UPSC Prelims 2015 · CSAT

Question 22: Reading Comprehension

Passage beginning “Set against a rural backdrop, ‘Stench of…” — Passage – 2 · as printed by UPSC

This is a sensitive issue-based story which tries to sensitise the readers about

aMale chauvinism and infidelity

bLove and betrayal

cLack of legal safeguards for women

dInfluence of patriarchal mindset

AnswerUPSC’s answer is (d).

The story centres on a mother who, desperate for a grandchild to continue the family line, gets her son married again behind his first wife's back, while the son passively goes along. The first wife's tragic end and the son's later horror show the cost of a family value that treats a woman as a means of producing an heir. The theme is the influence of a patriarchal mindset. Infidelity, legal safeguards and romantic betrayal are not what the plot turns on.

Why each option is right or wrong

(a) Wrong: the son is passive, and the remarriage is arranged by his mother for an heir, not driven by infidelity.
(b) Wrong: it is a family decision driven by lineage, not a story of love betrayed.
(c) Wrong: law and legal safeguards are not part of the story.
(d) Right: the mother's push for an heir to continue the line drives the events.

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

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Source: UPSC, Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 2015, General Studies Paper II (CSAT), Series A. The paper on upsc.gov.in.