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.

Asked in 11 of 11 years · most in 2017 (31)

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

CSAT 2019 · Q1

Easy

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

Political theorists no doubt have to take history of injustice, for example, untouchability, seriously. The concept of historical injustice takes note of a variety of historical wrongs that continue into the present in some form or the other and tend to resist repair. Two reasons might account for resistance to repair. One, not only are the roots of injustice buried deep in history, injustice itself constitutes economic structures of exploitation, ideologies of discrimination and modes of representation. Two, the category of historical injustice generally extends across a number of wrongs such as economic deprivation, social discrimination and lack of recognition. This category is complex, not only because of the overlap between a number of wrongs, but because one or the other wrong, generally discrimination, tends to acquire partial autonomy from others. This is borne out by the history of repair in India.

What is the main idea that we can infer from the passage?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (d) It is difficult, if not impossible, to repair every manifestation of historical injustice.

The passage explains why historical wrongs 'tend to resist repair': their roots lie deep in history, and they spread across overlapping wrongs, one of which (discrimination) becomes partly independent of the rest. The central message is that repairing every form of such injustice is very hard.

✗ (a) The passage opens by saying theorists 'have to take' such history seriously; it never says they have failed to do so.
✗ (b) 'Tend to resist repair' is not 'always beyond repair', and the passage does not speak of every society. 'Inevitable' and 'always' overreach.
✗ (c) Economic exploitation is only one face of injustice; the passage never traces discrimination to bad economies and even says discrimination gains 'partial autonomy' from the other wrongs.
✓ (d) Deep roots plus overlapping, partly autonomous wrongs are the two reasons for 'resistance to repair'; 'difficult, if not impossible' matches that without overstating it.

Remember · For a 'main idea' item, choose the option that restates the central claim at the passage's own strength; reject 'always', 'inevitable' and side details.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2019 · Q2

Easy

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

On the basis of the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:

1.Removal of economic discrimination leads to removal of social discrimination.
2.Democratic polity is the best way to repair historical wrongs.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2

The passage says discrimination 'tends to acquire partial autonomy' from the other wrongs, which works against assumption 1. It says nothing about forms of government, so assumption 2 has no footing in it.

✗ 1. Because discrimination becomes partly autonomous of other wrongs, ending the economic wrong need not end the social one; the passage points the opposite way.
✗ 2. Democracy or any political system is not mentioned; 'the best way' is an outside judgement.

Remember · A statement that contradicts the passage, or brings in a subject the passage never touches, cannot be a valid assumption.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2019 · Q3

Medium

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

Education plays a great transformatory role in life, particularly so in this rapidly changing and globalizing world. Universities are the custodians of the intellectual capital and promoters of culture and specialized knowledge. Culture is an activity of thought, and receptiveness to beauty and human feelings. A merely well informed man is only a bore on God’s earth. What we should aim at is producing men who possess both culture and expert knowledge. Their expert knowledge will give them a firm ground to start from and their culture will lead them as deep as philosophy and as high as art. Together it will impart meaning to human existence.

On the basis of the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:

1.A society without well educated people cannot be transformed into a modern society.
2.Without acquiring culture, a person’s education is not complete.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (b) 2 only

The author wants people with 'both culture and expert knowledge' and dismisses the merely well-informed man as a bore, so education without culture is incomplete. The passage speaks of education transforming life, not of a society becoming 'modern'.

✗ 1. The 'transformatory role' is 'in life'; the passage makes no claim about modernising a society, and 'cannot' sets a sweeping condition it never states.
✓ 2. 'A merely well informed man is only a bore' and 'we should aim at... both culture and expert knowledge' — for the author, education lacking culture falls short.

Remember · Check what the passage is about — here an individual's education — and reject statements that shift to a different subject or add 'cannot'.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2019 · Q4

Easy

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

Soil, in which nearly all our food grows, is a living resource that takes years to form. Yet it can vanish in minutes. Each year 75 billion tonnes of fertile soil is lost to erosion. That is alarming — and not just for food producers. Soil can trap huge quantities of carbon dioxide in the form of organic carbon and prevent it from escaping into the atmosphere.

On the basis of the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:

1.Large scale soil erosion is a major reason for widespread food insecurity in the world.
2.Soil erosion is mainly anthropogenic.
3.Sustainable management of soils helps in combating climate change.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (b) 3 only

The passage's turn is that soil loss matters 'not just for food producers', because soil locks up carbon that would otherwise reach the atmosphere. Keeping soil healthy therefore helps against climate change. The passage gives no cause of erosion and makes no claim about present food insecurity.

✗ 1. The passage notes that food grows in soil and that 75 billion tonnes is lost each year, but it does not say erosion is already a major cause of world food insecurity.
✗ 2. Who or what causes erosion is never discussed; 'anthropogenic' is imported from outside.
✓ 3. Soil 'can trap huge quantities of carbon dioxide' as organic carbon; soil kept in place keeps that carbon out of the air.

