Match List-I with List-II and choose the correct answer using the codes given below the lists : List-I (Joint Exercise) A. India – Uzbekistan Joint Military Exercise, "DUSTLIK" B. India – France Joint Military Exercise, "SHAKTI" C. Harbour phase of Indo – US Joint Exercise, Tiger Triumph, 2024 D. MILAN, 2024 List-II (Dates) 1. February 19 – 27, 2024 2. May 13 – 26, 2024 3. April 15 – 28, 2024 4. March 18 – 25, 2024 Codes :
- (a)A-3, B-4, C-1, D-2
- (b)A-3, B-2, C-4, D-1
- (c)A-4, B-2, C-1, D-3
- (d)A-2, B-3, C-1, D-4
Correct — B, A-3, B-2, C-4, D-1. Take the four events in the order the calendar puts them. MILAN 2024, the multilateral naval exercise the Indian Navy hosts at Visakhapatnam, ran from 19 to 27 February 2024 — so D goes with 1. The harbour phase of Tiger Triumph 2024, the India–United States tri-service humanitarian-assistance and disaster-relief exercise, ran at Visakhapatnam from 18 to 25 March 2024 before the ships sailed for the sea phase — so C goes with 4. DUSTLIK, the annual India–Uzbekistan joint military exercise, was held from 15 to 28 April 2024 at Termez in Uzbekistan — so A goes with 3. And SHAKTI, the India–France joint exercise, was held from 13 to 26 May 2024 at the Foreign Training Node at Umroi in Meghalaya — so B goes with 2. That gives A-3, B-2, C-4, D-1, which is option (b). There is a one-step shortcut worth learning: MILAN 2024 is the only one of the four that took place in February, and slot 1 (February 19–27) is the only February date on the list. Fix D-1 and three of the four options fall away immediately, because (a) pairs D with May, (c) pairs D with April and (d) pairs D with March. Note also the phrasing of item C — the booklet deliberately says 'harbour phase', because Tiger Triumph 2024 was run in two blocks, a harbour phase at Visakhapatnam followed by a sea phase that ended with an amphibious landing near Kakinada, and only the harbour phase falls inside 18–25 March.
- (a)A-3, B-4, C-1, D-2 — Gets DUSTLIK right (A-3, April) and then shuffles the other three. It puts SHAKTI in 18–25 March, which is the Tiger Triumph harbour-phase window; it puts the Tiger Triumph harbour phase in 19–27 February, which belongs to MILAN; and it pushes MILAN out to 13–26 May, which is when the India–France exercise SHAKTI was held at Umroi. MILAN in May is the single clearest error here — the 2024 edition was a February event at Visakhapatnam.
- (c)A-4, B-2, C-1, D-3 — Gets SHAKTI right (B-2, 13–26 May) but moves DUSTLIK from April to 18–25 March, dates that belong to the Tiger Triumph harbour phase; it then dates that harbour phase to 19–27 February, which is MILAN's window, and shifts MILAN to 15–28 April, which is DUSTLIK's. Two of the four pairs are simply rotated by one slot.
- (d)A-2, B-3, C-1, D-4 — Every pair is wrong except in the sense that it keeps the same four dates. DUSTLIK is placed in May (it was April) and SHAKTI in April (it was May) — the two are swapped. The Tiger Triumph harbour phase is placed in February (it was March) and MILAN in March (it was February) — that pair is swapped too. Since MILAN is not matched to 19–27 February, this option can be discarded without checking anything else.
India runs a large and growing calendar of bilateral and multilateral military exercises, and UPPSC has settled into asking them as match-the-list items — exercise to partner country, to service, to venue, or, as here, to date. Each name carries a fixed partner: DUSTLIK is only ever India–Uzbekistan, SHAKTI is only ever India–France, Tiger Triumph is only ever India–United States, and MILAN is not bilateral at all but a multilateral naval gathering that the Indian Navy hosts. Learning the partner first, then the service, then the venue, and only then the date, is the order in which these facts actually get tested.
A four-by-four matching item does not have to be solved four times. Find the one pairing you are surest of, use it to kill the options that contradict it, and check what survives. Here MILAN is the anchor: it is a February fixture at Visakhapatnam, held in the even years, and 19–27 February 2024 is the only February window offered. Only option (b) makes that pairing. The second-surest anchor is SHAKTI in May at Umroi in Meghalaya, the Indian Army's Foreign Training Node, which kills option (a) as well. The trap the setter has built in is the 'harbour phase' qualifier on item C: a candidate who remembers Tiger Triumph 2024 as a late-March event ending with a beach landing may reach for the sea-phase dates and mismatch it, which is exactly why the booklet spells out that it is the harbour phase being dated.
- MILAN 2024 — 12th edition, held at Visakhapatnam under the Eastern Naval Command from 19 to 27 February 2024, with more than 50 navies invited. MILAN began in 1995 at Port Blair under the Andaman and Nicobar Command and is held once every two years.
