All questions of Passage Based for Practice for CLAT Exam

Passage - 2

The human mind is wired to see patterns. Not only does the brain process information as it comes in, it also stores insights from all your past experiences. Your intuition has been developing and expanding for as long as you've been alive. Every interaction, happy or sad, is cataloged in your memory. Intuition draws from that deep memory well to inform your decisions going forward. In other words, intuitive decisions are based on data, in a way. When we subconsciously spot patterns, the body starts firing neurochemicals in both the brain and gut. These "somatic markers" are what give us that instant sense that something is right ... or that it's off. Not only are these automatic processes faster than rational thought, but your intuition draws from decades of diverse qualitative experience (sights, sounds, interactions, etc.) - a wholly human feature that big data alone could never accomplish. It's also faster than rational thought, which means intuition is a necessary skill that can help decision-making when time is short and traditional analytics may not be available. Many researchers, including machine learning experts and data scientists, are embracing the role hunches play in breakthrough thinking. Intuition is now considered simply another kind of data-one that's no less valuable than traditional analytics. After all, algorithms are created by people and therefore subject to human error. [Extracted with edits from: "The science of intuition can help you understand how to use it" - by Melody Wilding, Quartz at Work, March 2018]

Which one of the following if true, most weakens the argument made by the author?

Passage - 5

The recent judgment of the Bombay High Court in Nishanth Harishchandra Salvi v. State Of Maharashtra noted several instances where the Act has been interpreted. In Para 9, it has observed,
"The Probation of Offenders(P.O. Act) Act is still in force, but 50 years down the line with ever increasing crime rate, the benefits of the P.O. Act, by judicial trend are not being extended to large number of cases. This is not to say that it ought not to be extended in appropriate cases. The benefits have not been encouraged in cases involving socio-economic offences, offences involving sex perversity cases involving moral turpitude or moral delinquency, cases involving misappropriation of property, gold smuggling, food adulteration offences, offences under Prevention of Corruption Act, and even in cases under Section 304A of IPC. Judicial trend has been cautious in not extending probation to persons who are educated and experienced in life and deliberately flout the law with impunity and to those who are potential dangers to the society."
The 41st report of the Law Commission, in 1969, introduced the concept of "suspension of sentence", which later on came to be embodied in section 389 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973. It was to be imposed in a very limited area of operation, where convicts seeking appeal, in certain cases, could have their sentences suspended and consequently let off on bail, pending the appeal.
For many years, several countries have had a well- grounded system ingrained in their administration of criminal justice where in several cases, (where the offences are mostly petty/common and the maximum sentence is less than two or three years as the case may be) a suspended sentence is awarded.
When a Court imposes a suspended sentence, it is not that the seriousness of the crime is not recognized. Apart from plainly being merciful and allowing the convict to remain in circulation in society - with the Damocles' Sword of being sent to prison hanging over his head as a deterrent - there is probably less chance of the offender, reoffending.
The biggest benefit is mutual - to the offender thus let off, as well as to those who are already in prison. The prison population is minimized, thereby maximizing the sparse facilities for the existing prison population. The other by-product of such a situation is preventing a "soft criminal" from having to spend quality time with the hardened ones.

Passage - 1

Fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution are, in the absence of specific constitutional provisions, mainly enforceable against "the State". The definition of 'the State' in article 12 being an "inclusive" one, courts have ruled that where there is pervasive or predominant governmental control or significant involvement in its activity, such bodies, entities and organizations fall within the definition of "the State".
Article 14 is one of the most important Articles of the Indian constitution and it is also regarded as part of the golden triangle of the Constitution along with Article 19 and 21 .In India, this right is very important because there has been a widespread socio-economic difference which has been in existence from a long time. People have been discriminated on the basis of their gender or the religion they follow, therefore Article 14 was included in the Constitution to remove such inequalities and bring all the people under the equal protection of the law. Another important point about this Article is that it not only imposes a duty on the State to abstain from discriminating people but it also puts a positive duty to
take such action by which the inequalities can be bridged between the people. Article 19(1)(a) refers to "freedom of speech and expression". Article 21 refers to right to life.

Following Constitutional principles are need to be taken into perspective while dealing with questions:
1. Fundamental rights shall be made applicable only to the legislative or administrative actions of the state and not the private actions.
2. The State includes the Government and Parliament of India and the Government and the Legislature of each of the States and all local or other authorities within the territory of India or under the control of the Government of India.
3. State means Parliament of India, State Legislatures, Government of India, State Governments and local authorities wherein the Government exercises voting right or right to appoint the management committee.
4. State shall provide and ensure fundamental right to free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years.
5. State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of sex, religion and place of birth.
6. Fundamental right of equality before the law means treating equals equally and unequal's unequally.
7. Any law or administrative action of the state which takes away or abridges fundamental right guaranteed to the citizen, to the extent of contravention, shall be void.
8. Kavita Madhukar, daughter of famous freedom fighter Late Raghu Madhukar, runs a chain of private unaided schools in the State of Madhya Bharat. Madhukar Vidyalaya introduces a new compulsory subject in the curriculum named 'Sex Education and Maternity Care' for all the girls above the age of 11 years. Child rights activist, Veena Dave challenges the new curriculum as violative of fundamental right of compulsory education and discriminates on basis of sex. 

Statement: It's not just fringe conspiracy theorists that can start believing the Earth is flat; many different types of people can be swayed by the arguments of flat Earth.

Assumption I: The arguments of flat earth are persuasive enough for some to consider the case that the earth is flat.

Assumption II: The arguments of flat earth theory is a valid argument that can sway many people.

Passage - 1

Fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution are, in the absence of specific constitutional provisions, mainly enforceable against "the State". The definition of 'the State' in article 12 being an "inclusive" one, courts have ruled that where there is pervasive or predominant governmental control or significant involvement in its activity, such bodies, entities and organizations fall within the definition of "the State".
Article 14 is one of the most important Articles of the Indian constitution and it is also regarded as part of the golden triangle of the Constitution along with Article 19 and 21 .In India, this right is very important because there has been a widespread socio-economic difference which has been in existence from a long time. People have been discriminated on the basis of their gender or the religion they follow, therefore Article 14 was included in the Constitution to remove such inequalities and bring all the people under the equal protection of the law. Another important point about this Article is that it not only imposes a duty on the State to abstain from discriminating people but it also puts a positive duty to
take such action by which the inequalities can be bridged between the people. Article 19(1)(a) refers to "freedom of speech and expression". Article 21 refers to right to life.

Following Constitutional principles are need to be taken into perspective while dealing with questions:
1. Fundamental rights shall be made applicable only to the legislative or administrative actions of the state and not the private actions.
2. The State includes the Government and Parliament of India and the Government and the Legislature of each of the States and all local or other authorities within the territory of India or under the control of the Government of India.
3. State means Parliament of India, State Legislatures, Government of India, State Governments and local authorities wherein the Government exercises voting right or right to appoint the management committee.
4. State shall provide and ensure fundamental right to free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years.
5. State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of sex, religion and place of birth.
6. Fundamental right of equality before the law means treating equals equally and unequal's unequally.
7. Any law or administrative action of the state which takes away or abridges fundamental right guaranteed to the citizen, to the extent of contravention, shall be void.
8. Kavita Madhukar, daughter of famous freedom fighter Late Raghu Madhukar, runs a chain of private unaided schools in the State of Madhya Bharat. Madhukar Vidyalaya introduces a new compulsory subject in the curriculum named 'Sex Education and Maternity Care' for all the girls above the age of 11 years. Child rights activist, Veena Dave challenges the new curriculum as violative of fundamental right of compulsory education and discriminates on basis of sex. 

Passage - 2

The human mind is wired to see patterns. Not only does the brain process information as it comes in, it also stores insights from all your past experiences. Your intuition has been developing and expanding for as long as you've been alive. Every interaction, happy or sad, is cataloged in your memory. Intuition draws from that deep memory well to inform your decisions going forward. In other words, intuitive decisions are based on data, in a way. When we subconsciously spot patterns, the body starts firing neurochemicals in both the brain and gut. These "somatic markers" are what give us that instant sense that something is right ... or that it's off. Not only are these automatic processes faster than rational thought, but your intuition draws from decades of diverse qualitative experience (sights, sounds, interactions, etc.) - a wholly human feature that big data alone could never accomplish. It's also faster than rational thought, which means intuition is a necessary skill that can help decision-making when time is short and traditional analytics may not be available. Many researchers, including machine learning experts and data scientists, are embracing the role hunches play in breakthrough thinking. Intuition is now considered simply another kind of data-one that's no less valuable than traditional analytics. After all, algorithms are created by people and therefore subject to human error. [Extracted with edits from: "The science of intuition can help you understand how to use it" - by Melody Wilding, Quartz at Work, March 2018]

Which of the following is LEAST consistent with the author's reasoning in the passage?

If you do not have a disciplined approach, you will not be able to prepare for the exam. If you do not prepare well for the exam, then you will not get high grades. Getting high grades is necessary to move to the next level.

If the above statements are true, then which of the following must be true?

