CSAT 2026 Comprehension, Set 2: AI in Farming, the JJ Act, Clean Fuel and AI in Customer Service

Passage 1: AI in Indian agriculture (Q31–32)

India has begun using AI for weather forecasting, pest detection and crop yield optimisation, but only a small group of tech-savvy farmers use it. In the US and Europe, generative AI tools already offer precision farming at scale, combining large datasets for real-time agronomic advice. For wide use in India, the passage suggests AI tools in Indian languages for smallholders, partnerships with AgTech firms for affordable tools, and AI advisory services spread through government programmes.

Passage 2: The Juvenile Justice Act (Q39–40)

The JJ Act of 2015 allows adolescents above 16 to be tried as adults if accused of a heinous offence, defined as one with a minimum punishment of seven years. Offences such as culpable homicide and causing death by negligence, common in drunken-driving cases, are not heinous because they carry no prescribed minimum. The 2021 amendment classes an offence with no minimum but a maximum of seven years or more as a serious offence, which, activists argue, does not justify transferring a case to the adult criminal justice system.

Passage 3: Clean fuel and bans (Q46–47)

The passage says the main source of the battle for clean air is the fuel burned, from household chulhas to thermal power plants. It recalls the Supreme Court's ban on pet coke, the Delhi Government's ban on coal (later extended to the NCR), and an agreement that thermal plants would clean up or shut down, with patchy action. The lesson from the CNG transition is that bans need affordable alternatives: CNG supply had to be assured when diesel buses stopped, and the Supreme Court agreed that fiscal measures were needed to keep clean fuel cheaper than dirty fuel. Yet with coal banned, the price of natural gas makes industry uncompetitive.

Passage 4: AI and customer service (Q52–53)

Earlier customer-service technologies, such as email and automated voice menus, raised fears of job losses that did not come true. AI could be different, the passage says, and if it is, the effect may be good: human agents could spend more time on creative, rewarding work, such as using feedback to improve products, and less time listening to angry customers.

This page summarises each passage in our own words. Read the full passages in the official UPSC CSAT 2026 question paper (Series A), using the question numbers in brackets.