Q1. ACQUAINT
(a) Withhold
(b) furnish
(c) Conversant
(d) Promulgate
(e) Parlous
Q2. ASSIDUOUS
(a) rejection
(b) diligent
(c) insolence
(d) artful
(e) brave
Q3. GLUT
(a) Joust
(b) kindness
(c) overflow
(d) bright
(e) restrain
Q4. OBDURATE
(a) indiscreet
(b) rash
(c) amenable
(d) vacuous
(e) advanced
Q5. PERVASIVE
(a)limpid
(b)jarring
(c) exiguous
(d)irregular
(e)proactive
Directions (6-10): In each of the following questions a
short passage is given with one of the lines in the passage missing and
represented by a blank. Select the best out of the five answer choices given,
to make the passage complete and coherent (coherent means logically complete
and sound).
Q6. A scientific approach too leads to the conclusion that it is
not possible to accumulate such an enormous amount of wealth in a single
lifetime. According to research studies, the size of the human brain is about
1,600 cc. Another study suggests that a normal human being is capable of using
around 8 per cent of her brain and a genius can use up to 12 per cent. The
question is: How did the wealthiest 1 per cent of the population get their
brain and from where did they acquire the high-functioning biology which the
other 99 per cent does not own? If intelligence is the source behind wealth
accumulation, then the wealthiest group ought to have a higher functioning
brain.___________________.
(a)With the level of inequality, poverty
and hunger prevailing in India, it is hard to believe how that privileged class
enjoy their wealth and prosperity.
(b)Clearly, the level of inequality
can’t be justified even in scientific terms.
(c)It is only a matter of time till this
myth is busted.
(d)A person building a Rs 10,000-crore
bungalow and another gifting his son an aeroplane worth Rs 500 crore are a
result of such an ethos.
(e)Now a wealthy person is idealised as
a smart, intelligent person capable of making money.
Q7. A good example is the role played by the government of
Maharashtra in water reforms across its cities and towns. Maharashtrian cities
have been way ahead of other Indian cities in addressing the challenge of
providing drinking water to their residents. ____________________________. The
committee recommended water audits for all cities and offered to fund 75 per
cent of the cost of determining the gap between the water supplied and the
water billed to consumers for water ostensibly consumed.
(a)As early as the year 2000, the
government of Maharashtra had set up the Sukhtankar Committee to review the
efficiency of supplying water in its cities and towns.
(b)A significant feature of
Maharashtra’s planning for water has been their recognition of the importance
of economic pricing of water.
(c)The Maharashtra Water Resource
Regulatory Authority, established in 2005, has been conducting exercises to
price water, setting water charges based on the volume of water consumed by
different user categories.
(d)The canals that brought raw water
from Pench, 48 km outside of the city, provided ample opportunities for
stealing water along the way.
(e)It is possible that the successive
drought conditions diverted the government’s attention to the urgent task at
hand, that is, a basic provision of water, and the focus on reforms was lost.
Q8. Comparisons are, of course, silly and dicey, but one can hazard
that Arrow’s achievements were in some ways arguably greater than Samuelson’s.
Samuelson’s many contributions helped us think through the first principles of
many issues in economics — public goods, taxation, savings, trade, consumer
preference, pensions, and finance. Arrow’s two stunning contributions (both
theoretical) in some ways both built and undermined all of politics and all of
(market) economics. Samuelson made mega-contributions, Arrow made
meta-contributions. ____________________________.
(a)The Arrow-Samuelson comparison is
interesting for another reason: Family connections.
(b)The work of Arrow and many others
showed how such self-interested individual behaviour could produce outcomes
that had broadly desirable social virtues.
(c)If you start with individual
preferences, it is very difficult (or impossible) to come up with a rule (say
majority voting) that aggregates these preferences and produces a societal
preference that can satisfy some basic conditions.
(d)But this work showed how demanding
were the conditions for the market system.
(e)Samuelson’s related to one
discipline, Arrow’s transcended two.
Q9. Monetary policy makers concentrate on core inflation because it
is a good yardstick for measuring “sustainable inflation”: Which means that
core inflation has to be correctly measured. Unfortunately, core inflation is
mis-measured in India because the CPI for Fuel and Light includes kerosene and
electricity, but excludes petrol. True core would exclude food, fuel and
petrol. The reason monetary policy should be concerned with true core is
because the excluded items are broadly outside the influence of monetary
policy. _______________________.
(a)A true core price index can easily be
constructed by excluding the effects of petrol consumption from the transport
and communication (TC) basket (TC has a weight of 8.59 per cent in the CPI and
petrol consumption weight is 2.4 per cent), and adding it to the basket of
Fuel.
(b)The correct and incorrect core
inflation series, along with petrol price inflation, are reported in the chart.