The acceptability of imposing death as a form of judicial punishment has declined steadily over Connecticut's nearly 400-year history. Secularization, evolving moral standards, new constitutional and procedural protections, and the availability of incarceration as a viable alternative to execution have resulted in capital punishment being available for far fewer crimes and criminals, and being imposed far less frequently, with a concomitant deterioration in public acceptance. 
What has not changed is that, throughout every period of our state's history, the death penalty has been imposed disproportionately on those whom society has marginalized socially, politically, and economically: people of color, the poor and uneducated, and unpopular immigrant and ethnic groups. It always has been easier for us to execute those we see as inferior or less intrinsically worthy. The legislature necessarily has made a determination that he who lives by the sword need not die by it; that life imprisonment without the possibility of release is an adequate and sufficient penalty even for the most horrific of crimes; and that we can express our moral outrage, mete out justice, bring some measure of solace to the families of the victims, and purge the blemish of murder on our community whilst the offender yet lives. If this is true, then, although the death penalty still might serve some minimal retributive function in Connecticut, it lacks any retributive justification.
[Extracted with edits and revisions from: State of Connecticut v. Eduardo Santiago, Supreme Court of Connecticut (SC 17413) - Court's Ruling, October 2015]

Which of the following, if true, most weakens the argument presented in the second paragraph?

Passage - 1

Fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution are, in the absence of specific constitutional provisions, mainly enforceable against "the State". The definition of 'the State' in article 12 being an "inclusive" one, courts have ruled that where there is pervasive or predominant governmental control or significant involvement in its activity, such bodies, entities and organizations fall within the definition of "the State".
Article 14 is one of the most important Articles of the Indian constitution and it is also regarded as part of the golden triangle of the Constitution along with Article 19 and 21 .In India, this right is very important because there has been a widespread socio-economic difference which has been in existence from a long time. People have been discriminated on the basis of their gender or the religion they follow, therefore Article 14 was included in the Constitution to remove such inequalities and bring all the people under the equal protection of the law. Another important point about this Article is that it not only imposes a duty on the State to abstain from discriminating people but it also puts a positive duty to
take such action by which the inequalities can be bridged between the people. Article 19(1)(a) refers to "freedom of speech and expression". Article 21 refers to right to life.

Following Constitutional principles are need to be taken into perspective while dealing with questions:
1. Fundamental rights shall be made applicable only to the legislative or administrative actions of the state and not the private actions.
2. The State includes the Government and Parliament of India and the Government and the Legislature of each of the States and all local or other authorities within the territory of India or under the control of the Government of India.
3. State means Parliament of India, State Legislatures, Government of India, State Governments and local authorities wherein the Government exercises voting right or right to appoint the management committee.
4. State shall provide and ensure fundamental right to free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years.
5. State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of sex, religion and place of birth.
6. Fundamental right of equality before the law means treating equals equally and unequal's unequally.
7. Any law or administrative action of the state which takes away or abridges fundamental right guaranteed to the citizen, to the extent of contravention, shall be void.
8. Kavita Madhukar, daughter of famous freedom fighter Late Raghu Madhukar, runs a chain of private unaided schools in the State of Madhya Bharat. Madhukar Vidyalaya introduces a new compulsory subject in the curriculum named 'Sex Education and Maternity Care' for all the girls above the age of 11 years. Child rights activist, Veena Dave challenges the new curriculum as violative of fundamental right of compulsory education and discriminates on basis of sex. 

Five people Aditi, Bhavya, Chitra, Disha and Ekta live in a building having five floors numbered 1 to 5 sequentially from bottom to top.

If Aditi lives of the topmost floor, which one the following must be true?

Passage - 4

The report by a German cybersecurity firm that medical details of millions of Indian patients were leaked and are freely available on the Internet is worrying. The firm listed 1.02 million studies of Indian patients and 121 million medical images, including CT Scans, MRIs and even photos of the patients, as being available. Such information has the potential to be mined for deeper data analysis and for creating profiles that could be used for social engineering, phishing and online identity theft, among other practices that thrive on the availability of such data on the Darknet - restricted computer networks which exchange information using means such as peer- to-peer file sharing. Public data leaks have been quite common in India - from government websites enabling the download of Aadhaar numbers to electoral data rolls being downloaded in bulk, among others. Unlike the data protection regulations in place in the European Union and in the U.S., India still lacks a comprehensive legal framework to protect data privacy.
The Draft Personal Data Protection Bill 2019 is still to be tabled but could enable protection of privacy. The draft Bill follows up on the provisions recommended by Justice B.N. Srikrishna Committee in 2018. The committee sought to codify the relationship between individuals and firms/state institutions as one between "data principals" (whose information is collected) and "data fiduciaries" (those processing the data) so that privacy is safeguarded by design. While the 2019 version of the Bill seeks to retain the intent and many of the recommendations of the Justice Srikrishna committee, it has also diluted a few provisions. For example, while the Bill tasks the fiduciary to seek the consent in a free, informed, specific, clear form (and which is capable of being withdrawn later) from the principal, it has removed the proviso from the 2018 version of the Bill that said selling or transferring sensitive personal data by the fiduciary to a third party is an offence. There are other substantive issues with the Bill pertaining to the situations when state institutions are granted exemption from seeking consent from principals to process or obtain their information. Yet, considering the manner in which public data are being stored and used by both the state and private entities, a comprehensive Data Protection Act is the need of the hour.

Passage – 1

The acceptability of imposing death as a form of judicial punishment has declined steadily over Connecticut's nearly 400-year history. Secularization, evolving moral standards, new constitutional and procedural protections, and the availability of incarceration as a viable alternative to execution have resulted in capital punishment being available for far fewer crimes and criminals, and being imposed far less frequently, with a concomitant deterioration in public acceptance. 
What has not changed is that, throughout every period of our state's history, the death penalty has been imposed disproportionately on those whom society has marginalized socially, politically, and economically: people of color, the poor and uneducated, and unpopular immigrant and ethnic groups. It always has been easier for us to execute those we see as inferior or less intrinsically worthy. The legislature necessarily has made a determination that he who lives by the sword need not die by it; that life imprisonment without the possibility of release is an adequate and sufficient penalty even for the most horrific of crimes; and that we can express our moral outrage, mete out justice, bring some measure of solace to the families of the victims, and purge the blemish of murder on our community whilst the offender yet lives. If this is true, then, although the death penalty still might serve some minimal retributive function in Connecticut, it lacks any retributive justification.
[Extracted with edits and revisions from: State of Connecticut v. Eduardo Santiago, Supreme Court of Connecticut (SC 17413) - Court's Ruling, October 2015]

Which of the following is similar to the line of reasoning of the author in the last paragraph?

Five people Aditi, Bhavya, Chitra, Disha and Ekta live in a building having five floors numbered 1 to 5 sequentially from bottom to top.

Who among the following can live on any of the five floors?

Passage - 4

The report by a German cybersecurity firm that medical details of millions of Indian patients were leaked and are freely available on the Internet is worrying. The firm listed 1.02 million studies of Indian patients and 121 million medical images, including CT Scans, MRIs and even photos of the patients, as being available. Such information has the potential to be mined for deeper data analysis and for creating profiles that could be used for social engineering, phishing and online identity theft, among other practices that thrive on the availability of such data on the Darknet - restricted computer networks which exchange information using means such as peer- to-peer file sharing. Public data leaks have been quite common in India - from government websites enabling the download of Aadhaar numbers to electoral data rolls being downloaded in bulk, among others. Unlike the data protection regulations in place in the European Union and in the U.S., India still lacks a comprehensive legal framework to protect data privacy.
The Draft Personal Data Protection Bill 2019 is still to be tabled but could enable protection of privacy. The draft Bill follows up on the provisions recommended by Justice B.N. Srikrishna Committee in 2018. The committee sought to codify the relationship between individuals and firms/state institutions as one between "data principals" (whose information is collected) and "data fiduciaries" (those processing the data) so that privacy is safeguarded by design. While the 2019 version of the Bill seeks to retain the intent and many of the recommendations of the Justice Srikrishna committee, it has also diluted a few provisions. For example, while the Bill tasks the fiduciary to seek the consent in a free, informed, specific, clear form (and which is capable of being withdrawn later) from the principal, it has removed the proviso from the 2018 version of the Bill that said selling or transferring sensitive personal data by the fiduciary to a third party is an offence. There are other substantive issues with the Bill pertaining to the situations when state institutions are granted exemption from seeking consent from principals to process or obtain their information. Yet, considering the manner in which public data are being stored and used by both the state and private entities, a comprehensive Data Protection Act is the need of the hour.

