Test: CLAT Mock Test - 9 - CLAT MCQ

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Q. What does the passage suggest about the role of pregnancy and childbirth in human evolution?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Q. What does the passage reveal about the uniqueness of humans among mammals?

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

The war in Ukraine has fundamentally altered Europe’s internal and external reference points of what was once a European security order. To its credit, Europe has been quick to condition itself to radically changed realities. A lot of that re-conditioning continues to be economically painful and is on a constant lookout for openings amid an era of poly-crises.

But at a fundamental level, Europe mulls a viable security architecture for itself, best expressed through its recently held flagship security dialogue with two major verticals of engagement – one with NATO and the US and another with forging global defence partnerships; one extra layer of smaller but proactive deterrents, and several challenges. The first edition of EU’s biennial security dialogue, The Schuman Defence and Security Forum, which falls under the aegis of the European External Action Service, was held on 20 and 21 March at the EU parliament in Brussels. Not only is this dialogue a departure from the dominant geo-economic personality of the EU with its security outsourced to the US, it also merits attention for its singular emphasis on achieving strategic autonomy by building equal, pragmatic and flexible security partnerships across the globe as originally conceived in EU’s strategic compass. Does that mean the EU is looking for strategic autonomy? Quite the contrary.

The future course of how Europe builds its security architecture will depend largely on how well it blends its dependence and deepening ties with NATO and its quest for strategic autonomy. From Europe’s perspective, these two verticals should complement each other. But can they? The first vertical of EU security is, unarguably, deepening ties with NATO that the war in Ukraine has cemented.

The panel discussions at Schuman highlighted growing cooperation with organisations like the United Nations, the African Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), as well as Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) missions for crisis management and stabilisation. But EU’s evolving association with NATO remained the most pronounced of all.

The January 2023 EU-NATO Joint Declaration ramps up this partnership with a sharp focus on climate change, space, artificial intelligence, and emerging and disruptive tech. Increase in overlapping membership with Finland already in NATO, Sweden next in line, and Denmark incorporated fully into CSDP-Europe, transatlantic ties have never been so strong.

Q. What can be deduced from the passage concerning the future of Europe's security structure?

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

The war in Ukraine has fundamentally altered Europe’s internal and external reference points of what was once a European security order. To its credit, Europe has been quick to condition itself to radically changed realities. A lot of that re-conditioning continues to be economically painful and is on a constant lookout for openings amid an era of poly-crises.

But at a fundamental level, Europe mulls a viable security architecture for itself, best expressed through its recently held flagship security dialogue with two major verticals of engagement – one with NATO and the US and another with forging global defence partnerships; one extra layer of smaller but proactive deterrents, and several challenges. The first edition of EU’s biennial security dialogue, The Schuman Defence and Security Forum, which falls under the aegis of the European External Action Service, was held on 20 and 21 March at the EU parliament in Brussels. Not only is this dialogue a departure from the dominant geo-economic personality of the EU with its security outsourced to the US, it also merits attention for its singular emphasis on achieving strategic autonomy by building equal, pragmatic and flexible security partnerships across the globe as originally conceived in EU’s strategic compass. Does that mean the EU is looking for strategic autonomy? Quite the contrary.

The future course of how Europe builds its security architecture will depend largely on how well it blends its dependence and deepening ties with NATO and its quest for strategic autonomy. From Europe’s perspective, these two verticals should complement each other. But can they? The first vertical of EU security is, unarguably, deepening ties with NATO that the war in Ukraine has cemented.

The panel discussions at Schuman highlighted growing cooperation with organisations like the United Nations, the African Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), as well as Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) missions for crisis management and stabilisation. But EU’s evolving association with NATO remained the most pronounced of all.

The January 2023 EU-NATO Joint Declaration ramps up this partnership with a sharp focus on climate change, space, artificial intelligence, and emerging and disruptive tech. Increase in overlapping membership with Finland already in NATO, Sweden next in line, and Denmark incorporated fully into CSDP-Europe, transatlantic ties have never been so strong.

Q. What is the primary focus of the EU's Schuman Defence and Security Forum as mentioned in the passage?

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

The war in Ukraine has fundamentally altered Europe’s internal and external reference points of what was once a European security order. To its credit, Europe has been quick to condition itself to radically changed realities. A lot of that re-conditioning continues to be economically painful and is on a constant lookout for openings amid an era of poly-crises.

But at a fundamental level, Europe mulls a viable security architecture for itself, best expressed through its recently held flagship security dialogue with two major verticals of engagement – one with NATO and the US and another with forging global defence partnerships; one extra layer of smaller but proactive deterrents, and several challenges. The first edition of EU’s biennial security dialogue, The Schuman Defence and Security Forum, which falls under the aegis of the European External Action Service, was held on 20 and 21 March at the EU parliament in Brussels. Not only is this dialogue a departure from the dominant geo-economic personality of the EU with its security outsourced to the US, it also merits attention for its singular emphasis on achieving strategic autonomy by building equal, pragmatic and flexible security partnerships across the globe as originally conceived in EU’s strategic compass. Does that mean the EU is looking for strategic autonomy? Quite the contrary.

The future course of how Europe builds its security architecture will depend largely on how well it blends its dependence and deepening ties with NATO and its quest for strategic autonomy. From Europe’s perspective, these two verticals should complement each other. But can they? The first vertical of EU security is, unarguably, deepening ties with NATO that the war in Ukraine has cemented.

