UKPSC Prelims 2024 Q105: Which Indian city was added to UNESCO’s Creative Cities

Q: What is the answer to UKPSC Prelims 2024 Q105?

C. Correct — C, Kozhikode. On 31 October 2023, World Cities Day, UNESCO added 55 cities to its Creative Cities Network. Two were Indian: **Kozhikode** in Kerala entered in the Literature field, and Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh entered in the Music field. Kozhikode became India's first City of Literature. UNESCO's profile of the city rests on its publishing and reading culture: more than 70 publishing houses bringing out 400 to 500 books a year, and 545 libraries. The idea to carry away is the pairing, not just the year: **Kozhikode is Literature, Gwalior is Music**. The hazard in this question is swapping those two fields, because both cities were designated in the same batch.

UKPSC Prelims 2024 General Studies Paper-I · Question 105 of 147

Verified against the official question booklet. Answer as per UKPSC's provisional answer key.

Answers from UKPSC's provisional answer key. The Commission publishes a provisional key for UKPSC Prelims 2024 and invites objections before issuing a final key. Every answer shown here is the Commission's own provisional answer (key PDF), not our derivation. If the final key changes an answer, this page is updated to match.

Which Indian city was added to UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network (UCCN) in the ‘City of Literature’ category in 2023?

(a)Pune
(b)Gwalior
(c)Kozhikode
(d)Jaipur

Answer

Why

Correct — C, Kozhikode.

On 31 October 2023, World Cities Day, UNESCO added 55 cities to its Creative Cities Network. Two were Indian: Kozhikode in Kerala entered in the Literature field, and Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh entered in the Music field.

Kozhikode became India's first City of Literature. UNESCO's profile of the city rests on its publishing and reading culture: more than 70 publishing houses bringing out 400 to 500 books a year, and 545 libraries.

The idea to carry away is the pairing, not just the year: Kozhikode is Literature, Gwalior is Music. The hazard in this question is swapping those two fields, because both cities were designated in the same batch.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Pune — Pune is not among the 55 cities in UNESCO's 2023 designation list, in Literature or any other field.
What Pune is the right answer to is the NOT-form of this idea: Q42 of this same paper keys 'Pune (Literature)' as the pairing that is NOT a UNESCO Creative City. The two questions confirm each other.
(b)
Gwalior — Gwalior did join the network in 2023, in the same batch as Kozhikode, but in the City of Music field, on the strength of its Hindustani classical music heritage.
It is the right answer when the stem asks for the 2023 City of Music, which is exactly how CAPF 2024 framed the question with Kozhikode as the distractor.
(d)
Jaipur — Jaipur has been a UNESCO Creative City since 2015, in the Crafts and Folk Art field, designated in the same year as Varanasi (Music).
Its literary fame comes from the Jaipur Literature Festival, an annual festival rather than a UNESCO field designation. Jaipur's other UNESCO tag is separate: its walled city was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2019.

Concept

The UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN), created in 2004, links cities that treat creativity as a driver of sustainable urban development. A city applies in one of seven fields: Crafts and Folk Art, Design, Film, Gastronomy, Literature, Media Arts and Music.

Designation is by UNESCO in batches; the 2023 batch of 55 cities was announced on 31 October, World Cities Day, taking the network to 350 cities in more than a hundred countries. Each city carries a single field label, which is what questions test.

UCCN is one of three UNESCO instruments that get bundled together in questions: the World Heritage List (sites), the Intangible Cultural Heritage lists (practices such as Garba, inscribed in 2023) and the Creative Cities Network (cities with a field label).

India's Creative Cities arrived in rounds: Jaipur and Varanasi in 2015, Chennai in 2017, Mumbai and Hyderabad in 2019, Srinagar in 2021, and Kozhikode and Gwalior in 2023. Kozhikode is the first Indian entry in the Literature field.

Key facts

UNESCO announced 55 new Creative Cities on 31 October 2023, World Cities Day, taking the network to 350 cities.
Kozhikode (Kerala) was designated City of Literature in 2023, India's first city in that field.
Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh) was designated City of Music in the same 2023 batch.
The network was created in 2004 and covers seven fields: Crafts and Folk Art, Design, Film, Gastronomy, Literature, Media Arts and Music.
Jaipur (Crafts and Folk Art) and Varanasi (Music) were designated in 2015; Chennai (Music) in 2017.
Mumbai (Film) and Hyderabad (Gastronomy) joined in 2019; Srinagar (Crafts and Folk Art) in 2021.
Edinburgh, designated in 2004, was the first UNESCO City of Literature.
UNESCO's Kozhikode profile cites more than 70 publishing houses producing 400 to 500 books a year and 545 libraries.