(c)These facts counter the post-truth
core inflation scenario painted by the RBI.
(d)For example, it is a bit difficult to
argue that the RBI’s repo rate policy can affect OPEC’s pricing policy for oil!
(e)The RBI is well aware of the problem
of wrongly measured core inflation in India.
Q10. The analogy of theatre commands of the US/China is misleading
as it would only address the “under command” syndrome of the ground-based
forces in India. The truism that “air power is indivisible” and works best
under an airman should not be violated. Since India has a status quoist stance
on boundary matters, the blocking of air assets by splitting them under theatre
commanders would be sub-optimal. _______________________. Both would be
unwieldy considering the diverse requirements of equipment and training for
troops (desert, plains and hills) — so more (smaller) commands would be
required, bifurcating air assets further, reducing their potency.
(a)Joint procurement, commanding future
commands like cyber, space and special forces and a role in budgeting could be
the starting point.
(b)If one were to follow the US/China model,
then there would be just two “theatres” — the Northern and Western.
(c)At the operational level, war is
directed by regional command headquarters which, in the case of the army and
navy, are terrestrial/surface combatants.
(d)A Su-30 from Pune can address
maritime threats down south as well as those across the Thar desert.
(e)Decisive political decision-making is
the need of the hour if we want to move forward.
Directions (11-13): Five statements are given below, labelled a, b,
c, d and e. Among these, four statements are in logical order and form a
coherent paragraph/passage. From the given options, choose the option that does
not fit into the theme of the passage/paragraph.
Q11.
(a) It is
a Chinese diplomatic tradition to celebrate the anniversaries of important
events in its relations with foreign nations.
(b)Instead of high-level visits or
grand ceremonies, however, the anniversary is marred by unprecedented
confrontation between the two countries.
(c)The dramatic
downturn in bilateral relations resulted from President Park Geun-hye’s
decision in July 2016 to deploy the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense)
system on South Korean soil.
(d)This
year marks the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between
China and South Korea.
(e) Chinese
sacrifices and friendliness apparently have been reciprocated by ingratitude
and resentment.
Q12.
(a) In the euphoria of the
progress of the global economy or few national economies doing well, we
conveniently forget the humongous failure rate of individual organizations.
(b) A look at the prevailing
organization structures and processes does not give one the confidence that
organizations are created with any deep understanding of human behaviour.
(c) Very few of them analyse
why companies that were deemed icons of excellence are nowhere to be found just
a few decades down the line.
(d) While a few unicorns are
created every now and then, we forget that many more companies (some of them
world leaders like Nokia) are biting the dust at an alarming rate.
(e) Management experts and
analysts are more interested in talking about the few good organizations that
have gone on to become great companies.
Q13. (a) The document opens
with a broadside against the World Trade Organization (WTO), arguing that WTO
decisions are not binding on American businesses unless Congress chooses to
implement them.
(b) The Trade Policy Agenda
lays out a general approach to trade that is, in its own words, aggressive and
that in many cases appears to be strongly at odds with India’s own position.
(c) The agenda and the
accompanying annual report strongly suggest that India will be navigating an
increasingly difficult trade terrain in the next few years.
(d) This threatens to relegate
the WTO to the long list of international agreements that the US has refused to
make part of domestic law, gutting the strength of the organization and
possibly triggering a round of punitive tariffs by other nations.
(e) India, by contrast, has
made the WTO the primary focus of its trade negotiation efforts and is poised
to make a major play towards updating the Trade in Services Agreement.
Directions (14 – 15): Each
question consists of a number of sentences which, when properly sequenced, form
a coherent paragraph. Below each question are five options which gives the
possible sequence of the coherent paragraph, choose the option which gives the
correct sequence of the given coherent paragraph.
Q14.
A. And everywhere—on the palace steps, and the great
promenade, around the fountains, among the trees—hundreds and hundreds of
people in gay costumes walked or ran or danced, and gave to the fairy picture
the life and animation which was all of perfection it could have lacked.
Concluding remark; the people complete the picture perfect settings
B. The scene thrills one like military music!
C. Versailles is wonderfully beautiful!
D. You gaze and stare and try to understand that it is real, that it is on the
earth, that it is not the Garden of Eden—but your brain grows giddy, stupefied
by the world of beauty around you, and you half believe you are the dupe of an
exquisite dream.
E. A noble palace, stretching its ornamented front, block upon block away, till
it seemed that it would never end; a grand promenade before it, where on the
armies of an empire might parade; broad flights of stone steps leading down
from the promenade to lower grounds of the park—stairways that whole regiments
might stand to arms upon and have room to spar.
(a)EBCDA
(b)CDEBA
(c) CDBEA
(d) DCBEA
(e) EBDAC
Q15.