Remember · An assumption must underlie the author's own argument; causes or consequences the passage never names lie outside it.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2019 · Q5

Medium

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

Inequality is visible, even statistically measurable in many instances, but the economic power that drives it is invisible and not measurable. Like the force of gravity, power is the organising principle of inequality, be it of income, or wealth, gender, race, religion and region. Its effects are seen in a pervasive manner in all spheres, but the ways in which economic power pulls and tilts visible economic variables remain invisibly obscure.

On the basis of the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:

1.Economic power is the only reason for the existence of inequality in a society.
2.Inequality of different kinds, income, wealth, etc. reinforces power.
3.Economic power can be analysed more through its effects than by direct empirical methods.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (b) 3 only

Inequality can be measured, but the economic power behind it is 'invisible and not measurable', while its effects are seen everywhere. So power can be studied mainly through what it does. The passage calls power the organising principle, not the only cause, and the causation runs from power to inequality.

✗ 1. 'Organising principle' is not 'the only reason'; the word 'only' goes beyond the passage.
✗ 2. The passage says power 'drives' inequality; it does not say inequality in turn strengthens power — this reverses the direction.
✓ 3. Power is 'not measurable', yet 'its effects are seen in a pervasive manner' — like gravity, it is known by its effects.

Remember · Watch the direction of cause and effect: 'A drives B' does not support 'B reinforces A'. Words like 'only' usually overreach.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2019 · Q6

Medium

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

Climate change may actually benefit some plants by lengthening growing seasons and increasing carbon dioxide. Yet other effects of a warmer world, such as more pests, droughts, and flooding, will be less benign. How will the world adapt? Researchers project that by 2050, suitable croplands for four commodities — maize, potatoes, rice and wheat — will shift, in some cases pushing farmers to plant new crops. Some farmlands may benefit from warming, but others won’t. Climate alone does not dictate yields; political shifts, global demand, and agricultural practices will influence how farms fare in the future.

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

Answer & explanation

Answer: (a) Farmers who modernize their methods and diversify their fields will be in an advantageous position in future.

Croplands will shift and push some farmers to plant new crops, and the passage adds that yields depend not on climate alone but also on 'agricultural practices'. Farmers who adapt both their methods and their crops are therefore better placed.

✓ (a) Shifting croplands call for new crops (diversify), and 'agricultural practices will influence how farms fare' (modernise) — the two ideas combine into this option.
✗ (b) The passage says some plants may benefit and farmers may take up new crops; it does not predict a loss of crop diversity.
✗ (c) Nothing is said about total cultivated area or overall output rising; 'others won't' benefit.
✗ (d) 'Climate alone does not dictate yields' — the passage lists other factors and never ranks climate first.

Remember · Prefer the option that joins two lines of the passage; reject options that rank factors ('most important') or predict totals the passage never gives.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2019 · Q7

Easy

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

A bat’s wings may look like sheets of skin. But underneath, a bat has the same five fingers as an orangutan or a human, as well as a wrist connected to the same cluster of wrist bones connected to the same long bones of the arm. What can be more curious than that the hand of a man, formed for grasping, that of a mole for digging, the leg of the horse, the paddle of the porpoise, and the wing of the bat, should all be constructed on the same pattern?

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

Answer & explanation

Answer: (d) Man and the aforementioned animals have a shared evolutionary history.

Limbs used for grasping, digging, running, swimming and flying are all built on the same bone plan. The scientific reading of such sameness beneath different uses is descent from a common ancestor — a shared evolutionary history.

✗ (a) The passage points to sameness across species, which is evidence of common descent; biodiversity would mean variety, the opposite emphasis.
✗ (b) Different uses are mentioned, but the passage's wonder is at the common pattern beneath them.
✗ (c) A pattern repeated in man, mole, horse, porpoise and bat is not treated as chance; 'coincidence' is not a scientific inference here.
✓ (d) Same five fingers, same wrist bones, same long arm bones — homologous limbs that point to shared ancestry.

Remember · When a passage stresses the same structure beneath different forms, the scientific inference is common origin, not diversity or coincidence.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2019 · Q8

Medium

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

Around 56 million years ago, the Atlantic Ocean had not fully opened and animals, perhaps including our primate ancestors, could walk from Asia to North America through Europe and across Greenland. Earth was warmer than it is today, but as the Palaeocene epoch gave way to Eocene, it was about to get much warmer still — rapidly and radically. The cause was a massive geologically sudden release of carbon. During this period called Palaeocene – Eocene Thermal Maximum or PETM, the carbon injected into the atmosphere was roughly the amount that would be injected today if humans burned all the Earth’s reserves of coal, oil and natural gas. The PETM lasted for about 1,50,000 years, until the excess carbon was reabsorbed. It brought on drought, floods, insect plagues and a few extinctions. Life on Earth survived — indeed, it prospered — but it was drastically different.

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

1.Global warming has a bearing on the planet’s biological evolution.
2.Separation of land masses causes the release of huge quantities of carbon into the atmosphere.
3.Increased warming of Earth’s atmosphere can change the composition of its flora and fauna.
4.The present man-made global warming will finally lead to conditions similar to those which happened 56 million years ago.

