Read the Assertion (A) and Reason (R) carefully: Assertion (A): In 1960, the…
2024
Read the Assertion (A) and Reason (R) carefully:
Assertion (A): In 1960, the bilingual state of Bombay was divided into separate states for Marathi and Gujarati speaking people.
Reason (R): In 1966, the state of Punjab was also divided into two States Punjab for Punjabi speakers and Haryana for Haryanavi or Hindi speakers.
Choose the correct option of the following:
- A.
Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) explains (A)
- B.
Both (A) and (R) are true but (R) does not explain (A)
- C.
(A) is true but (R) is false
- D.
(A) is false but (R) is true
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
Concept: An Assertion-Reason (A-R) question requires three separate checks: is the Assertion factually true, is the Reason factually true, and — only if both are true — does the Reason actually explain (causally or logically account for) the Assertion. Two independently true statements do not automatically mean one explains the other.
Application: Check each statement on its own:
Assertion (A): true — under the Bombay Reorganisation Act, 1960 (effective 1 May 1960), the bilingual Bombay State was split into Maharashtra (Marathi-speaking) and Gujarat (Gujarati-speaking).
Reason (R): true — under the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966 (effective 1 November 1966), Punjab was reorganised into a Punjabi-speaking Punjab and a Hindi/Haryanvi-speaking Haryana.
Both events are true, but the explanation link fails: the Punjab reorganisation took place six years after the Bombay reorganisation, under a completely separate Act of Parliament covering a different state. A later, independent event cannot be the cause or explanation of an earlier one. Each reorganisation instead followed from its own regional linguistic movement — the Samyukta Maharashtra movement behind the 1960 split, and the Punjabi Suba movement behind the 1966 split — not from each other.
Cross-check: If R genuinely explained A, R would have to describe a cause that existed at or before 1960 (such as the general States Reorganisation Act, 1956, which set the linguistic-states principle in motion). Instead R describes a separate, later application of that same general principle to a different state — confirming the two are parallel instances, not a cause-and-effect pair.