In which of the following districts of U.P. a major solar power plant was established in collaboration with France in 2018 ?

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — D, Mirzapur. On 12 March 2018, during French President Emmanuel Macron's state visit to India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Macron jointly inaugurated what was then Uttar Pradesh's biggest solar power plant, built at Dadar Kalan village (Chhanvey block) in Mirzapur district by the French energy company ENGIE. The project was a showpiece of India-France solar cooperation, the partnership that also produced the International Solar Alliance (jointly launched by India and France at the 2015 Paris climate conference).

Why the other options are wrong — (a) Agra is not the site of the 2018 India-France solar plant; that project was in Mirzapur. (Agra is best known for the Taj Mahal and the later Sur Sarovar/Keetham wetland.)  (b) Ballia, in eastern UP, was not the location of the France-collaboration solar plant inaugurated in 2018.  (c) Deoria was not the site; the major solar plant built with French (ENGIE) collaboration and inaugurated by Modi and Macron in 2018 was at Dadar Kalan, Mirzapur.

Concept: India and France have been the twin drivers of global solar diplomacy: they jointly launched the International Solar Alliance (ISA) at the COP-21 Paris climate conference in November 2015, and the ISA is headquartered at Gurugram, India. Flowing from this partnership, French energy majors invested in Indian solar capacity — the Mirzapur (Dadar Kalan) plant, built by ENGIE, was inaugurated as a symbol of that cooperation during Macron's March 2018 visit.

State PCS 2020 Q46 — Current Affairs PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2020 Q46 — Current Affairs PYQ with Answer