Statements: Standard of living among the middle class society is constantly…

Concept: In a cause-and-effect reasoning item, two statements are linked as cause and effect only when one plausibly and directly produces the other. A broader, larger-scale development is typically the cause of a narrower, more specific consequence that follows from it; when neither statement plausibly drives the other, they must instead be treated as unconnected, independent occurrences.

Application: Statement II reports that the Indian economy as a whole is growing strongly — a broad, economy-wide development. Statement I reports that living standards are rising specifically among the middle class — a narrower, segment-specific consequence. Overall economic growth expands national income, employment, and consumption, and that expansion is what lifts the living standards of particular sections of society such as the middle class. So Statement II is the cause, and Statement I is its effect.

Cross-check — why the other pairings fail:

• Statement I is the cause and Statement II is its effect: this would require one section's rising living standard, by itself, to produce an entire economy's growth — too narrow a base to generate broad, nationwide expansion.

• Both statements are independent causes: this requires the two developments to have no connection to each other at all, but a section's living standard and the nation's overall economic performance are directly linked, not unrelated.

• Both statements are effects of independent causes: this requires each statement to stem from its own separate, unconnected origin, but one statement's outcome follows directly from the other's, so treating them as two disconnected effects ignores that direct link.

Hence the pairing where economic growth is the cause and the rise in living standards is its effect is the one consistent with how national growth translates into segment-level welfare gains.