Correct answer: (a) 1 only
Explanation
- A
1 only
(a) 1 only. National Innovation Foundation-India is an autonomous body of the Department of Science and Technology. It scouts and scales grassroots, informal and traditional innovations, not elite lab-to-lab work with foreign institutes. Statement 1 is true and 2 is false; that is the official key.
- B
2 only
(b) 2 only. Statement 2 reverses NIF’s mandate. NIF is not an advanced-institution collaboration vehicle, so 2 only is wrong.
- C
Both 1 and 2
(c) Both 1 and 2. The first statement holds, the second does not. Both cannot be correct.
- D
Neither 1 nor 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2. Statement 1 is an accurate institutional fact. Neither-nor fails.
Summary. Official key is (a) 1 only. NIF is a DST autonomous body created to document and support grassroots innovators. It is not a programme to deepen premier-lab research with foreign institutions. Statement 2 therefore drops. Only statement 1 is correct.
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