Read the following seven passages and answer the items that follow each passage. Your answers to these items should be based on the passages only.

Political theorists no doubt have to take history of injustice, for example, untouchability, seriously. The concept of historical injustice takes note of a variety of historical wrongs that continue into the present in some form or the other and tend to resist repair. Two reasons might account for resistance to repair. One, not only are the roots of injustice buried deep in history’, injustice itself constitutes economic structures of exploitation, ideologies of discrimination and modes of representation. Two, the category of historical injustice generally extends across a number of wrongs such as economic deprivation, social discrimination and lack of recognition. This category’ is complex, not only because of the overlap between a number of wrongs, but because one or the other wrong, generally discrimination, tends to acquire partial autonomy from others. This is borne out by the history of repair in India.

(a) Untouchability in India has not been taken seriously by political theorists.

(b) Historical injustice is inevitable in any society and is always beyond repair.

(c) Social discrimination and deprivation have their roots in bad economies.

(d) It is difficult, if not impossible, to repair every manifestation of historical injustice.

Answer

(d) It is difficult, if not impossible, to repair every manifestation of historical injustice.

1. Removal of economic discrimination leads to removal of social discrimination.

2. Democratic polity is the best way to repair historical wrongs.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2.

Answer

(d) Neither 1 nor 2.

Education plays a great transformatory role in life, particularly so in this rapidly changing and globalizing world. Universities are the custodian of the intellectual capital and promoters of culture and specialized knowledge. Culture is an activity of thought, and receptiveness to beauty and human feelings. A merely well-informed man is only a bore on God’s earth. What we should aim at is producing men who possess both culture and expert knowledge. Their expert knowledge will give them a firm ground to start from and their culture will lead them as deep as philosophy and as high as art. Together it will impart meaning to human existence.

1. A society without well educated people cannot be transformed into a modern society.

2. Without acquiring culture, a person’s education is not complete.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2.

Answer

(b) 2 only

Soil, in which nearly all our food grows, is a living resource that takes years to form. Yet it can vanish in minutes. Each year 75 billion tonnes of fertile soil is lost to erosion. That is alarming — and not just for food producers. Soil can trap huge quantities of carbon dioxide in the form of organic carbon and prevent it from escaping into the atmosphere.

1. Large scale soil erosion is a major reason for widespread food insecurity in the world.

2. Soil erosion is mainly anthropogenic.

3. Sustainable management of soils helps in combating climate change.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 3 only

(c) 2 and 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

Answer

(b) 3 only

Inequality is visible, even statistically measurable in many instances, but the economic power that drives it is invisible and not measurable… Like the force of gravity, power is the organising principle of inequality, be it of income, or wealth, gender, race, religion and region. Its effects are seen in a pervasive manner in all spheres, but the ways in which economic power pulls and tilts visible economic variables remain invisibly obscure.

1. Economic power is the only reason for the existence of inequality in a society.

2. Inequality of different kinds, income, wealth, etc, reinforces power.

3. Economic power can be analysed more through its effects than by direct empirical methods.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 3 only

(c) 1 and 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

Answer

(b) 3 only

Climate change may actually benefit some plants by lengthening growing seasons and increasing carbon dioxide. Yet other effects of a warmer world, such as more pests, droughts, and flooding, will be less benign. How will the world adapt? Researchers project that by 2050, suitable croplands for four commodities — maize, potatoes, rice and wheat — will shift, in some cases pushing farmers to plant new crops. Some farmlands may benefit from warming, but others won’t. Climate alone does not dictate yields; political shifts, global “demand, and agricultural practices will influence how farms fare in the future.

(a) Farmers who modernize their methods and diversify their fields will be in an advantageous position in future.

(b) Climate change will adversely affect the crop diversity.

(c) Shifting major crops to new croplands will lead to a great increase in the total area under cultivation and thus an increase in overall agriculture production.

(d) Climate change is the most important factor affecting the agricultural economy in the future.

Answer

(a) Farmers who modernize their methods and diversify their fields will be in an advantageous position in future.

A bat’s wings may look like sheets of skin. But underneath, a bat has the same five fingers as an orangutan or a human, as well as a wrist connected to the same cluster of wrist bones connected to the same long bones of the arm. What can be more curious than that the hand of a man, formed for grasping, that of a mole for digging, the leg of the horse, the-paddle of the porpoise, and the wing of the bat, should all be constructed on the some pattern?      

