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CSAT 2024 paper

UPSC CSE CSAT 2024 · Question 12 · Reading comprehension

Based on the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:

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 · Q12

Reading comprehension Medium

Based on the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:

  1. 1.India needs a new generation of urban professionals with knowledge relevant to modern urban practice.
  2. 2.Indian universities at present have no capacity or potential to impart training in systems approach.

Which of the assumptions given above is/are correct?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (a) 1 only

The author holds up the systems-trained planners of the West and then notes that planning in India and its education differ. This presumes that India needs such modern urban professionals. Saying Indian universities have ‘no capacity or potential’ is far too extreme.

  • ✓ 1. By praising the West’s planners trained in modern systems methods and contrasting Indian planning education with them, the author takes for granted that India needs professionals with this modern knowledge.
  • ✗ 2. The passage only says Indian planning education differs from the West. ‘No capacity or potential’ is an absolute claim it never makes; a difference in approach is not an inability.

Remember · ‘Different’ does not mean ‘incapable’. Reject assumptions that turn a contrast into a total absence.

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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