UPSC Prelims 2020 · CSAT (Paper 2) · Q45

Comprehension

Medium · Rational and logical inferences

Read the following passage and answer the item that follows. Your answer to this item should be based on the passage only.

Trade liberalisation in India was shaped more by a balance-of-payments crisis than by any considered industrial strategy. Tariffs fell sharply and licence requirements were dismantled, but the institutional reforms that should have followed, robust worker retraining programmes, portable social security, streamlined dispute resolution for closing unviable firms, never fully materialised. Years later, informal employment remains stubbornly high, productivity gains have been uneven across states, and small manufacturers report that navigating still-tangled local regulations costs more than the tariffs that were removed.

With reference to the above passage, the following are the most rational and logical inference/inferences that can be made:

1. It is essential to rethink and redesign the institutional support that should accompany trade liberalisation.

2. India has not made effective implementation of complementary reforms nor sufficient investment in worker-transition support.

Which of the above is/are valid?