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CSAT 2022 paper

UPSC CSE CSAT 2022 · Paper II (CSAT) · Question 34 · Reading comprehension

Which one of the following statements best reflects the crux of the passage?

UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 2022, General Studies Paper II (CSAT), Question 34 — Reading comprehension.

Passage—2

With steady economic growth, higher literacy and increasing skill levels, the number of Indian middle-class families has gone up exponentially. Direct results of the affluence have been changes in dietary patterns and energy consumption levels. People have moved to a higher protein-based diet like milk products, fish and meat, all of which need significantly more water to produce than cereal-based diets. Increasing use of electronic and electric machines/gadgets and motor vehicles needs more and more energy and generation of energy needs water.

CSAT 2022 · Q34

Reading comprehension X-Ray · Core #2 Easy

Which one of the following statements best reflects the crux of the passage?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (d) Water management practices in India need to change dramatically in the coming years.

Both changes the passage describes — protein-rich diets that need more water, and more gadgets and vehicles whose energy needs water to generate — end in rising demand for water. The crux is that India must manage water very differently.

  • ✗ (a) The passage describes the move to protein-rich diets; it does not argue for persuading people back to cereal diets.
  • ✗ (b) Farm productivity and energy capacity are not the focus; the passage points to water as the common need behind both trends.
  • ✗ (c) The passage links affluence, not technology, to changing habits, and the change it stresses is the resulting demand for water.
  • ✓ (d) Diets that “need significantly more water” and energy whose “generation… needs water” both point to a growing water demand that current practices must be changed to meet.

Remember · For ‘crux’ items, find the idea every sentence leads to — here each trend ends in ‘water’.

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). ·

Cite this question: UPSC CSE CSAT 2022, Q34 — minimalistias.com/pyqs/csat/2022/q34

In the UPSC syllabus: Reading comprehension › Main idea, theme & conclusion See it and tick it covered →

Timed · 30 minutes Take CSAT Reading comprehension · Set 8 as a test This question is in it — with UPSC's marking and an instant score. Start the set

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