UPPSC 2022 Prelims GS Paper-I · Question 118 of 150

Correct — D, Gujarat, Kerala, Punjab. Round I of NITI Aayog's State Energy and Climate Index ranked Gujarat, Kerala and Punjab as the three top-performing States. The point that makes the option unambiguous is that the index does not publish one flat league table: it groups States and Union Territories into categories and ranks within each, and the trio named here is the top three of the larger-States category, which is the headline ranking the question is drawing on. One correction to the stem, which does not touch the answer: the index was launched on 11 April 2022, not on the 10th as the question states. The date is a day out in the paper; the ranking, and therefore the keyed letter, is unaffected.

• (a)Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka — Kerala genuinely belongs in the top three, and that single true name is what makes this the most dangerous option on the page. Tamil Nadu and Karnataka do not join it at the top of the larger-States ranking. Grouping the southern States together is a standard decoy in index questions, because the south does well on so many composite indices that the cluster looks self-evidently right.
• (b)Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal — Punjab is a genuine member of the top three, but Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal are not. Uttar Pradesh is planted here for a specific reason: it is the home State of the examination, and candidates preparing for UPPSC are primed to look for it. A State appearing in an option is not evidence that it performed well.
• (c)Manipur, Tripura, Mizoram — None of the three is among the top performers in the larger-States ranking the question asks about; they fall outside that category altogether, since the index ranks smaller States separately. An option made up entirely of small north-eastern States is the classic filler in this format — plausible-sounding, but drawn from a different list from the one being asked about.

NITI Aayog, which replaced the Planning Commission on 1 January 2015, does not direct State plans the way its predecessor did; a large part of its influence now runs through composite indices that score and rank States, on the theory that published comparison drives competition between them — the idea usually described as competitive and cooperative federalism. The State Energy and Climate Index belongs to that family, alongside the SDG India Index, the India Innovation Index, the Composite Water Management Index and the School Education Quality Index. Round I of the energy index, published in April 2022, scored States and Union Territories on their energy sector performance and the climate dimension of it, and — as with the other NITI indices — reported the results by category rather than as one national list, so that a small State or a Union Territory is not measured against Uttar Pradesh or Maharashtra.

Anchor this to the exam. It is a current-affairs question about a report published two months before the paper of 12 June 2022, and 'top performing' means the position in Round I, not a standing property of those three States. Composite indices are re-cut every round with revised indicators and revised data years, and rankings move; so learn Gujarat, Kerala and Punjab as the April 2022 result and quote it that way. The exam craft here is generic to index questions and worth internalising. First, ask which category is being ranked — most NITI indices split larger States, smaller States and Union Territories, and an option built entirely of small States usually belongs to a different table. Second, be suspicious of an option that clusters States by region, because regional clusters are how examiners build a wrong answer that feels intuitive. Third, notice when one true name has been mixed with two false ones: Kerala in option (a) and Punjab in option (b) are both real members of the top three, planted to make a wrong set feel half-verified.

• Gujarat, Kerala and Punjab were the top three performers among the larger States in Round I of NITI Aayog's State Energy and Climate Index.
• The index ranks States and Union Territories within categories rather than on a single national list, so the 'top performing States' here means the leaders of the larger-States group.
• Round I was launched on 11 April 2022. The question's stem dates it to 10 April, which is a day out — an error in the paper, not in the ranking, and it does not affect the keyed answer.
• The State Energy and Climate Index is one of a family of NITI Aayog composite indices used to rank States, alongside the SDG India Index, the India Innovation Index, the Composite Water Management Index and the School Education Quality Index.
• NITI Aayog itself replaced the Planning Commission with effect from 1 January 2015, and these indices are a main instrument of its role.

• Mistaking an option that clusters States by region — the three southern States, the three north-eastern States — for the actual ranking
• Being reassured by one correct name in a wrong set; Kerala appears in option (a) and Punjab in option (b), and neither set is right
• Quoting a ranking as permanent. This is the Round I result of April 2022; composite indices are re-cut with new indicators and data years, and positions move

UPPSC asks NITI Aayog indices almost every year, in one of three shapes: which State topped a named index, which State was NOT among the top five, and which category a named State was grouped under. UPSC rarely asks the ranking itself and instead tests institutional identity — what NITI Aayog replaced, which body a named mission sits under — so prepare the rankings for the State paper and the institutional facts for both.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The State Energy and Climate Index is published by

  • (a)the Ministry of Power
  • (b)NITI Aayog
  • (c)the Central Electricity Authority
  • (d)the Bureau of Energy Efficiency

  Answer(b) NITI Aayog — the index is one of NITI Aayog's family of composite indices that score and rank States, its first round having been launched in April 2022.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following indices is NOT published by NITI Aayog?

  • (a)SDG India Index
  • (b)India Innovation Index
  • (c)Composite Water Management Index
  • (d)Human Development Index

  Answer(d) Human Development Index — the HDI is published by the United Nations Development Programme in its Human Development Report. The other three are NITI Aayog publications.