CSAT EDGE

(Question based Excellence) for CSE Prelims 2024

Class – 03
ASSUMPTION QUESTIONS
It is the unstated link somewhere in the chain of evidence and conclusion. Finding the assumption
means, basically, finding that gap in the argument and filling it.
How do we identify a valid assumption?

Determine what has to be true—but was never explicitly stated—in order for an argument to work.
If a necessary assumption were discovered to be false, the argument would fall apart—the
conclusion would not follow logically from its premises.
SET 1
Passage – 1
The miseries of the world cannot be cured by physical help only. Until man’s nature changes, his
physical needs will always arise, and miseries will always be felt, and no amount of physical help will
remove them completely. The only solution of the problem is to make mankind pure. Ignorance is
the mother of evil and of all the misery we see. Let men have light, let them be pure and spiritually,
strong and educated; then alone will misery cease in the world. We may convert every house in the
country into a charitable asylum, we may fill the land with hospitals, but human misery will continue
until man’s character changes.

1. According to the passage, which of the following statements is most likely to be true as the reason
for man’s miseries?
(a) The poor economic and social conditions prevailing in society.
(b) The refusal on the part of man to change his character.
(c) The absence of physical and material help from his society.
(d) Ever increasing physical needs due to changing social structure.

2. With reference to the passage, the following assumptions have been made:
1. The author gives primary importance to physical and material help in eradicating human misery.
2. Charitable homes, hospitals, etc. can remove human misery to a great extent.
Which of the assumptions is/are valid?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
CSAT EDGE (Question based Excellence) Page |2

Passage – 2
“If political leadership fails to emerge, there is likelihood of military taking over power in developing
countries. Radical student groups or labour may try to raise revolution but they are not likely to
compete with the military. Military intervention, rule, and withdrawal from politics is closely related
to a society’s level of political development.”

3. In the context of political development, the assumption in the above passage is that
(a) political leadership is not an effective instrument.
(b) military fills in political vacuum.
(c) military intervention is inevitable for development.
(d) None of the above

Passage – 3
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.
4. With reference to the above passage, which of the following is the most valid assumption?
(a) Building of weapons systems by us has instigated our neighbours to wage wars against us.
(b) Greater spending on weapon-building by us would lessen the possibility of armed conflict with
our neighbours.
(c) It is necessary to have state of the art weapons systems for national security.
(d) Many people in India believe that we are wasting our resources on weapon-building

Passage – 4
The richer States have a responsibility to cut down carbon emissions and promote clean energy
investments. These are the States that got electricity, grew faster and now have high per capita
income, making them capable of sharing India’s burden of becoming eco-friendly. Delhi, for
example, can help by generating its own clean electricity using solar rooftop panels or even help
poor States finance their clean energy projects. It is no secret that State Electricity Boards, which
control 95% of the distribution network, are neck-deep in losses. These losses further discourage
State utilities from adopting renewable energy as it is more expensive than fossil fuels.

5. Which among the following is the most logical and rational assumption that can be made from
the above passage?
(a) The richer States must lead in the production and adoption of renewable energy.
(b) The poor States always have to depend on rich States for electricity.
(c) The State Electricity Boards can improve their finances by undertaking clean energy projects.
(d) The high economic disparity between the rich and poor States is the major cause of high carbon
emissions in India.

www.nextias.com
CSAT EDGE (Question based Excellence) Page |3

Passage – 5
To end the intergenerational cycle of poverty and eradicate all types of malnutrition, policymakers
must intensify their efforts. Raising the implementation of high-impact, nutrition-specific treatments
across all low- and middle-income nations is predicted to reduce stunting by 48 percent and yield
economic benefits of around US$417 billion. An economic return of US$11 will result from every
US$1 invested in stunting reduction. To combat malnutrition, a “food systems” approach calls for
comprehensive policies that take into account both supply and demand. To create a resilient food
system, it is imperative to strengthen strategic action to meet people's needs both now and when
the crisis passes.
6. With reference to the passage, the following assumptions have been made:
1. Economic benefits of stunting reduction may be exaggerated, considering it is dependent upon
the supply and demand factors affecting ‘food systems’.
2. Strengthening strategic action in the short term can effectively address malnutrition in the long
term.
3. Unless policymakers intensify their efforts today, subsequent generations will have to continue to
battle poverty and malnutrition.
4. Nearly half of stunting is caused due to poor nutrition in low and middle-income nations.
Which of the above is/are valid assumption/assumptions?
(a) 1 and 3 only
(b) 2 and 4 only
(c) 3 and 4 only
(d) 1 and 2 only

Passage – 6
South Asia is not exempt from the consequences of the ongoing US-China tussle. Primarily, South
Asia will be useful for both the US and China for accessing and maintaining their presence in the
Indian Ocean and securing their sea lines of communication and trade. The region also aligns with
their respective strategic ambitions: it helps China expand its influence and presence in the region
and enhances its status as an Asian power for the US, the region offers an opportunity to push back
against China through India.

