Supposing all Indian States as different countries of the world in terms of Human Development Index ranking: match these states to concerned country’s raking and select correct option from codes given below: List-I (States) (a) Kerala (b) Gujarat (c) Uttar Pradesh (d) Maharashtra List-II (Ranking countries) 1) South Africa 2) Pakistan 3) Honduras 4) Maldives

Kerala is the top state by a wide margin, so it maps to the highest-ranked country in the list, the Maldives (a-4). Maharashtra sits in the upper-middle group, so it maps to South Africa (d-1). Gujarat is in the middle band, so it maps to Honduras (b-3). Uttar Pradesh, the weakest of the four, maps to Pakistan (c-2), the lowest of the four countries.

The country HDI values from the UNDP Human Development Report 2015 were roughly Maldives 0.701, South Africa 0.666, Honduras 0.606 and Pakistan 0.550. State values varied by source, but the ordering Kerala > Maharashtra > Gujarat > UP was stable in NHDR and Planning Commission figures. Option B is the only one that respects this ordering. The country figures have since been revised; in the 2021-22 report the order is unchanged.

Core concept: HDI combines life expectancy, schooling and income, and the state-level comparison uses the same framework. This links to the Mains theme of regional disparities in human development and the role of social sector spending.

Trap: candidates often try to match exact numbers from memory. Anchor on the rank order instead, then check the option that keeps that order intact.