Directions: Kindly read the passage carefully and answer the questions given beside.
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and NFSA (Food Subsidy) have also declined as a share of GDP since 2014. MGNREGA guarantees 100 days of employment to every rural household whereas the NFSA provides subsidised grains to over 80 crore people. MGNREGA expenditure as a share of GDP went from 0.26% in 2014-15 to 0.20% in 2023-24. For NFSA it went to 0.65% this year from 0.94% in 2014-15. As experts point out, MGNREGA and the Public Distribution System were key to averting disaster during the pandemic. Both schemes saw record demand in 2020-21; MGNREGA saw 8.55 crore households avail employment, while Public Distribution System (PDS) grain offtake was 93 million tonnes, leading to an expenditure of 2.73% and 0.56% of GDP on NFSA and MGNREGA, respectively. However, since 2020-21, NFSA and MGNREGA allocations have declined rapidly as a share of GDP.
As the economist, Jean Drèze, highlighted recently, real wages of casual workers grew at less than 1% per year from 2014-15 to 2021-22 according to Reserve Bank of India data. Prof. Drèze argues that this worrying trend calls for a reorientation of economic policies, with a sharper focus on drivers of wage growth.
The National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) is a scheme that provides pensions to the elderly, widows, and disabled individuals below the poverty line and monetary assistance to families that have lost a breadwinner. As a share of GDP, its allocations went down from 0.06% in 2014-15 to 0.03% in 2023-24. The share steadily declined over this period except for 2020-21 when it was 0.21% with COVID relief in cash included in the NSAP.
The NSAP cuts go against advice from 60-odd economists who have been urging the government for long to increase the paltry pension amounts of ₹200 per month for the elderly and ₹300 for widows. The pensions have not increased since 2006.
As a share of GDP, central expenditure on school education (primary and secondary) has steadily declined from 0.37% in 2014-15 to 0.23% 2023-24. It is surprising to see no increase here even after the pandemic which had catastrophic effects including a surge in primary dropout rates because of over 70 weeks of school closures — double the global average.
Q. What is the main focus of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)?
Directions: Kindly read the passage carefully and answer the questions given beside.
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and NFSA (Food Subsidy) have also declined as a share of GDP since 2014. MGNREGA guarantees 100 days of employment to every rural household whereas the NFSA provides subsidised grains to over 80 crore people. MGNREGA expenditure as a share of GDP went from 0.26% in 2014-15 to 0.20% in 2023-24. For NFSA it went to 0.65% this year from 0.94% in 2014-15. As experts point out, MGNREGA and the Public Distribution System were key to averting disaster during the pandemic. Both schemes saw record demand in 2020-21; MGNREGA saw 8.55 crore households avail employment, while Public Distribution System (PDS) grain offtake was 93 million tonnes, leading to an expenditure of 2.73% and 0.56% of GDP on NFSA and MGNREGA, respectively. However, since 2020-21, NFSA and MGNREGA allocations have declined rapidly as a share of GDP.
As the economist, Jean Drèze, highlighted recently, real wages of casual workers grew at less than 1% per year from 2014-15 to 2021-22 according to Reserve Bank of India data. Prof. Drèze argues that this worrying trend calls for a reorientation of economic policies, with a sharper focus on drivers of wage growth.
The National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) is a scheme that provides pensions to the elderly, widows, and disabled individuals below the poverty line and monetary assistance to families that have lost a breadwinner. As a share of GDP, its allocations went down from 0.06% in 2014-15 to 0.03% in 2023-24. The share steadily declined over this period except for 2020-21 when it was 0.21% with COVID relief in cash included in the NSAP.
The NSAP cuts go against advice from 60-odd economists who have been urging the government for long to increase the paltry pension amounts of ₹200 per month for the elderly and ₹300 for widows. The pensions have not increased since 2006.
As a share of GDP, central expenditure on school education (primary and secondary) has steadily declined from 0.37% in 2014-15 to 0.23% 2023-24. It is surprising to see no increase here even after the pandemic which had catastrophic effects including a surge in primary dropout rates because of over 70 weeks of school closures — double the global average.
Q. What was the expenditure as a share of GDP for the Public Distribution System (PDS) in 2020-21?
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Directions: Kindly read the passage carefully and answer the questions given beside.
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and NFSA (Food Subsidy) have also declined as a share of GDP since 2014. MGNREGA guarantees 100 days of employment to every rural household whereas the NFSA provides subsidised grains to over 80 crore people. MGNREGA expenditure as a share of GDP went from 0.26% in 2014-15 to 0.20% in 2023-24. For NFSA it went to 0.65% this year from 0.94% in 2014-15. As experts point out, MGNREGA and the Public Distribution System were key to averting disaster during the pandemic. Both schemes saw record demand in 2020-21; MGNREGA saw 8.55 crore households avail employment, while Public Distribution System (PDS) grain offtake was 93 million tonnes, leading to an expenditure of 2.73% and 0.56% of GDP on NFSA and MGNREGA, respectively. However, since 2020-21, NFSA and MGNREGA allocations have declined rapidly as a share of GDP.
As the economist, Jean Drèze, highlighted recently, real wages of casual workers grew at less than 1% per year from 2014-15 to 2021-22 according to Reserve Bank of India data. Prof. Drèze argues that this worrying trend calls for a reorientation of economic policies, with a sharper focus on drivers of wage growth.
The National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) is a scheme that provides pensions to the elderly, widows, and disabled individuals below the poverty line and monetary assistance to families that have lost a breadwinner. As a share of GDP, its allocations went down from 0.06% in 2014-15 to 0.03% in 2023-24. The share steadily declined over this period except for 2020-21 when it was 0.21% with COVID relief in cash included in the NSAP.
The NSAP cuts go against advice from 60-odd economists who have been urging the government for long to increase the paltry pension amounts of ₹200 per month for the elderly and ₹300 for widows. The pensions have not increased since 2006.
As a share of GDP, central expenditure on school education (primary and secondary) has steadily declined from 0.37% in 2014-15 to 0.23% 2023-24. It is surprising to see no increase here even after the pandemic which had catastrophic effects including a surge in primary dropout rates because of over 70 weeks of school closures — double the global average.
Q. What is the main concept expressed in the text?
Directions: Kindly read the passage carefully and answer the questions given beside.
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and NFSA (Food Subsidy) have also declined as a share of GDP since 2014. MGNREGA guarantees 100 days of employment to every rural household whereas the NFSA provides subsidised grains to over 80 crore people. MGNREGA expenditure as a share of GDP went from 0.26% in 2014-15 to 0.20% in 2023-24. For NFSA it went to 0.65% this year from 0.94% in 2014-15. As experts point out, MGNREGA and the Public Distribution System were key to averting disaster during the pandemic. Both schemes saw record demand in 2020-21; MGNREGA saw 8.55 crore households avail employment, while Public Distribution System (PDS) grain offtake was 93 million tonnes, leading to an expenditure of 2.73% and 0.56% of GDP on NFSA and MGNREGA, respectively. However, since 2020-21, NFSA and MGNREGA allocations have declined rapidly as a share of GDP.
As the economist, Jean Drèze, highlighted recently, real wages of casual workers grew at less than 1% per year from 2014-15 to 2021-22 according to Reserve Bank of India data. Prof. Drèze argues that this worrying trend calls for a reorientation of economic policies, with a sharper focus on drivers of wage growth.
The National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) is a scheme that provides pensions to the elderly, widows, and disabled individuals below the poverty line and monetary assistance to families that have lost a breadwinner. As a share of GDP, its allocations went down from 0.06% in 2014-15 to 0.03% in 2023-24. The share steadily declined over this period except for 2020-21 when it was 0.21% with COVID relief in cash included in the NSAP.
