UPSC Prelims 2025 · CSAT (Paper 2) · Q44

Comprehension

Medium · Passage: validity of assumptions

Read the following passage and answer the question that follows. Your answer should be based on the passage only.

In the past two decades, the world's consumption of rare earth elements used in electronics has risen more than fivefold, to over 200,000 tonnes a year. Less than 1% of this is recovered through recycling. Discarded smartphones and laptops contain elements such as neodymium, dysprosium and tantalum that are expensive to mine and difficult to source. Supply chains for these elements are concentrated in a handful of countries, and buyers face growing risk from unstable extraction practices. Recovering these elements makes economic sense. Once a device reaches the end of its working life, it should be returned to a facility where its components can be extracted and reused in new devices.

With reference to the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:

1. Smartphone manufacturers are examples of a circular, recycling-based economy.

2. Economic growth is compatible with the recycling of rare earth elements.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?