Comprehension PYQ — Page 5

"The last end of the state is not to dominate men, nor to restrain them by fear; rather it is so to free each man from fear that he may live and act with full security and without injury to himself or his neighbour. The end of the state, I repeat, is not to make rational beings into brute beasts and machines. It is to enable their bodies and their minds to function safely. It is to lead men to live by, and to exercise, a free reason; that they may not waste their strength in hatred, anger and guile, nor act unfairly toward one another." Based on the above passage, which one of the following terms best expresses the ultimate goal of the state?

A global analysis of nitrogen use efficiency a measure of the amount of nitrogen a plant takes in to grow versus what is left behind as pollution says that using too much fertilizers will lead to increased pollution of waterways and the air. Currently, the global average for nitrogen use efficiency is approximately 0.4, meaning 40 per cent of the total nitrogen added cropland goes into the to the environment, says as study. More than half of the world's population is nourished by food grown with fertilizers containing synthetic nitrogen, which is needed to produce high crop yields. Plants take the nitrogen they need to grow, and the excess is left in the ground, water and air. This results in significant emissions of nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse and ozone depleting gas, and other forms of nitrogen pollution, including eutrophication of lakes and rivers and contamination of river water. Which one of the following statements best reflects the most logical, rational and crucial message implied by the passage?

Benefits of good quality school education accrue only when students complete and leave school after having acquired the gateway skills. Like one learns to walk before running, similarity one picks up advanced skills only after picking the basic foundational skills. The advent of the knowledge economy poses new challenges, and one of the severe consequences of having an uneducated workforce will be our inability to keep pace with the global. economy. Without a strong learning foundation at the primary level, there can be no improvement in higher education or skill development. Which one of-the following statements best reflects the crux of the passage?

Sourcing food from non-agricultural lands (uncultivated systems such as forests, wetlands, pastures, etc.) in addition to agricultural lands enables a systemic approach to food consumption. It allows rural and tribal communities to sustain themselves for the whole year and steer clear of natural disasters and season-induced shortfalls of agricultural food. Since the productivity of trees is often more resilient to adverse weather conditions than annual crops, forest foods often provide a safety net during periods of food shortages caused by crop failure; forest foods also make important contributions during seasonal crop production gaps. Which one of the following statements best reflects the most logical and rational message conveyed by the author of the passage?

Food consumption patterns have changed substantially in India over the past few decades. This has resulted in the disappearance of many nutritious foods such as millets; While food grain production has increased over five times since independence, it has not sufficiently addressed agriculture sector focussed on increasing food production particularly staples, which led to lower production and consumption of indigenous traditional crops/grains, fruits and other vegetables, impacting food and nutrition security in the process. Further, intensive, monoculture agriculture practices can perpetuate the food and nutrition security problem by ' degrading the quality of land water and food derived through them. Based on the above passage, the following assumptions have been made. 1. To implement the Sustainable Development Goals and to achieve zero-hunger goal, monoculture agriculture practices are inevitable even if they do not address malnutrition. 2. Dependence on a few crops has negative consequences for human health and the ecosystem. 3. Government policies regarding food planning need to incorporate nutritional security. 4. For the present monoculture agriculture practices, farmers receive subsidies in various ways and government offers remunerative prices for grains and therefore they do not tend to consider crop diversity. Which of the above assumptions are valid?

There is a claim that organic farming is inherently safer and healthier. The reality is that because the organic farming industry is still young and not well-regulated in India, farmers and consumers, alike, are not only confused about what products are best for them, but sometimes use products in ways that could harm them as well. For example, since organic fertilizers are difficult to obtain on a large scale in India, farmers often use farmyard manure, which may contain toxic chemicals and heavy metals. Certain plant sprays, such as Datum flower and leaf spray, have an element called atropine. If it is not applied in the right dose, it can act on the nervous system of the consumer. Unfortunately, how much and when to use it are not well-researched or regulated issues. Based on the above passage, the following assumptions have been made: 1. Organic farming is inherently unsafe for both fanners and consumers. 2. Farmers and consumers need to be educated about eco-friendly food. Which of the assumptions given above is/are correct?

