International Relations Mixed Practice — MCQs with Answers (Set 19)

India, Iran, and Russia signed the founding INSTC agreement in St. Petersburg in 2000, ratifying it in 2002.

The INSTC links India to Central Asia and Europe via Iran, through Iran’s Chabahar Port and onward through the Caspian Sea to Russia.

The CDS is Permanent Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee and Principal Military Adviser to the Defence Minister on tri-service matters. Statement 2 is wrong: the CDS does not exercise military command, including over the three Service Chiefs — the role is advisory and coordinating.

UPSC CSP 2024 GS Paper I, Q77.

The answer is 3 only. Major, Squadron Leader and Lieutenant Commander match. Brigadier matches Commodore, not Commander. Major General matches Rear Admiral, not Vice Admiral. Lieutenant Colonel matches Commander and Wing Commander, not Captain and Group Captain.

The WTO generally operates by consensus, rather than majority voting, meaning all members must agree for a decision to pass.

The WTO was established in 1995, with its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. India is a founding member.

BHARATPOL was built by the CBI and launched on 7 January 2025 at Bharat Mandapam, Delhi. It uses “Connect” and “Broadcast” modules to speed up Indian agencies’ requests for INTERPOL notices and cross-border assistance on issues like trafficking, cyber fraud, and terrorism.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) serves as India’s National Central Bureau, the official point of contact for all INTERPOL-related matters. India joined INTERPOL in 1949.

The Silver Notice, launched as a pilot on 7 January 2025, is used to identify, track, and trace criminal assets across borders — the newest addition to INTERPOL’s notice system.

A Red Notice is a request to national law enforcement agencies to locate and provisionally arrest a person, pending extradition. INTERPOL itself has no police force and no arrest power — a Red Notice is not an international arrest warrant, despite the common misconception.

A Black Notice is used to seek information on unidentified bodies. It is one of INTERPOL’s eight colour-coded notices.

The BIMSTEC Technology Transfer Facility is hosted in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The hosting agreement was signed in 2022 and entered into force in March 2025.

The BIMSTEC Cultural Industries Observatory is hosted in Thimphu, Bhutan, established following an MoU at the 2014 BIMSTEC Summit.

All three are voluntary, informal and non-binding. Their participation and geographical scope differ.

The Colombo Process groups Asian origin-country members. The ADD connects origin and destination countries, while the GFMD has global scope.

None of those descriptions makes their dialogue outcomes legally binding rulings. The binding-rulings option therefore reverses their common character.

The GFMD’s global participation also rules out limiting all three forums to South Asia. Their consultative character does not make them Security Council subsidiary bodies.

Compare the three forums’ participation, focus and shared non-binding character.

Sources: IOM: Colombo Process operating modalities · Sri Lanka: ADD membership and permanent secretariat · GFMD: original first-meeting report

The United Arab Emirates provides the Abu Dhabi Dialogue’s permanent secretariat.

The permanent secretariat supports the continuing work of the dialogue. The chairing arrangements provide, in principle, for alternation between sending and receiving countries.

A country’s temporary chairmanship therefore differs from hosting the permanent secretariat. India, Sri Lanka and the Philippines do not replace the UAE as the answer.

Do not confuse the ADD with the Colombo Process. IOM serves as the Colombo Process secretariat.

Compare the ADD’s UAE secretariat and rotating chair with the Colombo Process secretariat.

Sources: Sri Lanka: ADD membership and permanent secretariat · Colombo Process: IOM secretariat · MEA: migration cooperation

Kofi Annan proposed the forum in 2006. The proposal developed during the UN High-Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development.

The first GFMD meeting followed in Brussels in July 2007. Distinguish the proposal year from the meeting year.

Ban Ki-moon, Antonio Guterres and Boutros Boutros-Ghali are not the proposer asked for in this question.

The GFMD’s connection with a UN Secretary-General does not make it a Security Council subsidiary body.

Review the GFMD’s proposal, first meeting and institutional character.

Sources: GFMD: original first-meeting report · United Nations: meeting chronology

Destination is the missing word. The Abu Dhabi Dialogue connects countries sending workers with countries receiving them for employment.

A transit country lies along a journey. A return country describes a later movement back.

Neither word supplies the origin–destination pairing used to define the ADD. “Recruitment oversight” describes an activity, rather than the destination side of the pairing.

The forum’s focus is temporary contractual labour mobility. Origin and destination authorities can cooperate across different stages of the worker’s employment journey.

Read the Gulf context for Indian workers abroad and how the ADD connects origin and destination countries.

Sources: Sri Lanka: ADD membership and permanent secretariat · MEA: migration cooperation

A non-binding forum where member states decide by consensus describes the Colombo Process.

Consensus explains the method of agreement. Non-binding explains the legal effect of the recommendation.

The forum brings together Asian countries of labour origin. India and Sri Lanka are participants within a wider membership.

That membership rules out describing it as a bilateral agreement between those two countries. Its operating modalities also rule out a binding UN treaty.

The Colombo Process is a consultative process, rather than a Security Council resolution mechanism.

Explore Colombo Process membership, decisions and IOM’s secretariat role.

Sources: IOM: Colombo Process operating modalities · Colombo Process: IOM secretariat

Statements 2 and 3 only are correct. Statement 1 contains the decisive error: “binding”.

The Colombo Process does make decisions by consensus. Its outcomes remain non-binding, so consensus does not rescue statement 1.

The Abu Dhabi Dialogue connects Asian countries of labour origin and destination. It is voluntary and non-binding, making statement 2 correct.

The GFMD grew from Kofi Annan’s proposal and is a voluntary, non-binding forum. Statement 3 is therefore correct.

Options including statement 1 fail because they retain the word “binding”. “2 only” fails because statement 3 also fits the GFMD.

Review why consensus and legal enforceability are separate questions.

Sources: IOM: Colombo Process operating modalities · Sri Lanka: ADD membership and permanent secretariat · GFMD: original first-meeting report

The correct answer is it admitted the African Union as a permanent G20 member.

The G20 operates by consensus among its members, not majority vote, and it has never suspended or expelled a member, including Russia, despite the Ukraine conflict. The genuine, historic outcome of the 2023 New Delhi Summit was admitting the African Union as a permanent member — giving a continent of over 50 countries a seat at the table for the first time.

India launched the Global Biofuel Alliance on 9 September 2023. The place was the sidelines of the G20 Summit in New Delhi. A Head Quarters Agreement for its Secretariat in India followed in October 2024.

India’s cumulative fertiliser stock stood at 196.08 lakh tonnes as of 22 June 2026, up from 168.67 lakh tonnes the year before.

Four cargo ships carrying Urea, Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP), and Sulphur crossed the Strait of Hormuz in June 2026, heading to Indian ports.

The correct answer is nearly 2.37 million. Justice V. Ramasubramanian cited this figure for cases NHRC India has handled since its founding in 1993. He gave this figure at the first SCO NHRIs consultative meeting, in Bishkek, on 23 June 2026.

The correct answer is Abiy Ahmed Ali. PM Modi congratulated Ethiopia’s PM and the Prosperity Party on 23 June 2026. They won a decisive victory in Ethiopia’s parliamentary elections. Modi expressed intent to strengthen the India-Ethiopia Strategic Partnership further.