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CSAT 2024 paper

UPSC CSE CSAT 2024 · Question 11 · Reading comprehension

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

Directions for the following 4 (four) 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

Today, if we consider cities such as New York, London and Paris as some of the most iconic cities in the world, it is because plans carrying a heavy systems approach were imposed on their precincts. The backbone of the systems theory is the process of translating social, spatial and cultural desirables into mathematical models using computing, statistics, optimization and an algorithmic way of formulating and solving problems. The early universities of the West which began to train professionals in planning, spawned some of the most ingenious planners, who were experts in these domains. This was because these very subjects were absorbed into the planning curriculum that had its roots in the social sciences, geography and architecture. Planning in India, and its education differ from the West.

CSAT 2024 · Q11

Reading comprehension Medium

Which one of the following statements best reflects the most logical and rational inference that can be made from the above passage?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (a) Curriculum for urban planning courses should have diverse and interdisciplinary approach.

The passage credits the West’s iconic cities to planners trained in a curriculum that joined computing, statistics and optimization with the social sciences, geography and architecture. The logical inference is that planning education should be diverse and interdisciplinary.

  • ✓ (a) The West produced ‘ingenious planners’ because mathematical subjects ‘were absorbed into the planning curriculum that had its roots in the social sciences, geography and architecture’, which is an interdisciplinary mix.
  • ✗ (b) Bureaucracy and the training of administrators are never mentioned. The passage only says that Indian planning and its education differ from the West.
  • ✗ (c) Local management of cities and a shortage of funds lie outside the passage.
  • ✗ (d) Population density and poverty are not discussed; the passage is about how planners are trained, not about why planning is hard.

Remember · The right inference extends the passage’s own cause and effect; options that bring in new problems (funds, bureaucracy, poverty) go outside it.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2024, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·

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