Passage - 4

The report by a German cybersecurity firm that medical details of millions of Indian patients were leaked and are freely available on the Internet is worrying. The firm listed 1.02 million studies of Indian patients and 121 million medical images, including CT Scans, MRIs and even photos of the patients, as being available. Such information has the potential to be mined for deeper data analysis and for creating profiles that could be used for social engineering, phishing and online identity theft, among other practices that thrive on the availability of such data on the Darknet - restricted computer networks which exchange information using means such as peer- to-peer file sharing. Public data leaks have been quite common in India - from government websites enabling the download of Aadhaar numbers to electoral data rolls being downloaded in bulk, among others. Unlike the data protection regulations in place in the European Union and in the U.S., India still lacks a comprehensive legal framework to protect data privacy.
The Draft Personal Data Protection Bill 2019 is still to be tabled but could enable protection of privacy. The draft Bill follows up on the provisions recommended by Justice B.N. Srikrishna Committee in 2018. The committee sought to codify the relationship between individuals and firms/state institutions as one between "data principals" (whose information is collected) and "data fiduciaries" (those processing the data) so that privacy is safeguarded by design. While the 2019 version of the Bill seeks to retain the intent and many of the recommendations of the Justice Srikrishna committee, it has also diluted a few provisions. For example, while the Bill tasks the fiduciary to seek the consent in a free, informed, specific, clear form (and which is capable of being withdrawn later) from the principal, it has removed the proviso from the 2018 version of the Bill that said selling or transferring sensitive personal data by the fiduciary to a third party is an offence. There are other substantive issues with the Bill pertaining to the situations when state institutions are granted exemption from seeking consent from principals to process or obtain their information. Yet, considering the manner in which public data are being stored and used by both the state and private entities, a comprehensive Data Protection Act is the need of the hour.

Passage - 4

The report by a German cybersecurity firm that medical details of millions of Indian patients were leaked and are freely available on the Internet is worrying. The firm listed 1.02 million studies of Indian patients and 121 million medical images, including CT Scans, MRIs and even photos of the patients, as being available. Such information has the potential to be mined for deeper data analysis and for creating profiles that could be used for social engineering, phishing and online identity theft, among other practices that thrive on the availability of such data on the Darknet - restricted computer networks which exchange information using means such as peer- to-peer file sharing. Public data leaks have been quite common in India - from government websites enabling the download of Aadhaar numbers to electoral data rolls being downloaded in bulk, among others. Unlike the data protection regulations in place in the European Union and in the U.S., India still lacks a comprehensive legal framework to protect data privacy.
The Draft Personal Data Protection Bill 2019 is still to be tabled but could enable protection of privacy. The draft Bill follows up on the provisions recommended by Justice B.N. Srikrishna Committee in 2018. The committee sought to codify the relationship between individuals and firms/state institutions as one between "data principals" (whose information is collected) and "data fiduciaries" (those processing the data) so that privacy is safeguarded by design. While the 2019 version of the Bill seeks to retain the intent and many of the recommendations of the Justice Srikrishna committee, it has also diluted a few provisions. For example, while the Bill tasks the fiduciary to seek the consent in a free, informed, specific, clear form (and which is capable of being withdrawn later) from the principal, it has removed the proviso from the 2018 version of the Bill that said selling or transferring sensitive personal data by the fiduciary to a third party is an offence. There are other substantive issues with the Bill pertaining to the situations when state institutions are granted exemption from seeking consent from principals to process or obtain their information. Yet, considering the manner in which public data are being stored and used by both the state and private entities, a comprehensive Data Protection Act is the need of the hour.

Statement: We should travel by the metro rail instead of the car because we have to get there on time. Assumption I: T ravelling by metro is more convenient than travelling by car.

Assumption II: There is a metro rail service available for at least part of the distance to destination.

The acceptability of imposing death as a form of judicial punishment has declined steadily over Connecticut's nearly 400-year history. Secularization, evolving moral standards, new constitutional and procedural protections, and the availability of incarceration as a viable alternative to execution have resulted in capital punishment being available for far fewer crimes and criminals, and being imposed far less frequently, with a concomitant deterioration in public acceptance. 
What has not changed is that, throughout every period of our state's history, the death penalty has been imposed disproportionately on those whom society has marginalized socially, politically, and economically: people of color, the poor and uneducated, and unpopular immigrant and ethnic groups. It always has been easier for us to execute those we see as inferior or less intrinsically worthy. The legislature necessarily has made a determination that he who lives by the sword need not die by it; that life imprisonment without the possibility of release is an adequate and sufficient penalty even for the most horrific of crimes; and that we can express our moral outrage, mete out justice, bring some measure of solace to the families of the victims, and purge the blemish of murder on our community whilst the offender yet lives. If this is true, then, although the death penalty still might serve some minimal retributive function in Connecticut, it lacks any retributive justification.
[Extracted with edits and revisions from: State of Connecticut v. Eduardo Santiago, Supreme Court of Connecticut (SC 17413) - Court's Ruling, October 2015]

The argument presented in the first paragraph can be best described as:

Passage - 1

Fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution are, in the absence of specific constitutional provisions, mainly enforceable against "the State". The definition of 'the State' in article 12 being an "inclusive" one, courts have ruled that where there is pervasive or predominant governmental control or significant involvement in its activity, such bodies, entities and organizations fall within the definition of "the State".
Article 14 is one of the most important Articles of the Indian constitution and it is also regarded as part of the golden triangle of the Constitution along with Article 19 and 21 .In India, this right is very important because there has been a widespread socio-economic difference which has been in existence from a long time. People have been discriminated on the basis of their gender or the religion they follow, therefore Article 14 was included in the Constitution to remove such inequalities and bring all the people under the equal protection of the law. Another important point about this Article is that it not only imposes a duty on the State to abstain from discriminating people but it also puts a positive duty to
take such action by which the inequalities can be bridged between the people. Article 19(1)(a) refers to "freedom of speech and expression". Article 21 refers to right to life.

Following Constitutional principles are need to be taken into perspective while dealing with questions:
1. Fundamental rights shall be made applicable only to the legislative or administrative actions of the state and not the private actions.
2. The State includes the Government and Parliament of India and the Government and the Legislature of each of the States and all local or other authorities within the territory of India or under the control of the Government of India.
3. State means Parliament of India, State Legislatures, Government of India, State Governments and local authorities wherein the Government exercises voting right or right to appoint the management committee.
4. State shall provide and ensure fundamental right to free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years.
5. State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of sex, religion and place of birth.
6. Fundamental right of equality before the law means treating equals equally and unequal's unequally.
7. Any law or administrative action of the state which takes away or abridges fundamental right guaranteed to the citizen, to the extent of contravention, shall be void.
8. Kavita Madhukar, daughter of famous freedom fighter Late Raghu Madhukar, runs a chain of private unaided schools in the State of Madhya Bharat. Madhukar Vidyalaya introduces a new compulsory subject in the curriculum named 'Sex Education and Maternity Care' for all the girls above the age of 11 years. Child rights activist, Veena Dave challenges the new curriculum as violative of fundamental right of compulsory education and discriminates on basis of sex. 

Passage - 4

The report by a German cybersecurity firm that medical details of millions of Indian patients were leaked and are freely available on the Internet is worrying. The firm listed 1.02 million studies of Indian patients and 121 million medical images, including CT Scans, MRIs and even photos of the patients, as being available. Such information has the potential to be mined for deeper data analysis and for creating profiles that could be used for social engineering, phishing and online identity theft, among other practices that thrive on the availability of such data on the Darknet - restricted computer networks which exchange information using means such as peer- to-peer file sharing. Public data leaks have been quite common in India - from government websites enabling the download of Aadhaar numbers to electoral data rolls being downloaded in bulk, among others. Unlike the data protection regulations in place in the European Union and in the U.S., India still lacks a comprehensive legal framework to protect data privacy.
The Draft Personal Data Protection Bill 2019 is still to be tabled but could enable protection of privacy. The draft Bill follows up on the provisions recommended by Justice B.N. Srikrishna Committee in 2018. The committee sought to codify the relationship between individuals and firms/state institutions as one between "data principals" (whose information is collected) and "data fiduciaries" (those processing the data) so that privacy is safeguarded by design. While the 2019 version of the Bill seeks to retain the intent and many of the recommendations of the Justice Srikrishna committee, it has also diluted a few provisions. For example, while the Bill tasks the fiduciary to seek the consent in a free, informed, specific, clear form (and which is capable of being withdrawn later) from the principal, it has removed the proviso from the 2018 version of the Bill that said selling or transferring sensitive personal data by the fiduciary to a third party is an offence. There are other substantive issues with the Bill pertaining to the situations when state institutions are granted exemption from seeking consent from principals to process or obtain their information. Yet, considering the manner in which public data are being stored and used by both the state and private entities, a comprehensive Data Protection Act is the need of the hour.

Passage - 2

An appellate court, commonly called an appeals court, court of appeals, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In most jurisdictions, the court system is divided into at least three levels: the trial court, which initially hears cases and reviews evidence and testimony to determine the facts of the case; at least one intermediate appellate court; and a supreme court (or court of last resort), which primarily reviews the decisions of the intermediate courts. A jurisdiction's supreme court is that jurisdiction's highest appellate court. Appellate courts may follow varying rules from country to country. The authority of appellate courts to review decisions of lower courts varies widely from one jurisdiction to another. In some places, the appellate court has limited powers of review. Generally speaking, an appellate court's judgment provides the final directive of the appeals courts with regard to the matter appealed, setting out with specificity the court's decision on whether the action that has been appealed should be affirmed, reversed, remanded or modified.
In the United States, both state and federal appellate courts are usually restricted to examining whether the lower court made the correct legal determinations, rather than hearing direct evidence and determining what the facts of the case were. Furthermore, US appellate courts are usually restricted to hearing appeals based on matters that were originally brought up before the trial court. Hence, such an appellate court will not consider an appellant's argument if it is based on a theory that is raised for the first time in the appeal.
In most US states, and in US federal courts, parties before the court are allowed one appeal as a right. This means that a party who is unsatisfied with the outcome of a trial may bring an appeal to contest that outcome. However, appeals may be costly, and the appellate court must find an error on the part of the court below that justifies upsetting the verdict. Therefore, only a small proportion of trial court decisions result in appeals. Some appellate courts, particularly supreme courts, have the power of discretionary review, meaning that they can decide whether they will hear an appeal brought in a particular case.

