Assertion (A): Population-control measures do not necessarily help in checking…
2015
Assertion (A): Population-control measures do not necessarily help in checking environmental degradation. Reason (R): The relationship between population growth and environmental degradation is complex. Choose the correct answer from the following:
Answer: A. Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A) . — ConceptIn an assertion–reason item, three questions must be tested separately: whether the assertion is true, whether the reason is true, and whether the…
- A.
Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A) .
- B.
Both (A) and (R) are true but (R) is not the correct explanation of (A) .
- C.
(A) is true but (R) is false.
- D.
(A) is false but (R) is true.
Attempted by 1 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
Concept
In an assertion–reason item, three questions must be tested separately: whether the assertion is true, whether the reason is true, and whether the reason explains the assertion.
When several drivers interact, the effect of changing one driver is context-dependent rather than guaranteed. Environmental degradation reflects population size together with per-capita consumption, technology, production patterns, governance, and ecological conditions.
Application
The assertion uses the qualifier ‘not necessarily’. It does not say that population-control measures never help; it says that their environmental benefit is not automatic in every context. Lower population growth can reduce pressure, but rising per-capita consumption, polluting technology, weak regulation, or changed production can offset that benefit.
The reason identifies exactly this multi-factor relationship. Because population affects degradation through, and alongside, other drivers, a population-control measure may help in one setting yet have little net effect in another. The complexity in (R) therefore explains the qualified claim in (A).
Contrast
Treating both statements as true but unrelated overlooks the direct link: the multi-factor relationship is why the benefit of changing population growth is not guaranteed across contexts.
Treating the reason as false assumes a simple and uniform population–environment relationship, ignoring the mediating roles of consumption, technology, production, governance, and ecology.
Treating the assertion as false turns population control into a measure that must help in every context, an absolute conclusion that a complex, mediated relationship does not support.
Result
Therefore, both (A) and (R) are true, and (R) is the correct explanation of (A).