Which of the following is the most crucial and logical inference that can be made from the above passage?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (d) Access to cooking gas can reduce premature deaths in poor households.
Polluting cooking fuels cause more than 10 lakh premature deaths a year from household air pollution, with the poor at greatest risk. If households get clean fuels such as LPG, these deaths can come down — option (d).
- ✗ (a) The number using solid fuels 'has remained static for nearly 30 years at about 70 crore', and rural awareness is never mentioned.
- ✗ (b) Subsidies are not discussed, and 'will solve the problem' is far stronger than the passage allows.
- ✗ (c) Gas imports and power generation are policy choices the passage does not consider.
- ✓ (d) The deaths come from 'household air pollution due to polluting cooking fuels', and poor women and children face the greatest risk; clean cooking gas removes that cause, so access to it can reduce deaths.
Remember · Prefer the modest inference that links the passage's cause and effect ('can reduce') over sweeping solutions ('will solve').
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·