Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow (Q. 46-50):…
2022
Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow (Q. 46-50):
Public action, in a broad sense, can play a central role in economic development and in bringing social opportunities within the reach of people as a whole. Sometimes public action is characterised in the economic literature as action by the government, not as action by the public itself. This interpretation can be seriously misleading as it draws attention away from the influence that the public can have in determining the direction of governmental action. Actions of the public can be of profound significance to the successes and failures of economic and social change in general, and to development efforts in particular. The role of public activism in influencing government policy can be particularly important in promoting the positive functions of the government. These positive functions include the provisions of public services such as health care, child immunisation, primary education, social security, environmental protection and rural infrastructure. The vigilance and involvement of the public can be quite crucial not only in ensuring an adequate expansion of these essential services but also in monitoring their functioning. Indeed the actual reach and effective quality of the services that are meant to be, in principle available often depends a great deal on the information that the local community gathers and the extent to which it can get its voice heard. The shirking and absenteeism of village teachers for example are much more easily observed by the villagers themselves than by the government inspectors and the search for redress can be more effectively achieved with local activism. Besides, schools, hospitals and other facilities can be made more sensitive to the public needs if there is a local pressure in that direction, better than the directions from the above.
Positive functions of the government can be supported by:
Answer: A. Public influence on policy-decisions — CONCEPTIn a literal-comprehension question, the best answer restates the passage’s explicit claim without narrowing, expanding, or reversing it. A valid…
- A.
Public influence on policy-decisions
- B.
Focussing on education and social security
- C.
Centralised power structure
- D.
Top-down, one-way general instructions
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
CONCEPT
In a literal-comprehension question, the best answer restates the passage’s explicit claim without narrowing, expanding, or reversing it.
A valid choice must identify the relationship asked in the stem; a choice that merely repeats an example or reverses the passage’s direction answers a different question.
Locate the sentence that directly supplies the requested relationship.
Compare every choice with that sentence and reject choices that narrow, expand, or reverse it.
APPLICATION
The passage states that public activism can influence government policy and that this influence is particularly important in promoting the positive functions of government.
Public influence on policy-decisions mirrors that stated mechanism.
Focussing on education and social security selects only two services from a much broader list and names service areas rather than the supporting mechanism.
Centralised power structure shifts authority upward, while the passage stresses information, vigilance, and pressure from local communities.
Top-down, one-way general instructions are specifically contrasted with local pressure, which the passage describes as more responsive to public needs.
CROSS-CHECK
The examples of villagers monitoring teacher absenteeism and applying local pressure both show the public shaping how government services function.
Therefore, the supported answer is Public influence on policy-decisions.