With reference to “Mobility Arrangement for Talented Early-professionals Scheme” (MATES), which of the following statements is/are correct ? 1. This is a bilateral framework between India and Australia. 2. In this scheme Indian graduates (aged 18 – 30) with knowledge and skills in specific fields of study will be offered to live and work in Australia for up to two years. Select the correct answer from the codes given below :
- (a)Only 2
- (b)Neither 1 nor 2
- (c)Only 1
- (d)Both 1 and 2
Correct — D, Both 1 and 2. MATES, the Mobility Arrangement for Talented Early-professionals Scheme, is an India–Australia arrangement, so statement 1 is right. It was created under the Australia–India Migration and Mobility Partnership Arrangement signed on 23 May 2023, which is the umbrella under which the two governments agreed to move students, graduates, researchers and skilled workers between them in a regulated way. Statement 2 is right as well, almost word for word: MATES is open to Indian graduates aged 18 to 30 with qualifications in specified fields — the list runs to renewable energy, mining, engineering, information and communications technology, artificial intelligence, financial technology and agricultural technology — and it lets a successful applicant live and work in Australia for up to two years. Two operational details fill out the picture and are worth carrying: the arrangement offers up to 3,000 places a year, and because demand runs far ahead of that, entry is decided by a pre-application ballot rather than first-come-first-served; the visa itself is granted in the temporary work (subclass 403) stream. Since both statements survive, the answer is (d). This is a rare current-affairs item where the question paper is quoting the scheme's own description, so the safest reading is the literal one.
- (a)Only 2 — Discards statement 1, which is correct. MATES is bilateral and its two parties are India and Australia; it flows from the Australia–India Migration and Mobility Partnership Arrangement of May 2023 and is administered on the Australian side as a temporary work visa stream for Indian nationals.
- (b)Neither 1 nor 2 — Rejects both statements when both are accurate. Nothing in statement 2 is overstated — the age band of 18 to 30, the requirement of qualifications in specified fields, and the stay of up to two years are the scheme's own published terms.
- (c)Only 1 — Keeps the bilateral framing but throws out the substance, which is the part the paper reproduces most faithfully. Indian graduates aged 18 to 30 in the notified fields may live and work in Australia for up to two years under MATES, with up to 3,000 places a year allotted by ballot.
India has spent the last decade converting emigration from an unmanaged flow into a set of negotiated arrangements — Migration and Mobility Partnership Agreements, social security totalisation agreements and labour mobility pacts — signed one country at a time. The pattern is consistent: the destination country opens a defined, temporary channel for young Indian graduates or skilled workers, and India accepts commitments on documentation and the return of people staying irregularly. MATES is the Australian instance of that pattern, born of the Australia–India Migration and Mobility Partnership Arrangement of 23 May 2023; the India–UK Young Professionals Scheme under the 2021 India–UK Migration and Mobility Partnership is the closest parallel, and it too works by ballot.
Scheme questions are decided by three things — the partner, the beneficiary and the duration — and MATES is unusual only in that the question quotes all three correctly. Candidates lose this item by over-thinking: the age band 18–30 looks oddly specific, the two-year stay looks generous, so a nervous student assumes one of them is the planted error and marks 'Only 1'. The corrective habit is to ask what a plausible planted error in this family would even look like — a wrong partner country (Canada or the UK for Australia), a wrong age band, a wrong duration, or a claim of permanent residence. None of those distortions is present here. It is also worth noticing what MATES is not: it is a temporary, capped, ballot-based work channel, not a migration pathway to permanent residence, and questions in later years are likely to test precisely that limit.
- MATES — Mobility Arrangement for Talented Early-professionals Scheme — is an India–Australia bilateral arrangement established under the Australia–India Migration and Mobility Partnership Arrangement signed on 23 May 2023.
- Eligibility: Indian graduates and early-career professionals aged 18 to 30 with qualifications in specified fields — renewable energy, mining, engineering, ICT, artificial intelligence, financial technology and agricultural technology.
- Successful applicants may live and work in Australia for up to two years, on Australia's temporary work (subclass 403) visa; there is no requirement to have a job offer in advance.
- The arrangement provides up to 3,000 places a year, and because applications far exceed that number, candidates are selected through a pre-application ballot rather than on a first-come basis.
Both statements in the question survive checking, so the key marks (d) Both 1 and 2. The examinable unit in this family is partner country + beneficiary + duration.
- Confusing MATES with a permanent-residence route. It is a temporary, capped stay of up to two years on a subclass 403 visa.
- Mixing up India's mobility partners — the Young Professionals Scheme is with the United Kingdom, MATES is with Australia, and each has its own age band and cap.
- Assuming that a very specific-looking number in a statement (18–30, two years, 3,000) must be the planted error. In this item every one of them is accurate.
UPPSC asks bilateral schemes as two-statement items where one statement names the partner country and the other reproduces the eligibility rule. UPSC prefers the framework level — whether an international migration instrument is binding, what a partnership agreement commits India to, or what a named visa channel actually permits.
Consider the following statements : 1. Recently, all the countries of the United Nations have adopted the first-ever compact for international migration, the 'Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM)'. 2. The objectives and commitments stated in the GCM are binding on the UN member countries. 3. The GCM addresses internal migration or internally displaced people also in its objectives and commitments. How many of the above statements are correct?
- (a) Only one
- (b) Only two
- (c) All three
- (d) None
Answer(d) None
The multilateral counterpart of the same subject — the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, which UPSC tested on exactly the points that separate a compact from an arrangement like MATES: who signed it, whether it binds, and whether it covers internal migration.
With reference to the Deakin University, which of the following statement/s is/are correct? 1. It will be the first Foreign University to enter India as an independent campus. 2. It is being set up in Maharashtra. Select the correct answer using the code given below -
- (a) Only 1
- (b) Only 2
- (c) Both 1 and 2
- (d) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer(a) Only 1
The education limb of the same India–Australia relationship, asked in UPPSC's identical two-statement format: Deakin University of Australia as the first foreign university with an independent campus in India. Both items reward knowing the partner country precisely and reading the second statement literally.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The MATES scheme, in the news in 2024, is a mobility arrangement between India and which country?
- (a)Canada
- (b)Australia
- (c)Germany
- (d)Japan
Answer(b) Australia — the Mobility Arrangement for Talented Early-professionals Scheme was created under the Australia–India Migration and Mobility Partnership Arrangement of May 2023 and lets Indian graduates aged 18–30 work in Australia for up to two years.
- practice — not a real PYQ
With reference to the MATES scheme, consider the following statements: 1. Selection of applicants is made through a ballot because the number of places is capped. 2. The scheme grants successful applicants permanent residence in Australia. Which of the statements is/are correct?
- (a)Only 1
- (b)Only 2
- (c)Both 1 and 2
- (d)Neither 1 nor 2
Answer(a) Only 1 — MATES offers up to 3,000 places a year and uses a pre-application ballot. It grants a temporary work visa (subclass 403) for a stay of up to two years, not permanent residence.