The NSAP cuts go against advice from 60-odd economists who have been urging the government for long to increase the paltry pension amounts of ₹200 per month for the elderly and ₹300 for widows. The pensions have not increased since 2006.
As a share of GDP, central expenditure on school education (primary and secondary) has steadily declined from 0.37% in 2014-15 to 0.23% 2023-24. It is surprising to see no increase here even after the pandemic which had catastrophic effects including a surge in primary dropout rates because of over 70 weeks of school closures — double the global average.
Q. Based on the style of writing, which word best describes the author's tone in the passage?
Directions: Kindly read the passage carefully and answer the questions given beside.
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and NFSA (Food Subsidy) have also declined as a share of GDP since 2014. MGNREGA guarantees 100 days of employment to every rural household whereas the NFSA provides subsidised grains to over 80 crore people. MGNREGA expenditure as a share of GDP went from 0.26% in 2014-15 to 0.20% in 2023-24. For NFSA it went to 0.65% this year from 0.94% in 2014-15. As experts point out, MGNREGA and the Public Distribution System were key to averting disaster during the pandemic. Both schemes saw record demand in 2020-21; MGNREGA saw 8.55 crore households avail employment, while Public Distribution System (PDS) grain offtake was 93 million tonnes, leading to an expenditure of 2.73% and 0.56% of GDP on NFSA and MGNREGA, respectively. However, since 2020-21, NFSA and MGNREGA allocations have declined rapidly as a share of GDP.
As the economist, Jean Drèze, highlighted recently, real wages of casual workers grew at less than 1% per year from 2014-15 to 2021-22 according to Reserve Bank of India data. Prof. Drèze argues that this worrying trend calls for a reorientation of economic policies, with a sharper focus on drivers of wage growth.
The National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) is a scheme that provides pensions to the elderly, widows, and disabled individuals below the poverty line and monetary assistance to families that have lost a breadwinner. As a share of GDP, its allocations went down from 0.06% in 2014-15 to 0.03% in 2023-24. The share steadily declined over this period except for 2020-21 when it was 0.21% with COVID relief in cash included in the NSAP.
The NSAP cuts go against advice from 60-odd economists who have been urging the government for long to increase the paltry pension amounts of ₹200 per month for the elderly and ₹300 for widows. The pensions have not increased since 2006.
As a share of GDP, central expenditure on school education (primary and secondary) has steadily declined from 0.37% in 2014-15 to 0.23% 2023-24. It is surprising to see no increase here even after the pandemic which had catastrophic effects including a surge in primary dropout rates because of over 70 weeks of school closures — double the global average.
Q. Which of the following statements can be inferred from the passage?
Directions: Kindly read the passage carefully and answer the questions given beside.
In my 20s, I began to practise Tibetan Buddhism. I was still sorting myself out after a tumultuous youth, still healing from sexual assault and other abuse I’d experienced as a teenager. It felt auspicious to stumble into a community of people dedicated to self-cultivation through contemplative practice. I was inspired by a tradition that was centred around a deep and compassionate sense of intimacy with the world. And I remain grateful for the years of practice that helped me grow up and learn to meet the world with genuineness and clarity.
Ten years later, the whole thing blew up. My Buddhist community was torn apart by a series of allegations of widespread, multifaceted abuse across generations. The most devastating of these allegations were against my guru, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, who was credibly accused of sexual and other abuses going back decades. The community of dedicated, broken-hearted practitioners that surrounded my teacher – many of whom were like family to me – became tragically fragmented. Some people left Buddhism altogether in disgust. Some gravitated toward other teachers. A significant number remained loyal to Sakyong Mipham, some for reasons I can understand if not personally avow, and some others fiercely defending him in ways that have troubled me.
I found myself in a kind of limbo. I resisted what felt like an implicit demand to renegotiate my expectations of decent behaviour that would have been required for me to remain a student of Sakyong Mipham. I was equally unable to commit myself with an open heart to a new teacher, while also unwilling to abandon my Buddhist life wholesale, as if it had all been a great error in judgment. What I have found myself doing instead is critically re-evaluating my path as a Buddhist and my understanding of compassion practice, which was at the centre of so much of it, mining my experience for its value while also taking a more honest look at what may have been its unskilful aspects.
Q. What was the author's initial attraction to Tibetan Buddhism in their 20s?
Directions: Kindly read the passage carefully and answer the questions given beside.
In my 20s, I began to practise Tibetan Buddhism. I was still sorting myself out after a tumultuous youth, still healing from sexual assault and other abuse I’d experienced as a teenager. It felt auspicious to stumble into a community of people dedicated to self-cultivation through contemplative practice. I was inspired by a tradition that was centred around a deep and compassionate sense of intimacy with the world. And I remain grateful for the years of practice that helped me grow up and learn to meet the world with genuineness and clarity.
Ten years later, the whole thing blew up. My Buddhist community was torn apart by a series of allegations of widespread, multifaceted abuse across generations. The most devastating of these allegations were against my guru, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, who was credibly accused of sexual and other abuses going back decades. The community of dedicated, broken-hearted practitioners that surrounded my teacher – many of whom were like family to me – became tragically fragmented. Some people left Buddhism altogether in disgust. Some gravitated toward other teachers. A significant number remained loyal to Sakyong Mipham, some for reasons I can understand if not personally avow, and some others fiercely defending him in ways that have troubled me.
I found myself in a kind of limbo. I resisted what felt like an implicit demand to renegotiate my expectations of decent behaviour that would have been required for me to remain a student of Sakyong Mipham. I was equally unable to commit myself with an open heart to a new teacher, while also unwilling to abandon my Buddhist life wholesale, as if it had all been a great error in judgment. What I have found myself doing instead is critically re-evaluating my path as a Buddhist and my understanding of compassion practice, which was at the centre of so much of it, mining my experience for its value while also taking a more honest look at what may have been its unskilful aspects.
Q. What caused a rift in the author's Buddhist community, leading to a critical re-evaluation of their path as a Buddhist?
Directions: Kindly read the passage carefully and answer the questions given beside.
In my 20s, I began to practise Tibetan Buddhism. I was still sorting myself out after a tumultuous youth, still healing from sexual assault and other abuse I’d experienced as a teenager. It felt auspicious to stumble into a community of people dedicated to self-cultivation through contemplative practice. I was inspired by a tradition that was centred around a deep and compassionate sense of intimacy with the world. And I remain grateful for the years of practice that helped me grow up and learn to meet the world with genuineness and clarity.
Ten years later, the whole thing blew up. My Buddhist community was torn apart by a series of allegations of widespread, multifaceted abuse across generations. The most devastating of these allegations were against my guru, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, who was credibly accused of sexual and other abuses going back decades. The community of dedicated, broken-hearted practitioners that surrounded my teacher – many of whom were like family to me – became tragically fragmented. Some people left Buddhism altogether in disgust. Some gravitated toward other teachers. A significant number remained loyal to Sakyong Mipham, some for reasons I can understand if not personally avow, and some others fiercely defending him in ways that have troubled me.
I found myself in a kind of limbo. I resisted what felt like an implicit demand to renegotiate my expectations of decent behaviour that would have been required for me to remain a student of Sakyong Mipham. I was equally unable to commit myself with an open heart to a new teacher, while also unwilling to abandon my Buddhist life wholesale, as if it had all been a great error in judgment. What I have found myself doing instead is critically re-evaluating my path as a Buddhist and my understanding of compassion practice, which was at the centre of so much of it, mining my experience for its value while also taking a more honest look at what may have been its unskilful aspects.
