positive checks as envisaged by Thamos Malthus can be prevented if

Analyze the question: Thomas Malthus (the population theorist) is the focus. The question asks how positive checks can be prevented.

Explain the concept: Malthus argued that population grows geometrically (1, 2, 4, 8, 16...), while food supply grows arithmetically (1, 2, 3, 4, 5...). Eventually population outstrips food supply, and nature steps in to bring the population back in line. He described two types of checks:

• Positive checks: Natural, harsh forces that increase the death rate, such as famine, disease, war, and pestilence.
• Preventive checks: Voluntary human actions that reduce the birth rate, such as moral restraint, delaying marriage, and abstaining from early or excessive childbearing.

Show the solution: Positive checks only happen when population grows too large for food supply. To avoid them, people must keep the population from growing too fast in the first place. Malthus recommended moral restraint, meaning late marriage, self-control, and having fewer children.

Looking at the options:

• A. "Date rate is reduced": this seems to be a typo for "death rate" (or "birth rate"). Reducing the death rate would actually increase population pressure, so it doesn't prevent positive checks.
• B. "Marriage is abolished": Malthus never advocated this. He advocated delayed marriage, not abolition.
• C. "More hospitals are built": this lowers the death rate, which would speed up population growth and worsen the pressure on food supply.
• D. "More restraint is adopted": this is exactly Malthus's preventive check, which stops the population from reaching the point where famine and disease take over.

Tip: Remember it this way: Positive checks = Painful (famine, war, disease). Preventive checks = People's choices (restraint). If a question asks how to avoid the painful checks, look for the option about self-control or restraint.