Q. Which of the following is not one of the effects an appellate court's judgment produced?

Passage - 4

Passage A: Interdependence between the Chinese and American economies would create conditions to prevent conflict and channel China to shoulder more of the burden in international affairs (lessening the burden on the United States), lift people out of poverty, and set conditions for gradual, evolutionary democratization that would cement better Sino-American relations and benefit the cause both of global order and of human rights. A trade war risks all of that by incentivizing conflict and removing the linkages which might cushion tensions, and, by negatively impacting the standard of living of both Chinese and Americans who depend on the trading relationship, can be seen as unethical in that regard. Passage B: The trading relationship has allowed a Chinese regime that is antithetical to liberal values at home and to the existing international system to acquire more power and resources, which it has used to both pursue greater capabilities to act in the world (often at odds with U.S. preferences) but also to more effectively repress its citizens at home. Disconnecting the U.S. and Chinese economies, despite the short-term pain, is ethical in the long run for removing any tacit U.S. support for China's unliberal practices at home which are at odds with American values but also to lessen the economic and technological bases from which China is emerging as a near-peer competitor to the U.S.

Both the author of Passage A and the author of Passage B would agree with which one of the following?

Passage - 5

The recent judgment of the Bombay High Court in Nishanth Harishchandra Salvi v. State Of Maharashtra noted several instances where the Act has been interpreted. In Para 9, it has observed,
"The Probation of Offenders(P.O. Act) Act is still in force, but 50 years down the line with ever increasing crime rate, the benefits of the P.O. Act, by judicial trend are not being extended to large number of cases. This is not to say that it ought not to be extended in appropriate cases. The benefits have not been encouraged in cases involving socio-economic offences, offences involving sex perversity cases involving moral turpitude or moral delinquency, cases involving misappropriation of property, gold smuggling, food adulteration offences, offences under Prevention of Corruption Act, and even in cases under Section 304A of IPC. Judicial trend has been cautious in not extending probation to persons who are educated and experienced in life and deliberately flout the law with impunity and to those who are potential dangers to the society."
The 41st report of the Law Commission, in 1969, introduced the concept of "suspension of sentence", which later on came to be embodied in section 389 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973. It was to be imposed in a very limited area of operation, where convicts seeking appeal, in certain cases, could have their sentences suspended and consequently let off on bail, pending the appeal.
For many years, several countries have had a well- grounded system ingrained in their administration of criminal justice where in several cases, (where the offences are mostly petty/common and the maximum sentence is less than two or three years as the case may be) a suspended sentence is awarded.
When a Court imposes a suspended sentence, it is not that the seriousness of the crime is not recognized. Apart from plainly being merciful and allowing the convict to remain in circulation in society - with the Damocles' Sword of being sent to prison hanging over his head as a deterrent - there is probably less chance of the offender, reoffending.
The biggest benefit is mutual - to the offender thus let off, as well as to those who are already in prison. The prison population is minimized, thereby maximizing the sparse facilities for the existing prison population. The other by-product of such a situation is preventing a "soft criminal" from having to spend quality time with the hardened ones.

Passage - 3

"Nobody has the right to not be offended. That right doesn't exist in any declaration I have ever read. If you are offended, it is your problem, and frankly lots of things offend lots of people." Acclaimed novelist Salman Rushdie's words, however, will have very few takers in today's India. In a pluralistic society like India, the periphery of free speech is always opaque, and the nebulous distinction between right to dissent and right to offend is even more vague, leaving even the absolutists in an enigmatic dilemma. The right to offend and hate speech are inextricable. Though there is no legal definition of hate speech, a Law Commission report released in March enlists a few criteria to identify it. The report says that the speech must be 'offensive' and project the 'extreme' form of emotion. "The term hate speech has been used invariably to mean expression which is abusive, insulting, intimidating, harassing or which incites violence, hatred or discrimination against groups identified by characteristics such as one's race, religion, language, caste or community, sexual orientation or personal convictions." Sounds like a farrago? The fact that defining feature of sentiments is subjective leads to the rampant misuse of this clause and ultimately to the suppression of free speech. [Extracted with edits and revisions from: "Right to speech, dissent, offend: a conundrum of sorts", by Vinod V.K., The Week, August 2017]

Which one of the following is the main conclusion of the passage?

Passage - 5

The recent judgment of the Bombay High Court in Nishanth Harishchandra Salvi v. State Of Maharashtra noted several instances where the Act has been interpreted. In Para 9, it has observed,
"The Probation of Offenders(P.O. Act) Act is still in force, but 50 years down the line with ever increasing crime rate, the benefits of the P.O. Act, by judicial trend are not being extended to large number of cases. This is not to say that it ought not to be extended in appropriate cases. The benefits have not been encouraged in cases involving socio-economic offences, offences involving sex perversity cases involving moral turpitude or moral delinquency, cases involving misappropriation of property, gold smuggling, food adulteration offences, offences under Prevention of Corruption Act, and even in cases under Section 304A of IPC. Judicial trend has been cautious in not extending probation to persons who are educated and experienced in life and deliberately flout the law with impunity and to those who are potential dangers to the society."
The 41st report of the Law Commission, in 1969, introduced the concept of "suspension of sentence", which later on came to be embodied in section 389 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973. It was to be imposed in a very limited area of operation, where convicts seeking appeal, in certain cases, could have their sentences suspended and consequently let off on bail, pending the appeal.
For many years, several countries have had a well- grounded system ingrained in their administration of criminal justice where in several cases, (where the offences are mostly petty/common and the maximum sentence is less than two or three years as the case may be) a suspended sentence is awarded.
When a Court imposes a suspended sentence, it is not that the seriousness of the crime is not recognized. Apart from plainly being merciful and allowing the convict to remain in circulation in society - with the Damocles' Sword of being sent to prison hanging over his head as a deterrent - there is probably less chance of the offender, reoffending.
The biggest benefit is mutual - to the offender thus let off, as well as to those who are already in prison. The prison population is minimized, thereby maximizing the sparse facilities for the existing prison population. The other by-product of such a situation is preventing a "soft criminal" from having to spend quality time with the hardened ones.

Passage - 4

Passage A: Interdependence between the Chinese and American economies would create conditions to prevent conflict and channel China to shoulder more of the burden in international affairs (lessening the burden on the United States), lift people out of poverty, and set conditions for gradual, evolutionary democratization that would cement better Sino-American relations and benefit the cause both of global order and of human rights. A trade war risks all of that by incentivizing conflict and removing the linkages which might cushion tensions, and, by negatively impacting the standard of living of both Chinese and Americans who depend on the trading relationship, can be seen as unethical in that regard. Passage B: The trading relationship has allowed a Chinese regime that is antithetical to liberal values at home and to the existing international system to acquire more power and resources, which it has used to both pursue greater capabilities to act in the world (often at odds with U.S. preferences) but also to more effectively repress its citizens at home. Disconnecting the U.S. and Chinese economies, despite the short-term pain, is ethical in the long run for removing any tacit U.S. support for China's unliberal practices at home which are at odds with American values but also to lessen the economic and technological bases from which China is emerging as a near-peer competitor to the U.S.

The guiding principle of Passage B is that:

Passage - 4

Passage A: Interdependence between the Chinese and American economies would create conditions to prevent conflict and channel China to shoulder more of the burden in international affairs (lessening the burden on the United States), lift people out of poverty, and set conditions for gradual, evolutionary democratization that would cement better Sino-American relations and benefit the cause both of global order and of human rights. A trade war risks all of that by incentivizing conflict and removing the linkages which might cushion tensions, and, by negatively impacting the standard of living of both Chinese and Americans who depend on the trading relationship, can be seen as unethical in that regard. Passage B: The trading relationship has allowed a Chinese regime that is antithetical to liberal values at home and to the existing international system to acquire more power and resources, which it has used to both pursue greater capabilities to act in the world (often at odds with U.S. preferences) but also to more effectively repress its citizens at home. Disconnecting the U.S. and Chinese economies, despite the short-term pain, is ethical in the long run for removing any tacit U.S. support for China's unliberal practices at home which are at odds with American values but also to lessen the economic and technological bases from which China is emerging as a near-peer competitor to the U.S.

