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UPSC Prelims 2025 CSAT, question 21

Topic: Reading comprehension

Directions · Q21 to Q24

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 · Q21 to Q22

One of the dismal realities of the agricultural sector in independent India has been that it never experienced a high-growth phase, unlike the non-agricultural economy. The highest decadal growth (compound annual growth rate or CAGR) for agriculture has been just 3.5%3.5\% in the 1980s. Also, after experiencing a spurt in decadal growth during the 1980s, agricultural growth suffered relative stagnation thereafter. This is in sharp contrast to non-agricultural growth, which consistently increased from the 1980s to 2000s.

Q21

Which one of the following statements best reflects the corollary to the above passage ?

  1. (a) The benefit of economic reforms percolates down more slowly to the agriculture sector than in other sectors of the economy.Correct answer
  2. (b) For India, the green revolution was not as useful as it was expected to be.
  3. (c) India lagged behind other countries in adapting mechanized and modern farming.
  4. (d) Rural-to-urban migration resulted in the stagnant agriculture sector.

Solution.

Answer: (a) The benefit of economic reforms percolates down more slowly to the agriculture sector than in other sectors of the economy.

  1. The passage notes that after a modest 3.5%3.5\% growth spurt in the 1980s, Indian agriculture suffered relative stagnation from the 1980s to the 2000s, in sharp contrast to non-agricultural growth which consistently increased over that period.
  2. The logical corollary is that the benefits of post-1980s economic growth and reforms percolated much more slowly to agriculture than to the non-agricultural sectors.