Which of the assumptions given above are valid?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (c) 1 and 3

The PETM warming brought extinctions and left life 'drastically different', so warming bears on the course of evolution and can change the mix of plants and animals. The carbon release is not tied to continents separating, and the passage compares only amounts of carbon, not future outcomes.

✓ 1. Warming brought drought, floods, insect plagues and extinctions; life survived but was 'drastically different' — warming shaped its course.
✗ 2. The unopened Atlantic is only background; the cause of warming was 'a massive geologically sudden release of carbon', not linked to land masses separating.
✓ 3. Extinctions and a 'drastically different' life mean the composition of flora and fauna changed.
✗ 4. The passage compares the carbon released with burning all fossil reserves; it does not predict that today's warming 'will finally lead' to PETM conditions.

Remember · A comparison of quantities ('roughly the amount') is not a forecast; reject 'will finally lead to' claims the passage never makes.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2019 · Q21

Easy

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

Low-end IoT (Internet of Things) devices are cheap commodity items: addressing security would add to the cost. This class of items is proliferating with new applications; many home appliances, thermostats, security and monitoring devices and personal convenience devices are part of the IoT. So are fitness trackers, certain medical implants and computer-like devices in automobiles. The IoT is expected to expand exponentially — but new security challenges are daunting.

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

Answer & explanation

Answer: (d) As we go digital, we must recognise the huge threat to Internet security from some IoT devices.

Low-end IoT devices stay cheap by leaving security out, and they are multiplying fast; the passage ends on 'daunting' security challenges. The sound inference is that going digital means recognising the security threat from such devices.

✗ (a) India, manufacturing and 'enabling technologies' are not discussed at all.
✗ (b) India is never mentioned, and the passage does not advise holding back; it expects the IoT 'to expand exponentially'.
✗ (c) Convenience devices are listed, but comfort is not the point; the passage stresses the security cost of cheapness.
✓ (d) Security is skipped to keep costs low, the devices are spreading everywhere, and the challenges are 'daunting' — so the threat must be recognised. 'Some IoT devices' keeps the claim to the low-end class described.

Remember · The inference usually rests on the passage's closing concern; options naming a country or sector the passage never mentions go first.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2019 · Q22

Easy

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

With the digital phenomenon restructuring most social sectors, it is little surprise that global trade negotiations are now eyeing the digital area in an attempt to pre-emptively colonise it. Big Data is freely collected or mined from developing countries, and converted into digital intelligence in developed countries. This intelligence begins to control different sectors and extract monopoly rents. A large foreign company providing cab service, for instance, is not a network of cars and drivers; it is digital intelligence about commuting, public transport, roads, traffic, city events, personal behavioural characteristics of commuters and drivers and so on.

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

Answer & explanation

Answer: (b) India should be careful to protect its digital sovereignty in global trade talks.

Trade negotiations are eyeing the digital area to 'pre-emptively colonise it', while data mined in developing countries is turned into intelligence and monopoly rents elsewhere. The natural corollary for a developing country such as India is to guard control over its data in those talks.

✗ (a) The passage is about data in trade talks, not globalisation as a whole; rejecting globalisation outright goes far beyond it.
✓ (b) 'Colonise' plus data 'mined from developing countries' points to protecting one's digital sovereignty when trade rules are being written.
✗ (c) Monopoly rents are what the intelligence-owning firms extract; the passage does not suggest India should charge them — it twists the idea.
✗ (d) No proportional link between data loss and the value of foreign trade is given.

Remember · A corollary follows directly from the author's concern; reject options that invent a formula or take a sweeping stand the passage does not.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2019 · Q23

Medium

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

Which of the following is most definitively implied by the above passage?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (a) Big Data is the key resource in the digital space.

The passage treats Big Data as the raw material that is mined, turned into digital intelligence and then used to control sectors and earn monopoly rents; even a cab company is really 'digital intelligence'. That makes Big Data the key resource of the digital space.

✓ (a) Data → intelligence → control of sectors and monopoly rents; the cab example shows the real asset is data.
✗ (b) The data is mined 'from developing countries'; nothing says big economies create it.
✗ (c) A 'prerogative' is an exclusive right; the passage describes what is happening, not an entitlement, and the data originates in developing countries.
✗ (d) Developing countries hold the data at source; what developed countries have is its conversion into intelligence, so this is not definite.

Remember · 'Most definitively implied' rewards the idea the whole passage rests on; reject options that turn a described trend into a right or a rule.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2019 · Q24

Easy

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

The rural poor across the world, including India, have contributed little to human-induced climate change, yet they are on the frontline in coping with its effects. Farmers can no longer rely on historical averages for rainfall and temperature, and the more frequent and extreme weather events, such as droughts and floods, can spell disaster. And there are new threats, such as sea level rise and the impact of melting glaciers on water supply. How significant are small farms? As many as two billion people worldwide depend on them for their food and livelihood. Small-holder farmers in India produce 41 percent of the country’s food grains, and other food items that contribute to local and national food security.

