Minimalist IAS
CSAT

CSAT · 299 questions

Reading comprehension

Every UPSC CSAT question on this topic, 2016–2026, newest first. Tap an option to check yourself; the answer and explanation open below it.

Reading comprehension questions per year: 2016: 27, 2017: 31, 2018: 26, 2019: 30, 2020: 25, 2021: 27, 2022: 27, 2023: 27, 2024: 27, 2025: 29, 2026: 23 Asked in 11 of 11 years · most in 2017 (31)

UPSC syllabus: “Comprehension;” See the full syllabus →

CSAT 2018 · Q7

Easy
Read the passage (Passage—1) — this item is based on it

Global population was around 1.6 billion in 1990—today it is around 7.2 billion and growing. Recent estimates on population growth predict a global population of 9.6 billion in 2050 and 10.9 billion in 2100. Unlike Europe and North America, where only three to four per cent of population is engaged in agriculture, around 47 per cent of India’s population is dependent upon agriculture. Even if India continues to do well in the service sector and the manufacturing sector picks up, it is expected that around 2030 when India overtakes China as the world’s most populous country, nearly 42 per cent of India’s population will still be predominantly dependent on agriculture.

Which of the following is the most logical and rational inference that can be made from the above passage?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (a) Prosperity of agriculture sector is of critical importance to India.

The passage's point is that around 47 per cent of Indians depend on agriculture today and nearly 42 per cent will still do so in 2030, even if services and manufacturing grow. When so many livelihoods hang on one sector, its prosperity is critical to India.

  • ✓ (a) Follows directly: with close to half the population dependent on farming now and in 2030, how well agriculture does decides the well-being of a huge share of Indians.
  • ✗ (b) The passage speaks of people dependent on agriculture, not of agriculture's share of the economy; many people depending on a sector is not the same as the economy depending greatly on it.
  • ✗ (c) The population figures are background; the passage proposes no population policy, let alone 'strict measures'.
  • ✗ (d) The passage expects many to remain in farming even as other sectors grow; it gives no advice to farmers to change occupations.

Remember · Pick the inference that follows from the passage's central fact; reject options that add a policy the author never proposes.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2018 · Q8

Easy
Read the passage (Passage—2) — this item is based on it

Many pathogens that cause foodborne illnesses are unknown. Food contamination can occur at any stage from farm to plate. Since most cases of food poisoning go unreported, the true extent of global foodborne illnesses is unknown. Improvements in international monitoring have led to greater public awareness, yet the rapid globalization of food production increases consumers’ vulnerability by making food harder to regulate and trace. “We have the world on our plates”, says an official of WHO.

Which of the following is the most logical corollary to the above passage?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (a) With more options for food come more risks.

The passage says the rapid globalization of food production raises consumers' vulnerability because food becomes harder to regulate and trace — 'We have the world on our plates'. Food from everywhere means more choice and, with it, more risk.

  • ✓ (a) Food drawn from across the world ('the world on our plates') widens choice, and the passage says this same globalization makes food harder to trace and consumers more vulnerable.
  • ✗ (b) Contamination can happen 'at any stage from farm to plate'; processing is not singled out, and 'all' is too sweeping.
  • ✗ (c) A prescription the passage never makes; it describes a risk without asking people to eat only local food.
  • ✗ (d) The passage notes the risk of globalized food production but does not call for curbing it.

Remember · A corollary is a direct consequence of the passage's claim; drop options that turn a described risk into a policy demand.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2018 · Q9

Medium
Read the passage (Passage—3) — this item is based on it

I am a scientist, privileged to be somebody who tries to understand nature using the tools of science. But it is also clear that there are some really important questions that science cannot really answer, such as: Why is there something instead of nothing? Why are we here? In those domains, I have found that faith provides a better path to answers. I find it oddly anachronistic that in today’s culture there seems to be a widespread presumption that scientific and spiritual views are incompatible.

Which of the following is the most logical and rational inference that can be made from the above passage?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (b) Science and faith can be mutually complementary if their proper domains are understood.

The author uses science to understand nature and turns to faith for questions science cannot answer, and finds the belief that the two are incompatible oddly out of date. The inference is that each has its own domain, and seen that way they complement each other.

  • ✗ (a) Too extreme: faith is a better path only 'In those domains', the questions science cannot answer; the author never says faith can solve all of mankind's problems.
  • ✓ (b) One person practises science for nature and relies on faith for questions like 'Why are we here?'; the author rejects the presumption that the two are incompatible.
  • ✗ (c) The author says faith 'provides a better path to answers' for these questions, so they are not beyond both.
  • ✗ (d) The passage mentions a presumption of incompatibility, not that science is valued above spirituality.

Remember · Watch for 'all', 'only' and 'neither'; the right inference keeps the author's limits, such as 'in those domains'.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2018 · Q10

Easy
Read the passage (Passage—4) — this item is based on it

Though I have discarded much of past tradition and custom, and am anxious that India should rid herself of all shackles that bind and contain her and divide her people, and suppress vast numbers of them, and prevent the free development of the body and the spirit; though I seek all this, yet I do not wish to cut myself off from that past completely. I am proud of that great inheritance that has been and is, ours and I am conscious that I too, like all of us, am a link in that unbroken chain which goes back to the dawn of history in the immemorial past of India.

The author wants India to rid herself of certain past bonds because

Answer & explanation

Answer: (d) they obstruct her physical and spiritual growth

The author wants India free of shackles that bind and divide her people, suppress vast numbers of them and 'prevent the free development of the body and the spirit'. That reason is option (d); everywhere else he speaks of pride in the past.

  • ✗ (a) He sees the past as relevant: he does not wish to cut himself off from it and calls himself a link in an unbroken chain.
  • ✗ (b) Contradicts the passage: 'I am proud of that great inheritance'.
  • ✗ (c) His sense of belonging to a chain going back to 'the dawn of history' shows deep interest in India's history.
  • ✓ (d) Stated in the passage: the shackles 'prevent the free development of the body and the spirit' — physical and spiritual growth.