A. Her husband was employed outside Rajasthan and she had
chosen Barmer to provide a good education to her children.
B. In a rare case of migration from a city to a village, Teeja Jakhar shifted
to Chokhla from Barmer city along with her two daughters last year.
C. The British exploration company Cairn Energy PLC promised to pay her Rs 3
lakh per year for three years for rights to her land.
D. She earns Rs 6,000 per month by selling water drawn by her tubewell to
Cairn.
E. She bought a diesel-run tubewell with the first installment and plans to
grow at least one crop on her 40-acre plot.
F. But Mangla near Barmer, since January last year the site of India’s biggest
oil discovery in 22 years, changed all that.
(a) CAEBFD
(b) BAFECD
(c) CABFED
(d) BAFCED
(e) BACFDE
SOLUTIONS:
S1. Ans. (c)
Sol. acquaint means make someone aware of or familiar with. Conversant means familiar with or
knowledgeable about something. Hence ‘acquaint’
and ‘conversant’ are similar in
meanings.
S2. Ans. (b)
Sol. assiduous means showing great care and perseverance. Hence ‘assiduous’ and ‘diligent’ are similar in meanings.
S3. Ans. (c)
Sol. Glut means an excessively abundant supply of something. Hence ‘glut’ and ‘overflow’ are similar in meanings.
S4. Ans. (c)
Sol. Obdurate means stubbornly refusing to change one’s opinion or
course of action. amenable means
open and responsive to suggestion; easily persuaded or controlled. Hence ‘obdurate’ and ‘amenable’ are opposite in meanings.
S5. Ans. (c)
Sol. Pervasive means spreading widely throughout an area or a group of
people. Hence ‘pervasive’ and ‘exiguous’ are opposite in meanings.
S6. Ans. (b)
Sol. The paragraph talks about the
results of certain studies and researches that try to assess the reasons behind
the brain of earning enormously. Now read the last few sentences of the
paragraph, they try to compare the brains of wealthiest 1 percent and the rest
99 percent and hence directing to the level of inequality. Hence the concluding sentence should tally
its meaning with the paragraph’s theme. Among the given options, only option
(b) makes a relevant conclusion to this paragraph. Other options define some
different issues related to the subject.
S7. Ans. (a)
Sol. Read the paragraph carefully, it
talks about the role played by the government of Maharashtra in water reforms.
Refer the concluding sentence of the paragraph, from here it can be inferred
that the preceding sentence should connect to the committee that it is talking
about. Hence only option (a) makes the perfect filling to the given space as it
refers to the Sukhtankar Committee.
S8. Ans. (e)
Sol. The paragraph compares the
contributions of Arrow and Samuelson in the field of economics. Read the last
sentence of the paragraph, there is a clear comparison between the two. Hence
the conclusive sentence should also be in the same form. Among the given
options, only option (e) makes the perfect conclusion and thus adding meaning
to the paragraph.
S9. Ans. (d)
Sol. Read the paragraph carefully, it
talks about the core inflation and its mis-measurement in India. The last
sentence of the paragraph should match its theme. Hence the correct option is
(d) as it cites an appropriate example in reference to its preceding sentence.
Other options don’t make a valid conclusion in the context of the paragraph.
S10. Ans. (b)
Sol. Refer the sentence just after the
blank space. The word “Both” clearly indicates that among the given options,
option (b) fits the blank most appropriately thus adding meaning to the
paragraph which talks about the defence mechanisms of the US/China model. Other
options are irrelevant in the context of the passage.
S11. Ans.(e)
Sol. The options other than (e) are forming a coherent
paragraph with their sequence being adbc. Option (e) is out of context as the
theme of the passage is how there has been a sourness in the relationship
between China and South Korea lately and what caused it. While other options
are in perfect sequence, the idea in option (e) is not resonating with the
central theme of the paragraph/ passage.
S12. Ans.(b)
Sol. Option (b) is not a part
of the coherent paragraph as it explains the unexpectedly high failure rates of
organizations while other options with their sequence being adec are part of
one coherent paragraph as they are talking about the issue.
S13. Ans.(c)
Sol. Option (c) is correct and
is not a part of the coherent paragraph as it puts more emphasis on the
suggestions made by report. Other option talks about the comparison of the
stances of India and USA toward WTO.
S14. Ans.(c)
Sol. As the paragraph describes an incredibly beautiful
place, the 3rd sentence is the opener. The 4th sentence compares it with the
Garden of Eden. The second sentence describes the ‘thrill’ and compares it with
a military band. The 5th sentence takes the metaphor further to compare the
promenade and stone steps with the armies parading. The 1st sentence concludes
that people in the area complete the ‘perfection it could have lacked.’
Therefore, CDBEA is the answer.
S15 Ans.(d)
Sol. BAFCED is the correct sequence.
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