Q. Which word best describes the tone of the passage?
Directions: Kindly read the passage carefully and answer the questions given beside.
In my 20s, I began to practise Tibetan Buddhism. I was still sorting myself out after a tumultuous youth, still healing from sexual assault and other abuse I’d experienced as a teenager. It felt auspicious to stumble into a community of people dedicated to self-cultivation through contemplative practice. I was inspired by a tradition that was centred around a deep and compassionate sense of intimacy with the world. And I remain grateful for the years of practice that helped me grow up and learn to meet the world with genuineness and clarity.
Ten years later, the whole thing blew up. My Buddhist community was torn apart by a series of allegations of widespread, multifaceted abuse across generations. The most devastating of these allegations were against my guru, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, who was credibly accused of sexual and other abuses going back decades. The community of dedicated, broken-hearted practitioners that surrounded my teacher – many of whom were like family to me – became tragically fragmented. Some people left Buddhism altogether in disgust. Some gravitated toward other teachers. A significant number remained loyal to Sakyong Mipham, some for reasons I can understand if not personally avow, and some others fiercely defending him in ways that have troubled me.
I found myself in a kind of limbo. I resisted what felt like an implicit demand to renegotiate my expectations of decent behaviour that would have been required for me to remain a student of Sakyong Mipham. I was equally unable to commit myself with an open heart to a new teacher, while also unwilling to abandon my Buddhist life wholesale, as if it had all been a great error in judgment. What I have found myself doing instead is critically re-evaluating my path as a Buddhist and my understanding of compassion practice, which was at the centre of so much of it, mining my experience for its value while also taking a more honest look at what may have been its unskilful aspects.
Q. Which statement can be inferred as a premise from the passage?
Directions: Kindly read the passage carefully and answer the questions given beside.
In my 20s, I began to practise Tibetan Buddhism. I was still sorting myself out after a tumultuous youth, still healing from sexual assault and other abuse I’d experienced as a teenager. It felt auspicious to stumble into a community of people dedicated to self-cultivation through contemplative practice. I was inspired by a tradition that was centred around a deep and compassionate sense of intimacy with the world. And I remain grateful for the years of practice that helped me grow up and learn to meet the world with genuineness and clarity.
Ten years later, the whole thing blew up. My Buddhist community was torn apart by a series of allegations of widespread, multifaceted abuse across generations. The most devastating of these allegations were against my guru, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, who was credibly accused of sexual and other abuses going back decades. The community of dedicated, broken-hearted practitioners that surrounded my teacher – many of whom were like family to me – became tragically fragmented. Some people left Buddhism altogether in disgust. Some gravitated toward other teachers. A significant number remained loyal to Sakyong Mipham, some for reasons I can understand if not personally avow, and some others fiercely defending him in ways that have troubled me.
I found myself in a kind of limbo. I resisted what felt like an implicit demand to renegotiate my expectations of decent behaviour that would have been required for me to remain a student of Sakyong Mipham. I was equally unable to commit myself with an open heart to a new teacher, while also unwilling to abandon my Buddhist life wholesale, as if it had all been a great error in judgment. What I have found myself doing instead is critically re-evaluating my path as a Buddhist and my understanding of compassion practice, which was at the centre of so much of it, mining my experience for its value while also taking a more honest look at what may have been its unskilful aspects.
Q. Based on the passage, what assumption can reasonably be made about the author's spiritual values?
Directions: Kindly read the passage carefully and answer the questions given beside.
Mississippian culture is the last major prehistoric cultural development in North America, lasting from about 700 CE to the time of the arrival of the first European explorers. It spread over a great area of the Southeast and the mid-continent, in the river valleys of what are now the states of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, with scattered extensions northward into Wisconsin and Minnesota and westward into the Great Plains. The culture was based on intensive cultivation of corn (maize), beans, squash, and other crops, which resulted in large concentrations of population in towns along riverine bottomlands. Politically and culturally each large town or village dominated a satellite of lesser villages; government was in the hands of priest-rulers. Thus the complexes might be called theocratic village-states. Moreover, warfare, which was apparently frequent, produced larger alliances and even confederacies.
A central ceremonial plaza provided the nucleus of a Mississippian town, and each settlement had one or more pyramidal or oval earth mounds, surmounted by a temple or chief’s residence, grouped around the plaza. This settlement pattern was typical of most of Middle America (central and southern Mexico and Guatemala) since as early as 850 BCE, but it had not diffused into North America until the advent of the Mississippian culture. The scale of public works in the Mississippian culture can be estimated from the largest of the earthworks, Monks Mound, in the Cahokia Mounds near Collinsville, Illinois, which is approximately 1,000 feet (300 metres) long, 700 feet (200 metres) wide, and 100 feet (30 metres) high. The magnitude of such public works and the distribution of temples suggest a dominant religious cult and a cadre of priest-rulers who could command the services of a large, stable, and docile population, as well as several artist-craftsman guilds.
Craftwork was executed in copper, shell, stone, wood, and clay and in such forms as elaborate headdresses, ritual weapons, sculptured tobacco pipes, effigy pottery, effigies, and masks of wood or copper-jacketed wood. The elaborate designs included feathered serpents, winged warriors, swastikas, spiders, human faces with weeping or falcon eyes, as well as human figures and many geometric motifs. These elements were delicately engraved, embossed, carved, and molded.
The Mississippian culture had begun to decline by the time European explorers first penetrated the Southeast and described the customs of the people living there. The Natchez are the best-known of the Mississippian cultures to have survived French and Spanish colonization; they numbered about 500 members in the early 21st century.
Q. What crops formed the basis of the Mississippian culture's intensive cultivation?
Directions: Kindly read the passage carefully and answer the questions given beside.
Mississippian culture is the last major prehistoric cultural development in North America, lasting from about 700 CE to the time of the arrival of the first European explorers. It spread over a great area of the Southeast and the mid-continent, in the river valleys of what are now the states of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, with scattered extensions northward into Wisconsin and Minnesota and westward into the Great Plains. The culture was based on intensive cultivation of corn (maize), beans, squash, and other crops, which resulted in large concentrations of population in towns along riverine bottomlands. Politically and culturally each large town or village dominated a satellite of lesser villages; government was in the hands of priest-rulers. Thus the complexes might be called theocratic village-states. Moreover, warfare, which was apparently frequent, produced larger alliances and even confederacies.
A central ceremonial plaza provided the nucleus of a Mississippian town, and each settlement had one or more pyramidal or oval earth mounds, surmounted by a temple or chief’s residence, grouped around the plaza. This settlement pattern was typical of most of Middle America (central and southern Mexico and Guatemala) since as early as 850 BCE, but it had not diffused into North America until the advent of the Mississippian culture. The scale of public works in the Mississippian culture can be estimated from the largest of the earthworks, Monks Mound, in the Cahokia Mounds near Collinsville, Illinois, which is approximately 1,000 feet (300 metres) long, 700 feet (200 metres) wide, and 100 feet (30 metres) high. The magnitude of such public works and the distribution of temples suggest a dominant religious cult and a cadre of priest-rulers who could command the services of a large, stable, and docile population, as well as several artist-craftsman guilds.
Craftwork was executed in copper, shell, stone, wood, and clay and in such forms as elaborate headdresses, ritual weapons, sculptured tobacco pipes, effigy pottery, effigies, and masks of wood or copper-jacketed wood. The elaborate designs included feathered serpents, winged warriors, swastikas, spiders, human faces with weeping or falcon eyes, as well as human figures and many geometric motifs. These elements were delicately engraved, embossed, carved, and molded.
