Directions (1-15): In the following passage, there are blanks, each of which has been numbered. These numbers are printed below the passage and against each, five words are suggested, one of which fits the blank appropriately. Find out the appropriate word in each case.
Elite concerns are usually disconnected from the ground reality. For the 1 percent of Indian who live privileged, cocooned lives, the judicial right to privacy __(1)___ by the Supreme Court yesterday will add yet another layer with which they can insulate themselves ___(2)____ the “barbarians at the gate”.
So, here is __(3)___ the rich will benefit. First, they may now be able to refuse medical ___(4)____ and die in their beds, peacefully, instead of being compulsorily ____(5)____ up to tiresome, life-saving machines in hospitals. But try explaining this “right” to the millions of poor Indians for ___(6)___ just getting ___(7)____ to hospitals is still a dream and refusing treatment would be unimaginable.
Second, the well-heeled may now be able to press for ____(8)____ judicially forgotten – all traces of their past lives and identities expunged, giving them a fresh ___(9)____ without having to flee to distant London or arid Dubai. Contrast this with the Herculean efforts the average Indian makes to become part of a database and have an officially _____(10)_____ identity – a voter card, a passport, a PAN card, anything which ____(11)____ that she exists.
Third, those with alternative lifestyles – the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) community might now hope to be free of the notoriously archaic Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalizes everything other than straight sex. But would this give them the ___(12)____ to marry a partner of their choice; adopt children or be socially accepted?
Now ponder the downsides. Law enforcement agencies struggle to manage terrorism, Naxalism, urban mafiosi, drug pushers and armed rural gangsters even today. “Privacy” concerns will provide a legal __(13)____ to undermine information collection, detection and investigation. Nothing less than the over-the-top, draconian Armed Forces (Special Provisions) Act – used today only in the “disturbed” areas in Kashmir and parts of the North East – would be effective. Since gangsters can ___(14)____ to hire the best lawyers, the violation of their fundamental right to privacy in the process of enforcing the law, will now become a favourite ploy to keep these worthies free to wreak __(15)____.
Q1.
(a) grant
(b) gave
(c) shower
(d) created
(e) narrated
Q2.
(a) from
(b) away
(c) differ
(d) narrow
(e) distance
Q3.
(a) why
(b) how
(c) whose
(d) the
(e) what
Q4.
(a) aiding
(b) helped
(c) back
(d) treatment
(e) manage
Q5.
(a) depend
(b) hooked
(c) try
(d) trial
(e) engagement
Q6.
(a) which
(b) they
(c) what
(d) whom
(e) how
Q7.
(a) admission
(b) reliability
(c) into
(d) enter
(e) admitted
Q8.
(a) do
(b) perform
(c) being
(d) having
(e) its
Q9.
(a) start
(b) innovate
(c) remark
(d) job
(e) initiate
Q10.
(a) encourage
(b) distinguish
(c) variable
(d) recognized
(e) known
Q11.
(a) take
(b) lead
(c) proves
(d) cause
(e) name
Q12.
(a) authorize
(b) ability
(c) opportunity
(d) right
(e) time
Q13.
(a) mean
(b) result
(c) legality
(d) shield
(e) played
Q14.
(a) remain
(b) promotion
(c) get
(d) trial
(e) afford
Q15.
(a) renovation
(b) havoc
(c) rescue
(d) saving
