Direction for the following 2 (two) items: Read the following two passages and answer the items (41-42) that follow. Your answers to these items should be based on the passages only.

Can a democracy avoid being a welfare state for long? Why cannot mass welfare be left entirely to the markets? There is a built-in tension between markets and democracy. Markets do not work on a one-person-one-vote principle as democracies do. What one gets out of the market place depends on one’s endowments, skills, purchasing power and the forces of demand and supply. Market reward individual initiative and skill, and may also lift many from the bottom rungs of society, but some people never get the opportunity to develop skills that markets demand; they are simply too poor and too handicapped; or skill formation takes too long. By creating jobs, markets may be able to help even unskilled people, but capitalism has always witnessed bursts of unemployment.

With reference to the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:
1. Modern democracies rely on the market forces to enable them to be welfare states.
2. Markets ensure sufficient economic growth necessary for democracies to be effective.
3. Government programmes are needed for those left behind in economic growth.
Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

Correct Answer: 3 only

Step-by-Step Explanation and Analysis:

Let us evaluate each of the given assumptions based strictly on the text provided in the passage:

1. Modern democracies rely on the market forces to enable them to be welfare states.

Invalid. The passage states that there is a "built-in tension between markets and democracy" and questions why mass welfare cannot be left entirely to the markets. It explains that markets leave out poor or handicapped individuals and lead to unemployment. Thus, the passage does not assume that democracies rely on market forces to become welfare states; rather, it highlights the limitations of markets in delivering mass welfare.

2. Markets ensure sufficient economic growth necessary for democracies to be effective.

Invalid. The passage discusses market dynamics, rewards for initiative/skill, and bursts of unemployment, but it nowhere mentions or assumes that markets guarantee sufficient economic growth required for democracies to function effectively.

3. Government programmes are needed for those left behind in economic growth.

Valid. The passage explicitly highlights that "some people never get the opportunity to develop skills that markets demand; they are simply too poor and too handicapped" and that "capitalism has always witnessed bursts of unemployment." This directly implies the assumption that non-market mechanism/government welfare programs are essential to support those who are left behind by market forces.

Therefore, only assumption 3 is valid based on the passage.