Which one of the following is the most important implication of the passage?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (a) A happy world is a dream of science.
Why not the tempting option · UPSC's key is (a). The tempting (c) leans on 'as nothing else can', but that phrase describes how science opens up the vision; the passage never says a happy world is impossible without science, so (c) states a stricter condition than the text supports. In the exam, keep to the passage's own strength of claim: a 'vision of a possible' world is a dream, not a necessary condition.
Despite its dangers, science 'opens up as nothing else can, the vision of a possible happy world', without poverty, war or much illness, and is 'in its very nature a liberator'. The passage's claim is about a vision, a possibility: a happy world is what science holds out, its dream, so (a).
- ✓ (a) The passage speaks of the 'vision of a possible happy world' that science opens up; a happy world is the dream science holds out.
- ✗ (b) Science is never called the only major threat; the passage says every great thing has its dangers.
- ✗ (c) 'As nothing else can' describes how science opens up the vision; it does not say a happy world is impossible without science. (c) turns a vision into a strict necessary condition the passage never states.
- ✗ (d) Contradicts the passage, which speaks of a 'possible' happy world.
Remember · When a passage speaks of a 'vision' or 'possibility', prefer the option that keeps that tone over one that states a strict condition.
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). ·