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CSAT 2021 paper

UPSC CSE CSAT 2021 · Question 23 · Reading comprehension

With reference to the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:

Passage—3

Policy makers and media have placed the blame for skyrocketing food prices on a variety of factors, including high fuel prices, bad weather in key food producing countries, and the diversion of land to non-food production. Increased emphasis, however, has been placed on a surge in demand for food from the most populous emerging economies. It seems highly probable that mass consumption in these countries could be well poised to create a food crisis.

CSAT 2021 · Q23

Reading comprehension Medium

With reference to the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:

  1. 1.Oil producing countries are one of the reasons for high food prices.
  2. 2.If there is a food crisis in the world in the near future, it will be in the emerging economies.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2

The passage mentions high fuel prices, not oil-producing countries, and says demand from the emerging economies could create a food crisis — not that the crisis would be confined to them. Both assumptions stretch the text.

  • ✗ 1. Policy makers blame 'high fuel prices'; the passage never blames oil-producing countries — that is a new link.
  • ✗ 2. Mass consumption in emerging economies 'could be well poised to create a food crisis' — they are the cause, but the crisis could be global, not located only there.

Remember · Watch for a shift in who or where: a crisis caused by some countries need not happen only in those countries.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·

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