All questions of Complete Mock Tests for CLAT Exam

Direction: Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below:

Bigamy is marrying someone who has already been legally married to another living person. A person cannot legally marry someone with a living spouse who is still legally married to them. A second marriage will be declared void ab initio, which means that it is null and void from the start. Bigamy is against the law in India, and any Hindu who commits crime will be punished accordingly. When determining the penalty for bigamy, the provisions of Sections 494 and 495 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860) shall apply. The Indian Penal Code Section 494 states that whoever having a husband or wife living, marries in any case in which such marriage is void by reason of its taking place during the life of such husband or wife, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine. The provisions of IPC do not extend to any person whose marriage with such husband or wife has been declared void by a Court of competent jurisdiction, nor to any person who contracts a marriage during the life of a former husband or wife, if such husband or wife, at the time of the subsequent marriage, shall have been continually absent from such person for the space of seven years, and shall not have been heard of by such person as being alive within that time provided the person contracting such subsequent marriage shall, before such marriage takes place, inform the person with whom such marriage is contracted of the real state of facts so far as the same are within his or her knowledge.

Q. In which situation does the Indian Penal Code (IPC) not extend its provisions to a person who contracts a marriage during the life of a former husband or wife?

Directions: Kindly read the passage carefully and answer the questions given beside.

In 400 years, English went from being a small language spoken in the British Isles to becoming the most dominant language in the world. In the year 1600, at the end of Queen Elizabeth I’s reign, English was spoken by 4 million people. By the 2020s, at the end of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign, that number had risen to nearly 2 billion. Today, English is the main language in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand; and it’s an ‘intra-national’ language in former British colonies such as India, Singapore, South Africa and Nigeria. It is Earth’s lingua franca.

For some, English is Britain’s greatest ‘gift’ to the world. In an online interview with ConservativeHome in May 2022, Suella Braverman, now the UK’s Home Secretary, said she was proud of the British Empire for giving its colonies infrastructure, legal systems, the civil service, militaries and, in her words, ‘of course, the English language’. On the other side of the political spectrum, in 2008 Gordon Brown, then the prime minister, delivered a speech in which he stated that he wanted ‘Britain to make a new gift to the world’ by supporting anyone outside the UK who wished to learn English. In the same year, The Times announced proposals for a new museum dedicated to the language, to ‘celebrate England’s most elaborate gift to the world’. And, more recently, Mark Robson of the British Council described English as ‘the UK’s greatest gift to the world’. The notion of English as a gift from Britain to the planet is so commonplace it’s almost unremarkable.

English may have become universal, but not everyone believes it is a gift. In fact, many hold diametrically opposite views. In an article in The Guardian in 2018, the journalist Jacob Mikanowski described English as a ‘behemoth, bully, loudmouth, thief’, highlighting that the dominance of English threatens local cultures and languages. Due to the ways in which English continues to gain ground worldwide, many languages are becoming endangered or extinct. This not only impacts relatively small languages like Welsh or Irish, but also larger languages, such as Yoruba in Nigeria, which are pressured by English in business, trade, education, the media and technology.

For this reason, a number of scholars in the field of sociolinguistics consider English a killer language and have described it as a kind of monster, like the deadly multi-headed Hydra from Greek mythology. Those who see English from this perspective consider its global roles a form of linguistic imperialism, a system of profound inequality between English and other languages, which are crushed under the might of a former colonial power, Britain, and the current world superpower, the US. In The Oxford Handbook of World Englishes (2017), the sociolinguists Robert Phillipson and Tove Skutnabb-Kangas note how ‘the international prestige and instrumental value of English can lead to linguistic territory being occupied at the expense of local languages and the broad democratic role that national languages play.’

Q. What is the author's perspective on the global adoption of English?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.

An American actress had once observed, rather caustically, that marriage is nothing but a financial contract. Indian women and their maternal families, unfortunately, would appreciate the sarcasm. This is because India, in spite its righteous claims of being a modern, knowledge-based economy, loses, as many as 20 of its daughters every single day on account of harassment related to dowry, a regressive custom that reduces marriage to an unequal, transactional compact.
Social capital — education and employment — or the lack of it is no insurance against this venomous tradition. Recently, in Ahmedabad, a woman — young, educated, with a decent job — ended her life; her family says that she could no longer cope with the ceaseless demands of money and the torture from her husband's family. At the other end of the spectrum are families in South Asia that are driven to chronic poverty on account of exorbitant dowry payments that are far higher than their incomes. Several factors are attributed to explain the endurance of this nauseating practice cutting across classes: the imbalances in prevailing inheritance laws that give miniscule rights to women, ineffective deterrents — India's Dowry Prohibition Act is one example — are among them. Bride price — the sum that the groom needs to pay to the bride in some cultures — has also been known to be a cause of friction and, often, violence.
The battle against anti-progressive customs that discriminate against women needs to be fought on multiple fronts. Existing laws must be complemented by prompt, fair investigations, with punitive action taken speedily when guilt is established. Public awareness campaigns must be invested in to expose the troubling implications of such demands. But there is also a need to open a second front: an intelligent harnessing of tradition itself as a means of empowerment. Hearteningly, women and, on some occasions, men are showing the way by harnessing orthodoxy to a liberal agenda. Earlier this month, a young Muslim woman in Murshidabad set an example to her neighbours by demanding — and receiving — 60 books as part of her mohor. Such a welcome 'transaction' seems to be gaining ground with educated couples choosing knowledge over primitiveness: in the South 24 Parganas, a teacher — he loves reading — received, much to his surprise, a gift of nearly 1,000 books in another incident.
This coupling of tradition with progress could yield encouraging results. The jaundiced notion of linking a woman's life and dignity to wealth could also be challenged without proposing radical alternative interventions that may not find wider acceptance in a conservative milieu. The challenge, for policymakers and administrators, is to nurture this flickering flame.
[Extracted with edits and revisions from an editorial published in The Telegraph]

Q. Which of the following statements is ACCURATE according to the passage?

(i) India's Dowry Prohibition Act is rarely effective because thorough and impartial investigations in dowry-related cases are infrequent.
(ii) Combining tradition with progress can be exemplified by the exchange of books instead of wealth as dowry.
(iii) The issue of dowry has escalated, leading to an alarming rise in mortality and morbidity among Indian women.

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.

HBTR University of Technology and Management offers B.Tech only in ECE and CS. There are currently 1500 students studying in the final year. The ratio of boys to girls among the final year students is 7 : 23.
Out of the boys studying in final year, 48.57% study in ECE. 1/5 of the total number of girls studying in CS in final year are trained in JAVA. Out of all the final year students studying CS, exactly 500 are trained in C++ and rest in JAVA. The number of girls studying in final year in CS is 42.85% more than the total number of boys studying in final year.
The number of boys studying in ECE in final year is 70% more than the number of boys studying in ECE in final year, trained in Networking. Rest of the boys studying in ECE final year have been trained in MATLAB, whose number is 58.82% less than the number of girls in ECE final year that are trained in Networking. Out of the total number of students studying in final year, all have been selected by three companies A, B and C. The number of students placed in company A is 50% less than the number of students placed in company B and is exactly equal to the number of students placed in company C. (Assume that an ECE student is trained in either MATLAB or Networking, and a CS student is trained in either C++ or JAVA.)

Q. If all the students selected by company B are in ECE final year, then what percent of ECE final year students that are trained in MATLAB are not placed in company B, if all the networking trained students have been selected by company B?

Directions: Kindly read the passage carefully and answer the questions given beside.

A tort is a wrongful act or an infringement of a right, which is a civil wrong and the person who commits a tortious act is legally responsible for the damages suffered by the claimant. A tort is different than the criminal wrongs as the criminal wrong is punishable by the state. Purposely touching or applying force on other persons or things related to the person without his consent with the intention to harm the person is known as a battery. It is only considered when there is an actual physical contact without the consent of the person to harm the person. Generally, assault is followed by the battery which is the reason assault and battery are mostly used together. The legal term assault refers to an attempt by one person to cause serious bodily harm to another person. This may be through a deliberate act, or through irresponsible actions that show a deliberate lack of respect for the victim's safety. Assault is also defined as carrying out threat of bodily harm, or having the ability to carry out the threat. Assault is both a crime and a civil wrong, and may result in criminal charges and/or civil liability. To explore this concept, consider the following assault definition.
According to historic criminal laws, assault and battery were two crimes that could possibly occur at the same time. Assault referred to any intentional act that causes another person to be fearful of immediate harm. This required the perpetrator to have the means or ability to carry out his threat, making the victim's fear valid, and no actual physical contact was required.
In simple Assault no weapon is used, and the injuries sustained by the victim are relatively minor. Simple assault is usually a misdemeanor. Aggravated assault is committed with a weapon, or an assault or threat of harm committed with the intent to commit a more serious crime, such as rape. Assault against a person of a protected class, such as an elderly person, or a child is also included in it. Sexual Assault is a catchall term referring to any act of a sexual nature perpetrated on a person without his or her consent. Another is, assault with a deadly weapon in which physical assault or violence committed by using, or attempting to use, a weapon or object that is capable of causing serious injury or death.
[Extracted, with edits and revisions, from Battery as a Tort, blog by iPleaders]

Q. Samar loses patience with Manish when it comes to the issue of paternal property inheritance. Samar punches Manish in the face, damaging his left eye, as a result of their argument. Decide.

Directions: Study the following information carefully and answer the questions given beside.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday told the foreign ministers of G20 countries they are meeting at a time of “deep global divisions” and discussions are “affected by the geopolitical tensions of the day”. Modi, who began the session, said, “We must all acknowledge that multilateralism is in crisis today. The architecture of global governance, created after the Second World War, was to serve two functions. First, to prevent future wars by balancing competing interests. Second, to foster international cooperation on issues of common interests. The experience of the last few years – financial crisis, climate change, pandemic, terrorism, and wars – clearly shows that global governance has failed in both its mandates.”

He also brought up the issues faced by the developing and the less developed countries, widely referred to as the Global South. He said, “We must also admit that the tragic consequences of this failure are being faced most of all by the developing countries. After years of progress, we are at risk today of moving back on the Sustainable Development Goals. Many developing countries are struggling with unsustainable debt, while trying to ensure food and energy security for their people. They are also the ones most affected by global warming caused by richer countries. This is why India’s G20 Presidency has tried to give a voice to the Global South. No group can claim global leadership without listening to those most affected by its decisions.”

