Surya Kiran is a joint military exercise between India and:

Correct — D, Nepal. Surya Kiran is the annual bilateral army exercise between India and Nepal, held alternately in the two countries at battalion level. Its themes are jungle warfare, counter-terrorism operations in mountainous terrain and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, all of which suit the shared Himalayan terrain and the long tradition of Gorkha service in the Indian Army. The editions are useful as dates: the sixteenth was held in December 2022 at the Nepal Army Battle School, Saljhandi, and the eighteenth ran from December 2024 into January 2025, a few months before this paper was written, so the number rises by one each year. Sort the other three by their own exercise names and none of them can be Surya Kiran: India and Bangladesh hold Sampriti, India and Singapore hold Bold Kurukshetra with the army and SIMBEX at sea, and Bhutan has no exercise of this name with India. One caution about the words rather than the countries — the Indian Air Force's aerobatic display team is also called Surya Kiran, and it is not a joint exercise with anyone.

• (a)Bangladesh — India and Bangladesh hold Sampriti, an army exercise, along with the Bongosagar naval exercise. Sampriti is the name to attach to Bangladesh.
• (b)Bhutan — India's defence relationship with Bhutan runs through the Indian Military Training Team and border management rather than a named bilateral exercise of this kind.
• (c)Singapore — India and Singapore hold Bold Kurukshetra with the armies, SIMBEX at sea and Joint Military Training with the air forces. None of them is Surya Kiran.

India runs named bilateral and multilateral exercises with dozens of partners, and each name is effectively a country code. A small set recurs in examinations: Surya Kiran with Nepal, Sampriti with Bangladesh, Mitra Shakti with Sri Lanka, Yudh Abhyas with the United States, Garuda Shakti with Indonesia, Hand-in-Hand with China, Indra with Russia, Al Nagah with Oman. Most are army exercises; the navies and air forces have their own separate sets.

There is nothing to reason out here, so the question is really about how the names were learned. Learning them as a list invites exactly the swap the paper is fishing for. Learning them with one concrete detail each makes them stick: Surya Kiran comes with Saljhandi and the Nepal Army Battle School, Mitra Shakti with Aundh in Pune, Yudh Abhyas with Alaska and Auli. The India-Nepal military relationship has its own distinctive marks worth knowing alongside the exercise — the two armies confer honorary General rank on each other's chiefs, and the Gorkha regiments recruit across the open border.

• Surya Kiran is the annual India-Nepal bilateral army exercise, held at battalion level and alternately in each country.
• Its themes are jungle warfare, counter-terrorism operations in mountainous terrain, and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.
• The 16th edition was held in December 2022 at the Nepal Army Battle School, Saljhandi.
• The 18th edition ran from December 2024 into January 2025, shortly before the CDS (I) 2025 examination of 13 April 2025.
• Sampriti is with Bangladesh, Mitra Shakti with Sri Lanka, Yudh Abhyas with the United States, and Bold Kurukshetra with Singapore.
• The Indian Air Force's aerobatic display team shares the name Surya Kiran but is not a joint exercise.

• Confusing the exercise Surya Kiran with the Indian Air Force's aerobatic team of the same name.
• Swapping partner countries across exercise names, which is what three of the four options here are for.
• Assuming any Sanskrit-named exercise involving mountains must be with a Himalayan neighbour other than Nepal.

As an exercise-to-country item like this one, or as statements giving an edition number, a venue and a stated aim and asking which are correct.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Exercise Sampriti is a joint military exercise between India and which country?

  • (a)Nepal
  • (b)Bangladesh
  • (c)Sri Lanka
  • (d)Myanmar

  Answer(b) Bangladesh — Sampriti is the India-Bangladesh army exercise; the naval counterpart is Bongosagar.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Exercise Yudh Abhyas is conducted by India with which one of the following countries?

  • (a)Russia
  • (b)France
  • (c)United States
  • (d)Japan

  Answer(c) United States — Yudh Abhyas is the annual India-United States army exercise, held alternately in each country.