Read the given passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.
PASSAGE 1 (Q41-45):
Nutritional poverty is the quietest inequality of all - it does not manifest in statistics alone, but in how long people live and how well they live. Addressing it requires more than subsidies or fortified foods; it demands a health system that teaches as much as it treats.
India's success story in poverty reduction often begins with economic metrics. Over the past three decades, while millions have moved above the income poverty line, the cost of disease has pushed millions into poverty. Beneath this economic narrative lies a quieter, more pervasive deprivation: nutritional poverty. Unlike income poverty, which is visible in statistics, nutritional poverty is hidden in blood reports, fatigue, and the gradual erosion of health across generations.
It is a paradox of modern India that people in both rural hamlets and urban high-rises suffer from poor nutrition. The poor are deprived of nutrient-rich food because they cannot afford it; the rich, because they do not know what to eat. The first is a poverty of access, the second a poverty of awareness. Together, they form a national crisis that no income index captures.
Which statement from the passage hints at the truism- 'prevention is better than cure'?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → A health system is required that teaches as much as it treats.
The truism (an obvious, widely accepted truth) "prevention is better than cure" means it is wiser to stop a problem from arising than to treat it later. A health system that "teaches as much as it treats" gives equal weight to teaching people how to stay healthy (prevention) and to treating illness (cure).
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: Nutritional poverty is the quietest inequality. — Incorrect. Wrong focus: the line calls it "the quietest inequality of all" and says nothing about preventing it.
Option 2: The debate is not between length of life and quality of life. — Incorrect. Not mentioned: the passage speaks of "how long people live and how well they live" but presents no such debate, and nothing here is about prevention.
Option 3: Subsidies and fortified foods- both are important. — Incorrect. Misread: the passage says addressing the problem "requires more than subsidies or fortified foods"; the line is about supplying food, not preventing illness.