Q.Which one out of the following statements is not true?

To understand why quaternary activities are often outsourced, we must first define what they entail and then consider the nature of outsourcing itself.

Quaternary activities represent the knowledge-based sector of the economy. These are services that involve the collection, processing, and dissemination of information, as well as research and development. Examples include financial planning, information technology services, consulting, education, data analysis, and intellectual property management. This sector is distinct from primary activities (like agriculture or mining), secondary activities (manufacturing), and even tertiary activities (direct services like retail or transportation) because its core output is intellectual rather than physical goods or direct physical services.

Outsourcing, in simple terms, is the practice of contracting out a business process or specific functions to an external provider. This provider can be located within the same country or in a different country (often referred to as offshoring). Businesses typically outsource to reduce costs, gain access to specialized expertise, or focus on their core competencies. The rise of digital communication technologies has significantly facilitated the outsourcing of many service-based activities.

Now, let's evaluate the given statements:

Statement I: Most of the quaternary activities can be outsourced.

This statement is correct. The very nature of quaternary activities makes them highly suitable for outsourcing. Since they are primarily intellectual and information-driven, they often do not require physical proximity between the service provider and the client. Tasks like software development, data entry, customer support (which often involves information processing), financial analysis, and research can be performed remotely, often across different continents, using internet and telecommunication technologies. The output is typically digital or intellectual, easily transferable without physical goods movement.

Statement II: These services are not necessarily based on resources and market. …

This is a reasoning-based question from the Social Science / Civics portion of Indian exams. It tests two things: factual accuracy (are the statements true?) and logical linkage (does one explain the other?).

Statement I is a value judgment about what makes a society civilised. It says that a society that ignores discrimination and does nothing to remove it cannot be called civilised. This is a widely accepted ethical principle — most civilisations, including India’s constitutional framework, hold that equality and non-discrimination are hallmarks of a just society. So Statement I is correct.

Statement II is a factual claim: that the Indian government launched the ‘Beti Bachao – Beti Padhao’ (Save the Daughter – Educate the Daughter) campaign in 2015, acknowledging the adverse impacts of gender discrimination. This is historically accurate — the campaign was indeed launched to address the declining child sex ratio and to promote the education and welfare of girls. So Statement II is also correct. …