Table of Contents
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. The fact that there has been a slowdown of late in the rate of growth of the Indian economy is accepted by all, including even Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his all-over-the-place diatribe against critics on October 4. The government, however, sees it as remediable since the economy, it believes, “is on the right track”. The first question to ask, however, is: why should it matter if the year-on-year quarterly GDP growth rate has been slowing down for the last six consecutive quarters and is now down to 5.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2017-18 (which is the lowest for any quarter in the last three years)? In advanced countries the growth rate in the level of activity is considered important because, above all, of its impact on employment, a slow growth rate entailing a lower or even a negative rate of job creation (negative because of labour productivity growth). __________________________________________________.
(a)The Modi government, however, hell-bent on inflicting additional wilful damage on an economy that is already afflicted by the world economic crisis under a neoliberal regime, has neither the courage, nor the imagination, nor the humaneness, to adopt such a course.
(b)Spokespersons of the government have explicitly said that their objective is to “formalise” the economy.
(c)One factor behind this slowing down which is obvious and has affected both China and India is the persistent world economic crisis, whose impact these countries appeared initially to have escaped, but which has finally caught up with them, especially after the counteracting effects of their own local asset price “bubbles” have collapsed.
(d)Nonetheless, while an impressive growth, far from entailing faster employment growth, can even entail an absolute drop in employment, as it has done, a slowing down of growth does mean a further drop in employment, and is undoubtedly a cause for concern.
(e)In India, too, if the jejune thrill of outdoing China’s growth rate did not bedevil economic discourse, then some concern over employment should have figured in the discussion of economic slowdown.
Q2. One of the prime development agendas of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) under the stewardship of NarendraModi was to launch a major sanitation and cleanliness drive. The Prime Minister sounded the bugle for behavioural change on August 15, 2014, and launched the Swachh Bharat Mission on October 2 that year. Striking an emotional chord with the women of India, he lamented that “sisters and mothers” were forced to defecate in the open and said the country had a “responsibility” towards them. ___________________________________________________.Quoting Gandhi’s thoughts that sanitation was more important than independence, the government reduced the Father of the Nation to a symbol of sanitation, forgetting everything else that he had believed in.
(a) Young men in uniform, all contract employees of Sanitation Departments of various States, were seen sweeping roads in cities into the wee hours.
(b) House-to-house collection of waste and its hygienic transportation was a major challenge, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) observed in its status report on solid waste management.
(c) The Modi government has a grandiose plan to make the country free from open defecation by October 2, 2019, which will be the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
(d) A cleanliness drive fortnight was launched before October 2, 2017.
(e) According to the Minister for Drinking Water and Sanitation, India will be free of open defecation by 2019.
Q3. With the launch, in September, of the Saubhagya scheme, a Rs.16,320-crore project aimed at providing electricity to all willing households, the NarendraModi regime has once again brought into focus the enormity of the task of bringing power to every household in the country and the progress the government has made so far. Statistics from the Rural Electrification Corporation show that the targeted number of households is around 4.04 crore, with Uttar Pradesh alone accounting for more than 1.46 crore (nearly 40 per cent). Other States with a high number of households without power are Rajasthan (above 20 lakh), Assam (above 24 lakh), Jharkhand (above 30 lakh), Odisha (above 32 lakh), Madhya Pradesh (nearly 45 lakh) and Bihar (above 64 lakh). _____________________________.
(a) As per latest data available, only about 23 per cent of the target (25.87 lakh households) has been met.
(b) However, the website also says that the rural electrification target aims to bring power to 18,452 villages and that the government has already achieved 79 per cent of the target (14,564).
(c)The government’s latest scheme to achieve universal household electrification is high on ambition and sets impractical targets.
(d) The government can declare a village as electrified if just 10 per cent of the households have been given electrical connections.
(e) According to Central Electricity Authority data, the power supply position in the country has been improving over the past eight years.
Q4. There is a case for stepping up gas usage in our energy mix, from 6-7 per cent of commercial energy now, much lower than the global average of 24 per cent. And in rapidly urbanising India, we need to boost gas supplies to provide peaking power, piped cooking gas, reduce harmful emissions in transportation and also advance manufacturing. Note that gas consumption nationally rose to 55.5 billion cubic metres (BCM) in 2016-17, with almost 31BCM domestic gas output and nearly 25 BCM liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports. _____________________________.
