Read the following statements carefully and choose the correct option regarding Assertion (A) and Reason (R). Assertion (A): Globalization led to increased inequality in India. Reason (R): Growth was unevenly distributed, benefiting mostly urban elite and service sectors.

Correct — A. The Assertion is true as the key reads it. After the 1991 reforms opened India to the world economy, the gains were not shared evenly and inequality widened.

The Reason is true and supplies the mechanism. Growth concentrated in services and among the urban, skilled and educated, while many farmers, small producers and informal workers gained little.

Uneven growth is what widens a gap, so R explains A → option (a).

Why the others are wrong

• (b)
  Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A. — R is the cause, not a side fact. Growth that favours urban elites and the service sector is precisely what widens inequality, so R does explain A.
• (c)
  A is true but R is false. — R is true. Post-1991 growth was led by services and by skilled urban workers while agriculture and small producers lagged, so the Reason cannot be called false.
• (d)
  A is false but R is true. — A is true on the key's reading. This option concedes R, that growth favoured urban elites and services, and growth shared that unevenly is itself a widening of inequality.

Globalisation is the integration of a country's economy with the world through trade, foreign investment and technology. India opened up with the 1991 reforms: liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation.

The gains went mostly to those placed to use the new openings: people with education, skills and capital, and sectors such as IT and finance. Many small producers and workers faced new competition instead.

That uneven spread is the link between globalisation and inequality that this item tests.

Key facts

• India's 1991 reforms are summed up as LPG: liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation.
• Services make up the largest share of India's gross value added.
• Option (a) in an Assertion–Reason item needs both statements true and R to be the correct explanation of A.

Common traps

• Choosing (b) because R sounds like a separate fact: uneven growth is exactly what produces inequality.
• Treating A as false because India's GDP grew fast: faster average growth can coexist with a widening gap.

No directly related past PYQ was found.