In the context of India, which one of the following statements best reflects the critical message of the passage?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (c) Solid waste management should be integrated with the maintenance of drainage and sewerage networks.
The less understood danger, the author says, arises when poor solid waste management combines with poor drainage and sewage dumped into storm drains, producing choked drains that breed mosquitoes. The message is that these systems must be managed together, not in isolation.
- ✗ (a) The passage says untreated sewage is dumped into storm-water drains, but it does not claim India has no separate networks; that detail is not the message.
- ✗ (b) Resources and legal powers of local bodies are not discussed.
- ✓ (c) The harm comes from 'unscientific solid waste management' combining with 'poor drainage and dumping of untreated sewage into drains' — so they must be handled as one system.
- ✗ (d) The consequence described is disease from stagnant water, not drinking water shortage.
Remember · When a passage says harm arises when two failures 'combine', the critical message is usually to tackle them together.
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). ·