Directions for the following 8 (eight) items:
Read the following passage and answer the items that follow. Your answers to these items should be based on the passage only.
Passage - 1
Human history abounds in claims and theories confining the right of governing to a few select citizens. Exclusion of the many is justified on the ground that human beings may be rightfully segregated for the good of society and viability of the political process.
Which one of the following statements is least essential as a part of the argument in the above passage?
Man seeks control over external things affecting him.
Insociety, there are 'super' and 'sub' human beings.
Exceptions to universal citizen participation are conducive to systemic efficacy.
Governing implies recognition of disparities in individuals capacities.
The question asks to identify the statement that is least essential as a part of the argument presented in the passage. We need to analyze the core argument of the passage and then evaluate each option to see how directly it supports or is implied by that argument.
A) Man seeks control over external things affecting him. This statement is a general observation about human nature and is not specifically tied to the passage's argument about justifying the exclusion of many from governance. The passage focuses on the *reasons for exclusion*, not the general human motivation for control.
Passage - 2
By 2050, the Earth's population will likely have swelled from seven to nine billion people. To fill all those stomachs - while accounting for shifting consumption patterns, climate change, and a finite amount of arable land and potable water - some experts say food production will have to double. How can we make the numbers add up ? Experts say higher yielding crop varieties and more efficient farming methods will be crucial. So will waste reduction. Experts urge cities to reclaim nutrients and water from waste streams and preserve farmland. Poor countries, they say, can improve crop storage and packaging and rich nations could cut back on resource-intensive foods like meat.
Which one of the following statements best sums up the above passage?
The population of the world is growing very fast.
Food security is a perennial problem only in developing countries.
The world does not have enough resources to meet the impending food scarcity.
Food security is increasingly a collective challenge.
The question asks to identify the statement that best summarizes the provided passage. To do this, we need to understand the main theme and key arguments presented in the text, which discusses the challenge of feeding a growing global population and the various solutions proposed.
D) Food security is increasingly a collective challenge. This option best summarizes the passage as it encompasses the global nature of the problem, the various contributing factors, and the diverse, collaborative solutions proposed across different societal levels and nations.
Passage - 3
Many people in India feel that if we cut our defence expenditure on weapon-building, we can create a climate of peace with our neighbours, subsequently reducing the conflict or creating a no-war situation. People who proclaim such ideas are either the victims of war or the propagators of false argument.
With reference to the above passage, which of the following is the most valid assumption?
Building of weapons systems by us has instigated our neighbours to wage wars against us.
The greater spending on weapon-building by us would lessen the possibility of armed conflict with our neighbours.
It is necessary to have state of the art weapons systems for national security.
Many people in India believe that we are wasting our resources on weapon-building.
The question asks for the most valid assumption based on the given passage. An assumption is an unstated premise that must be true for the argument to hold. The passage argues against the idea that cutting defense expenditure (specifically on weapon-building) would create peace. It states that those who propose such ideas are either victims of war or propagators of false arguments. This implies that the author believes increased defense spending, particularly on weapons, is necessary for national security and to deter conflict.
B) The greater spending on weapon-building by us would lessen the possibility of armed conflict with our neighbours.
This option directly reflects the underlying assumption of the passage. If the author believes that cutting weapon-building will NOT create peace and that those who suggest it are wrong, then the logical counter-assumption is that maintaining or increasing weapon-building (defense expenditure) is what actually helps in reducing conflict or maintaining peace through deterrence. The passage implies that a strong defense (through weapon-building) is a deterrent to war, making this the most valid assumption.
Passage - 4
India accounts for nearly a fifth of the world's child deaths. In terms of numbers, it is the highest in the world - nearly 16 lakhs every year. Of these, more than half die in the first month of life. Officials believe that the reason for this is the absence of steps to propagate basic health practices relating to breast feeding and immunisation. Also the large reproductive population of 2.6 crore remains bereft of care during the critical phases of pregnancy and post-delivery. Added to this is the prevalence of child marriages, anaemia among young women and lack of focus on adolescent sanitation, all of which impact child death rates.
Which is the critical inference that can be made from the above passage?
A lot of Indians are illiterate and hence do not recognize the value of basic health practics.
India has a very huge population and the government alone cannot manage public health services.
Universalization and integration of maternal health and child health services can effectively address the problem.
The nutrition of women in child bearing age does not affect child mortality rate.
The passage highlights several factors contributing to high child mortality in India, including lack of basic health practices, inadequate care during pregnancy and post-delivery, child marriages, anaemia in young women, and poor adolescent sanitation. The task is to identify the most critical inference that synthesizes these issues into a solution-oriented statement.
C) Universalization and integration of maternal health and child health services can effectively address the problem. This option directly addresses the core issues highlighted in the passage: lack of care during pregnancy and post-delivery, absence of basic health practices (like breastfeeding and immunisation), and issues affecting young women (like anaemia and adolescent sanitation). Integrating these services would provide a holistic approach to improving both maternal and child health outcomes, thereby reducing child mortality.
