have been living in a definite territory for a very long time with their own culture, tradition and government — 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 — A society permanently living in a definite territory with a central authority, an executive responsible to the central authority and an independent judiciary — 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. 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.