SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 21 September 2025, Shift 1 · General Awareness · Question 1 of 99

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 13 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 is a main goal of the Chabahar port project?

(a)To increase military presence in the region
(b)To mine for undersea minerals
(c)To increase tourism in Iran
(d)To boost regional trade

Answer

Why

Correct — D. Chabahar is an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman, in Sistan and Baluchestan province, where India took over operations at the Shahid Beheshti terminal in December 2018.

The project is commercial. It gives Indian cargo a sea-and-land route to Afghanistan and Central Asia that avoids Pakistan, which is regional trade → option (d).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
To increase military presence in the region — Military presence is not the project's aim. India's role has been commercial: India Ports Global Limited took over a cargo terminal there, and the project is a transit route for trade.
(b)
To mine for undersea minerals — Undersea minerals play no part. Chabahar is a cargo port on the Gulf of Oman, and the project is about moving goods, not extracting anything from the seabed.
(c)
To increase tourism in Iran — Tourism is not the goal. The investment is in berths, cargo handling and a transit route to Afghanistan and Central Asia, which serve traders rather than visitors.

Concept

India has no overland transit route to Afghanistan through Pakistan. Chabahar gets round that by sea: Indian cargo lands in south-eastern Iran and moves north overland to Afghanistan and on to Central Asia.

The port is also meant to link with the International North–South Transport Corridor (INSTC), a multimodal ship, rail and road freight route running from India through Iran to Russia.

Chabahar is often discussed alongside Gwadar, the China-backed port in Pakistan on the same Makran coast. That strategic reading is commentary. The project's stated purpose is trade and transit.

Key facts

Chabahar lies on the Gulf of Oman in Iran's Sistan and Baluchestan province.
India took over operations at Chabahar's Shahid Beheshti terminal in December 2018, through India Ports Global Limited.
India, Iran and Afghanistan signed a trilateral transit agreement centred on Chabahar in May 2016.

Study next

The International North–South Transport Corridor (INSTC) and its route through IranGwadar port and the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)The Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project through Sittwe port in Myanmar

Common traps

Picking military presence because Chabahar is discussed next to Gwadar: the question asks the project's goal, which is trade and transit.
Confusing Chabahar with Bandar Abbas, the Iranian port on the Strait of Hormuz: India's terminal is at Chabahar, on the Gulf of Oman.

Here Chabahar is asked by purpose, against three options that sound strategic or exotic.

The route it opens is asked at 16 Sep 2025, 16:00, GA Q.9, which keys the North-South Transport Corridor as Chabahar's link to Central Asia.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Geography — all 179 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.