2022 CSAT — Q34

Locate. This asks for the central idea: find the thesis the whole passage builds, not a single detail. The passage: middle-class numbers have risen; affluence has shifted diets to water-intensive protein (milk, fish, meat) and raised energy use (gadgets, vehicles), and “generation of energy needs water.” The through-line: rising affluence is driving up demand for both food and energy (and the water both require).

Test (thesis-vs-detail + scope-fit). The crux is the growing demand and the implied need to meet it — i.e., develop agricultural productivity and energy capacity. (b) names exactly that forward need. Test the others: (a) “persuade people back to cereal diets” is a prescription the passage never makes (it describes the shift, doesn’t counsel reversing it); (c) “technology changes social behaviour” is one observation, not the thesis; (d) “water management must change dramatically” imports a strong prescription the passage doesn’t state — it notes water is needed, not that management must change dramatically.

Eliminate by anatomy. (a) sounds reasonable, but is unsupported — a remedy the passage never recommends; (c) offers a detail, not the main idea — a true sub-point offered as the whole; (d) is too strong for what the passage says and sounds reasonable but unsupported — a forceful prescription beyond what the text says. (b) sits at the passage’s own breadth: more food and energy will be needed. Key: (b).

The passage traces rising middle-class affluence to two growing demands: a “higher protein-based diet like milk products, fish and meat, all of which need significantly more water to produce than cereal-based diets,” and “increasing use of electronic and electric machines/gadgets and motor vehicles needs more and more energy and generation of energy needs water.” The crux is the escalating demand for food and energy this affluence creates — which (b) reflects as the need to develop agricultural productivity and energy-generation capacity. (a) prescribes reverting diets (not stated); (c) is one detail; (d) “water management must change dramatically” reads in a prescription the passage does not state — flagged weak_anchor (the crux is implied, leaning b over d).

The passage’s arc: affluence → richer (water-heavy) diets + more energy use (also water-heavy). The forward-looking implication is that India must build the productivity and energy capacity to meet this rising demand.

• (b) captures that forward need. Correct.
• (a) prescribes reverting diets — not in the passage.
• (c) isolates one detail (technology → behaviour).
• (d) over-prescribes a dramatic change in water management the passage never states.

Answer: (b).

The live contest is (b) vs (d). Both touch the passage’s water theme, but (d) jumps to a forceful prescription (“must change dramatically”) the text never issues, while (b) states the forward need the passage’s facts actually point to (more food and energy will be required). The crux of a descriptive passage is its dominant implication, not the most dramatic action one could bolt on. The (b)-over-(d) call rests on the passage’s implied crux rather than a single quoted thesis line — a genuinely close read. If (d) tempted you, apply the test: the passage states that more water will be needed, never that water management must change dramatically; (b) stays at the passage’s own breadth while (d) bolts on a prescription. (b).