Consider the following pairs: 1) Puthukkuli shawls — Tamil Nadu 2) Sujni embroidery — Maharashtra 3) Uppada Jamdani saris — Karnataka Craft Heritage of which of the pairs given above is/are correct?

The correct answer is A (1 only). The test here is whether you can place each craft in its right state, and the elimination works cleanly.

• Pair 1 (Puthukkuli shawls, Tamil Nadu): Correct. Puthukkuli shawls are a Tamil Nadu handloom product, and the pair is accepted as matching.
• Pair 2 (Sujni embroidery, Maharashtra): Wrong. Sujni is a quilt-like running-stitch embroidery of Bihar, associated with the Bhagalpur region. Maharashtra is not its home.
• Pair 3 (Uppada Jamdani saris, Karnataka): Wrong. Uppada Jamdani is from Andhra Pradesh (East Godavari district) and carries a GI tag. Jamdani is widely linked to Bengal, which is the trap.

The core concept is the Geographical Indication (GI) regime under the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999, and the link between regional crafts and rural livelihoods. For Mains, this fits into questions on preserving traditional crafts, rural employment and value addition under the handloom and handicraft policies.

Trap: Candidates recall Jamdani as a Bengal product and pick a pair with a wrong state, or assume every state-craft pair is correct once one looks familiar.