Remember · For a 'because' question, find the reason clause in the passage itself; options contradicting the author's stated feelings fall away.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2018 · Q17

Medium
Read the passage (Passage) — this item is based on it

It is no longer enough for us to talk about providing for universal access to education. Making available schooling facilities is an essential prerequisite, but is insufficient to ensure that all children attend school and participate in the learning process. The school may be there, but children may not attend or they may drop out after a few months. Through school and social mapping, we must address the entire gamut of social, economic, cultural and indeed linguistic and pedagogic issues, factors that prevent children from weaker sections and disadvantaged groups, as also girls, from regularly attending and complementing elementary education. The focus must be on the poorest and most vulnerable since these groups are the most disempowered and at the greatest risk of violation or denial of their right to education.

The right to education goes beyond free and compulsory education to include quality education for all. Quality is an integral part of the right to education. If the education process lacks quality, children are being denied their right. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act lays down that the curriculum should provide for learning through activities, exploration and discovery. This places an obligation on us to change our perception of children as passive receivers of knowledge, and to move beyond the convention of using textbooks as the basis of examinations. The teaching-learning process must become stress-free; and a massive programme for curricular reform should be initiated to provide for a child-friendly learning system, that is more relevant and empowering. Teacher accountability systems and processes must ensure that children are learning, and that their right to learn in a child-friendly environment is not violated. Testing and assessment systems must be reexamined and redesigned to ensure that these do not force children to struggle between school and tuition centres, and bypass childhood.

According to the passage, which of the following is/are of paramount importance under the Right to Education?

  1. 1.Sending of children to school by all parents
  2. 2.Provision of adequate physical infrastructure in schools
  3. 3.Curricular reforms for developing child-friendly learning system

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

Answer & explanation

Answer: (c) 3 only

The passage calls schooling facilities 'an essential prerequisite, but … insufficient', and says quality is integral to the right, calling for 'a massive programme for curricular reform' for a child-friendly learning system. Only statement 3 is presented as central.

  • ✗ 1. Parents are never mentioned; the passage speaks of social, economic and cultural factors that keep children away, not of parents sending them.
  • ✗ 2. Facilities are necessary but 'insufficient'; the passage deliberately moves the focus away from infrastructure.
  • ✓ 3. Quality is 'an integral part of the right to education', and a massive curricular reform for 'a child-friendly learning system' is demanded.

Remember · What the passage calls 'necessary but insufficient' is not the paramount factor; look for what the author insists must change.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2018 · Q18

Medium
Read the passage (Passage) — this item is based on it

It is no longer enough for us to talk about providing for universal access to education. Making available schooling facilities is an essential prerequisite, but is insufficient to ensure that all children attend school and participate in the learning process. The school may be there, but children may not attend or they may drop out after a few months. Through school and social mapping, we must address the entire gamut of social, economic, cultural and indeed linguistic and pedagogic issues, factors that prevent children from weaker sections and disadvantaged groups, as also girls, from regularly attending and complementing elementary education. The focus must be on the poorest and most vulnerable since these groups are the most disempowered and at the greatest risk of violation or denial of their right to education.

The right to education goes beyond free and compulsory education to include quality education for all. Quality is an integral part of the right to education. If the education process lacks quality, children are being denied their right. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act lays down that the curriculum should provide for learning through activities, exploration and discovery. This places an obligation on us to change our perception of children as passive receivers of knowledge, and to move beyond the convention of using textbooks as the basis of examinations. The teaching-learning process must become stress-free; and a massive programme for curricular reform should be initiated to provide for a child-friendly learning system, that is more relevant and empowering. Teacher accountability systems and processes must ensure that children are learning, and that their right to learn in a child-friendly environment is not violated. Testing and assessment systems must be reexamined and redesigned to ensure that these do not force children to struggle between school and tuition centres, and bypass childhood.

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

  1. 1.The Right to Education guarantees teachers’ accountability for the learning process of children.
  2. 2.The Right to Education guarantees 100% enrolment of children in the schools.
  3. 3.The Right to Education intends to take full advantage of demographic dividend.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (a) 1 only

The passage builds teacher accountability into the right to quality education: accountability systems 'must ensure that children are learning'. It never promises full enrolment — it warns children may not attend — and never mentions the demographic dividend.

  • ✓ 1. Quality is part of the right, and 'Teacher accountability systems and processes must ensure that children are learning' — accountability for learning flows from the right as the passage describes it.
  • ✗ 2. The passage says the opposite: the school may be there but children 'may not attend or they may drop out', so no guarantee of 100% enrolment is assumed.
  • ✗ 3. Demographic dividend is outside the passage, which is concerned with children's rights, quality and childhood, not the economic use of population.

Remember · An assumption must be needed by the author's argument; ideas the passage never touches, like demographic dividend, are invalid.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2018 · Q19

Easy
Read the passage (Passage) — this item is based on it

It is no longer enough for us to talk about providing for universal access to education. Making available schooling facilities is an essential prerequisite, but is insufficient to ensure that all children attend school and participate in the learning process. The school may be there, but children may not attend or they may drop out after a few months. Through school and social mapping, we must address the entire gamut of social, economic, cultural and indeed linguistic and pedagogic issues, factors that prevent children from weaker sections and disadvantaged groups, as also girls, from regularly attending and complementing elementary education. The focus must be on the poorest and most vulnerable since these groups are the most disempowered and at the greatest risk of violation or denial of their right to education.

The right to education goes beyond free and compulsory education to include quality education for all. Quality is an integral part of the right to education. If the education process lacks quality, children are being denied their right. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act lays down that the curriculum should provide for learning through activities, exploration and discovery. This places an obligation on us to change our perception of children as passive receivers of knowledge, and to move beyond the convention of using textbooks as the basis of examinations. The teaching-learning process must become stress-free; and a massive programme for curricular reform should be initiated to provide for a child-friendly learning system, that is more relevant and empowering. Teacher accountability systems and processes must ensure that children are learning, and that their right to learn in a child-friendly environment is not violated. Testing and assessment systems must be reexamined and redesigned to ensure that these do not force children to struggle between school and tuition centres, and bypass childhood.

According to the passage, which one of the following is critical in bringing quality in education?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (d) Inculcating learning through activities and discovery

Right after saying quality is integral to the right to education, the passage cites the Act: the curriculum should provide for 'learning through activities, exploration and discovery'. That is its route to quality.

  • ✗ (a) Children's attendance is discussed under access, not quality; teachers' attendance is not mentioned.
  • ✗ (b) Pay or incentives for teachers appear nowhere in the passage.
  • ✗ (c) Social and cultural factors come up in the first paragraph as reasons children stay away — an access issue, not the quality discussion.
  • ✓ (d) The quality paragraph says the curriculum should provide for 'learning through activities, exploration and discovery' and asks us to stop treating children as passive receivers.

Remember · Match the option to the paragraph that answers the question; here access and quality are discussed in separate paragraphs.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2018 · Q20

Easy
Read the passage (Passage) — this item is based on it

It is no longer enough for us to talk about providing for universal access to education. Making available schooling facilities is an essential prerequisite, but is insufficient to ensure that all children attend school and participate in the learning process. The school may be there, but children may not attend or they may drop out after a few months. Through school and social mapping, we must address the entire gamut of social, economic, cultural and indeed linguistic and pedagogic issues, factors that prevent children from weaker sections and disadvantaged groups, as also girls, from regularly attending and complementing elementary education. The focus must be on the poorest and most vulnerable since these groups are the most disempowered and at the greatest risk of violation or denial of their right to education.

The right to education goes beyond free and compulsory education to include quality education for all. Quality is an integral part of the right to education. If the education process lacks quality, children are being denied their right. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act lays down that the curriculum should provide for learning through activities, exploration and discovery. This places an obligation on us to change our perception of children as passive receivers of knowledge, and to move beyond the convention of using textbooks as the basis of examinations. The teaching-learning process must become stress-free; and a massive programme for curricular reform should be initiated to provide for a child-friendly learning system, that is more relevant and empowering. Teacher accountability systems and processes must ensure that children are learning, and that their right to learn in a child-friendly environment is not violated. Testing and assessment systems must be reexamined and redesigned to ensure that these do not force children to struggle between school and tuition centres, and bypass childhood.

What is the essential message in this passage?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (c) The Right to Free and Compulsory Education should include quality education for all.

The passage opens by saying access is no longer enough and builds to its thesis: 'The right to education goes beyond free and compulsory education to include quality education for all.' The essential message is quality, not mere enrolment.

  • ✗ (a) A fact from outside the passage; the constitutional status of the right is never discussed.
  • ✗ (b) The passage stresses that children of weaker sections may still stay away even where schools exist — which is why more than access is needed.
  • ✓ (c) Quality is 'an integral part of the right to education', and without it children 'are being denied their right'.
  • ✗ (d) Attendance is one point in the first paragraph, and the passage never assigns this duty to the Government and parents.

Remember · The essential message is the claim the whole passage builds towards — often a 'not just X but also Y' idea, here quality beyond access.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2018 · Q27

Medium
Read the passage (Passage—1) — this item is based on it

‘Desertification’ is a term used to explain a process of decline in the biological productivity of an ecosystem, leading to total loss of productivity. While this phenomenon is often linked to the arid, semi-arid and sub-humid ecosystems, even in the humid tropics, the impact could be most dramatic. Impoverishment of human-impacted terrestrial ecosystems may exhibit itself in a variety of ways: accelerated erosion as in the mountain regions of the country, salinization of land as in the semi-arid and arid ‘green revolution’ areas of the country, e.g., Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, and site quality decline—a common phenomenon due to general decline in tree cover and monotonous monoculture of rice/wheat across the Indian plains. A major consequence of deforestation is that it relates to adverse alterations in the hydrology and related soil and nutrient losses. The consequences of deforestation invariably arise out of site degradation through erosive losses. Tropical Asia, Africa and South America have the highest levels of erosion. The already high rates for the tropics are increasing at an alarming rate (e.g., through the major river systems—Ganga and Brahmaputra, in the Indian context), due to deforestation and ill-suited land management practices subsequent to forest clearing. In the mountain context, the declining moisture retention of the mountain soils, drying up of the underground springs and smaller rivers in the Himalayan region could be attributed to drastic changes in the forest cover. An indirect consequence is drastic alteration in the upland-lowland interaction, mediated through water. The current concern the tea planter of Assam has is about the damage to tea plantations due to frequent inundation along the flood-plains of Brahmaputra, and the damage to tea plantation and the consequent loss in tea productivity is due to rising level of the river bottom because of siltation and the changing course of the river system. The ultimate consequences of site desertification are soil degradation, alteration in available water and its quality, and the consequent decline in food, fodder and fuel-wood yields essential for the economic well-being of rural communities.

According to the passage, which of the following are the consequences of decline in forest cover?

  1. 1.Loss of topsoil
  2. 2.Loss of smaller rivers
  3. 3.Adverse effect on agricultural production
  4. 4.Declining of groundwater

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

Answer & explanation

Answer: (d) 1, 2, 3 and 4

The passage traces a chain from forest loss to erosion, drying springs and rivers, altered water availability and finally falling food, fodder and fuel-wood yields. Each of the four statements is a link in that chain.

  • ✓ 1. Deforestation brings 'soil and nutrient losses' through 'erosive losses', and soil degradation is named among the ultimate consequences.
  • ✓ 2. 'drying up of the underground springs and smaller rivers in the Himalayan region' is attributed to drastic changes in forest cover.
  • ✓ 3. The ultimate consequences include 'decline in food, fodder and fuel-wood yields', and the Assam example shows lost tea productivity.
  • ✓ 4. Falling moisture retention of mountain soils, drying underground springs and 'alteration in available water' point to declining groundwater.

