SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 15 September 2025, Shift 2 · General Awareness · Question 9 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.

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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.

Which of the following best describes the theme of the book Why Bharat Matters?

(a)India’s economic and cultural importance
(b)Biography of Mahatma Gandhi
(c)Ancient mythology of India and festival
(d)Fictional rural story and moral values

Answer

Why

Correct — A. Why Bharat Matters (Rupa, 2024) is External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar's book on India's foreign policy and its growing role in the world.

It argues from India's cultural values and heritage, drawing on the Ramayana, and from economic choices such as resilient supply chains. India's economic and cultural importance is option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
Biography of Mahatma Gandhi — It is not a biography. Jaishankar writes about India's foreign policy and global role, and Mahatma Gandhi is not the book's subject.
(c)
Ancient mythology of India and festival — The Ramayana runs through the book, but as a lens on statecraft and diplomacy. The book is about foreign policy, not mythology or festivals.
(d)
Fictional rural story and moral values — The book is non-fiction, a sitting minister's argument about India's place in the world. It is not a novel or a village tale with a moral.

Concept

S. Jaishankar joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1977, served as Foreign Secretary, and became External Affairs Minister.

His first book, The India Way: Strategies for an Uncertain World (2020), analysed India's strategy since independence.

Why Bharat Matters (2024), his second, carries that argument forward with Bharat, India's own name for itself, as its frame.

Key facts

Why Bharat Matters (2024) was written by S. Jaishankar and published by Rupa Publications.
It is his second book, after The India Way: Strategies for an Uncertain World (2020).
Jaishankar was External Affairs Minister when the book was published.

Study next

The India Way: Strategies for an Uncertain World (2020)Neighbourhood First and SAGAR in India's foreign policy

Common traps

Choosing (c) because the book draws on the Ramayana. The epic is a lens, and the subject is foreign policy.

Here the options are one-line summaries of the book. The same format appears at 14 Sep 2025, 12:30, GA Q.7 on Because Words Matter and at 12 Sep 2025, 16:00, GA Q.8 on Hot Stage.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Culture — all 163 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.