pyq/2017/csat/42

Passage-2

There has been a significant trend worldwide towards regionalism in government, resulting in a widespread transfer of powers downwards towards regions and communities since the 1990s. This process, which involves the creation of new political entities and bodies at a sub-national level and an increase in their content and powers, is known as devolution. Devolution has been characterized as being made up of three factors—political legitimacy, decentralization of authority, and decentralization of resources. Political legitimacy here means a mass demand from below for the decentralization process, which is able to create a political force for it to take place. In many cases, decentralization is initiated by the upper tier of government without sufficient political mobilization for it at the grassroots level, and in such cases, the decentralization process often does not fulfill its objectives.

Which among the following is the most logical, rational, and critical inference that can be made from the above passage?

(A) Emergence of powerful mass leaders is essential to create sub-national political entities and thus successful devolution decentralization.

(B) The upper tier of government should impose devolution and decentralization on the regional communities by law or otherwise.

(C) Devolution, to be successful, requires a democracy in which there is free expression of the will of the people at the lower level and their active participation at the grassroots level.

(D) For devolution to take place, a strong feeling of regionalism in the masses is essential.