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CSAT 2022 paper

UPSC CSE CSAT 2022 · Question 2 · Reading comprehension

Consider the following statements: Developed countries can support developing countries’…

Directions for the following 3 (three) items: Read the following two passages and answer the items that follow the passages. Your answers to these items should be based on the passages only.

Passage—1

The main threat to maintaining progress in human development comes from the increasingly evident unsustainability of production and consumption patterns. Current production models rely heavily on fossil fuels. We now know that this is unsustainable because the resources are finite. The close link between economic growth and greenhouse gas emissions needs to be severed for human development to become truly sustainable. Some developed countries have begun to alleviate the worst effects by expanding recycling and investing in public transport and infrastructure. But most developing countries are hampered by the high costs and low availability of clean energy sources. Developed countries need to support developing countries’ transition to sustainable human development.

CSAT 2022 · Q2

Reading comprehension Medium

Consider the following statements:

Developed countries can support developing countries’ transition to sustainable human development by

  1. 1.making clean energy sources available at low cost
  2. 2.providing loans for improving their public transport at nominal interest rates
  3. 3.encouraging them to change their production and consumption patterns

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (b) 1 and 2 only

The passage names what holds developing countries back — “the high costs and low availability of clean energy sources” — and cites public transport and infrastructure as steps that ease the damage. Real support therefore means removing these material barriers; merely encouraging a change of habits does not.

  • ✓ 1. It answers the exact hurdle the passage names: developing countries are “hampered by the high costs and low availability of clean energy sources”.
  • ✓ 2. The passage cites “investing in public transport and infrastructure” as a way to alleviate the worst effects; cheap loans let developing countries, held back by cost, do the same.
  • ✗ 3. The passage does not say developing countries lack the will to change — it says they are hampered by cost and availability. Encouragement does not touch that barrier, so it is not the support the passage calls for.

Remember · In ‘how can X help Y’ items, match the help to the obstacle the passage names; exhortation is rarely the support meant.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·

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