UKPSC Prelims 2024 Q98: In which city were the 37th National Games inaugurated in

Q: What is the answer to UKPSC Prelims 2024 Q98?

C. Correct — C, Bambolim, Goa. The 37th National Games were hosted by Goa from 26 October to 9 November 2023, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated them on 26 October 2023. Of the four options, **Bambolim, Goa** is the one in the host state, so it is the keyed answer. Bambolim's GMC Athletic Stadium was one of the principal venues; the opening ceremony itself was staged at the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Fatorda, Margao. The option is meant to be read at state level: the Games of October 2023 were Goa's. The idea to carry away: **each National Games edition is numbered and pinned to a host state** — 36th Gujarat (2022), 37th Goa (2023), 38th Uttarakhand (2025). Fix the ordinal, the state and the month together, and the city option follows.

UKPSC Prelims 2024 General Studies Paper-I · Question 98 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.

In which city were the 37th National Games inaugurated in October 2023?

(a)Ranchi, Jharkhand
(b)Indore, Madhya Pradesh
(c)Bambolim, Goa
(d)Guwahati, Assam

Answer

Why

Correct — C, Bambolim, Goa.

The 37th National Games were hosted by Goa from 26 October to 9 November 2023, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated them on 26 October 2023. Of the four options, Bambolim, Goa is the one in the host state, so it is the keyed answer.

Bambolim's GMC Athletic Stadium was one of the principal venues; the opening ceremony itself was staged at the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Fatorda, Margao.

The option is meant to be read at state level: the Games of October 2023 were Goa's.

The idea to carry away: each National Games edition is numbered and pinned to a host state — 36th Gujarat (2022), 37th Goa (2023), 38th Uttarakhand (2025). Fix the ordinal, the state and the month together, and the city option follows.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Ranchi, Jharkhand — Ranchi was the main host city of the 34th National Games, held in Jharkhand in February 2011.
It is a genuine National Games host, but of an edition twelve years earlier, so it fails the October 2023 date in the stem.
(b)
Indore, Madhya Pradesh — Indore appears in current-affairs lists for a different reason: it was ranked India's cleanest city in Swachh Survekshan for seven consecutive editions, 2017 to 2023 (jointly with Surat in the 2023 edition).
That civic ranking has no connection to the Games inaugurated in October 2023.
(d)
Guwahati, Assam — Guwahati hosted the 33rd National Games in February 2007, and later, with Shillong, the 12th South Asian Games in February 2016.
Each is a multi-sport event staged in the North-East, but neither is the edition inaugurated in October 2023.

Concept

The National Games of India are the country's multi-sport championship, held under the Indian Olympic Association, with states, union territories and the Services competing as teams.

Editions are numbered in sequence and allotted to a host state, which stages events across several of its cities and towns.

Each edition carries its own identity — a mascot, a motto, an inaugurating dignitary and a medal-tally winner — and these markers are what a question tends to ask about.

Goa's edition sits in a run of three Games in quick succession after a seven-year gap: Gujarat staged the 36th in September–October 2022, Goa the 37th in October–November 2023, and Uttarakhand the 38th in January–February 2025.

Goa had been allotted the Games years earlier and its turn was postponed repeatedly, including during the COVID-19 surge, before it finally hosted in 2023 — the first time the Games came to the state.

For a Uttarakhand candidate the 38th edition is the local anchor: opened by the Prime Minister at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Dehradun, on 28 January 2025, with the monal mascot Mauli and the motto 'Sankalp se Shikhar tak'.

Key facts

The 37th National Games were held in Goa from 26 October to 9 November 2023, the first time Goa hosted the Games.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 37th National Games on 26 October 2023 at the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Fatorda (Margao).
The 2023 mascot was Moga, an Indian bison (gaur); the motto was 'Get Set Goa'.
Around 43 sports disciplines were contested in Goa in 2023; the GMC Athletic Stadium at Bambolim was a principal venue.
Maharashtra topped the 2023 medal tally with 80 gold (228 medals in all); Services were second and Haryana third.
The 36th National Games were hosted by Gujarat in September–October 2022, with the opening in Ahmedabad; Services topped that tally.
The 38th National Games were hosted by Uttarakhand from 28 January to 14 February 2025; Services topped the tally, Maharashtra were second, Haryana third.
Uttarakhand finished seventh at its home Games in 2025 with 24 gold, 35 silver and 44 bronze (103 medals).
The 38th Games closed on 14 February 2025 with Union Home Minister Amit Shah as chief guest.
Guwahati (Assam) hosted the 33rd National Games in 2007; Ranchi (Jharkhand) was the main city of the 34th in 2011.

