AILET Mock Test-10 (New Pattern) - CLAT MCQ

Direction: Read the passage given below and answer the question that follows.

The efficacy of total lockdowns as a public health measure is yet to be proven. But we seem to have allowed our imagination and thinking to get trapped into that logic, regardless of the social and economic costs to society. Countries that imposed lockdowns, including China, have seen a re-emergence of infections while Sweden that did not impose a lockdown has close to zero deaths today. However, it’s apparent that localised restrictions on movements in high positivity areas for a limited period make sense.

The impact of lockdowns has undoubtedly been painful at both the macro and micro-levels. Amongst the worst affected are children, ironically the least vulnerable.

Morbidity and mortality among children have been comparatively lower. As per a recent UK study, deaths are two per million and hospitalisation under severe conditions about 1 in 50,000. Studies carried out in the US, Ireland, Norway, Germany and other parts of the world have shown very low to negligible transmission of infection in, and due to, schools, particularly where the discipline of wearing masks, physical distancing and personal hygiene has been enforced even moderately. In fact, most countries have persisted with in-person learning. Only a handful have shut down schools. India is one of them.

While we have no information regarding the cohort of children who have been hospitalised or have died due to Covid over the past 18 months, as in the case of adults, children with _____ such as diabetes or obesity are likely to be more vulnerable. Such data, along with seropositivity studies, need to be triangulated and analysed to enable evidence-based policy formulation instead of panic or speculation guiding decision making.

Available evidence seems to suggest that from a strictly epidemiological standpoint, there is weak justification for the stringent and prolonged lockdown of schools – particularly, primary schools. We do hear of online classes. But with less than a quarter of the country having internet access and the lackadaisical manner of the implementation of online learning by untrained teachers, the reach of such instruction to even urban students has been patchy. Students from rich families attending “good” schools may have benefitted somewhat from online education, but they are only a minuscule section of the learners.

The impact of this policy is generational and has undone a lot of the gains in education. A large number of children are now joining the workforce– they are missing out on the joys of learning.

Q. It is evident that from a pandemic stance, lengthy lockdown of schools:

Direction: Read the passage given below and answer the question that follows.

The efficacy of total lockdowns as a public health measure is yet to be proven. But we seem to have allowed our imagination and thinking to get trapped into that logic, regardless of the social and economic costs to society. Countries that imposed lockdowns, including China, have seen a re-emergence of infections while Sweden that did not impose a lockdown has close to zero deaths today. However, it’s apparent that localised restrictions on movements in high positivity areas for a limited period make sense.

The impact of lockdowns has undoubtedly been painful at both the macro and micro-levels. Amongst the worst affected are children, ironically the least vulnerable.

Morbidity and mortality among children have been comparatively lower. As per a recent UK study, deaths are two per million and hospitalisation under severe conditions about 1 in 50,000. Studies carried out in the US, Ireland, Norway, Germany and other parts of the world have shown very low to negligible transmission of infection in, and due to, schools, particularly where the discipline of wearing masks, physical distancing and personal hygiene has been enforced even moderately. In fact, most countries have persisted with in-person learning. Only a handful have shut down schools. India is one of them.

While we have no information regarding the cohort of children who have been hospitalised or have died due to Covid over the past 18 months, as in the case of adults, children with _____ such as diabetes or obesity are likely to be more vulnerable. Such data, along with seropositivity studies, need to be triangulated and analysed to enable evidence-based policy formulation instead of panic or speculation guiding decision making.

Available evidence seems to suggest that from a strictly epidemiological standpoint, there is weak justification for the stringent and prolonged lockdown of schools – particularly, primary schools. We do hear of online classes. But with less than a quarter of the country having internet access and the lackadaisical manner of the implementation of online learning by untrained teachers, the reach of such instruction to even urban students has been patchy. Students from rich families attending “good” schools may have benefitted somewhat from online education, but they are only a minuscule section of the learners.

The impact of this policy is generational and has undone a lot of the gains in education. A large number of children are now joining the workforce– they are missing out on the joys of learning.

Q. Children with ____ such as diabetes or obesity are likely to be more vulnerable.

Direction: Read the passage given below and answer the question that follows.

In an innovative departure from normal practice, the prime minister will preside over an open debate at the global high-table, namely the UN Security Council, when India holds the President’s chair for a month. This will mark a diplomatic first for an Indian PM: This role has been performed in the past by a minister or a senior diplomat.

The subject to be deliberated upon by the UNSC members is “Enhancing maritime security: A case for international cooperation” under the larger umbrella of the “Maintenance of international peace and security”. This would be an extension of Modi’s advocacy of SAGAR (security and growth for all in the region) that he had unveiled in 2015 in relation to the Indian Ocean region (IOR).

Currently, global maritime security is roiled and the most recent incident that has caused considerable unease about the safety of merchant shipping is the suspected drone attack on an Israeli-controlled tanker in the north Arabian Sea off Oman that killed two crew members. Piracy and non-traditional challenges at sea such as gun-running and smuggling are old chestnuts.

Concurrently, there is the simmering tension in the South China Sea over freedom of navigation (FON) rights in international waters and how China has laid claim to “territoriality” based on artificial structures. This formulation has not been accepted by the US that has exercised transit rights in these waters. Many ASEAN nations and Quad members such as Japan, Australia and India subscribe to the principle of FON and do not buy the Chinese interpretation of the “nine-dash-line” but have not rocked the boat with Beijing. The most recent example of maritime reticence and bilateral prudence apropos China was evident in the Royal Navy sending a carrier task group to the region but opting not to transit within the 12-mile line off the Chinese built structures.

Earlier in the year, accidents onboard large crude carriers and cargo vessels in the IOR have added to the anxiety about marine pollution and its downstream consequences for the health of the oceans. Over the last few decades, global warming and carbon emissions have altered the chemistry of the oceans and a UN report has come up with grim statistics.

Q. The term ‘old chestnuts’ as used in the passage means: