Courses
Jagdish Singh asked   •  7 minutes ago

A famous Indian politician was searching for an issue that could energize his party cadre and move the masses. A group of businessmen produced a report on "making India self-contained in her supply" of a particular commodity. It had arguments on the rationale for consumption of the commodity — why it was necessary and why the poor needed it more than the rich. One of the politician's close associates forwarded the report to the party leadership across the country, while his personal secretary echoed the report's arguments in an op-ed article the subsequent week.
The politician embraced the cause and triggered a historic agitation, the basis of which - partly at least - was the output of corporate lobbying. The politician was Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi; the industry group was the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the commodity common salt. The historic event in question, of course, is the Salt Satyagraha.
It would be hazardous to suggest that a FICCI monograph singularly triggered Gandhi's famous march to Dandi. It would, however, be equally hazardous to discount the importance of lobbying on national politics then, as indeed in contemporary times.
The current debate over corporate lobbying conflates two separate issues: one, the legitimate persuasion of politicians on the merits of certain policy measures and two, the illegal activity of bribery in pursuit of this goal. The latter is wrong. The former is necessary. We might be in the throes of moral panic, but we should not mix up the two.
Lobbying is inevitable in a modern representative democracy: the more rules you make, the more complex the economy, and more the need for "specialists" to intermediate between citizens, companies and the state. That's why we have lawyers who help individuals and firms navigate the legal system. That's why we have chartered accountants to interpret the arcana of tax laws. These intermediaries play an important economic role by specializing in such matters, and saving you and I the trouble of mastering law and the tax code when all we want is to go about our business. Lobbying serves a similar function. It is far more efficient for businesses to hire public affairs specialists and lobbyists rather than involve the management in the byzantine world of Indian politics. If we consider lawyers and chartered accountants as legitimate professionals, why not lobbyists?
One argument against mainstreaming lobbying is that lobbyist's risk making democracy a plaything of the rich. Those with deeper pockets will get to unduly influence government policies. This is reasonable in and of itself. However, isn't it true that richer people can afford better lawyers and bend justice in their favour? Isn't it true that richer people have smarter accountants who can find ingenious ways to pay less tax? More importantly, isn't it the case that richer people already influence government policies, but in opaque, shady, dubious or wholly illegal ways? Those who doubt this can contact Kejriwal for details.
Hey wait! What about the Niira Radia controversy? Doesn't that connect shady corporate lobbying to corruption? Yes, it does. However, that controversy arose in a country where lobbying is not only unregulated but perceived by many as a dubious activity. Had lobbying been recognized as a legitimate profession, bound by its own norms and governed by a set of rules -like law and accountancy - we might have been spared some of the scandal.
This is, in fact, a good time to have a public debate over lobbying. Before 1991, most companies would line up outside government offices as supplicants pleading for licenses, quotas and permits. After 1991 and until the exposure of big-corruption scandals of 2010, canny businessmen sought to create legislative loopholes that would allow them to squeeze through, but keep their competitors out. This approach is becoming untenable. Economic growth, globalization, the Right to Information, urbanization and the penetration of social media have all changed the nature of India's corporations and the government's engagement with each other. Businesses that try to create and exploit loopholes have a greater chance of being exposed, with the attendant loss to reputation and valuation. Like their counterparts in mature democracies, Indian businesses will have to engage in public affairs in cleaner, more professional and transparent ways.
This can only happen if we allow the lobbying industry to function within the law. It is far better to regulate it rather than drive it underground. Indian democracy will be better served by placing the lobbying industry in a regulatory environment that requires companies to declare their lobbying activities and expenses, lobbying firms to disclose their activities and lobbyists to adhere to professional codes of practice. This is what the US does. It's not a silver bullet, but certainly an improvement over hypocritically persisting with a sanctimonious moral blindfold and pretending to be surprised that odious things happen in our country.
Q. Why does the author cite the example of Chartered Accountants and Lawyers in the passage?
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From a pack of 52 cards, 3 cards are drawn. What is the probability that one is ace, one is queen and one is jack?
  • a)
     19/5525
  • b)
     16/5525
  • c)
     17/5525
  • d)
     7/5525
Correct answer is option 'B'. Can you explain this answer?

Shanaya Sharma answered  •  9 hours ago
Probability of getting an ace in 52 cards = 4/52
Probability of getting a queen in 51 cards = 4/51
Probability of getting a jack in 50 cards = 4/50

Probability of getting all three = 4/52 * 4/51 * 4/50 * 3!
= (64/132600) * 6
= 16/5525
(Here, 3! is the arrangment possible)