What is the most logical and rational corollary to the above passage?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (a) Supporting small farmers is an important part of any agenda regarding environmentally sustainable development.

Small farms feed about two billion people and grow 41 percent of India's food grains, yet their farmers bear the brunt of climate change. Any agenda for environmentally sustainable development must therefore support them.

✓ (a) Their importance ('two billion people', '41 percent') and their exposure to climate shocks together make support for them central to sustainability.
✗ (b) The passage says the rural poor contributed little to climate change; it says nothing about poor countries having no role in mitigation.
✗ (c) The passage points to threats facing the farmers who grow the food — the opposite of assured food security.
✗ (d) 41 percent is a large share, not all; 'only' contradicts the passage's own figure.

Remember · Build the corollary from the passage's central tension — here, vital small farms exposed to climate risk; drop options with 'only' or 'will not'.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2019 · Q25

Medium

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

The above passage implies that

1.There is a potential problem of food insecurity in India.
2.India will have to strengthen its disaster management capabilities.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (c) Both 1 and 2

Small-holders who grow 41 percent of India's food grains face erratic rain, droughts, floods and new threats, so food insecurity is a real possibility. And since extreme weather 'can spell disaster', India's capacity to handle such disasters must grow.

✓ 1. The farmers behind 'local and national food security' are on the frontline of climate shocks — a potential, not a certain, problem.
✓ 2. More frequent and extreme droughts and floods 'can spell disaster' for the farm sector; dealing with them calls for stronger disaster management.

Remember · 'Potential' and 'will have to' are moderate claims; accept them when the passage describes the risk that calls for them.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2019 · Q26

Medium

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

A changing climate, and the eventual efforts of governments (however reluctant) to deal with it, could have a big impact on investors’ returns. Companies that produce or use large amounts of fossil fuels will face higher taxes and regulatory burdens. Some energy producers may find it impossible to exploit their known reserves, and be left with “stranded assets” — deposits of oil and coal that have to be left in the ground. Other industries could be affected by the economic damage caused by more extreme weather — storms, floods, heat waves and droughts.

On the basis of the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:

1.Governments and companies need to be adequately prepared to face the climate change.
2.Extreme weather events will reduce the economic growth of governments and companies in future.
3.Ignoring climate change is a huge risk for investors.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (c) 1 and 3 only

Climate change, and government action on it, can hit investors' returns through taxes, regulation, stranded assets and weather damage. So governments and companies must prepare, and ignoring climate change is a large risk for investors. The passage says industries 'could be affected', not that growth will fall.

✓ 1. Higher taxes, regulatory burdens and stranded assets await unprepared companies, and governments are expected to act 'however reluctant'.
✗ 2. 'Could be affected' is a possibility; 'will reduce' makes it certain, and the 'economic growth of governments' is not discussed.
✓ 3. Climate change 'could have a big impact on investors' returns' — ignoring it is a big risk.

Remember · Match the level of certainty: 'could' in the passage does not support 'will' in a statement.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2019 · Q27

Medium

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

Access to schooling for those coming of school age is close to universal, but access to quality exhibits a sharp gradient with socio-economic status. Quotas for the weaker sections in private schools is a provision introduced by the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009. The quotas have imposed a debate on issues of social integration and equity in education that private actors had escaped by and large. The idea of egalitarian education system with equality of opportunity as its primary goal appears to be outside the space that private school principals inhabit. Therefore, the imposition of the quotas has led to resistance, sometimes justified.

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

1.Making equality of opportunity a reality is the fundamental goal of the Indian education system.
2.The present Indian school system is unable to provide egalitarian education.
3.Abolition of private schools and establishment of more government schools is the only way to ensure egalitarian education.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (b) 2 only

Access to schooling is nearly universal, but access to quality falls sharply with socio-economic status, and private schools resist the equity quotas. So the present system does not deliver egalitarian education. The passage neither states the goal of the whole system nor proposes abolishing private schools.

✗ 1. The passage says equality of opportunity lies 'outside the space' of private school principals; it does not declare it the fundamental goal of the whole system.
✓ 2. 'Access to quality exhibits a sharp gradient with socio-economic status' — schooling today is not egalitarian.
✗ 3. The passage even calls the resistance 'sometimes justified'; abolition and 'the only way' are extreme and nowhere in it.

Remember · Accept the statement that restates the passage's diagnosis; reject remedies it never proposes, especially 'the only way'.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2019 · Q28

Easy

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

A majority of the TB infected in India are poor and lack sufficient nutrition, suitable housing and have little understanding of prevention. TB then devastates families, makes the poor poorer, particularly affects women and children, and leads to ostracisation and loss of employment. The truth is that even if TB does not kill them, hunger and poverty will. Another truth is that deep-seated stigma, lack of counselling, expensive treatment and lack of adequate support from providers and family, coupled with torturous side-effects demotivate patients to continue treatment — with disastrous health consequences.

