UPSC Prelims 2016 · Question 6 of 98

UPSC Prelims 2016 question on International Solar Alliance

Consider the following statements:

1. The International Solar Alliance was launched at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2015.

2. The Alliance includes all the member countries of the United Nations.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. 1 only
  2. 2 only
  3. Both 1 and 2
  4. Neither 1 nor 2
Show answer

Answer: A. 1 only

Verdict

The answer is 1 only. The International Solar Alliance was launched at the Paris climate conference in 2015, but it does not include all United Nations member countries.

Analysis

Statement 1 is CORRECT. India and France launched the Alliance at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris in 2015 to boost solar energy in developing countries. Statement 2 is INCORRECT. The Alliance was conceived as a platform for solar resource rich countries lying wholly or substantially between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, so membership was defined geographically and could not include every United Nations member. The Alliance was also designed to build synergies with existing bodies rather than duplicate them.

Source

The Hindu report on the launch of the International Solar Alliance.

How to crack it

Statement 2 contains the word all, and a universal membership claim about any new grouping is almost always false, because groupings are created precisely to assemble a subset with a shared interest. Ask what the shared interest is, and here it is high solar insolation, which immediately implies a tropical membership band rather than a global one. Founding venue, founding partners and the eligibility principle are the three facts worth logging for any new international body.

More questions on International Relations and Current Affairs

All 77 questions on International Relations and Current Affairs →

← Full 2016 question paper · All International Relations questions