RAS question
After the PMO moved out of South Block, what is planned for the old British-era building?
Correct answer: (B) It will become a museum (Yuge Yugeen Bharat Museum).
After the Prime Minister's Office moved out of South Block, the old British-era building was planned to become part of the Yuge Yugeen Bharat National Museum.
Explanation
The correct answer is the museum plan because the official PMO release says the Government of India was vacating North and South Blocks and shifting to Seva Teerth and Kartavya Bhavans. It records the Cabinet's resolve that North and South Blocks be made part of the Yuge Yugeen Bharat National Museum. The Prime Minister announced that the old South Block would become a museum, after the Prime Minister's Office had functioned from South Block since Independence. The point is not merely relocation of an office: the transition moves governance out of colonial-era buildings while retaining them as a public museum space linked to India's civilisational heritage.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) The official PMO release says North and South Blocks are to become part of the Yuge Yugeen Bharat National Museum, not the office of the Election Commission of India.
- (C) The plan describes vacating and repurposing the colonial-era buildings as a museum, so demolition for the Central Vista project is not the stated plan.
- (D) A national library is not mentioned in the official PMO release; the stated use is a national museum.
Concept
This tests the governance and current-affairs link between Central Vista institutional relocation and the reuse of colonial-era state buildings. It recurs in RAS because questions often ask what a high-profile administrative change signifies in terms of institutions, heritage and public policy.