Which one of the following is the most logical, rational and crucial message conveyed by the above passage?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (b) Curing TB requires more than diagnosis and medical treatment.

Poor nutrition, stigma, lack of counselling, cost, weak support and harsh side-effects push TB patients to abandon treatment. The crucial message is that curing TB needs help well beyond diagnosis and drugs.

✗ (a) The problem is that patients stop treatment, not that TB cannot be cured.
✓ (b) Nutrition, counselling and support from providers and family are all non-medical needs the passage lists.
✗ (c) Surveillance is not mentioned, and patients do begin treatment — they are demotivated from continuing, so 'no access' is wrong.
✗ (d) Poverty matters, but 'only when' poverty programmes succeed is too strong and ignores stigma, counselling and side-effects.

Remember · The crucial message usually sums up the list the passage builds; reject 'only when' and claims about things it never mentions.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2019 · Q41

Medium

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

What stands in the way of the widespread and careful adoption of ‘Genetic Modification (GM)’ technology is an ‘Intellectual Property Rights’ regime that seeks to create private monopolies for such technologies. If GM technology is largely corporate driven, it seeks to maximize profits and that too in the short run. That is why corporations make major investments for herbicide-tolerant and pest-resistant crops. Such properties have only a short window, as soon enough, pests and weeds will evolve to overcome such resistance. This suits the corporations. The National Farmers Commission pointed out that priority must be given in genetic modification to the incorporation of genes that can help impart resistance to drought, salinity and other stresses.

Which one of the following is the most logical, rational and crucial message conveyed by the above passage?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (a) Public research institutions should take the lead in GM technology and prioritise the technology agenda.

Corporate-driven GM research chases short-run profit through herbicide-tolerant and pest-resistant traits, while the National Farmers Commission wants priority for resistance to drought, salinity and other stresses. The message is that GM needs a public agenda — public institutions should lead and set the priorities.

✓ (a) The passage sets profit-driven corporate priorities against the public priorities named by the Commission; public research is the natural way to pursue the latter.
✗ (b) The passage faults an IPR regime that creates private monopolies, but it mentions neither the WTO nor abolishing IPR altogether.
✗ (c) Barring private firms from agribusiness is an extreme step the passage never proposes.
✗ (d) The passage wants 'widespread and careful adoption' of GM technology with better priorities — not rejection of GM crops.

Remember · When a passage faults who sets an agenda, the crucial message is usually a change of agenda-setter, not a ban or total rejection.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2019 · Q42

Medium

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

On the basis of the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:

1.The issue of effects of natural calamities on agriculture is not given due consideration by GM technology companies.
2.In the long run, GM technology will not be able to solve agricultural problems arising due to global warming.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (a) 1 only

Companies invest in herbicide and pest resistance for quick profits, while resistance to drought, salinity and other stresses — the effects of natural calamities — is what the Commission says must come first. So those effects are not getting due attention. The passage never says GM cannot solve such problems; it wants GM aimed at them.

✓ 1. Priority 'must be given' to drought and salinity resistance, which corporations, chasing short-run profit, are not pursuing.
✗ 2. The passage says genes 'can help impart resistance to drought, salinity and other stresses'; it does not predict GM's long-run failure.

Remember · Don't confuse 'the technology is misdirected' with 'the technology cannot work'; the passage criticises priorities, not potential.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2019 · Q43

Easy

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

Most invasive species are neither terribly successful nor very harmful. Britain’s invasive plants are not widespread, not spreading especially quickly, and often less of a nuisance than vigorous natives such as bracken. The arrival of new species almost always increases biological diversity in a region; in many cases, a flood of newcomers drives no native species to extinction. One reason is that invaders tend to colonise disturbed habitats like polluted lakes and post-industrial wasteland, where little else lives. They are nature’s opportunists.

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

Answer & explanation

Answer: (c) Sometimes, the campaigns against foreign plants are pointless.

Most invasive species are neither very successful nor very harmful; new arrivals usually raise diversity and often drive no native species extinct. So campaigns against foreign plants are sometimes pointless — 'sometimes' keeps the claim within what the passage shows.

✗ (a) Invaders are said to colonise disturbed habitats; the passage does not recommend using them to restore deserts or wastelands.
✗ (b) 'Most' and 'in many cases' leave room for harmful invaders; declaring all such laws unnecessary goes too far.
✓ (c) If most invaders do little harm, some campaigns against them achieve nothing; 'sometimes' fits the passage's hedged claims.
✗ (d) Higher diversity is a side-effect of arrivals; the passage does not advise introducing foreign plants on purpose.

Remember · Match qualifiers: 'most' and 'in many cases' in the passage support 'sometimes', not 'unnecessary' or a new policy.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2019 · Q44

Medium

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

Diarrhoeal deaths among Indian children are mostly due to food and water contamination. Use of contaminated groundwater and unsafe chemicals in agriculture, poor hygiene in storage and handling of food items to food cooked and distributed in unhygienic surroundings; there are myriad factors that need regulation and monitoring. People need to have awareness of adulteration and ways of complaining to the relevant authorities. Surveillance of food-borne diseases involves a number of government agencies and entails a good training of inspection staff. Considering the proportion of the urban population that depends on street food for its daily meals, investing in training and education of street vendors is of great significance.

