After the successful completion of the 38th National Games in Uttarakhand, India is preparing itself to host ____ Olympics.
- (a)2026
- (b)2036
- (c)2040
- (d)2048
Correct — B, 2036.
The 38th National Games ran in Uttarakhand from 28 January to 14 February 2025, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared them open at Dehradun. The stem picks up the ambition voiced around that event: India is preparing to host the Olympic Games of 2036.
That ambition is on record with the IOC. The Indian Olympic Association lodged a Letter of Intent with the IOC's Future Host Commission on 1 October 2024, and Ahmedabad was confirmed as the proposed host city in July 2025.
Carry away one distinction: a Letter of Intent opens a dialogue, it does not award the Games. India is a declared aspirant for 2036, not a confirmed host.
- (a)2026 — 2026 is a genuine Olympic year, which is what makes it tempting. It is the year of the Milano Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Olympic Games in Italy, a host chosen years before the 38th National Games were held.
A year already assigned to another host is not the year India is preparing to host.
- (c)2040 — 2040 is the Summer Olympiad that follows 2036 in the four-year cycle, so it answers which Summer Games falls one Olympiad after India's target year.
The stem asks for the year India is preparing for, and the year India placed before the IOC in its Letter of Intent is 2036.
- (d)2048 — 2048 sits in the same Summer Games sequence — 2036, 2040, 2044, 2048 — so it answers which Summer Olympiad falls three cycles after 2036.
Pushing India's hosting three Olympiads further out contradicts the timeline India has actually filed with the IOC.
Hosting an Olympic Games is not settled by an announcement. Under the IOC framework adopted in 2019, an interested party — a city, region, country or National Olympic Committee — signals interest with the relevant NOC's support, then enters a continuous dialogue with a Future Host Commission before any election.
India entered that pipeline for 2036 in two steps. The Indian Olympic Association filed its Letter of Intent on 1 October 2024; Ahmedabad was confirmed as the proposed host city in July 2025, when an Indian delegation went to IOC headquarters in Lausanne.
The 38th National Games were the domestic showcase around which this ambition was restated. Uttarakhand staged them across Dehradun, Haridwar, Haldwani, Rudrapur, Nainital, New Tehri, Pithoragarh and Shivpuri, with Mauli, a Himalayan monal, as mascot.
Domestic multi-sport events and the 2036 bid sit on one policy line — build venues and a competition calendar at home, then argue the case abroad. That link is what ties a national sports-policy item to a state general studies paper.
- The 38th National Games were held in Uttarakhand from 28 January to 14 February 2025.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared the 38th National Games open at Dehradun.
- Mauli, modelled on the Himalayan monal, was the mascot of the 38th National Games.
- The Services Sports Control Board topped the medal tally of the 38th National Games.
- The Indian Olympic Association submitted a Letter of Intent to the IOC's Future Host Commission on 1 October 2024 for the 2036 Games.
- Ahmedabad was confirmed as India's proposed host city for the 2036 Olympic and Paralympic Games in July 2025, at the IOC in Lausanne.
- An IOC Session was held in Mumbai in October 2023, where India's 2036 hosting ambition was stated publicly.
- Milano Cortina d'Ampezzo in Italy hosts the 2026 Winter Olympic Games.
- Los Angeles hosts the 2028 Summer Olympic Games and Brisbane the 2032 Summer Olympic Games.
The keyed year is the one named in India's Letter of Intent; the rows above it are editions already assigned to other hosts.
- 2026 is a live Olympic year in its own right, the Milano Cortina Winter Games, so a year sounding plausible is not evidence that it is the answer.
- Mixing the two cycles misdirects the date: 2026, 2030 and 2034 are Winter years while 2028, 2032 and 2036 are Summer years.
- Treating a Letter of Intent as an award converts a bid into a fact — India's 2036 hosting is still in dialogue with the IOC.
- The stem names the 38th National Games as the occasion; the mark turns on the Olympic year, not on a National Games detail.
