CAT 2018 Question Paper | Verbal Slot 1

CAT Questions

This is a question based on the author’s view on the subject discussed in the passage. Understanding the main idea of the passage is crucial to solving these types of questions. Develop a daily reading habit by reading articles from Bharath’s curated reading list. This makes your CAT Online Preparation journey more fun and helps you crack the CAT Exam with a fabulous percentile.

---

The Indian government has announced an international competition to design a National War Memorial in New Delhi, to honour all of the Indian soldiers who served in the various wars and counter-insurgency campaigns from 1947 onwards. The terms of the competition also specified that the new structure would be built adjacent to the India Gate – a memorial to the Indian soldiers who died in the First World War. Between the old imperialist memorial and the proposed nationalist one, India’s contribution to the Second World War is airbrushed out of existence.

The Indian government’s conception of the war memorial was not merely absentminded. Rather, it accurately reflected the fact that both academic history and popular memory have yet to come to terms with India’s Second World War, which continues to be seen as little more than mood music in the drama of India’s advance towards independence and partition in 1947. Further, the political trajectory of the postwar subcontinent has militated against popular remembrance of the war. With partition and the onset of the India-Pakistan rivalry, both of the new nations needed fresh stories for self-legitimisation rather than focusing on shared wartime experiences.

However, the Second World War played a crucial role in both the independence and partition of India. The Indian army recruited, trained and deployed some 2.5 million men, almost 90,000 of which were killed and many more injured. Even at the time, it was recognised as the largest volunteer force in the war.

India’s material and financial contribution to the war was equally significant. India emerged as a major military-industrial and logistical base for Allied operations in south-east Asia and the Middle East. This led the United States to take considerable interest in the country’s future, and ensured that this was no longer the preserve of the British government. Other wartime developments pointed in the direction of India’s independence. In a stunning reversal of its long-standing financial relationship with Britain, India finished the war as one of the largest creditors to the imperial power.

Such extraordinary mobilization for war was achieved at great human cost, with the Bengal famine the most extreme manifestation of widespread wartime deprivation. The costs on India’s home front must be counted in millions of lives.

Indians signed up to serve on the war and home fronts for a variety of reasons. Many were convinced that their contribution would open the doors to India’s freedom. The political and social churn triggered by the war was evident in the massive waves of popular protest and unrest that washed over rural and urban India in the aftermath of the conflict. This turmoil was crucial in persuading the Attlee government to rid itself of the incubus of ruling India. Seventy years on, it is time that India engaged with the complex legacies of the Second World War. Bringing the war into the ambit of the new national memorial would be a fitting – if not overdue – recognition that this was India’s War.

Question 14 : The author suggests that a major reason why India has not so far acknowledged its role in the Second World War is that it:

1. wants to forget the human and financial toll of the War on the country
2. has been focused on building an independent, non-colonial political identity.
3. views the War as a predominantly Allied effort, with India playing only a supporting role.
4. blames the War for leading to the momentous partition of the country.

---

---

Video Explanation

---

---

Explanatory Answer

See paragraph 2: The author states that ‘the political trajectory of the postwar subcontinent has militated against popular remembrance of the war...’ as both nations needed ‘fresh stories for self-legitimization rather than focusing on shared wartime experiences’. That is, rather than looking into shared wartime experiences with Pakistan, India focused on building an independent, non-colonial political identity after independence.­

There is no evidence in the paragraph to support any of the other options.

---

The question is "The author suggests that a major reason why India has not so far acknowledged its role in the Second World War is that it:"

Hence, the answer is has been focused on building an independent, non-colonial political identity.

Choice B is the correct answer.

 

Verbal Ability for CAT | CAT Reading Comprehension

Verbal Ability for CAT| CAT Para Jumble

Verbal Ability for CAT | CAT Sentence Elimination

Verbal Ability for CAT | CAT Paragraph Completion

Verbal Ability for CAT | CAT Critical Reasoning

Verbal Ability for CAT | CAT Word Usage

Verbal Ability for CAT| CAT Para Summary

Verbal Ability for CAT | CAT Text Completion

Verbal Ability for CAT | CAT Sentence Correction