Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:…
2025
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:
India has the highest number of malnourished children in the world, with Madhya Pradesh being the worst-affected state. About 47% of children under five in the country, totalling 57 million, are underweight. Even sub-Saharan Africa is better off, with 33% of children malnourished. These shocking figures have been mentioned in UNICEF's 'Progress for Children – A Report Card on Nutrition', released globally.
The other badly affected states in India are Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Orissa, Bihar and Maharashtra. Over 50% of children in some of these states are malnourished. However, some Indian states have better report cards. Malnourishment among children is significantly low in Goa, Kerala, Mizoram and Tamil Nadu. According to Dr Werner Schultink, UNICEF India's chief of Child Development and Nutrition Programme, the causes for this malnutrition are many: bad quality feeding, high population density, high rate of infectious diseases, high rate of illiteracy among women, gender inequality, low rate of immunisation and high rate of birth of underweight babies.
The following are some of India's states that are badly affected by malnutrition – UP, MP, Bihar, etc. What is the percentage of children who are the sufferers?
- A.
More than 50%
- B.
More than 33%
- C.
Less than 47%
- D.
Less than 50%
Attempted by 3 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
Concept
For a detail-based Reading Comprehension question, the answer is the exact fact the passage states for the specific subject asked about — not a related but different figure mentioned elsewhere in the same passage. When multiple percentages appear (a national average, an international comparison, a state-specific claim), the correct choice is whichever one attaches to the exact group named in the question.
Application to this passage
The question asks about the states explicitly named as badly affected — Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and the group described alongside them (Rajasthan, Orissa, Maharashtra). The passage's sentence about this exact group states: 'Over 50% children in some of these states are malnourished.' That sentence is the only one in the passage that speaks specifically to this group of states, so its figure and relational word give the answer: more than 50%.
Cross-check against the other figures in the passage
47% is the passage's national average for children under five across the whole country — a different, broader population than the specific states named in the question.
33% is the passage's figure for sub-Saharan Africa, used only as an international comparison to show India's national rate is worse — it describes neither India as a whole nor these specific states.
None of the other cited figures attach to Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and the other worst-hit states the way the '50%' sentence does, confirming that figure — and its relational word — as the one the question is asking for.