The guiding principle of Passage A is that:

Passage - 3

It is very difficult to trace the origin of judicial activism in India. Since the judiciary has come to be recognized as an independent and separate organ of the Government under the Constitution of India, it would be prudent to scan the period subsequent to 1950 for tracing the origin. However, there are a few instances even prior to that period, where certain selected judges of High Courts established under the Indian High Courts Act, 1861 exhibited certain flashes of judicial activism. Way back in 1893, Justice Mahmood of the Allahabad High Court delivered a dissenting judgment which sowed the seed for judicial activism in India. In that case which dealt with an under trial who could not afford to engage a lawyer, Justice Mahmood held that the pre-condition of the case being heard would be fulfilled only when somebody speaks.
At the outset, it has to be stated that there is no precise definition of judicial activism accepted by one and all. However, there is a widely accepted notion that it is related to problems and processes of political development of a country. In other words, judicial activism deals with the political role played by the judiciary, like the other two branches of the State, the legislature and the executive. An eminent Indian jurist defines judicial activism in the following words: Judicial Activism is that way of exercising judicial power which seeks fundamental recodification of power relations among the dominant institutions of State, manned by members of the ruling classes.
The same authority goes on to add that judicial activism is the use of judicial power to articulate and enforce counter-ideologies which when effective initiates significant re-codifications of power relations within the institutions of governance. An analysis of the above attempt by Upendra Baxi to define judicial activism shows that activism of the judiciary pertains to the political role played by it, like the other two political branches. The justification for the judicial activism comes from the near collapse of responsible government and the pressures on the judiciary to step in aid which forced the judiciary to respond and to make political or policy-making judgments. Judicial Activism and judicial restraint are the terms used to describe the assertiveness of judicial power. The user of these terms presumes to locate the relative assertiveness of particular courts or individual judges between two theoretical extremes. The extreme model of judicial activism is of a court so intrusive and ubiquitous that it virtually dominates the institutions of government. The Encyclopedia of the American Constitution states that the uses of judicial restraint are not entirely uniform. Often the terms are employed non-committally i.e., merely as descriptive short hand to identify some court or judges as more activist or more restrained than others. In this sense, the usage is neither commendatory nor condemnatory.
These expressions viz., judicial activism and judicial restraint are used from the angle of the personal or professional view of the right role of the Court. Accordingly, the courts may be condemned or commended for straying from or for conforming to that right role. In U.S.A., in more than two centuries of judicial review, superintended by more than one hundred justices who have served on the Supreme Court and who have interpreted a constitution highly ambiguous, in much of its text, consistency has not been institutional but personal. Individual judges have maintained strongly diverse notions of the proper or right judicial role.

Passage - 2

An appellate court, commonly called an appeals court, court of appeals, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In most jurisdictions, the court system is divided into at least three levels: the trial court, which initially hears cases and reviews evidence and testimony to determine the facts of the case; at least one intermediate appellate court; and a supreme court (or court of last resort), which primarily reviews the decisions of the intermediate courts. A jurisdiction's supreme court is that jurisdiction's highest appellate court. Appellate courts may follow varying rules from country to country. The authority of appellate courts to review decisions of lower courts varies widely from one jurisdiction to another. In some places, the appellate court has limited powers of review. Generally speaking, an appellate court's judgment provides the final directive of the appeals courts with regard to the matter appealed, setting out with specificity the court's decision on whether the action that has been appealed should be affirmed, reversed, remanded or modified.
In the United States, both state and federal appellate courts are usually restricted to examining whether the lower court made the correct legal determinations, rather than hearing direct evidence and determining what the facts of the case were. Furthermore, US appellate courts are usually restricted to hearing appeals based on matters that were originally brought up before the trial court. Hence, such an appellate court will not consider an appellant's argument if it is based on a theory that is raised for the first time in the appeal.
In most US states, and in US federal courts, parties before the court are allowed one appeal as a right. This means that a party who is unsatisfied with the outcome of a trial may bring an appeal to contest that outcome. However, appeals may be costly, and the appellate court must find an error on the part of the court below that justifies upsetting the verdict. Therefore, only a small proportion of trial court decisions result in appeals. Some appellate courts, particularly supreme courts, have the power of discretionary review, meaning that they can decide whether they will hear an appeal brought in a particular case.

Passage - 5

The recent judgment of the Bombay High Court in Nishanth Harishchandra Salvi v. State Of Maharashtra noted several instances where the Act has been interpreted. In Para 9, it has observed,
"The Probation of Offenders(P.O. Act) Act is still in force, but 50 years down the line with ever increasing crime rate, the benefits of the P.O. Act, by judicial trend are not being extended to large number of cases. This is not to say that it ought not to be extended in appropriate cases. The benefits have not been encouraged in cases involving socio-economic offences, offences involving sex perversity cases involving moral turpitude or moral delinquency, cases involving misappropriation of property, gold smuggling, food adulteration offences, offences under Prevention of Corruption Act, and even in cases under Section 304A of IPC. Judicial trend has been cautious in not extending probation to persons who are educated and experienced in life and deliberately flout the law with impunity and to those who are potential dangers to the society."
The 41st report of the Law Commission, in 1969, introduced the concept of "suspension of sentence", which later on came to be embodied in section 389 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973. It was to be imposed in a very limited area of operation, where convicts seeking appeal, in certain cases, could have their sentences suspended and consequently let off on bail, pending the appeal.
For many years, several countries have had a well- grounded system ingrained in their administration of criminal justice where in several cases, (where the offences are mostly petty/common and the maximum sentence is less than two or three years as the case may be) a suspended sentence is awarded.
When a Court imposes a suspended sentence, it is not that the seriousness of the crime is not recognized. Apart from plainly being merciful and allowing the convict to remain in circulation in society - with the Damocles' Sword of being sent to prison hanging over his head as a deterrent - there is probably less chance of the offender, reoffending.
The biggest benefit is mutual - to the offender thus let off, as well as to those who are already in prison. The prison population is minimized, thereby maximizing the sparse facilities for the existing prison population. The other by-product of such a situation is preventing a "soft criminal" from having to spend quality time with the hardened ones.

Passage - 2

An appellate court, commonly called an appeals court, court of appeals, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In most jurisdictions, the court system is divided into at least three levels: the trial court, which initially hears cases and reviews evidence and testimony to determine the facts of the case; at least one intermediate appellate court; and a supreme court (or court of last resort), which primarily reviews the decisions of the intermediate courts. A jurisdiction's supreme court is that jurisdiction's highest appellate court. Appellate courts may follow varying rules from country to country. The authority of appellate courts to review decisions of lower courts varies widely from one jurisdiction to another. In some places, the appellate court has limited powers of review. Generally speaking, an appellate court's judgment provides the final directive of the appeals courts with regard to the matter appealed, setting out with specificity the court's decision on whether the action that has been appealed should be affirmed, reversed, remanded or modified.
In the United States, both state and federal appellate courts are usually restricted to examining whether the lower court made the correct legal determinations, rather than hearing direct evidence and determining what the facts of the case were. Furthermore, US appellate courts are usually restricted to hearing appeals based on matters that were originally brought up before the trial court. Hence, such an appellate court will not consider an appellant's argument if it is based on a theory that is raised for the first time in the appeal.
In most US states, and in US federal courts, parties before the court are allowed one appeal as a right. This means that a party who is unsatisfied with the outcome of a trial may bring an appeal to contest that outcome. However, appeals may be costly, and the appellate court must find an error on the part of the court below that justifies upsetting the verdict. Therefore, only a small proportion of trial court decisions result in appeals. Some appellate courts, particularly supreme courts, have the power of discretionary review, meaning that they can decide whether they will hear an appeal brought in a particular case.

Passage - 3

"Nobody has the right to not be offended. That right doesn't exist in any declaration I have ever read. If you are offended, it is your problem, and frankly lots of things offend lots of people." Acclaimed novelist Salman Rushdie's words, however, will have very few takers in today's India. In a pluralistic society like India, the periphery of free speech is always opaque, and the nebulous distinction between right to dissent and right to offend is even more vague, leaving even the absolutists in an enigmatic dilemma. The right to offend and hate speech are inextricable. Though there is no legal definition of hate speech, a Law Commission report released in March enlists a few criteria to identify it. The report says that the speech must be 'offensive' and project the 'extreme' form of emotion. "The term hate speech has been used invariably to mean expression which is abusive, insulting, intimidating, harassing or which incites violence, hatred or discrimination against groups identified by characteristics such as one's race, religion, language, caste or community, sexual orientation or personal convictions." Sounds like a farrago? The fact that defining feature of sentiments is subjective leads to the rampant misuse of this clause and ultimately to the suppression of free speech. [Extracted with edits and revisions from: "Right to speech, dissent, offend: a conundrum of sorts", by Vinod V.K., The Week, August 2017]

Answer the question considering only the following two statements from the passage:

(1) The right to offend and hate speech are inextricable.
(2) The [Law Commission] report says that [hate] speech must be 'offensive' and project the 'extreme' form of emotion.

The relation between the above two statements can be best described as follows:

Passage - 2

The human mind is wired to see patterns. Not only does the brain process information as it comes in, it also stores insights from all your past experiences. Your intuition has been developing and expanding for as long as you've been alive. Every interaction, happy or sad, is cataloged in your memory. Intuition draws from that deep memory well to inform your decisions going forward. In other words, intuitive decisions are based on data, in a way. When we subconsciously spot patterns, the body starts firing neurochemicals in both the brain and gut. These "somatic markers" are what give us that instant sense that something is right ... or that it's off. Not only are these automatic processes faster than rational thought, but your intuition draws from decades of diverse qualitative experience (sights, sounds, interactions, etc.) - a wholly human feature that big data alone could never accomplish. It's also faster than rational thought, which means intuition is a necessary skill that can help decision-making when time is short and traditional analytics may not be available. Many researchers, including machine learning experts and data scientists, are embracing the role hunches play in breakthrough thinking. Intuition is now considered simply another kind of data-one that's no less valuable than traditional analytics. After all, algorithms are created by people and therefore subject to human error. [Extracted with edits from: "The science of intuition can help you understand how to use it" - by Melody Wilding, Quartz at Work, March 2018]

Which of following is a/are logical corollary(ies) based on the information given on somatic markers?