Environmental problems cause health problems. Substantial changes in lifestyle can reduce environmental or health problems, but this idea appears almost impossible to adopt. With environmental problems, individual efforts can be perceived as having a negligible effect and therefore lead to inertia. With health, on the other hand, individual choices can make the difference between life and death, literally. And yet. barring a few, there seems to be the same collective lethargy towards making their choices. Which one of the following statements best implies the most rational assumption that can be made from the passage?

Science by itself is not enough, there must be a force and discipline outside the sciences to coordinate them and point to a goal. It is not possible to run a course aright when the goal itself has not been rightly placed. What science needs is philosophy the analysis of scientific method and the coordination of scientific purposes and results; without this, any science must be superficial. Government suffers, precisely like science, for lack of philosophy. Philosophy bears to science the same relationship which statesmanship bears to politics movement guided by total knowledge and perspective, as against. aimless and individual seeking. Just as the pursuit of knowledge becomes scholasticism when divorced from the actual needs of men and life, so the pursuit of politics becomes a destructive bedlam when divorced from science and philosophy." Which one of the following statements best reflects the most rational, logical and practical message conveyed by the passage?

Household finance in India is unique, we have a tendency to invest heavily in physical assets such as golden property. Step to encourage the financialization of savings are critical. A populace accustomed to traditional processes will not simply jump into financialization. Hurdles to changes include onerous bureaucracy, a scepticism of organized financial institutions, a lack of basic information about which of the myriad services and providers is best for each family, and how (and even if) one can make the transition between them if necessary. Regarding the financialization of household savings, which of the following statements best reflect the solutions that are implied by the passage? 1. A flexible environment is needed to develop solutions. 2. Households need customised solutions. 3. Innovations in financial technology are required. Select the correct answer using the code given below

In India, a majority of farmers are marginal and small, less educated and possess low adaptive capabilities to climate change, perhaps because of credit and other constraints. So, one cannot expect autonomous adaptation to climate change. Even if it was possible, it would not be sufficient to offset losses from climate change. To deal with this, adaptation to climate change is paramount, alongside a fast mitigation response. Another solution is to have a planned or policy-driven adaptation, which would require the government to come up with policy recommendations. Perception is a necessary pre-requisite for adaptation. Whether farmers are adapting agricultural practices to climate change depends on whether they perceive it or not. However, this is not always enough for adaptation. It is important how a farmer perceives the risks associated with climate change. Which one of the following statements best reflects the most logical and rational message conveyed by the author of the passage?

India should ensure the growth of the digital economy while keeping personal data of citizens secure and protected. No one will innovate in a surveillance-oriented environment or in a place where an individual's personal information is compromised. The ultimate control of data must reside with the individuals who generate it; they should be enabled to use, restrict or monetise it as they wish. Therefore, data protection laws should enable the right kind of innovation - one that is user-centric and privacy protecting. Based on the above passage, the following assumptions have been made: 1. Protection of privacy is not just a right, but it has value to the economy. 2. There is a fundamental link between privacy and innovation. Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

In India, the segregation of municipal waste at source is rare. Recycling is mostly with the informal sector. More than three-fourths of the municipal budget goes into collection and transportation, which leaves very little for processing/resource recovery and disposal. Where does waste-to-energy fit into all this? Ideally it fits in the chain after segregation (between wet waste and the rest), collection, recycling, and before getting to the landfill, technology is most appropriate in converting waste to energy depends on what is in the waste (that is biodegradable versus non-biodegradable component) and its calorific value. The biodegradable component of India municipal solid waste is a little over 50 per cent, and biomethanation offers a major solution for processing this. Which one of the following statements best reflects the crux of the passage?

More than half of Indian women and almost a quarter of Indian men of working age. suffer from anaemia. According to studies, they are anywhere from 5-15% less productive than they could be, as a result thereof. Indian also has the largest tuberculosis burden in the world, costing 170 million workdays to the country annually. But what is just as important as lost productivity now is lost potential in the future. It is becoming increasingly clear that on many measures of cognitive ability, malnourished Indian children perform two or three times worse than their adequately nourished peers. For an economy that will be more dependent on highly skilled workers,' this poses a significant challenge. And it is one that really should be addressed given India's demographic outlook. Which one of the following statements best reflects. What is implied by the passage?