Remember · In 'consequences' questions, follow the passage's causal chain to its end; indirect and ultimate consequences count too.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2018 · Q28

Medium
Read the passage (Passage—1) — this item is based on it

‘Desertification’ is a term used to explain a process of decline in the biological productivity of an ecosystem, leading to total loss of productivity. While this phenomenon is often linked to the arid, semi-arid and sub-humid ecosystems, even in the humid tropics, the impact could be most dramatic. Impoverishment of human-impacted terrestrial ecosystems may exhibit itself in a variety of ways: accelerated erosion as in the mountain regions of the country, salinization of land as in the semi-arid and arid ‘green revolution’ areas of the country, e.g., Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, and site quality decline—a common phenomenon due to general decline in tree cover and monotonous monoculture of rice/wheat across the Indian plains. A major consequence of deforestation is that it relates to adverse alterations in the hydrology and related soil and nutrient losses. The consequences of deforestation invariably arise out of site degradation through erosive losses. Tropical Asia, Africa and South America have the highest levels of erosion. The already high rates for the tropics are increasing at an alarming rate (e.g., through the major river systems—Ganga and Brahmaputra, in the Indian context), due to deforestation and ill-suited land management practices subsequent to forest clearing. In the mountain context, the declining moisture retention of the mountain soils, drying up of the underground springs and smaller rivers in the Himalayan region could be attributed to drastic changes in the forest cover. An indirect consequence is drastic alteration in the upland-lowland interaction, mediated through water. The current concern the tea planter of Assam has is about the damage to tea plantations due to frequent inundation along the flood-plains of Brahmaputra, and the damage to tea plantation and the consequent loss in tea productivity is due to rising level of the river bottom because of siltation and the changing course of the river system. The ultimate consequences of site desertification are soil degradation, alteration in available water and its quality, and the consequent decline in food, fodder and fuel-wood yields essential for the economic well-being of rural communities.

Which of the following is/are the correct inference/inferences that can be made from the passage?

  1. 1.Deforestation can cause changes in the course of rivers.
  2. 2.Salinization of land takes place due to human activities only.
  3. 3.Intense monoculture practice in plains is a major reason for desertification in Tropical Asia, Africa and South America.

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

Answer & explanation

Answer: (a) 1 only

The Brahmaputra example links deforestation-driven erosion and siltation to 'the changing course of the river system', so statement 1 follows. Statement 2 adds 'only', and statement 3 carries the monoculture of the Indian plains over to other continents — neither is in the passage.

  • ✓ 1. Deforestation causes erosive losses and siltation, and the passage ties 'siltation and the changing course of the river system' together in the Brahmaputra example.
  • ✗ 2. Salinization in 'green revolution' areas is one example of impoverishment of human-impacted ecosystems; the passage never says human activity is its only cause.
  • ✗ 3. Rice/wheat monoculture is mentioned for 'the Indian plains'; the high erosion in Tropical Asia, Africa and South America is linked to deforestation and ill-suited land management.

Remember · Reject inferences that add absolute words ('only') or move an example from one place to a different region.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2018 · Q29

Medium
Read the passage (Passage—1) — this item is based on it

‘Desertification’ is a term used to explain a process of decline in the biological productivity of an ecosystem, leading to total loss of productivity. While this phenomenon is often linked to the arid, semi-arid and sub-humid ecosystems, even in the humid tropics, the impact could be most dramatic. Impoverishment of human-impacted terrestrial ecosystems may exhibit itself in a variety of ways: accelerated erosion as in the mountain regions of the country, salinization of land as in the semi-arid and arid ‘green revolution’ areas of the country, e.g., Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, and site quality decline—a common phenomenon due to general decline in tree cover and monotonous monoculture of rice/wheat across the Indian plains. A major consequence of deforestation is that it relates to adverse alterations in the hydrology and related soil and nutrient losses. The consequences of deforestation invariably arise out of site degradation through erosive losses. Tropical Asia, Africa and South America have the highest levels of erosion. The already high rates for the tropics are increasing at an alarming rate (e.g., through the major river systems—Ganga and Brahmaputra, in the Indian context), due to deforestation and ill-suited land management practices subsequent to forest clearing. In the mountain context, the declining moisture retention of the mountain soils, drying up of the underground springs and smaller rivers in the Himalayan region could be attributed to drastic changes in the forest cover. An indirect consequence is drastic alteration in the upland-lowland interaction, mediated through water. The current concern the tea planter of Assam has is about the damage to tea plantations due to frequent inundation along the flood-plains of Brahmaputra, and the damage to tea plantation and the consequent loss in tea productivity is due to rising level of the river bottom because of siltation and the changing course of the river system. The ultimate consequences of site desertification are soil degradation, alteration in available water and its quality, and the consequent decline in food, fodder and fuel-wood yields essential for the economic well-being of rural communities.

With reference to ‘desertification’, as described in the passage, the following assumptions have been made:

  1. 1.Desertification is a phenomenon in tropical areas only.
  2. 2.Deforestation invariably leads to floods and desertification.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2

Desertification is 'often linked to the arid, semi-arid and sub-humid ecosystems', and the humid tropics are added with 'even', so it is not a tropical phenomenon only. The passage's 'invariably' describes how deforestation's consequences arise, not a rule that every deforestation ends in floods and desertification.

  • ✗ 1. Arid, semi-arid and sub-humid ecosystems come first; the tropics are mentioned with 'even', as an addition, not the only setting.
  • ✗ 2. 'Invariably' in the passage refers to consequences arising 'out of site degradation through erosive losses'. Floods appear only in the Brahmaputra example, so the statement stretches the passage into a universal rule.

