AI-generated practice question — model-generated for extra practice, not a previous-year CBSE board question.
(A) Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A.
The passage clearly states the Company feared that criticism by Englishmen might be used by its critics in England to attack its trade monopoly — directly explaining why censorship targeted Englishmen first.
Source: Print Culture and the Modern World, Section 9 (Print and Censorship)
The source passage explicitly links both statements: the early censorship targeted Englishmen critical of Company misrule because the Company feared such criticism would be weaponised by opponents in England against its trade monopoly. Since R directly and logically explains A, option (A) is correct. Look for the word "because/worried" connecting the two ideas in the passage.