CAT 2022 Slot 1 · VARC · Question 2

CAT 2022 Slot 1 previous year question on Para Summary, with the answer and a step-by-step solution.

Para SummaryVerbal AbilityMultiple choiceMedium

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

Petitioning is an expeditious democratic tradition, used frequently in prior centuries, by which citizens can bring issues directly to governments. As expressions of collective voice, they support procedural democracy by shaping agendas. They can also recruit citizens to causes, give voice to the voteless, and apply the discipline of rhetorical argument that clarifies a point of view. By contrast, elections are limited in several respects: they involve only a few candidates, and thus fall far short of a representative democracy. Further, voters’ choices are not specific to particular policies or laws, and elections are episodic, whereas the voice of the people needs to be heard and integrated constantly into democratic government.

  1. A

    By giving citizens greater control over shaping political and democratic agendas, political petitions are invaluable as they represent an ideal form of a representative democracy.

  2. B

    Citizens become less inclined to petitioning as it enables vocal citizens to shape political agendas, but this needs to change to strengthen democracies today.

  3. C

    Petitioning has been important to democratic functioning, as it supplements the electoral process by enabling ongoing engagement with the government.

  4. D

    Petitioning is definitely more representative of the collective voice, and the functioning of democratic government could improve if we relied more on petitioning rather than holding periodic elections.

Pick an option, then check.
Answer & solution

Answer: Option C

The passage says petitioning is a long-standing democratic tradition that lets citizens raise issues directly, shape agendas and give voice to the voteless. Elections are limited – few candidates, no say on particular policies, and they happen only now and then – whereas the people's voice needs to be heard constantly.

Option 3 captures this: petitioning matters because it supplements elections by allowing ongoing engagement with government.

Option 1 says petitions are 'an ideal form' of representative democracy – too strong.

Option 2 says citizens are becoming less inclined to petition – not stated.

Option 4 suggests relying on petitions instead of elections – the passage does not call for replacing elections.

Shortcut: 'episodic' elections versus a voice heard 'constantly' – petitioning fills the gap, it does not replace elections.

Hence, the answer is option 3.

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