(a) Different species having similar structure of hands is an example of biodiversity.

(b) Limbs being used by different species for different kinds of work is an example of biodiversity.

(c) Man and the aforementioned animals having similar structure of limbs is an example of coincidence in evolution.

(d) Man and the aforementioned animals have a shared evolutionary history.

Answer

(d) Man and the aforementioned animals have a shared evolutionary history.

Around 56 million years ago, the Atlantic Ocean had not fully opened and animals, perhaps including our primate ancestors, could walk from Asia to North America through Europe and across Greenland. Earth was warmer than it is today, but as the Palaeocene epoch gave way to Eocene, it was about to get much warmer still —rapidly and radically. The cause was a massive geologically sudden release of carbon. During this period called Palaeocene – Eocene Thermal Maximum or PETM, the carbon injected into the atmosphere was roughly the amount that Would be injected today if humans burned all the Earth’s reserves of coal, oil and natural gas. The PETM lasted for about 1,50,000 years, until the excess carbon was reabsorbed. It brought on drought, floods, insect plagues and a few extinctions. Life on Earth survived — indeed, it prospered — but it was drastically different.

1. Global warming has a bearing on the planet’s biological evolution.

2. Separation of land masses causes the release of huge quantities of carbon into the atmosphere.

3. Increased warming of Earth’s atmosphere can change the composition of its flora and fauna.

4. The present man-made global warming will finally lead to conditions similar to those which happened 56 million years ago.

Which of the assumptions given above are valid?

(a) 1 and 2

(b) 3 and 4

(c) 1 and 3

(d) 2 and 4

Answer

(c) 1 and 3

Read the following six passages and answer the items that follow each passage. Your answers to these items should be based on the passages only.

Low-end IoT (Internet of Things) devices are cheap commodity items: addressing security would add to the cost. This class of items is proliferating with new applications; many home appliances, thermostats, security and monitoring devices and personal convenience devices are part of the IoT. So are fitness trackers, certain medical implants, and computer-like devices in automobiles. The IoT is expected to expand exponentially — but new security challenges are daunting.

(a) Development of enabling technologies in India can be a big boost to its manufacturing sector.

(b) India is not yet fully ready to adopt IoT in view of the imminent security challenges.

(c) Life becomes more comfortable with the development of cheap low-end IoT devices.

(d) As we go digital, we must recognise the huge threat to Internet security from some IoT devices.

Answer

(d) As we go digital, we must recognise the huge threat to Internet security from some IoT devices.

With the digital phenomenon restructuring most social sectors, it is little surprise that global trade negotiations are now eyeing the digital area in an attempt to pre-emptively colonise it. Big Data is freely collected or mined from developing countries, and converted into digital intelligence in developed countries. This intelligence begins to control different sectors and extract monopoly rents. A large foreign company providing cab service, for instance, is not a work of cars and drivers, it is digital intelligence about commuting, public transport, roads, traffic, city events, personal behavioural characteristics of commuters and driver and so on.

(a) Globalization is not in the interests of India as it undermines its socio-economic structures.

(b) India should be careful to protect its digital sovereignty in global trade talks.

(c) India should charge monopoly rents from multinational companies in exchange for Big Data.

(d) The loss of Big Data from India is proportional to the degree/value of its foreign trade.

Answer

(b) India should be careful to protect its digital sovereignty in global trade talks.

(a) Big Data is the key resource in the digital space.

(b) Big economies create Big Data.

(c) Access to Big Data is the prerogative of developed countries.

(d) Access to and possession of Big Data is a characteristic of developed countries.

Answer

(a) Big Data is the key resource in the digital space.

The rural poor across the world, including India, have contributed little to human-induced climate change, yet they are on the frontline in coping with its effects. Farmers can no longer rely on historical averages for rainfall and temperature, and the more frequent and extreme weather events, such as droughts and floods, can spell disaster. And there are new threats, such as sea level rise and the impact of melting glaciers on water supply. How significant are small farms? As many as two billion people worldwide depend on them for their food and livelihood. Small- holder farmers in India produce 41 percent of the country’s food grains, and other food items that contribute to local and national food security.

(a) Supporting small farmers is an important part of any agenda regarding environmentally sustainable development.

(b) Poor countries have little role to play in the mitigation of global warming.

(c) Due to a large number of farmer households, India will not have food security problem in the foreseeable future.

