UPSC Prelims 2018— Question 80

**Concept and analysis:** Dinabandhu Mitra wrote Neel Darpan in the early 1860s, earlier than Satyendranath Tagore's success in the Indian Civil Service in 1863 and much earlier than Arya Samaj (1875) and Anandamath (1882). Therefore Neel Darpan is the earliest event among the four. 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. Swami Dayanand established AryaSamaj. is a different institution, place, definition, proposition or description and does not satisfy the specific requirement of the question. **Option B:** Correct. Dinabandhu Mitra wrote Neeldarpan. directly matches the concept or factual identification established in the analysis. **Option C:** Incorrect. Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote Anandmath. is a different institution, place, definition, proposition or description and does not satisfy the specific requirement of the question. **Option D:** Incorrect. Satyendranath Tagore became the first Indian to succeed in the Indian Civil Services Examination. 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.