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CSAT 2019 paper

UPSC CSE CSAT 2019 · Paper II (CSAT) · Question 2 · Reading comprehension

On the basis of the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:

UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 2019, General Studies Paper II (CSAT), Question 2 — Reading comprehension.

Directions for the following 8 (eight) items: Read the following seven passages and answer the items that follow each passage. Your answers to these items should be based on the passages only.

Passage—1

Political theorists no doubt have to take history of injustice, for example, untouchability, seriously. The concept of historical injustice takes note of a variety of historical wrongs that continue into the present in some form or the other and tend to resist repair. Two reasons might account for resistance to repair. One, not only are the roots of injustice buried deep in history, injustice itself constitutes economic structures of exploitation, ideologies of discrimination and modes of representation. Two, the category of historical injustice generally extends across a number of wrongs such as economic deprivation, social discrimination and lack of recognition. This category is complex, not only because of the overlap between a number of wrongs, but because one or the other wrong, generally discrimination, tends to acquire partial autonomy from others. This is borne out by the history of repair in India.

On the basis of the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:

  1. 1.Removal of economic discrimination leads to removal of social discrimination.
  2. 2.Democratic polity is the best way to repair historical wrongs.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2

The passage says discrimination 'tends to acquire partial autonomy' from the other wrongs, which works against assumption 1. It says nothing about forms of government, so assumption 2 has no footing in it.

  • ✗ 1. Because discrimination becomes partly autonomous of other wrongs, ending the economic wrong need not end the social one; the passage points the opposite way.
  • ✗ 2. Democracy or any political system is not mentioned; 'the best way' is an outside judgement.

Remember · A statement that contradicts the passage, or brings in a subject the passage never touches, cannot be a valid assumption.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·

Cite this question: UPSC CSE CSAT 2019, Q2 — minimalistias.com/pyqs/csat/2019/q2

In the UPSC syllabus: Reading comprehension › Inference & assumptions See it and tick it covered →

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