(d) Only small-holder farmers in India can ensure food security.

Answer

(a) Supporting small farmers is an important part of any agenda regarding environmentally sustainable development.

1. There is a potential problem of food insecurity in India.

2. India will have to strengthen its disaster management capabilities.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer

(c) Both 1 and 2

A changing climate, and the eventual efforts of governments (however reluctant) to deal with it, could have a big impact on investors’ returns. Companies that produce or use large amounts of fossil fuels will face higher taxes and regulatory burdens. Some energy producers may find it impossible to exploit their known reserves, and be left with “stranded assets” — deposits of oil and coal that have to be left in the ground. Other industries could be affected by the economic damage caused by more extreme weather — storms, floods, heat waves and droughts.

1. Governments and companies need to be adequately prepared to face the climate change.

2. Extreme weather events will reduce the economic growth of governments and companies ‘in future.

3. Ignoring climate change is a huge risk for investors.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 03 only

(c) 1 and 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

Answer

(c) 1 and 3 only

Access to schooling for those coming of school age is close to universal, but access to quality exhibits a sharp gradient with socio-economic status. Quotas for the weaker sections in private schools is a provision introduced by the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009. The quotas have imposed a debate on issues of social integration and equity in education that private actors had escaped by and large, The idea of egalitarian education system with equality of opportunity as its primary goal appears to be outside the space that private school principals inhabit. Therefore, the imposition of the quotas has led to resistance, sometimes justified.

1. Making equality of opportunity a reality is the fundamental goal of the Indian education system.

2. The present Indian school system is unable to provide egalitarian education.

3. Abolition of private schools and establishment of more government schools is the only way to ensure egalitarian education.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 2 only

(c) 2 and 3 only

(d) 3 only

Answer

(b) 2 only

A majority of the TB infected in India are poor and lack sufficient nutrition, suitable housing and have little understanding of prevention. TB then devastates families, makes the poor poorer, particularly affects women and children, and leads to ostracization and loss of employment. The truth is that even if TB does not kill them, hunger and poverty will. Another truth is that deep-seated stigma, lack of counselling, expensive treatment and lack of adequate support from providers and family, coupled with torturous side-effects demotivate patients to continue treatment — with disastrous health consequences.

(a) TB is not a curable disease in Indian circumstances.

(b) Curing TB requires more than diagnosis and medical treatment.

(c) Government’s surveillance mechanism is deficient; and poor people have no access to treatment.

(d) India will be free from diseases like TB only when its poverty alleviation programmes are effectively and successfully implemented.

Answer

(b) Curing TB requires more than diagnosis and medical treatment.

Read the following six passages and answer the items that follow each passage. Your answers to these items should be based on the passages only.

What stands in the way of the widespread and careful adoption of ‘Genetic Modification (GM)’ technology is an Intellectual Property Rights’ regime that seeks to create private monopolies for such technologies. If GM technology is largely corporate driven, it seeks to maximize profits and that too in the short run. That is why corporations make major investments for herbicide-tolerant and pest-resistant crops. Such properties have only a short window, as soon enough, pests and weeds will evolve to overcome such resistance. This suits the corporations. The National Farmers Commission pointed out that priority must be given in genetic modification to the incorporation of genes that can help impart resistance to drought, salinity and other stresses.

(a) Public research institutions should take the lead in GM technology and prioritise the technology agenda.

(b) Developing countries should raise this issue in WTO and ensure the abolition of Intellectual Property Rights.

(c) Private corporations should not be allowed to do agribusiness in India, particularly the seed business.

(d) Present Indian circumstances do not favour the cultivation of genetically modified crops.

Answer

(a) Public research institutions should take the lead in GM technology and prioritise the technology agenda.

1. The issue of effects of natural calamities on agriculture is not given due consideration by GM technology companies.

2. In the long run, GM technology will not be able to solve agricultural problems arising due to global warming.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer

(a) 1 only

Most invasive species are neither terribly successful nor very harmful. Britain’s invasive plants are not widespread, not spreading especially quickly, and often less of a nuisance than vigorous natives such as bracken. The arrival of new species almost always increases biological diversity in a region; in many cases, a flood of newcomers drives no native species to extinction. One reason is that invaders tend to colonise disturbed habitats like polluted lakes and post-industrial wasteland, where little else lives. They are nature’s opportunists.

