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.
Choose a statement which is not true with respect to the passage.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Over the past three decades, India's success in moving millions above the income poverty line has not been counteracted by rising disease costs.
The passage says: "Over the past three decades, while millions have moved above the income poverty line, the cost of disease has pushed millions into poverty." The success has been counteracted by disease costs, so this statement is not true.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: Nutritional poverty is described as the quietest inequality and is hidden in blood reports, fatigue and the erosion of health. — Incorrect. True in the passage: it calls nutritional poverty "the quietest inequality of all", "hidden in blood reports, fatigue, and the gradual erosion of health".
Option 3: Addressing nutritional poverty requires a health system that emphasises teaching alongside treatment, rather than relying on subsidies. — Incorrect. True in the passage: it "requires more than subsidies or fortified foods; it demands a health system that teaches as much as it treats".
Option 4: The poor suffer from nutritional poverty due to a poverty of access, meaning they cannot afford nutrient-rich food. — Incorrect. True in the passage: "The poor are deprived of nutrient-rich food because they cannot afford it", which the passage calls "a poverty of access".