UPSC Prelims 2025 · GS Paper I
Question 64: Environment and Ecology
The World Bank warned that India could become one of the first places where wet-bulb temperatures routinely exceed 35 °C. Which of the following statements best reflect(s) the implication of the above-said report?
- IPeninsular India will most likely suffer from flooding, tropical cyclones and droughts.
- IIThe survival of animals including humans will be affected as shedding of their body heat through perspiration becomes difficult.
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
AnswerThe answer is (c).
A wet-bulb temperature of 35 degrees Celsius is the physiological limit beyond which the body cannot cool itself by sweating, because sweat no longer evaporates. Even healthy people can die within hours of exposure, so Statement II is the direct implication. Statement I, which lists floods, cyclones and droughts in peninsular India, is about other climate hazards, which the key accepts as part of the same warming pattern. Both statements are counted as correct.
- I. The key counts this as an implication of a warming climate.
- II. Above 35 degrees wet-bulb the body cannot shed heat through perspiration.
How you could have got this
- If you were sure statement I is correct, (b) and (d) go: each of them leaves I out.
What you needed to know: The key counts this as an implication of a warming climate.
- Then, if you were sure statement II is correct, (a) goes: it leaves II out.
What you needed to know: Above 35 degrees wet-bulb the body cannot shed heat through perspiration.
Only (c) is left. This one needs every statement.
This follows an unofficial answer: UPSC has not published its key for this year, and if that answer is wrong, so is this path.
Which options go is worked out from UPSC’s key and the options, not by a model.
Why each option is right or wrong
- (a) Wrong: Statement II, on the body being unable to shed heat, is the direct implication.
- (b) Wrong: the key also counts Statement I as correct.
- (c) Right: the key counts both statements as implications of the warning.
- (d) Wrong: Statement II is plainly correct.
Worth knowing: Statement I (floods, cyclones, droughts) does not follow directly from a wet-bulb heat warning, so (b) reads as the more natural answer; check against UPSC's own key.
Explanation: written by UPSC Grade, not by UPSC.
Source: UPSC, Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 2025, General Studies Paper I, Series A. The paper on upsc.gov.in.