- Ahmedabad is the proposed host city while the bid is India's — swapping city for country, or country for city, loses the point.
The stem in front of you is the plain form: one line, and the mark rests on a single fact, the target year. The proposed host city and the body with which the intent was filed are the neighbouring facts that same one-line treatment can reach.
The cited CDS 2020 item shows a second shape — the setting is a domestic multi-sport event, and what is actually being tested is the host State.
The cited RPSC 2024 item shows a third — two statements about one event, who hosts it and how many disciplines it carries, with the candidate asked which of them holds.
RPSC_2024_PRE_Prelims2024_Q542024Same event: both items rest on Uttarakhand hosting the 38th National Games. The RPSC item tests the hosting fact itself, together with the number of sporting disciplines and demonstration events, and its wording is framed in the future tense — "They will be hosted by Uttarakhand". The UKPSC stem takes the hosting as given and moves past it to India's Olympic target year, so the shared ground is the event and the difference is what each question actually asks for.
CDS_GK_2020_II_Q292020Same shape, different event and scale. The CDS item asks which State was planned to host an edition of the Khelo India Youth Games — a domestic multi-sport event, tested by host State. The UKPSC stem uses a domestic multi-sport event only as the setting and asks about a hosting ambition at the international level, where the unit is the country and the answer is a year rather than a State.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The 38th National Games of India, held in 2025, were hosted by which State?
- (a)Goa
- (b)Gujarat
- (c)Uttarakhand
- (d)Kerala
Answerc — Uttarakhand staged the 38th National Games from 28 January to 14 February 2025, across Dehradun, Haridwar, Haldwani and other centres.Goa hosted the 37th edition in 2023 and Gujarat the 36th in 2022, so both belong to earlier editions. Kerala hosted the 35th National Games in 2015.
- practice — not a real PYQ
India's formal expression of interest in hosting the 2036 Olympic and Paralympic Games was conveyed to the International Olympic Committee through which instrument?
- (a)A signed Host City Contract
- (b)A Letter of Intent submitted by the Indian Olympic Association
- (c)A candidature file cleared by the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports
- (d)A resolution passed at an IOC Session
Answerb — The Indian Olympic Association lodged a Letter of Intent with the IOC's Future Host Commission on 1 October 2024.A Host City Contract is signed after a host has been elected, so (a) comes far later in the sequence.
A candidature file belongs to the older bidding format that the 2019 reforms replaced with the dialogue process, and the letter on record came from the Indian Olympic Association, India's National Olympic Committee, rather than from a ministry, so (c) fails.
An IOC Session votes to elect a host; it is not the route by which a country registers its interest, which rules out (d).
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which city has India put forward to the International Olympic Committee as the proposed host city for the 2036 Olympic Games?
- (a)New Delhi
- (b)Mumbai
- (c)Ahmedabad
- (d)Bhubaneswar
Answerc — Ahmedabad is the city India has put forward as host in its 2036 bid.New Delhi is India's past multi-sport host, of the 1951 and 1982 Asian Games and the 2010 Commonwealth Games, which is what (a) answers.
Mumbai is where an IOC Session met in October 2023 — a gathering of the Olympic movement, which is a different role from being proposed as host, so (b) fails.
Bhubaneswar answers to Odisha's staging of the Hockey World Cup; the host city written into the 2036 bid is Ahmedabad, so (d) is out.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The 2026 Winter Olympic Games are scheduled to be held in which country?
- (a)France
- (b)Italy
- (c)United States of America
- (d)Australia
Answerb — The 2026 Winter Olympic Games are hosted by Milano Cortina d'Ampezzo in Italy.France is the host of the 2030 Winter Games in the French Alps, so (a) names a later Winter edition.
The United States hosts the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles and the 2034 Winter Games at Salt Lake City–Utah, which makes (c) a different pair of years.
Australia hosts the 2032 Summer Games at Brisbane, a Summer edition rather than a Winter one, so (d) fails.