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CSAT 2023 paper

UPSC CSE CSAT 2023 · Question 21 · Reading comprehension

Which one of the following statements best reflects the most logical and rational implication…

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

Passage—1

To tackle the problem of pollution in cities, policy makers think that drastic actions like temporary use of odd-even number scheme for vehicles, closing schools, factories, construction activities, and banning the use of certain type of vehicles are a way forward. Even then the air is not clean. Vehicles more than 15 years old comprise one percent of the total; and taking them off the road will not make any difference. Banning certain fuels and car types arbitrarily is not proper. Diesel engines produce more PM 2.5 and less CO₂ than petrol or CNG engines. On the other hand, both diesel and CNG engines produce more NOₓ than petrol engines. No one has measured the amount of NOₓ that CNG engines are emitting. Arbitrary bans on vehicles that have passed mandated fitness tests and periodic pollution tests are unfair. What is needed is the scientific and reliable information about the source of pollutants on a continuing basis and the technologies that will work to reduce pollution from them.

CSAT 2023 · Q21

Reading comprehension Easy

Which one of the following statements best reflects the most logical and rational implication conveyed by the passage?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (b) Knee-jerk reactions cannot solve the problem of pollution but an evidence-based approach will be more effective.

The author finds drastic, arbitrary measures (odd-even, bans on old vehicles and certain fuels) ineffective and unfair, and closes by asking for scientific, reliable information on pollution sources and on technologies that work. In short: evidence, not knee-jerk action.

  • ✗ (a) The passage calls arbitrary bans ineffective, 'not proper' and 'unfair', not difficult to implement.
  • ✓ (b) Drastic actions leave 'the air ... not clean', and the author ends with 'What is needed is the scientific and reliable information' — an evidence-based approach.
  • ✗ (c) No penalty is proposed; the passage defends vehicles that have passed fitness and pollution tests.
  • ✗ (d) The passage never says pollution laws are absent or that this causes arbitrary decisions.

Remember · Read the closing 'what is needed' sentence; the implication usually restates it. Reject options about ease, penalties or laws never discussed.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·

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