Balbir Singh asked   •  7 minutes ago

Supreme Court (SC) said it will hear all pleas related to the Jamia Milia Islamia clashes while issuing a stern warning to students to stop riots. Citing destruction of property amid anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests in the national capital, Chief justice of India SA Bobde said, If violence and destruction of public property continues, we will not hear it. The development comes as several pleas have been filed after a violent clash between Delhi Police and Jamia students. Pleas on similar clashes in Aligarh Muslim University will also be heard by the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, protests were carried out in several places in West Bengal and Assam. At least 5 trains and three railway stations were torched in West Bengal. Similar scenes were witnessed in Assam as well.
A large number of citizens are on the streets protesting the newly amended Citizenship Act. Their right to protect emerges from Article 19 (1)(a) of the Constitution. It gives all citizens the right “to assemble peacefully and without arms”. Citizens hitting the streets of cities across states against the Citizenship Amendment Act are exercising their fundamental right guaranteed under the Constitution. But the visuals beamed on the television show that many of them are using arms – stones, bricks, lathis and some inflammable materials too and have damaged public property, even resorting to setting public and private vehicles on fire. These violent protests have taken place at places where restrictions were imposed under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) which restricts people from coming in gatherings. Resorting to violence during protest is violation of a key fundamental duty of citizens. Enumerated in Article 51A, the Constitution makes it a fundamental duty of every citizen “to safeguard public property and to abjure violence”.
The Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984 punishes anyone “who commits mischief by doing any act in respect of any public property” with a jail term of up to five years and a fine or both.
Article 246 of the Constitution places ‘public order’ and ‘police’ under the jurisdiction of the state. This gives each state government full legislative and administrative powers over the police. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) can deploy Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) to the state to assist the state civil police and armed forces.
Public property under this Act includes “any building, installation or other property used in connection with the production, distribution or supply of water, light, power or energy; any oil installation; any sewage works; any mine or factory; any means of public transportation or of telecommunications, or any building, installation or other property used in connection therewith”. However, the Supreme Court has on several earlier occasions found the law inadequate, and has attempted to fill the gaps through guidelines.
In 2007, the court took suo motu cognizance of “various instances where there was large scale destruction of public and private properties in the name of agitations, bandhs, hartals and the like”. A three-bench of the Supreme Court ruled, “Persons who have initiated, promoted, instigated or any way caused to occur any act of violence against cultural programmes or which results in loss of life or damage to public or private property either directly or indirectly, shall be made liable to compensate the victims of such violence.”
Q. As per the above passage does Supreme Court think that Indian law sufficiently deals with cases and situation where damage is caused to a public property due to violent protest?
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Vikram Singh asked   •  7 minutes ago

On November 20, the Karnataka government issued a notification allowing women to work night shifts (7 p.m. to 6 a.m.) in all factories registered under the Factories Act, 1948. In line with the Night Work Convention, 1990 of the International Labour Organization, these States amended the Factories Act to remove both sex-based discrimination in night work and restrictions on the fundamental right to practise any profession, occupation, trade, or business of one’s choice.
Many concerns
In principle, this is a welcome move. The amendment suggests that night shifts for women will only be allowed if the employer ensures adequate safeguards concerning occupational safety and health, protection of dignity and honour, and transportation from the factory premises to points nearest to the worker’s residence. Yet, women workers fear that when there is no safety or dignity in the workplace even during daytime, how will employers ensure all this during night shifts?
The Garment Labour Union, GLU says they were neither consulted on this matter nor given a circular for their perusal. They are puzzled that the night shift amendment does not address the issue of pay structure for night work. Against this background, they feel the new rules recommending monthly meetings with the representatives of the employer are farcical. Workers also express scepticism about strengthening the role of inspectors in factories, as past experience shows improperly conducted inspections or negligence towards grave violations. The reality is that workers face the threat of losing their jobs if they report such violations. Also, while the amendment has prioritised installation of CCTV cameras, workers point out that there is no guarantee of their operational status, or clarity on who handles the footage. The amendment has also failed to address child care, an important concern in a women dominated sector, especially when paid care is beyond their means. Other promises such as 12 consecutive hours of rest between the last shift and the night shift, separate canteens, and more rest rooms also appear unconvincing in a context where even rest room breaks are infrequent due to high production targets.
Systemic failure
In a sector where there is systemic failure and worker management relations are turbulent, putting the onus of worker safety and security in the hands of the management alone can be risky. Moreover, it is well known that in supply chains the brands call the shots. Involving them in discussions on worker dignity and equality is important. Omitting workers and trade unions from discussions about the amendment is also seen by the workers as a shortsighted measure.
Q. The notification is amended, and the Government make law providing for jail term for employers who do not follow the notification. In such a situation, according to the author:
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Kamlesh asked   •  7 minutes ago

The Cold War was a state of political and military tension after World War II between powers in the Western Bloc (the United States, its NATO allies and others) and powers in the Eastern Bloc (the Soviet Union and its satellite states). Historians do not fully agree on the dates, but a common timeframe is the period between 1947, the year the Truman Doctrine (a U.S. policy pledging to aid nations threatened by Soviet expansionism) was announced, and 1991, the year the Soviet Union collapsed.
The term "cold" is used because there was no large-scale fighting directly between the two sides, although there were major regional wars, known as proxy wars, supported by the two sides. The Cold War split the temporary wartime alliance against Nazi Germany, leaving the Soviet Union and the United States as two superpowers with profound economic and political differences. The USSR was a Marxist-Leninist state ruled by its Communist Party and secret police, who in turn were ruled by a dictator (Stalin) or a small committee ("Politburo"). The Party controlled the press, the military, the economy and all organizations. It also controlled the other states in the Eastern bloc, and funded Communist parties around the world, sometimes in competition with Communist China, particularly following the Sino-Soviet split of the 1960s. In opposition stood the West, dominantly democratic and capitalist with a free press and independent organizations. A small neutral bloc arose with the Non-Aligned Movement; it sought good relations with both sides. The two superpowers never engaged directly in full-scale armed combat, but they were heavily armed in preparation for a possible all-out nuclear world war. Each side had a nuclear deterrent that deterred an attack by the other side, on the basis that such an attack would lead to total destruction of the attacker: the doctrine of mutually assured destruction (MAD). Aside from the development of the two sides' nuclear arsenals, and deployment of conventional military forces, the struggle for dominance was expressed via proxy wars around the globe, psychological warfare, massive propaganda campaigns and espionage, rivalry at sports events, and technological competitions such as the Space Race.
The first phase of the Cold War began in the first two years after the end of the Second World War in 1945. The USSR consolidated its control over the states of the Eastern Bloc, while the United States began a strategy of global containment to challenge Soviet power, extending military and financial aid to the countries of Western Europe (for example, supporting the anti-communist side in the Greek Civil War) and creating the NATO alliance. The Berlin Blockade (1948-49) was the first major crisis of the Cold War. With the victory of the communist side in the Chinese Civil War and the outbreak of the Korean War (1950-53), the conflict expanded. The USSR and USA competed for influence in Latin America, and the decolonizing states of Africa and Asia. Meanwhile, the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was stopped by the Soviets. The expansion and escalation sparked more crises, such as the Suez Crisis (1956), the Berlin Crisis of 1961, and the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Following the Cuban Missile Crisis, a new phase began that saw the Sino-Soviet split complicate relations within the communist sphere, while US allies, particularly France, demonstrated greater independence of action. The USSR crushed the 1968 Prague Spring liberalization program in Czechoslovakia, and the Vietnam War (1955-75) ended with a defeat of the US-backed Republic of South Vietnam, prompting further adjustments.
Q. During the period of cold war
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Hamir Singh asked   •  7 minutes ago

