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UPSC Prelims 2025 CSAT, question 12

Topic: Reading comprehension

Directions · Q11 to Q14

Directions for the following 4 (four) items :
Read the following two passages and answer the items that follow the passages. Your answers to these items should be based on the passages only.

Passage · Q11 to Q12

Each State in India faces a distinctive set of challenges regarding the impact of warming, but also offers its own set of opportunities for reducing emissions depending on its natural resources. For example, coastal States need to take action to protect their shores from sea level rise, districts that are drier need to prepare for variable monsoon precipitation. Himalayan regions have their own unique challenges, and selected parts of peninsular India and offshore areas offer great opportunities for harnessing wind power. These various aspects need to be considered for developing clear and sustainable goals for the future.

Q12

With reference to the passage, the following assumptions have been made :

I. Green energy production can be linked to/integrated with the climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies.

II. Effects of climate change are much more severe in coastal and mountainous regions.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid ?

  1. (a) I onlyCorrect answer
  2. (b) II only
  3. (c) Both I and II
  4. (d) Neither I nor II

Solution.

Answer: (a) I only

  1. Statement I is correct: the passage links regional climate action with harnessing natural resources for reducing emissions, such as wind power in peninsular India and offshore areas, and concludes that all these aspects must be integrated into sustainable goals.
  2. Statement II is incorrect: the passage cites coastal, drier, and Himalayan regions to illustrate diversity of challenges, not to claim that climate impacts are much more severe in coastal and mountainous areas than elsewhere.

Trap: If Statement I is rejected on the strict ground that the passage links wind power only to emission reduction (mitigation) rather than adaptation strategies, option (d) Neither I nor II is the narrower reading.