UPSC Prelims 2025 — practice paper

All three statements are correct. I: DAC CO2 can be permanently stored underground (DACCS), i.e., carbon sequestration via geological storage/mineralization (Wikipedia: Direct Air Capture). II: Purified DAC CO2 can be used in industries such as plastics (e.g., CO2-to-polyols/polycarbonates) and in food processing like beverage carbonation (Wikipedia: Direct Air Capture). III: DAC CO2 combined with green hydrogen can be converted via Power‑to‑Liquids routes (RWGS + Fischer–Tropsch or methanol-to-jet) to make synthetic aviation fuel (MDPI 2022 LCA on PtL kerosene using CO2 from DAC).

I is false because Anadyr (Russia) and Nome (Alaska) are not "a few kilometers" apart; their great-circle distance is roughly 800 km. While they are on opposite sides of the International Date Line (ANAT UTC+12 for Anadyr; Nome on Alaska Time, UTC−9 in winter/UTC−8 in summer), making their calendar days often different, the distance clause makes the whole statement incorrect. II is false: when it is Monday in Anadyr, Nome is behind in time, so it is Sunday (or later Monday), never Tuesday. (Timeanddate ANAT UTC+12; Nome AKST/AKDT details.)

Statement I is correct: France hosted the AI Action Summit at the Grand Palais, Paris on February 10–11, 2025, co-chaired with India, explicitly building on the 2023 Bletchley Park Summit and the 2024 Seoul Summit. Statement II is incorrect: the official ‘Statement on Inclusive and Sustainable Artificial Intelligence for People and the Planet’ lists signatory countries and does not include the United States or the United Kingdom. Multiple reports on February 11, 2025 also noted that both the US and UK declined to sign the Paris declaration. Hence, only Statement I is correct.