Questions about a person’s place and date of birth, his parents’ names and their place of birth are meant to ascertain citizenship, the Supreme Court has held. The court, in a 2005 judgment has clearly held that these personal questions are directly associated with “establishing citizenship”. “In order to establish one’s citizenship, normally he may be required to give evidence of (i) his date of birth (ii) place of birth (iii) name of his parents (iv) their place of birth and citizenship,”. Moreover, the court explained that these facts figured specially in the context of establishing citizenship because they “would necessarily be within the personal knowledge of the person concerned and not of the authorities of the State”. In case of doubts about a person’s citizenship, the burden of proving that these facts were true was on the person concerned.
The government has so far denied any link between the National Population Register (NPR), which is to establish usual residency, and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), meant to establish citizenship. In fact, the NPR takes into account foreign citizens too. However, if the NPR form of 2020 carries these personal questions highlighted in the judgment, apprehensions raised in the public mind that the NPR is a stepping stone for a nationwide NRC become justified. The 2005 judgment came just over a year after the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules of 2003 was notified in December 2003. The Rules clearly linked the NPR and the NRC. Rule 4(3) of the Citizenship Rules states that personal details collected for the ‘Population Register’ would be used in the preparation of the National Register of Indian Citizens. The Citizenship Rules define ‘Population Register’ as a “register containing details of persons usually residing in a village or rural area or town or ward or demarcated within a ward in a town or urban area”.
Q. Does the author agree with government’s point that NPR and NRC are not linked?
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Sheela Devi asked   •  7 minutes ago

Supreme Court (SC) said it will hear all pleas related to the Jamia Milia Islamia clashes while issuing a stern warning to students to stop riots. Citing destruction of property amid anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests in the national capital, Chief justice of India SA Bobde said, If violence and destruction of public property continues, we will not hear it. The development comes as several pleas have been filed after a violent clash between Delhi Police and Jamia students. Pleas on similar clashes in Aligarh Muslim University will also be heard by the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, protests were carried out in several places in West Bengal and Assam. At least 5 trains and three railway stations were torched in West Bengal. Similar scenes were witnessed in Assam as well.
A large number of citizens are on the streets protesting the newly amended Citizenship Act. Their right to protect emerges from Article 19 (1)(a) of the Constitution. It gives all citizens the right “to assemble peacefully and without arms”. Citizens hitting the streets of cities across states against the Citizenship Amendment Act are exercising their fundamental right guaranteed under the Constitution. But the visuals beamed on the television show that many of them are using arms – stones, bricks, lathis and some inflammable materials too and have damaged public property, even resorting to setting public and private vehicles on fire. These violent protests have taken place at places where restrictions were imposed under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) which restricts people from coming in gatherings. Resorting to violence during protest is violation of a key fundamental duty of citizens. Enumerated in Article 51A, the Constitution makes it a fundamental duty of every citizen “to safeguard public property and to abjure violence”.
The Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984 punishes anyone “who commits mischief by doing any act in respect of any public property” with a jail term of up to five years and a fine or both.
Article 246 of the Constitution places ‘public order’ and ‘police’ under the jurisdiction of the state. This gives each state government full legislative and administrative powers over the police. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) can deploy Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) to the state to assist the state civil police and armed forces.
Public property under this Act includes “any building, installation or other property used in connection with the production, distribution or supply of water, light, power or energy; any oil installation; any sewage works; any mine or factory; any means of public transportation or of telecommunications, or any building, installation or other property used in connection therewith”. However, the Supreme Court has on several earlier occasions found the law inadequate, and has attempted to fill the gaps through guidelines.
In 2007, the court took suo motu cognizance of “various instances where there was large scale destruction of public and private properties in the name of agitations, bandhs, hartals and the like”. A three-bench of the Supreme Court ruled, “Persons who have initiated, promoted, instigated or any way caused to occur any act of violence against cultural programmes or which results in loss of life or damage to public or private property either directly or indirectly, shall be made liable to compensate the victims of such violence.”
Q. What is the view of Supreme Court regarding damage caused to private and public property due to violent protests?
... more

