What is the most logical and crucial message conveyed by the passage?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (a) Urban local bodies must recover costs through user charges.
The passage lists the heavy costs of supplying water and treating sewage, says financing mechanisms are essential, and ends: water could be free only if cities could bear the whole cost — 'They are not.' The message is that the cost must be recovered, which points to charging users.
- ✓ (a) Cities cannot meet 'the entire cost', so water cannot be delivered free; the financing the first line demands must come from the users of the service.
- ✗ (b) The passage blames a lack of money, not inefficiency of the urban bodies.
- ✗ (c) The author offers a way out — financing mechanisms — so the problem is not presented as unsolvable.
- ✗ (d) Capping city populations is not discussed at all.
Remember · When a passage ends by ruling out 'free', its crucial message is about who should pay.
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·