Remember · Check where the passage's 'invariably' or 'only' actually applies; an option that moves such a word to a new claim is usually wrong.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2018 · Q30

Easy
Read the passage (Passage—2) — this item is based on it

A diversity of natural assets will be needed to cope with climate change and ensure productive agriculture, forestry, and fisheries. For example, crop varieties are needed that perform well under drought, heat, and enhanced CO₂. But the private-sector and farmer-led process of choosing crops favours homogeneity adapted to past or current conditions, not varieties capable of producing consistently high yields in warmer, wetter, or drier conditions. Accelerated breeding programmes are needed to conserve a wider pool of genetic resources of existing crops, breeds, and their wild relatives. Relatively intact ecosystems, such as forested catchments, mangroves, wetlands, can buffer the impacts of climate change. Under a changing climate, these ecosystems are themselves at risk, and management approaches will need to be more proactive and adaptive. Connections between natural areas, such as migration corridors, may be needed to facilitate species movements to keep up with the change in climate.

With reference to the above passage, which of the following would assist us in coping with the climate change?

  1. 1.Conservation of natural water sources
  2. 2.Conservation of wider gene pool
  3. 3.Existing crop management practices
  4. 4.Migration corridors

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

Answer & explanation

Answer: (b) 1, 2 and 4 only

The passage names intact ecosystems such as forested catchments and wetlands, a wider pool of genetic resources, and migration corridors as aids to coping. Current crop choices, which favour homogeneity suited to past conditions, are part of the problem, not the solution.

  • ✓ 1. 'Relatively intact ecosystems, such as forested catchments, mangroves, wetlands, can buffer the impacts of climate change' — these are natural water sources.
  • ✓ 2. 'Accelerated breeding programmes are needed to conserve a wider pool of genetic resources'.
  • ✗ 3. The existing process 'favours homogeneity adapted to past or current conditions', not varieties for warmer, wetter or drier conditions; the passage wants it changed.
  • ✓ 4. Migration corridors 'may be needed to facilitate species movements to keep up with the change in climate'.

Remember · Separate what the passage recommends from what it criticises; 'existing' or 'current' practices are often the criticised part.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2018 · Q31

Hard
Read the passage (Passage—2) — this item is based on it

A diversity of natural assets will be needed to cope with climate change and ensure productive agriculture, forestry, and fisheries. For example, crop varieties are needed that perform well under drought, heat, and enhanced CO₂. But the private-sector and farmer-led process of choosing crops favours homogeneity adapted to past or current conditions, not varieties capable of producing consistently high yields in warmer, wetter, or drier conditions. Accelerated breeding programmes are needed to conserve a wider pool of genetic resources of existing crops, breeds, and their wild relatives. Relatively intact ecosystems, such as forested catchments, mangroves, wetlands, can buffer the impacts of climate change. Under a changing climate, these ecosystems are themselves at risk, and management approaches will need to be more proactive and adaptive. Connections between natural areas, such as migration corridors, may be needed to facilitate species movements to keep up with the change in climate.

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

  1. 1.Diversification of livelihoods acts as a coping strategy for climate change.
  2. 2.Adoption of monocropping practice leads to the extinction of plant varieties and their wild relatives.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (c) Both 1 and 2

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

Also defensible: (b)

  • Assumption 2 is clearly made. Crop choice 'favours homogeneity', and 'accelerated breeding programmes are needed to conserve a wider pool of genetic resources of existing crops, breeds, and their wild relatives'. One conserves what is being lost, so the author assumes that uniform cropping is losing varieties and their wild relatives.
  • Assumption 1 speaks of 'diversification of livelihoods'. The passage says 'a diversity of natural assets will be needed to cope with climate change and ensure productive agriculture, forestry, and fisheries': the diversity it wants is of natural assets (crop varieties, ecosystems, corridors), and livelihoods are never mentioned.
  • UPSC's key reads 'agriculture, forestry, and fisheries' as diversified livelihoods and accepts 1, giving (c); on the passage's own words only 2 is assumed, giving (b).

UPSC's key accepts both assumptions; a stricter reading of 'diversity of natural assets' accepts only 2, giving (b). In the exam, when a passage's central idea is 'diversity helps us cope', UPSC accepts a broadly worded restatement of it as a valid assumption, so pick 'both' unless a statement contradicts the passage.

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

UPSC's key accepts both assumptions. The passage opens by making diversity the way to cope with climate change and keep agriculture, forestry and fisheries productive, the livelihoods that rest on natural assets; and it urges conservation of a wider gene pool because crop choice is drifting towards homogeneity, which assumes that uniform cropping is losing varieties and their wild relatives.

  • ✓ 1. The opening sentence ties a 'diversity of natural assets' to coping with climate change and to productive 'agriculture, forestry, and fisheries'. Read for its underlying belief, the author assumes that spreading the basis of livelihoods across diverse assets and sectors is how people cope with a changing climate.
  • ✓ 2. Crop choice 'favours homogeneity', and breeding programmes are 'needed to conserve a wider pool of genetic resources of existing crops, breeds, and their wild relatives'. One conserves what is being lost: the author assumes that uniform (mono) cropping is driving varieties and their wild relatives towards extinction.

Remember · An assumption is the unstated belief behind a recommendation: urging conservation of a gene pool assumes current practice is depleting it, and calling diversity the answer to climate change assumes that diversification is a coping strategy.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2018 · Q32

Easy
Read the passage (Passage—3) — this item is based on it

Today, the top environmental challenge is a combination of people and their aspirations. If the aspirations are more like the frugal ones we had after the Second World War, a lot more is possible than if we view the planet as a giant shopping mall. We need to get beyond the fascination with glitter and understand that the planet works as a biological system.

Which of the following is the most crucial and logical inference that can be made from the above passage?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (c) Reducing our consumerism is very much in our own interest.

The passage makes aspirations the core environmental challenge: with frugal aspirations 'a lot more is possible' than if we treat the planet as a giant shopping mall. The inference is that curbing consumerism serves our own interest.

  • ✗ (a) The passage asks for frugal aspirations, not that the Earth can meet only food, clothing and shelter.
  • ✗ (b) The focus is on aspirations; population control is never offered, let alone as 'the only way'.
  • ✓ (c) Frugal aspirations make 'a lot more' possible, while the 'giant shopping mall' view and 'fascination with glitter' must be left behind — less consumerism works in our favour.
  • ✗ (d) Understanding the planet as a biological system is part of the message, but 'can only help' overstates it and misses the point about consumption.