Ramkishan asked   •  7 minutes ago

On November 20, the Karnataka government issued a notification allowing women to work night shifts (7 p.m. to 6 a.m.) in all factories registered under the Factories Act, 1948. In line with the Night Work Convention, 1990 of the International Labour Organization, these States amended the Factories Act to remove both sex-based discrimination in night work and restrictions on the fundamental right to practise any profession, occupation, trade, or business of one’s choice.
Many concerns
In principle, this is a welcome move. The amendment suggests that night shifts for women will only be allowed if the employer ensures adequate safeguards concerning occupational safety and health, protection of dignity and honour, and transportation from the factory premises to points nearest to the worker’s residence. Yet, women workers fear that when there is no safety or dignity in the workplace even during daytime, how will employers ensure all this during night shifts?
The Garment Labour Union, GLU says they were neither consulted on this matter nor given a circular for their perusal. They are puzzled that the night shift amendment does not address the issue of pay structure for night work. Against this background, they feel the new rules recommending monthly meetings with the representatives of the employer are farcical. Workers also express scepticism about strengthening the role of inspectors in factories, as past experience shows improperly conducted inspections or negligence towards grave violations. The reality is that workers face the threat of losing their jobs if they report such violations. Also, while the amendment has prioritised installation of CCTV cameras, workers point out that there is no guarantee of their operational status, or clarity on who handles the footage. The amendment has also failed to address child care, an important concern in a women dominated sector, especially when paid care is beyond their means. Other promises such as 12 consecutive hours of rest between the last shift and the night shift, separate canteens, and more rest rooms also appear unconvincing in a context where even rest room breaks are infrequent due to high production targets.
Systemic failure
In a sector where there is systemic failure and worker management relations are turbulent, putting the onus of worker safety and security in the hands of the management alone can be risky. Moreover, it is well known that in supply chains the brands call the shots. Involving them in discussions on worker dignity and equality is important. Omitting workers and trade unions from discussions about the amendment is also seen by the workers as a shortsighted measure.
Q. According to passage is the new notification appreciated by the women workforce?
... more

Jai Singh asked   •  7 minutes ago

The Cold War was a state of political and military tension after World War II between powers in the Western Bloc (the United States, its NATO allies and others) and powers in the Eastern Bloc (the Soviet Union and its satellite states). Historians do not fully agree on the dates, but a common timeframe is the period between 1947, the year the Truman Doctrine (a U.S. policy pledging to aid nations threatened by Soviet expansionism) was announced, and 1991, the year the Soviet Union collapsed.
The term "cold" is used because there was no large-scale fighting directly between the two sides, although there were major regional wars, known as proxy wars, supported by the two sides. The Cold War split the temporary wartime alliance against Nazi Germany, leaving the Soviet Union and the United States as two superpowers with profound economic and political differences. The USSR was a Marxist-Leninist state ruled by its Communist Party and secret police, who in turn were ruled by a dictator (Stalin) or a small committee ("Politburo"). The Party controlled the press, the military, the economy and all organizations. It also controlled the other states in the Eastern bloc, and funded Communist parties around the world, sometimes in competition with Communist China, particularly following the Sino-Soviet split of the 1960s. In opposition stood the West, dominantly democratic and capitalist with a free press and independent organizations. A small neutral bloc arose with the Non-Aligned Movement; it sought good relations with both sides. The two superpowers never engaged directly in full-scale armed combat, but they were heavily armed in preparation for a possible all-out nuclear world war. Each side had a nuclear deterrent that deterred an attack by the other side, on the basis that such an attack would lead to total destruction of the attacker: the doctrine of mutually assured destruction (MAD). Aside from the development of the two sides' nuclear arsenals, and deployment of conventional military forces, the struggle for dominance was expressed via proxy wars around the globe, psychological warfare, massive propaganda campaigns and espionage, rivalry at sports events, and technological competitions such as the Space Race.
The first phase of the Cold War began in the first two years after the end of the Second World War in 1945. The USSR consolidated its control over the states of the Eastern Bloc, while the United States began a strategy of global containment to challenge Soviet power, extending military and financial aid to the countries of Western Europe (for example, supporting the anti-communist side in the Greek Civil War) and creating the NATO alliance. The Berlin Blockade (1948-49) was the first major crisis of the Cold War. With the victory of the communist side in the Chinese Civil War and the outbreak of the Korean War (1950-53), the conflict expanded. The USSR and USA competed for influence in Latin America, and the decolonizing states of Africa and Asia. Meanwhile, the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was stopped by the Soviets. The expansion and escalation sparked more crises, such as the Suez Crisis (1956), the Berlin Crisis of 1961, and the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Following the Cuban Missile Crisis, a new phase began that saw the Sino-Soviet split complicate relations within the communist sphere, while US allies, particularly France, demonstrated greater independence of action. The USSR crushed the 1968 Prague Spring liberalization program in Czechoslovakia, and the Vietnam War (1955-75) ended with a defeat of the US-backed Republic of South Vietnam, prompting further adjustments.
Q. The doctrine of mutually assured destruction was
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Kanika Gupta asked   •  35 minutes ago

Intellectual property rights (IPR) are basically negative rights, which allow the right-holder to (i) utilize, (ii) dispose of his rights and (iii) initiate legal action against those who infringe them. Anybody who misappropriates the property is faced with civil and/ or criminal consequences. While the traditional remedies include injunction, cost, damages, etc., what has assumed more popularity in these days is the non-traditional forms of remedies like, Anton Piller order, interlocutory injunction, etc. Anton Piller order is a very potent weapon in the plaintiff’s arsenal. Often dubbed as the ‘nuclear weapon’, it has the power even to destroy the defendant’s reputation and business. This potential of its being abused makes the order a force to reckon with. Generally, while granting an Anton Piller order, the Court has to balance between two conflicting interests- combating infringements of IPR and safeguarding the defendant’s right to privacy and privilege against self-incrimination. In this paper, various aspects of Anton Piller order, like jurisdictional aspect, requirements, safeguards against abuse, etc., through English cases are analyzed. In the end, scope of the application of Anton Piller order in Indian legal system through discussion of cases and various Acts is examined.
Anton Piller Order in UK -The Anton Piller order is a form of discovery preservation granted on ex parte application. It can comprise of an injunction to restrain infringement, permission to enter defendant's premises to inspect documents and remove originals or copies of the originals, permission to remove allegedly infringing goods, and an injunction to restrain defendant from disclosing contents of the injunction to third parties for a specified period. The purpose of the order was explained in Yousuf v Salama, where Lord Denning MR observed that the order intends to prevent the danger of destruction of evidence.
Q. What is the purpose of the Anton Piller order?
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Amit Kumar asked   •  1 hour ago

