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Social Science — CBSE Class 10 board question

Q1. [1]
Two statements are given below as Assertion (A) and Reason (R). Read the statements and choose the correct option : Assertion (A) : Sri Lanka adopted 'Tamil' as the official language of the State. Reason (R) : The Govt. of Sri Lanka adopted a series of majoritarian measures.
  1. (a) Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A).
  2. (b) Both (A) and (R) are true but (R) is not the correct explanation of (A).
  3. (c) (A) is true but (R) is false.
  4. (d) (A) is false but (R) is true.
Previously asked in CBSE board exam
2023 32/4/1 Q16
Generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 · 2026-06-15 07:00 · grounding rag
Model Answer

(d) (A) is false but (R) is true.

Sri Lanka adopted Sinhala (not Tamil) as the only official language in 1956, disregarding Tamil. However, the Government of Sri Lanka did adopt majoritarian measures to establish Sinhala supremacy, so (R) is correct.

Source: Majoritarianism in Sri Lanka, Chapter 1

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Explanation

The key fact to remember: the 1956 Act made Sinhala the only official language — Tamil was disregarded, not recognised. Assertion (A) swaps the two languages, making it false. Reason (R) is accurate — the Sri Lankan government did adopt majoritarian measures. This is a classic "fact-swap" trap in Assertion-Reason questions; always verify each statement carefully against the textbook.

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