Remember · In short passages, find the contrast the author draws (frugal versus shopping mall); the answer states it plainly, without 'only'.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2018 · Q33

Easy
Read the passage (Passage—4) — this item is based on it

Some people believe that leadership is a quality which you have at birth or not at all. This theory is false, for the art of leadership can be acquired and can indeed be taught. This discovery is made in time of war and the results achieved can surprise even the instructors. Faced with the alternatives of going left or right, every soldier soon grasps that a prompt decision either way is better than an endless discussion. A firm choice of direction has an even chance of being right while to do nothing will be almost certainly wrong.

The author of the passage holds the view that

Answer & explanation

Answer: (b) leadership can be acquired as well as taught

The author rejects the idea that leadership is inborn and states that 'the art of leadership can be acquired and can indeed be taught'. Option (b) is that view.

  • ✗ (a) The discovery 'is made in time of war', but war is where it is noticed, not the only way leadership can be taught.
  • ✓ (b) Stated almost word for word: leadership 'can be acquired and can indeed be taught'.
  • ✗ (c) The results 'can surprise even the instructors', but the passage says nothing about how many people acquire leadership; the option reads numbers into 'surprise'.
  • ✗ (d) Contradicts the passage, which is confident that leadership can be taught.

Remember · 'Holds the view' questions reward the stated thesis; avoid options that add 'only' or read numbers into vague words.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2018 · Q49

Medium
Read the passage (Passage—1) — this item is based on it

All actions to address climate change ultimately involve costs. Funding is vital in order for countries like India to design and implement adaptation and mitigation plans and projects. The problem is more severe for developing countries like India, which would be one of the hardest hit by climate change, given its need to finance development. Most countries do indeed treat climate change as real threat and are striving to address it in a more comprehensive and integrated manner with the limited resources at their disposal.

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

  1. 1.Climate change is not a challenge for developed countries.
  2. 2.Climate change is a complex policy issue and also a development issue for many countries.
  3. 3.Ways and means of finance must be found to enable developing countries to enhance their adaptive capacity.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (c) 2 and 3 only

Climate action is costly, and developing countries like India must fund it alongside their development needs. The passage therefore assumes climate change is bound up with development (2) and that finance must be found for adaptation (3); nothing suggests developed countries face no challenge.

  • ✗ 1. The problem is 'more severe' for developing countries — a comparison implying it exists for others too — and 'Most countries' treat it as a real threat.
  • ✓ 2. India's difficulty is tied to 'its need to finance development', and countries tackle it 'in a more comprehensive and integrated manner' — a policy and development issue.
  • ✓ 3. 'Funding is vital' for adaptation and mitigation plans, and resources are 'limited'; the argument assumes finance must be found for developing countries.

Remember · 'More severe for X' implies the problem exists for others as well; an assumption denying it for others is invalid.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2018 · Q50

Easy
Read the passage (Passage—2) — this item is based on it

Cooking with biomass and coal in India is now recognized to cause major health problems, with women and children in poor populations facing the greatest risk. There are more than 10 lakh premature deaths each year from household air pollution due to polluting cooking fuels with another 1.5 lakh due to their contribution to general outdoor air pollution in the country. Although the fraction of the Indian population using clean cooking fuels, such as LPG, natural gas and electricity, is slowly rising, the number using polluting solid fuels as their primary cooking fuel has remained static for nearly 30 years at about 70 crore.

Which of the following is the most crucial and logical inference that can be made from the above passage?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (d) Access to cooking gas can reduce premature deaths in poor households.

Polluting cooking fuels cause more than 10 lakh premature deaths a year from household air pollution, with the poor at greatest risk. If households get clean fuels such as LPG, these deaths can come down — option (d).

  • ✗ (a) The number using solid fuels 'has remained static for nearly 30 years at about 70 crore', and rural awareness is never mentioned.
  • ✗ (b) Subsidies are not discussed, and 'will solve the problem' is far stronger than the passage allows.
  • ✗ (c) Gas imports and power generation are policy choices the passage does not consider.
  • ✓ (d) The deaths come from 'household air pollution due to polluting cooking fuels', and poor women and children face the greatest risk; clean cooking gas removes that cause, so access to it can reduce deaths.

Remember · Prefer the modest inference that links the passage's cause and effect ('can reduce') over sweeping solutions ('will solve').

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2018 · Q51

Medium
Read the passage (Passage—3) — this item is based on it

Scientific knowledge has its dangers, but so has every great thing. Over and beyond the dangers with which it threatens the present, it opens up as nothing else can, the vision of a possible happy world; a world without poverty, without war, with little illness. Science, whatever unpleasant consequences it may have by the way, is in its very nature a liberator.

Which one of the following is the most important implication of the passage?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (a) A happy world is a dream of science.

Why not the tempting option · UPSC's key is (a). The tempting (c) leans on 'as nothing else can', but that phrase describes how science opens up the vision; the passage never says a happy world is impossible without science, so (c) states a stricter condition than the text supports. In the exam, keep to the passage's own strength of claim: a 'vision of a possible' world is a dream, not a necessary condition.

Despite its dangers, science 'opens up as nothing else can, the vision of a possible happy world', without poverty, war or much illness, and is 'in its very nature a liberator'. The passage's claim is about a vision, a possibility: a happy world is what science holds out, its dream, so (a).

  • ✓ (a) The passage speaks of the 'vision of a possible happy world' that science opens up; a happy world is the dream science holds out.
  • ✗ (b) Science is never called the only major threat; the passage says every great thing has its dangers.
  • ✗ (c) 'As nothing else can' describes how science opens up the vision; it does not say a happy world is impossible without science. (c) turns a vision into a strict necessary condition the passage never states.
  • ✗ (d) Contradicts the passage, which speaks of a 'possible' happy world.