(1) A mother seeing her child smiling just after taking the CLAT, believes that her child has done well in the CLAT.
(2) A man encountering a feared object like a snake may initiate the fight-or-flight response and cause fear.
(3) A student is feeling very confident before the exam because she has put in considerable hours studying for the exam

Passage – 1

The acceptability of imposing death as a form of judicial punishment has declined steadily over Connecticut's nearly 400-year history. Secularization, evolving moral standards, new constitutional and procedural protections, and the availability of incarceration as a viable alternative to execution have resulted in capital punishment being available for far fewer crimes and criminals, and being imposed far less frequently, with a concomitant deterioration in public acceptance. 
What has not changed is that, throughout every period of our state's history, the death penalty has been imposed disproportionately on those whom society has marginalized socially, politically, and economically: people of color, the poor and uneducated, and unpopular immigrant and ethnic groups. It always has been easier for us to execute those we see as inferior or less intrinsically worthy. The legislature necessarily has made a determination that he who lives by the sword need not die by it; that life imprisonment without the possibility of release is an adequate and sufficient penalty even for the most horrific of crimes; and that we can express our moral outrage, mete out justice, bring some measure of solace to the families of the victims, and purge the blemish of murder on our community whilst the offender yet lives. If this is true, then, although the death penalty still might serve some minimal retributive function in Connecticut, it lacks any retributive justification.
[Extracted with edits and revisions from: State of Connecticut v. Eduardo Santiago, Supreme Court of Connecticut (SC 17413) - Court's Ruling, October 2015]

Why does the author say that "he who lives by the sword need not die by it"?

Passage - 2

An appellate court, commonly called an appeals court, court of appeals, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In most jurisdictions, the court system is divided into at least three levels: the trial court, which initially hears cases and reviews evidence and testimony to determine the facts of the case; at least one intermediate appellate court; and a supreme court (or court of last resort), which primarily reviews the decisions of the intermediate courts. A jurisdiction's supreme court is that jurisdiction's highest appellate court. Appellate courts may follow varying rules from country to country. The authority of appellate courts to review decisions of lower courts varies widely from one jurisdiction to another. In some places, the appellate court has limited powers of review. Generally speaking, an appellate court's judgment provides the final directive of the appeals courts with regard to the matter appealed, setting out with specificity the court's decision on whether the action that has been appealed should be affirmed, reversed, remanded or modified.
In the United States, both state and federal appellate courts are usually restricted to examining whether the lower court made the correct legal determinations, rather than hearing direct evidence and determining what the facts of the case were. Furthermore, US appellate courts are usually restricted to hearing appeals based on matters that were originally brought up before the trial court. Hence, such an appellate court will not consider an appellant's argument if it is based on a theory that is raised for the first time in the appeal.
In most US states, and in US federal courts, parties before the court are allowed one appeal as a right. This means that a party who is unsatisfied with the outcome of a trial may bring an appeal to contest that outcome. However, appeals may be costly, and the appellate court must find an error on the part of the court below that justifies upsetting the verdict. Therefore, only a small proportion of trial court decisions result in appeals. Some appellate courts, particularly supreme courts, have the power of discretionary review, meaning that they can decide whether they will hear an appeal brought in a particular case.

Q. What is the correct order in which the final verdict of a case is decided?

Passage - 1

Fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution are, in the absence of specific constitutional provisions, mainly enforceable against "the State". The definition of 'the State' in article 12 being an "inclusive" one, courts have ruled that where there is pervasive or predominant governmental control or significant involvement in its activity, such bodies, entities and organizations fall within the definition of "the State".
Article 14 is one of the most important Articles of the Indian constitution and it is also regarded as part of the golden triangle of the Constitution along with Article 19 and 21 .In India, this right is very important because there has been a widespread socio-economic difference which has been in existence from a long time. People have been discriminated on the basis of their gender or the religion they follow, therefore Article 14 was included in the Constitution to remove such inequalities and bring all the people under the equal protection of the law. Another important point about this Article is that it not only imposes a duty on the State to abstain from discriminating people but it also puts a positive duty to
take such action by which the inequalities can be bridged between the people. Article 19(1)(a) refers to "freedom of speech and expression". Article 21 refers to right to life.

Following Constitutional principles are need to be taken into perspective while dealing with questions:
1. Fundamental rights shall be made applicable only to the legislative or administrative actions of the state and not the private actions.
2. The State includes the Government and Parliament of India and the Government and the Legislature of each of the States and all local or other authorities within the territory of India or under the control of the Government of India.
3. State means Parliament of India, State Legislatures, Government of India, State Governments and local authorities wherein the Government exercises voting right or right to appoint the management committee.
4. State shall provide and ensure fundamental right to free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years.
5. State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of sex, religion and place of birth.
6. Fundamental right of equality before the law means treating equals equally and unequal's unequally.
7. Any law or administrative action of the state which takes away or abridges fundamental right guaranteed to the citizen, to the extent of contravention, shall be void.
8. Kavita Madhukar, daughter of famous freedom fighter Late Raghu Madhukar, runs a chain of private unaided schools in the State of Madhya Bharat. Madhukar Vidyalaya introduces a new compulsory subject in the curriculum named 'Sex Education and Maternity Care' for all the girls above the age of 11 years. Child rights activist, Veena Dave challenges the new curriculum as violative of fundamental right of compulsory education and discriminates on basis of sex. 

Passage – 1

The acceptability of imposing death as a form of judicial punishment has declined steadily over Connecticut's nearly 400-year history. Secularization, evolving moral standards, new constitutional and procedural protections, and the availability of incarceration as a viable alternative to execution have resulted in capital punishment being available for far fewer crimes and criminals, and being imposed far less frequently, with a concomitant deterioration in public acceptance. 
What has not changed is that, throughout every period of our state's history, the death penalty has been imposed disproportionately on those whom society has marginalized socially, politically, and economically: people of color, the poor and uneducated, and unpopular immigrant and ethnic groups. It always has been easier for us to execute those we see as inferior or less intrinsically worthy. The legislature necessarily has made a determination that he who lives by the sword need not die by it; that life imprisonment without the possibility of release is an adequate and sufficient penalty even for the most horrific of crimes; and that we can express our moral outrage, mete out justice, bring some measure of solace to the families of the victims, and purge the blemish of murder on our community whilst the offender yet lives. If this is true, then, although the death penalty still might serve some minimal retributive function in Connecticut, it lacks any retributive justification.
[Extracted with edits and revisions from: State of Connecticut v. Eduardo Santiago, Supreme Court of Connecticut (SC 17413) - Court's Ruling, October 2015]

Which of the following can be inferred as a view that the author will most definitely agree with?

1. We must protect the rights of society's marginalized.
2. Opposing the death penalty does not indicate a lack of sympathy for murder victims.

Passage - 2

The human mind is wired to see patterns. Not only does the brain process information as it comes in, it also stores insights from all your past experiences. Your intuition has been developing and expanding for as long as you've been alive. Every interaction, happy or sad, is cataloged in your memory. Intuition draws from that deep memory well to inform your decisions going forward. In other words, intuitive decisions are based on data, in a way. When we subconsciously spot patterns, the body starts firing neurochemicals in both the brain and gut. These "somatic markers" are what give us that instant sense that something is right ... or that it's off. Not only are these automatic processes faster than rational thought, but your intuition draws from decades of diverse qualitative experience (sights, sounds, interactions, etc.) - a wholly human feature that big data alone could never accomplish. It's also faster than rational thought, which means intuition is a necessary skill that can help decision-making when time is short and traditional analytics may not be available. Many researchers, including machine learning experts and data scientists, are embracing the role hunches play in breakthrough thinking. Intuition is now considered simply another kind of data-one that's no less valuable than traditional analytics. After all, algorithms are created by people and therefore subject to human error. [Extracted with edits from: "The science of intuition can help you understand how to use it" - by Melody Wilding, Quartz at Work, March 2018]

Which one of the following is NOT consistent with intuition?

(1) Knowledge by acquaintance
(2) Perceived from experience
(3) Immediate insight

Passage - 3

"Nobody has the right to not be offended. That right doesn't exist in any declaration I have ever read. If you are offended, it is your problem, and frankly lots of things offend lots of people." Acclaimed novelist Salman Rushdie's words, however, will have very few takers in today's India. In a pluralistic society like India, the periphery of free speech is always opaque, and the nebulous distinction between right to dissent and right to offend is even more vague, leaving even the absolutists in an enigmatic dilemma. The right to offend and hate speech are inextricable. Though there is no legal definition of hate speech, a Law Commission report released in March enlists a few criteria to identify it. The report says that the speech must be 'offensive' and project the 'extreme' form of emotion. "The term hate speech has been used invariably to mean expression which is abusive, insulting, intimidating, harassing or which incites violence, hatred or discrimination against groups identified by characteristics such as one's race, religion, language, caste or community, sexual orientation or personal convictions." Sounds like a farrago? The fact that defining feature of sentiments is subjective leads to the rampant misuse of this clause and ultimately to the suppression of free speech. [Extracted with edits and revisions from: "Right to speech, dissent, offend: a conundrum of sorts", by Vinod V.K., The Week, August 2017]

The argument of the author depends on which one of the following assumptions:

In a Law School, 100 students are divided into four batches - J, K, L and M. Four subjects -Accounting, Business Law, Criminal Law, and Drafting - are taught during four days of a week, starting from Monday through Thursday. There is a faculty member for each subject and a faculty can take only one session in a day. On any given day, sessions for all the four batches should run in parallel.

