SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 15 September 2025, Shift 2 · General Awareness · Question 19 of 100

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 11 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. From 2025 the candidate response sheet prints every question and option as a picture, so the text here is transcribed from those pictures for this shift and checked against them independently; where the layout carries meaning, the picture is shown as well. Each answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Read the below statements marked as Assertion (A) and Reason (R). Mark the correct options: Assertion (A): Delhi frequently records the highest AQI levels among Indian cities. Reason (R): It lies in a low-lying basin surrounded by the Himalayas.

(a)Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A.
(b)lBoth A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A.
(c)A is true, but R is false.
(d)A is false, but R is true.

Answer

Why

Correct — C. SSC's key accepts the Assertion, that Delhi frequently records the highest AQI levels among Indian cities.

The Reason fails on geography. Delhi sits on the Yamuna plains, with the Himalayas away to the north, not ringed around it. The Delhi Ridge, the northern end of the Aravalli Range, lies within the city.

A true, R false → option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A. — R is false, so it cannot explain anything. Delhi lies on open plains, not in a basin encircled by the Himalayas.
(b)
lBoth A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A. — R is false, so 'both true' fails before the explanation question even arises. The Himalayas lie to Delhi's north and do not enclose the city.
(d)
A is false, but R is true. — A is not false. The key accepts that Delhi frequently records the highest AQI levels among Indian cities. The false statement is R, the Himalayan basin.

Concept

In an Assertion-Reason item, judge each statement on its own first, then ask whether R explains A.

Here R fails on its own. Delhi lies on the Yamuna plains, bordered by Uttar Pradesh to the east and Haryana on its other sides. The Himalayas lie away to the north.

Delhi's winter smog is emissions held down by weather: vehicle exhaust, road dust, industry and stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana, trapped near the ground by cold, still winter air.

Option (b) on the response sheet begins with a stray mark before the word Both. The option is reproduced here as printed.

Key facts

Delhi borders Uttar Pradesh to the east and Haryana on its other sides.
The Delhi Ridge is the northern extension of the Aravalli Range.
Stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana, carried on north-westerly winds, adds to Delhi's post-harvest pollution.
Cold, stagnant winter air traps smoke and dust close to the ground.

Study next

The National Air Quality Index: its pollutants and categoriesTemperature inversion and winter smogCrop-residue burning in north-west India

Common traps

Accepting R because the Himalayas are close to north India, when they do not enclose Delhi.
Deciding whether R explains A before checking that R is true at all.

The AQI scale itself is asked at 21 Sep 2025, 16:00, GA Q.22, an Assertion-Reason item on values above 400 being classed as Severe.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Geography — all 135 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.