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.
The pervasive issue of nutritional poverty, which affects individuals across both rural hamlets and urban high-rises, presents a ________________ of modern India.
Fill in the blank with the most appropriate option to form a meaningful sentence.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → paradox
A paradox is a situation that seems contradictory or absurd but is true. The passage itself says "It is a paradox of modern India that people in both rural hamlets and urban high-rises suffer from poor nutrition": the poor because they cannot afford good food, the rich because they do not know what to eat.
Example: It is a paradox that a country rich in food has so many hungry people.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: disparity — Incorrect. Wrong meaning: a disparity is a great difference between groups, but the sentence stresses that rich and poor suffer alike.
Example: There is a wide disparity between the incomes of rich and poor.
Option 3: generalisation — Incorrect. Wrong meaning: a generalisation is a broad statement drawn from a few cases; the passage describes a real condition, not a broad claim.
Example: Saying that all teenagers are lazy is a generalisation.
Option 4: metric — Incorrect. Wrong meaning: a metric is a standard of measurement; a measure cannot be a condition of a country.
Example: Sales growth is a common business metric.