[Extracted, with edits and revisions, from: “Draw inspiration from India’s civilisational ethos: PM Modi at G20 foreign ministers meet, by Shubhajit Roy”, The Indian Express”]

Q. Which countries from the options below were members of the Axis alliance during World War II?

Directions: Read the given passage and answer the question that follows.

I first saw the leopard when I was crossing the small stream at the bottom of the hill. The ravine was so deep that for most of the day it remained in shadow. This encouraged many birds and animals to emerge from cover during the hours of daylight. Few people ever passed that way. As a result, the ravine had become a little haven of wildlife, one of the few natural sanctuaries left near Mussoorie.
It was early April and the wild roses were flowering. I walked down to the stream almost every day, after two or three hours of writing.
Nearly every morning, and sometimes during the day, I heard the cry of the barking deer. And in the evening, walking through the forest, I disturbed parties of khaleej pheasant. As I had not come to take anything from the jungle, the birds and animals soon grew accustomed to my face. After some time, my approach did not disturb them. But one evening, as I passed, I heard them chattering in the trees, and I was not the cause of their excitement.
As I crossed the stream a shower of pebbles came rattling down the steep hillside, and I looked up to see a sinewy orange-gold leopard poised on a rock about 20 feet above me.
It was not looking towards me, but had its head thrust attentively forward in the direction of the ravine. It must have sensed my presence, though, because slowly it turned its head to look down at me. It seemed a little puzzled at my presence there; when, to give myself courage, I clapped my hands sharply, the leopard sprang away into the thickets, making no sound as it melted into the shadows.
One day I found the remains of a barking deer, which had been partially eaten. I wondered why the leopard had not hidden the remains of his meal, and decided it must have been disturbed while eating. Then, climbing the hill, I met a party of shikaris. Leopard-skins, they told me, were selling in Delhi at over a thousand rupees each! Of course there was a ban on the export of skins, but they gave me to understand that there were ways and means …
I thanked them for their information and walked on, feeling uneasy. The shikaris had seen the carcass of the deer, and they had seen the leopard's pug marks, and they kept coming to the forest. Almost every evening I heard their guns banging away; for they were ready to fire at almost anything.
"There's a leopard about," they always told me. "You should carry a gun."
"I don't have one," I said.

[Excerpted from A Time For All Things: Collected Essays and Sketches by Ruskin Bond, written over a period of 60 years; published by Speaking Tiger, New Delhi]

Q. What encouraged birds and animals to emerge from cover in the ravine during the day?

Directions: Study the following information carefully and answer the questions given beside.

A customer purchased four items, a Jeans, a Cap, a Shirt and a Watch, from a lifestyle store. The store owner sold all the items at a certain profit after allowing some discount to the customer. 

Jeans cost six times as much as the cap and 16% as much as the watch while the cost of the shirt is 90% less than that of the watch.

The store owner sold the jeans, cap, shirt and watch at a profit of 50%, 35%, 33.33% and 10% respectively.

The customer spent a total of Rs. 22640 on all four products combined.

Q. If the cap is marked 65% above its cost price, at what percentage discount the cap is sold?

Directions: Kindly read the passage carefully and answer the questions given beside.

Aunty Nusrat wasn’t someone I spent a lot of time with. I met her, or rather bumped into her, at family gatherings that she always attended punctually. She would greet me warmly with a hug and a sloppy kiss planted on my forehead. She would enquire about my family (even though she would see them standing right next to me) and my studies, and would heap blessings upon me, which included among many things becoming a big doctor and a mother to boys. She was mild and gentle towards everyone, and she was someone people usually said nice things about.

Over the years, this repeated exposure to Aunty Nusrat transformed and turned itself into a habit and then into an expectation. When I crossed into my early 20s, this expectation would announce itself at a family gathering in the form of a slight tug at the heart, which would then dissolve into a feeling of relief upon seeing her. It was as though my mind had a checklist for family gatherings that included Aunty Nusrat as one of the things I needed to cross off. The funny thing about these episodes was they lasted only a few seconds. They never entered my mind before or after the events. They existed only for as long as they took place.

One July afternoon, at a distant cousin’s engagement party, I felt the familiar tug at my heart. I looked around for Aunty Nusrat, but she was nowhere to be seen. I asked a few people, but no one had seen her. Later, closer to when the party was about to conclude, we learned that she had passed away. She had been getting ready to leave for the party when she had suddenly collapsed. She was taken to the hospital where she was declared dead. When we heard about her death, she had already been buried.

We went upstairs and after performing our ablutions, prayed side by side. Throughout the prayers, I felt that I was unable to concentrate. I was upset of course, but I couldn’t say that I was heartbroken or even deeply distressed. I couldn’t understand why I was feeling restless. I thought about Aunty Nusrat and how she had sort of just existed out there for as long as I could remember. I wasn’t missing her, maybe just missing the idea of her. She was like a painting that had stood in your home for years and now had suddenly disappeared, leaving behind just the impression on the wall, a painting that you mostly walked by most days but occasionally you would catch yourself stopping and gazing at its contents before walking off again.

Q. How may Aunty Nusrat be deduced from the passage?

Directions: Study the following information carefully and answer the questions given beside.

In 2019, the ratio of the number of males to females in a city was 3 : 2. The population of males in 2021 was 1000 less than that in 2019. The population of females decreased by 20% from 2019 to 2021. The average number of females in 2020 and 2021 was 9000. The population of the city in 2018 was 37,500 which was 50% more than the population in 2019. The ratio of the number of males in 2018 to that in 2020 was 2 : 1. In 2020, the population of the city decreased by 20% over the previous year.

Q. What is the difference between the population of the city in 2019 and the combined male population of 2018 and 2020?

Directions: Read the given passage and answer the question that follows.

To see the possibility, the certainty, of ruin, even at the moment of creation: it was my temperament. Those nerves had been given to me as a child in Trinidad partly by our family circumstances: the half-ruined or broken-down houses we lived in, our many moves, our general uncertainty. Possibly, too, this mode of feeling went deeper, and was an ancestral inheritance, something that came with the history that had made me: not only India, with its ideas of a world outside men's control, but also the colonial plantations or estates of Trinidad, to which my impoverished Indian ancestors had been transported in the last century – estates of which this Wiltshire estate, where I now lived, had been the apotheosis.
Fifty years ago there would have been no room for me on the estate; even now my presence was a little unlikely. But more than accident had brought me here. Or rather, in the series of accidents that had brought me to the manor cottage, with a view of the restored church, there was a clear historical line. The migration, within the British Empire, from India to Trinidad had given me the English language as my own, and a particular kind of education. This had partly seeded my wish to be a writer which I had been doing in England for twenty years.
The history I carried with me, together with the self-awareness that had come with my education and ambition, had sent me into the world with a sense of glory dead; and in England had given me the rawest stranger's nerves. Now ironically – or aptly – living in the grounds of this shrunken estate, going out for my walks, those nerves were soothed, and in the wild garden and orchard beside the water meadows I found a physical beauty perfectly suited to my temperament and answering, besides, every good idea I could have had, as a child in Trinidad, of the physical aspect of England.
The estate had been enormous, I was told. It had been created in part by the wealth of empire. But then bit by bit it had been alienated. The family in its many branches flourished in other places. Here in the valley there now lived only my landlord, elderly, a bachelor, with people to look after him. Certain physical disabilities had now been added to the malaise which had befallen him years before, a malaise of which I had no precise knowledge, but interpreted as something like acedia, a deep disregard for himself and everything around him – which was how his great security, his excessive worldly blessings, had taken him. The acedia had turned him into a recluse, accessible only to his intimate friends.
[Extracted with edits and revisions from The Enigma of Arrival (New York: Vintage Books, 1988)]

Q. What influenced the author's temperament and sense of uncertainty in life?

Directions: Study the following information and answer the given question.

In a commercial complex of five storeys, five different offices are there viz. HCL, IBM, Infosys, Nugent and Accenture on the floors I, II, III, IV and V, respectively. There are total 6000 employees working in the building. Each employee is employed in only one of the companies. Out of the total employees in the building, 18% are working in IBM and 37% are working in HCL. The ratio of the employees working in Accenture to that working in Infosys is 17 : 19. Only 9% of the total employees are working in Nugent. The ratio of male employees to that of female employees working in Nugent is 7 : 2 and that in Infosys is 17 : 21. The number of male employees working in Accenture is five times the number of female employees. The number of male employees working in HCL is 480 less than the number of male employees working in Accenture. Out of its total employees, IBM has employed approximately 44.45% females.

Q. Out of the total employees working in the building, what is the approximate percentage of male employees employed in Accenture?

Direction: Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.

The Kerala High Court recently clarified that under Section 5 of the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act, 2022, a magistrate can direct a person accused in a criminal case to give samples of signatures and handwriting, even if such person has not been arrested. [Faizal KV v State of Kerala & Anr.]. Justice Raja Vijayaraghanav V made the observation while upholding a magistrate court order by which an accused, who was out on anticipatory bail, was ordered to furnish his handwriting sample in connection with a forgery case. The 2022 Act attaches criminal liability for resistance or refusal by any person to allow taking measurements. As per Section 6 of the 2022 Act, resistance or refusal shall be deemed to be an offence under Section 186 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 which provides punishment for obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions, wherein the person may be imprisoned for a term which may extend to 3 months or with fine which may extend to INR 500 or both. The 2022 Act covers the collection of measurements not only from convicted persons but also persons under preventive detention or arrested for any punishable offence. The 2022 Act authorizes the police or prison officials to compel a person to give measurements. In order to aid in an investigation or proceeding under the CRPC, the 2022 Act empowers a Magistrate to pass an order directing any person to give measurements.

Q. Rahul is currently free on anticipatory bail as a suspect in a forgery case. Under Section 5 of the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act of 2022, the magistrate issues an order requiring him to submit a sample of his handwriting for the investigation. Rahul defies orders. What penalties could Rahul encounter in accordance with the Act's provisions?

Directions: Kindly read the passage carefully and answer the questions given beside.

Humans would not be here but for pregnancy and childbirth. It is true for each of us and, more importantly, true for all of us, collectively. These uncomfortable, protracted and wonderful challenges not only shepherd us into the world, but also shape our behaviour, social structure and the trajectory of our evolution itself. The surprising part is that, while pregnancy and childbirth are fundamental and defining traits of mammals, they have driven us humans to be very un-mammalian indeed.

