Lamenting the gradual sidelining of the arts in school curricula, a group of prominent artists wrote to the Chief Minister last year, asking him to allocate more funds to support arts education in schools. However, no such increase has been announced in this year's Budget. The artists expressed their deep anguish at many of them remaining optimistic about funding in the future.
Which of the statement(s) below is/are logically valid and can be inferred from the above statements?
i. The artists expected funding for the arts to increase this year.
ii. The Chief Minister was receptive to the idea of increasing funding for the arts.
iii. The Chief Minister is a prominent artist.
iv. Schools are giving less importance to arts education nowadays.
A. (i) and (ii)
B. (ii) and (iv)
C. (i), (ii) and (iv)
D. (i) and (iv)
GATE 2015 · General Aptitude · Verbal Reasoning · medium
Answer: Statements (ii) and (iv) are logically valid inferences. Answer: B.
Evaluate statement (i): The passage says 'many of them remaining optimistic about funding in the future' - note 'future', not 'this year'. The anguish is that despite the petition, no increase was announced. However, 'many' remain optimistic (not all), suggesting not all expected it this year. Statement (i) is not conclusively supported.
Evaluate statement (ii): Artists remain optimistic about future funding. Rational optimism implies the CM was at least receptive to the idea - otherwise there would be no basis for hope. This is a valid logical inference.
Evaluate statements (iii) and (iv): Statement (iii): The CM being an artist is not stated or implied - invalid. Statement (iv): 'Gradual sidelining of the arts in school curricula' is directly stated in the passage - valid inference.