The following facts are known:

An effective way to handle this logical game is to play it like Sudoku.

Let's code the subjects using numbers

Accounting - 1

Business Law - 2

Criminal Law - 3

Drafting - 4

Base on the fact given following can be captured.

Since each faculty takes a different subject and faculty can only one session per day, there cannot be any repetition of subjects (or the numbers)

Which subject is taken on Monday for batch J?

Passage - 3

It is very difficult to trace the origin of judicial activism in India. Since the judiciary has come to be recognized as an independent and separate organ of the Government under the Constitution of India, it would be prudent to scan the period subsequent to 1950 for tracing the origin. However, there are a few instances even prior to that period, where certain selected judges of High Courts established under the Indian High Courts Act, 1861 exhibited certain flashes of judicial activism. Way back in 1893, Justice Mahmood of the Allahabad High Court delivered a dissenting judgment which sowed the seed for judicial activism in India. In that case which dealt with an under trial who could not afford to engage a lawyer, Justice Mahmood held that the pre-condition of the case being heard would be fulfilled only when somebody speaks.
At the outset, it has to be stated that there is no precise definition of judicial activism accepted by one and all. However, there is a widely accepted notion that it is related to problems and processes of political development of a country. In other words, judicial activism deals with the political role played by the judiciary, like the other two branches of the State, the legislature and the executive. An eminent Indian jurist defines judicial activism in the following words: Judicial Activism is that way of exercising judicial power which seeks fundamental recodification of power relations among the dominant institutions of State, manned by members of the ruling classes.
The same authority goes on to add that judicial activism is the use of judicial power to articulate and enforce counter-ideologies which when effective initiates significant re-codifications of power relations within the institutions of governance. An analysis of the above attempt by Upendra Baxi to define judicial activism shows that activism of the judiciary pertains to the political role played by it, like the other two political branches. The justification for the judicial activism comes from the near collapse of responsible government and the pressures on the judiciary to step in aid which forced the judiciary to respond and to make political or policy-making judgments. Judicial Activism and judicial restraint are the terms used to describe the assertiveness of judicial power. The user of these terms presumes to locate the relative assertiveness of particular courts or individual judges between two theoretical extremes. The extreme model of judicial activism is of a court so intrusive and ubiquitous that it virtually dominates the institutions of government. The Encyclopedia of the American Constitution states that the uses of judicial restraint are not entirely uniform. Often the terms are employed non-committally i.e., merely as descriptive short hand to identify some court or judges as more activist or more restrained than others. In this sense, the usage is neither commendatory nor condemnatory.
These expressions viz., judicial activism and judicial restraint are used from the angle of the personal or professional view of the right role of the Court. Accordingly, the courts may be condemned or commended for straying from or for conforming to that right role. In U.S.A., in more than two centuries of judicial review, superintended by more than one hundred justices who have served on the Supreme Court and who have interpreted a constitution highly ambiguous, in much of its text, consistency has not been institutional but personal. Individual judges have maintained strongly diverse notions of the proper or right judicial role.

Passage - 3

It is very difficult to trace the origin of judicial activism in India. Since the judiciary has come to be recognized as an independent and separate organ of the Government under the Constitution of India, it would be prudent to scan the period subsequent to 1950 for tracing the origin. However, there are a few instances even prior to that period, where certain selected judges of High Courts established under the Indian High Courts Act, 1861 exhibited certain flashes of judicial activism. Way back in 1893, Justice Mahmood of the Allahabad High Court delivered a dissenting judgment which sowed the seed for judicial activism in India. In that case which dealt with an under trial who could not afford to engage a lawyer, Justice Mahmood held that the pre-condition of the case being heard would be fulfilled only when somebody speaks.
At the outset, it has to be stated that there is no precise definition of judicial activism accepted by one and all. However, there is a widely accepted notion that it is related to problems and processes of political development of a country. In other words, judicial activism deals with the political role played by the judiciary, like the other two branches of the State, the legislature and the executive. An eminent Indian jurist defines judicial activism in the following words: Judicial Activism is that way of exercising judicial power which seeks fundamental recodification of power relations among the dominant institutions of State, manned by members of the ruling classes.
The same authority goes on to add that judicial activism is the use of judicial power to articulate and enforce counter-ideologies which when effective initiates significant re-codifications of power relations within the institutions of governance. An analysis of the above attempt by Upendra Baxi to define judicial activism shows that activism of the judiciary pertains to the political role played by it, like the other two political branches. The justification for the judicial activism comes from the near collapse of responsible government and the pressures on the judiciary to step in aid which forced the judiciary to respond and to make political or policy-making judgments. Judicial Activism and judicial restraint are the terms used to describe the assertiveness of judicial power. The user of these terms presumes to locate the relative assertiveness of particular courts or individual judges between two theoretical extremes. The extreme model of judicial activism is of a court so intrusive and ubiquitous that it virtually dominates the institutions of government. The Encyclopedia of the American Constitution states that the uses of judicial restraint are not entirely uniform. Often the terms are employed non-committally i.e., merely as descriptive short hand to identify some court or judges as more activist or more restrained than others. In this sense, the usage is neither commendatory nor condemnatory.
These expressions viz., judicial activism and judicial restraint are used from the angle of the personal or professional view of the right role of the Court. Accordingly, the courts may be condemned or commended for straying from or for conforming to that right role. In U.S.A., in more than two centuries of judicial review, superintended by more than one hundred justices who have served on the Supreme Court and who have interpreted a constitution highly ambiguous, in much of its text, consistency has not been institutional but personal. Individual judges have maintained strongly diverse notions of the proper or right judicial role.

Passage - 2

The human mind is wired to see patterns. Not only does the brain process information as it comes in, it also stores insights from all your past experiences. Your intuition has been developing and expanding for as long as you've been alive. Every interaction, happy or sad, is cataloged in your memory. Intuition draws from that deep memory well to inform your decisions going forward. In other words, intuitive decisions are based on data, in a way. When we subconsciously spot patterns, the body starts firing neurochemicals in both the brain and gut. These "somatic markers" are what give us that instant sense that something is right ... or that it's off. Not only are these automatic processes faster than rational thought, but your intuition draws from decades of diverse qualitative experience (sights, sounds, interactions, etc.) - a wholly human feature that big data alone could never accomplish. It's also faster than rational thought, which means intuition is a necessary skill that can help decision-making when time is short and traditional analytics may not be available. Many researchers, including machine learning experts and data scientists, are embracing the role hunches play in breakthrough thinking. Intuition is now considered simply another kind of data-one that's no less valuable than traditional analytics. After all, algorithms are created by people and therefore subject to human error. [Extracted with edits from: "The science of intuition can help you understand how to use it" - by Melody Wilding, Quartz at Work, March 2018]

Which of the following situations is similar in nature to the intuitive decisions mentioned in the passage?

Passage - 2

An appellate court, commonly called an appeals court, court of appeals, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In most jurisdictions, the court system is divided into at least three levels: the trial court, which initially hears cases and reviews evidence and testimony to determine the facts of the case; at least one intermediate appellate court; and a supreme court (or court of last resort), which primarily reviews the decisions of the intermediate courts. A jurisdiction's supreme court is that jurisdiction's highest appellate court. Appellate courts may follow varying rules from country to country. The authority of appellate courts to review decisions of lower courts varies widely from one jurisdiction to another. In some places, the appellate court has limited powers of review. Generally speaking, an appellate court's judgment provides the final directive of the appeals courts with regard to the matter appealed, setting out with specificity the court's decision on whether the action that has been appealed should be affirmed, reversed, remanded or modified.
In the United States, both state and federal appellate courts are usually restricted to examining whether the lower court made the correct legal determinations, rather than hearing direct evidence and determining what the facts of the case were. Furthermore, US appellate courts are usually restricted to hearing appeals based on matters that were originally brought up before the trial court. Hence, such an appellate court will not consider an appellant's argument if it is based on a theory that is raised for the first time in the appeal.
In most US states, and in US federal courts, parties before the court are allowed one appeal as a right. This means that a party who is unsatisfied with the outcome of a trial may bring an appeal to contest that outcome. However, appeals may be costly, and the appellate court must find an error on the part of the court below that justifies upsetting the verdict. Therefore, only a small proportion of trial court decisions result in appeals. Some appellate courts, particularly supreme courts, have the power of discretionary review, meaning that they can decide whether they will hear an appeal brought in a particular case.

