Which of the following is NOT one of the UNESCO Creative Cities from India?
- (a)Varanasi (Music)
- (b)Kozhikode (Literature)
- (c)Chennai (Music)
- (d)Pune (Literature)
Correct — D, Pune (Literature).
UNESCO's Creative Cities Network lists nine Indian members as of the round announced on 31 October 2025. Varanasi and Chennai are on it as Cities of Music, and Kozhikode as a City of Literature. Pune (Literature) does not appear on that list, so it is the option that is NOT a Creative City.
Pune sounds plausible because of its standing as an educational and publishing centre, but the network's published list is what counts, and India's Literature entry on that list is Kozhikode, designated in 2023.
One dating point: Lucknow's entry and the 408-city total come from the 2025 round, a year after this 2024 paper. Kozhikode, Varanasi and Chennai were already designated when the exam was set, so the keyed answer is unaffected.
The idea to carry away: learn the Indian members as city, field and year together. A question can attach a plausible field to a non-member, as here, or swap the fields of real members; a bare list of city names catches neither.
- (a)Varanasi (Music) — Varanasi is a genuine member, designated a City of Music in 2015 alongside Jaipur (Crafts and Folk Art), India's first two entries. The stem asks which city is NOT in the network, so a correctly paired member cannot be the answer.
It is the right answer to which Indian city was designated a UNESCO City of Music in 2015.
- (b)Kozhikode (Literature) — Kozhikode is a genuine member, designated in the round announced on 31 October 2023, and its field really is Literature. The pairing is correct, so it cannot be the odd one out.
It is the right answer to India's first UNESCO City of Literature, and it sits on the list beside Gwalior, designated City of Music in the same round.
- (c)Chennai (Music) — Chennai is a genuine member, designated a City of Music in 2017, two years after Varanasi. India's Music entries on the list are Varanasi, Chennai and Gwalior. A correctly paired member cannot be the answer to a NOT question.
It is the right answer to which Indian city was designated a UNESCO City of Music in 2017.
The UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) was created in 2004. Cities apply to join under one of eight creative fields: Crafts and Folk Art, Design, Film, Gastronomy, Literature, Media Arts, Music, and Architecture, added in the round announced on 31 October 2025.
Designation recognises creativity as a driver of sustainable urban development and commits the city to share its practices with other members.
Each member carries one field. A city is therefore learnt as a pair, city plus field, and questions test whether the pair, not just the city, is right.
UCCN is separate from UNESCO's World Heritage List and from its lists of intangible cultural heritage. It designates a city for a creative-industry field, not for a monument or a practice, so Varanasi appears here for Music rather than for its ghats.
New members are announced in rounds. The 2023 round (Kozhikode, Gwalior) and the 2025 round (Lucknow) were both announced on 31 October, World Cities Day. After the 2025 round the network had 408 cities in more than 100 countries.
- UCCN was launched by UNESCO in 2004; Edinburgh was the first City of Literature.
- The original seven fields are Crafts and Folk Art, Design, Film, Gastronomy, Literature, Media Arts and Music; Architecture was added as an eighth field in the round announced on 31 October 2025.
- Jaipur (Crafts and Folk Art) and Varanasi (Music) joined in 2015 as India's first members.
- Chennai joined as a City of Music in 2017.
- Mumbai (Film) and Hyderabad (Gastronomy) joined in 2019.
- Srinagar joined as a City of Crafts and Folk Art in 2021.
- Kozhikode (Literature) and Gwalior (Music) were designated in the round announced on 31 October 2023.
- Lucknow was designated a City of Gastronomy on 31 October 2025, India's second in that field after Hyderabad.
- After the 2025 round the network had 408 cities across more than 100 countries.
Nine Indian members as of the 31 October 2025 round. Three of this question's four options are on the list; Pune is the one that is not.
- Swapping the fields of the two 2023 entrants: Kozhikode is Literature and Gwalior is Music, not the other way round.
- Treating a city's reputation as its designation: Pune's educational standing does not put it on UCCN's list, and Varanasi is listed for Music, not for heritage.
- Reading past the word NOT and picking the first correctly paired member you recognise, such as Varanasi (Music).
- Confusing UCCN with the World Heritage List or intangible heritage inscriptions; a Creative City designation attaches to a field, not a monument.
- Stopping the Gastronomy column at Hyderabad; Lucknow joined the same field on 31 October 2025.
The idea appears as a city-to-field match, as an odd-one-out like this stem, as a 'which city was added in year X under field Y' item, and as statement-counting where one statement swaps a real member's field.
Working from the full city, field and year table answers each form; a list of city names alone does not, because the field or the year is where the pair goes wrong.
UKPSC_2024_PRE_GSI_Q1052024Same paper, same list, opposite direction: it asks which city joined as City of Literature in 2023 (Kozhikode) and offers Pune as a distractor there too. That item tests one entry and its year; this one tests city-field pairs across three members and a non-member.
CAPF_GAI_2024_Q1252024Asks which city was added as City of Music in 2023 (Gwalior), with Chennai and Varanasi, the two earlier Indian Music cities, as distractors. Same three Music cities; it tests the year of one, this stem tests the membership of two.
NDA_GAT_2024_II_Q1432024Statement-counting that swaps the 2023 fields (Kozhikode as Music, Gwalior as Literature), keyed at one correct statement. Same field-swap hazard on the same two cities; that item also mixes in intangible heritage (Garba), which this stem does not.
- 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)Gwalior — Literature
- (b)Jaipur — Music
- (c)Hyderabad — Gastronomy
- (d)Mumbai — Design
Answerc — Hyderabad was designated a City of Gastronomy in 2019. Gwalior is a City of Music (2023), not Literature; Jaipur is Crafts and Folk Art (2015), not Music; Mumbai is Film (2019), not Design. - practice — not a real PYQ
Which Indian city was designated a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy in the round announced on 31 October 2025?
- (a)Hyderabad
- (b)Lucknow
- (c)Amritsar
- (d)Kolkata
Answerb — Lucknow was designated on 31 October 2025, India's second Gastronomy city. Hyderabad holds the same field but joined in 2019; Amritsar and Kolkata do not appear on the network's list of Indian members. - practice — not a real PYQ
Consider the following statements about the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN): 1. It was created in 2004. 2. Its members are designated under one of eight creative fields, including Media Arts and Gastronomy. 3. Varanasi and Chennai are both designated in the Music field. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a)1 and 2 only
- (b)2 and 3 only
- (c)1 and 3 only
- (d)1, 2 and 3
Answerd — all three are correct. UCCN dates from 2004; it has eight fields since Architecture joined the original seven in the round announced on 31 October 2025, Media Arts and Gastronomy among them; Varanasi (2015) and Chennai (2017) are both Cities of Music.Options a, b and c each drop a true statement.