(a) The pact with Japan would also seek to establish reliable spot LNG price indices reflecting true demand and supply.
(b) In the short-to-medium term, there’s much scope to raise LNG imports.
(c) Meanwhile, India’s new exploration policy that offers market-determined gas prices has reportedly led to 45 expressions of interest from oil majors.
(d) Petroleum and natural gas minister DharmendraPradhan says India would soon build a natural gas trading platform.
(e) however, It is welcome that the Centre has decided to revamp market design for natural gas, to better match supply with demand and bring about price efficiency as well.
Q5. India would create 20 world-class universities, Prime Minister NarendraModi said at a rally in Bihar. The ambition to create excellence in higher education is welcome. However, it is not clear that Rs 500 crore each on average over five years for a university and freedom from regulations would do the job. Delhi University’s annual budget already runs to Rs 930 crore a year and an additional Rs 100 crore would not suddenly boost performance. And freedom from restrictive regulation is something that all universities, and not just a chosen few, deserve. _____________________________________________________.
(a) At one level, this means few work at the cutting edge of science and technology, advances in which constantly revolutionise the production process.
(b) India needs a determined drive to upgrade the quality of higher education across the board.
(c) Poor standards of tertiary education are a drag on India’s competitiveness.
(d) Indian industry must show greater ambition and undertake R&D partly through universities.
(e) Moreover, exemption from all regulation can be a disaster, without strong institutional mechanisms.
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. According to the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, compensation for the land should be based on market rates. But the State government often chooses to buy land under the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation Act or the National Highway Act. For the Mumbai-Nagpur expressway, the government is offering farmers the option of land pooling or a one-time settlement. _______________________________.
(a)For irrigated land, farmers get a compensation of 30 per cent of the total acquired land.
(b)In the case of unirrigated land, it will be 25 per cent.
(c) Farmers have been resisting land acquisition for other large infrastructure projects as well.
(d) Land pooling is seen as a convenient method of land acquisition for large projects because it eases the problem of acquiring small holdings.
(e)The other option on offer is developed land, which will be a percentage of the total land acquired.
Q7. The Nobel laureate MalalaYousafzai released a strong statement against the violence. She said: “Every time I see the news, my heart breaks at the suffering of the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. I call for the following: Stop the violence. Today we have seen pictures of small children killed by Myanmar’s security forces. These children attacked no one, but still their homes were burnt to the ground. ____________________________________________.”
(a)The dead included children.
(b) If their home is not Myanmar, where they have lived for generations, then where is it?
(c)However, the Myanmarese government accused the Rohingya of setting fire to their own homes.
(d)On August 23, the recommendations of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State were released.
(e)The Rohingya are the most persecuted minority in the world.
Q8. In recent years, Mahan has been in the news for reasons other than its ecological and livelihood significance. It began on April 12, 2006, when the Union Ministry of Coal allocated the Mahan coal block, which is in the Singrauli coalfield, to a joint venture of Essar and Hindalco Limited called Mahan Coal Ltd. The proposed coal mine would have led to the loss of approximately five lakh trees, affected the livelihoods of over 50,000 people in 54 villages, displaced forest-dwelling communities, destroyed and fragmented good-quality natural forests rich in biodiversity, and destroyed the catchment area of perennial rivers which provide water to the entire region. ______________________________________________.Clearing this coal block would open the way for other coal blocks in the region to be mined.
(a) One might think that that was the end of the environmental and human rights violations in Mahan.
(b)This biodiverse region supports a substantial forest-dwelling tribal population.
(c)Besides, there were blatant violations of the Forest Rights Act1 (FRA) and other mandatory regulations.
(d)A large number of Dalit and tribal families who had houses in the villages with proper records to prove their ownership were shown as non-inhabitants.
(e)The communities in these villages alleged that there were many irregularities in the land acquisition process.
Q9. The BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) government’s diversion of resources from scientific pursuits to pseudoscientific preoccupations has forced the scientific community to come out on to the streets. Not usually known for carrying placards or organising processions, the Indian scientific community responded to the assault on science through the “India March for Science”. ____________________________________. On August 9, close to 10,000 protesters marched through more than 30 towns and cities, including Chandigarh, New Delhi, Allahabad, Patna, Ranchi, Pune, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Gangtok, Agartala, Guwahati, Bhubaneswar, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Bengaluru.