Directions : The questions in this section are based on a single passage. The questions are to be answered on the basis of what is stated or implied in the passage. Kindly note that more than one of the choices may conceivably answer some of the questions. However, you are to choose the most appropriate answer; that is, the response that most accurately and completely answers the question.
The spread of education in society is at the foundation of success in countries that are latecomers to development. In the quest for development, primary education is absolutely essential because it creates the base. But higher education is just as important, for it provides the cutting edge. And universities are the life-blood of higher education. Islands of excellence in professional education, such as Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), are valuable complements but-cannot be substitutes for universities which provide educational opportunities for people at large.
There can be no doubt that higher education has made a significant contribution to economic development, social progress and political democracy in independent India. It is a source of dynamism for the economy. It has created social opportunities for people. It has fostered the vibrant democracy in our polity. It has provided a beginning for the creation of a knowledge society. But it would be a mistake to focus on its strengths alone. It has weaknesses that are a cause for serious concern.
There is, in fact, a quiet crisis in higher education in India that runs deep. It is not yet discernible simply because there are pockets of excellence, an enormous reservoir of talented young people and an intense competition in the admissions process. And, in some important spheres, we continue to reap the benefits of what was sown in higher education 50 years ago by the founding fathers of the Republic. The reality is that we have miles to go. The proportion of our population, in the age group 18-24, that enters the world of higher education is around 7 per cent, which is only one-half the average for Asia. The opportunities for higher education, in terms of the number of places in universities, are simply not enough in relation to our needs. What is more, the quality of higher education in most of our universities requires substantial improvement.
It is clear that the system of higher education in India faces serious challenges. It needs a systematic overhaul, so that we can educate much larger numbers without diluting academic standards. This is imperative because the transformation of economy and society in the 21st century would depend, in significant part, on the spread and the quality of education among our people, particularly in the sphere of higher education. It is only an inclusive society that can provide the foundations for a knowledge society.
The challenges that confront higher education in India are clear. It needs a massive expansion of opportunities for higher education, to 1500 universities nationwide, that would enable India to attain a gross enrolment ratio of at least 15 per cent by 2015. It is just as important to raise the average quality of higher education in every sphere. At the same time, it is essential to create institutions that are exemplars of excellence at par with the best in the world. In the pursuit of these objectives, providing people with access to higher education in a socially inclusive manner is imperative. The realisation of these objectives, combined with access, would not only develop the skills and capabilities we need for the economy but would also help transform India into a knowledge economy and society.
Q.
What is the meaning of the word "discemible" ?
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Vaiduriya Chopra asked   •  1 hour ago

Directions  Below is given a passage followed by several possible inferences which can be drawn from the facts stated in the passage? You have to examine each inference separately in the context of the passage and decide upon its degree of truth or falsity. 

Q.

Statement : In India, we are still struggling with elementary problems of healthcare. Our performance in health-related sectors like provision of drinking water, sanitation, education and nutrition remain poor. The healthcare system itself is extremely inadequate and particularly missing at the village level. As our bureaucrats systematically decimated the Community Health Worker (CHW) programme, we face an unenviable prospect of facing the old and new health challenges without infrastructure at the grassroots. Ironically, in the name of infrastructure, various Indian states are busy building tertiary institutes – hospitals – on World Bank loans. Aid agencies are also pushing one programme after another, overlooking the absence of adequate infrastructure at the village level. Unfortunately, no one talks of facilities at the village level.

 Other countries have made rapid progress in elementary problems of healthcare by now.

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Dinesh Kodali asked   •  1 hour ago

Intellectual property rights (IPR) are basically negative rights, which allow the right-holder to (i) utilize, (ii) dispose of his rights and (iii) initiate legal action against those who infringe them. Anybody who misappropriates the property is faced with civil and/ or criminal consequences. While the traditional remedies include injunction, cost, damages, etc., what has assumed more popularity in these days is the non-traditional forms of remedies like, Anton Piller order, interlocutory injunction, etc. Anton Piller order is a very potent weapon in the plaintiff’s arsenal. Often dubbed as the ‘nuclear weapon’, it has the power even to destroy the defendant’s reputation and business. This potential of its being abused makes the order a force to reckon with. Generally, while granting an Anton Piller order, the Court has to balance between two conflicting interests- combating infringements of IPR and safeguarding the defendant’s right to privacy and privilege against self-incrimination. In this paper, various aspects of Anton Piller order, like jurisdictional aspect, requirements, safeguards against abuse, etc., through English cases are analyzed. In the end, scope of the application of Anton Piller order in Indian legal system through discussion of cases and various Acts is examined.
Anton Piller Order in UK -The Anton Piller order is a form of discovery preservation granted on ex parte application. It can comprise of an injunction to restrain infringement, permission to enter defendant's premises to inspect documents and remove originals or copies of the originals, permission to remove allegedly infringing goods, and an injunction to restrain defendant from disclosing contents of the injunction to third parties for a specified period. The purpose of the order was explained in Yousuf v Salama, where Lord Denning MR observed that the order intends to prevent the danger of destruction of evidence.
Q. The Intellectual Property India is administered by the Office of the:
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Praddhumn Dubey asked   •  4 hours ago