Passage - 3

It is very difficult to trace the origin of judicial activism in India. Since the judiciary has come to be recognized as an independent and separate organ of the Government under the Constitution of India, it would be prudent to scan the period subsequent to 1950 for tracing the origin. However, there are a few instances even prior to that period, where certain selected judges of High Courts established under the Indian High Courts Act, 1861 exhibited certain flashes of judicial activism. Way back in 1893, Justice Mahmood of the Allahabad High Court delivered a dissenting judgment which sowed the seed for judicial activism in India. In that case which dealt with an under trial who could not afford to engage a lawyer, Justice Mahmood held that the pre-condition of the case being heard would be fulfilled only when somebody speaks.
At the outset, it has to be stated that there is no precise definition of judicial activism accepted by one and all. However, there is a widely accepted notion that it is related to problems and processes of political development of a country. In other words, judicial activism deals with the political role played by the judiciary, like the other two branches of the State, the legislature and the executive. An eminent Indian jurist defines judicial activism in the following words: Judicial Activism is that way of exercising judicial power which seeks fundamental recodification of power relations among the dominant institutions of State, manned by members of the ruling classes.
The same authority goes on to add that judicial activism is the use of judicial power to articulate and enforce counter-ideologies which when effective initiates significant re-codifications of power relations within the institutions of governance. An analysis of the above attempt by Upendra Baxi to define judicial activism shows that activism of the judiciary pertains to the political role played by it, like the other two political branches. The justification for the judicial activism comes from the near collapse of responsible government and the pressures on the judiciary to step in aid which forced the judiciary to respond and to make political or policy-making judgments. Judicial Activism and judicial restraint are the terms used to describe the assertiveness of judicial power. The user of these terms presumes to locate the relative assertiveness of particular courts or individual judges between two theoretical extremes. The extreme model of judicial activism is of a court so intrusive and ubiquitous that it virtually dominates the institutions of government. The Encyclopedia of the American Constitution states that the uses of judicial restraint are not entirely uniform. Often the terms are employed non-committally i.e., merely as descriptive short hand to identify some court or judges as more activist or more restrained than others. In this sense, the usage is neither commendatory nor condemnatory.
These expressions viz., judicial activism and judicial restraint are used from the angle of the personal or professional view of the right role of the Court. Accordingly, the courts may be condemned or commended for straying from or for conforming to that right role. In U.S.A., in more than two centuries of judicial review, superintended by more than one hundred justices who have served on the Supreme Court and who have interpreted a constitution highly ambiguous, in much of its text, consistency has not been institutional but personal. Individual judges have maintained strongly diverse notions of the proper or right judicial role.

Passage - 4

Passage A: Interdependence between the Chinese and American economies would create conditions to prevent conflict and channel China to shoulder more of the burden in international affairs (lessening the burden on the United States), lift people out of poverty, and set conditions for gradual, evolutionary democratization that would cement better Sino-American relations and benefit the cause both of global order and of human rights. A trade war risks all of that by incentivizing conflict and removing the linkages which might cushion tensions, and, by negatively impacting the standard of living of both Chinese and Americans who depend on the trading relationship, can be seen as unethical in that regard. Passage B: The trading relationship has allowed a Chinese regime that is antithetical to liberal values at home and to the existing international system to acquire more power and resources, which it has used to both pursue greater capabilities to act in the world (often at odds with U.S. preferences) but also to more effectively repress its citizens at home. Disconnecting the U.S. and Chinese economies, despite the short-term pain, is ethical in the long run for removing any tacit U.S. support for China's unliberal practices at home which are at odds with American values but also to lessen the economic and technological bases from which China is emerging as a near-peer competitor to the U.S.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan decided to suspend trade relations with India in a five-point plan, in response to India's move to end special status for Jammu & Kashmir and split it into two union territories. If the above statements are true, based on the reasoning of the author of Passage A, which one of the following would be INCORRECT?

Passage - 1

Fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution are, in the absence of specific constitutional provisions, mainly enforceable against "the State". The definition of 'the State' in article 12 being an "inclusive" one, courts have ruled that where there is pervasive or predominant governmental control or significant involvement in its activity, such bodies, entities and organizations fall within the definition of "the State".
Article 14 is one of the most important Articles of the Indian constitution and it is also regarded as part of the golden triangle of the Constitution along with Article 19 and 21 .In India, this right is very important because there has been a widespread socio-economic difference which has been in existence from a long time. People have been discriminated on the basis of their gender or the religion they follow, therefore Article 14 was included in the Constitution to remove such inequalities and bring all the people under the equal protection of the law. Another important point about this Article is that it not only imposes a duty on the State to abstain from discriminating people but it also puts a positive duty to
take such action by which the inequalities can be bridged between the people. Article 19(1)(a) refers to "freedom of speech and expression". Article 21 refers to right to life.

Following Constitutional principles are need to be taken into perspective while dealing with questions:
1. Fundamental rights shall be made applicable only to the legislative or administrative actions of the state and not the private actions.
2. The State includes the Government and Parliament of India and the Government and the Legislature of each of the States and all local or other authorities within the territory of India or under the control of the Government of India.
3. State means Parliament of India, State Legislatures, Government of India, State Governments and local authorities wherein the Government exercises voting right or right to appoint the management committee.
4. State shall provide and ensure fundamental right to free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years.
5. State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of sex, religion and place of birth.
6. Fundamental right of equality before the law means treating equals equally and unequal's unequally.
7. Any law or administrative action of the state which takes away or abridges fundamental right guaranteed to the citizen, to the extent of contravention, shall be void.
8. Kavita Madhukar, daughter of famous freedom fighter Late Raghu Madhukar, runs a chain of private unaided schools in the State of Madhya Bharat. Madhukar Vidyalaya introduces a new compulsory subject in the curriculum named 'Sex Education and Maternity Care' for all the girls above the age of 11 years. Child rights activist, Veena Dave challenges the new curriculum as violative of fundamental right of compulsory education and discriminates on basis of sex. 

In each of the questions below, you are provided with a statement and two assumptions numbered I and II. Read each statement and determine which assumption or assumptions are implicit in the statement.

Statement: Anger is best viewed as a tool that helps us read and respond to upsetting social situations Assumption I: Anger is instigated by upsetting social situations.

Assumption II: There are at least some ways in which one can respond to upsetting social situations

Passage - 4

Passage A: Interdependence between the Chinese and American economies would create conditions to prevent conflict and channel China to shoulder more of the burden in international affairs (lessening the burden on the United States), lift people out of poverty, and set conditions for gradual, evolutionary democratization that would cement better Sino-American relations and benefit the cause both of global order and of human rights. A trade war risks all of that by incentivizing conflict and removing the linkages which might cushion tensions, and, by negatively impacting the standard of living of both Chinese and Americans who depend on the trading relationship, can be seen as unethical in that regard. Passage B: The trading relationship has allowed a Chinese regime that is antithetical to liberal values at home and to the existing international system to acquire more power and resources, which it has used to both pursue greater capabilities to act in the world (often at odds with U.S. preferences) but also to more effectively repress its citizens at home. Disconnecting the U.S. and Chinese economies, despite the short-term pain, is ethical in the long run for removing any tacit U.S. support for China's unliberal practices at home which are at odds with American values but also to lessen the economic and technological bases from which China is emerging as a near-peer competitor to the U.S.

U.S. imposed six waves of tariffs on a number of imports of China. The US' losses mounted steadily over the year, as each wave of tariffs affected additional countries and products from washing machines to steel and aluminum. The US' losses hit the hardest after the sixth wave, when the U.S. levied $200 billion in Chinese imports with a 10 percent tariff.

If the above statements are true, based on the reasoning of the author of Passage B:

Passage - 4

The report by a German cybersecurity firm that medical details of millions of Indian patients were leaked and are freely available on the Internet is worrying. The firm listed 1.02 million studies of Indian patients and 121 million medical images, including CT Scans, MRIs and even photos of the patients, as being available. Such information has the potential to be mined for deeper data analysis and for creating profiles that could be used for social engineering, phishing and online identity theft, among other practices that thrive on the availability of such data on the Darknet - restricted computer networks which exchange information using means such as peer- to-peer file sharing. Public data leaks have been quite common in India - from government websites enabling the download of Aadhaar numbers to electoral data rolls being downloaded in bulk, among others. Unlike the data protection regulations in place in the European Union and in the U.S., India still lacks a comprehensive legal framework to protect data privacy.
The Draft Personal Data Protection Bill 2019 is still to be tabled but could enable protection of privacy. The draft Bill follows up on the provisions recommended by Justice B.N. Srikrishna Committee in 2018. The committee sought to codify the relationship between individuals and firms/state institutions as one between "data principals" (whose information is collected) and "data fiduciaries" (those processing the data) so that privacy is safeguarded by design. While the 2019 version of the Bill seeks to retain the intent and many of the recommendations of the Justice Srikrishna committee, it has also diluted a few provisions. For example, while the Bill tasks the fiduciary to seek the consent in a free, informed, specific, clear form (and which is capable of being withdrawn later) from the principal, it has removed the proviso from the 2018 version of the Bill that said selling or transferring sensitive personal data by the fiduciary to a third party is an offence. There are other substantive issues with the Bill pertaining to the situations when state institutions are granted exemption from seeking consent from principals to process or obtain their information. Yet, considering the manner in which public data are being stored and used by both the state and private entities, a comprehensive Data Protection Act is the need of the hour.