At which of the following places is the Secretariat of the International Solar Alliance (I.S.A.) located at present ?
- (a)Paris
- (b)New Delhi
- (c)Gurugram
- (d)New York
Correct — C, Gurugram. The Secretariat (headquarters) of the International Solar Alliance sits in Gurugram district, Haryana, on the campus of the National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE) at Gwal Pahari on the Gurugram-Faridabad road. India offered to host the Secretariat when the Alliance was created, and the foundation stone of the headquarters was laid at Gwal Pahari by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Francois Hollande in January 2016. That was still the ISA's seat on the day of this exam (December 2019) and remains so today — the ISA is usually described as the first treaty-based international intergovernmental organisation to be headquartered in India.
- (a)Paris — Paris is where the ISA was LAUNCHED — jointly by India and France on 30 November 2015 at the COP-21 UN climate conference — not where it is based. Launch venue and headquarters are different things, and this is the trap the question is built on.
- (b)New Delhi — Tempting, because India is the host country and the ISA's Founding Conference (March 2018) and its Assembly sessions have been held in New Delhi. But the Secretariat itself is not in Delhi; it is on the NISE campus at Gwal Pahari in Gurugram, Haryana.
- (d)New York — New York hosts the United Nations headquarters. The ISA is an independent treaty-based organisation, not a UN body or agency (it was later granted observer status at the UN General Assembly), and it has never been seated in New York.
The International Solar Alliance was conceived by India and France as a coalition of sunshine-rich countries that would pool demand, finance and technology to scale up solar power. It was launched at COP-21 in Paris in November 2015; its Framework Agreement was opened for signature at COP-22 in Marrakech in November 2016; and it entered into force in December 2017 once fifteen countries had ratified, turning the ISA into a full treaty-based intergovernmental organisation. Membership was initially limited to countries lying wholly or partly between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn; an amendment to the Framework Agreement later opened it to all UN member states.
Every option in this question is a real place in the ISA story except one, so the discipline is to attach the right event to the right city: Paris = launch, Marrakech = signature, New Delhi = Founding Conference and Assembly venue, Gurugram (Gwal Pahari) = the Secretariat. Note also the phrase 'at present' — for this 15 December 2019 paper the answer is the ISA's seat as of late 2019, and it has not moved since.
- ISA Secretariat: National Institute of Solar Energy campus, Gwal Pahari, Gurugram, Haryana.
- Launched jointly by India and France on 30 November 2015 at the COP-21 climate conference in Paris.
- Foundation stone of the headquarters laid at Gwal Pahari by PM Modi and President Hollande in January 2016.
- Framework Agreement opened for signature at Marrakech (COP-22) in November 2016; entered into force in December 2017 after 15 ratifications.
- Membership, at first restricted to countries between the Tropics, was later opened to all UN member states by an amendment to the Framework Agreement.
Launch city is not the headquarters city — that single distinction decides this question.
- Answering 'Paris' because the Alliance was launched there and France co-founded it.
- Answering 'New Delhi' because India hosts the ISA — the Secretariat is in Gurugram, not in the capital.
- Treating the ISA as a UN specialised agency; it is an independent treaty-based organisation.
UPPSC asks the flat locational recall — 'where is the ISA Secretariat'; UPSC prefers statement-based questions on when and where the ISA was launched and who may join it.
Consider the following statements: 1. The International Solar Alliance was launched at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2015. 2. The Alliance includes all the member countries of the United Nations. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 2 only
- (c) Both 1 and 2
- (d) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer(a) 1 only
The same institution tested three years earlier — UPSC checks the launch (COP-21, 2015) and the membership rule, this UPPSC question checks the seat of the Secretariat.
In which of the following districts of U.P. a major solar power plant was established in collaboration with France in 2018 ?
- (a) Agra
- (b) Ballia
- (c) Deoria
- (d) Mirzapur
Answer(d) Mirzapur
The same India-France solar partnership from the state angle: the Mirzapur plant inaugurated by Modi and Macron in 2018 grew out of the very cooperation that produced the ISA.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The International Solar Alliance was launched jointly by India and which other country?
- (a)Germany
- (b)France
- (c)United States of America
- (d)Japan
Answer(b) France — PM Narendra Modi and President Francois Hollande launched the Alliance at the COP-21 climate conference in Paris on 30 November 2015.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which one of the following statements about the International Solar Alliance is correct?
- (a)It is a specialised agency of the United Nations
- (b)Its headquarters are in Paris, France
- (c)It is a treaty-based intergovernmental organisation headquartered in India
- (d)Its membership is confined to SAARC countries
Answer(c) It is a treaty-based intergovernmental organisation headquartered in India — its Secretariat is at Gwal Pahari, Gurugram, and its Framework Agreement came into force in December 2017.