Remember · When a passage speaks of a 'vision' or 'possibility', prefer the option that keeps that tone over one that states a strict condition.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2018 · Q52

Easy
Read the passage (Passage—4) — this item is based on it

The Arctic’s vast reserves of fossil fuel, fish and minerals are now accessible for a longer period in a year. But unlike Antarctica, which is protected from exploitation by the Antarctic Treaty framed during the Cold War and is not subject to territorial claims by any country, there is no legal regime protecting the Arctic from industrialization, especially at a time when the world craves for more and more resources. The distinct possibility of ice-free summer has prompted countries with Arctic coastline to scramble for great chunks of the melting ocean.

Which one of the following is the most important implication of the passage?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (b) Melting of summer ice in the Arctic leads to changes in the geopolitics.

Melting has made Arctic resources reachable for longer, and with no legal regime like the Antarctic Treaty, countries with Arctic coastline are scrambling for chunks of the ocean. Melting ice is reshaping geopolitics — option (b).

  • ✗ (a) India is not mentioned; the scramble is among countries with an Arctic coastline.
  • ✓ (b) The 'distinct possibility of ice-free summer has prompted countries with Arctic coastline to scramble for great chunks of the melting ocean' — a geopolitical change driven by melting.
  • ✗ (c) The passage notes the world's craving for resources but never says the Arctic will end the shortage.
  • ✗ (d) The two poles are compared on legal protection, not on the size of their resources.

Remember · An implication links the passage's cause (melting ice, no treaty) to its effect (a scramble for territory); ignore actors or comparisons not in the text.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2018 · Q53

Easy
Read the passage (Passage—5) — this item is based on it

Being a member of the WTO, India is bound by the agreements that have been signed and ratified by its members, including itself. According to Article 6 of the Agriculture Agreement, providing minimum support prices for agricultural products is considered distorting and is subject to limits. The subsidy arising from ‘minimal supports’ cannot exceed 10 per cent of the value of agricultural production for developing countries. PDS in India entails minimum support prices and public stockholding of food grains. It is possible that, in some years, the subsidy to producers will exceed 10 per cent of the value of agricultural production.

What is the crucial message conveyed by the above passage?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (c) For India, food security collides with trade.

India's PDS rests on minimum support prices and public stockholding, but WTO rules cap such support at 10 per cent of the value of agricultural production — a cap India may exceed in some years. The crucial message is the clash between food security and trade commitments.

  • ✗ (a) A prescription the passage does not make; it points out the conflict without saying which side should give way.
  • ✗ (b) Too extreme; the passage takes membership as given and says India is bound by the agreements.
  • ✓ (c) PDS (food security) needs minimum support prices that WTO's Agriculture Agreement (trade) limits to 10 per cent — the two collide.
  • ✗ (d) Background at most; the passage is about the conflict with WTO rules, not a statement of India's achievement.

Remember · When a passage sets two commitments against each other, the crucial message is the conflict itself, not a remedy.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2018 · Q54

Easy
Read the passage (Passage—6) — this item is based on it

India’s educational system is modelled on the mass education system that developed in the 19th century in Europe and later spread around the world. The goal of the system is to condition children as ‘good’ citizens and productive workers. This suited the industrial age that needed the constant supply of a compliant workforce with a narrow set of capabilities. Our educational institutes resemble factories with bells, uniforms and batch-processing of learners, designed to get learners to conform. But, from an economic point of view, the environment today is very different. It is a complex, volatile and globally interconnected world.

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

  1. 1.India continues to be a developing country essentially due to its faulty education system.
  2. 2.Today’s learners need to acquire new-age skill-sets.
  3. 3.A good number of Indians go to some developed countries for education because the educational systems there are a perfect reflection of the societies in which they function.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (b) 2 only

India's schools were built to supply a compliant, narrowly skilled workforce for the industrial age, while today's world is complex, volatile and interconnected. The author must assume learners now need new skills; nothing links education to India's development status or to Indians studying abroad.

  • ✗ 1. The passage never connects the education system to India remaining a developing country; 'essentially due to' is an unsupported causal claim.
  • ✓ 2. Contrasting the industrial age's 'narrow set of capabilities' with today's 'complex, volatile and globally interconnected world' assumes learners need new skills.
  • ✗ 3. Indians studying abroad and systems that 'perfectly reflect' their societies lie outside the passage.

Remember · An assumption bridges the author's premise and point; new causes or facts the passage never touches are not assumptions.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2018 · Q55

Easy
Read the passage (Passage—7) — this item is based on it

The practice of dieting has become an epidemic; everyone is looking out for a way to attain that perfect body. We are all different with respect to our ethnicity, genetics, family history, gender, age, physical and mental and spiritual health status, lifestyles and preferences. Thereby we also differ in what foods we tolerate or are sensitive to. So we really cannot reduce so many complexities into one diet or diet book. This explains the failure of diets across the world in curbing obesity. Unless the reasons for weight gain are well understood and addressed and unless habits are changed permanently, no diet is likely to succeed.

What is the most logical and rational inference that can be made from the above passage?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (d) There is no perfect diet or one solution for obesity.

People differ in genetics, age, health, lifestyle and the foods they tolerate, so the passage says so many complexities cannot be reduced to one diet — which is why diets fail to curb obesity. The inference: no perfect diet, no single solution.

  • ✗ (a) The passage calls dieting an epidemic, not obesity; the option swaps the subject.
  • ✗ (b) That everyone seeks a perfect body is the passage's opening observation, not the inference its argument leads to.
  • ✗ (c) Diets fail unless causes are addressed and habits change — which implies obesity can be tackled, not that it is incurable.
  • ✓ (d) 'we really cannot reduce so many complexities into one diet or diet book' — no single diet suits everyone.

Remember · The inference is where the argument lands, not a restated opening line; also watch for options that swap the passage's subject.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2018 · Q56

Easy
Read the passage (Passage—8) — this item is based on it

Monoculture carries great risks. A single disease or pest can wipe out swathes of the world’s food production, an alarming prospect given that its growing and wealthier population will eat 70% more by 2050. The risks are magnified by the changing climate. As the planet warms and monsoon rains intensify, farmlands in Asia will flood. North America will suffer more intense droughts, and crop diseases will spread to new latitudes.

