UPSC Prelims 2018— Question 48

**Concept and analysis:** Economic development is broader than an increase in aggregate or per-capita real income. If poverty and unemployment rise despite growth in GNP, the quality and distribution of that growth can worsen and the population may not experience corresponding improvements in well-being. Industrial-agricultural growth rates or trade balances alone do not establish whether development has improved. The question is testing precise UPSC-level identification rather than a broad association. The key is to distinguish the exact institutional, constitutional, historical, geographical, economic or scientific feature being asked. **Option-wise evaluation** **Option A:** Incorrect. industrial output fails to keep pace with agricultural output. is a different institution, place, definition, proposition or description and does not satisfy the specific requirement of the question. **Option B:** Incorrect. agricultural output fails to keep pace with industrial output. is a different institution, place, definition, proposition or description and does not satisfy the specific requirement of the question. **Option C:** Correct. poverty and unemployment increase. directly matches the concept or factual identification established in the analysis. **Option D:** Incorrect. imports grow faster than exports. is a different institution, place, definition, proposition or description and does not satisfy the specific requirement of the question. **UPSC takeaway:** The safest way to solve this type of question is to anchor the answer in the defining feature of the concept and then test every option against that feature. Closely related institutions or terms are often used as distractors. In statement-based questions, do not judge the option as a whole before checking each statement independently. In factual questions, compare the wording of each option with the exact definition, location, institutional role, chronology or scientific property. The correct answer follows from that verification rather than from familiarity with a keyword.