7. With reference to the passage, the following assumptions have been made:
1. Maintaining access to the Indian Ocean is of growing strategic importance to China and India.
2. The South Asian region tries to thwart Chinese influence by supporting India.
3. US’s engagement in South Asia serves dual purposes: economic interaction and geopolitical
influence.
4. The competition between US and China has wider geopolitical implications than just in the South
Asian region.
Which of the above is/are valid assumption/assumptions?
(a) 1, 2, 3 and 4
(b) 2, 3 and 4 only
(c) 1, 3 and 4 only
(d) 3 and 4 only

www.nextias.com
CSAT EDGE (Question based Excellence) Page |4

Passage – 7
Countries can be deeply rooted in their culture and still have an entrepreneurial spirit. For instance,
the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), that has been highly successful in India, is now gaining
adoption in other countries. The UPI is a real-time payment system that enables users to transfer
funds instantly between bank accounts via a mobile device. It has transformed the payments
landscape in India, enabling millions of people to make cashless transactions and promoting financial
inclusion. Its success has caught the attention of other countries and there is growing interest in
adopting the technology. Countries like Singapore, Bhutan, and the UAE are already testing or
implementing UPI-based systems, and other countries are likely to follow suit.

8. With reference to the passage, the following assumptions have been made:
1. Financial inclusion is a priority for countries like Singapore and Bhutan.
2. UPI's success is limited to India and other countries' interest in the technology is merely
speculative.
3. Cultural roots are the primary determinant of a country's entrepreneurial spirit, excluding external
influences.
4. Countries like Bhutan and UAE stand to benefit from giving their citizens the ability to transfer
funds instantly between bank accounts using a mobile phone.
5. Cultural roots do not hinder entrepreneurship; successful innovations like UPI can transcend
cultural boundaries.
Which of the above is/are valid assumption/assumptions?
(a) 1, 2 and 3 only
(b) 1, 3, 4 and 5 only
(c) 4 and 5 only
(d) 2 and 3 only

Passage – 8
Environmental problems cause health problems. Substantial changes in lifestyle can reduce
environmental or health problems, but this idea appears almost impossible to adopt. With
environmental problems, individual efforts can be perceived as having a negligible effect and
therefore lead to inertia. With health, on the other hand, individual choices can make the difference
between life and death, literally. And yet, barring a few, there seems to be the same collective
lethargy towards making their choices.

9. Which one of the following statements best implies the most rational assumption that can be
made from the passage?
(a) We are likely to spend more money on cure than prevention.
(b) It is the job of the government to solve our environmental and public health problems.
(c) Health can be protected even if environmental problems go on unattended.
(d) Loss of traditional lifestyle and the influence of western values led to some unhealthy way of
living.

www.nextias.com
CSAT EDGE (Question based Excellence) Page |5

Passage – 9
In India, the segregation of municipal waste at source is rare. Recycling is mostly with the informal
sector. More than three-fourths of the municipal budget goes into collection and transportation,
which leaves very little for processing/resource recovery and disposal. Where does waste-to-energy
fit into all this? Ideally, it fits in the chain after segregation (between wet waste and rest), collection,
recycling, and before getting to the landfill. Which technology is most appropriate in converting
waste to energy depends on what is in the waste (that is biodegradable versus non-biodegradable
component) and its calorific value. The biodegradable component of India’s municipal solid waste is
a little over 50 per cent, and biomethanation offers a major solution for processing this.
10. Based on the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:
1. Collection, processing and segregation of municipal waste should be with government agencies.
2. Resource recovery and recycling require technological inputs that can be best handled by private
sector enterprises.
Which of the assumptions given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

SET - 2
Passage – 1
The storms most studied by climatologists have been those that are most easily understood by taking
atmospheric measurements. Hurricanes and tornadoes, for example, are spatially confined, the forces that
drive them are highly concentrated, and they have distinctive forms and readily quantifiable characteristics.
Consequently, data about them are abundant, and their behaviour is relatively well understood, although still
difficult to predict. Hurricanes and tornadoes are also studied because they are highly destructive storms, and
knowledge about their behaviour can help minimize injury to people and property. But other equally
destructive storms have not been so thoroughly researched, perhaps because they are more difficult to study.
A primary example is the northeaster, a type of coastal storm that causes significant damage along the eastern
coast of North America. Northeasters, whose diffuse nature makes them difficult to categorize, are relatively
weak low pressure systems with winds that rarely acquire the strength of even the smallest hurricane.
Although northeasters are perceived to be less destructive than other storms, the high waves associated with
strong northeasters can cause damage comparable to that of a hurricane, because they can affect stretches of
coast more than 1,500 kilometres long, whereas hurricanes typically threaten a relatively small ribbon of
coastline—roughly 100 to 150 kilometres.
Q.1 The primary purpose of the passage is to
(a) evaluate the relative amounts of damage caused by different storm types
(b) describe the difficulties of classifying destructive storms by type
(c) examine the relationship between wave height and the destructive potential of storms
(d) discuss reasons why certain types of storms receive more study than others

Q.2 According to the passage, which of the following is true of northeasters?

