CDS (II) 2024 General Knowledge · Question 114 of 120

Correct — C, Sagar Manthan is a mission launched by Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Government of India, to increase fish production. Sagar Manthan is not a fisheries mission at all. It is the real-time performance monitoring dashboard of the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, built in-house and inaugurated in 2023, which pulls together data from the ministry and its subsidiaries so that projects, key performance indicators, Maritime India Vision targets and financial and operational parameters can be watched as they move. Fish production belongs to a different ministry altogether — Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying — and its flagship there is the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana. The other three statements hold. Sagar Setu is the ministry's mobile application for port users, aimed at the ease of doing business. Harit Sagar is the green port guidelines framework, whose stated aim is a zero carbon emission goal. And Costa Serena was described by the ministry as the first international cruise liner in India when its domestic sailings from Mumbai were flagged off in November 2023.

• (a)SAGAR-SETU is a mobile app, which aims to improve the Ease of Doing Business. — Correct as stated. Sagar Setu is the ministry's mobile application giving port users access to services and approvals in one place.
• (b)Harit Sagar aims at achieving Zero Carbon Emission Goal. — Correct. Harit Sagar is the green port guidelines framework, aimed at cutting emissions at ports and moving them towards a zero carbon emission goal.
• (d)Costa Serena is the first international cruise liner in India. — This matches the ministry's own description when Costa Serena's domestic sailings from Mumbai were flagged off in November 2023, opening international-standard coastal cruising on the Mumbai-Goa-Lakshadweep-Kochi routes.

The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways has run a cluster of similarly named initiatives, which is what makes these items hard. Sagarmala is the port-led development programme; Sagar Setu is a mobile application for port users; Harit Sagar is the green port guidelines; Sagar Manthan is a performance dashboard; and Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047 is the long-term blueprint that succeeded Maritime India Vision 2030. Fisheries, despite the maritime flavour of the names, sits with an entirely separate ministry.

The reliable method with a family of look-alike names is to ask what kind of thing each one is — an app, a guideline, a dashboard, a vision document — and then check whether the stated purpose fits that kind. A dashboard cannot be a mission to raise fish production, and that mismatch is visible without knowing anything else about Sagar Manthan. The deeper point is a ministry boundary worth remembering: ports and shipping are one ministry, fisheries another, and the Matsya Sampada scheme belongs to the second. Worth flagging: UPSC has not released a key for this paper, and some answer keys in circulation mark (d). The claim in (d) matches the language used when that vessel's Indian sailings were flagged off, whereas the description in (c) misstates what the dashboard is for, so this card takes (c).

• Sagar Manthan is the real-time performance monitoring dashboard of the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, inaugurated in 2023 and developed in-house.
• Sagar Setu is the ministry's mobile application for port users; Harit Sagar is its green port guidelines framework.
• Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana, the fisheries flagship, belongs to the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying.
• Costa Serena's domestic sailings from Mumbai were flagged off in November 2023 and described by the ministry as the first international cruise liner in India.

• Matching a maritime-sounding name to fisheries because both concern the sea.
• Confusing Sagar Setu, Sagar Manthan and Sagarmala with one another.
• Assuming the ministry that runs ports also runs fishing harbours and fish production programmes.

As a which-statement-is-not-correct item mixing four ministry initiatives, or as a name-to-description match.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana is administered by

  • (a)the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways
  • (b)the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying
  • (c)the Ministry of Jal Shakti
  • (d)the Ministry of Earth Sciences

  Answer(b) the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying — fisheries is a separate ministry from ports and shipping.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Sagarmala, the flagship programme of the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, is aimed at

  • (a)port-led development
  • (b)deep-sea fishing
  • (c)coastal afforestation
  • (d)desalination of seawater

  Answer(a) port-led development — port modernisation, connectivity, industrialisation near the coast and coastal community development.