2014 CSAT, all questions

UPSC Prelims 2014 · CSAT

Question 32: Reading Comprehension

Passage - 2 · as printed by UPSC
Passage beginning “It is often forgotten that globalization is…”Passage beginning “It is often forgotten that globalization is…”

According to the passage, which of the following is/are necessary for ensuring globalization ?

  1. 1.Privatization of public enterprises
  2. 2.Expansionary policy of public expenditure
  3. 3.Free play of market forces to determine wages and employment
  4. 4.Privatization of social services like education and health

Select the correct answer using the code given below :

a1 only
b2 and 3 only
c1, 3 and 4
d2, 3 and 4

AnswerUPSC’s answer is (c).

The author lists what globalization asks of a country at home: selling off state enterprises, opening protected sectors to private firms, applying the same thinking to education and health, leaving pay and jobs to market forces, and holding down taxes and public spending. An expansionary public-spending policy is the reverse of this. So 1, 3 and 4 are correct.

  • 1. State enterprises are to be sold off to private owners.
  • 2. Public spending is to be held as low as possible, not expanded.
  • 3. Pay and jobs are to be left to the market.
  • 4. Private provision is extended to schooling and healthcare.

How you could have got this

  1. If you were sure statement 1 is correct, (b) and (d) go: each of them leaves 1 out.

    What you needed to know: State enterprises are to be sold off to private owners.

  2. Then, if you were sure statement 3 is correct, (a) goes: it leaves 3 out.

    What you needed to know: Pay and jobs are to be left to the market.

Only (c) is left. You didn’t need statements 2 or 4.

Which options go is worked out from UPSC’s key and the options, not by a model.

Why each option is right or wrong
  • (a) Privatization of public enterprises is right, but market-set wages and privatized social services are also stated.
  • (b) Expansionary spending is the opposite of the low public spending the passage describes.
  • (c) Right. Privatization, market-set wages and employment, and privatized social services are all stated.
  • (d) Expansionary spending contradicts the passage's call for low public spending.

Answer: UPSC’s key. Explanation: written by UPSC Grade, not by UPSC.

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Source: UPSC, Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 2014, General Studies Paper II (CSAT), Series A. The paper on upsc.gov.in.