Popular notion often has it that natural selection works by seizing on fundamental traits and processes, and optimising them with each new beat of the generations and species. But that’s not always true. Instead of functioning as a refining, perfecting tool, evolution in the real world is all about trade-offs: life has limitations, and big changes in one area often mean sacrifices in others. We humans are the smartest, most complex animals on the planet, but we do not have the best or most optimised biology by any stretch, especially not when it comes to reproduction.

Witnessing our fellow mammals give birth, experiencing the rawness of sight, smell and sound, lays bare the biology before us. On the one hand is the disgust born of our evolutionary predilection to avoid blood and fluids of other animals – a necessary impulse in pre-sanitary times. No matter one’s willingness to embrace a positive view of bodily function, the stomach requires training against the mind when any human, for example a doctor, engages this evolutionary apparatus. The shame and avoidance we feel with all forms of bodily discharge are a sound and healthy part of our subconscious.

There is, however, a deeper discomfort that arises from watching our fellow mammals give birth – one notices a nonchalance compared with our own elaborate, painful and sacramental experience. A cow moos and lows in mild discomfort, as one might when feeling full after a good meal, but it does not compare with the suffering of a birthing human mother. The calf is birthed quickly, practically dropping to the ground after a short push – nothing compared with our day or more of arduous labour. For our survival, and the core of our family happiness, our species must endure pain and risk. We are alone in this, and it troubles us.

We are alone because, though we are a mammal like the cow, and like our nearest cousins the chimps and other apes, we do not act like a mammal, hardly ever. Our blood is warm, our skin has hair, our brain is well-integrated across its hemispheres – and there the similarities end. For a mammal, we live too long, we are too smart for our size, and we are too faithful to our partners. In these particulars, we are decidedly not alone – but, rather, alone in our class.

The other post-reptilian, warm-blooded, big-brained class of animals – only distantly related to us – share far more of what makes us human than do our hairy near-cousins. To understand humans – and our reproduction – we have to start with birds.

Q. What can be inferred from the passage among the following options?

Directions: Study the following information carefully and answer the questions given beside.

In 2019, the ratio of the number of males to females in a city was 3 : 2. The population of males in 2021 was 1000 less than that in 2019. The population of females decreased by 20% from 2019 to 2021. The average number of females in 2020 and 2021 was 9000. The population of the city in 2018 was 37,500 which was 50% more than the population in 2019. The ratio of the number of males in 2018 to that in 2020 was 2 : 1. In 2020, the population of the city decreased by 20% over the previous year.

Q. What is the average female population of the city during the period 2018-2021?

Direction: Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below:

Bigamy is marrying someone who has already been legally married to another living person. A person cannot legally marry someone with a living spouse who is still legally married to them. A second marriage will be declared void ab initio, which means that it is null and void from the start. Bigamy is against the law in India, and any Hindu who commits crime will be punished accordingly. When determining the penalty for bigamy, the provisions of Sections 494 and 495 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860) shall apply. The Indian Penal Code Section 494 states that whoever having a husband or wife living, marries in any case in which such marriage is void by reason of its taking place during the life of such husband or wife, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine. The provisions of IPC do not extend to any person whose marriage with such husband or wife has been declared void by a Court of competent jurisdiction, nor to any person who contracts a marriage during the life of a former husband or wife, if such husband or wife, at the time of the subsequent marriage, shall have been continually absent from such person for the space of seven years, and shall not have been heard of by such person as being alive within that time provided the person contracting such subsequent marriage shall, before such marriage takes place, inform the person with whom such marriage is contracted of the real state of facts so far as the same are within his or her knowledge.

Q. Under which sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) can a person be punished for committing bigamy when their spouse is still legally married to them?

Direction: Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below:

The Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act, 2022 authorizes law enforcement agencies to collect, store and analyse physical and biological samples of convicts and other persons to identify and investigate criminal matters. The Act repeals the existing “The Identification of Prisoners Act, 1920”, which authorizes the police to collect finger and footprint impressions and photographs.mNational Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) is empowered to collect the record of measurements from the State Government or Union territory Administration or any other law enforcement agencies. It shall store, preserve and destroy the record of measurements at the national level. The magistrate is empowered to direct a person to give measurements for the purpose of any investigation or proceeding under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 or any other law for the time being in force. The police officer or prison officer is empowered to take measurements if any person resists or refuses to allow the taking of such measurements. The Central Government or the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this Act.

Any person convicted, arrested or held under any preventive detention law is required to provide “measurements” to a police officer or a prison official. The record of these measurements will be retained in digital or electronic form for a period of 75 years from the date of collection. The records are to be destroyed in case any person, who has not been previously convicted of an offence punishable under any law with imprisonment for any term and had his/her measurements taken according to the provisions of this Act, is released without trial or discharged or acquitted by the court, after exhausting all legal remedies.

Q. John faced arrest and criminal charges. During the investigation, a police officer collected John's physical and biological samples as per the guidelines outlined in the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act, 2022. Subsequently, John was acquitted by the court after exhausting all legal remedies. However, the police department declined to destroy John's measurement records, citing the Act's requirement to retain them for 75 years from the date of collection. Did the police department's decision to retain John's measurement records violate the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act, 2022?

Directions: Kindly read the passage carefully and answer the questions given beside.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has released regulations for the operation of civil drones in India. Registration and Licensing: All drones must be registered with the DGCA, and operators must have a license to fly them. Registrations can be done on the "Digital Sky platform" operated by the DGCA which provides a single-window online platform for drone registrations and approvals related to drone operations. Operator Requirements: Operators must be over 18 years of age, have completed a training course from a DGCA-approved institution, and pass a written exam. Once the drone operation license is issued, it is valid for 10 years. Restrictions on Use: There are restrictions on where and when operators can fly drones. For example, operators cannot fly near airports or in densely populated areas.

What kind of restrictions are there on the use of drones in India?

Green, Yellow, and Red Zones

Restriction on speed and elevation

No permission - No Take-off

Q. According to the regulations in India, which of the following zones would Rajiv be allowed to fly his unlicensed drone without any special permission?

Direction: Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below:

In contracts of insurance, indemnity or guarantee one thing in common is that they create an obligation on the promisor if an event which is collateral to the contract does or does not happen. The insurer is not called into action until the event of the death of the insured happens. This is a contingent contract.
Under Section 31 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872, contingent contracts are defined as a contract in which two or more parties enter into a contract to do or not do something, if an event which is collateral to the contract does or does not happen, then it is a contingent contract.
The condition for which the contract has been entered into must be a future event, and it should be uncertain. If the performance of the contract is dependent on an event, which is although a future event, but certain and sure to happen, then it'll not be considered as a contingent contract.
The contingent contracts to do or abstain from doing something if an uncertain future event happens. However, the contract cannot be enforced by law unless the event takes place. If the event becomes impossible, such contracts become void.
If a contract contingent upon how a person will act at a future time, the event shall be considered impossible when such person does anything which makes it impossible for the event to happen. Such an agreement is valid.
Contingent contracts to do or not to do anything if a future uncertain event happens within a fixed time. Such a contract is void if the event does not happen and the time lapses. It is also void if before the time fixed, the happening of the event becomes impossible. Contingent contract to do or not to do anything if an uncertain event does not happen within a fixed time may be enforced by law when the fixed time has expired, and such event has not happened, or before the time fixed has expired, if it becomes certain that such event will not happen.
[Extracted with edits and revision from Contingent Contracts under Indian Contract Act, blog by ipleaders]

Q. Is this contract between X and Y considered a contingent contract, where X commits to supplying 100 radio sets to Y in exchange for a payment of Rs. 1,00,000 upon delivery?

Direction: Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below:

Richard Goodwin, the well-known American economist who taught at Harvard before migrating to Cambridge, England, because of the McCarthyite witch-hunt of the 1950s, and who, although a Marxist, did some simulations on a model of a capitalist economy. The economy in the model experienced a wave of innovations while output was determined by aggregate demand; and the simulation results showed that unless wages increased significantly because of the introduction of innovations, output and employment at the end of the wave would be lower than at the beginning. There is no reason, however, for such a rise in wages despite the rise in labour productivity because the rise in unemployment through which alone such a rise in labour productivity manifests itself would weaken workers’ bargaining strength for enforcing higher wages. The conclusion about technological change causing economic retrogression in such a capitalist economy therefore remains unaffected.

Capitalist economies, however, have not actually seen economic retrogression as a consequence of technological change. The question arises: why not? If as technological change is introduced and there is a simultaneous increase in aggregate demand for some independent reason, then there need not be either a decline in employment or output in the economy introducing such a change. But there is no reason why such an increase should occur within the capitalist sector. It will have to come from outside, and not just as a coincidence; the capitalist sector must cause such an independent expansion in aggregate demand to happen. In short, it will need to have a ‘market on tap’ existing outside of it that it can turn to to prevent a decline in output and employment. This idea, originally advanced by Rosa Luxemburg, has been borne out in practice. Capitalism has generally had such a ‘market on tap’ (a phrase of the economic historian, S.B. Saul), which is why technological change under it has been accompanied not by economic retrogression but by economic progress. [Extracted with edits and revision from ‘Flawed Idea Innovation and Retrogression’ by Prabhat Patnaik, Telegraph India]

Q. Why does the passage suggest that capitalist economies have not experienced economic retrogression due to technological change?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.

The government on Tuesday said that it has initiated a special drive for the removal of speed breakers along national highways to ensure smooth traffic movement following the introduction of the mandatory FASTag mechanism for cashless toll payments. FASTag is a radio frequency identification sticker typically fixed to a vehicle's windscreen and allows the deduction of toll wirelessly and automatically without requiring a vehicle to stop at plazas. The tags have been introduced to encourage digital payments and to end congestion at toll booths.
It said that speed breakers result in considerable delay, damage to vehicles and significant discomfort to travellers and more fuel consumption due to acceleration and deceleration. "This initiative [removal of speed breakers] will save time, money and facilitate smooth vehicular movement especially of ambulances, elderly and unwell people commuting on national highways." The Centre had mandated all lanes of national highways toll plazas to be declared as FASTag lanes by December 15 to reduce bottlenecks along the national highways. The deadline was earlier extended by 15 days.

Q. Which of the following is a desired result of the implementation of the FASTag mechanism?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.

