UPSC Prelims 2019 CSAT Paper II · Q67 of 79 Comprehension medium

Passage

Passage - 5 Food varieties extinction is happening all over the world — and it is happening fast. For example, of the 7,000 apple varieties that were grown during the nineteenth century, fewer than a hundred remain. In the Philippines, thousands of varieties of rice once thrived; now only up to a hundred are grown there. In China, 90 percent of the wheat varieties cultivated just a century ago have disappeared. Farmers in the past painstakingly bred and developed crops well suited to the peculiarities of their local climate and environment. In the recent past, our heavy dependence on a few high yielding varieties and technology-driven production and distribution of food is causing the dwindling of diversity in food crops. If some mutating crop disease or future climate change decimates the few crop plants we have come to depend on to feed our growing population, we might desperately need some of those varieties we have let go extinct.

On the basis of the above passage, the following assumptions have been made : 1. Humans have been the main reason for the large scale extinction of plant species. 2. Consumption of food mainly from locally cultivated crops ensures crop diversity. 3. The present style of production and distribution of food will finally lead to the problem of food scarcity in the near future. 4. Our food security may depend on our ability to preserve the locally cultivated varieties of crops. Which of the above assumptions are valid ?

  1. (a) 1 and 3
  2. (b) 2 and 4 ✓ UPSC's answer
  3. (c) 2 and 3
  4. (d) 1 and 4

Why the answer is (b)

• Assumption 1 is invalid because the passage attributes the extinction to 'heavy dependence on a few high yielding varieties and technology-driven production,' not to humans as a general category or other factors like natural disasters.

• Assumption 2 is valid as the passage states that farmers bred crops 'well suited to the peculiarities of their local climate,' implying that local cultivation maintains the specific diversity that is currently being lost.

• Assumption 3 is invalid because the passage warns of a potential risk if a disease or climate change decimates current crops, but it does not assert that the present style of production will 'finally lead' to food scarcity as a certainty.

• Assumption 4 is valid because the passage concludes that if current crops fail, we might 'desperately need some of those varieties we have let go extinct,' directly linking food security to preserving these local varieties.

• Therefore, only assumptions 2 and 4 are supported by the text, making option (b) the correct answer.

Why the other options are wrong

(a) 1 and 3
Assumption 1 is not explicitly stated as the main reason, and Assumption 3 overstates the certainty of future food scarcity.
(c) 2 and 3
Assumption 3 is not a valid inference as the passage presents a conditional risk rather than a guaranteed outcome of food scarcity.
(d) 1 and 4
Assumption 1 is invalid because the passage specifies technological and agricultural practices as the cause, not humans broadly.

Asked in the CSAT Paper II of the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2019, held on 2 June 2019. Question and answer key: Union Public Service Commission. Explanation: UPSC Answer Check.

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