Multiple choice

'We see serious problems around us but do not try to solve them. We believe as if the problems do not exist or as if they belong to someone else.' What does author appear to suggest?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Apathy in addressing community matters has held us back from making progress which is otherwise within our reach. We see serious problems around us but do not try to solve them. We believe as if the problems do not exist or as if they belong to someone else. On the other hand, in the West, people approach societal problems proactively. There are several examples of our apathetic attitude. For instance, all of us are aware of the problem of drought in India. More than four decades ago, Dr. K.L.Rao, an irrigation expert, suggested the creation of a water grid connecting all the rivers in north and south India to solve this problem. Unfortunately, nothing has been done about this. The story of power shortage in Bangalore is another instance. In 1983, it was decided that a power plant would be built to meet Bangalore’s power requirements. Sadly, we have not yet started it. The Milan subway in Bombay has been in a deplorable state for the last four decades, and no action has been taken.
We Indians would do well to remember Thomas Hunter’s words that idleness travels very slowly and poverty soon overtakes it. What could be the reason for our apathy? We were ruled by foreigners for over a thousand years. So, we have always believed that public or societal issues belong to some foreign ruler and that we have no responsibility to solve them. We have got used to just executing someone else’s orders. ‘We are what we repeatedly do,’ said Aristotle. Having waited for some foreigner to tell us what to do over the last thousand years, the decision-makers in our society are not used to taking decisions on their own. They look to somebody else to take their decisions for them. Unfortunately, there is no body to look up to, and this is our tragedy.

 

  1. That we are nihilists at heart.

  2. That we are fatalists at heart.

  3. That we are defeatists by nature.

  4. That we are pacifists by design.

  5. That we have ostrich-like attitude.

Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
E Correct answer
Explanation

We may well be that. But that is not what the author is hinting at. Not the correct answer. We may well be that too. But that is not the suggestion of the author. Not the answer. Not by any stretch of imagination, nor the suggestion of the author. Not the answer. We may well be pacifists, but to say we are so by design is neither the suggestion of the author, nor can it be inferred from the passage. Not the correct answer. Ostrich is a bird that buries its head in sand when it sees storm coming, hoping it will blow over without causing it any harm. Believing that problem does not exist is an ostrich-like attitude which the author seems to be attributing to Indians.