UPSC Prelims 2021 · CSAT

Question 3: Reading Comprehension

Passage beginning “A study conducted on the impacts…” — Passage – 3 · as printed by UPSC

Which one of the following statements best reflects the crux of the passage given above ?

aDevelopment of regional climate models helps in choosing climate-smart agricultural practices.

bHeavy dependence on groundwater resources can be reduced by adopting dry-land cropping systems.

cClimate changes increase the criticality of water resources while simultaneously threatening it.

dClimate changes cause the farmers to adopt unsustainable livelihoods and risky coping strategies.

AnswerUPSC’s answer is (c).

The passage links climate change to rising temperatures, fewer rainy days, more droughts and weaker groundwater recharge, and then notes that farmers respond by leaning harder on groundwater. Taken together, its crux is that climate change makes water resources more essential to farming even as it endangers them. The regional climate models are only how the study was done, and the farmers' response is one consequence, not the main point. For crux questions, choose the statement that covers the whole passage, not a detail or a method.

Why each option is right or wrong

(a) The climate models are the study's tool, not its message; choosing climate-smart practices is never discussed.
(b) Dry-land cropping is never mentioned; the passage describes growing groundwater dependence, not ways to reduce it.
(c) Right: water matters more to farmers just as climate change strains it through heat, fewer rainy days and weaker recharge.
(d) Turning to groundwater is only one outcome; the passage does not call the farmers' livelihoods unsustainable or their coping risky.

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

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Source: UPSC, Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 2021, General Studies Paper II (CSAT), Series A. The paper on upsc.gov.in.