A prenuptial agreement ("prenup" for short) is a written contract created by two people before they are married. A prenup typically lists all of the property each person owns (as well as any debts) and specifies what each person's property rights will be after the marriage.
In some states, a prenuptial agreement is known as an "antenuptial agreement," or in more modern terms, a "premarital agreement." Sometimes the word "contract" is substituted for "agreement," as in "prenuptial contract." An agreement made during marriage, rather than before, is known as a "postnuptial," "post marital," or "marital" agreement.
As prenuptial agreements become more common, the law is becoming friendlier toward them. Traditionally, courts scrutinized prenups with a suspicious eye, because they almost always involved a waiver of legal and financial benefits by a less wealthy spouse and they were thought to encourage breakups.
As divorce and remarriage have become more prevalent, and with more equality between the sexes, courts and legislatures are increasingly willing to uphold premarital agreements. Today, every state permits them, although a prenup that is judged unfair or otherwise fails to meet state requirements will still be set aside.
However, because courts still look carefully at prenups, it is important that you negotiate and write up your agreement in a way that is clear, understandable, and legally sound. If you draft your own agreement, which we recommend, you'll want to have separate lawyers review it and at least briefly advise you about it -- otherwise a court is much more likely to question its validity.
Whether you need a prenup depends on where you live and what you want to accomplish with the contract. For example, if you live in a community property state, the general rule is that all assets acquired during your marriage will be divided 50/50 between you and your spouse if you divorce. And typically, separate property, including gifts, inheritances, and any property you owned before the marriage will not be divided in the divorce, and you will keep what you own individually.
If you live in a community property state and you're comfortable relying on these general rules, you may not need to go through the unromantic and sometimes stressful process of drafting a prenuptial agreement.
However, if you have specific ideas of how things should be divided or if you have separate property you want to make sure remains exclusively yours after a divorce, you may want to consider a prenup. Additionally, if you're certain that neither of you want to pay alimony in the event of a breakup, you may need a prenup to ensure you don't end up paying spousal support.
Q. As divorce and remarriage have become more prevalent, and with more equality between the sexes, courts and legislatures
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Amit Kumar asked   •  5 hours ago

Directions : In view of the passage given below: Choose the best option for question.
When talks come to how India has done for itself in 50 years of independence, the world has nothing but praise for our success in remaining a democracy. On other front, the applause is less loud. In absolute terms, India has not done too badly, Of course, life expectancy has increased. So has literacy. Industry, which was barely a fledging, has grown tremendously, As far as agriculture is concerned, India has been transformed from a country perpetually on the edge of starvation into a success story held up for others to emulate. But these are competitive times when change is rapid, and to walk slowly when rest of the world is running is almost as bad standing still on walking backwards.
Compare with large chunks of what was then the developing world South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, China and what was till lately a separate Hong Kong- India has fared abysmally, It began with a far better infrastructure than most of these countries had. It suffered hardly or not at all during the Second World War It ha advantages like a English speaking elite, quality scientific manpower (including a Novel laureate and others who could be ranked according to their global competitiveness, it is tiny Singapore that figures at the top. Hong Kong is an export powerhouse. So is Taiwan. If a symbol were needed of, how far we have fallen back, note that while Korean Ceils are sold in India, no one is South Korea is rushing to by an Indian car. The reasons list themselves, Top most in economic isolationism.
The government discouraged imports and encouraged self-sufficiency. Whatever the aim was, the result was the creation of totally inefficient industry that failed to keep pace with global trends and, therefore, became absolutely uncompetitive. Only when the trade gates were opened a little did this become apparent. The years since then have been spent in merely trying to catch up. That the government actually sheltered it’s the years since then have been spent in merely trying to catch up. That the government actually sheltered its industrialists from foreign competition is a little strange. For in all other respects, it operated under the conviction that businessman were little more than crooks how were to be prevented from entering the most important area of the economy, how were to be hamstrung in as many ways as possible, how were to be tolerated in the same way as an in excisable wart. The high expropriator rates taxation, the licensing laws, the reservation of whole swathes of industry for the public sector, and the granting of monopolies to the public sector firms were the principle manifestations of this attitude. The government forget that before wealth could be distributed, it had to be created.
The government forgot that it itself could not create, but only squander wealth, Some of the manifestations of the old attitude have changed, Tax rates have fallen, Licensing has been al but abolished. And the gates of global trade have been open wide. But most of these changes were first by circumstances partly by the funds of support the public sector, leave alone expand it. Weather the attitude of the government itself, of that of more than handful of ministers, has changed, is open of question. In many other ways, however, the government has not changed one with. Business till has to negotiable a welter of negotiations. Transparency is still a longer way off. And there is no exit policy. In defending the existing policy, politicians betray and inability to see beyond their noses. A no-exit policy for labour is equivalent to a no-entry policy for new business. If one industry is not allowed to retrench labour, other industries will think a hundred times before employing new labour. In other ways, the government hurts industries.
Public sector monopolies like the department of telecommunications and Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. make it possible for Indian business to operator only at cost several times that off their counterparts abroad. The infrastructure is in a shambles partly because it is unable to formulate a sufficiently remunerative policy for private business, and partly because it does not have the stomach to change market rates for services. After a burst of activity in the early nineties, the government is dragging its feet. At the rate it is going, it will be another fifty years before the government realizes that a pro-business policy is the best pro-people policy. By then of course, the world would have moved even further ahead.
Q. The government was compelled to open the economy due to….
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Runjun Pahlani asked   •  5 hours ago

