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CTET 8 Feb 2026 Paper 1 English, Question 101

Topic: Poem comprehension

Passage

Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow : (100-105)
Put away the road maps now.
To go there,
you do not need
helicopters any more;
wherever there is hunger,
there Kalahandi is.

The god of rain
turned away his face.
There was not one green leaf
left on the trees for supper.
The whole village a graveyard.
Cracked ground,
drab river sand.
All the plans failed;
the poverty line
receded further.

Q101

What does ‘the poverty line/receded further’ signify ?

  1. (1) That poverty is of no consequence in the present-day world
  2. (2) That poverty is increasingCorrect answer
  3. (3) That poverty is a thing of the past
  4. (4) That poverty is going down

Solution.

CBSE answer: (2)

Answer: (2) That poverty is increasing

  1. The stanza lists failed plans, dead trees and a village like a graveyard.
  2. The poverty line "receded further" means people slipped even further below it, out of reach of a decent life.
  3. So the poet says poverty grew worse despite all the plans.

Trap: (4) "receded" may suggest going down, but the whole stanza describes things getting worse, not better.