(a) of the march said there had never been a greater need for scientists to interact with society as now.
(b)In India too, funds for research were being slashed.
(c)Some protesters were there just to reclaim the idea of protest.
(d)The IITs and the NITs were asked to manage their expenditures from students’ fees.
(e) Institutions and individuals responded to the call given by the Breakthrough Science Society, an organisation of scientists which has its central office in Kolkata and chapters in most States.
Q10. Every December-January since 1997, the entire Indo-Gangetic plain has been witnessing a phenomenon that may be called global cooling. This year has been no different. One reason for this is the massive changes in the land use pattern. Another is the Green Revolution. Large, green, well-irrigated tracts of land have contributed to the moisture in the air, which forms fog and blocks sunlight from reaching the earth. ______________________________.
(a) Prediction that similar weather conditions will prevail for some more time.
(b) As foggy conditions prevail, the cold wave conditions aggravate.
(c)According to him, the foggy condition was first witnessed in 1997 and has continued since then.
(d)There is no respite as there has been no sunshine at all.
(e)The fog, which covered the entire Gangetic plain, has been hanging in the air since December 12, 2012.
Directions (11-15): 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).
Q11. Twenty years after the Asian financial crisis, South Korea seems to have learned its lesson, having taken great pains to strengthen its economic resilience. But now the country is confronting a new set of internal and external risks, which may foreshadow another economic crisis—or worse. In July 1997, a currency crisis that struck Thailand quickly spread to neighbouring economies. ___________________________________.
(a)South Korea was not hit right away, and many believed that it would be spared.
(b)The following month, South Korea turned to the International Monetary Fund for assistance, and launched painful structural reforms.
(c) South Korea forgot matters to come to a head before responding.
(d)As the labour force shrinks, the economy is losing vitality.
(e)As a result, the economy weathered the 2008 global financial crisis far better than most.
Q12. A project proposal and a draft model concessionaire agreement (MCA), drawn up by NITI Aayog and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) in June this year advocates adopting the public private partnership (PPP)model in healthcare and health delivery services. The framework for such a partnership is outlined in a project which goes out of its way to accommodate and facilitate private players in the healthcare system in the name of augmenting select healthcare services for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in tier 2 and tier 3 cities, which, as is commonly known, already have better infrastructure compared with smaller mofussil towns and cities. ______________________.
(a)The processes by which these formulations have been arrived at are equally revealing.
(b) The concessionaire agreement is to be drawn between State governments and selected private partners in the form of a PPP for the treatment of NCDs.
(c) These services are primarily aimed at preventing and treating NCDs
(d) Other reasons include “large infrastructure gaps”, especially in rural areas, significant gaps in human resources
(e) For the first time in independent India, it has been openly admitted in a national health policy document.
Q13. The Indian Army chief, Gen. Bipin Rawat, in a speech delivered in the first week of September, once again talked of a “two front war”, pitting India simultaneously against China and Pakistan. “We have to be prepared. In our context, therefore, warfare lies within the realms of reality,” he said in the speech just a day after Modi and Xi had a cordial meeting. _______________________________. But the Army chief again painted China as an “adversary” who was busy nibbling away at Indian territory.
(a)China had notified the Indian side about its road-building project in Doklam in the month of May but India preferred to send its troops to the part of the Doklam plateau to which the claimant is Bhutan.
(b)Indian diplomats more conversant with China and its politics were roped in to salvage the situation.
(c)Xi was busy making preparations to host the BRICS summit.
(d) The two leaders had agreed to establish a “forward looking” approach to bilateral ties.
(e)The Chinese side would have put forward their other complaints during the meeting between Xi and Modi.
Q14. ACH flight that takes off from India to Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries has in it many Indian workers hoping to fulfil a dream: to make a decent living for themselves and their families. Tens of thousands of workers in the prime of their youth from across India make a beeline for jobs in West Asia. ___________________________________________________.In 2016, 5.07 lakh workers landed in countries in West Asia; in 2015 the number was almost 7.6 lakh. The ECR stamp means that the labourer is legal, but thousands more end up on tourist visas and work in the 18 West Asian countries.