(a) Invasive species should be used to rehabilitate desert areas and wastelands of a country.

(b) Laws against the introduction of foreign plants are unnecessary.

(c) Sometimes, the campaigns against foreign plants are pointless.

(d) Foreign plants should be used to increase the biodiversity of a country.

Answer

(c) Sometimes, the campaigns against foreign plants are pointless.

Diarrhoeal deaths among Indian children are mostly due to food and water contamination. Use of contaminated groundwater and unsafe chemicals in agriculture, poor hygiene in storage and handling of food items to food cooked and distributed in unhygienic surroundings; there are myriad factors that need regulation and monitoring. People need to have awareness of adulteration and ways of complaining to the relevant authorities. Surveillance of food-borne diseases involves a number of government agencies and entails good training of inspection staff. Considering the proportion of the urban population that depends on street food for its daily meals, investing in training and education of street vendors is of great significance.

1. Food safety is a complex issue that calls for a multipronged solution.

2. Great investments need to be made in developing the manpower for surveillance and training.

3. India needs to make sufficient legislation for governing food processing industry.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 3 only

(c) 1 and 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

Answer

(a) 1 and 2 only

The interests of working and poor people have historically been neglected in the planning of our cities. Our cities are increasingly intolerant, unsafe and unliveable places for large numbers of citizens and yet we continue to plan via the old ways — the static Development Plan — that draws exclusively from technical expertise, distanced from people’s live experiences and needs, and actively excluding large number of people, places, activities and practices that are an integral part of the city.

The passage seems to argue

(a) against the monopoly of builders and the interests of elite groups.

(b) against the need for global and smart cities.

(c) in favour of planning cities mainly for working class and poor people.

(d) in favour of participation of peoples’ groups in city planning.

Answer

(d) in favour of participation of peoples’ groups in city planning.

A vast majority of Indians are poor, with barely 10 percent employed in the organised sector. We are being convinced that vigorous economic growth is generating substantial employment. But this is not so. When our economy was growing at 3 percent per year, employment in the organised sector was growing at 2 percent per year. As the economy began to grow at 7 – 8 percent per year, the rate of growth of employment in the organised sector actually declined to 1 percent per year.

1. most of modern economic growth is based on technological progress.

2. much of modern Indian economy does not nurture sufficient symbiotic relationship with labour-intensive, natural resource-based livelihoods.

3. service sector in India is not very labour-intensive.

4. literate rural population is not willing to enter organised sector.

Which of the statements given above are correct?

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 3 and 4 only

(c) 1, 2 and 3 only

(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4

Answer

(c) 1, 2 and 3 only

India has banking correspondents, who help bring people in the hinterland into the banking fold. For them to succeed, banks cannot crimp on costs. They also cannot afford to ignore investing in financial education and literacy. Banking correspondents are way too small to be viewed as a systemic risk. Yet India’s banking regulator has restricted them to serving only one bank, perhaps to prevent arbitrage. Efforts at banking outreach may succeed only if there are better incentives at work for such last-mile workers and also those providers who ensure not just basic bank accounts but also products such as accident and life insurance and micro pension schemes.

(a) Efforts to bring people in India’s hinterland into the banking system are not successful.

(b) For meaningful financial inclusion, India’s banking system needs more number of banking correspondents and other such last-mile workers.

(c) Meaningful financial inclusion in India requires that banking correspondents have diverse skills

(d) Better banking outreach would be impossible unless each banking correspondent is allowed to serve a number of banks

Answer

(c) Meaningful financial inclusion in India requires that banking correspondents have diverse skills

Read the following five passages and answer the items that follow each passage. Your answers to these items should be based on the passages only.

India’s economic footprint, given its population, still remains small compared to the US, the European Union or China. It has much to learn from other economies, yet must implement solutions that fit its unique circumstances. India especially needs an effective long-term regulatory system based on collaboration rather than the current top-down approach. Regulations seek desirable outcomes yet are repeatedly used as political tools to push one agenda or another. Often, regulations fail to consider impacts on jobs and economic growth — or less restrictive alternatives. Regulations may be used to protect local markets at the expense of more widely shared prosperity in the future. Additionally, regulations inevitably result in numerous unintended consequences. In today’s hyper competitive global economy, regulations need to be viewed as “weapons” that seek cost-justified social and environmental benefits while improving the economic well-being of most citizens.