On the basis of the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:

1.Food safety is a complex issue that calls for a multipronged solution.
2.Great investments need to be made in developing the manpower for surveillance and training.
3.India needs to make sufficient legislation for governing food processing industry.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (a) 1 and 2 only

The passage lists many sources of contamination and calls for regulation, public awareness, multi-agency surveillance, trained inspectors and educated street vendors — a many-sided answer to a complex problem, resting on trained people. It says nothing about new laws for the food processing industry.

✓ 1. 'Myriad factors that need regulation and monitoring', public awareness, several agencies and vendor training — a multipronged approach.
✓ 2. Surveillance 'entails a good training of inspection staff', and investing in training street vendors is 'of great significance'.
✗ 3. Neither the food processing industry nor legislation is discussed; the focus is farm chemicals, hygiene, street food and surveillance.

Remember · A valid assumption reflects the passage's own remedies; a new sector or instrument it never mentions is outside it.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2019 · Q45

Easy

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

The interests of working and poor people have historically been neglected in the planning of our cities. Our cities are increasingly intolerant, unsafe and unlivable places for large numbers of citizens and yet we continue to plan via the old ways — the static Development Plan — that draws exclusively from technical expertise, distanced from people’s live experiences and needs, and actively excluding large number of people, places, activities and practices that are an integral part of the city.

The passage seems to argue

Answer & explanation

Answer: (d) in favour of participation of peoples’ groups in city planning.

The passage faults a planning method that draws 'exclusively from technical expertise', is 'distanced from people's live experiences' and excludes large numbers of people. The remedy it points to is bringing people's groups into city planning.

✗ (a) Builders and elites are not mentioned; the target is the technocratic, static Development Plan.
✗ (b) Global or smart cities are not discussed.
✗ (c) The passage wants the excluded brought in, not cities planned 'mainly' for one class — that would be a new exclusion.
✓ (d) Criticism of expert-only, exclusionary planning implies a plea for participation by people's groups.

Remember · Find what the author criticises and choose its remedy; avoid options that swap one exclusion for another.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2019 · Q46

Hard

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

A vast majority of Indians are poor, with barely 10 percent employed in the organised sector. We are being convinced that vigorous economic growth is generating substantial employment. But this is not so. When our economy was growing at 3 percent per year, employment in the organised sector was growing at 2 percent per year. As the economy began to grow at 7 – 8 percent per year, the rate of growth of employment in the organised sector actually declined to 1 percent per year.

The above passage seems to imply that

1.most of modern economic growth is based on technological progress.
2.much of modern Indian economy does not nurture sufficient symbiotic relationship with labour-intensive, natural resource-based livelihoods.
3.service sector in India is not very labour-intensive.
4.literate rural population is not willing to enter organised sector.

Which of the statements given above are correct?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (c) 1, 2 and 3 only

Faster growth has come with slower growth of organised jobs. That fits growth driven by technology rather than labour, delinked from labour-intensive livelihoods, and led by activity that employs few people. Nothing in the passage blames workers' unwillingness to take such jobs.

✓ 1. Output growth rising from 3 to 7–8 percent while employment growth falls from 2 to 1 percent suggests growth from technology and capital rather than more workers.
✓ 2. Had growth been tied to labour-intensive, resource-based livelihoods, jobs would have grown with it; they did not.
✓ 3. The passage names no sector, so this is the least direct of the three; but job-poor growth fits a leading sector that is not labour-intensive, and 'seems to imply' allows that reading.
✗ 4. The passage blames the pattern of growth, not workers' attitudes; unwillingness of the rural literate is never suggested.

Remember · For 'seems to imply', accept plausible explanations of the passage's core fact; reject those that shift the cause to something it never hints at.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2019 · Q47

Medium

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

India has banking correspondents, who help bring people in the hinterland into the banking fold. For them to succeed, banks cannot crimp on costs. They also cannot afford to ignore investing in financial education and literacy. Banking correspondents are way too small to be viewed as a systemic risk. Yet India’s banking regulator has restricted them to serving only one bank, perhaps to prevent arbitrage. Efforts at banking outreach may succeed only if there are better incentives at work for such last-mile workers and also those providers who ensure not just basic bank accounts but also products such as accident and life insurance and micro pension schemes.

Which one of the following is the most logical, rational and crucial inference that can be derived from the above passage?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (c) Meaningful financial inclusion in India requires that banking correspondents have diverse skills.

Banking correspondents are expected to deliver not just basic accounts but financial education and literacy, accident and life insurance and micro pension schemes. For inclusion to be meaningful, these last-mile workers need a range of skills.

✗ (a) The passage says outreach 'may succeed only if' incentives improve; it does not say present efforts have failed.
✗ (b) The passage asks for better incentives and investment in correspondents, not more of them.
✓ (c) Financial literacy work plus insurance and pension products alongside accounts call for correspondents with diverse skills.
✗ (d) The one-bank limit is questioned, but 'impossible unless' is too strong; the condition the passage states is better incentives.

