Directions: Study the passage carefully and answer the given questions. In…
2025
Directions: Study the passage carefully and answer the given questions.
In recent years, India has witnessed a rapid transformation driven by digital innovation, infrastructure expansion, and a renewed focus on sustainability. The government's push toward digital public infrastructure, such as UPI, Aadhaar-enabled services, and online governance platforms, has significantly improved service delivery and financial inclusion, particularly in semi-urban and rural areas. At the same time, large-scale infrastructure projects, including highways, metro networks, renewable energy parks, and logistics corridors, aim to boost economic growth and employment. However, this rapid development has also raised concerns regarding environmental impact, data privacy, and equitable access to opportunities. While startups and technology-driven enterprises have benefited from policy support and increased investor confidence, traditional sectors and small businesses often struggle to adapt to fast-changing regulations and digital requirements. As global economic uncertainties persist and climate challenges intensify, policymakers face the task of balancing growth with inclusivity, innovation with regulation, and development with long-term sustainability.
Which of the following can be most reasonably inferred from the paragraph?
- A.
Digital public infrastructure has completely eliminated economic inequality in India.
- B.
Infrastructure growth alone is sufficient to ensure long-term sustainability.
- C.
Rapid development brings both opportunities and challenges that need careful management.
- D.
Traditional businesses will inevitably shut down due to digital transformation.
- E.
Environmental concerns are no longer relevant in modern development policies.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
Concept: In inference-based reading comprehension, the correct choice is the statement that follows reasonably from what the passage actually says — it neither adds certainty the passage does not claim (words like completely, alone, inevitably, no longer) nor contradicts any detail in the passage. An inference must be supported by the passage as a whole, not just one sentence taken in isolation.
Application: The passage presents digital and infrastructure gains (UPI, Aadhaar-enabled services, highways, metro networks, renewable energy parks) that boost growth and employment, alongside genuine concerns it names explicitly — environmental impact, data privacy, unequal access, and traditional/small businesses struggling to adapt. It closes by saying policymakers must balance growth with inclusivity, innovation with regulation, and development with sustainability. Taken together, this is exactly a picture of rapid development bringing both opportunities and challenges that require careful management — the inference stays within what every sentence of the passage already supports.
Why the other options overreach:
“Completely eliminated economic inequality” goes far beyond the passage, which only says financial inclusion has “improved” — it also says small businesses and traditional sectors continue to struggle, so inequality has clearly not been eliminated.
“Infrastructure growth alone is sufficient” for sustainability contradicts the passage's own environmental-impact concern and its closing point that growth must be actively balanced with sustainability — sustainability is not treated as automatic.
“Traditional businesses will inevitably shut down” overstates the passage's wording that they “struggle to adapt” — a struggle to adapt is not the same as a certain, inevitable closure.
“Environmental concerns are no longer relevant” is the reverse of the passage, which explicitly lists environmental impact as a live concern that policymakers must weigh against growth.
Cross-check: Re-reading the passage sentence by sentence confirms every other option is either an unsupported absolute claim or a direct contradiction, while the opportunities-and-challenges reading is corroborated by both halves of the passage (the gains listed in the middle, and the balancing act named at the end).