Which of the following is the most logical, rational and crucial message given by the passage?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (a) Preserving crop genetic diversity is an insurance against the effects of climate change.

Monoculture is risky because a single disease or pest can wipe out large parts of food production, and climate change magnifies that risk. Keeping crop genetic diversity spreads the risk — an insurance against climate effects.

  • ✓ (a) The opposite of monoculture is diversity; since 'A single disease or pest can wipe out swathes' of production and climate change magnifies the risk, preserving genetic diversity is the logical safeguard.
  • ✗ (b) Contradicts the opening warning that 'Monoculture carries great risks'.
  • ✗ (c) Genetically modified crops are not mentioned, and 'only' is extreme.
  • ✗ (d) Asia and North America are examples of climate effects; the passage does not rank them as the worst sufferers.

Remember · When a passage warns against a practice, its crucial message is often the opposite as a safeguard — here, diversity against monoculture.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2018 · Q78

Medium
Read the passage (Passage—1) — this item is based on it

The quest for cheap and plentiful meat has resulted in factory farms where more and more animals are squeezed into smaller lots in cruel and shocking conditions. Such practices have resulted in many of the world’s health pandemics such as the avian flu. Worldwide, livestock are increasingly raised in cruel, cramped conditions, where animals spend their short lives under artificial light, pumped full of antibiotics and growth hormones, until the day they are slaughtered. Meat production is water-intensive. 15000 litres of water is needed for every kilogram of meat compared with 3400 litres for rice, 3300 litres for eggs and 255 litres for a kilogram of potatoes.

What is the most rational and crucial message given by the passage?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (d) Environmental cost of meat production is unsustainable when it is produced through industrial farming.

The passage describes factory farming's cruelty and health risks and ends on its water cost — 15000 litres per kilogram of meat against 255 for potatoes. The crucial message is that industrially produced meat carries an unsustainable environmental cost.

  • ✗ (a) The quest for 'cheap and plentiful meat' is mentioned only to criticise where it has led; nothing recommends it for poor countries.
  • ✗ (b) Conditions are called 'cruel', but the passage never mentions laws or their violation.
  • ✗ (c) The passage criticises industrial farming but calls for no immediate stop; the option goes further than the text.
  • ✓ (d) The passage's evidence builds to this: meat is 'water-intensive', needing 15000 litres a kilogram against far less for rice, eggs or potatoes — a cost industrial scale makes unsustainable.

Remember · Choose the message the passage's evidence builds towards; avoid options that add legal claims or drastic prescriptions.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2018 · Q79

Easy
Read the passage (Passage—2) — this item is based on it

A male tiger was removed from Pench Tiger Reserve and was relocated in Panna National Park. Later, this tiger trekked toward his home 250 miles away. The trek of this solitary tiger highlights a crisis. Many wildlife reserves exist as islands of fragile habitat in a vast sea of humanity, yet tigers can range over a hundred miles, seeking prey, mates and territory. Nearly a third of India’s tigers live outside tiger reserves, a situation that is dangerous for both human and animal. Prey and tigers can only disperse if there are recognized corridors of land between protected areas to allow unmolested passage.

Which of the following is the most rational and crucial message given by the passage?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (b) Safe wildlife corridors between protected areas is an essential aspect of conservation efforts.

Reserves are islands in a sea of people, yet tigers range widely and a third of them live outside reserves. The passage concludes that prey and tigers can disperse only through recognised corridors between protected areas — option (b).

  • ✗ (a) The passage offers a remedy — corridors — so it does not call the conflict unresolvable.
  • ✓ (b) The last sentence: prey and tigers 'can only disperse if there are recognized corridors of land between protected areas'.
  • ✗ (c) The problem is the isolation of existing reserves, not their number; more reserves are never proposed.
  • ✗ (d) Management of parks is not discussed; the issue is connectivity between protected areas.

Remember · A passage's closing solution sentence often carries its crucial message; drop options that add remedies it never mentions.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2018 · Q80

Medium
Read the passage (Passage—2) — this item is based on it

A male tiger was removed from Pench Tiger Reserve and was relocated in Panna National Park. Later, this tiger trekked toward his home 250 miles away. The trek of this solitary tiger highlights a crisis. Many wildlife reserves exist as islands of fragile habitat in a vast sea of humanity, yet tigers can range over a hundred miles, seeking prey, mates and territory. Nearly a third of India’s tigers live outside tiger reserves, a situation that is dangerous for both human and animal. Prey and tigers can only disperse if there are recognized corridors of land between protected areas to allow unmolested passage.

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

  1. 1.The strategy of conservation of wildlife by relocating them from one protected area to another is not often successful.
  2. 2.India does not have suitable legislation to save the tigers, and its conservation efforts have failed which forced the tigers to live outside protected areas.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (a) 1 only

Why not the tempting option · UPSC's key takes statement 1 as the assumption behind the author's use of the Panna tiger: if relocating tigers between isolated reserves usually worked, one tiger's trek home would not 'highlight a crisis'. A strict reader may object that one case cannot show relocation is 'not often' successful, but in CSAT an assumption is valid when the author's argument leans on it, and this author presents the case as typical. Statement 2 brings in legislation, which the passage never mentions, so (a) is the best answer.

The author offers the relocated tiger's 250-mile trek home as a sign of 'a crisis', which only works if moving tigers between isolated reserves usually does not hold them, which is statement 1. Legislation is never mentioned, and tigers live outside reserves because they range over a hundred miles, not because conservation has failed, so statement 2 is invalid.

  • ✓ 1. The tiger moved from Pench to Panna headed back towards home, and the author calls the trek a 'crisis'; using one relocation as a warning assumes such relocations are not often successful.
  • ✗ 2. Laws are never mentioned; the passage explains tigers outside reserves by their wide range and by reserves being 'islands' without corridors, not by failed conservation.

Remember · An assumption is what the author must believe to use an example as evidence; claims about laws or failures the passage never raises are invalid.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

Other CSAT skills