2023 CSAT — Q71

Locate. This asks for the author’s view: find what the author is committed to. The passage argues the headline unemployment rate “paints an inaccurate picture” because it is “dominated by the experience of younger Indians” who “exhibit greater willingness to wait for the right job,” and because “the unemployment challenge is greater for people with secondary or higher education, and rising education levels inflate unemployment challenges.” The intended message: read unemployment as a function of rising education and young Indians’ aspirations, not as straightforward economic failure.

Test (commitment test + scope-fit). (b) “unemployment must be seen as a function of rising education and aspirations of young Indians” restates the author’s whole point — education-inflated, aspiration-driven (waiting for the right job). The author is committed to it by the cited lines. Test others: (a) “enrolment high but no quality education” imports a quality theme the passage never raises; (c) “no labour-intensive industries” imports an industry-capacity explanation absent from the passage; (d) “education system… enable self-employment” imports a self-employment remedy never mentioned.

Eliminate by anatomy. (a), (c), (d) are each a claim the passage never makes — three different familiar unemployment narratives (poor education quality, weak industry, self-employment) that this passage simply does not make. The transferable rule on author-view questions: the intended message is the author’s specific reframing (unemployment = education + aspiration effect), not whichever popular explanation the reader finds plausible. Key: (b).

“The reported unemployment rate is dominated by the experience of younger Indians who face higher employment challenges and exhibit greater willingness to wait for the right job than their older peers. The unemployment challenge is greater for people with secondary or higher education, and rising education levels inflate unemployment challenges.” The author’s intended message is that India’s unemployment figure must be read as a function of rising education and the aspirations of young Indians (who wait for the right job) — exactly (b). (a)/(c)/(d) import quality-of-education, industry-capacity, and self-employment themes the passage never raises → (b).

The passage’s argument: the unemployment rate misleads because it reflects young, more-educated Indians who can afford to wait for the right job, and rising education levels inflate the measured challenge. So unemployment here is a function of rising education and youth aspirations.

(b) states exactly that intended reframing. (a) raises education quality, (c) raises industry capacity, and (d) raises self-employment — none of which the passage discusses.

Answer: (b).

This item rewards resisting the familiar explanation. India’s unemployment invites stock narratives — poor-quality education, too few industries, push for self-employment — and three of those are planted as distractors. The passage, though, makes one specific, less-obvious claim: the rate is inflated by rising education and youth willingness to wait. (b) is the only option that stays with the author’s actual reframing rather than a plausible outside story. (b).