How best can the problems of floods and droughts be addressed so that the losses are minimal and the system becomes resilient? In this context, one important point that needs to be noted is that India gets 'too much' water (about 75% of annual precipitation) during 120 days (June to September) and 'too little' for the remaining 245 days. This skewed water availability has to be managed and regulated for its consumption throughout the year. Which one or the following best reflects the practical, rational and lasting solution?

In an economic organization, allowing mankind to benefit by the productivity of machines should lead to a very good life of leisure and much leisure is apt. to be tedious except to those who have intelligent activities and interests. If a leisured population is to be happy, it must be an educated population, and must be educated with a view to enjoyment as well as to the direct usefulness of technical knowledge. Which of the following statements best reflects the underlying tone of the passage?

The poverty line is quite unsatisfactory when it comes to grasping the extent of poverty in India. It is not only because of its extremely narrow definition of 'who is poor' and the debatable methodology used to count the poor, but also because of a more fundamental assumption underlying it. It exclusively relies on the notion of poverty as insufficient income or insufficient purchasing power. One can better categorize it by calling it income poverty. If poverty is ultimately about deprivations affecting human well-being, then income poverty is only one aspect of it. Poverty Of a life, in our view, lies not merely in the impoverished state in which the person actually lives, but also in the lack of real opportunity given by social constraints as well as personal circumstances-to choose other types of living. Even the relevance of low incomes, meagre possessions, and other aspects of what are standardly seen as economic poverty relate ultimately to their role in curtailing capabilities, i.e., their role in severely restricting the choices people have to lead variable and valued lives. What does the author mean by 'poverty of a life?

If presents bring less thrill now that we are grown up, perhaps it is because we have too much already; or perhaps it is because we have lost the fullness of the joy of giving, and with it the fullness of the joy of receiving. Children's fears are poignant, their miseries are acute, but they do not look too forward nor too far backward. Their joys are clear and complete, because they have not yet learnt' always to add 'but' to every proposition. Perhaps we are too cautious, too anxious, too sceptical. Perhaps some' of our cares would shrink if we thought less about them and entered with more single minded enjoyment into the happiness that come our way. The author of the passage is against

To encourage research is one of the functions of a university. Contemporary universities have encouraged research, not only in those cases where research is necessary, but on all sorts of entirely unprofitable subjects as well. Scientific research is probably never completely valueless. However silly and insignificant it may seem, however mechanical and unintelligent the labours of the researchers, there is always a chance that the results may be of value to the investigator of talent. who can use the. facts collected for him by uninspired but industrious researchers as the basis of some fruitful generalization. But where research is not original but consists in the mere rearrangement of existing materials, where its object is not scientific but literary or historical, then there is a risk of the whole business becoming merely futile. According to the author:

Natural selection cannot anticipate future environments on the earth. Therefore, the set of existing organisms can never be fully prepared for environmental catastrophes that await life. An outcome of this is the extinction of those species which cannot overcome environmental adversity. This failure to survive, in modem terms, can be attributed to the genomes which are unable to withstand geological. vagaries or biological mishaps (infections, diseases and so on). In biological evolution on 'the earth, extinction of species has been a major feature. The earth may presently have up to ten million species, yet more than 90% of species that have ever lived on the earth are now extinct. Once again, the creationist doctrines fail to satisfactorily address why a divine creator will firstly bother to create millions of species and then allow them to perish: The Darwinian explanation for extinct life is once again simple, elegant and at once convincing-organisms go extinct as a function of environmental or biological assaults for which their inheritance deems them ill-equipped. Therefore, the so-called Darwinian theory of evolution is not a theory at all. Evolution happens-this is a fact. The mechanism of evolution (Darwin proposed natural selection) is amply supported by scientific data. Indeed, to date no single zoological, botanical, geological, pale-ontological, genetic or physical evidence has refuted either of the central two main Darwinian ideas. If religion is not taken into consideration, Darwinian Jaws are acceptable just like the laws proposed by Copernicus, Galileo, Newton and Einstein-sets of natural laws that explain natural phenomena in the universe. According to the passage, natural selection cannot anticipate - future environments on the earth as: 1. species not fully prepared to -face the environmental changes that await them will face extinction. 2. all the existing species would get extinct as their genomes will not withstand biological mishaps. 3. inability of the genome to withstand environmental changes would - result in extinction. 4. extinction of species is a common feature. Select the correct answer using the code given below.

