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UPSC CSE CSAT 2017 · Question 65 · Reading comprehension

Which among the following is the most logical corollary to the above passage?

Passage—5

Over the last decade, Indian agriculture has become more robust with record production of food grains and oilseeds. Increased procurement, consequently, has added huge stocks of food grains in the granaries. India is one of the world’s top producers of rice, wheat, milk, fruits and vegetables. India is still home to a quarter of all undernourished people in the world. On an average, almost half of the total expenditure of nearly half of the households is on food.

CSAT 2017 · Q65

Reading comprehension Medium

Which among the following is the most logical corollary to the above passage?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (a) Increasing the efficiency of farm-to-fork value chain is necessary to reduce the poverty and malnutrition.

India produces record amounts of food and holds huge grain stocks, yet a quarter of the world's undernourished live here and many households spend about half their budget on food. The gap lies between the farm and the plate, so improving the farm-to-fork chain follows logically.

  • ✓ (a) Full granaries alongside hunger point to a failure in moving food efficiently and affordably to people — the farm-to-fork chain.
  • ✗ (b) Production is already at a record, yet malnutrition persists, so more output will not 'automatically' remove it.
  • ✗ (c) The passage notes record production but does not say productivity is high enough to stop improving.
  • ✗ (d) Welfare funding is not discussed, and 'will ultimately eliminate' is an overstatement.

Remember · A 'corollary' follows directly from the passage's contrast — plenty of food alongside hunger points to distribution, not production.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2017, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·

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