Directions: Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below.
In the world of climate science and science in general, data is king. The more of it you have, and the higher its quality, the better. And while such trends as the rise in temperatures and sea levels have impeccable data behind them, not every measure of a changing climate has been so lucky. Take the global wind and wave climate, for example, which measures trends in wind speed and wave height in oceans around the globe) Both of these factors affect the interplay between the atmosphere and ocean of both energy and carbon (more winds equal choppier waters, which can get in the way of air-to-water energy transfers), and of course, higher waves could spell more trouble during storm surges and affect flooding levels. But it had been historically tricky to get reliable long-term data on these phenomena to study any possible trends.
Until now, that is. A paper in Science today uses satellite data to analyze wind speed and wave height over more than 30 years, and concluded that on average both are increasing, especially in the southern hemisphere, and especially during extreme conditions like storms.
They also demonstrated a useful way to study these things in the first place, which should prove helpful to scientists moving forward. Why did it take till now to amass and analyze? what should be a fairly straightforward dataset? As the paper’s authors explain, it wasn’t that easy. Ocean buoys, “the most obvious data source,” have proven problematic because changes over the years in their construction and instrumentation mean the data they’re spitting out isn’t really consistent in the long term. So, it’d be comparing apples to, if not oranges, then at least other kinds of apples not ideal.
Thus, they turned to the satellite record, which currently runs from 1985 through 2018. Not bad, but the same worries came up there, too: With all the different kinds of hardware and software in space, maybe their data isn’t reliable enough for such research either? So, the authors decided to go in and find out. As you may have surmised by now, it worked out. In particular, they studied the data collected by three kinds of instruments on satellites: altimeters, which measure both wave height and wind speed; radiometers, which measure wind speed: and scatterometers, which measure wind speed and direction. After cross-checking all the numbers, cross-validating with other satellites and just generally making sure they weren’t being fooled by anything, the authors concluded that this past 30-odd years had seen a strong positive trend in global wind speed, and a weaker (but still noticeable) increase in wave heights. They also noted the trends were much stronger in extreme cases, which they defined as the data from the set’s 90th percentile. Not that any of the actual changes were especially high. Wind speeds went up by about an inch per second every year about twice the speed of a garden snail across the Southern Ocean and south of the equator, where the trends were strongest. The change was about half that in the North Atlantic) (The extreme cases had the same distribution, but with faster speeds, around two inches per second per year.) Things weren’t quite as clear cut for the wave height, but there were patches with overall rises of about a tenth of an inch per year, and one surprising spot in the North Pacific with a drop of about half an inch per year.
It might not sound like much, fractions of an inch here or there, but the results do show clear trends for global behaviour over time) Any improvement on our understanding of the global wind and wave climate is helpful, the authors write, since “estimates of future ocean wind and wave states, and whether extreme conditions are changing, are important elements of projections of total sea level.” The team also showed that the satellites can be trusted, since each of the different kinds of instruments, aboard 31 total orbiting satellites, ultimately showed data consistent with each other. 
This means future studies can ____ on this increasingly rich data set without having to worry about comparing apples to anything else. So not only did the authors add (A)/some specific bits of that all important data(B)/ to the global climate record, they also made(C)/ it easy for future researchers to do the same. (D)/
Q. A sentence in the paragraph is divided into four parts, find if there is error in any part and mark that as your answer.
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Sanjay Dhakad asked   •  6 hours ago

Directions  Below is given a passage followed by several possible inferences which can be drawn from the facts stated in the passage? You have to examine each inference separately in the context of the passage and decide upon its degree of truth or falsity.
Q.
Statement : Change has swept over Chambal. Its ravines are no longer dominated by the likes of the big names of yesteryear, like Man Singh, Malkhan Singh, Phoolan Devi or Putli Bai. Those who have taken over are petty criminals in comparison, targeting poor farmers and shopkeepers. Their forte is small-time robbing and kidnapping because they are not strong enough to lay hands on big farmers, who were the targets of the previous generation of Chambal dacoits. Survivors of old generation feel their generation comprised rebels who fought against injustice and did not exploit the poor.
People do not know the name of contemporary Chambal dacoits.
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Hind Raj Bhagat asked   •  7 hours ago

Questions about a person’s place and date of birth, his parents’ names and their place of birth are meant to ascertain citizenship, the Supreme Court has held. The court, in a 2005 judgment has clearly held that these personal questions are directly associated with “establishing citizenship”. “In order to establish one’s citizenship, normally he may be required to give evidence of (i) his date of birth (ii) place of birth (iii) name of his parents (iv) their place of birth and citizenship,”. Moreover, the court explained that these facts figured specially in the context of establishing citizenship because they “would necessarily be within the personal knowledge of the person concerned and not of the authorities of the State”. In case of doubts about a person’s citizenship, the burden of proving that these facts were true was on the person concerned.
The government has so far denied any link between the National Population Register (NPR), which is to establish usual residency, and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), meant to establish citizenship. In fact, the NPR takes into account foreign citizens too. However, if the NPR form of 2020 carries these personal questions highlighted in the judgment, apprehensions raised in the public mind that the NPR is a stepping stone for a nationwide NRC become justified. The 2005 judgment came just over a year after the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules of 2003 was notified in December 2003. The Rules clearly linked the NPR and the NRC. Rule 4(3) of the Citizenship Rules states that personal details collected for the ‘Population Register’ would be used in the preparation of the National Register of Indian Citizens. The Citizenship Rules define ‘Population Register’ as a “register containing details of persons usually residing in a village or rural area or town or ward or demarcated within a ward in a town or urban area”.
Q. Based on the author’s arguments in the passage above, which of the following would be most correct:
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Yashika Mahajan asked   •  7 hours ago

A prenuptial agreement ("prenup" for short) is a written contract created by two people before they are married. A prenup typically lists all of the property each person owns (as well as any debts) and specifies what each person's property rights will be after the marriage.
In some states, a prenuptial agreement is known as an "antenuptial agreement," or in more modern terms, a "premarital agreement." Sometimes the word "contract" is substituted for "agreement," as in "prenuptial contract." An agreement made during marriage, rather than before, is known as a "postnuptial," "post marital," or "marital" agreement.
As prenuptial agreements become more common, the law is becoming friendlier toward them. Traditionally, courts scrutinized prenups with a suspicious eye, because they almost always involved a waiver of legal and financial benefits by a less wealthy spouse and they were thought to encourage breakups.
As divorce and remarriage have become more prevalent, and with more equality between the sexes, courts and legislatures are increasingly willing to uphold premarital agreements. Today, every state permits them, although a prenup that is judged unfair or otherwise fails to meet state requirements will still be set aside.
However, because courts still look carefully at prenups, it is important that you negotiate and write up your agreement in a way that is clear, understandable, and legally sound. If you draft your own agreement, which we recommend, you'll want to have separate lawyers review it and at least briefly advise you about it -- otherwise a court is much more likely to question its validity.
Whether you need a prenup depends on where you live and what you want to accomplish with the contract. For example, if you live in a community property state, the general rule is that all assets acquired during your marriage will be divided 50/50 between you and your spouse if you divorce. And typically, separate property, including gifts, inheritances, and any property you owned before the marriage will not be divided in the divorce, and you will keep what you own individually.
If you live in a community property state and you're comfortable relying on these general rules, you may not need to go through the unromantic and sometimes stressful process of drafting a prenuptial agreement.
However, if you have specific ideas of how things should be divided or if you have separate property you want to make sure remains exclusively yours after a divorce, you may want to consider a prenup. Additionally, if you're certain that neither of you want to pay alimony in the event of a breakup, you may need a prenup to ensure you don't end up paying spousal support.
Q. In prenuptial agreement, what will not be divided after the marriage?
... more