This passage is from Lydia Minatoya; 'The Strangeness of Beauty' © 1999 by Lydia Minatoya. The setting is Japan in 1920. Chie and her daughter Naomi are members of the House of Fuji, a noble family.
(with edits and reviews)
Akira came directly, breaking all tradition. Was that it? Had he followed form—had he asked his mother to speak to his father to approach a Line go-between—would Chie have been more receptive?
He came on a winter's eve. He pounded on the door while a cold rain beat on the shuttered veranda. So at first Chie thought him only to be the wind. The maid knew better. Chie heard her soft scuttling footsteps, the creak of the door. Then the maid brought a calling card to the drawing room, for Chie.
Chie was reluctant to go to her guest; perhaps she was feeling too cozy. She and Naomi were reading at a low table set atop a charcoal brazier. A thick quilt spread over the sides of the table so their legs were tucked inside with the heat.
"Who is it at this hour, in this weather?" Chie questioned as she picked the name card off the maid's lacquer tray.
"Shinoda, Akira. Kobe Dental College", she read.
Naomi recognized the name. Chie heard a soft intake of air.
"I think you should go", said Naomi.
Akira was waiting in the entryway. He was in his early twenties, slim and serious, wearing the black military-style uniform of a student. As he bowed—his hands hanging straight down, a black cap in one, a yellow oil-paper umbrella in the other—Chie glanced beyond him. In the glistening surface of the courtyard's rain-drenched paving stones, she saw his reflection like a dark double.
"Madame", said Akira, "forgive my disruption, but I come with a matter of urgency".
His voice was soft and refined. He straightened and stole a deferential peek at her face.
In the dim light his eyes shone with sincerity. Chie felt herself starting to like him.
She said, "Come inside, get out of this nasty night. Surely your business can wait for a moment or two."
"I don't want to trouble you. Normally I would approach you more properly but I've received word of a position. I've an opportunity to go to America, as a dentist for Seattle's Japanese community", he responded.
"Congratulations", Chie said with amusement. "That is an opportunity, I'm sure. But how am I involved?"
Even noting Naomi's breathless reaction to the name card, Chie had no idea. Akira's message, delivered like a formal speech, filled her with maternal amusement. You know how children speak so earnestly, so hurriedly, so endearingly about things that have no importance in an adult's mind? That's how she viewed him, as a child.
It was how she viewed Naomi. Even though Naomi was eighteen and training endlessly in the arts needed to make a good marriage, Chie had made no effort to find her a husband.
Akira blushed and said, "Depending on your response, I may stay in Japan. I've come to ask for Naomi's hand."
Suddenly Chie felt the dampness of the night.
"Does Naomi know anything of your . . . ambitions?"
"We have an understanding. Please don't judge my candidacy by the unseemliness of this proposal. I ask directly because the use of a go-between takes much time. Either method comes down to the same thing: a matter of parental approval. If you give your consent, I become Naomi's yoshi. We'll live in the House of Fuji. Without your consent, I must go to America to secure a new home for my bride."

Q. Which response from Chie is Akira most apprehensive about?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.

Insurance is a contract between two persons, an insurer and insured; it is where one person indemnifies the other on payment of consideration which is the premium in the event of happening of uncertain events. There are many kinds of insurances and motor vehicles insurance is one of them and is governed by the Motor Vehicles Act 1939. Every vehicle plying on road has to have compulsory third party insurance so that the insurance company can indemnify the insured against the claims made by the injured person. This was done so that the injured person should not suffer in case the motorist fails to pay to the injured. Under such situations the insurer indemnifies the insured against his liability to third parties. It is known as third party insurance because the beneficiary in this insurance is someone other than the insured and insurer. The liability is fastened on the insurer, and it is unlimited liability in case death or bodily harm is suffered by the third party. Third party insurance is a compulsory insurance under a statute and no person shall use a motor vehicle, except as a passenger, in a public place unless unless there is a policy of insurance complying with the requirements of the MV Act. This has been made amply clear by section 146(1) of the motor vehicles Act, 1988. It will be applicable even when the vehicle is stationary and not moving. The use does not cease on vehicle being immobile or defective. The third party insurance should be from an authorized insurer who is carrying on motor insurance business in India. Third party insurance does not cover injuries to the insured himself but to the rest of the world who is injured by the insured. However, Gratuitous passengers too are not covered under third party insurance as that would render superfluous the intention of the legislature which has taken within its purview the owner of the goods or his authorized representative carried in the vehicle. Also, the persons traveling in a goods vehicle except owner of the goods or his authorised representative would not be covered by the compulsory third party insurance. Regarding transferability of third party insurance it was held in the year 1980 that motor vehicle insurance being a personal contract, the insured cannot transferred the benefits under the policy without the consent of the insurer, or unless there is a stipulation in the policy itself.
[Extracted, with edits and revisions, from, International Journal of Legal Develpoments Insurance of Motor Vehicles against Third Party Risks - Written by Sonia Maan, thelawbrigade.]

Q. What is the primary purpose of compulsory third party insurance for motor vehicles in India?

Directions: Kindly read the passage carefully and answer the questions given beside.

In 1986, I left my native South Korea and came to Britain to study economics as a graduate student at the University of Cambridge. Things were difficult. My spoken English was poor. Racism and cultural prejudices were rampant. And the weather was rubbish. But the most difficult thing was the food. Before coming to Britain, I had not realised how bad food can be. Meat was overcooked and under-seasoned. It was difficult to eat, unless accompanied by gravy, which could be very good but also very bad. English mustard, which I fell in love with, became a vital weapon in my struggle to eat dinners. Vegetables were boiled long beyond the point of death to become textureless, and there was only salt around to make them edible. Some British friends would argue valiantly that their food was under-seasoned (err… tasteless?) because the ingredients were so good that you oughtn’t ruin them with fussy things like sauces, which those devious French used because they needed to hide bad meat and old vegetables. Any shred of plausibility of that argument quickly vanished when I visited France at the end of my first year in Cambridge and first tasted real French food.

British food culture of the 1980s was – in a word – conservative; deeply so. The British ate nothing unfamiliar. Food considered foreign was viewed with near-religious scepticism and visceral aversion. Other than completely Anglicised – and generally dire-quality – Chinese, Indian and Italian, you could not get any other national cuisine, unless you travelled to Soho or another sophisticated district in London. British food conservatism was for me epitomised by the now defunct but then-rampant chain, Pizzaland. Realising that pizza could be traumatically ‘foreign’, the menu lured customers with an option to have their pizza served with a baked potato – the culinary equivalent of a security blanket for British people.

As with all discussions of foreignness, of course, this attitude gets pretty absurd when you scrutinise it. The UK’s beloved Christmas dinner consists of turkey (North America), potatoes (Peru or Chile), carrots (Afghanistan) and Brussels sprouts (from, yep, Belgium). But never mind that. Brits then simply didn’t ‘do foreign’.

What a contrast to the British food scene of today – diverse, sophisticated and even experimental. London especially offers everything – cheap yet excellent Turkish doner kebab, eaten at 1am from a van on the street; eye-wateringly expensive Japanese kaiseki dinner; vibrant Spanish tapas bars where you can mix and match things according to your mood and budget; whatever. Flavours span from vibrant, in-your-face Korean levels, to understated but heart-warming Polish. You get to choose between the complexity of Peruvian dishes – with Iberian, Asian and Inca roots – and the simple succulence of Argentinian steak. Most supermarkets and food stores sell ingredients for Italian, Mexican, French, Chinese, Caribbean, Jewish, Greek, Indian, Thai, North African, Japanese, Turkish, Polish and perhaps even Korean cuisines. If you want a more specialist condiment or ingredient, it can likely be found. This in a country where, in the late 1970s, according to an American friend who was then an exchange student, the only place you could score olive oil in Oxford was a pharmacy (for softening ear wax, if you’re wondering).

My theory is that the British people had a collective epiphany sometime in the mid- to late-1990s that their own food sucks, having experienced different – and mostly more exciting – cuisines during their foreign holidays and, more importantly, through the increasingly diverse immigrant communities. Once they did that, they were free to embrace all the cuisines in the world. There is no reason to insist on Indian over Thai, or favour Turkish over Mexican. Everything tasty is fine. The British freedom to consider equally all the choices available has led to it developing perhaps one of the most sophisticated food cultures anywhere.

Q. What transformation in British food culture does the author attribute to the mid- to late-1990s?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated 'Chauri Chaura' centenary celebrations at Chauri Chaura, Uttar Pradesh through video conference. The day marks 100 years of the 'Chauri Chaura' incident, a landmark event in the country's fight for independence. The Prime Minister also released a postal stamp dedicated to the Chauri Chaura centenary event. Governor of Uttar Pradesh and Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh were also present on the occasion.
Saluting the brave martyrs, the Prime Minister said the sacrifice made at Chauri Chaura gave a new direction to the country's freedom struggle. He said the incident which happened hundred years ago in Chauri Chaura was not just an arson incident but the message of Chauri Chaura was far wider. Under what circumstances arson happened, what were the reasons are equally important. He said due importance is now being given to the historical struggle of Chauri Chaura in our country's history. He said starting today, along with Chauri Chaura, every village will remember the heroic sacrifices in the events going to be held throughout the year. He said having such a celebration at a time, when the country is entering its 75th year of independence will make it even more relevant. He lamented at the lack of discussion about the martyrs of Chauri Chaura. He said the martyrs may not have figured prominently in the pages of history, but their blood shed for freedom is definitely in the country's soil.
The Prime Minister urged the people to remember the efforts of Baba Raghavdas and Mahamana Madan Mohan Malaviya due to which around 150 freedom fighters were saved from hanging on this special day. He expressed happiness that students were also involved in this campaign which would increase their awareness about many untold aspects of freedom struggle. He said the Ministry of Education has invited young writers on the completion of 75 years of independence to write a book on freedom fighters to showcase unsung heroes of freedom struggle. He lauded the efforts of the Uttar Pradesh government for the programmes organised to connect to the local arts and culture as a tribute to our freedom fighters.

Q. What were the demonstrators chiefly protesting against during the Chauri Chaura incident?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.

