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CSAT 2026 paper

UPSC CSE CSAT 2026 · Question 64 · Reading comprehension

Which of the following statements is/are correct?

Directions for the next 2 (two) items: Read the following passage and answer the items that follow. Your answers should be based solely on the passage.

Passage

The process by which countries close their labour-productivity gap with the technology leader is based on convergence theory. The convergence model divides economic eras into three phases: the breakaway, the catch-up, and the fine-tuning phase. It also divides economic entities into two categories: the technology leaders and the technology followers. The process begins with the development of a new technology, such as scavenging three million years ago (MYA), hunting—one MYA, farming—12 thousand years ago, and industrial technology—a little more than 200 years ago. During the breakaway phase, the per capita income of the technology leaders (e.g., Western Europe and North America in the industrial era) rises, but is unchanged for the technology followers. In the catch-up phase, the followers adopt the new technology and close their per capita income gap with the technology leaders. In the fine-tuning phase, where participants try to extract the remaining benefits from an increasingly exhausted technology, leaders and followers have similar per capita incomes.

CSAT 2026 · Q64

Reading comprehension Hard Provisional key

Which of the following statements is/are correct?

  1. 1.The convergence model divides nations into three phases of economic progress.
  2. 2.At the heart of the convergence theory is the closing of the gap between labour and productivity.
  3. 3.Technology leaders typically have arrived earlier at different economic eras.
  4. 4.The time period covered by the convergence theory presented herein encompasses, as mentioned, 4012200 years.

Select the answer using the code given below.

Answer & explanation

Answer: (b) 2 and 3

UPSC's official answer: (b) · the answer UPSC accepted, and the one that counts in the exam

Also defensible: (c)

  • Statement 3 holds: leaders develop each new technology first and 'during the breakaway phase, the per capita income of the technology leaders' rises 'but is unchanged for the technology followers', who arrive later 'in the catch-up phase'.
  • Statement 2 is the doubtful one. The passage speaks of countries closing 'their labour-productivity gap with the technology leader', a gap in labour productivity between countries. The statement speaks of 'the gap between labour and productivity', which is a different, and meaningless, gap.
  • UPSC's provisional key treats 2 as a clumsy paraphrase of the opening sentence and accepts it, giving (b); read as written, 2 misstates the passage and only 3 survives, giving (c).
  • Statements 1 and 4 fail on either reading: the model 'divides economic eras into three phases', not nations; and three million, one million, 12 thousand and 200 years ago are points on one timeline, not spans that add up to 4,012,200.

UPSC's provisional key accepts statement 2 as a paraphrase of the first sentence; read literally it misstates the passage, which gives (c). In the exam, match a clumsy paraphrase to the passage's idea unless it clearly contradicts the passage.

This box is Minimalist IAS's analysis, with its sources; it does not change UPSC's answer.

UPSC's key accepts statements 2 and 3. Statement 3 holds because the leaders develop and profit from each new technology before the followers adopt it. Statement 2 paraphrases the passage's opening sentence: the theory is about how countries close their labour-productivity gap with the leader. Statement 1 confuses eras with nations, and statement 4 wrongly adds up dates that lie on one timeline.

  • ✗ 1. The model divides economic eras into three phases and economic entities into two categories (leaders and followers); it does not sort nations into phases.
  • ✓ 2. The passage opens with the process by which countries 'close their labour-productivity gap with the technology leader'; gap-closing is the heart of the theory, and the key reads the statement as that idea.
  • ✓ 3. Leaders gain from each new technology first (their per capita income rises in the breakaway phase); followers reach the same era later, in the catch-up phase.
  • ✗ 4. Three million, one million, 12 thousand and 200 years ago are points on one timeline, so the span is about three million years; adding them to 4,012,200 is wrong.

Remember · Read the exact noun each claim is about: the model divides eras (not nations) into phases; dates on one timeline are never added.

Question and answer: UPSC's provisional GS Paper II (2026, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). ·

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