For two or three generations past, ever-increasing numbers of individuals have been living as workers merely, not as human beings. An excessive amount of labour is rule today in every circle of society with the result that man's spiritual element cannot thrive. He finds it very difficult to spend his little leisure in serious activities. He does not want to think; or he cannot even if he wants to. He seeks not self-improvement, but entertainment which would enable him to be mentally idle and to forget his usual activities. Therefore, the so-called culture of our age is dependant more on centaur than on theatre, more on newspapers, magazines and crime stories than on serious literature. The passage is based on the idea that

In some places in the world the productivity of staples such as rice and wheat has reached a plateau. Neither new Strains nor fancy agrochemicals are raising the yields. Nor is there much unfarmed land left that is suitable to be bought under the plough. If global temperature continues to rise, some places will become unsuitable for farming. Application of-technology can 'help overcome these problems. Agricultural technology is changing fast. Much of this change is brought about by affluent farmers in the West Americas. Techniques developed in the West are being adapted in some places to make tropical crops more productive. Technology is of little use if it is not adapted. In the developing world, that applies as much to existing farming techniques as it does to the latest advances in genetic modification. Extending to the small holders and subsistence farmers of Africa and Asia the best of today's. agricultural practices, in such simple matters as how much fertilizers to apply and when, would lead to a greatly increased availability of food for humanity. So would things like better roads and storage facilities, to allow for the carriage of-surpluses to markets and reduce wastage. Based on the above passage, the following assumptions have been made: 1. Development of agricultural technology is confined to developed countries. 2. Agricultural technology is not adapted in developing countries. Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

In some places in the world the productivity of staples such as rice and wheat has reached a plateau. Neither new Strains nor fancy agrochemicals are raising the yields. Nor is there much unfarmed land left that is suitable to be bought under the plough. If global temperature continues to rise, some places will become unsuitable for farming. Application of-technology can 'help overcome these problems. Agricultural technology is changing fast. Much of this change is brought about by affluent farmers in the West Americas. Techniques developed in the West are being adapted in some places to make tropical crops more productive. Technology is of little use if it is not adapted. In the developing world, that applies as much to existing farming techniques as it does to the latest advances in genetic modification. Extending to the small holders and subsistence farmers of Africa and Asia the best of today's. agricultural practices, in such simple matters as how much fertilizers to apply and when, would lead to a greatly increased availability of food for humanity. So would things like better roads and storage facilities, to allow for the carriage of-surpluses to markets and reduce wastage. Based on the above passage, the following assumptions have been made: 1. Growing enough food for future generations will be a challenge. 2. Corporate farming is a viable option for food security in poor countries. Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

The poverty line is quite unsatisfactory when it comes to grasping the extent of poverty in India. It is not only because of its extremely narrow definition of 'who is poor' and the debatable methodology used to count the poor, but also because of a more fundamental assumption underlying it. It exclusively relies on the notion of poverty as insufficient income or insufficient purchasing power. One can better categorize it by calling it income poverty. If poverty is ultimately about deprivations affecting human well-being, then income poverty is only one aspect of it. Poverty Of a life, in our view, lies not merely in the impoverished state in which the person actually lives, but also in the lack of real opportunity given by social constraints as well as personal circumstances-to choose other types of living. Even the relevance of low incomes, meagre possessions, and other aspects of what are standardly seen as economic poverty relate ultimately to their role in curtailing capabilities, i.e., their role in severely restricting the choices people have to lead variable and valued lives. Why is income poverty only one measure of counting the 'poor'?

“The social order is a sacred right which is the basis of all other rights. Nevertheless, this right does not come from nature, and must therefore be founded on conventions.” With reference to the above passage, which of the following statement is/are correct? 1. Conventions are the sources of rights of man. 2. Rights of man can be exercised only when there is a social order. Select the correct answer using the code given below