On the basis of the above passage, the following assumptions have been made : In today's global economy, 1. regulations are not effectively used to protect local markets. 2. social and environmental concerns are generally ignored by the governments across the world while implementing the regulations. Which of the above assumptions is/are valid ?

• The passage states that regulations 'may be used to protect local markets,' which implies that such usage is possible and occurs, thereby invalidating Assumption 1 which claims they are 'not effectively used' for this purpose.

• The passage argues that regulations should be viewed as tools seeking 'cost-justified social and environmental benefits,' implying that these concerns are currently not being adequately addressed or are being overlooked in favor of other agendas.

• However, Assumption 2 claims that social and environmental concerns are 'generally ignored by the governments across the world.' The passage focuses specifically on India's regulatory context and the need for change there, not making a universal claim about all governments globally.

• Furthermore, the passage suggests regulations are used as 'political tools' and fail to consider impacts, but it does not explicitly state that social and environmental concerns are 'generally ignored' worldwide; rather, it calls for a shift in perspective to include them as cost-justified benefits.

• Since Assumption 1 is contradicted by the text (regulations *are* used to protect local markets) and Assumption 2 makes an unsupported generalization about 'governments across the world' not explicitly stated in the India-focused passage, neither assumption is strictly valid based solely on the provided text.

• Therefore, the correct option is (d) Neither 1 nor 2.