Comprehension PYQ — Page 11

Today, the top environmental challenge is a combination of people and their aspirations. If the aspirations are more like the frugal answer had after the Second World War, a lot more is possible than if we view the planet as a giant shopping mall. We need to get beyond the fascination with glitter and understand that the planet works as a biological system. Which of the following is the most crucial and logical Inference that can be made from the above passage?

Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow. Your answers to the given questions should be related to the passage only. A male tiger vas removed from the Pench Tiger Reserve and was relocated in Parma National Park. Later, this tiger trekked toward his home 250 miles away. The trek of this solitary tiger highlights a crisis. Many wildlife reserves exist as islands of fragile habitat in a vast sea of humanity, yet tigers can range over a hundred miles, seeking prey, mates and territory. Nearly one third of India’s tigers live outside the tiger reserves, a situation that is dangerous for both human and animals. The tigers and prey can only disperse if there are recognized corridors of land between protected areas to allow unmolested passage. Which of the following is the most rational and crucial message given by the passage?

Cooking with biomass and coal in India is now recognized to cause major health problems, with women and children in poor populations facing the greatest risk. There are more than 10 lakh premature deaths each year from household air pollution due to polluting cooking fuels with another 1.5 lakh due to their contribution to genera! outdoor air pollution in the country. Although the fraction of the Indian population using clean cooking fuels, such as LPG natural gas and electricity, is slowly rising, the number using polluting solid fuels as their primary cooking fuel has remained static for nearly 30 years at about 70 crore. Which of the following is the most crucial and logical inference that can be made from the above passage?

Scientific knowledge has its dangers, but so has every great thing. Over and beyond the dangers with which it threatens the present, it opens up as nothing else can, the vision of a possible happy world; a world without poverty, without war, with little illness. Science, whatever unpleasant consequences it may have by the way, is in its very nature a liberator. Which one of the following is the most important implication of the passage?

I am a scientist, privileged to be somebody who tries to understand nature using the tools of science. But it is also clear that there are some really important questions that science cannot really answer, such as: Why is there something instead of nothing? Why are we here? In those domains, I have found that faith provides a better path to answers. I find it oddly anachronistic that in today's culture there seems to be a widespread presumption that scientific and spiritual views are incompatible. Which of the following is the most logical and rational inference that can be made from the above passage?

The Arctic's vast reserves of fossil fuel, fish and minerals are now accessible for a longer period in a year But unlike Antarctica, which is protected from exploitation by the Antarctic Treaty framed during the Cold War and is not subject to territorial claims by any country, there is no legal regime protecting the Arctic from industrialization, especially at a time when the world craves for more and more resources. The distinct possibility of ice-free summer has prompted countries with Arctic coastline to scramble for great chunks of the melting ocean. Which one of the following is the most important implication of the passage?

The greatest blessing that technological progress has in store for mankind is not, of course, an accumulation of material possessions. The amount of these that can be effectively enjoyed by' one individual in one lifetime is not great.. But there is not the same narrow limit to the possibilities of the enjoyment of leisure. The gift of leisure may be abused by people who have had no experience of making use of it. Yet the creative use of leisure by a minority in societies has been the mainspring of all human progress beyond the primitive level. With reference to the above passage, the following assumptions 'have been made: 1. People always see the leisure time as a gift and use it for acquiring more material possessions. 2. Use of leisure by some people to produce new and original things has been the chief source of human progress. Which of these assumptions is/are valid?

"The individual, according to Rousseau, parts his person and all his power in common under the supreme direction of the General will and in our corporate capacity we receive each member as an indivisible part of the whole." In the light of the above passage, the nature of General Will is best described as

A successful democracy depends upon widespread interest and participation in politics, in which voting is an essential part. To deliberately refrain from taking such an interest, and from voting, is a kind of implied anarchy; it is to refuse one's political responsibility while enjoying the benefits of a free political society. This passage relates to –

Why do people prefer open defecation and not want toilets or, if they have them, only use them sometimes? Recent research has shown two critical elements: ideas of purity and pollution, and not wanting pits or septic tanks to fill because they have to be emptied. These are the issues that nobody wants to talk about, but if we want to eradicate the practice of open defecation, they have to be confronted and dealt properly. Which among the following is the most crucial message conveyed by the above passage?

We have hard work ahead. There is no resting for any of us till we redeem our pledge in full, till we make all the people of India what destiny intends them to be. We are citizens of a great country, on the verge of bold advance, and we have to live up to that high standard. All of us, to whatever religion we may belong are equally the children of India with equal rights, privileges and obligations. We cannot encourage communalism or narrowmindedness, for no nation can be great whose people are narrow in thought or action. The challenge the author of the above passage throws to the public is to achieve.

A landscape-scale approach to land use can encourage greater biodiversity outside protected areas. During hurricane ‘Mitch’ in 1998, farms using ecoagricultural practices suffered 58 percent, 70 percent and 99 percent less damage in Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala, respectively, than farms using conventional techniques. In Costa Rica, vegetative windbreaks and fencerows boosted farmers’ income from pasture and coffee while also increasing bird diversity. Bee pollination is more effective when agricultural fields are closer to natural or seminatural habitat, a finding that matters because 87 percent of the world’s 107 leading crops depend on animal pollinators. In Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Colombia silvopastoral systems that integrate trees with pastureland are improving the sustainability of cattle production, and diversifying and increasing farmers’ income. Which among the following is the most logical and rational inference that can be made from the above passage?

By 2020, when the global economy is expected to run short of 56 million young people, India, with its youth surplus of 47 million, could fill the gap. It is in this context that labour reforms are often cited as the way to unlock double-digit growth in India. In 2014, India's labour force was estimated to be about 40 per cent of the population, but 93 per cent of this force was in unorganized sector. Over the last decade, the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of employment has slowed to 0.5 percent, with about 14 million jobs created during last year when the labour force increased by about 15 million. Which of the following is the most rational inference from the above passage?

