SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 9 September 2024, Shift 1 · General Awareness · Question 10 of 100

Text as printed on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; answer per SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 6 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. The questions and options here are reproduced as printed on a candidate's own response sheet for this shift — the Commission's text, unchanged. Each answer is SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet; SSC allowed challenges to it and never publishes a final key. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Who is Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology as of July 2023?

(a)Dharmendra Pradhan
(b)Jitendra Singh
(c)Ashwini Vaishnaw
(d)Ramesh Pokhriyal

Answer

Why

Correct — B. Dr Jitendra Singh held the Ministry of Science and Technology as Minister of State (Independent Charge) in July 2023, the date the stem fixes.

Independent Charge means he ran the ministry himself, with no Cabinet Minister above him in it.

He held the Ministry of Earth Sciences on the same terms, and served as Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office, with the Department of Atomic Energy and the Department of Space also in his charge.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Dharmendra Pradhan — Dharmendra Pradhan was Union Minister of Education in July 2023, a Cabinet post, and earlier held Petroleum and Natural Gas. Science and Technology has not been his portfolio.
(c)
Ashwini Vaishnaw — Ashwini Vaishnaw held Railways, Communications and Electronics & Information Technology as a Cabinet Minister. Electronics and IT is a separate ministry from Science and Technology — that overlap is where this option gets its pull.
(d)
Ramesh Pokhriyal — Ramesh Pokhriyal was Union Education Minister and left the Council of Ministers in 2021. He held no portfolio on the July 2023 date the stem is anchored to.

Concept

Union ministers come in three ranks: Cabinet Minister, Minister of State (Independent Charge) and Minister of State.

The middle rank is the one SSC likes, because it is genuinely distinctive. An MoS (IC) heads a ministry alone and answers to the Prime Minister, but does not sit in the Cabinet.

In July 2023 Science and Technology was held at exactly that rank, which is why the stem specifies Independent Charge instead of simply asking who the minister was.

A current-affairs stem carries a date for a reason. This one is anchored to July 2023 — answer it as of that date, not as of today, because portfolios change hands.

Key facts

Dr Jitendra Singh was Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology in July 2023.
He held Earth Sciences with Independent Charge as well.
He was Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office, with Atomic Energy and Space in his charge.
A Minister of State (Independent Charge) heads a ministry with no Cabinet Minister above them.

Study next

Ranks in the Union Council of Ministers and what each rank can doMinistries and departments attached to the Prime Minister's OfficeDepartments of Atomic Energy and Space and their reporting line

Common traps

Answering with whoever holds the portfolio now rather than on the date given.
Confusing Electronics and Information Technology with Science and Technology.

Portfolio questions are anchored with an as-of date. Read the date before the options — an answer that is right today is wrong when the stem is pinned two years back.

The same July 2023 anchor runs elsewhere: General Awareness Q.23 of this shift asks for the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu as of July 2023, and 18 Sep 2024, 09:00, General Awareness Q.6 asks for a Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh on that date.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.