(a) They have only recently been identified as a distinct storm type.
(b) They are more destructive than tornadoes.
(c) They are low-pressure systems.
(d) They affect a relatively small segment of the eastern coast of North America.
www.nextias.com
CSAT EDGE (Question based Excellence) Page |6

Q.3 Which of the following can be inferred from the passage about storms that lend themselves to
atmospheric measurements?
(a) They are more likely than other storms to be studied by climatologists.
(b) They are likely to be less highly concentrated than are other storms.
(c) They are likely to be more difficult to predict than are other storms.
(d) They occur less frequently along the eastern coast of North America than in other areas.

Passage - 2
Laws requiring the use of headlights during daylight hours can prevent automobile collisions. However, since
daylight visibility is worse in countries farther from the equator, any such laws would obviously be more
effective in preventing collisions in those countries. In fact, the only countries that actually have such laws are
farther from the equator than is the continental United States.

Q.4 Which of the following conclusions could be most properly drawn from the information given above?
(a) Drivers in the continental United States who used their headlights during the day would be just as likely to
become involved in a collision as would drivers who did not use their headlights.
(b) In many countries that are farther from the equator than is the continental United States, poor daylight
visibility is the single most important factor in automobile collisions.
(c) The proportion of automobile collisions that occur in the daytime is greater in the continental United States
than in the countries that have daytime headlight laws.
(d) Daytime headlight laws would probably do less to prevent automobile collisions in the continental United
States than they do in the countries that have the laws.

Passage – 3
Policy makers and media have placed the blame for skyrocketing food prices on a variety of factors, including
high fuel prices, bad weather in key food producing countries, and the diversion of land to non-food
production. Increased emphasis, however, has been placed on a surge in demand for food from the most
populous emerging economies. It seems highly probable that mass consumption in these countries could be
well poised to create a food crisis.
Q.5 With reference to the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:
1. Oil producing countries are one of the reasons for high food prices.
2. If there is a food crisis in the world in the near future, it will be in the emerging economies.
Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Passage - 4
A central message of modern development economics is the importance of income growth, by which is meant
growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In theory, rising GDP creates employment and investment
opportunities. As incomes grow in a country where the level of GDP was once low, households, communities,
and governments are increasingly able to set aside some funds for the production of things that make for a
good life. Today GDP has assumed such a significant place in the development lexicon, that if someone
mentions “economic growth”, we know they mean growth in GDP.

www.nextias.com
CSAT EDGE (Question based Excellence) Page |7

Q.6 With reference to the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:
1. Rising GDP is essential for a country to be a developed country.
2. Rising GDP guarantees a reasonable distribution of income to all households.
Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Passage-5
A social and physical environment riddled with poverty, inequities, unhygienic and insanitary conditions
generates the risk of infectious diseases. Hygiene has different levels: personal, domestic and community
hygiene. There is no doubt that personal cleanliness brings down the rate of infectious diseases. But the entry
of the market into this domain has created a false sense of security that gets conditioned and reinforced by
the onslaught of advertisements. Experience in Western Europe shows that along with personal hygiene,
general improvements in environmental conditions and components like clean water, sanitation and food
security have brought down infant/child death/infection rates considerably. The obsession with hand hygiene
also brings in the persisting influence of the market on personal health, overriding or marginalizing the
negative impact on ecology and the emergence of resistant germs.
Q.7 On the basis of the passage given above, the following assumptions have been made:
1. People who are obsessed with personal hygiene tend to ignore the community hygiene.
2. Emergence of multi-drug resistant germs can be prevented by personal cleanliness.
3. Entry of the market in the domain of hygiene increases the risk of infectious diseases.
4. Scientific and micro-level interventions are not sufficient to bring down the burden of infectious
diseases.
5. It is community hygiene implemented through public health measures that is really effective in the
battle against infectious diseases.
Which of the above assumptions are valid?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 3 and 4 only
(c) 4 and 5 only
(d) 1, 2 and 4 only

