Assertion (A) is correct: Cost-push inflation occurs when rising production costs drive up prices. Two key drivers are wage-push inflation, where increased wages raise production costs, and profit-push inflation, where firms increase prices to boost profit margins, often in less competitive markets. Reason (R) is also correct and explains part of (A): Wage-push inflation happens when wages rise without a corresponding increase in labor productivity, increasing costs for businesses, which pass these costs to consumers as higher prices. Since (R) directly explains one of the factors (wage-push inflation) contributing to cost-push inflation in (A), option (1) is correct.