CAT 2022 Slot 1 — VARC Question 17
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.
Answer & solution
- 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.
- B
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.
- C
Citizens become less inclined to petitioning as it enables vocal citizens to shape political agendas, but this needs to change to strengthen democracies today.
Petitioning has been important to democratic functioning, as it supplements the electoral process by enabling ongoing engagement with the government.
Easy
This is a summary question. The passage makes one balanced point: petitioning is a useful democratic tool that does things elections cannot, so it complements elections. The right summary must keep that "supplement, not replace" balance — and not over-claim.
Core idea: petitions shape agendas, give voice to the voiceless, and let the people's voice be heard constantly; elections are limited (few candidates, not policy-specific, episodic). So petitions fill the gaps elections leave.
Calls petitioning "an ideal form of a representative democracy." The passage actually criticises representative democracy's limits and never crowns petitioning as ideal. Over-claim — wrong.
Says we should "rely more on petitioning rather than holding periodic elections." The passage lists petitioning's strengths but never argues for replacing elections with it. Distorts — wrong.
Claims citizens are "becoming less inclined to petitioning." The passage says nothing about a decline in petitioning today. Out of scope — wrong.
"Petitioning... supplements the electoral process by enabling ongoing engagement with the government." Captures both halves: petitioning's value and its complementary, continuous role alongside elections. Correct.
Option D — petitioning supplements elections through ongoing engagement.