Which of the following cities of Uttar Pradesh is/are converted under the ‘Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY)'? 1) Varanasi 2) Mathura 3) Prayagraj 4) Ayodhya Select the correct answer from the codes given below:

The correct answer is C (1 and 2): Varanasi and Mathura are the two Uttar Pradesh cities in the HRIDAY list.

HRIDAY (Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana) was launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs in January 2015. It covered 12 heritage cities across India: Ajmer, Amaravati, Amritsar, Badami, Dwarka, Gaya, Kanchipuram, Mathura, Puri, Varanasi, Vellankanite (Velankanni), and Warangal. Of these, only Varanasi and Mathura are in Uttar Pradesh.

• Statement 1 (Varanasi): Correct. It is a HRIDAY city.
• Statement 2 (Mathura): Correct. It is a HRIDAY city.
• Statement 3 (Prayagraj): Wrong. It is not in the HRIDAY list.
• Statement 4 (Ayodhya): Wrong. It is not in the HRIDAY list, despite its heritage status.

The concept sits within urban heritage conservation and sustainable tourism. For Mains GS-I (Urbanisation) and GS-II (Government schemes), HRIDAY is a useful example of how heritage conservation is tied to basic civic infrastructure.

Trap: Aspirants assume Ayodhya or Prayagraj must be included because of their religious and historical importance. Scheme lists follow government notifications, not cultural prominence.