National Games editions and their hosts

33rd — February 2007→Guwahati, Assam

34th — February 2011→Ranchi, Jharkhand

35th — Jan–Feb 2015→Kerala (Thiruvananthapuram)

36th — Sept–Oct 2022→Gujarat (opened in Ahmedabad)

37th — 26 Oct to 9 Nov 2023→Goa (opened at Fatorda; Bambolim a main venue)

38th — 28 Jan to 14 Feb 2025→Uttarakhand (opened in Dehradun)

Three of the four option cities have hosted a National Games edition — Guwahati (33rd), Ranchi (34th) and Goa (37th); the one inaugurated in October 2023 is Goa's.

Study next

38th National Games, Uttarakhand 2025 — venues, mascot Mauli, medal tally and Uttarakhand's own resultHost states and mascots of the 33rd to 38th National Games39th National Games — allotted to MeghalayaKhelo India Youth Games and other multi-sport events hosted in India since 2022

Common traps

Reading 'Bambolim' as an unfamiliar town and hunting for Panaji or Margao instead — the option has to be read as its state, Goa.
Attaching the edition to the wrong year: Gujarat's 36th opened in September 2022 and Uttarakhand's 38th in January 2025; Goa's 37th is the one inaugurated in October 2023.
Dismissing Ranchi and Guwahati as implausible — each is a real National Games host (2011 and 2007); they fail on the date, not on the event.
Swapping medal-tally winners: Maharashtra topped Goa 2023, while Services topped Gujarat 2022 and Uttarakhand 2025.

An edition of the Games is pinned to one of its markers — host state or city, inaugurating dignitary, mascot, motto, or the team that topped the tally — and the question asks for the missing piece.

Because editions are numbered, the setter can ask by ordinal ('37th') or by date ('October 2023').

For a Uttarakhand paper the 38th edition offers a state-specific angle: the Dehradun opening, the monal mascot Mauli, and the host state's own medal position.

Related PYQs

NDA_GAT_2021_I_Q1492021

Same device — a multi-sport games edition pinned to its host — but international and country-level: the 2023 Indian Ocean Island Games passed from Maldives to Madagascar, whereas this item pins a domestic National Games edition to a state and a town within it.

NDA_GAT_2024_II_Q1452024

Overlaps on the time window — one statement concerns an event 'inaugurated in October 2023' (the first Indian Military Heritage Festival) — but it is a count-the-correct-statements item whose four statements cover other 2023 events, with the venue of the heritage festival itself being the tested point.

UKPSC_2021_PRE_GSI_Q1072021

Same commission and the same 'recently inaugurated — which city' shape, but a railway link (Mitali Express, Dhaka to New Jalpaiguri) rather than a sporting event; each rewards fixing an inauguration to a place, not a date alone.

Practice

practice — not a real PYQ
The 38th National Games, inaugurated by the Prime Minister on 28 January 2025, were hosted by which state?
- (a)Goa
- (b)Gujarat
- (c)Uttarakhand
- (d)Meghalaya
Answerc — Uttarakhand hosted the 38th edition from 28 January to 14 February 2025, opened at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Dehradun.
Goa hosted the 37th (October–November 2023) and Gujarat the 36th (September–October 2022); Meghalaya has been allotted the 39th, which is yet to be held.
practice — not a real PYQ
'Moga', the mascot of the 37th National Games held in Goa in 2023, represents which animal?
- (a)Asiatic lion
- (b)Indian bison (gaur)
- (c)Himalayan monal
- (d)Great hornbill
Answerb — Moga is the Indian bison, or gaur, the state animal of Goa.
The Asiatic lion was Savaj, mascot of Gujarat's 36th Games (2022); the Himalayan monal is Mauli, mascot of Uttarakhand's 38th Games (2025); the great hornbill was Ammu, mascot of Kerala's 35th Games (2015).
practice — not a real PYQ
Which team topped the medal tally at the 37th National Games (Goa, 2023)?
- (a)Services
- (b)Haryana
- (c)Maharashtra
- (d)Goa
Answerc — Maharashtra topped the Goa 2023 tally with 80 gold and 228 medals in all.
Services finished second (66 gold) and Haryana third (62 gold); Services topped the 36th (2022) and 38th (2025) editions instead. Goa is a distractor drawn from the venue, not the results.
practice — not a real PYQ
Which one of the following pairs of National Games edition and host is correctly matched?
- (a)34th National Games — Guwahati, Assam
- (b)36th National Games — Kerala
- (c)37th National Games — Goa
- (d)38th National Games — Gujarat
Answerc — Goa hosted the 37th National Games in October–November 2023.
The 34th (2011) was Jharkhand's, with Ranchi as main city — Guwahati hosted the 33rd (2007); the 36th (2022) was Gujarat's, while Kerala hosted the 35th (2015); the 38th (2025) was Uttarakhand's.