UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — ‘Possibility of Tarique’s India visit slim without dignified invitation’

Q1. When India, as BRICS chair, held an Outreach Summit at Goa at which BRICS leaders met the leaders of the entire Bay of Bengal grouping, the leaders of how many countries formed that regional grouping's side?

  • A. Five countries, being the founding signatories of the grouping's declaration
  • B. Six countries, one for each of the grouping's original sectors
  • C. Seven countries, the full membership of the grouping at that time
  • D. Eight countries, including the grouping's dialogue partner

Q2. Which one of the following bodies steers the preparatory process — including the Sherpas' meetings — for India's 2026 BRICS chairship?

  • A. NITI Aayog, which alone coordinates every plurilateral engagement of the Union Government
  • B. The Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India
  • C. The Department of Economic Affairs, which handles all summit-level negotiations without exception
  • D. The Department of Commerce, the permanent nodal agency for all Indian multilateral summitry

Q3. In the context of the BRICS summit process, the term 'Sherpa' refers to which one of the following?

  • A. A senior official nominated by each member country to steer preparations and negotiate the summit's outcome documents
  • B. The resident ambassador of each member in the chair country, who exclusively handles all summit logistics
  • C. The rotating head of the New Development Bank, who necessarily presides over every ministerial track
  • D. The serving foreign minister of the chair country, who is the sole authority on the summit agenda

Q4. Who headed Bangladesh's interim administration, as its Chief Adviser, in the phase following the departure of Sheikh Hasina and before the present elected government took office?

  • A. Professor Muhammad Yunus, who met the Indian Prime Minister on the sidelines of a BIMSTEC Summit
  • B. Tarique Rahman, who was later sworn in at the head of a Bangladesh Nationalist Party government
  • C. Humaiun Kobir, who serves in the Bangladesh Nationalist Party's International Affairs Committee
  • D. Khaleda Zia, a former Prime Minister of Bangladesh and the party's long-standing chairperson

Q5. The first structured bilateral engagement with Dhaka after the change of government there — Foreign Office Consultations, including calls on the Chief Adviser and the Foreign Affairs Adviser — was led from the Indian side by the holder of which office, and by whom?

  • A. Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri
  • B. High Commissioner to Bangladesh Dinesh Trivedi
  • C. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar
  • D. MEA Official Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal

Q6. The acronym BIMSTEC, as used for the Bay of Bengal grouping headquartered at Dhaka, expands to which one of the following?

  • A. Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation
  • B. Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multilateral Trade and Economic Cooperation
  • C. Bay of Bengal Integrated Mechanism for Strategic, Trade and Energy Cooperation
  • D. Bay of Bengal Initiative for Maritime Security, Transport and Economic Cooperation

Q7. Cooperation under the Bay of Bengal grouping, which began with a limited set of sectors, was subsequently expanded to how many areas of cooperation?

  • A. Six
  • B. Seven
  • C. Fourteen
  • D. Sixteen

Q8. Consider the following statements about officials associated with recent India-Bangladesh engagement: 1. Humaiun Kobir is Foreign Affairs Adviser to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh and Joint Secretary General of the ruling party's International Affairs Committee. 2. Randhir Jaiswal heads the External Publicity and Public Diplomacy Division of India's Ministry of External Affairs and is its Official Spokesperson. 3. Vikram Misri, in his capacity as India's High Commissioner to Bangladesh, was accorded Cabinet-rank status. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. Humaiun Kobir is Foreign Affairs Adviser to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh and Joint Secretary General of the ruling party's International Affairs Committee.
  2. Randhir Jaiswal heads the External Publicity and Public Diplomacy Division of India's Ministry of External Affairs and is its Official Spokesperson.
  3. Vikram Misri, in his capacity as India's High Commissioner to Bangladesh, was accorded Cabinet-rank status.
  • A. 1 only
  • B. 1 and 2 only
  • C. 2 and 3 only
  • D. 1, 2 and 3

Q9. The officer of India's Ministry of External Affairs who addresses the Weekly Media Briefings in the capacity of Official Spokesperson simultaneously heads which division of the Ministry?

  • A. The Policy Planning and Research Division
  • B. The External Publicity and Public Diplomacy Division
  • C. The Protocol Division
  • D. The Consular, Passport and Visa Division

Q10. Which one of the following was the latest country to be admitted as a full member of BRICS?

  • A. Indonesia
  • B. Egypt
  • C. Ethiopia
  • D. United Arab Emirates

Q11. The rules governing the establishment of permanent diplomatic missions between States, and the accreditation of envoys and their privileges and immunities, are codified in which one of the following instruments?

  • A. The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, adopted in 1961
  • B. The Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, adopted in 1963
  • C. The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, adopted in 1969
  • D. The Vienna Convention on the Representation of States, adopted in 1975