UPSC Prelims 2020 · CSAT (Paper 2) · Q46

Comprehension

Medium · Validity of assumptions

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 assumptions have been made:

1. India's economy needs to be further integrated with the global economy in order to create a large number of jobs and sustain its growth momentum.

2. Trade liberalisation alone would generate enough growth to reduce informality and create sufficient employment in the long run.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?