Passage – 6
Approximately 80 percent of all flowering plant species are pollinated by animals, including birds and
mammals, but the main pollinators are insects. Pollination is responsible for providing us with a wide variety of
food, as well as many plant-derived medicines. At least one-third of the world’s agricultural crops depend
upon pollination. Bees are the most dominant taxa when it comes to pollination and they are crucial to more
than four hundred crops. Pollination is an essential service that is the result of intricate relationships between
plants and animals, and the reduction or loss of either affects the survival of both. Effective pollination
requires resources such as refuges of pristine natural vegetation.
Q.8 On the basis of the passage given above, the following assumptions have been made:
1. Sustainable production of India’s cereal food grains is impossible without the diversity of pollinating
animals.
2. Monoculture of horticultural crops hampers the survival of insects.
3. Pollinators become scarce in cultivated areas devoid of natural vegetation.
4. Diversity in insects induces diversity of plants.

www.nextias.com
CSAT EDGE (Question based Excellence) Page |8

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

(a) 1 only
(b) 2, 3 and 4 only
(c) 1 and 2 only
(d) 3 and 4 only

Passage – 7
Genome editing is different from genome modification. Genome editing typically involves finding the part of a
plant genome that could be changed to render it less vulnerable to disease, or resistant to certain herbicides,
or to increase yields. Researchers use ‘molecular scissors’ to dissect the genome and repair it, which is a
process that occurs naturally when plants are under attack from diseases and can throw up new mutations
that enable the plant to survive future attacks. This evolutionary process can effectively be speeded up now
that it is possible to examine plant genomes in detail in laboratories, and create mechanisms through which
the relevant genes can be altered very precisely.
Q.9 With reference to the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:
1. Genome editing does not require the transfer of genes from one plant to another.
2. Through genome editing, the chosen genes can be altered precisely in a manner akin to the natural
process that helps plants to adapt to the environmental factors.
Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Passage – 8
There is a claim that organic farming is inherently safer and healthier. The reality is that because the organic
farming industry is still young and not well-regulated in India, farmers and consumers, alike, are not only
confused about what products are best for them, but sometimes use products in ways that could harm them
as well. For example, since organic fertilizers are difficult to obtain on a large scale in India, farmers often use
farmyard manure, which may contain toxic chemicals and heavy metals. Certain plant sprays, such as Datura
flower and leaf spray, have an element called atropine. If it is not applied in the right dose, it can act on the
nervous system of the consumer. Unfortunately, how much and when to use it are not well-researched or
regulated issues.

10. Based on the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:
1. Organic farming is inherently unsafe for both farmers and consumers.
2. Farmers and consumers need to be educated about eco-friendly food.
Which of the assumptions given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

11. Which one of the following statements best reflects the most logical, rational and practical message
conveyed by the author of the passage?
(a) In India, organic farming should not be promoted as a substitute for conventional farming.
(b) There are no safe organic alternatives to chemical fertilizers.
www.nextias.com
CSAT EDGE (Question based Excellence) Page |9

(c) In India, farmers need to be guided and helped to make their organic farming sustainable.
(d) The aim of organic farming should not be to generate huge profits as there is still no global market for its
products.

Passage – 9
Food consumption patterns have changed substantially in India over the past few decades. This has resulted in
the disappearance of many nutritious foods such as millets. While food grain production has increased over
five times since independence, it has not sufficiently addressed the issue of malnutrition. For long, the
agriculture sector focused on increasing food production, particularly staples, which led to lower production
and consumption of indigenous traditional crops/grains, fruits, and other vegetables, impacting food and
nutrition security in the process. Further, intensive, monoculture agriculture practices can perpetuate the food
and nutrition security problem by degrading the quality of land, water, and food derived through them.

12. Based on the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:
1. To implement the Sustainable Development Goals and to achieve zero-hunger goal, monoculture agriculture
practices are inevitable even if they do not address malnutrition.
2. Dependence on a few crops has negative consequences for human health and the ecosystem.
3. Government policies regarding food planning need to incorporate nutritional security.
4. For the present monoculture agriculture practices, farmers receive subsidies in various ways and
government offers remunerative prices for grains and therefore they do not tend to consider crop diversity.
Which of the above assumptions are valid?
(a) 1, 2 and 4 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 3 and 4 only
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4

Passage – 10
India should ensure the growth of the digital economy while keeping personal data of citizens secure and
protected. No one will innovate in a surveillance-oriented environment or in a place where an individual’s
personal information is compromised. The ultimate control of data must reside with the individuals who
generate it; they should be enabled to use, restrict, or monetize it as they wish. Therefore, data protection
laws should enable the right kind of innovation – one that is user-centric and privacy-protecting.
13. Based on the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:
1. Protection of privacy is not just a right, but it has value to the economy.
2. There is a fundamental link between privacy and innovation.
Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2



www.nextias.com