Indian UNESCO Creative Cities, by field (designations up to 2023)

Jaipur→Crafts and Folk Art · 2015

Varanasi→Music · 2015

Chennai→Music · 2017

Mumbai→Film · 2019

Hyderabad→Gastronomy · 2019

Srinagar→Crafts and Folk Art · 2021

Kozhikode→Literature · 2023

Gwalior→Music · 2023

Eight Indian cities held a UCCN designation after the 2023 round; Kozhikode is the one in Literature, and Gwalior, its 2023 batch-mate, is in Music.

Study next

UNESCO's three separate lists: World Heritage Sites, Intangible Cultural Heritage (Garba, 2023) and the Creative Cities NetworkFields and years of the other Indian Creative Cities, 2015 to 2021UNESCO Cities of Literature worldwide, starting with Edinburgh (2004)Kozhikode's publishing and library culture cited in its UNESCO profileWorld Cities Day (31 October) and other UN observance dates used for announcements

Common traps

Swapping the two 2023 fields: Kozhikode is Literature and Gwalior is Music, so a stem naming Literature and a stem naming Music have different answers from the same batch.
Reading Jaipur as a literature city because of the Jaipur Literature Festival; its UNESCO field is Crafts and Folk Art, designated in 2015.
Mixing UNESCO instruments: Garba's 2023 recognition is on the Intangible Cultural Heritage list, not the Creative Cities Network.
Accepting 'Pune (Literature)' because it sounds plausible; the same paper's Q42 keys it as the pairing that is NOT a Creative City.

The designation is asked from three directions: name the 2023 city for a given field, name the field for a given city, or judge a set of statements that pair cities with fields.

NOT-type stems put a plausible non-member such as Pune beside real members. Gwalior sits beside Kozhikode as the distractor in either direction, so the pairing has to be held, not just the year.

Related PYQs

UKPSC_2024_PRE_GSI_Q422024

Same paper, same designation set, opposite form: Q42 asks which pairing is NOT a UNESCO Creative City and keys 'Pune (Literature)', with Kozhikode (Literature) listed as a genuine member. Q105 asks the positive 2023 form; both turn on the same fact that Kozhikode holds the Literature label.

CAPF_GAI_2024_Q1252024

The mirror image: same 2023 batch, but it asks for the City of Music and keys Gwalior, with Kozhikode as a distractor. The two stems share their candidate cities and differ in which field is named.

NDA_GAT_2024_II_Q1432024

Statement-count form that swaps the two 2023 fields, calling Kozhikode the City of Music and Gwalior the City of Literature, beside Garba's Intangible Cultural Heritage listing; the Garba statement alone is correct. It tests the same pairing from the false side and adds the UNESCO-list distinction.

Practice

practice — not a real PYQ
Which Indian city was designated a UNESCO Creative City in the 'City of Music' field in the same 2023 batch as Kozhikode?
- (a)Varanasi
- (b)Chennai
- (c)Gwalior
- (d)Srinagar
Answerc — Gwalior entered the network as City of Music on 31 October 2023, the same day Kozhikode entered as City of Literature.
Varanasi is a City of Music but from 2015, and Chennai from 2017, so neither fits the 2023 batch. Srinagar joined in 2021 in Crafts and Folk Art, the wrong year and the wrong field.
practice — not a real PYQ
Consider the following statements about the UNESCO Creative Cities Network: 1. The network was created in 2004. 2. Kozhikode was designated India's first City of Literature in 2023. 3. Jaipur is a member of the network in the Literature field. How many of the above statements are correct?
- (a)Only one
- (b)Only two
- (c)All three
- (d)None
Answerb — Statements 1 and 2 are correct: UNESCO created the network in 2004, and Kozhikode's 2023 designation made it India's first City of Literature.
Statement 3 fails because Jaipur's field is Crafts and Folk Art (2015), not Literature. So the count is two, ruling out 'Only one', 'All three' and 'None'.
practice — not a real PYQ
Which one of the following pairs of an Indian city and its UNESCO Creative Cities Network field is correctly matched?
- (a)Hyderabad – Film
- (b)Mumbai – Gastronomy
- (c)Chennai – Music
- (d)Gwalior – Literature
Answerc — Chennai was designated City of Music in 2017.
Options a and b swap each other's fields: Hyderabad is Gastronomy and Mumbai is Film, both from 2019. Option d swaps the 2023 pair: Gwalior is Music, and Literature belongs to Kozhikode.