Match List - I with List - II and select the correct answer from the codes given below the lists : List - I A. Thomas Cook B. Greta Thunberg C. Dr. Usha Kiran D. Carrie Lam List - II 1. Recipient of Bharat-Bharati Award 2. Hong Kong Leader 3. Environmental Activist 4. British Tour and Travel Company Codes :
- (a)A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4
- (b)A-4, B-2, C-3, D-1
- (c)A-1, B-3, C-4, D-2
- (d)A-4, B-3, C-1, D-2
Correct — D, A-4, B-3, C-1, D-2. Thomas Cook was the British tour-and-travel company — the world's oldest travel firm — which collapsed into compulsory liquidation on 23 September 2019, stranding roughly 600,000 travellers and forcing the UK's largest peacetime repatriation, 'Operation Matterhorn'. Greta Thunberg is the Swedish environmental activist whose school strike grew into the global Fridays for Future movement and who addressed the UN Climate Action Summit in New York in September 2019. Dr. Usha Kiran — the Hindi and Maithili writer Usha Kiran Khan of Patna — was announced in September 2019 as the recipient of the Bharat-Bharati Samman, the highest literary honour of the Uttar Pradesh Hindi Sansthan, Lucknow. Carrie Lam was Hong Kong's Chief Executive, i.e. its leader, at the height of the 2019 protests. Present-day note: Lam did not seek another term; John Lee has been Hong Kong's Chief Executive since July 2022.
- (a)A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4 — Gets every pair wrong: it makes Thomas Cook — a company — the recipient of a Hindi literary award, turns Greta Thunberg into the leader of Hong Kong, and makes Carrie Lam a British travel firm.
- (b)A-4, B-2, C-3, D-1 — Only the Thomas Cook pairing is right. It calls Greta Thunberg the Hong Kong leader, Dr. Usha Kiran an environmental activist, and Carrie Lam a British tour and travel company.
- (c)A-1, B-3, C-4, D-2 — Correct on Greta Thunberg and Carrie Lam, but it swaps the other two — Thomas Cook becomes the Bharat-Bharati awardee and Dr. Usha Kiran becomes a British travel company.
This is a current-affairs 'who's who' of 2019, pulling one name each from business, global climate activism, Hindi literature and international politics. The only entry with a local hook is the Bharat-Bharati Samman — the top award of the Uttar Pradesh Hindi Sansthan, Lucknow, an autonomous body of the UP government set up to promote Hindi, carrying a cash prize of five lakh rupees. UPPSC routinely slips one such UP-specific item into an otherwise international list.
Never try to place all four pairs at once. Anchor on the pair you cannot get wrong and let it eliminate options: Thomas Cook is obviously not a person, so A must be 4 — which instantly removes (a) and (c). Between (b) and (d), Carrie Lam is unmistakably the Hong Kong leader, so D-2 gives (d). One useful footnote for the business item: Thomas Cook (India) Ltd. is a separately owned company and did not shut down with the UK group.
- Thomas Cook (UK) entered compulsory liquidation on 23 September 2019; about 600,000 travellers were stranded and repatriated under 'Operation Matterhorn'
- Greta Thunberg — Swedish climate activist; her school strike became the Fridays for Future movement, and she spoke at the UN Climate Action Summit, New York, September 2019
- Dr. Usha Kiran Khan — Hindi and Maithili writer from Patna, a Padma Shri and Sahitya Akademi awardee, chosen for the Bharat-Bharati Samman announced in September 2019
- Bharat-Bharati Samman is the highest award of the Uttar Pradesh Hindi Sansthan, Lucknow, with a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh
- Carrie Lam was Chief Executive of Hong Kong from 2017; the 2019 extradition-bill protests defined her term
- Reading 'Dr. Usha Kiran' as the film actress Usha Kiran — the awardee is the writer Usha Kiran Khan
- Assuming Thomas Cook's Indian business closed along with the UK company — it is separately owned
- Trying to fix all four pairs before looking at the codes, instead of eliminating with the one certain pair
UPPSC likes a four-item current-affairs match list that mixes one UP-specific award with international newsmakers; UPSC usually asks the same names as standalone 'who is X / what is X' questions.
Match List-I with List-II and select the correct answer using the code given below the lists: List-I A. Harold Pinter B. Jacques Diouf C. Jose Manuel Barroso D. Raymond Lafitte List-II 1. Director-General, FAO 2. President, European Commission 3. World Bank appointed expert for adjudicating on the Baglihar Hydel Project 4. Litterateur
- (a) A-4 B-3 C-2 D-1
- (b) A-4 B-1 C-2 D-3
- (c) A-2 B-1 C-4 D-3
- (d) A-2 B-3 C-4 D-1
Answer(b) A-4 B-1 C-2 D-3
Same concept — a current-affairs match list pairing newsmakers with the office or identity they are known for, solved the same way: anchor the one certain pair and eliminate codes.
Match List-I (Distinguished Person) with List-II (Achievement/Known as) and select the correct answer using the codes given below the lists: List I (A) Guenter Grass (B) Trevor Huddleston (C) Dicky Dolma (D) Kim Campbell List II 1. First woman Prime Minister of Canada 2. Nobel Prize winner for literature 3. Leading campaigner against apartheid in South Africa 4. Youngest woman to climb the Mt. Everest 5. American violinist
- (a) A 5 B 3 C 2 D 1
- (b) A 2 B 3 C 4 D 1
- (c) A 5 B 3 C 4 D 2
- (d) A 2 B 1 C 3 D 5
Answer(b) A 2 B 3 C 4 D 1
The same person-to-identity matching concept, including a writer identified by a literary honour and a political leader identified by office — exactly the two pair types this UPPSC question tests.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Bharat-Bharati Samman is the highest literary award of which institution?
- (a)Sahitya Akademi
- (b)Uttar Pradesh Hindi Sansthan
- (c)Bharatiya Jnanpith
- (d)Central Institute of Indian Languages
Answer(b) the Uttar Pradesh Hindi Sansthan, Lucknow — an autonomous UP-government body for the promotion of Hindi.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Greta Thunberg is most closely associated with which movement?
- (a)Extinction Rebellion
- (b)Fridays for Future
- (c)Chipko Movement
- (d)Green Belt Movement
Answer(b) Fridays for Future — the school climate strike movement that grew out of her 2018 protest.