Read the passage and answer the given questions from 46 to 50. The war on…
2022
Read the passage and answer the given questions from 46 to 50.
The war on poverty earlier was intertwined with the population problem. Statements and positions regarding population began to proliferate. In many instances, a crude form of empiricism was followed. It made Malthusian views and prescriptions inevitable. This is despite the experts making serious attempts to conceptualise the effect of demographic factors on development models and theories were formulated seeking to relate various variables and to provide a basis for policy and programme formulation. As the experience of the West suggested, it was hoped that population growth rates would begin to fall as the countries developed. But as many warned, countries could not wait for this process to occur. They should speed up the reduction of population growth by more direct means. To be sure, this preoccupation with population had existed for several decades, especially in relation to Asia. It was a central topic in discussion on race and racism. But the scale and form that the discussion took were new. The discussions held in academic circle or in the ambit of the nascent international organisations also had a new tone. They focussed on topics such as relationship between economic growth and population control. They also discussed topics such as demographic experience of rich countries and its possible impact on poor nations. Now the need is a new view of population, with new scientific and technological instruments to manage it.
The western experience was that development would bring in
Answer: B. Decrease in population — ConceptIn reading comprehension, a sentence completion is resolved by identifying the relationship the author explicitly states, such as cause and effect or…
- A.
Racial equality
- B.
Decrease in population
- C.
The end of discussions on racism
- D.
International focus on Asia
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
Concept
In reading comprehension, a sentence completion is resolved by identifying the relationship the author explicitly states, such as cause and effect or an expected outcome. The exact wording of the passage should then be compared with the scope of each offered choice. When no option repeats that wording exactly, the closest semantically supported choice is selected while the passage’s narrower scope is kept explicit.
Application
The passage states that, as countries developed, population growth rates were expected to begin to fall. Its precise claim is therefore about a decrease in the growth rate, not necessarily an immediate decrease in total population. Among the offered choices, “Decrease in population” is the intended broader wording and is the only choice that captures this demographic decline.
Contrast
Racial equality belongs to the historical background about race and racism, rather than the development-and-demography relationship.
The passage says discussions on race and racism took a new scale, form, and tone; it does not describe their end as an effect of development.
Asia is mentioned as a long-standing setting of population concern, not as a new international focus produced by development.
Cross-check
The passage’s stated sequence is development followed by falling population-growth rates. No other offered value expresses that sequence, so the best-supported answer among the choices is “Decrease in population.”