Consider the following statements with regard to flags of International Organizations: 1. The flag of EU has a circle of gold stars on a white background 2. The flag of the UN carries two pairs of olive tree branches 3. The ASEAN flag carries blue, red, white and yellow colours How many of the above statements is/are correct?
- (a)Nil
- (b)1
- (c)2
- (d)3
Correct — B, exactly one of the three statements is right. Statement 1 is wrong: the European Union flag shows a circle of twelve gold stars on a blue (azure) background, not a white one. Statement 2 is wrong: the United Nations emblem is framed by a single wreath of two crossed olive branches — that is one pair, not 'two pairs'. Statement 3 is correct: the ASEAN flag does use four colours — blue, red, white and yellow (a bundle of ten yellow rice stalks in a red circle ringed with white, on a blue field). So only one statement holds, giving the count '1'.
- (a)Nil — At least one statement — the ASEAN four-colour statement — is definitely correct, so the count cannot be 'Nil'.
- (c)2 — This would need two correct statements, but both the EU statement (its background is blue, not white) and the UN statement (one pair of olive branches, not two) are false, leaving only one correct.
- (d)3 — All three cannot be correct because the EU-background and UN-olive-branch statements are each factually wrong.
The emblems of the three bodies are distinct. The European Union flag has twelve five-pointed gold stars in a circle on a blue field; the number twelve is a fixed symbol of unity and does not track membership. The United Nations flag carries the white UN emblem — a polar-projection world map inside a wreath of two olive branches (a symbol of peace) — on a light blue field. The ASEAN flag has ten yellow padi (rice) stalks in a red circle bordered by a white ring, on a blue field, using four colours.
The trap is that each statement swaps one detail. People misremember the EU background as white when it is blue, and the phrase 'two pairs' of olive branches sounds plausible although the UN wreath is only a single pair. Only the ASEAN four-colour statement survives, so the count is one.
- The European Union flag has twelve gold stars in a circle on a blue background; the number twelve is symbolic and fixed, not the member count.
- The United Nations emblem is a world map (azimuthal projection centred on the North Pole) enclosed by two olive branches, on a light blue field.
- The olive branches on the UN emblem symbolise peace.
- The ASEAN flag's four colours are blue, red, white and yellow; its ten rice stalks represent the ten member states.
Only the ASEAN colours statement holds, so exactly one of the three is correct.
- Assuming the twelve stars on the EU flag equal the number of member states — the count is fixed at twelve.
- Reading 'two pairs' of olive branches as correct — the UN wreath is a single pair of two branches.
Asked as statement-count ('how many are correct') items on the symbols, colours and emblems of international organizations.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The twelve stars on the flag of the European Union represent
- (a)the twelve founding members
- (b)the twelve months of the year
- (c)unity, solidarity and harmony — the number is symbolic and fixed
- (d)the twelve official languages
Answer(c) unity, solidarity and harmony — twelve is a symbolic, fixed number, not the member count.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The ten stalks of padi (rice) in the ASEAN emblem stand for
- (a)ten founding principles
- (b)the ten member states bound together
- (c)ten years of ASEAN
- (d)ten official languages
Answer(b) the ten member states of ASEAN, bound together in friendship and solidarity.