The term indemnity literally means security against loss. In a contract of indemnity, one party, i.e. the indemnifier, promise to compensate the other party, i.e. the indemnified, against the loss suffered by the other. The English law defines a contract of indemnity as a promise to save a person harmless from the consequences of an act. Thus, it includes within its ambit losses caused not merely by human agency, but also those caused by accident or fire or other natural calamities. As per Section 124 of the Contract Act, a contract of indemnity is that contract by which one party promises to save the other from loss caused to him by the conduct of the promisor himself, or by the conduct of any other person.
The definition provided by the Indian Contract Act confines itself to the losses occasioned due to the act of the promisor or due to the act of any other person. Under a contract of indemnity, liability of the promisor arises from loss caused to the promisee by the conduct of the promisor himself, or as per the terms in the indemnity contract. Every contract of insurance, other than life insurance, is a contract of indemnity. The definition is restricted to cases where loss has been caused by some human agency.
Section 124 deals with one particular kind of indemnity which arises from a promise made by an indemnifier to save the indemnified from the loss caused to him by the conduct of the indemnifier himself or by the conduct of any other person, but does not deal with those classes of cases where the indemnity arises from loss caused by events or accidents which do not depend upon the conduct of indemnifier or any other person.
In a contract of indemnity, there are two parties, i.e. indemnifier and indemnified. A contract of guarantee involves three parties, i.e. creditor, principal debtor and surety. An indemnity is for reimbursement of a loss, while a guarantee is for security of the creditor. In a contract of indemnity, the liability of the indemnifier is primary and arises when the contingent event occurs. In case of contract of guarantee, the liability of surety is secondary and arises when the principal debtor defaults. The indemnifier after performing his part of the promise has no rights against the third party and he can sue the third party only if there is an assignment in his favour. Whereas in a contract of guarantee, the surety steps into the shoes of the creditor on discharge of his liability, and may sue the principal debtor.
[Extracted with edits and revision from Contract of Indemnity, article by taxmanagementindia]

Q. A contracts with B to assassinate C. A and B enter into an indemnity agreement stipulating that B will be compensated if he sustains injuries while attempting to carry out the assassination of C. Subsequently, B incurs injuries during his assassination attempt on C. Can B demand reimbursement for his injuries?

Directions: Kindly read the passage carefully and answer the questions given beside.

When members of Sri Lanka’s LGBTQIA+ community took out one of their biggest pride rallies in a public space — the Colombo seafront — in June last year, the country was already witnessing history unfold. A charged citizens’ movement that had built up over months, in the wake of a painful economic crash, was at its height, asking the President to “go home”. In less than a month, Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country and resigned. The changes in the country since may not have been what many in the citizens’ uprising hoped to see — an electorally defeated politician (Ranil Wickremesinghe) becoming President with the backing of the discredited Rajapaksas’ party — but a recent move by a ruling party MP has brought some promise, especially for Sri Lanka’s queer community that has been struggling for equality for many decades now.

On March 22, a Private Member’s Bill seeking to amend Sri Lanka’s penal code, to decriminalise homosexuality was gazetted. The prospect of seeing colonial-era laws that have effectively sanctioned discrimination and state violence against queer people amended or repealed sparked rare hope. Except, three Rajapaksa loyalists decided to legally challenge the Bill, tabled by Premnath C. Dolawatte, a legislator from the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP or People’s Front) — the very same party they support, or are part of.

Within days, queer rights activists and allies filed nearly a dozen intervening petitions challenging the regressive petition. The Supreme Court, which has heard arguments from both sides, is due to send its ruling to the Parliament soon. Rosanna Flamer-Caldera, founder and executive director of EQUAL GROUND, a non-profit working on the rights of queer people.

Rosanna Flamer-Caldera, founder and executive director of EQUAL GROUND, a non-profit working on the rights of queer people. While Sri Lanka’s queer community waits in eager anticipation, “let’s not count the chickens before they hatch”, cautions Rosanna Flamer-Caldera, founder and executive director of EQUAL GROUND, a non-profit working on the rights of queer people. “We are hoping for a positive judgment from the Court, and a progressive vote from Parliament. Let’s see,” she says.

Her caution stems from the queer community’s lived experience in Sri Lanka. They face frequent discrimination, hate, and violence. “To be queer in Sri Lanka is very dangerous. While there is a change in attitude in some quarters, more organisations offering support, and more people speaking up, there is still a long way to go,” the senior activist says.

Q. What can be inferred as a final thought based on the passage?

Directions: Kindly read the passage carefully and answer the questions given below.

In love, the problem is not who to love, but how to love. Love is an ability, a capacity in our minds that has to be systematically cultivated. Once the faculty of love has developed, we have the total freedom to love, and then any situation is a fertile ground for our love to grow. Man, irrespective of his belief or nationality, seeks love all around him. Yet only a rare few seem to discover an apparent satisfaction in personal relationships. Man helplessly waits for love to be given to him, to receive love. Alas! None ‘give’ love; all are anxiously waiting to ‘get’ love. All are always disappointed.

Love is of two distinct types. The ‘higher love’ is called prema bhakti, devotion; and the ‘lower love’ is known as sneha, affection. When the love is directed to a ‘higher’ object of love, it is called prema; when it is directed towards a ‘lower’ object of love, it is called sneha. Thus, we have prema bhakti towards parents, teachers, country, and knowledge, while we have sneha for our friends, brothers, sisters, dogs, cows, flowers, toys, and books. The emotion is the same in both the higher and lower kinds of love. But when we direct our love towards a higher, more inspiring ideal, our mind expands, our vision deepens and our efficiency multiplies. Then it is prema. When this prema is directed towards the Lord, the divine essence in man, it is called bhakti. When the same emotion of love goes towards the external objects of pleasure – things or beings, it slowly shells us into a prison of sorrows and excitements, pangs and sobs. Then love degrades itself to be of the lower type – sneha.

Rishis always repeat that higher love alone can help us overcome our sense of incompleteness and alienation. To ‘give’ love is, therefore, to love everyone without expecting any results, gains, and profits, but demanding of life your privilege to love all. True love is not a passive ‘taking’ but a dynamic ‘giving’. Love is its own reward when it is true and full, unconditional and joyful – love is afulfilment in itself. Very few realise this; none dares to live it in life. Only the special few, who have grown up a little in their inward vision, and evolved slightly in their spiritual growth, can feel this way and readily discover the heroism to love, to give love to all creatures. All are but Narayan in manifestation. What else then can we give to the world but love.

Some of us love only if we are loved in return. This is a commercial attitude, and an expression of our mental weakness. The Sun gives and demands nothing. Everywhere in nature, among animals and plants, the universal rhythm is to ‘give’ lovingly and not to ‘demand’ love from others.

To give love is true freedom; to demand love is pure slavery. Do not feel cheated if others do not give you love. The Lord Himself serves us all every moment, even when we do not love Him in return. Let us be godlike in our love for others – always and in all ways.

Q. What does the passage suggest about the concept of "higher love" (prema bhakti) as compared to "lower love" (sneha)?

Directions: Kindly read the passage carefully and answer the questions given beside.

The savoury smell. The crunchy bite. The salty kick. The buttery finish. Americans will recognize the smell and flavour of their favourite moviegoing snack anywhere. Why is it that we feast our taste buds on these crisp kernels while our eyes feast on the big screen?

A few converging aspects made popcorn the quintessential movie snack, according to Andrew F. Smith, author of Popped Culture: A Social History of Popcorn in America. Mostly, it boiled down to the snack’s price, convenience, and timing. Popcorn was cheap for sellers and for customers, and making it didn’t require a ton of equipment. Popcorn also became popular at a time when movie theaters were in desperate need of an economic boost, which is how popcorn got introduced to the silver screen.

Fun fact: popcorn does not refer to the popped kernel alone. It’s also the name for the specific type of corn that is used to make the snack. It was originally grown in Central America and became popular in the U.S. in the mid-1800s. Compared with other snacks at the time, it was super easy to make, and it got easier in 1885 when the mobile steam-powered popcorn maker was invented. What hit the streets in the late 19th century was a fleet of independent popcorn purveyors. They were like the great-great-grandfathers of food trucks.

Since popcorn was cheap to make, it was also cheap to buy, which increased the popularity of this treat during the Great Depression. The Depression increased consumer spending on cheaper luxury items such as popcorn and movies, and the two industries teamed up. Theaters would allow a particular popcorn salesman to sell right outside the theatre for a daily fee. By the mid-1940s, however, movie theaters had cut out the middleman and begun to have their own concession stands in the lobby. The introduction of the popcorn-driven concession stand to movie theaters kept the movie theatre industry afloat, and popcorn has been a movie-watching staple ever since.

Q. According to the passage, what was the role of popcorn purveyors in the late 19th century?

Direction: Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below:

The Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act, 2022 authorizes law enforcement agencies to collect, store and analyse physical and biological samples of convicts and other persons to identify and investigate criminal matters. The Act repeals the existing “The Identification of Prisoners Act, 1920”, which authorizes the police to collect finger and footprint impressions and photographs.mNational Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) is empowered to collect the record of measurements from the State Government or Union territory Administration or any other law enforcement agencies. It shall store, preserve and destroy the record of measurements at the national level. The magistrate is empowered to direct a person to give measurements for the purpose of any investigation or proceeding under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 or any other law for the time being in force. The police officer or prison officer is empowered to take measurements if any person resists or refuses to allow the taking of such measurements. The Central Government or the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this Act.

Any person convicted, arrested or held under any preventive detention law is required to provide “measurements” to a police officer or a prison official. The record of these measurements will be retained in digital or electronic form for a period of 75 years from the date of collection. The records are to be destroyed in case any person, who has not been previously convicted of an offence punishable under any law with imprisonment for any term and had his/her measurements taken according to the provisions of this Act, is released without trial or discharged or acquitted by the court, after exhausting all legal remedies.

Q. Priya was subjected to arrest under preventive detention regulations; nevertheless, she was subsequently set free without undergoing a trial or being convicted. However, the police officer who apprehended her collected her measurements and forwarded them to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) for examination. Is it mandated by the Act that Priya's measurements should be deleted?

Directions: Study the given information carefully to answer the question that follows:

In a college, there are 2400 students studying in different branches - Electronics, Mechanical, Electrical, IT, and Computer Science. The ratio of the number of boys to that of girls is 5 : 3. 12% boys study in the Electronics branch. 24% girls study in the Mechanical branch. The ratio of the number of boys to that of girls in the Electronics branch is 6 : 11. One-ninth of girls study in the Computer Science branch. 42% boys study in the IT branch. The number of girls studying in the IT branch is 10% of the boys studying in the same branch. The remaining girls study in the Electrical branch. The total number of students studying in the Computer Science branch is 285. 22% boys study in the Electrical branch. The remaining boys study in the Mechanical branch.

Q. What is the total number of girls studying in the Electronics and Electrical branches?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.

With the launch of Brazil's Amazonia-1 satellite from Sriharikota, a new chapter has begun in India's space history. The satellite, a 637-kilogram entity, was the first dedicated commercial mission of NewSpace India Limited, a two-year-old commercial arm of the Department of Space. This is not the first time that NSIL has organised a launch of foreign satellites aboard an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launch vehicle. The organisation has had launches last November as well as in December 2019. However, the primary satellites aboard both these missions were Indian satellites — the RISAT-2BRI and the EOS-01 — with smaller satellites from several other countries, as well as India, piggybacking on them. The Amazonia mission also saw 18 other satellites being launched and was the first fully commercial mission. India has so far launched 342 foreign satellites from 34 countries using its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle platform and many of them have involved ISRO's first commercial entity, the Antrix Corporation. There is still confusion on how exactly the responsibilities of NSIL differ from those of Antrix. But with the formation of the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-SPACe) — a regulatory agency — as well as plans of an independent tribunal to adjudicate disputes among private space entities, there is a potential explosion of market opportunities from space applications on the anvil. Though the private sector plays a major role in developing launch and satellite infrastructure for ISRO, there are now several companies that offer myriad services. Many of these companies want to launch their own satellites, of varying dimensions, and the experience with ISRO has not been smooth always. The most conspicuous has been the controversy involving Devas Multimedia, to which the Government of India owes nearly $1.2 billion going by an order of a tribunal of the International Chamber of Commerce and upheld by a United States federal court last year. NSIL, it is said, is also a move by India's space establishment to insulate the prospects of the space industry in India from repercussions of the Devas-Antrix imbroglio.
Much like unfettered access to the Internet has spawned industries that were inconceivable, similarly, space applications and mapping have barely scratched the surface in terms of the opportunities that they can create. NSIL has a broad ambit and will be involved in collaborations spanning from launches to new space-related industries. NSIL is also expected to be more than just a marketer of ISRO's technologies; it is to find newer business opportunities and expand the sector itself. NSIL must endeavour to not be another Antrix but be continuously in start-up mode. It must conceive of ways to aid space start-ups reach out to rural India and facilitate more recruits from India's young to facilitate careers in space applications and sciences. It must see itself both as an Indian ambassador and disruptor in the space arena.

[Extracted from an editorial published in The Hindu, dated March 6, 2021]

Q. The statement "NSIL must strive not to replicate Antrix" implies that:

Directions: Kindly read the passage carefully and answer the questions given beside.

Philosophy is dead, Stephen Hawking once declared, because it ‘has not kept up with modern developments in science, particularly physics! It is scientists, not philosophers, who are now ‘the bearers of the torch of discovery in our quest for knowledge’. The response from some philosophers was to accuse Hawking of ‘scientism’. The charge of ‘scientism is meant to convey disapproval of anyone who values scientific disciplines, such as physics, over non-scientific disciplines, such as philosophy. The philosopher Tom Sorell writes that scientism is ‘a matter of putting too high a value on science in comparison with other branches of learning or culture’. But what's wrong with putting a higher value on science compared with other academic disciplines? What is so bad about scientism? If physics is in fact a better torch in the quest for knowledge than philosophy, as Hawking claimed, then perhaps it should be valued over philosophy and other non-scientific fields of enquiry.

Before we can address these questions, however, we need to get our definitions straight. For, much like other philosophical isms, ‘scientism’ means different things to different philosophers. Now, the question of whether science is the only way of knowing about reality, or at least better than non- scientific ways of knowing, is an epistemological question. Construed as an epistemological thesis, then, scientism can be broadly understood as either the view that scientific knowledge is the only form of knowledge we have, or the view that scientific knowledge is the best form of knowledge we have. But scientism comes in other varieties as well, including methodological and metaphysical ones. As a methodological thesis, scientism is either the view that scientific methods are the only. ways of knowing about reality we have, or the view that scientific methods are the best ways of knowing about reality we have. And, construed as a metaphysical thesis, scientism is either the view that science is our only guide to what exists, or the view that science is our best guide to what exists.

Without a clear understanding of the aforementioned varieties of scientism, philosophical parties to the scientism debate are at risk of merely talking past each other. That is, some defenders of scientism might be arguing for weaker varieties of scientism, in terms of scientific knowledge or methods being the best ones, while their opponents interpret them as arguing for stronger varieties of scientism, in terms of scientific knowledge or methods being the only ones. My own position, for example, is a weak variety of scientism. In my paper ‘What's So Bad about Scientism?” (2017), defend scientism as an epistemological thesis, which I call ‘Weak Scientism’. This is the view that scientific knowledge i the best form of knowledge we have (as opposed to ‘Strong Scientist, which is the view that scientific knowledge is the only knowledge we have).

Q. Which of the following statements most accurately encapsulates the author's stance regarding scientism?

Directions: Kindly read the passage carefully and answer the questions given beside.

The world is experiencing a catastrophic fall in biodiversity. Not only is this an environmental disaster, it can also lead to financial ruin; $44 trillion of economic value is moderately or highly dependent on nature and its related services. All is not lost, however. With the world's economies so intrinsically linked to the health of the environment, there are huge opportunities for financial investment from both the public and private sectors to support projects designed to restore Earth's biodiversity.

Nature-based and derived solutions provide a host of compelling investment opportunities that could supercharge a positive growth trajectory for the environment and the economy going forward. The ratification of the Global Biodiversity Framework at COP15 in Montreal in December 2022 and the release of the Taskforce on Nature-Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) beta versions provide a solid starting point and a much-needed fillip for meaningful action.

Progress on multiple biodiversity impact assessment tools and environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting standards enable better consideration of nature and biodiversity by financial institutions.

Both public and private capital must work in collaborative and innovative ways to finance biodiversity and nature-positive business models. Here, five global leaders from the private and public sectors, including academia, are filmed sharing their views on how to consider the impact and dependencies on nature and biodiversity when it comes to investment decision-making. We have to accept the fact that the impact of business on the planet will only be positive if we start worrying about other people than shareholders. The future is sustainable or there is no future. The future is based on us continuing to use the resources at our disposal so that we can continue to grow collectively. If we do not succeed in the next ten years in finding the right solution, which will deal with the climate crisis and the loss of nature, our humanity and our survival is at risk.

We are going to have to invent a system where we are going to take the long cost of every decision into the immediate decision. In effect, we need a new accounting system that will give us the results of our impact on natural capital, social capital and on human capital. If we at the time of the decision-making we are able to integrate these three different capitals and their interdependencies, we should be able to create value, which is not only a financial value, but also a general contribution to society.

Q. Which rhetorical device is employed in the following sentence: "Nature-based and derived solutions provide a plethora of captivating investment opportunities that could immensely boost a favorable growth path for the environment and the economy in the future"?

Direction: Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.

The Fourteenth Finance Commission had raised the share of States in the divisible pool of central taxes to 42% from 32%. This was revised to 41% when the number of States in India was reduced to 28. However, the Centre could manage the situation because of the withdrawal of Planning Commission grants as the Planning Commission was abolished. There may not be a strong case for recommending any further increase in the State’s share of central taxes in view of the Centre’s large fiscal imbalances. Alongside this, a re-examination of the role of non-shareable cesses and surcharges is required.

During 2020-21 to 2023-24 (BE), the effective share of States in the Centre’s gross tax revenues (GTR) averaged close to 31%, which was significantly lower than the corresponding share of nearly 35% from 2015-16 to 2019-20. This was due to the inordinate increase in the share of cesses and surcharges to 18.5% of the Centre’s GTR during 2020-21 to 2023-24 (BE) from 12.8% during 2015-16 to 2019-20. This heavy reliance on cesses and surcharges requires scrutiny by the Sixteenth Finance Commission. One option is to freeze the share of cesses and surcharges to some base number.

In the period under the Thirteenth Finance Commission, this share was just 9.6%. Perhaps, a 10% upper limit of the share of cesses and surcharges as a percentage of the Centre’s GTR may be recommended. To make it biting, the share of States must be increased if the proportion crosses 10%. Thus, there will be one proportion, say 42%, if cesses and surcharges exceed 10%, and another share of 41% if they are 10% or below. The formula may be nuanced by the Sixteenth Finance Commission with the help of the latest data. An issue of concern in recent years has been the poor performance of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the consequent decline in the total divisible pool. Fortunately, this is not an issue now. GST collections have maintained good buoyancy in the last two years. GST still needs restructuring to make it a good and simple tax.

Q. What was the main reason for the Centre's ability to manage the situation after the reduction in the number of Indian states to 28?

Directions: Kindly read the passage carefully and answer the questions given beside.

Bengaluru is blushing all over. A serial bloomer, the city unfurls its flora one after the other, bud by bud, carpeting its roads with petals now shocking pink, now golden yellow, all year round. As trees burst into every colour possible and flowers overtake trunks, the air smells like spilt perfume. These overlapping flowering seasons are no coincidence, but the result of careful botanical planning.

Bengaluru is reaping what it sowed. When a city is in the news for its flowers, flooding social media with photos taken from home or moving vehicle, it is time to give horticulture its due. Let’s address all flowers formally and respectfully by their baptised name instead of silly pet names.

Kigelia Africana (sausage tree), Neolamarckia cadamba (burflower-tree), Pongamia pinnata (beech tree), Spathodea (African tulips). . . . And Tabebuia rosea – rosy trumpet tree or pink poui – that writer Shobhaa De on a recent visit to the city said sounds like a skin condition.

Tabebuia rosea staged an overnight coup this year too, re-activating the fingers of Bengalureans into pointing to the tree here, there and everywhere. An utter amnesia overtook us on the garbage and gutter situation. All we could look at, talk about and click profusely was the rosy trumpet tree along our path. With their flamboyant rosy exuberance, the trees struck a pose where they stood – in the middle of the road, right outside your window, en route to wherever you are going. The usual flower thieves in apartment blocks forgot their sly plucking, shamed by this plenitude.

