2015 CSAT, all questions

UPSC Prelims 2015 · CSAT

Question 24: Reading Comprehension

Passage – 4 · as printed by UPSC
Passage beginning “Our municipal corporations are understaffed.…”

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

aThe task of providing urban services is a complex issue which requires the organisational expansion of municipal bodies all over the country.
bOur cities can provide better quality of life if our local government bodies have adequate staff with required skills and competencies.
cLack of skilled staff is due to the absence of institutions which offer the requisite skills in city management.
dOur country is not taking advantage of the demographic dividend to manage the problems associated with rapid urbanization.

AnswerUPSC’s answer is (b).

The passage says municipal bodies are short of staff and lack the skills their complex tasks need, because recruitment rules ask only for minimum academic qualifications and ignore managerial or technical competence and experience. The assumption behind this complaint is that better services need adequate staff with the right skills, so cities would offer a better quality of life if local bodies had them. Nothing says every municipal body must expand, that training institutions are missing, or that the demographic dividend is being wasted.

Why each option is right or wrong
  • (a) Wrong: the passage complains of weak staffing, not of a need to expand municipal bodies everywhere.
  • (b) Right: the complaint about staff numbers and skills assumes that adequate, skilled staff would improve city services.
  • (c) Wrong: the passage blames recruitment rules, not a lack of institutions teaching city management.
  • (d) Wrong: the demographic dividend is not mentioned.

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.