(a)The ECR stamp means that the labourer is legal, but thousands more end up on tourist visas and work in the 18 West Asian countries.
(b)Most labourers end up in harsh work environments, many land in jails, some die and others are tortured.
(c)Besides, the conduct of court proceedings is in Arabic, a language alien to most workers from outside the region.
(d)Legal structures are weak for domestic workers, construction labour and fishermen in the GCC countries.
(e)Until June this year, almost 1.84 lakh such workers took the emigration clearance required (ECR) route to reach these destinations.
Q15. In a democracy, governments change. Parties contest and lose elections. Governments must change. Policies also change according to the need of the moment. All that is usual. There is no quarrel with that. It happens in every country. ________________________. This government does not realizes that we have been a pluralist society and polity, greatly enriched by other lifestyles, respectful of different streams of being an Indian. Today, we are told that we must become a Hindu Rashtra. It is fundamentally different from what we have always stood up for.
(a)But they will be able to do so once they are able to amend the Constitution.
(b)The quarrel is that the fundamentals of India are changing.
(c)For anyone who disagrees with the government, there are ruthless consequences.
(d)People fear that there is a fundamental change.
(e)It is very different because we are now ruled by a different ideology.
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Solutions
S1. Ans. (e)
Sol. Going through the paragraph, we can infer that the paragraph talks about the slowdown in the rate of growth of the Indian economy and its impact on employment of the country. The sentence before the blank talks about the importance of growth rate and its impact on employment in advanced countries. Hence the blank must be filled by the sentence which is related to this theme. Sentence (e) talks about India’s concern over employment and hence making the paragraph complete. All other sentences are irrelevant. Hence sentence (e) is the correct choice.
S2. Ans. (c)
Sol. As we go through the paragraph, we come to the conclusion that the paragraph revolves around the theme of launching a major sanitation and cleanliness drive by NDA government. The sentence before the blank is about the launch of Swachh Bharat Mission on October 2 by PM Modi and his concern for the women of India who were forced to defecate in the open while the sentence after the blank is about making Mahatma Gandhi a symbol of sanitation. Hence the blank must be filled by the sentence related to the sanitation and Mahatma Gandhi. After reading all the sentences, we find that sentence (c) goes in harmony with the paragraph as it talks about making the country defecation free. Hence option (c) is the right choice.
S3. Ans. (a)
Sol. The paragraph here is about the Saubhagya scheme launched by PM Modi aiming to bring power to every household in the country. The sentences before the blank talk about the statistics of the states without electricity and hence the blank must be filled by the sentence related to it. After reading all the sentences, we find that sentence (a) completes the paragraph appropriately as it talks about the statistics of the households which are targeted for providing them electricity. Hence option (a) is the right choice.
S4. Ans. (b)
Sol. Here the paragraph talks about the need to boost gas supplies for urbanizing India. The sentence before the blank gives the statistics of consumption of gas, domestic gas output and liquefied natural gas. Hence the blank must be filled by the sentence related to these terms. Sentence (b) goes correctly with the theme talking about raising LNG imports and hence is the correct choice.
S5. Ans. (e)
Sol. The paragraph revolves around the theme of creating excellence in higher education. The sentences before the blank talks about the budget that runs a university and deserve freedom from restrictive regulation and hence the blank must be filled by the sentence that boost the performance of a university. Sentence (e) is the only sentence that appropriately completes the paragraph and hence is the correct choice.
S6. Ans. (d)
Sol. The paragraph talks about purchasing of land by Maharashtra government under the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation Act or the National Highway Act instead of choosing to purchase under According to the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. The sentence before the blank is about land pooling option which government is offering to the farmers for Mumbai-Nagpur expressway.
Hence the blank must be filled by the sentence related to land pooling. Sentence (d) is correct here as it mentions about land pooling which is a convenient method of land acquisition.
Hence option (d) is the correct option.
