UPSC Prelims 2013·CSAT·Reading Comprehension·Passage Comprehension

Passage - 2 The miseries of the world cannot be cured by physical help only. Until man's nature changes, his physical needs will always arise, and miseries will always be felt, and no amount of physical help will remove them completely. The only solution of the problem is to make mankind pure. Ignorance is the mother of evil and of all the misery we sec. Let men have light, let them be pure and spiritually strong and educated; then alone will misery cease in the world. We may convert every house in the country into a charitable asylum, we may fill the land with hospitals, but human misery will continue until man's character changes With reference to the passage, the following assumptions have been made: 1. The author gives primary importance to physical and material help in eradicating human misery. 2. Charitable homes, hospitals, etc. can remove human misery to a great extent. Which of the assumptions is/are valid?

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Last updated 23 May 2026, 3:31 pm IST
  1. A1 only
  2. B2 only
  3. CBoth 1 and 2
  4. DNeither 1 nor 2Correct

Explanation

The passage explicitly states that "The miseries of the world cannot be cured by physical help only" and "no amount of physical help will remove them completely." It emphasizes that misery will cease only when "man's nature changes," becoming "pure and spiritually strong and educated." Assumption 1 is invalid because the author gives primary importance to changing human nature and spiritual purity, not physical and material help, in eradicating misery. The passage argues that physical help alone is insufficient. Assumption 2 is invalid because the passage directly states, "We may convert every house in the country into a charitable asylum, we may fill the land with hospitals, but human misery will continue until man's character changes." This clearly indicates that such institutions cannot remove human misery to a great extent; they are deemed ineffective without a fundamental change in character. Therefore, neither of the assumptions is valid.
Reading Comprehension: Passage - 2 The miseries of the world cannot be cured by physical help only. Until man's nature changes, his physical ne
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