The Mississippian culture had begun to decline by the time European explorers first penetrated the Southeast and described the customs of the people living there. The Natchez are the best-known of the Mississippian cultures to have survived French and Spanish colonization; they numbered about 500 members in the early 21st century.
Q. Which of the following statements is true about the Natchez people in relation to the Mississippian culture?
Directions: Kindly read the passage carefully and answer the questions given beside.
Mississippian culture is the last major prehistoric cultural development in North America, lasting from about 700 CE to the time of the arrival of the first European explorers. It spread over a great area of the Southeast and the mid-continent, in the river valleys of what are now the states of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, with scattered extensions northward into Wisconsin and Minnesota and westward into the Great Plains. The culture was based on intensive cultivation of corn (maize), beans, squash, and other crops, which resulted in large concentrations of population in towns along riverine bottomlands. Politically and culturally each large town or village dominated a satellite of lesser villages; government was in the hands of priest-rulers. Thus the complexes might be called theocratic village-states. Moreover, warfare, which was apparently frequent, produced larger alliances and even confederacies.
A central ceremonial plaza provided the nucleus of a Mississippian town, and each settlement had one or more pyramidal or oval earth mounds, surmounted by a temple or chief’s residence, grouped around the plaza. This settlement pattern was typical of most of Middle America (central and southern Mexico and Guatemala) since as early as 850 BCE, but it had not diffused into North America until the advent of the Mississippian culture. The scale of public works in the Mississippian culture can be estimated from the largest of the earthworks, Monks Mound, in the Cahokia Mounds near Collinsville, Illinois, which is approximately 1,000 feet (300 metres) long, 700 feet (200 metres) wide, and 100 feet (30 metres) high. The magnitude of such public works and the distribution of temples suggest a dominant religious cult and a cadre of priest-rulers who could command the services of a large, stable, and docile population, as well as several artist-craftsman guilds.
Craftwork was executed in copper, shell, stone, wood, and clay and in such forms as elaborate headdresses, ritual weapons, sculptured tobacco pipes, effigy pottery, effigies, and masks of wood or copper-jacketed wood. The elaborate designs included feathered serpents, winged warriors, swastikas, spiders, human faces with weeping or falcon eyes, as well as human figures and many geometric motifs. These elements were delicately engraved, embossed, carved, and molded.
The Mississippian culture had begun to decline by the time European explorers first penetrated the Southeast and described the customs of the people living there. The Natchez are the best-known of the Mississippian cultures to have survived French and Spanish colonization; they numbered about 500 members in the early 21st century.
Q. What is the primary concept that the passage conveys?
Directions: Kindly read the passage carefully and answer the questions given beside.
Mississippian culture is the last major prehistoric cultural development in North America, lasting from about 700 CE to the time of the arrival of the first European explorers. It spread over a great area of the Southeast and the mid-continent, in the river valleys of what are now the states of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, with scattered extensions northward into Wisconsin and Minnesota and westward into the Great Plains. The culture was based on intensive cultivation of corn (maize), beans, squash, and other crops, which resulted in large concentrations of population in towns along riverine bottomlands. Politically and culturally each large town or village dominated a satellite of lesser villages; government was in the hands of priest-rulers. Thus the complexes might be called theocratic village-states. Moreover, warfare, which was apparently frequent, produced larger alliances and even confederacies.
A central ceremonial plaza provided the nucleus of a Mississippian town, and each settlement had one or more pyramidal or oval earth mounds, surmounted by a temple or chief’s residence, grouped around the plaza. This settlement pattern was typical of most of Middle America (central and southern Mexico and Guatemala) since as early as 850 BCE, but it had not diffused into North America until the advent of the Mississippian culture. The scale of public works in the Mississippian culture can be estimated from the largest of the earthworks, Monks Mound, in the Cahokia Mounds near Collinsville, Illinois, which is approximately 1,000 feet (300 metres) long, 700 feet (200 metres) wide, and 100 feet (30 metres) high. The magnitude of such public works and the distribution of temples suggest a dominant religious cult and a cadre of priest-rulers who could command the services of a large, stable, and docile population, as well as several artist-craftsman guilds.
Craftwork was executed in copper, shell, stone, wood, and clay and in such forms as elaborate headdresses, ritual weapons, sculptured tobacco pipes, effigy pottery, effigies, and masks of wood or copper-jacketed wood. The elaborate designs included feathered serpents, winged warriors, swastikas, spiders, human faces with weeping or falcon eyes, as well as human figures and many geometric motifs. These elements were delicately engraved, embossed, carved, and molded.
The Mississippian culture had begun to decline by the time European explorers first penetrated the Southeast and described the customs of the people living there. The Natchez are the best-known of the Mississippian cultures to have survived French and Spanish colonization; they numbered about 500 members in the early 21st century.
Q. How would you characterize the creation of craftwork in the Mississippian culture?
Directions: Kindly read the passage carefully and answer the questions given beside.
Mississippian culture is the last major prehistoric cultural development in North America, lasting from about 700 CE to the time of the arrival of the first European explorers. It spread over a great area of the Southeast and the mid-continent, in the river valleys of what are now the states of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, with scattered extensions northward into Wisconsin and Minnesota and westward into the Great Plains. The culture was based on intensive cultivation of corn (maize), beans, squash, and other crops, which resulted in large concentrations of population in towns along riverine bottomlands. Politically and culturally each large town or village dominated a satellite of lesser villages; government was in the hands of priest-rulers. Thus the complexes might be called theocratic village-states. Moreover, warfare, which was apparently frequent, produced larger alliances and even confederacies.
A central ceremonial plaza provided the nucleus of a Mississippian town, and each settlement had one or more pyramidal or oval earth mounds, surmounted by a temple or chief’s residence, grouped around the plaza. This settlement pattern was typical of most of Middle America (central and southern Mexico and Guatemala) since as early as 850 BCE, but it had not diffused into North America until the advent of the Mississippian culture. The scale of public works in the Mississippian culture can be estimated from the largest of the earthworks, Monks Mound, in the Cahokia Mounds near Collinsville, Illinois, which is approximately 1,000 feet (300 metres) long, 700 feet (200 metres) wide, and 100 feet (30 metres) high. The magnitude of such public works and the distribution of temples suggest a dominant religious cult and a cadre of priest-rulers who could command the services of a large, stable, and docile population, as well as several artist-craftsman guilds.
Craftwork was executed in copper, shell, stone, wood, and clay and in such forms as elaborate headdresses, ritual weapons, sculptured tobacco pipes, effigy pottery, effigies, and masks of wood or copper-jacketed wood. The elaborate designs included feathered serpents, winged warriors, swastikas, spiders, human faces with weeping or falcon eyes, as well as human figures and many geometric motifs. These elements were delicately engraved, embossed, carved, and molded.
The Mississippian culture had begun to decline by the time European explorers first penetrated the Southeast and described the customs of the people living there. The Natchez are the best-known of the Mississippian cultures to have survived French and Spanish colonization; they numbered about 500 members in the early 21st century.
Q. What is the approximate height of the largest earthwork, Monks Mound, mentioned in the passage?
Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.
This passage is adapted from William Maxwell, The Folded Leaf. ©1959 by William Maxwell. Originally published in 1945.
