UPSC Prelims 2024— Question 25

The correct answer is option (C). Inter-State quarantine is a Union List subject under Entry 81 of the Seventh Schedule. Inter-State trade and commerce is also a Union subject, inter-State migration is not a State List subject, and corporation tax is a Union tax. Therefore only option C is correct. The key to this question is to distinguish the exact constitutional provision, factual association, scientific principle, or current-affairs detail being tested from statements that are partly true but incomplete or incorrectly framed. UPSC often makes the distractors plausible by changing one institutional role, date, classification, geographic association, or causal relationship. Option A — “Inter-State trade and commerce is a State subject under the State List” is incorrect. It does not match the established fact or contains the incorrect combination, institution, relationship, classification, or proposition identified in the explanation above. Choosing it would therefore introduce a factual error or omit a necessary element. Option B — “Inter-State migration is a State subject under the State List” is incorrect. It does not match the established fact or contains the incorrect combination, institution, relationship, classification, or proposition identified in the explanation above. Choosing it would therefore introduce a factual error or omit a necessary element. Option C — “Inter-State quarantine is a Union subject under the Union List” is correct. It matches the established fact described above and gives the complete combination or identification required by the question. Option D — “Corporation tax is a State subject under the State List” is incorrect. It does not match the established fact or contains the incorrect combination, institution, relationship, classification, or proposition identified in the explanation above. Choosing it would therefore introduce a factual error or omit a necessary element. For examination purposes, the safest approach is to verify each statement independently before looking at the answer-code combination. This is particularly important in statement-based questions, because one false clause makes an entire combination wrong. In factual questions, compare the defining characteristic asked in the stem with each alternative rather than relying on superficial familiarity. The answer recorded here follows the verified Set C key used for this database.