Directions (1-5): 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).
Q1. 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.
Q2. 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.
Q3. 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.
Q4. 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.
Q5. 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 (6-10): 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.
Q6.
(a)
It was primarily designed to export Indian products and raw material, cotton
for instance, cheaply and quickly to Manchester.
(b)The
introduction of the Railway system was part of an evolutionary process and did
not depend on one’s mercy.
(c)The
objective of introducing the Railways in India had nothing to do with people’s
welfare or the country’s development.
(d)Because of the American Civil War (1861-65)
its supply from the US had become uncertain.
(e)Its
military use was underscored by the blood-thirsty Col. James George Smith Neill
of 1st Madras Fusiliers, who was on a mission to suppress the Benares uprising
(June 1857).
Q7.
(a)
While there have been some important achievements, Aung San Suu Kyi and her
party have struggled with economic policy, the peace process, and political
violence.
(b)
As a result, the government has often appeared ineffectual.
(c) The National League for Democracy (NLD)
government’s first year in power has not been easy.
(d) The NLD lacks governance experience, and
the executive branch does not have control over the armed forces.
(e)
Finding qualified people to serve in senior positions in the government is
another challenge.
Q8.
(a)
In return, China has not commented on the Moroccan position regarding the
Western Sahara.
(b)
China sees in Morocco an opportunity to develop factories for export to the
European Union.
(c)
At the political level Morocco and China see eye-to-eye on some issues, most
notably in the policy of non-intervention in state affairs.
(d)
While the Moroccan press has occasionally reported on the oppression of faith
in China,
(e)
The government of Morocco has largely abstained from commenting on issues
relating to China’s “core interests”: Xinjiang, Taiwan, or Tibet.
Q9.
(a) With the steady disappearance of indigenous seeds, genetic diversity is
eroding and food culture is steadily moving towards what is available in Delhi,
Paris and Shanghai.
(b)
They lack confidence in bringing their traditional knowledge and intellectual
resources to the public domain, and also fear pilferage and tampering by
agencies for commercial use.
(c)
The people in the mountainous regions have now started feeling the adverse
effects of globalization.
(d)As
the agents of globalisation infiltrate mountainous areas, the availability of
natural resources and practices of sustainability that have prevailed for
generations are being sidelined.
(e)Additionally,
traditional dialects and folk languages are being used less and less.
Q10.
(a) From China’s perspective, Japanese actions
were a flagrant and arrogant violation of Chinese sovereignty necessitating
sustained Chinese military expressions of jurisdiction and power.
(b) a new and potentially more destabilizing
“normal” has set in around the East China Sea between China and Japan.
(c) While attention over the past year in the
Asia-Pacific has been focused on developments in the South China Sea
(d) in particular China’s ongoing
island-building efforts and expansion of coast guard activities
(e) This “normal” sees China’s air and coast
guard forces penetrating Japanese airspace and territorial waters near the
disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu islands with increasing and sustained frequency.
SOLUTIONS:
S1.
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.
S2.
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.
S3.
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.
S4.
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.
S5.
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.
S6.
Ans. (b)
Sol.
cade forms a coherent paragraph and
sentence (b) is not a part of it. Coherent paragraph is all about the purpose
of introducing the railways in India while Option (b) tells that railway system
was part of a revolutionary process which fails to connect with other options.
Hence option (b) is true.
S7.
Ans.(e)
Sol. Option (e) is the correct choice as the
idea it conveys is what challenge that further lies in NLD’s reign while other
options which are forming a coherent paragraph are imparting information about
the journey they had till now.
S8.
Ans.(b)
Sol.
Option (b) is the correct choice as it is talking about the opportunities China
see in Morocco while other options which are forming a coherent paragraph with
their logical order being cdea talks
about the reason for the enmity between the two countries.
S9.
Ans. (b)
Sol. caed
forms a coherent paragraph. The paragraph is all about the effects of
globalization in mountainous areas.
Sentence (b) is not a part of this paragraph although it is part of the
same article. Sentence (b) is not in harmony with the theme of the passage as
it is talking about harnessing bio -diversity.
S10.
Ans. (a)
Sol.
Option (a) is the correct choice as it is giving only one’s prospective
which is fine in terms of article but is disturbing the theme of the paragraph
and is not coherent with the other sentences.
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