UPSC Prelims 2015 CSAT Paper II · Q3 of 74 Comprehension medium

Passage

Many people in India feel that if we cut our defence expenditure on weapon-building, we can create a climate of peace with our neighbours, subsequently reducing the conflict or creating a no-war situation. People who proclaim such ideas are either the victims of war or the propagators of false argument.

With reference to the above passage, which of the following is the most valid assumption ?

  1. (a) Building of weapons systems by us has instigated our neighbours to wage wars against us.
  2. (b) The greater spending on weapon-building by us would lessen the possibility of armed conflict with our neighbours. ✓ UPSC's answer
  3. (c) It is necessary to have state of the art weapons systems for national security.
  4. (d) Many people in India believe that we are wasting our resources on weapon-building.

Why the answer is (b)

• The passage argues that the belief 'cutting defence expenditure creates peace' is a 'false argument' or held by 'victims of war'.

• If the argument that 'less spending leads to peace' is false, the logical contrapositive is that 'more spending (or maintaining high spending) prevents war'.

• Therefore, the valid assumption underlying the author's rejection of the peace-through-disarmament view is that higher spending on weapon-building reduces the likelihood of conflict.

• Option (b) directly states that greater spending on weapon-building would lessen the possibility of armed conflict, which aligns with the author's stance against the 'false argument'.

• The other options either misinterpret the cause of war or introduce unrelated concepts like resource wastage or specific weapon types not mentioned in the text.

Why the other options are wrong

(a) Building of weapons systems by us has instigated our neighbours to wage wars against us.
The passage does not state that our weapon-building instigated neighbors to wage war; it only discusses the relationship between our spending and the climate of peace.
(c) It is necessary to have state of the art weapons systems for national security.
The passage does not mention 'state of the art' weapons or explicitly define the necessity of specific weapon types for national security, only the general impact of expenditure.
(d) Many people in India believe that we are wasting our resources on weapon-building.
The passage states people believe cutting expenditure creates peace, not that they believe resources are being 'wasted'; the author labels the peace argument as false, not the spending itself as waste.

Asked in the CSAT Paper II of the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2015, held on 23 August 2015. Question and answer key: Union Public Service Commission. Explanation: UPSC Answer Check.

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