Consider the following countries : (1). Denmark (2). Japan (3). Russian Federation (4). United Kingdom (5). United States of America Which of the above are the members of the ‘Arctic Council ‘?

The correct answer is D (1, 3 and 5): Denmark, the Russian Federation and the USA are members of the Arctic Council.

The Arctic Council was formed in 1996 by the Ottawa Declaration. Its eight full members are the Arctic states: Canada, Denmark (acting for Greenland and the Faroes), Finland, Iceland, Norway, the Russian Federation, Sweden and the USA. Membership is limited to these states.

• Japan (2) is not a member. It is a non-Arctic state with observer status, as are the UK and several others, along with the EU and China.
• United Kingdom (4) is also only an observer. It has no Arctic coastline, so it cannot be a full member.

The core concept is that the Council is an intergovernmental forum for Arctic governance, with indigenous peoples as permanent participants. For Mains, it links to the Arctic's strategic importance, shipping routes, resource competition and India's observer status, which it gained in 2013.

Trap: Aspirants often pick C because the UK and the USA are familiar names, or they confuse observer status with membership.