The Alcazar Restaurant was on Sheridan Road near Devon Avenue. Lymie sat down at the second table from the cash register, and ordered his dinner. The history book, which he propped against the catsup and the glass sugar bowl, had been used by others before him. While Lymie read about the Peace of Paris, signed on the thirtieth of May, 1814, between France and the Allied powers, his right hand managed again and again to bring food up to his mouth. Sometimes he chewed, sometimes he swallowed whole the food that he had no idea he was eating. The Congress of Vienna met, with some allowance for delays, early in November of the same year, and all the powers engaged in the war on either side sent plenipotentiaries. It was by far the most splendid and important assembly ever convoked to discuss and determine the affairs of Europe. The Emperor of Russia, the King of Prussia, the Kings of Bavaria, Denmark, and Wurttemberg, all were present in person at the court of the Emperor Francis I in the Austrian capital. When Lymie put down his fork and began to count them off, one by one, on the fingers of his left hand, the waitress, whose name was Irma, thought he was through eating and tried to take his plate away. He stopped her. A party of four, two men and two women, came into the restaurant, all talking at once, and took possession of the centre table nearest Lymie. They laughed more than there seemed any occasion for, while they were deciding between soup and shrimp cocktail, and their laughter was too loud. But it was the women's voices, the terrible not quite sober pitch which caused Lymie to skim over two whole pages without knowing what was on them. Fortunately he realised this and went back. But before Lymie got halfway through them, a coat that he recognised as his father's was hung on the hook next to his chair. Lymie closed the book and said, "I didn't think you were coming." Time is probably no more unkind to sporting characters than it is to other people, but physical decay unsustained by respectability is somehow more noticeable. Mr. Peters' hair was turning grey and his scalp showed through on top. He had lost weight also; he no longer filled out his clothes the way he used to. His colour was poor, and the flower had disappeared from his buttonhole. In its place was an American Legion button. Apparently he himself was not aware that there had been any change. He straightened his tie self-consciously and when Irma handed him a menu, he gestured with it so that the two women at the next table would notice the diamond ring on the fourth finger of his right hand.
Q. What was Lymie doing while reading about the Peace of Paris and the Congress of Vienna?
Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.
This passage is adapted from William Maxwell, The Folded Leaf. ©1959 by William Maxwell. Originally published in 1945.
The Alcazar Restaurant was on Sheridan Road near Devon Avenue. Lymie sat down at the second table from the cash register, and ordered his dinner. The history book, which he propped against the catsup and the glass sugar bowl, had been used by others before him. While Lymie read about the Peace of Paris, signed on the thirtieth of May, 1814, between France and the Allied powers, his right hand managed again and again to bring food up to his mouth. Sometimes he chewed, sometimes he swallowed whole the food that he had no idea he was eating. The Congress of Vienna met, with some allowance for delays, early in November of the same year, and all the powers engaged in the war on either side sent plenipotentiaries. It was by far the most splendid and important assembly ever convoked to discuss and determine the affairs of Europe. The Emperor of Russia, the King of Prussia, the Kings of Bavaria, Denmark, and Wurttemberg, all were present in person at the court of the Emperor Francis I in the Austrian capital. When Lymie put down his fork and began to count them off, one by one, on the fingers of his left hand, the waitress, whose name was Irma, thought he was through eating and tried to take his plate away. He stopped her. A party of four, two men and two women, came into the restaurant, all talking at once, and took possession of the centre table nearest Lymie. They laughed more than there seemed any occasion for, while they were deciding between soup and shrimp cocktail, and their laughter was too loud. But it was the women's voices, the terrible not quite sober pitch which caused Lymie to skim over two whole pages without knowing what was on them. Fortunately he realised this and went back. But before Lymie got halfway through them, a coat that he recognised as his father's was hung on the hook next to his chair. Lymie closed the book and said, "I didn't think you were coming." Time is probably no more unkind to sporting characters than it is to other people, but physical decay unsustained by respectability is somehow more noticeable. Mr. Peters' hair was turning grey and his scalp showed through on top. He had lost weight also; he no longer filled out his clothes the way he used to. His colour was poor, and the flower had disappeared from his buttonhole. In its place was an American Legion button. Apparently he himself was not aware that there had been any change. He straightened his tie self-consciously and when Irma handed him a menu, he gestured with it so that the two women at the next table would notice the diamond ring on the fourth finger of his right hand.
Q. How did Mr. Peters attempt to draw attention to himself when he entered the restaurant?
Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.
This passage is adapted from William Maxwell, The Folded Leaf. ©1959 by William Maxwell. Originally published in 1945.
The Alcazar Restaurant was on Sheridan Road near Devon Avenue. Lymie sat down at the second table from the cash register, and ordered his dinner. The history book, which he propped against the catsup and the glass sugar bowl, had been used by others before him. While Lymie read about the Peace of Paris, signed on the thirtieth of May, 1814, between France and the Allied powers, his right hand managed again and again to bring food up to his mouth. Sometimes he chewed, sometimes he swallowed whole the food that he had no idea he was eating. The Congress of Vienna met, with some allowance for delays, early in November of the same year, and all the powers engaged in the war on either side sent plenipotentiaries. It was by far the most splendid and important assembly ever convoked to discuss and determine the affairs of Europe. The Emperor of Russia, the King of Prussia, the Kings of Bavaria, Denmark, and Wurttemberg, all were present in person at the court of the Emperor Francis I in the Austrian capital. When Lymie put down his fork and began to count them off, one by one, on the fingers of his left hand, the waitress, whose name was Irma, thought he was through eating and tried to take his plate away. He stopped her. A party of four, two men and two women, came into the restaurant, all talking at once, and took possession of the centre table nearest Lymie. They laughed more than there seemed any occasion for, while they were deciding between soup and shrimp cocktail, and their laughter was too loud. But it was the women's voices, the terrible not quite sober pitch which caused Lymie to skim over two whole pages without knowing what was on them. Fortunately he realised this and went back. But before Lymie got halfway through them, a coat that he recognised as his father's was hung on the hook next to his chair. Lymie closed the book and said, "I didn't think you were coming." Time is probably no more unkind to sporting characters than it is to other people, but physical decay unsustained by respectability is somehow more noticeable. Mr. Peters' hair was turning grey and his scalp showed through on top. He had lost weight also; he no longer filled out his clothes the way he used to. His colour was poor, and the flower had disappeared from his buttonhole. In its place was an American Legion button. Apparently he himself was not aware that there had been any change. He straightened his tie self-consciously and when Irma handed him a menu, he gestured with it so that the two women at the next table would notice the diamond ring on the fourth finger of his right hand.
Q. Which of the following traits are exhibited by the 'party of four' as described in the passage?
Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.
This passage is adapted from William Maxwell, The Folded Leaf. ©1959 by William Maxwell. Originally published in 1945.