- Tiger Triumph 2024 — the India–United States bilateral tri-service humanitarian-assistance and disaster-relief exercise. Its harbour phase ran at Visakhapatnam from 18 to 25 March 2024; the sea phase followed from 26 to 30 March, with an amphibious landing near Kakinada.
- DUSTLIK 2024 — the India–Uzbekistan joint military exercise, held from 15 to 28 April 2024 at Termez in Uzbekistan. DUSTLIK is annual and alternates between the two countries; 'dustlik' means friendship.
- SHAKTI 2024 — the 7th edition of the India–France joint military exercise, held from 13 to 26 May 2024 at Umroi in Meghalaya, the Indian Army's Foreign Training Node. SHAKTI is biennial and alternates between India and France.
- Only one of the four windows offered falls in February, so pinning MILAN to 19–27 February 2024 settles the question by itself.
Read down the right-hand column and the year runs February, March, April, May. That gives A-3, B-2, C-4, D-1 — option (b). MILAN is the fastest anchor: it is the only February event on the list.
- Mixing up the two 'Shakti' names. Exercise SHAKTI is India–France; Mitra Shakti is India–Sri Lanka; Garuda Shakti is India–Indonesia. A bare 'Shakti' in an options list is almost always the France exercise.
- Ignoring a phase qualifier. Tiger Triumph 2024 had a harbour phase (18–25 March) and a sea phase (26–30 March); the question dates only the harbour phase, and the sea-phase dates are the built-in wrong answer.
- Assuming MILAN is bilateral. It is a multilateral naval exercise and a maritime seminar hosted by the Indian Navy, held once every two years, not a two-country drill.
UPPSC asks exercises as match-the-list (exercise to country, venue or date) or as a single 'which country' recall; UPSC prefers a multi-statement item mixing the partner country, the venue and the services involved, as it did with Mitra Shakti-2023 in 2024 — so carry partner + service + venue + rough month for every named exercise of the last two years.
Which of the following statements about 'Exercise Mitra Shakti-2023' are correct? 1. This was a joint military exercise between India and Bangladesh. 2. It commenced in Aundh (Pune). 3. Joint response during counter-terrorism operations was a goal of this operation. 4. Indian Air Force was a part of this exercise. Select the answer using the code given below :
- (a) 1, 2 and 3
- (b) 1, 2 and 4
- (c) 1, 3 and 4
- (d) 2, 3 and 4
Answer(d) 2, 3 and 4
The same skill in UPSC's own format — you are given a named exercise of the previous year and asked to pin its partner country, its venue and the services involved. Mitra Shakti-2023 was India-Sri Lanka, not India-Bangladesh, which is the single fact that decides the question, exactly as MILAN's February date decides this one.
‘Hand-in-Hand 2007’, a joint anti-terrorism military training was held by the officers of the Indian Army and officers of Army of which one of the following countries?
- (a) China
- (b) Japan
- (c) Russia
- (d) USA
Answer(a) China
The oldest form of this question and still the commonest: an exercise name, and four candidate partner countries. Hand-in-Hand belongs to China the way DUSTLIK belongs to Uzbekistan and SHAKTI to France - the name-to-partner pairing is the unit that gets examined.
Which Indian Naval Ship participated in Exercise Cutlass Express, 2021 ?
- (a) INS Vikrant
- (b) INS Magar
- (c) INS Talwar
- (d) INS Vikramaditya
Answer(c) INS Talwar
UPPSC's own precedent for dating and placing a naval exercise - Cutlass Express 2021 off the East African coast, with INS Talwar as the Indian participant. The commission has asked a current-affairs exercise question in every recent paper, which is why the exercise calendar of the twelve months before the exam is worth memorising.
Where was the "Sudarshan Prahar Army Exercise" carried out in December, 2022?
- (a) Rajasthan
- (b) Gujarat
- (c) Uttar Pradesh
- (d) Madhya Pradesh
Answer(a) Rajasthan
The venue variant of the same question - Sudarshan Prahar in the Rajasthan desert in December 2022. Between this and the 2021 naval item, UPPSC has now asked exercises by ship, by venue and, in 2024, by date, so learn each named exercise as partner + service + place + month.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Exercise 'DUSTLIK', held in April 2024 at Termez, is a joint military exercise between India and which country?
- (a)Kazakhstan
- (b)Uzbekistan
- (c)Tajikistan
- (d)Kyrgyzstan
Answer(b) Uzbekistan — DUSTLIK ('friendship' in Uzbek) is the annual India–Uzbekistan exercise, held alternately in the two countries; the 2024 edition ran 15–28 April at Termez. Khanjar is the India–Kyrgyzstan exercise, and KAZIND the India–Kazakhstan one.
- practice — not a real PYQ
With reference to MILAN 2024, consider the following statements: 1. It is a bilateral naval exercise between India and the United States. 2. The 2024 edition was hosted at Visakhapatnam by the Eastern Naval Command. 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(b) 2 only — MILAN is a multilateral naval exercise hosted by the Indian Navy, not a bilateral India–US drill, so statement 1 is wrong. The 12th edition was held at Visakhapatnam from 19 to 27 February 2024 under the Eastern Naval Command, so statement 2 is correct.