Remember · Pick the option that follows from what the passage says the workers must deliver; reject 'impossible unless' and claims of failure it never makes.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2019 · Q61

Medium

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

India’s economic footprint, given its population, still remains small compared to the US, the European Union or China. It has much to learn from other economies, yet must implement solutions that fit its unique circumstances. India especially needs an effective long-term regulatory system based on collaboration rather than the current top-down approach. Regulations seek desirable outcomes yet are repeatedly used as political tools to push one agenda or another. Often, regulations fail to consider impacts on jobs and economic growth — or less restrictive alternatives. Regulations may be used to protect local markets at the expense of more widely shared prosperity in the future. Additionally, regulations inevitably result in numerous unintended consequences. In today’s hyper competitive global economy, regulations need to be viewed as “weapons” that seek cost-justified social and environmental benefits while improving the economic well-being of most citizens.

Which one of the following is the most logical, rational and crucial inference that can be derived from the above passage?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (b) In a competitive global economy, India must use regulations strategically.

The passage closes by saying that in a hyper competitive global economy regulations must be seen as 'weapons' that seek cost-justified social and environmental benefits while improving citizens' economic well-being. That is a call to use regulation strategically.

✗ (a) India's small footprint is noted, but the passage does not claim better regulation will bring the economy to a size matching its population.
✓ (b) Regulations as 'weapons' in a 'hyper competitive global economy', chosen for cost-justified benefits — this is strategic use.
✗ (c) The criticisms (political tools, unintended consequences) are of regulations in general; the passage does not say India's rules block global integration.
✗ (d) Jobs and growth are impacts regulations often ignore, but the passage wants them balanced with social and environmental benefits, not made dominant.

Remember · The concluding sentence often carries the crucial inference; reject options that make one of several listed concerns 'dominant'.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2019 · Q62

Medium

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

On the basis of the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:

In today’s global economy,

1.regulations are not effectively used to protect local markets.
2.social and environmental concerns are generally ignored by the governments across the world while implementing the regulations.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2

The passage says regulations 'may be used to protect local markets', so it does not assume they fail at that. It wants regulations that seek social and environmental benefits, but never says governments across the world generally ignore these concerns.

✗ 1. The author's worry is the opposite: regulations may protect local markets at the cost of wider prosperity. Nothing says they are ineffective at it.
✗ 2. 'Generally ignored … across the world' is sweeping; the passage only says regulations often overlook impacts on jobs, growth and less restrictive alternatives.

Remember · Test each statement against the exact concern named; a reversed or globalised version of the author's worry is not an assumption.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2019 · Q63

Medium

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

In a study, scientists compared the microbiomes of poorly nourished and well nourished infants and young children. Gut microbes were isolated from faecal samples of malnourished and healthy children. The microbiome was “immature” and less diverse in malnourished children compared to the better developed “mature” microbiome found in healthy children of the same age. According to some studies, the chemical composition of mother’s milk has shown the presence of a modified sugar (sialylated oligosaccharides). This is not utilized by the baby for its own nutrition. However, the bacteria constituting the infant’s microbiome thrive on this sugar which serves as their food. Malnourished mothers have low levels of this sugar in their milk. Consequently, the microbiomes of their infants fail to mature. That in turn, leads to malnourished babies.

Which one of the following is the most logical, rational and crucial inference that can be derived from the above passage?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (d) Research on benign effects of gut bacteria on nutrition has policy implications.

The passage traces child malnutrition to low levels of a milk sugar in malnourished mothers, which keeps the infant gut microbiome immature. Research on how gut bacteria support nutrition therefore bears on policy against malnutrition, without the passage prescribing a particular cure.

✗ (a) Nothing says the condition cannot be treated; knowing the cause points towards possible remedies.
✗ (b) Inoculating guts with mature microbiomes is a specific treatment the passage neither tests nor proposes.
✗ (c) Replacing mother's milk with fortified dairy milk goes far beyond the passage, which shows mother's milk is the natural source of the sugar.
✓ (d) The research links mothers' nutrition, gut bacteria and child malnutrition — a finding with clear policy relevance, stated without overreach.

Remember · When options prescribe specific remedies, prefer the broad inference the passage fully supports.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2019 · Q64

Easy

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

On the basis of the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:

1.Processed probiotic foods are a solution to treat the children suffering from malnutrition due to immature gut bacteria composition.
2.The babies of malnourished mothers generally tend to be malnourished.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (b) 2 only

Malnourished mothers have little of the sugar that feeds the infant microbiome; the microbiome fails to mature, and that 'leads to malnourished babies'. So such babies tend to be malnourished. Processed probiotic foods are never mentioned.

✗ 1. Probiotic foods are not discussed; the passage offers no treatment at all.
✓ 2. Low sugar in the milk → immature microbiome → 'malnourished babies' — the chain in the passage's closing sentences.

