With reference to above passage, the following assumptions have been made: I. No country needs to depend on ecosystems to boost national income. II. Resource-rich countries need to share their resources with those of scant resources so as to prevent the degradation of ecosystems. Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

CSAT 2025 paper

UPSC CSE CSAT 2025 · Paper II (CSAT) · Question 2 · Reading comprehension

With reference to above passage, the following assumptions have been made:

UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 2025, General Studies Paper II (CSAT), Question 2 — Reading comprehension.

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

Maintaining an ecosystem just to conserve biodiversity will affect its commercial potential as well as the livelihoods dependent on the ecosystem. There is also a conflict between using an ecosystem only for livelihoods, for commercial exploitation, or strictly for conservation. Deforestation caused due to commercial exploitation will lead to indirect harm like floods, siltation problems and microclimatic instability, apart from adversely affecting livelihoods dependent on forests. These conflicts are particularly acute in developing countries where the dependence of people on the ecosystem is significant, and commercial exploitation has the potential to boost national income.

CSAT 2025 · Q2

Reading comprehension X-Ray · Core #1 Easy

With reference to above passage, the following assumptions have been made:

I.No country needs to depend on ecosystems to boost national income.
II.Resource-rich countries need to share their resources with those of scant resources so as to prevent the degradation of ecosystems.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (d) Neither I nor II

Neither statement is taken for granted by the author. The passage actually says commercial exploitation of ecosystems can boost national income, which contradicts I, and it never discusses sharing of resources between countries (II).

✗ I The last sentence says that in developing countries commercial exploitation 'has the potential to boost national income'. Saying no country needs ecosystems for national income goes against the passage, and 'no country' is an absolute claim.
✗ II Sharing of resources between resource-rich and resource-poor countries is not discussed anywhere. It is a policy suggestion brought in from outside the passage.

Remember · An assumption is what the author must take for granted; statements that contradict the text or add new policy ideas are invalid.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2025, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·

Cite this question: UPSC CSE CSAT 2025, Q2 — minimalistias.com/pyqs/csat/2025/q2

In the UPSC syllabus: Reading comprehension › Inference & assumptions See it and tick it covered →

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With reference to above passage, the following assumptions have been made:

Passage—1

CSAT 2025 · Q2

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