Monica Reddy asked   •  8 hours ago

Direction: Read the following passages carefully and answer the questions that follow.
Passage
Have you ever noticed strange bumps on stems, leaves, flowers, or tree branches? Well, they are part of the plant and grown by the plant, but they are homes for tiny insects! These bumps are called galls. Insects form galls. The plant does not decide to grow them. Typically, a female insect lays her eggs on a plant. After the baby insects hatch, special chemicals are left on the plant. These special chemicals cause the plant to bubble up and form a gall. Once a gall has grown, the insects have a safe place to live and eat, or do they? Other animals, besides insects, benefit from galls. Galls are also great places for birds and small animals to find a meal. Woodpeckers, squirrels, mice and bats all use galls as a source for a tasty insect snack. If a gall has a large hole poked into it, a larger creature may have stopped for a bite.
Now that you know what a gall is, you will probably begin to notice them everywhere. Look around You may even decide to break open a gall and take a peek inside. If the gall has a little hole, the owner has probably left. Can you believe it? A little house for an insect made by a plant!
Q. In the passage what does the 'benefit' means?
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Anjala Jabi asked   •  8 hours ago

Directions: Questions 4 - 6 are based on a common set of principles and facts. Answer accordingly.
Principle 1: Any person (Principal) authorizing another person (Agent) to do a certain act will be liable for all acts of such person done within the course of employment. The tests of control and
direction must be complied with.
Principle 2: A wrongful act authorized by the Principal as well as a lawful act done in a wrongful
manner would be considered to have been within the course of employment unless specific directions were given regarding the mode of performance of the act.
Principle 3: For an act to fall outside the scope of employment, the act should either have been
performed after the authorized act had come to an end or must be of such nature that it can be
completely divorced from the authorized act.
Principle 4: Such a relationship need not be a long term arrangement and can be set up for one specific transaction.
Facts: Aggubai instructed her long standing childhood friend Annubai to go to Palampur and strike a deal with Tagesh, a spirit supplier, for the purchase of 1000 bottles of McDowell‘s No.1 whisky, which Aggubai intended to sell at her retail store in Mumbai. Annubai was also instructed to keep in touch with Aggubai over phone regarding the deal. Accordingly, Annubai took a train to Palampur, planned a meeting with Tagesh and made the requisite purchase.
Q.
Did Annubai and Aggubai have a principalagent relationship?
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Uma Chaudhary asked   •  10 hours ago

Direction: Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below.
Labelling Zora Neale Hurston "a writer of the Harlem Renaissance" is a characterization that may, at first glance, obscure, rather than clarity, the particularities of her career. The Harlem Renaissance was a spirit more than a movement and because a spirit is ephemeral, generalizations about the Harlem Renaissance and its writers are either too hard or too easy. They have come easily enough to a whole generation of critics, but their pithy summaries seldom reflect the wide divisions between Blacks and Whites, the Black intelligentsia and Black workers. Black writers and their middle class audience that marked the era. When one studies in depth the phenomenon of what was then called the Negro Renaissance or the New Negro Renaissance and what is now called the Harlem Renaissance, one comes away with a bewildering complex of notions, statements, affirmations and manifestos. Although there is general agreement that the Harlem Renaissance is bounded by the 1918 armistice ending the First World War and the beginning of the great depression in 1930, some historians have stretched the boundaries to before the war (1914) and after Frankline Delano Roosevelt's second term (1941). There has been a widespread tendency to regard the Harlem Renaissance as a monolithic cultural movement, capable of reduction to one orthodoxy or another or to a set of characteristic principles. This presumption reflects the bias in most American scholarship that postulates Black people as united entity and then poses theories ignoring individuation of thought and feeling. Sometimes, however, an individual career can be best assessed in the context of an age and this is largely case with the writer and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston. She spends exactly two paragraphs on the Renaissance in her autobiography and her other writing, public and private, offers very little discussion of what the Harlem Renaissance meant to her. Yet her part in the Renaissance is well-documented in the reminiscences of others, with unanimous agreement that she was one of the most memorable personages of the period. Langston Hughes put it in The Big Sea, she 'was certainly the most amusing' of the Harlem Renaissance artists, 'full of side-splitting anecdotes, humorous tales and tragicomic stories.' Hughes's words should not imply that she was solely an entertainer. Although, she was independent and scornful of literary movements, she shared in the historical and cultural forces that made the Harlem Renaissance an identifiable moment in American intellectual history, a part of a historical process that, as most critics recognize, altered Black life in America. She, in turn responded to and helped to shape the aesthetic assumptions of that era. Between 1919 and 1930, Black writers were published in greater numbers than in any single decade in American life prior to the 1960s, Hurston's awareness of this literary ferment certainly contributed to her development as a writer. 
Q. It can be inferred from the passage that the author would regard which of the following as characteristic of a movement but not a spirit?
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