2023 CSAT — Q2

Locate. This asks for the best-supported inference: the conclusion the passage’s lines force. The passage is one sustained argument: anaemia (most women, a quarter of men) and TB cost productivity now; malnourished children’s worse cognition costs future potential; “for an economy that will be more dependent on highly skilled workers, this poses a significant challenge… that really should be addressed given India’s demographic outlook.” The forced implication: address people’s health and nutrition for the sake of the economy.

Test (find-the-line-then-match + scope-fit). (d) “attention should be paid to health and nutrition of the people” for “rapid economic growth” matches the passage’s whole through-line — health/nutrition → productivity and cognitive potential → economy. Check scope: it covers the people generally, which fits a passage about women, men, and children. (c) says “only skilled workers” — the passage’s worry is precisely about the broad population (anaemic workers, malnourished children) feeding a future skilled economy, so restricting to “only skilled workers” mis-scopes it.

Eliminate by anatomy. (a) is a claim the passage never makes — “education system in rural areas” is never mentioned; (b) is a claim the passage never makes — “skill development programme” is not the passage’s remedy (it diagnoses health, not training); (c) is too strong and mis-scoped — the “only” wrongly narrows the passage’s population-wide concern. The transferable rule: the best inference must match the passage’s scope as well as its content — an “only/just” qualifier that shrinks a population-wide argument is a classic plant. Key: (d).

“For an economy that will be more dependent on highly skilled workers, this poses a significant challenge. And it is one that really should be addressed given India’s demographic outlook.” The whole passage links anaemia, TB and child malnutrition (lost productivity + lost cognitive potential) to the economy — so the implied call is to attend to people’s HEALTH AND NUTRITION for economic growth, exactly (d). (c) restricts this to “only skilled workers” (over-narrow); (a)/(b) (rural education, skill programmes) are remedies the passage never names → (d).

The passage’s chain: poor health (anaemia, TB) and poor child nutrition reduce present productivity and future cognitive potential; an economy increasingly reliant on skilled workers must therefore address this, given demography.

(d) “for rapid economic growth… attention should be paid to health and nutrition of the people” states exactly the implied prescription, at the right (population-wide) scope. (c) narrows it to “only skilled workers,” contradicting a passage whose concern is the broad population that feeds the future skilled economy. (a) rural education and (b) skill-development programmes are remedies the passage never raises (it is about health and nutrition, not schooling or training).

Answer: (d).

The decisive move is scope. (d) and (c) both connect health to the economy — but (c) inserts “only skilled workers,” shrinking the passage’s population-wide argument (women, men, children) to a sliver. CSAT loves this trap: a near-correct option carrying a quantifier (“only,” “all,” “just”) that the passage’s scope does not license. Read the whole population the passage actually discusses, and (d) — health and nutrition of the people — is the inference that fits. (d).