UPSC Prelims 2018— Question 75

**Concept and analysis:** The Subsidiary Alliance system was designed to expand British political control, keep Indian rulers dependent on British military protection, maintain British troops at the ruler's expense and establish paramountcy. Securing a fixed income for the East India Company was not the defining objective of the system; its fiscal effects were tied to subsidiary payments or territorial assignments rather than a guaranteed fixed income as stated. The question is testing precise UPSC-level identification rather than a broad association. The key is to distinguish the exact institutional, constitutional, historical, geographical, economic or scientific feature being asked. **Option-wise evaluation** **Option A:** Incorrect. To maintain a large standing army at other’s expense is a different institution, place, definition, proposition or description and does not satisfy the specific requirement of the question. **Option B:** Incorrect. To keep India safe from Napoleonic danger is a different institution, place, definition, proposition or description and does not satisfy the specific requirement of the question. **Option C:** Correct. To secure a fixed income for the Company directly matches the concept or factual identification established in the analysis. **Option D:** Incorrect. To establish British paramountcy over the Indian States is a different institution, place, definition, proposition or description and does not satisfy the specific requirement of the question. **UPSC takeaway:** The safest way to solve this type of question is to anchor the answer in the defining feature of the concept and then test every option against that feature. Closely related institutions or terms are often used as distractors. In statement-based questions, do not judge the option as a whole before checking each statement independently. In factual questions, compare the wording of each option with the exact definition, location, institutional role, chronology or scientific property. The correct answer follows from that verification rather than from familiarity with a keyword.