(a) A better regulatory system will help India achieve the size of economy appropriate to its population.

(b) In a competitive global economy, India must use regulations strategically.

(c) Regulations in India do not favour its integration with today’s hyper competitive global economy.

(d) Job creation and economic growth should be dominant considerations in developing India’s regulatory system.

Answer

(b) In a competitive global economy, India must use regulations strategically.

In today’s global economy,

1. regulations are not effectively used to protect local markets.

2. social and environmental concerns are generally ignored by the governments across the world while implementing the regulations.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

In a study, scientists compared the microbiomes of poorly nourished and well-nourished infants and young children. Gut microbes were isolated from faecal samples of malnourished and healthy children. The microbiome was “immature” and less diverse in malnourished children compared to the better developed “mature” microbiome found in healthy children of the same age. According to some studies, the chemical composition of mother’s milk has shown the presence of a modified sugar (sialylated oligosaccharides). This is not utilized by the baby for its own nutrition. However, the bacteria constituting the infant’s microbiome thrive on this sugar which serves as their food. Malnourished mothers have low levels of this sugar in their milk. Consequently, the microbiomes of their infants fail to mature. That in turn, leads to malnourished babies.

(a) If malnourished condition in children is caused by gut bacteria, it cannot be treated.

(b) The guts of malnourished babies should be inoculated with mature microbiomes.

(c) Babies of malnourished mothers should be fed with dairy milk fortified with sialylated oligosaccharides instead of mother’s milk.

(d) Research on benign effects of gut bacteria on nutrition has policy implications.

Answer

(d) Research on benign effects of gut bacteria on nutrition has policy implications.

1. Processed probiotic foods are a solution to treat the children suffering from malnutrition due to immature gut bacteria composition.

2. The babies of malnourished mothers generally tend to be’ malnourished.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer

(b) 2 only

Temperatures have risen nearly five times as rapidly on the Western Antarctic Peninsula than the global average over the past five decades. Researchers have now found that melting glaciers are causing a loss of species diversity among benthos in the coastal waters off the Antarctic Peninsula, Impacting an entire seafloor ecosystem. They Believe increased levels of suspended sediment in water to be the cause of the dwindling biodiversity in the coastal region.

1. Regions of glaciers warm faster than other regions due to global warming.

2. Global warming can lead to seafloor sedimentation in some areas.

3. Melting glaciers can reduce marine biodiversity in some areas.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 3 only

(c) 2 and 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

Answer

(c) 2 and 3 only

A research team examined a long-term owl roost. Owls prey on small mammals and the excreted remains of those meals that accumulated over the time, provide us an insight into the composition and structure of small mammals over the past ‘millennia. The research suggested that when the Earth went through a period of rapid warming about 13,000 years ago, the small mammal community was stable and resilient. But, from the last quarter of the nineteenth century, human-made changes to the environment had caused an enormous drop in biomass and energy flow. This dramatic decline in energy flow means modern ecosystems are not adapting as easily as they did in the past.

1. Global warming is a frequently occurring natural phenomenon.

2. The impending global warming will not adversely affect small mammals.

3. Humans are responsible for the loss of the Earth’s natural resilience.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 3 only

(c) 2 and 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

Answer

(b) 3 only

Food varieties extinction is happening all over the world and it is happening fast. For example, of the 7,000 apple varieties that were grown during the nineteenth century, fewer than a hundred remain. In the Philippines, thousands of varieties of rice once thrived; now only up to a hundred are grown there. In China, 90 % of the wheat varieties cultivated just a century ago have disappeared. Farmers in the past painstakingly bred and developed crops well suited to the peculiarities of their local climate and environment. In the recent past, our heavy dependence on a few high yielding varieties and technology-driven production and distribution of food is causing the dwindling of diversity in food crops. If some mutating crop disease or future climate change decimates the few crop plants, we have come to depend on to feed our growing population, we might desperately need some of those varieties we have let go extinct.

1. Humans have been the main reason for the large-scale extinction of plant species.

2. Consumption of food mainly from locally cultivated crops ensures crop diversity.

3. The present style of production and distribution of food will finally lead to the problem of food scarcity in the near future.

4. Our food security may depend on our ability to preserve the locally cultivated varieties of crops.

Which of the above assumptions are valid?

(a) 1 and 3

(b) 2 and 4

(c) 2 and 3

(d) 1 and 4

Answer

(b) 2 and 4