SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 19 September 2025, Shift 3 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 17 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.

Find the odd one out from the given alternatives:

(a)Rainwater Harvesting
(b)Afforestation
(c)Deforestation
(d)Solar Panels

Answer

Why

Correct — C.
Rule: three options conserve the environment, one damages it.

Rainwater harvesting saves water.
Afforestation adds tree cover.
Solar panels draw power from a renewable source.

Deforestation strips forest cover, the reverse of that group → option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Rainwater Harvesting — Rainwater harvesting collects and stores rain for later use. It conserves water, so it belongs with the environment-friendly group.
(b)
Afforestation — Afforestation means planting forest on land that had none. It adds green cover, the opposite of deforestation, so it belongs with the group.
(d)
Solar Panels — Solar panels turn sunlight into electricity, a renewable source that cuts dependence on fossil fuels. That is conservation, not damage.

Concept

Word-based odd-one-out items ask for the category three options share. Here it is practices that conserve the environment: saving water, adding forest cover and using renewable energy.

Deforestation, the clearing of forests, harms the environment. It is also the direct opposite of afforestation, which makes that pair a useful anchor when the category is not obvious.

Solar panels are a device while the other three are activities, but that surface difference does not decide the item. The grouping is by effect on the environment.

Key facts

Afforestation: planting forest on land that was not forested.
Deforestation: clearing or removing forest cover.
Rainwater harvesting: collecting and storing rainwater for later use.
Solar energy is a renewable source of power.

Study next

Odd one out by category of wordsAntonym pairs in word analogies, such as afforestation and deforestationClassification of environmental terms

Common traps

Picking solar panels because it names a device rather than an activity
Reading afforestation and deforestation as near-synonyms because they look alike

The four options mix activities and a device, so the grouping has to come from what each does to the environment, not from the kind of word.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.