उपर्युक्त परिच्छेद से, निम्नलिखित में से कौन-सा सर्वाधिक निर्णायक सन्देश व्यक्त होता है?
Read this question in English
Which among the following is the most crucial message conveyed by the above passage?
(a) The ideas of purity and pollution are so deep-rooted that they cannot be removed from the minds of the people. · (b) People have to perceive toilet use and pit-emptying as clean and not polluting. · (c) People cannot change their old habits. · (d) People have neither civic sense nor sense of privacy.
उत्तर और व्याख्या · explanation in English
Answer: (b) लोगों को समझना होगा कि शौचालय का उपयोग और गड्ढों का खाली किया जाना शुद्धता की बात है न कि अशुद्धता की।
The passage finds two reasons why people avoid toilets — ideas of purity and pollution, and dislike of emptying pits — and says these must be confronted to end open defecation. So people's view of toilet use and pit-emptying as polluting has to change.
- ✗ (a) The passage says these ideas 'have to be confronted and dealt' with, which assumes they can change, not that they are permanent.
- ✓ (b) The two barriers are notions of pollution and reluctance to empty pits; confronting them means people must come to see toilet use and pit-emptying as clean.
- ✗ (c) Too sweeping; the passage's point is that the practice can be ended if its causes are tackled.
- ✗ (d) Civic sense and privacy are not discussed; the reasons given are purity-pollution beliefs and pit-emptying.
Remember · When a passage names the causes of a problem and says they must be confronted, the crucial message concerns changing those very causes.
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2017, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·