The Alcazar Restaurant was on Sheridan Road near Devon Avenue. Lymie sat down at the second table from the cash register, and ordered his dinner. The history book, which he propped against the catsup and the glass sugar bowl, had been used by others before him. While Lymie read about the Peace of Paris, signed on the thirtieth of May, 1814, between France and the Allied powers, his right hand managed again and again to bring food up to his mouth. Sometimes he chewed, sometimes he swallowed whole the food that he had no idea he was eating. The Congress of Vienna met, with some allowance for delays, early in November of the same year, and all the powers engaged in the war on either side sent plenipotentiaries. It was by far the most splendid and important assembly ever convoked to discuss and determine the affairs of Europe. The Emperor of Russia, the King of Prussia, the Kings of Bavaria, Denmark, and Wurttemberg, all were present in person at the court of the Emperor Francis I in the Austrian capital. When Lymie put down his fork and began to count them off, one by one, on the fingers of his left hand, the waitress, whose name was Irma, thought he was through eating and tried to take his plate away. He stopped her. A party of four, two men and two women, came into the restaurant, all talking at once, and took possession of the centre table nearest Lymie. They laughed more than there seemed any occasion for, while they were deciding between soup and shrimp cocktail, and their laughter was too loud. But it was the women's voices, the terrible not quite sober pitch which caused Lymie to skim over two whole pages without knowing what was on them. Fortunately he realised this and went back. But before Lymie got halfway through them, a coat that he recognised as his father's was hung on the hook next to his chair. Lymie closed the book and said, "I didn't think you were coming." Time is probably no more unkind to sporting characters than it is to other people, but physical decay unsustained by respectability is somehow more noticeable. Mr. Peters' hair was turning grey and his scalp showed through on top. He had lost weight also; he no longer filled out his clothes the way he used to. His colour was poor, and the flower had disappeared from his buttonhole. In its place was an American Legion button. Apparently he himself was not aware that there had been any change. He straightened his tie self-consciously and when Irma handed him a menu, he gestured with it so that the two women at the next table would notice the diamond ring on the fourth finger of his right hand.
Q. The word 'convoked' means
Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.
This passage is adapted from William Maxwell, The Folded Leaf. ©1959 by William Maxwell. Originally published in 1945.
The Alcazar Restaurant was on Sheridan Road near Devon Avenue. Lymie sat down at the second table from the cash register, and ordered his dinner. The history book, which he propped against the catsup and the glass sugar bowl, had been used by others before him. While Lymie read about the Peace of Paris, signed on the thirtieth of May, 1814, between France and the Allied powers, his right hand managed again and again to bring food up to his mouth. Sometimes he chewed, sometimes he swallowed whole the food that he had no idea he was eating. The Congress of Vienna met, with some allowance for delays, early in November of the same year, and all the powers engaged in the war on either side sent plenipotentiaries. It was by far the most splendid and important assembly ever convoked to discuss and determine the affairs of Europe. The Emperor of Russia, the King of Prussia, the Kings of Bavaria, Denmark, and Wurttemberg, all were present in person at the court of the Emperor Francis I in the Austrian capital. When Lymie put down his fork and began to count them off, one by one, on the fingers of his left hand, the waitress, whose name was Irma, thought he was through eating and tried to take his plate away. He stopped her. A party of four, two men and two women, came into the restaurant, all talking at once, and took possession of the centre table nearest Lymie. They laughed more than there seemed any occasion for, while they were deciding between soup and shrimp cocktail, and their laughter was too loud. But it was the women's voices, the terrible not quite sober pitch which caused Lymie to skim over two whole pages without knowing what was on them. Fortunately he realised this and went back. But before Lymie got halfway through them, a coat that he recognised as his father's was hung on the hook next to his chair. Lymie closed the book and said, "I didn't think you were coming." Time is probably no more unkind to sporting characters than it is to other people, but physical decay unsustained by respectability is somehow more noticeable. Mr. Peters' hair was turning grey and his scalp showed through on top. He had lost weight also; he no longer filled out his clothes the way he used to. His colour was poor, and the flower had disappeared from his buttonhole. In its place was an American Legion button. Apparently he himself was not aware that there had been any change. He straightened his tie self-consciously and when Irma handed him a menu, he gestured with it so that the two women at the next table would notice the diamond ring on the fourth finger of his right hand.
Q. What impression can be gathered about Mr. Peters based on the details provided in the passage?
Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.
President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed summoned his secretary, K. Balachandran, at around 11:15 p.m. on 25 June 1975. Ten minutes later, Balachandran met the pyjama-clad president in the private sitting room of his official residence at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The president handed his secretary a one-page letter from Indira Gandhi marked 'Top Secret'. Referring to the prime minister's discussion with the president earlier that day, the letter said she was in receipt of information that internal disturbances posed an imminent threat to India's internal security. It requested a proclamation of Emergency under Article 352 (1) if the president was satisfied on this score. She would have preferred to have first consulted the cabinet, but there was no time to lose. Therefore, she was invoking a departure from the Transaction of Business Rules in exercise of her powers under Rule 12 thereof. The president asked for his aide's opinion on the letter, which did not have the proposed proclamation attached. Balachandran said that such a proclamation was constitutionally impermissible on more than one ground. At this, the president said that he wanted to consult the Indian Constitution. Balachandran retreated to his office to locate a copy. Meanwhile, the deputy secretary in the president's secretariat showed up. The two officials launched into a discussion about the constitutionality of the prime minister's proposal before they returned to President Ahmed with a copy of the Constitution. Balachandran explained that the president's personal satisfaction that internal disturbances posed a threat to internal security was constitutionally irrelevant. What the Constitution required was the advice of the council of ministers. Balachandran withdrew when the president said he wanted to speak to the prime minister. When he re-entered the room 10 minutes later, President Ahmed informed him that R. K. Dhawan had come over with a draft Emergency proclamation, which he had signed. Then the president swallowed a tranquilizer and went to bed.
This late-night concern for constitutional propriety is revealing. What we see unfolding in the hunt for a copy of the Constitution, the leafing through of its pages to make sure that the draft proclamation met the letter of the law, is the meticulous process of the paradoxical suspension of the law by law. The substance of the discussion concerns the legality of the procedures to follow in issuing the Emergency proclamation. The political will behind the act goes unmentioned. This is because Article 352 (1) of the Constitution itself had left the judgement of the necessity for the Emergency proclamation outside the law. The doctrine of necessity regards the judgement of crisis conditions as something that the law itself cannot handle; it is a lacuna in the juridical order that the executive is obligated to remedy.
[Extracted with edits and revisions from 'Emergency Chronicles: Indira Gandhi and Democracy's Turning Point' by Gyan Prakash, available now through Penguin Random House India.]
Q. What did President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed request from his secretary, K. Balachandran, regarding Indira Gandhi's letter?
Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.
President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed summoned his secretary, K. Balachandran, at around 11:15 p.m. on 25 June 1975. Ten minutes later, Balachandran met the pyjama-clad president in the private sitting room of his official residence at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The president handed his secretary a one-page letter from Indira Gandhi marked 'Top Secret'. Referring to the prime minister's discussion with the president earlier that day, the letter said she was in receipt of information that internal disturbances posed an imminent threat to India's internal security. It requested a proclamation of Emergency under Article 352 (1) if the president was satisfied on this score. She would have preferred to have first consulted the cabinet, but there was no time to lose. Therefore, she was invoking a departure from the Transaction of Business Rules in exercise of her powers under Rule 12 thereof. The president asked for his aide's opinion on the letter, which did not have the proposed proclamation attached. Balachandran said that such a proclamation was constitutionally impermissible on more than one ground. At this, the president said that he wanted to consult the Indian Constitution. Balachandran retreated to his office to locate a copy. Meanwhile, the deputy secretary in the president's secretariat showed up. The two officials launched into a discussion about the constitutionality of the prime minister's proposal before they returned to President Ahmed with a copy of the Constitution. Balachandran explained that the president's personal satisfaction that internal disturbances posed a threat to internal security was constitutionally irrelevant. What the Constitution required was the advice of the council of ministers. Balachandran withdrew when the president said he wanted to speak to the prime minister. When he re-entered the room 10 minutes later, President Ahmed informed him that R. K. Dhawan had come over with a draft Emergency proclamation, which he had signed. Then the president swallowed a tranquilizer and went to bed.