Purple jacaranda, red or white hibiscus and roses in every hue. Orange crossandra or white jasmine gajras in the hair. Fern in the forests around the city. Lilies, orchids and sunflowers perched pricy in the florist’s window. And still Bengaluru mourns the imminent departure of the Tabebuia rosea. Alas, the trees are already starting to shed their ornamental look, baring the twigs beneath. And even though other flowers will take over the floral relay race, we will miss the trees that crowded the skyline with their stunning pinkness like flower arrangements in huge celestial vases.

Mysore ruler Hyder Ali gave us a 240-acre garden named Lalbagh, while German botanist-gardener Gustav Hermann Krumbiegel and then forest official SG Neginhal worked their own magic just so Bengaluru could call itself Garden City. But all it takes is a Tabebuia rosea to make the a Bengorelan happy.

Q. What is the meaning of "flamboyant" as used in the passage?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.

The term 'state', under Article 12 of the Constitution of India, 1950, specifies that all the authorities which are functioning within or outside the territory of India will be considered to be 'the state' under Part III of the Constitution. This definition is not exhaustive but inclusive. The authorities which are included in Article 12 are: The government and Parliament of India, the state government and the legislature of each state, all local authorities (municipalities, District Boards, Panchayats, Improvement Trust, Mining Settlement Boards, etc.) and other authorities within the territory of India or under the control of the Government of India.
Apart from the central, state and local authorities, the authority or institutions which exercise governmental or sovereign powers or functions can be counted under other authorities.
Article 13 of the Constitution speaks about laws inconsistent with or in derogation of the fundamental rights. This Article states that all laws in force in the territory of India immediately before the commencement of this Constitution, in so far as they are inconsistent with the provisions of this Part, shall, to the extent of such inconsistency, be void and that the state shall not make any law which takes away or abridges the rights conferred by this Part and any law made in contravention of this clause shall, to the extent of the contravention, be void. In this Article, unless the context otherwise requires, law includes any ordinance, order, by-law, rule, regulation, notification, custom or usages having in the territory of India the force of law; laws in force include laws passed or made by legislature or other competent authority in the territory of India before the commencement of this Constitution and not previously repealed, notwithstanding that any such law or any part thereof may not be then in operation either at all or in particular areas. Last but not the least nothing in this Article shall apply to any amendment of this Constitution made under Article 368.
Unlike the other legal rights which are created by the state that confers the right upon the individuals against one another, however the fundamental rights can be claimed only against the state. Therefore, it is generally assumed that fundamental rights are available only against the state which includes the actions of the state and against the officials of the state. Property right is a recognised right under Article 300A of the Constitution.
The provisions of the Constitution pertaining to fundamental rights have no retrospective effect. The word 'retrospective' means 'intending to take effect from the past date'. All the existing laws which are inconsistent, they will be void after the commencement of the Constitution.
[Extracted, with edits and revisions, from Articles 12 and 13 as the basis of Fundamental Right, blog by Ipleaders]

Q. In the state of Kerala, a law was enacted, which specified that no individual could possess more than 20 acres of land under their own name. A saint named Keshav has contested this law, asserting that it contravenes Part III of the Constitution and infringes upon his fundamental rights. Determine the outcome.

Direction: Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below:

In a notable judgment explaining the principles of res judiciata, the Supreme Court has held that an order closing the proceedings in a case cannot be construed as a final decision on merits so as to bar a subsequent suit. Res Judicata is one of the most important rules in Law where Res means “subject matter” and judicata means “adjudged” or decided and together it means “a matter adjudged”. This doctrine in substance means that an issue or a point decided and having attained finality should not be allowed to be re-opened and re-agitated twice over. Two Maxims and Rules of Res Judicata are ‘interest republicae ut sit finis litium’ (It is interest of the State that there should be an end to litigation). This is the principle in finality of litigation and is based on high principles of public policy. ‘nemo devet vis vexari pro una et eadem cause” (No man should be taxed twice over for the same cause). No one ought to be vexed twice in the same litigation if it appears to the Court that is for one and the same cause. It operates against both the parties to the suit, and not against one alone. The doctrine applies to all judicial proceedings and it equally applies to quasi-judicial proceedings in tribunals. In order to decide the question whether a subsequent proceeding is barred by res judicata it necessary to examine the question with reference to: (i) Forum or competence of Court. (ii) Parties and their representatives. (iii) Matters in issue in the former suit. (iv) Matters which ought to have been made a ground. (v) Final decision. The doctrine of res judicatais a mixed question of fact and law and the bar of res judicatais mandatory, and cannot be avoided by a party. Petitions are also covered in the ambit of Res Judicata.

Q. Is the former employee's objection to the maintainability of a lawsuit on the grounds of res judicata valid when a company filed a suit against the employee for breach of confidentiality and non-compete clauses, which was dismissed due to lack of evidence, and later filed a suit seeking damages for the same breach?

Directions: Kindly read the passage carefully and answer the questions given beside.

When members of Sri Lanka’s LGBTQIA+ community took out one of their biggest pride rallies in a public space — the Colombo seafront — in June last year, the country was already witnessing history unfold. A charged citizens’ movement that had built up over months, in the wake of a painful economic crash, was at its height, asking the President to “go home”. In less than a month, Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country and resigned. The changes in the country since may not have been what many in the citizens’ uprising hoped to see — an electorally defeated politician (Ranil Wickremesinghe) becoming President with the backing of the discredited Rajapaksas’ party — but a recent move by a ruling party MP has brought some promise, especially for Sri Lanka’s queer community that has been struggling for equality for many decades now.

On March 22, a Private Member’s Bill seeking to amend Sri Lanka’s penal code, to decriminalise homosexuality was gazetted. The prospect of seeing colonial-era laws that have effectively sanctioned discrimination and state violence against queer people amended or repealed sparked rare hope. Except, three Rajapaksa loyalists decided to legally challenge the Bill, tabled by Premnath C. Dolawatte, a legislator from the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP or People’s Front) — the very same party they support, or are part of.

Within days, queer rights activists and allies filed nearly a dozen intervening petitions challenging the regressive petition. The Supreme Court, which has heard arguments from both sides, is due to send its ruling to the Parliament soon. Rosanna Flamer-Caldera, founder and executive director of EQUAL GROUND, a non-profit working on the rights of queer people.

Rosanna Flamer-Caldera, founder and executive director of EQUAL GROUND, a non-profit working on the rights of queer people. While Sri Lanka’s queer community waits in eager anticipation, “let’s not count the chickens before they hatch”, cautions Rosanna Flamer-Caldera, founder and executive director of EQUAL GROUND, a non-profit working on the rights of queer people. “We are hoping for a positive judgment from the Court, and a progressive vote from Parliament. Let’s see,” she says.

Her caution stems from the queer community’s lived experience in Sri Lanka. They face frequent discrimination, hate, and violence. “To be queer in Sri Lanka is very dangerous. While there is a change in attitude in some quarters, more organisations offering support, and more people speaking up, there is still a long way to go,” the senior activist says.

Q. Which of the following statements can be regarded as an established fact or basis for further discussion?

Direction: Kindly read the passage carefully and answer the questions given below.

Several countries have already felt the need to have in place robust responses to disinformation. The European Union (EU) has put out the Code of Practice on Disinformation 2022. Some of the strengthened initiatives of the EU Code include transparency in Political advertising, empowerment of factcheckers and researchers, tools to flag disinformation, and measures to reduce manipulative behaviour. The United Kingdom has proposed enacting an Online Safety Bill which will expect social media platforms (intermediaries) to actively monitor problematic content. Even as the U.K. Bill is being reviewed by a committee in the House of Lords, there are already calls from a number of companies, including WhatsApp and Signal, to scrap the legislation in the interest of privacy. During the progress of the U.K. Bill, the provisions to monitor “legal but harmful” content have already been replaced with greater onus on social media platforms to enforce their terms and conditions in accordance with their policies.

A more studied, comprehensive and calculated set of legislative actions is required if there is to be a balance between allowing free speech under Article 19 of the Constitution of India, and protecting citizens from falling prey to malicious disinformation. In the case of Tehseen S. Poonawalla vs Union Of India (2018) the Supreme Court of India had held that it is the duty of the Union and State governments to take steps to curb dissemination of “irresponsible and explosive messages and videos having content which is likely to incite mob violence and lynching of any kind”. Many people can recollect the panic India witnessed in many instances as a result of fake news during the early months of the COVID19 pandemic. The Supreme Court in Alakh Alok Srivastava vs Union Of India (2020) dealt with a Public Interest Litigation on the plight of migrant workers walking thousands of kilometres back home when the country went into its first lockdown. Such instances illustrate the real dangers to public order as a result of the dissemination of fake news.

Rather than coming up with a robust framework to tackle the root causes of disinformation, the Union has granted itself greater powers to strike down any content that is found to be unpalatable. With the use of Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, the Union Government has blocked access to any information online that it considers necessary in the interest of the sovereignty and the integrity of India, the security of the state or public order. More recently, the Union brought out the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, or IT Rules, 2021, to regulate content by online publishers of news and social media intermediaries. The recent draft amendments to the IT Rules, 2021, empower the Press Information Bureau, which functions under the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to ‘flag inaccurate and fake news related to government bodies on social media platforms’ amounts to disinformation. It is apparent that the focus has more to do with containing criticism against the Union Government and its leaders than about blocking fake news as such.

Q. What is the underlying reason behind the Union's enhanced authority to oversee online content, as suggested by the passage?

Directions: Study the following information carefully and answer the questions given beside.

Kajal and Aryan went on a five-day vacation with a certain amount of money with both of them. They spent a certain amount of money in these five days and saved the rest.
In the first two days, Kajal spent 16.67% more amount than Aryan and in the five days, Aryan spent 50% more amount than Kajal. Aryan saved 20% of his money while Kajal saved 25% of her money. Both of them spent 10% of their money on the fifth day. In the first four days, Aryan spent $320 more than Kajal. On the third and fourth day combined, Kajal spent 30% of her total money while Aryan spent half of his money. Kajal spent $120 on the second day while Aryan spent only $48 that day.

Q. The money spent by Aryan on the second day is what percent of the money spent by Kajal on the fifth day?

Directions: Study the following information carefully and answer the question that follows.

