Match List-I with List-II and choose the correct answer using the codes given below the lists :
List-I (State)
A. Maharashtra
B. Uttar Pradesh
C. Tamil Nadu
D. Karnataka
List-II (Rank according to exp

Question

Match List-I with List-II and choose the correct answer using the codes given below the lists :
List-I (State)
A. Maharashtra
B. Uttar Pradesh
C. Tamil Nadu
D. Karnataka
List-II (Rank according to expenditure on infrastructure 2019 – 23)
1. First
2. Second
3. Third
4. Fourth
Codes :

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — B, A-2, B-1, C-3, D-4. On the figures the examiner is using, Uttar Pradesh spent the most on infrastructure over the five years to 2022-23 — about Rs 5.31 lakh crore — followed by Maharashtra at about Rs 4.39 lakh crore, Tamil Nadu at about Rs 2.84 lakh crore and Karnataka at about Rs 2.76 lakh crore. Reading that against List-I gives Maharashtra second, Uttar Pradesh first, Tamil Nadu third and Karnataka fourth, which is option (b). Be clear about where this ranking comes from, because it changes how you should use it. There is no official Government of India index that ranks States by 'expenditure on infrastructure'. The 2019-23 table is an analysis of the States' own budget documents — their capital expenditure over five financial years — compiled and published in the press in December 2023 (Business Today), and echoed in reporting on State finances. Treat it as a sourced journalistic compilation of budget data, not as a government ranking, and expect the exact rupee figures to move a little depending on whose compilation you read and on whether budget estimates, revised estimates or actuals are used. What is not in doubt, and what the question is really rewarding, is the headline order: Uttar Pradesh ahead of Maharashtra. That result surprises candidates because Maharashtra has the larger economy, but Uttar Pradesh is the most populous State with the largest infrastructure deficit to close, and through this period it was running an unusually capital-heavy budget — expressways built by the State's own expressway authority, new airports, metro projects, canal and rural-road work. Size of economy and size of capital budget are different things, and that is the lesson of the item.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) The intended trap, and doubly attractive: it matches List-I to List-II straight down the page, and it puts Maharashtra first, which fits the common assumption that India's largest State economy must also be its largest infrastructure spender. On the figures used here it is the top two that are inverted — Uttar Pradesh's roughly Rs 5.31 lakh crore is ahead of Maharashtra's roughly Rs 4.39 lakh crore. Tamil Nadu third and Karnataka fourth are right in this option; only the first two places are wrong.  (c) Gets the headline right — Uttar Pradesh first — and then scrambles everything below it, pushing Maharashtra all the way down to fourth and promoting Tamil Nadu to second and Karnataka to third. Maharashtra's capital spending over this period was well above Tamil Nadu's and Karnataka's, which are close to each other at roughly Rs 2.84 and Rs 2.76 lakh crore. This is the option for a candidate who has heard the UP headline but has not seen the rest of the table.  (d) Puts Tamil Nadu first and Uttar Pradesh only third. Tamil Nadu is a strong performer on infrastructure quality and on industrial investment, but on the size of the five-year capital spend it is a clear third among these four, at roughly half the Uttar Pradesh figure. The option keeps Maharashtra second and Karnataka fourth, which happen to be correct, so a candidate who checks only the two ends of the list can be caught by it.

Concept: 'Expenditure on infrastructure' by a State means, in practice, capital expenditure in the State budget — money spent creating durable assets such as roads, expressways, bridges, canals, power lines, metro and airport works, as opposed to revenue expenditure on salaries, pensions, interest and subsidies. How much a State can spend this way is set by three things: its own tax revenue and share of central taxes, transfers and centrally sponsored scheme funds, and its borrowing headroom — the Centre allows States a fiscal deficit of up to 3.5 per cent of Gross State Domestic Product, part of it conditional on power-sector reforms, and has additionally offered fifty-year interest-free loans to States earmarked for capital investment. A State with a large population, a low base of existing assets and political priority attached to visible construction can therefore out-spend a richer State.

State PCS 2024 Q121 — Economy PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2024 Q121 — Economy PYQ with Answer