This late-night concern for constitutional propriety is revealing. What we see unfolding in the hunt for a copy of the Constitution, the leafing through of its pages to make sure that the draft proclamation met the letter of the law, is the meticulous process of the paradoxical suspension of the law by law. The substance of the discussion concerns the legality of the procedures to follow in issuing the Emergency proclamation. The political will behind the act goes unmentioned. This is because Article 352 (1) of the Constitution itself had left the judgement of the necessity for the Emergency proclamation outside the law. The doctrine of necessity regards the judgement of crisis conditions as something that the law itself cannot handle; it is a lacuna in the juridical order that the executive is obligated to remedy.
[Extracted with edits and revisions from 'Emergency Chronicles: Indira Gandhi and Democracy's Turning Point' by Gyan Prakash, available now through Penguin Random House India.]
Q. What does the passage highlight about the process of declaring Emergency in India?
Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.
President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed summoned his secretary, K. Balachandran, at around 11:15 p.m. on 25 June 1975. Ten minutes later, Balachandran met the pyjama-clad president in the private sitting room of his official residence at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The president handed his secretary a one-page letter from Indira Gandhi marked 'Top Secret'. Referring to the prime minister's discussion with the president earlier that day, the letter said she was in receipt of information that internal disturbances posed an imminent threat to India's internal security. It requested a proclamation of Emergency under Article 352 (1) if the president was satisfied on this score. She would have preferred to have first consulted the cabinet, but there was no time to lose. Therefore, she was invoking a departure from the Transaction of Business Rules in exercise of her powers under Rule 12 thereof. The president asked for his aide's opinion on the letter, which did not have the proposed proclamation attached. Balachandran said that such a proclamation was constitutionally impermissible on more than one ground. At this, the president said that he wanted to consult the Indian Constitution. Balachandran retreated to his office to locate a copy. Meanwhile, the deputy secretary in the president's secretariat showed up. The two officials launched into a discussion about the constitutionality of the prime minister's proposal before they returned to President Ahmed with a copy of the Constitution. Balachandran explained that the president's personal satisfaction that internal disturbances posed a threat to internal security was constitutionally irrelevant. What the Constitution required was the advice of the council of ministers. Balachandran withdrew when the president said he wanted to speak to the prime minister. When he re-entered the room 10 minutes later, President Ahmed informed him that R. K. Dhawan had come over with a draft Emergency proclamation, which he had signed. Then the president swallowed a tranquilizer and went to bed.
This late-night concern for constitutional propriety is revealing. What we see unfolding in the hunt for a copy of the Constitution, the leafing through of its pages to make sure that the draft proclamation met the letter of the law, is the meticulous process of the paradoxical suspension of the law by law. The substance of the discussion concerns the legality of the procedures to follow in issuing the Emergency proclamation. The political will behind the act goes unmentioned. This is because Article 352 (1) of the Constitution itself had left the judgement of the necessity for the Emergency proclamation outside the law. The doctrine of necessity regards the judgement of crisis conditions as something that the law itself cannot handle; it is a lacuna in the juridical order that the executive is obligated to remedy.
[Extracted with edits and revisions from 'Emergency Chronicles: Indira Gandhi and Democracy's Turning Point' by Gyan Prakash, available now through Penguin Random House India.]
Q. In the context of the passage, what is the meaning of the word 'propriety'?
Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.
President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed summoned his secretary, K. Balachandran, at around 11:15 p.m. on 25 June 1975. Ten minutes later, Balachandran met the pyjama-clad president in the private sitting room of his official residence at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The president handed his secretary a one-page letter from Indira Gandhi marked 'Top Secret'. Referring to the prime minister's discussion with the president earlier that day, the letter said she was in receipt of information that internal disturbances posed an imminent threat to India's internal security. It requested a proclamation of Emergency under Article 352 (1) if the president was satisfied on this score. She would have preferred to have first consulted the cabinet, but there was no time to lose. Therefore, she was invoking a departure from the Transaction of Business Rules in exercise of her powers under Rule 12 thereof. The president asked for his aide's opinion on the letter, which did not have the proposed proclamation attached. Balachandran said that such a proclamation was constitutionally impermissible on more than one ground. At this, the president said that he wanted to consult the Indian Constitution. Balachandran retreated to his office to locate a copy. Meanwhile, the deputy secretary in the president's secretariat showed up. The two officials launched into a discussion about the constitutionality of the prime minister's proposal before they returned to President Ahmed with a copy of the Constitution. Balachandran explained that the president's personal satisfaction that internal disturbances posed a threat to internal security was constitutionally irrelevant. What the Constitution required was the advice of the council of ministers. Balachandran withdrew when the president said he wanted to speak to the prime minister. When he re-entered the room 10 minutes later, President Ahmed informed him that R. K. Dhawan had come over with a draft Emergency proclamation, which he had signed. Then the president swallowed a tranquilizer and went to bed.
This late-night concern for constitutional propriety is revealing. What we see unfolding in the hunt for a copy of the Constitution, the leafing through of its pages to make sure that the draft proclamation met the letter of the law, is the meticulous process of the paradoxical suspension of the law by law. The substance of the discussion concerns the legality of the procedures to follow in issuing the Emergency proclamation. The political will behind the act goes unmentioned. This is because Article 352 (1) of the Constitution itself had left the judgement of the necessity for the Emergency proclamation outside the law. The doctrine of necessity regards the judgement of crisis conditions as something that the law itself cannot handle; it is a lacuna in the juridical order that the executive is obligated to remedy.
[Extracted with edits and revisions from 'Emergency Chronicles: Indira Gandhi and Democracy's Turning Point' by Gyan Prakash, available now through Penguin Random House India.]
Q. Why does the author suggest that the late-night emphasis on constitutional propriety is significant?
Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.
President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed summoned his secretary, K. Balachandran, at around 11:15 p.m. on 25 June 1975. Ten minutes later, Balachandran met the pyjama-clad president in the private sitting room of his official residence at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The president handed his secretary a one-page letter from Indira Gandhi marked 'Top Secret'. Referring to the prime minister's discussion with the president earlier that day, the letter said she was in receipt of information that internal disturbances posed an imminent threat to India's internal security. It requested a proclamation of Emergency under Article 352 (1) if the president was satisfied on this score. She would have preferred to have first consulted the cabinet, but there was no time to lose. Therefore, she was invoking a departure from the Transaction of Business Rules in exercise of her powers under Rule 12 thereof. The president asked for his aide's opinion on the letter, which did not have the proposed proclamation attached. Balachandran said that such a proclamation was constitutionally impermissible on more than one ground. At this, the president said that he wanted to consult the Indian Constitution. Balachandran retreated to his office to locate a copy. Meanwhile, the deputy secretary in the president's secretariat showed up. The two officials launched into a discussion about the constitutionality of the prime minister's proposal before they returned to President Ahmed with a copy of the Constitution. Balachandran explained that the president's personal satisfaction that internal disturbances posed a threat to internal security was constitutionally irrelevant. What the Constitution required was the advice of the council of ministers. Balachandran withdrew when the president said he wanted to speak to the prime minister. When he re-entered the room 10 minutes later, President Ahmed informed him that R. K. Dhawan had come over with a draft Emergency proclamation, which he had signed. Then the president swallowed a tranquilizer and went to bed.
This late-night concern for constitutional propriety is revealing. What we see unfolding in the hunt for a copy of the Constitution, the leafing through of its pages to make sure that the draft proclamation met the letter of the law, is the meticulous process of the paradoxical suspension of the law by law. The substance of the discussion concerns the legality of the procedures to follow in issuing the Emergency proclamation. The political will behind the act goes unmentioned. This is because Article 352 (1) of the Constitution itself had left the judgement of the necessity for the Emergency proclamation outside the law. The doctrine of necessity regards the judgement of crisis conditions as something that the law itself cannot handle; it is a lacuna in the juridical order that the executive is obligated to remedy.