Passage - 5
Foods travel more than the people who eat them. Grocery stores and supermarkets are loaded with preserved and processed foods. This, however, often leads to environmental threats, such as pollution generated by long distance food transportation and wastage of food during processing and transportation, destruction of rain forests, reduced nutritional content, increased demand for preservation and packaging. Food insecurity also increases as the produce comes from regions that are not feeding their own population properly.
With reference to the above passage, which of the following statements is/are true?
1. Consuming regionally grown food and not depending on long travelled food is a part of eco-friendly behaviour.
2. Food processing industry puts a burden on our natural resources.
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
The question asks us to identify the true statements based on the provided passage. We need to analyze each statement in light of the information given in the passage.
Correct Option: C) Both 1 and 2
Passage - 6
I must say that, beyond occasionally exposing me to laughter, my constitutional shyness has been of no disadvantage whatever. In fact I can see that, on the contrary, it has been all to my advantage. My hesitancy in speech, which was once an annoyance, is now a pleasure. Its greatest benefit has been that it has taught me the economy of words. I have naturally formed the habit of restraining my thoughts. And I can now give myself the certificate that a thoughtless word hardly ever escapes my tongue or pen. I do not recollect ever having had to regret anything in my speech or writing. I have thus been spared many a mishap and waste of time. Experience has taught me that silence is part of the spiritual discipline of a votary of truth. Proneness to exaggerate, to suppress or modify the truth, wittingly or unwittingly, is a natural weakness of man, and silence is necessary in order to surmount it. A man of few words will rarely be thoughtless in his speech; he will measure every word. We find so many people impatient to talk. There is no chairman of a meeting who is not pestered with notes for permission to speak. And whenever the permission is given the speaker generally exceeds the time-limit, asks for more time, and keeps on talking without permission. All this talking can hardly be said to be of any benefit to the world. It is so much waste of time. My shyness has been in reality my shield and buckler. It has allowed me to grow. It has helped me in my discernment of truth.
The author says that a thoughtless word hardly ever escapes his tongue or pen. Which one of the following is not a valid reason for this?
He has no intention to waste his time.
He believes in the economy of words.
He believes in restraining his thoughts.
He has hesitancy in his speech.
The question asks to identify which of the given options is NOT a valid reason for the author's claim that "a thoughtless word hardly ever escapes his tongue or pen." We need to carefully read the passage and determine which reasons are explicitly or implicitly stated as contributing to this habit, and which one is not.
A) He has no intention to waste his time. This is not presented as a direct reason for the author's carefulness with words, but rather a consequence or a general observation about the wastefulness of excessive talking by others. The passage emphasizes spiritual discipline, economy of words, and restraining thoughts as the primary drivers for his measured speech.
The problem states that the author says he has been spared many a mishap and waste of time, and this sentence comes right after he describes how carefully he speaks and writes. This means that the reason he was spared must come from the lines just before this sentence, which explain his habit with words. We will locate the sentence about being spared and trace what leads up to it.
Locate the relevant sentence: The author says, "I have thus been spared many a mishap and waste of time." The word "thus" shows this is a result of what he has just described.
Trace the lines before it:
Identify the reason: Because he hardly ever speaks or writes a thoughtless word, he never has to regret what he says, and this spares him many mishaps.
Select the option: Only option A gives the reason that comes directly before "thus".
Correct Option: A) he hardly utters or writes a thoughtless word — The author says a thoughtless word hardly ever escapes his tongue or pen, and that he has "thus" been spared many a mishap, showing this habit is the reason.
The problem states that the author says silence is necessary in order to surmount a natural weakness of man. This means that the correct answer must match the weakness the author names in that sentence. We will locate the sentence and compare each option with the weakness it describes.
Locate the relevant sentence: The author says that proneness to exaggerate, to suppress or modify the truth, wittingly or unwittingly, is a natural weakness of man, and silence is necessary in order to surmount it.
Identify the weakness: The weakness is the tendency to exaggerate, or to change the truth by hiding or altering it.
Interpret "proneness to exaggerate": To exaggerate is to make something seem bigger or more important than it is, which means to overstate it. So "proneness to exaggerate" is a tendency to overstate.
Select the option: Silence is necessary to surmount the tendency to overstate.
Correct Option: D) tendency to overstate — The author says silence is necessary to surmount man's proneness to exaggerate, which is the tendency to overstate.
Twelve people form a club. By picking lots, one of them will host a dinner for all once in a month. The number of dinners a particular member has to host in one year is
The problem describes a scenario where one member out of twelve is chosen by lot each month to host a dinner. We need to determine how many dinners a particular member will host in a year. The key phrase here is "by picking lots," which implies a random selection process.
Correct Option: D) Cannot be predicted
The number of dinners a particular member has to host in one year cannot be predicted because the selection process is random ("by picking lots") each month. While we can calculate the expected number of times a member might host, the actual number can vary significantly.
An automobile owner reduced his monthly petrol consumption when the prices went up. The price-consumption relationship is as follows:
If the price goes up to ₹ 80 per litre, his expected consumption (in litres) will be
To determine the expected consumption when the price is ₹80 per litre, we need to analyze the pattern shown in the diagram.
Correct Option: A) 30