With reference to “Nepal – India International Sanskrit Conclave – 2024”, which of the following statements is/are correct ? 1. It was held at New Delhi. 2. This three-day conclave was organised by the Niti Anusandhan Pratisthan. 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 — A, Only 2. Take the two statements one at a time. Statement 1 fails on the venue: the Nepal–India International Sanskrit Conclave 2024 was held in KATHMANDU, at Budhanilkantha on the northern edge of the Kathmandu valley, over three days from 27 to 29 March 2024 — not in New Delhi. Statement 2 stands: the conclave was organised by the Niti Anusandhan Pratishthan, a Kathmandu-based policy-research foundation, working with Central Sanskrit University of Delhi and India Foundation on the Indian side, and it did run for three days as the question says. One true statement and one false one gives 'Only 2', which is option (a). The reasoning shortcut that saves you here is in the event's own name. Bilateral conclaves are named in the order of host-first courtesy, and this one is styled 'Nepal – India', with Nepal in front — a strong hint that Nepal, not India, was the host. The conclave's substance backs that reading: it was built around the theme of strengthening cultural and educational ties through Sanskrit, drew roughly 500 participants including vice-chancellors of sixteen Indian universities and Nepali Sanskrit scholars, and closed with a five-point resolution that included holding an international Sanskrit conference every year. Sanskrit is the natural vehicle for that kind of India–Nepal exercise because it is a shared inheritance rather than one country's property — Nepal runs its own Nepal Sanskrit University, India runs a network of Sanskrit universities, and the manuscript traditions of the two countries overlap heavily.
- (b)Neither 1 nor 2 — This would require statement 2 to be false as well, and it is not. The organiser named in the question, Niti Anusandhan Pratishthan, is the correct one — it is the Nepali institution that convened the conclave in partnership with Central Sanskrit University, Delhi and India Foundation — and the event genuinely ran three days, 27 to 29 March 2024. Rejecting a statement merely because the institution's name is unfamiliar is the commonest way candidates lose this question.
- (c)Only 1 — This inverts the truth values. Statement 1 is the false one: the venue was Kathmandu in Nepal, not New Delhi. Candidates pick (c) when they assume that any large Sanskrit gathering with Indian universities in it must have been staged in India — which is exactly the assumption the setter is testing.
- (d)Both 1 and 2 — Statement 2 is correct, so half of this option is right, but statement 1 is not — New Delhi was not the venue. 'Both' is the trap option for a candidate who recognises Niti Anusandhan Pratishthan as a real organiser, is thereby reassured that the whole item is factual, and stops checking the venue.
Sanskrit functions in South Asian diplomacy as shared civilisational property rather than as any one state's national language, and India and Nepal both invest in it institutionally. In India, Sanskrit is one of the languages of the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution and carries classical-language status; it is taught through a dedicated network of Sanskrit universities, of which Central Sanskrit University, Delhi is the largest. Nepal has its own Nepal Sanskrit University and an old tradition of Sanskrit pathshalas. Conclaves like the 2024 one sit inside this cultural-diplomacy track, running parallel to the political and economic track of India–Nepal relations and generally organised by think tanks and universities rather than by foreign ministries.
The examinable unit in this kind of question is not the subject matter but the event's coordinates — where it was held, who organised it, how long it ran. UPPSC builds two-statement items by keeping one coordinate accurate and corrupting another, and the corrupted one is almost always the venue, because a candidate who half-remembers the news remembers the topic and not the city. Two habits protect you. First, read the event's title: 'Nepal – India International Sanskrit Conclave' puts Nepal first, and bilateral events are usually named host-first. Second, do not treat an unfamiliar organiser as automatically wrong — Niti Anusandhan Pratishthan is a genuine Nepali research foundation, and its unfamiliarity to an Indian reader is precisely why the setter left that statement intact. On this paper the correct combination is therefore 'Only 2', not the 'Neither' that a nervous candidate reaches for.
- The Nepal–India International Sanskrit Conclave 2024 was held from 27 to 29 March 2024 at Budhanilkantha, Kathmandu, Nepal — not in New Delhi.
- It was organised by the Niti Anusandhan Pratishthan of Nepal, together with Central Sanskrit University, Delhi and India Foundation.
- Its theme was the strengthening of cultural and educational ties through Sanskrit; roughly 500 participants attended, including vice-chancellors of sixteen Indian universities.
- The conclave closed with a five-point resolution, one point of which was to hold an international Sanskrit conference every year.
- Sanskrit is one of the languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India; Nepali was added to that same Schedule by the Constitution (71st Amendment) Act, 1992, alongside Konkani and Manipuri.
- Assuming a bilateral event with heavy Indian participation was held in India. Read the event's own name — 'Nepal – India' puts the host first.
- Rejecting a statement only because the organising body's name is unfamiliar. Niti Anusandhan Pratishthan is real, and the setter kept that statement true precisely because it looks doubtful.
- Confusing the two countries' institutions — Central Sanskrit University is in Delhi, while Nepal Sanskrit University is Nepal's own state university for Sanskrit.
UPPSC asks current affairs as two-statement items in which one statement carries the venue or the date and the other the organiser or the theme; UPSC prefers to ask what an event or forum is for. Either way, memorise events by their coordinates — city, host, month — and not by their subject alone.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which Indian university partnered the Niti Anusandhan Pratishthan for the Nepal–India International Sanskrit Conclave, 2024?
- (a)Banaras Hindu University
- (b)Central Sanskrit University, Delhi
- (c)Nalanda University
- (d)Jawaharlal Nehru University
Answer(b) Central Sanskrit University, Delhi — it took part alongside India Foundation on the Indian side of the Kathmandu conclave held from 27 to 29 March 2024.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Consider the following statements: 1. Sanskrit is one of the languages included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India. 2. Nepali was added to the Eighth Schedule by the Constitution (71st Amendment) Act, 1992. 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(c) Both 1 and 2 — Sanskrit was among the languages originally listed in the Eighth Schedule, and the 71st Amendment of 1992 added Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali to it.