[Extracted with edits and revisions from 'Emergency Chronicles: Indira Gandhi and Democracy's Turning Point' by Gyan Prakash, available now through Penguin Random House India.]
Q. What inference can be drawn from the passage regarding the request for the Emergency proclamation?
Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.
After Interpol removed the Red Notice against fugitive diamantaire Mr. (1) his spokesperson said there is "an alarming case of state orchestrated kidnap, torture and attempted rendition by the Indian government". The spokesperson commented: The report from the Antiguan police, and the evidence adduced by Mr. (1) in the ongoing High Court proceedings in Antigua, point to an alarming case of state orchestrated kidnap, torture and attempted rendition by the Indian government. The decision of Interpol to delete the Red Notice strengthens these concerns. Moreover, the preliminary ruling of the High Court in Antigua demonstrates that there is a case to answer for a full investigation. In turn, Mr. (1) has presented a compelling case that the Indian government is behind the orchestrated kidnap from Antiguan territory, the torture of Mr. (1), and the attempt to render him to India in breach of the international rule of law. In December 2018, Mr. (1), who has been facing Rs. 11,356.84 crore loan fraud case of Punjab National Bank (PNB), was added to the Red Notice list. Concerned authorities of the Indian government objected to the move of Interpol but the body which made that decision didn't budge. This is a huge set back to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) which were waiting for his deportation. However, official probing his matter said that it will not much effect Mr. (1) 's extradition from Antigua.
(Extracted with edits and reviews from "Indian government behind kidnap from Antigua, torture of Indian fugitive diamantaire: Spokesperson" The Economic Times, March 21, 2023)
Q. Whose name has been replaced with '(1)' in the given passage?
Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.
After Interpol removed the Red Notice against fugitive diamantaire Mr. (1) his spokesperson said there is "an alarming case of state orchestrated kidnap, torture and attempted rendition by the Indian government". The spokesperson commented: The report from the Antiguan police, and the evidence adduced by Mr. (1) in the ongoing High Court proceedings in Antigua, point to an alarming case of state orchestrated kidnap, torture and attempted rendition by the Indian government. The decision of Interpol to delete the Red Notice strengthens these concerns. Moreover, the preliminary ruling of the High Court in Antigua demonstrates that there is a case to answer for a full investigation. In turn, Mr. (1) has presented a compelling case that the Indian government is behind the orchestrated kidnap from Antiguan territory, the torture of Mr. (1), and the attempt to render him to India in breach of the international rule of law. In December 2018, Mr. (1), who has been facing Rs. 11,356.84 crore loan fraud case of Punjab National Bank (PNB), was added to the Red Notice list. Concerned authorities of the Indian government objected to the move of Interpol but the body which made that decision didn't budge. This is a huge set back to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) which were waiting for his deportation. However, official probing his matter said that it will not much effect Mr. (1) 's extradition from Antigua.
(Extracted with edits and reviews from "Indian government behind kidnap from Antigua, torture of Indian fugitive diamantaire: Spokesperson" The Economic Times, March 21, 2023)
Q. What prompted Mr. (1)'s spokesperson to claim "an alarming case of state orchestrated kidnap, torture, and attempted rendition"?
Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.
After Interpol removed the Red Notice against fugitive diamantaire Mr. (1) his spokesperson said there is "an alarming case of state orchestrated kidnap, torture and attempted rendition by the Indian government". The spokesperson commented: The report from the Antiguan police, and the evidence adduced by Mr. (1) in the ongoing High Court proceedings in Antigua, point to an alarming case of state orchestrated kidnap, torture and attempted rendition by the Indian government. The decision of Interpol to delete the Red Notice strengthens these concerns. Moreover, the preliminary ruling of the High Court in Antigua demonstrates that there is a case to answer for a full investigation. In turn, Mr. (1) has presented a compelling case that the Indian government is behind the orchestrated kidnap from Antiguan territory, the torture of Mr. (1), and the attempt to render him to India in breach of the international rule of law. In December 2018, Mr. (1), who has been facing Rs. 11,356.84 crore loan fraud case of Punjab National Bank (PNB), was added to the Red Notice list. Concerned authorities of the Indian government objected to the move of Interpol but the body which made that decision didn't budge. This is a huge set back to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) which were waiting for his deportation. However, official probing his matter said that it will not much effect Mr. (1) 's extradition from Antigua.
(Extracted with edits and reviews from "Indian government behind kidnap from Antigua, torture of Indian fugitive diamantaire: Spokesperson" The Economic Times, March 21, 2023)
Q. What is the reason for the objection of Indian authorities to Mr. (1)'s listing in the Red Notice by Interpol?
Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.
After Interpol removed the Red Notice against fugitive diamantaire Mr. (1) his spokesperson said there is "an alarming case of state orchestrated kidnap, torture and attempted rendition by the Indian government". The spokesperson commented: The report from the Antiguan police, and the evidence adduced by Mr. (1) in the ongoing High Court proceedings in Antigua, point to an alarming case of state orchestrated kidnap, torture and attempted rendition by the Indian government. The decision of Interpol to delete the Red Notice strengthens these concerns. Moreover, the preliminary ruling of the High Court in Antigua demonstrates that there is a case to answer for a full investigation. In turn, Mr. (1) has presented a compelling case that the Indian government is behind the orchestrated kidnap from Antiguan territory, the torture of Mr. (1), and the attempt to render him to India in breach of the international rule of law. In December 2018, Mr. (1), who has been facing Rs. 11,356.84 crore loan fraud case of Punjab National Bank (PNB), was added to the Red Notice list. Concerned authorities of the Indian government objected to the move of Interpol but the body which made that decision didn't budge. This is a huge set back to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) which were waiting for his deportation. However, official probing his matter said that it will not much effect Mr. (1) 's extradition from Antigua.
(Extracted with edits and reviews from "Indian government behind kidnap from Antigua, torture of Indian fugitive diamantaire: Spokesperson" The Economic Times, March 21, 2023)
Q. According to the passage, what was the impact of Interpol's decision on Mr. (1)'s extradition?
Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.
After Interpol removed the Red Notice against fugitive diamantaire Mr. (1) his spokesperson said there is "an alarming case of state orchestrated kidnap, torture and attempted rendition by the Indian government". The spokesperson commented: The report from the Antiguan police, and the evidence adduced by Mr. (1) in the ongoing High Court proceedings in Antigua, point to an alarming case of state orchestrated kidnap, torture and attempted rendition by the Indian government. The decision of Interpol to delete the Red Notice strengthens these concerns. Moreover, the preliminary ruling of the High Court in Antigua demonstrates that there is a case to answer for a full investigation. In turn, Mr. (1) has presented a compelling case that the Indian government is behind the orchestrated kidnap from Antiguan territory, the torture of Mr. (1), and the attempt to render him to India in breach of the international rule of law. In December 2018, Mr. (1), who has been facing Rs. 11,356.84 crore loan fraud case of Punjab National Bank (PNB), was added to the Red Notice list. Concerned authorities of the Indian government objected to the move of Interpol but the body which made that decision didn't budge. This is a huge set back to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) which were waiting for his deportation. However, official probing his matter said that it will not much effect Mr. (1) 's extradition from Antigua.
(Extracted with edits and reviews from "Indian government behind kidnap from Antigua, torture of Indian fugitive diamantaire: Spokesperson" The Economic Times, March 21, 2023)
Q. What does the preliminary ruling of the High Court in Antigua suggest?