There has been a significant trend worldwide towards regionalism in government, resulting in a widespread transfer of powers downwards towards regions and communities since 1990s. This process, which involves the creation of new political entities and bodies at a subnational level and an increase in their content and powers, is known as devolution. Devolution has been characterized as being made up 'of three factors--political legitimacy, decentralization of authority and decentralization of resources. Political legitimacy here means a mass demand from below for the decentralization process, which is able to create a political force for it to take place. In many cases, decentralization is initiated by the upper tier of government without sufficient political mobilization for it at the grassroots level, and in such cases the decentralization process often does not fulfil its objectives. Which among the-following is the most logical, rational and critical inference that can be made from the above passage?

There is no harm in cultivating habits so long as they are not injurious. Indeed, most of us are little more than bundle of habits. Take away our habits and the residuum would hardly be worth bothering about. We could not get on without them. They simplify the mechanism of life. They enable us to do a multitude of things automatically, which, if we had to give fresh and original thought to them each time, would make existence an impossible confusion. The author suggests that habits:

In a democratic State, where a high degree of political maturity of the people obtains, the conflict between the will of the sovereign lawmaking body and the organized will of the people seldom occurs. What does the above passage imply?

The IMF has pointed out that the fast growing economies of Asia face the risk of falling into 'middle-income trap'. It. means that average incomes in these, countries, which till now have been growing rapidly, will stop growing beyond a point-a 'point that is well short of incomes in the developed West. The IMF identifies a number of causes of middle-income trap-none of which is surprising from infrastructure to weak institutions, to less than favourable macroeconomic conditions. But the broad, overall cause, says IMF, is a collapse in the growth of productivity. Which among the following is the most logical, rational and critical inference that can be made from the above passage?

Many farmers use synthetic pesticides to kill infesting insects. The consumption of pesticides in some of the developed countries is touching 3000 grams/hectare. Unfortunately, there are reports that these compounds possess inherent toxicities that endanger the health of the farm operators, consumers and the environment. Synthetic pesticides are generally persistent in environment. Entering in food chain they destroy the microbial diversity and cause ecological imbalance. Their indiscriminate use has resulted in development of resistance among insects to insecticides, upsetting of balance in nature and resurgence of treated populations. Natural pest control using the botanical pesticides is safer to the user and the environment because they break down into harmless compounds within hours or days in the presence of sunlight Plants with pesticidal properties have been in nature for millions of years without any ill or adverse effects on the ecosystem. They are easily decomposed by many microbes common in most soils. They help in the maintenance of biological diversity of predators and the reduction of environmental contamination and human health hazards. Botanical pesticides formulated from plants are biodegradable and their use in crop protection is a practical sustainable alternative. Which of the following statements is/are correct regarding bio pesticides? 1. They are not hazardous to human health. 2. They are persistent in environment. 3. They are essential .to maintain the biodiversity of any ecosystem.

Disruption of traditional institutions, identifications and loyalties is likely to lead to ambivalent situations. It is possible that some people may renew their identification with traditional groups whereas others align themselves with new groups and symbols emergent from processes of political development. In addition, political development tends to foster group awareness of a variety of class, tribe, region, clan, language, religion, occupation and others. Which one of the following is the best explanation of the above passage?

During the summer in the Arctic Ocean, sea ice has been melting earlier and faster and the winter freeze has been coming later. In the last three decades, the extent of summer ice has declined by about 30 per Cent. The lengthening period of summer melt threatens to undermine the whole Arctic food web, atop which stand polar bears. Which among the following is the most crucial message conveyed by the above passage?

Over the last decade, Indian agriculture has become more robust with record production of food. grains and oilseeds. Increased procurement, consequently, has added huge stocks of food grams iii the granaries. India is one of the world's top producers of rice, wheat, milk, fruits and vegetables. 'India is still home to a quarter of all undernourished people in the world. On an average, almost half of the total expenditure of nearly half of the households is on food. Which among the following is the most logical corollary to the above passage?

In the last two decades, the world's gross domestic product (GDP) has increased by 50 per cent, whereas inclusive wealth has increased by a mere 6 per cent. In recent decades, GDP-driven economic performance has only harmed inclusive wealth like human capital; and natural capital like forests, land and water. While the world's human capital which stands at 57 per cent of total inclusive wealth grew by only 8 per cent, the natural capital which is 23 per cent of total inclusive wealth declined by 30 per cent worldwide in the last two decades. Which of the following is the most crucial inference from the above passage?

An air quality index (AQI) is a way to combine measurements of multiple air pollutants into a single number or rating. This index is ideally kept constantly updated and available in different places The AQI is most useful when lots of pollution data are being gathered and when pollution levels are normally, but not always, low. In such cases, if pollution levels spike for a few days, the public can quickly take preventive action (like staying indoors) in response to an air quality warning. Unfortunately, that is not urban India. Pollution levels in many large Indian cities are so high that they remain well above any health or regulatory standard for large part of the year. If our index stays in the 'Red/Dangerous' region day after day, there is not much any one can do, other than getting used to ignoring it. Which among the following is the most logical and rational inference that can be made from the above passage?

The very first lesson that should be taught to us when we are of enough to understand it, is that complete freedom from the obligation to work is unnatural, and ought to be illegal, as we can escape our share of the burden of work only by throwing it on someone else's shoulders. Nature ordains that the human race shall perish of famine if it stops working. We cannot escape from this tyranny. The question we have to settle is how much leisure we can afford to allow ourselves. The main idea of the passage is that: