Question

Two statements are given below. They are Assertion (A) and Reason (R). Read both the statements carefully and choose the correct option:

Assertion (A): The civil war in Sri Lanka resulted due to failure of political accommodation of ethnicity.
Reason (R): The distrust between the Sinhala and Tamil communities turned into widespread conflict in Sri Lanka.

• A. Both (A) and (R) are correct and (R) is the correct explanation of (A).
• B. Both (A) and (R) are correct, but (R) is not the correct explanation of (A).
• C. (A) is true, but (R) is false.
• D. (A) is false, but (R) is true.

Hint:

Write the Assertion as cause and result, then ask whether the Reason supplies the missing step between them. Recall the majoritarian measures taken in Sri Lanka from 1956 onwards.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A

Concept:

• Sri Lanka is used in the chapter on power sharing as the example of what happens when a majority community refuses to share power with a minority.
• Both statements have to be judged separately, and then the link between them tested.

Step 1: Judge the Assertion.
The democratically elected government adopted a series of majoritarian measures. Sinhala was made the only official language in 1956, preference was given to Sinhala applicants for government jobs and university positions, and the constitution protected and fostered Buddhism.
These steps denied the Sri Lankan Tamils any effective share in power, and the resulting conflict became a civil war. The Assertion is correct.

Step 2: Judge the Reason.
Sri Lankan Tamils felt that their language, culture and rights were being ignored, and that the constitution and the policies of government denied them equal political rights. Relations between the two communities strained over time into distrust, and by the 1980s the demand had grown into one for an independent state.
The Reason is correct.

Step 3: Test whether the Reason explains the Assertion.
The Assertion names the cause, a refusal to accommodate ethnic difference. The Reason describes how that refusal worked itself out, by breeding distrust between Sinhala and Tamil communities until the distrust became open conflict.
The Reason is therefore the mechanism through which the Assertion came true, so it does explain it.

Step 4: Choose the option.
Both statements are correct and the second explains the first, which is option (A).

Final Answer: (A) Both (A) and (R) are correct and (R) is the correct explanation of (A).