2023 CSAT — Q34

Locate. This asks for the author’s view: find the line the author is committed to by assertion. The passage: organic farming is claimed safer, but because the Indian industry is “still young and not well-regulated,” farmers and consumers are “confused,” “sometimes use products in ways that could harm them” (toxic manure, atropine sprays), and “how much and when to use it are not well-researched or regulated.” The author’s practical concern is the regulatory/knowledge gap that leads to misuse — so farmers need guidance and support.

Test (commitment test). (c) “farmers need to be guided and helped to make their organic farming sustainable” follows directly from a passage about confusion, misuse, and poor regulation — the practical fix the author’s diagnosis points to. Test others against assertion: (a) “should not be promoted as a substitute” — the passage critiques how it’s currently practised, not whether to promote it; (b) “there are no safe organic alternatives” — an absolute the passage never asserts; (d) “aim should not be huge profits… no global market” — imports profit and global-market entities the passage never raises.

Eliminate by anatomy. (a) is a step the text doesn’t license — the passage doesn’t argue against promoting organic farming, only against unguided/unregulated practice; (b) is too strong for what the passage says — “no safe alternatives” is categorical and unsupported; (d) brings in something the passage doesn’t — global market and profit are absent. The transferable rule on author-view questions: the practical message is the constructive corollary of the author’s diagnosis (poor regulation → need for guidance), not a ban, an absolute, or an imported topic. Key: (c).

“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” and “how much and when to use it are not well-researched or regulated issues.” The practical message is that organic farming in India is poorly regulated and farmers misuse inputs, so they need guidance/support to make it safe and sustainable — exactly (c). (a) over-reads into “should not be promoted”; (b) over-strengthens (“no safe alternatives”); (d) adds the global-market / profit entity → (c).

The passage diagnoses Indian organic farming as young, under-regulated, and prone to harmful misuse because farmers lack reliable knowledge (“not well-researched or regulated issues”).

(c) is the practical message that diagnosis points to: farmers need guidance and help to make organic farming sustainable and safe. (a) over-reads into “don’t promote it as a substitute,” which the passage never argues. (b) asserts a categorical “no safe alternatives.” (d) drags in profit motives and a “global market,” neither in the passage.

Answer: (c).

The author’s practical message is the fix implied by the diagnosis. The passage’s diagnosis is a regulation-and-knowledge gap producing misuse; the practical corollary is guidance and support for farmers (c). The distractors veer off into a promotion verdict (a), a categorical denial of safe alternatives (b), and a profit/market topic (d) — each leaving the passage’s actual concern. Matching the constructive message to the stated problem is the move. (c).