Remember · Accept a statement that restates the passage's causal chain; reject a remedy the passage never names.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2019 · Q65

Medium

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

Temperatures have risen nearly five times as rapidly on the Western Antarctic Peninsula than the global average over the past five decades. Researchers have now found that melting glaciers are causing a loss of species diversity among benthos in the coastal waters off the Antarctic Peninsula, impacting an entire seafloor ecosystem. They believe increased levels of suspended sediment in water to be the cause of the dwindling biodiversity in the coastal region.

On the basis of the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:

1.Regions of glaciers warm faster than other regions due to global warming.
2.Global warming can lead to seafloor sedimentation in some areas.
3.Melting glaciers can reduce marine biodiversity in some areas.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (c) 2 and 3 only

Warming melts glaciers, meltwater raises suspended sediment in coastal water, and that sediment cuts seafloor biodiversity. This supports statements 2 and 3, both hedged with 'can' and 'some areas'. The fast warming is reported for one peninsula, not for glacier regions in general.

✗ 1. Only the Western Antarctic Peninsula is said to have warmed five times as fast; extending this to all glacier regions overreaches.
✓ 2. Warming melts glaciers, raising 'suspended sediment in water' over the seafloor ecosystem; 'can' and 'some areas' keep the claim modest.
✓ 3. Melting glaciers 'are causing a loss of species diversity among benthos' in the coastal waters.

Remember · Data from one region cannot support a rule for all such regions; 'can … in some areas' is usually the safe claim.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2019 · Q66

Medium

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

A research team examined a long-term owl roost. Owls prey on small mammals and the excreted remains of those meals that accumulated over the time, provide us an insight into the composition and structure of small mammals over the past millennia. The research suggested that when the Earth went through a period of rapid warming about 13,000 years ago, the small mammal community was stable and resilient. But, from the last quarter of the nineteenth century, human-made changes to the environment had caused an enormous drop in biomass and energy flow. This dramatic decline in energy flow means modern ecosystems are not adapting as easily as they did in the past.

On the basis of the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:

1.Global warming is a frequently occurring natural phenomenon.
2.The impending global warming will not adversely affect small mammals.
3.Humans are responsible for the loss of the Earth’s natural resilience.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (b) 3 only

Small mammals stayed stable through natural warming 13,000 years ago, but human-made changes since the late nineteenth century cut biomass and energy flow, so ecosystems no longer adapt as easily. That places the loss of resilience on humans. The passage mentions one past warming, not frequent ones, and implies modern ecosystems are more vulnerable.

✗ 1. A single period of warming 13,000 years ago does not show that warming is 'frequently occurring'.
✗ 2. Modern ecosystems 'are not adapting as easily as they did in the past' — the passage points to greater risk, not safety.
✓ 3. 'Human-made changes' caused the drop in biomass and energy flow that weakened ecosystems' ability to adapt.

Remember · One example cannot establish 'frequent'; when a passage contrasts past resilience with present weakness, the cause is what changed in between.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

CSAT 2019 · Q67

Medium

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

Food varieties extinction is happening all over the world — and it is happening fast. For example, of the 7,000 apple varieties that were grown during the nineteenth century, fewer than a hundred remain. In the Philippines, thousands of varieties of rice once thrived; now only up to a hundred are grown there. In China, 90 percent of the wheat varieties cultivated just a century ago have disappeared. Farmers in the past painstakingly bred and developed crops well suited to the peculiarities of their local climate and environment. In the recent past, our heavy dependence on a few high yielding varieties and technology-driven production and distribution of food is causing the dwindling of diversity in food crops. If some mutating crop disease or future climate change decimates the few crop plants we have come to depend on to feed our growing population, we might desperately need some of those varieties we have let go extinct.

On the basis of the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:

1.Humans have been the main reason for the large scale extinction of plant species.
2.Consumption of food mainly from locally cultivated crops ensures crop diversity.
3.The present style of production and distribution of food will finally lead to the problem of food scarcity in the near future.
4.Our food security may depend on our ability to preserve the locally cultivated varieties of crops.

Which of the above assumptions are valid?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (b) 2 and 4

Varieties bred to suit local conditions have given way to a few high-yielding varieties and technology-driven production and distribution, and we may need the lost varieties if disease or climate change strikes. So food security may depend on preserving local varieties, and eating from locally grown crops keeps that diversity alive.

✗ 1. The passage is about varieties within a few crops, not the extinction of plant species at large.
✓ 2. Diversity came from crops suited to 'their local climate and environment' and is being lost to a few varieties spread by technology-driven distribution; relying on local crops is what sustained it. 'Ensures' is strongly worded, but it follows the passage's contrast.
✗ 3. The passage says 'if' disease or climate change strikes, 'we might' need the varieties — a risk, not a certain scarcity in the near future.
✓ 4. 'We might desperately need some of those varieties' — food security may depend on keeping them.

Remember · 'If … might' in a passage supports 'may', never 'will finally lead to'; and crop varieties are not plant species.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

Reading comprehension

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