In dance academies K, L and M, a total of 439 students take classes of western and traditional dance forms. Number of students taking classes of western dance forms in academy L is 50% of the number of students taking classes of traditional dance forms in academy K. Only 156 students take classes in academy K. Ratio of the number of students taking classes of traditional and western dance forms in academy K is 7 : 6. Number of students taking classes of traditional dance forms in academy M is one-seventh of the number of students taking classes of western dance forms plus the number of students taking classes of traditional dance forms in academy L. Ratio of the number of students taking classes of western and traditional dance forms in academy L is 3 : 5.

Q. What is the difference between the sum of number of students taking classes of traditional dance forms in academies K and L together and the sum of number of students taking classes of western dance forms in academies L and M together?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.

With the launch of Brazil's Amazonia-1 satellite from Sriharikota, a new chapter has begun in India's space history. The satellite, a 637-kilogram entity, was the first dedicated commercial mission of NewSpace India Limited, a two-year-old commercial arm of the Department of Space. This is not the first time that NSIL has organised a launch of foreign satellites aboard an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launch vehicle. The organisation has had launches last November as well as in December 2019. However, the primary satellites aboard both these missions were Indian satellites — the RISAT-2BRI and the EOS-01 — with smaller satellites from several other countries, as well as India, piggybacking on them. The Amazonia mission also saw 18 other satellites being launched and was the first fully commercial mission. India has so far launched 342 foreign satellites from 34 countries using its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle platform and many of them have involved ISRO's first commercial entity, the Antrix Corporation. There is still confusion on how exactly the responsibilities of NSIL differ from those of Antrix. But with the formation of the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-SPACe) — a regulatory agency — as well as plans of an independent tribunal to adjudicate disputes among private space entities, there is a potential explosion of market opportunities from space applications on the anvil. Though the private sector plays a major role in developing launch and satellite infrastructure for ISRO, there are now several companies that offer myriad services. Many of these companies want to launch their own satellites, of varying dimensions, and the experience with ISRO has not been smooth always. The most conspicuous has been the controversy involving Devas Multimedia, to which the Government of India owes nearly $1.2 billion going by an order of a tribunal of the International Chamber of Commerce and upheld by a United States federal court last year. NSIL, it is said, is also a move by India's space establishment to insulate the prospects of the space industry in India from repercussions of the Devas-Antrix imbroglio.
Much like unfettered access to the Internet has spawned industries that were inconceivable, similarly, space applications and mapping have barely scratched the surface in terms of the opportunities that they can create. NSIL has a broad ambit and will be involved in collaborations spanning from launches to new space-related industries. NSIL is also expected to be more than just a marketer of ISRO's technologies; it is to find newer business opportunities and expand the sector itself. NSIL must endeavour to not be another Antrix but be continuously in start-up mode. It must conceive of ways to aid space start-ups reach out to rural India and facilitate more recruits from India's young to facilitate careers in space applications and sciences. It must see itself both as an Indian ambassador and disruptor in the space arena.

[Extracted from an editorial published in The Hindu, dated March 6, 2021]

Q. What does the phrase 'on the anvil' mean as used in the passage?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.

With the launch of Brazil's Amazonia-1 satellite from Sriharikota, a new chapter has begun in India's space history. The satellite, a 637-kilogram entity, was the first dedicated commercial mission of NewSpace India Limited, a two-year-old commercial arm of the Department of Space. This is not the first time that NSIL has organised a launch of foreign satellites aboard an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launch vehicle. The organisation has had launches last November as well as in December 2019. However, the primary satellites aboard both these missions were Indian satellites — the RISAT-2BRI and the EOS-01 — with smaller satellites from several other countries, as well as India, piggybacking on them. The Amazonia mission also saw 18 other satellites being launched and was the first fully commercial mission. India has so far launched 342 foreign satellites from 34 countries using its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle platform and many of them have involved ISRO's first commercial entity, the Antrix Corporation. There is still confusion on how exactly the responsibilities of NSIL differ from those of Antrix. But with the formation of the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-SPACe) — a regulatory agency — as well as plans of an independent tribunal to adjudicate disputes among private space entities, there is a potential explosion of market opportunities from space applications on the anvil. Though the private sector plays a major role in developing launch and satellite infrastructure for ISRO, there are now several companies that offer myriad services. Many of these companies want to launch their own satellites, of varying dimensions, and the experience with ISRO has not been smooth always. The most conspicuous has been the controversy involving Devas Multimedia, to which the Government of India owes nearly $1.2 billion going by an order of a tribunal of the International Chamber of Commerce and upheld by a United States federal court last year. NSIL, it is said, is also a move by India's space establishment to insulate the prospects of the space industry in India from repercussions of the Devas-Antrix imbroglio.
Much like unfettered access to the Internet has spawned industries that were inconceivable, similarly, space applications and mapping have barely scratched the surface in terms of the opportunities that they can create. NSIL has a broad ambit and will be involved in collaborations spanning from launches to new space-related industries. NSIL is also expected to be more than just a marketer of ISRO's technologies; it is to find newer business opportunities and expand the sector itself. NSIL must endeavour to not be another Antrix but be continuously in start-up mode. It must conceive of ways to aid space start-ups reach out to rural India and facilitate more recruits from India's young to facilitate careers in space applications and sciences. It must see itself both as an Indian ambassador and disruptor in the space arena.

[Extracted from an editorial published in The Hindu, dated March 6, 2021]

Q. What is the tone of the author in the passage?

Directions: Kindly read the passage carefully and answer the questions given beside.

India that is Bharat, alone has the wisdom, intellectual reasoning, and the age-old, time-tested civilizational culture, to spread globally this idea that Science, Education and Religions are all meant to guide and inspire us towards discovering the purpose of daily working and living and how to build the interest and powers of mind to strive towards becoming the best.

It is this ideal of Harmony of Science-Academia-Religions that the world needs today. Harmony must triumph over and trump the idea that My-God-My-Religion alone is true; and this is now being globally recognized.

Science and Education are of no use if it cannot produce good, selfless people of character; and Religions and being religious, has no use and no meaning if religions focus on mere ‘Belief and Belonging’ while spreading violence, divisions, and ‘hatred’. All systems, teachers, leaders must focus on inspiring people to be committed to duties and to righteousness and love for all; and, be held accountable for failures.

The world needs academia and religion to work together to help and inspire us towards becoming the best. Without imbibing and realization of inner-spiritual-realization can mere secular-education or divisive-religions and divisive-democracy help solve modern problems!

Therefore, the central message of India, which really is the essence of all religions, and that needs to be taught throughout schooling and growing up was and is, how to imbibe the spirit of tyaga and seva, selflessly working for good of all and to directly realize our highest Perfection. God realization is the goal of education and religions not mere ‘degrees and literacy’ or just ‘believing and belonging’.

Education, democracy, harmony of religions, are no doubt important, but only in the backdrop of this purpose and ideal of more and more unselfishness and less and less of selfishness. It is important to note this point. If we do not understand this vital point, we may misunderstand the idea and purpose of science, technology, education, and importance of harmony of religions.

Q. What is the tone of the passage?

Directions: Kindly read the passage carefully and answer the questions given beside.

Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) criminalised consensual sexual intercourse between persons of the same sex for being “against the order of nature”. In 2009, before the Delhi High Court, the Naz Foundation (India) Trust (“Naz”) challenged the constitutionality of Section 377 for violating Articles 14, 15, 19 and 21 of the Constitution. The court ruled that punishing sexual activity between two consenting adults under Section 377 violates the right to equality, privacy and personal liberty of such persons.

This decision was appealed before the Supreme Court and in 2013, the Court reversed the Naz verdict in Suresh Kumar Koushal & Anr. v. Naz Foundation & Ors. (“Koushal”). It held that only the Parliament could decriminalize homosexuality.

Five individuals from the LGBTQ communities (Navtej Singh Johar, Ritu Dalmia, Ayesha Kapur, Aman Nath and Sunil Mehra) filed a new writ petition challenging the constitutionality of Section 377.

The Decision in ‘Koushal’

All five judges overruled Koushal. The Court drew on the doctrine of progressive realisation of rights to hold that rights should not be revoked. The march of a progressive society should only be forward.

The Court also noted the guarantee of a fundamental right to privacy in Justice K. S. Puttaswamy (Retd. ) vs Union Of India and held that Koushal’s finding that Section 377 affected only a ‘miniscule minority’ cannot be the basis to deny the right to privacy. It observed that minorities face discrimination because their views and beliefs do not align with the majority and the Koushal decision violated the right of all persons to equal protection.

The Litmus Test for Survival of Section 377

The Supreme Court tested the constitutionality of Section 377 against the principles of equality, liberty, dignity under Articles 14, 19 and 21.

Q. A new rule banning consensual intercourse between people of the same sex is passed by the Indian Parliament. The law is being contested before the Indian Supreme Court. Which of the following best sums up the Court's probable justification for invalidating the law?

Directions: Study the following information carefully answer the question given beside.

Within hours of the National Council of Educational Research and Training’s (NCERT) decision to remove a chapter on the Mughals from the history textbooks for Class XII students, noted historians of the country issued a statement, denouncing the deletions.It all started with Babur when he defeated Ibrahim Lodi in the First Battle of Panipat in ‘[1]’ and went on to capture all of North India in his brief reign of four years. Babur’s victory was to usher in a prolonged period of political stability for the next nearly 200 years. His grandson Akbar ruled for almost 50 years, as did Akbar’s great-grandson ‘[2]’ while his son Jahangir and Shah Jahan ruled for over 20 years each, making sure there was consistency in state policy and the development of the empire was unimpeded. Their influence gradually reduced from 1707 onwards, and the last Mughal, Bahadur Shah Zafar, was only a symbolic leader of the Revolt of 1857. However, in this symbolism lay a message; common Indians, as evidenced by the sipahis’ uprising, considered Mughals to be their kings; hence the leadership role to Zafar.

[Extracted, with edits and revisions, from: “The Mughals | Empire-builders of medieval India, by Ziya us Slam”, The Hindu]

Q. Which of the following tombs is located outside of India?

Directions: Study the following information carefully and answer the questions given beside.

The company has a total of 500 employees. The company has 8 departments, and the number of employees in each department is as follows:  60, 75, 100, 45, 65, 50, 70, and 35. Each department has 40% females. The average salary of the male employees in the company is Rs. 50,000 per month, while the average salary of the female employees is Rs. 45,000 per month. The company has a budget of Rs. 20 lakhs for training and development programs for the employees. The company decides to allocate the budget based on the ratio of the number of employees in each department to the total number of employees in the company.

Q. What is the average salary of all the employees in the company?