M.C.Q.1 - CLAT MCQ

A factory was trying out a new process for producing one of its products, with the goal of reducing production costs. A trial production run using the new process showed a fifteen percent reduction in costs compared with past performance using the standard process. The production managers therefore concluded that the new process did produce a cost savings.
 Which of the following, if true, casts most doubt on the production managers' conclusion?
 

 In South Asia the ruling classes ignore the quotidian at their own peril. Just ask them about onions. This autumn the humble bulb has challenged titans. 
The trouble began when unseasonably heavy rains followed drought across the onion-growing belt of north and central India. That not only all but destroyed the crop; the wet caused more than a third of onions in storage to rot. The result is a severe shortage of onions across India, as a result of which prices more than tripled. 
This hardly threatens famine – something the green revolution abolished decades ago by boosting wheat and rice yields. Yet remove the onion and you struggle to imagine Indian cuisine. It forms the base for curries and biryanis. When a poor Indian has nothing else to eat, at least she has an onion with a chapati or two. 
In late September the Indian government slapped a ban on exports of onions. That briefly brought down prices, helping consumers. But it has angered farmers and exporters in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka, for whom onions are an essential cash crop. 
In South Asia, a region riven by geopolitical fault lines, there are international implications. Upon hearing of India’s export ban, Bangladesh’s strongwoman, Sheikh Hasina Wajed, admonished the Indian government for giving no warning. Her country counts on Indian onions, whose price at one point had risen fivefold in the markets of Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital.

Which of the following forms the premise for the author’s argument that a shortage of onions would not cause a famine in India today?  

In South Asia the ruling classes ignore the quotidian at their own peril. Just ask them about onions. This autumn the humble bulb has challenged titans. 
The trouble began when unseasonably heavy rains followed drought across the onion-growing belt of north and central India. That not only all but destroyed the crop; the wet caused more than a third of onions in storage to rot. The result is a severe shortage of onions across India, as a result of which prices more than tripled. 
This hardly threatens famine – something the green revolution abolished decades ago by boosting wheat and rice yields. Yet remove the onion and you struggle to imagine Indian cuisine. It forms the base for curries and biryanis. When a poor Indian has nothing else to eat, at least she has an onion with a chapati or two. 
In late September the Indian government slapped a ban on exports of onions. That briefly brought down prices, helping consumers. But it has angered farmers and exporters in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka, for whom onions are an essential cash crop. 
In South Asia, a region riven by geopolitical fault lines, there are international implications. Upon hearing of India’s export ban, Bangladesh’s strongwoman, Sheikh Hasina Wajed, admonished the Indian government for giving no warning. Her country counts on Indian onions, whose price at one point had risen fivefold in the markets of Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital. 
  Which of the following is most likely to be true had heavy rains not followed drought across the onion-growing regions of India? 

In South Asia the ruling classes ignore the quotidian at their own peril. Just ask them about onions. This autumn the humble bulb has challenged titans. 
The trouble began when unseasonably heavy rains followed drought across the onion-growing belt of north and central India. That not only all but destroyed the crop; the wet caused more than a third of onions in storage to rot. The result is a severe shortage of onions across India, as a result of which prices more than tripled. 
This hardly threatens famine – something the green revolution abolished decades ago by boosting wheat and rice yields. Yet remove the onion and you struggle to imagine Indian cuisine. It forms the base for curries and biryanis. When a poor Indian has nothing else to eat, at least she has an onion with a chapati or two. 
In late September the Indian government slapped a ban on exports of onions. That briefly brought down prices, helping consumers. But it has angered farmers and exporters in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka, for whom onions are an essential cash crop. 
In South Asia, a region riven by geopolitical fault lines, there are international implications. Upon hearing of India’s export ban, Bangladesh’s strongwoman, Sheikh Hasina Wajed, admonished the Indian government for giving no warning. Her country counts on Indian onions, whose price at one point had risen fivefold in the markets of Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital. 

 Which of the following most accurately expresses the main point of the passage?

. In South Asia the ruling classes ignore the quotidian at their own peril. Just ask them about onions. This autumn the humble bulb has challenged titans. 
The trouble began when unseasonably heavy rains followed drought across the onion-growing belt of north and central India. That not only all but destroyed the crop; the wet caused more than a third of onions in storage to rot. The result is a severe shortage of onions across India, as a result of which prices more than tripled. 
This hardly threatens famine – something the green revolution abolished decades ago by boosting wheat and rice yields. Yet remove the onion and you struggle to imagine Indian cuisine. It forms the base for curries and biryanis. When a poor Indian has nothing else to eat, at least she has an onion with a chapati or two. 
In late September the Indian government slapped a ban on exports of onions. That briefly brought down prices, helping consumers. But it has angered farmers and exporters in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka, for whom onions are an essential cash crop. 
In South Asia, a region riven by geopolitical fault lines, there are international implications. Upon hearing of India’s export ban, Bangladesh’s strongwoman, Sheikh Hasina Wajed, admonished the Indian government for giving no warning. Her country counts on Indian onions, whose price at one point had risen fivefold in the markets of Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital. 
  Which of the following solutions, if employed by the Bangladesh government, would counter the effect of the ban on onion exports by India on the prices of onions in Dhaka’s markets?

 Property taxes are typically set at a flat rate per $1,000 of officially assessed value. Reassessments should be frequent in order to remove distortions that arise when property values change at differential rates. In practice, however, reassessments typically occur when they benefit the government—that is, when their effect is to increase total tax revenue. 
 If the statements above are true, which of the following describes a situation in which a reassessment should occur but is unlikely to do so?
 

 To persuade consumers to buy its personal computers for home use, Super Comp has enlisted computer dealers in shopping centers to carry its product and launched a major advertising campaign that has already increased public awareness of the Super Comp brand. Despite the fact that these dealers achieved dramatically increased sales of computers last month, however, analysts doubt that Super Comp’s products accounted for much of that increase.
 Which of the following, if true, best supports the claim that the analysts’ doubt is well founded?