S7. Ans. (b)
Sol. The given paragraph is about the statement given by Nobel laureate MalalaYousafzai against the violence in Myanmar. Sentences before the blank specify about the innocent children who were killed in the violence and their homes have burnt. Hence the blank must be filled by the sentence related to the children who were affected by the violence. Going through the sentences, we find that sentence (b) goes correctly as it talks about the children who may survive if their homes would not be in Myanmar. Hence option (b) is the correct choice. All other sentences are irrelevant.
S8. Ans. (c)
Sol. The paragraph talks about the loss of natural forests and communities by the Mahan coal mine which was allocated to a joint venture of Essar and Hindalco Limited by the Union Ministry of Coal. The sentences before the blank talk about the loss of five lakh trees, livelihoods and destruction in the area of perennial rivers. The sentence after the blank is about the clearing the way for other coal mines if this coal block gets cleared. Hence the blank must be filled by the sentence related to these arguments. After reading all the given sentences, we infer that sentence (c) is correct as it is about the coal mines which are violating the FRA act apart from creating havoc to livelihoods and nature.
Hence sentence (c) is the correct option.
S9. Ans. (e)
Sol. The paragraph is about the protests by the science society against the government for not allocating appropriate resources to them. The sentences before the blank is about diversion of resources from scientific pursuits to pseudoscientific preoccupations by the government resulted to the protest by the Indian scientific community. The sentence after the blank is about the protesters marching through more than 30 towns and cities. Hence the blank must be filled by the sentence related to this issue. Sentence (e) which tells about the response by the Breakthrough Science Society goes correctly and making the paragraph complete. All other sentences are irrelevant.
Hence sentence (e) is the right option.
S10. Ans. (b)
Sol. The paragraph here is about global cooling which is a phenomenon occurring every year since 1997 by the massive land use pattern and green revolution. The sentence before the blank talks about the causes of moisture in the air which results in the formation of fog. Hence the blank must be filled by the sentence which tells about these weather conditions. Sentence (b) is correct as it tells about the fog increasing the cold waves. Hence sentence (b) is the correct choice.
S11. Ans. (a)
Sol. The paragraph talks about South Korea overcome with Asian financial crisis twenty years before and now facing internal and external risks resulting to economic crisis. The sentence before the blank tells about the crisis spreading to neighbouring economies from Thailand. Hence the blank must be filled by the sentence related to the above sentence. After reading all the sentences, we can easily infer that sentence (a) is going correctly with the paragraph as it talks about the crisis which will not impact South Korea right away. All other sentences are irrelevant. Hence option (a) is the right choice.
S12. Ans. (b)
Sol. The paragraph here talks about the project highlighting adoption of the Public private partnership (PPP) in healthcare services for non- communicable diseases. Hence the blank must be filled by the sentence talking about the agreement between the two ( public and private partnership). Hence we find that only sentence (b) is going in harmony with the paragraph as it talks about the concessionaire agreement between State governments and selected private partners. Hence option (b) is the right choice.
S13. Ans. (d)
Sol. The paragraph is giving the statement of Indian Army chief, Gen. BipinRawat, which was given a day after Modi and Xi cordial meet. The sentence before the blank talks about the meeting of Modi and Xi while sentence after the blank talks about China as rival by Army chief. Hence the blank must be filled by the sentence which states the relation between India and China. Going through all the sentences, we find that sentence (d) goes in agreement with the paragraph talking about the establishment of bilateral ties between the two nations by the two leaders. Hence option (d) is the correct choice.
S14. Ans. (e)
Sol. The paragraph revolves around the theme of migration of youth from India to West Asia for jobs. The sentence before the blank is telling about the approximate number of workers leaving India while sentence after the blank talks about the exact statistics of number of workers in the year 2016. Hence the blank must be filled by the sentence related to these two arguments. After reading all the sentences, we find that sentence (e) is correct as it tells about the statistics of the number of workers who took the emigration clearance to reach West Asia. Hence option (e) is the right choice.
S15. Ans. (b)
Sol. Here, while reading the paragraph, we can identify the theme which is the change of government and its policies that happens in every country. The sentence before the blank talks about the usual change of government and its policies while sentence after the blank talks about realizing the pluralist society and polity in which we are living in. Hence the blank must be filled by the sentence related to same theme. After reading all the sentences, we can easily point out that sentence (b) is making the paragraph complete, talking about the changing fundamental of India. Hence option (b) is the correct choice.
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