The panel discussions at Schuman highlighted growing cooperation with organisations like the United Nations, the African Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), as well as Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) missions for crisis management and stabilisation. But EU’s evolving association with NATO remained the most pronounced of all.

The January 2023 EU-NATO Joint Declaration ramps up this partnership with a sharp focus on climate change, space, artificial intelligence, and emerging and disruptive tech. Increase in overlapping membership with Finland already in NATO, Sweden next in line, and Denmark incorporated fully into CSDP-Europe, transatlantic ties have never been so strong.

Q. What is the meaning of "poly-crises" in the context of the passage?

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

The war in Ukraine has fundamentally altered Europe’s internal and external reference points of what was once a European security order. To its credit, Europe has been quick to condition itself to radically changed realities. A lot of that re-conditioning continues to be economically painful and is on a constant lookout for openings amid an era of poly-crises.

But at a fundamental level, Europe mulls a viable security architecture for itself, best expressed through its recently held flagship security dialogue with two major verticals of engagement – one with NATO and the US and another with forging global defence partnerships; one extra layer of smaller but proactive deterrents, and several challenges. The first edition of EU’s biennial security dialogue, The Schuman Defence and Security Forum, which falls under the aegis of the European External Action Service, was held on 20 and 21 March at the EU parliament in Brussels. Not only is this dialogue a departure from the dominant geo-economic personality of the EU with its security outsourced to the US, it also merits attention for its singular emphasis on achieving strategic autonomy by building equal, pragmatic and flexible security partnerships across the globe as originally conceived in EU’s strategic compass. Does that mean the EU is looking for strategic autonomy? Quite the contrary.

The future course of how Europe builds its security architecture will depend largely on how well it blends its dependence and deepening ties with NATO and its quest for strategic autonomy. From Europe’s perspective, these two verticals should complement each other. But can they? The first vertical of EU security is, unarguably, deepening ties with NATO that the war in Ukraine has cemented.

The panel discussions at Schuman highlighted growing cooperation with organisations like the United Nations, the African Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), as well as Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) missions for crisis management and stabilisation. But EU’s evolving association with NATO remained the most pronounced of all.

The January 2023 EU-NATO Joint Declaration ramps up this partnership with a sharp focus on climate change, space, artificial intelligence, and emerging and disruptive tech. Increase in overlapping membership with Finland already in NATO, Sweden next in line, and Denmark incorporated fully into CSDP-Europe, transatlantic ties have never been so strong.

Q. What word, opposite in meaning to 'complement,' can be found in the following sentence: "From Europe’s perspective, these two verticals should complement each other."

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

The war in Ukraine has fundamentally altered Europe’s internal and external reference points of what was once a European security order. To its credit, Europe has been quick to condition itself to radically changed realities. A lot of that re-conditioning continues to be economically painful and is on a constant lookout for openings amid an era of poly-crises.

But at a fundamental level, Europe mulls a viable security architecture for itself, best expressed through its recently held flagship security dialogue with two major verticals of engagement – one with NATO and the US and another with forging global defence partnerships; one extra layer of smaller but proactive deterrents, and several challenges. The first edition of EU’s biennial security dialogue, The Schuman Defence and Security Forum, which falls under the aegis of the European External Action Service, was held on 20 and 21 March at the EU parliament in Brussels. Not only is this dialogue a departure from the dominant geo-economic personality of the EU with its security outsourced to the US, it also merits attention for its singular emphasis on achieving strategic autonomy by building equal, pragmatic and flexible security partnerships across the globe as originally conceived in EU’s strategic compass. Does that mean the EU is looking for strategic autonomy? Quite the contrary.

The future course of how Europe builds its security architecture will depend largely on how well it blends its dependence and deepening ties with NATO and its quest for strategic autonomy. From Europe’s perspective, these two verticals should complement each other. But can they? The first vertical of EU security is, unarguably, deepening ties with NATO that the war in Ukraine has cemented.

The panel discussions at Schuman highlighted growing cooperation with organisations like the United Nations, the African Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), as well as Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) missions for crisis management and stabilisation. But EU’s evolving association with NATO remained the most pronounced of all.

The January 2023 EU-NATO Joint Declaration ramps up this partnership with a sharp focus on climate change, space, artificial intelligence, and emerging and disruptive tech. Increase in overlapping membership with Finland already in NATO, Sweden next in line, and Denmark incorporated fully into CSDP-Europe, transatlantic ties have never been so strong.

Q. What is the main idea conveyed by the passage?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.

Silas was a weaver and a notorious miser, but then the gold he had hoarded was stolen. Shortly after, Silas adopted a young child, Eppie, the daughter of an impoverished woman who had died suddenly.
The gold had kept his thoughts in an ever-repeated circle, leading to nothing beyond itself; but Eppie was an object compacted of changes and hopes that forced his thoughts onward, and carried them far away from their old eager pacing towards the same blank limit—to the new things that would come with the coming years, when Eppie would have learned to understand how her father Silas cared for her; and made him look for images of that time in the ties and charities that bound together the families of his neighbors. The gold had asked that he should sit weaving longer and longer, deafened and blinded more and more to all things except the monotony of his loom and the repetition of his web; but Eppie called him away from his weaving, and made him think all its pauses a holiday, reawakening his senses with her fresh life, even to the old winter-flies that came crawling forth in the early spring sunshine, and warming him into joy because she had joy. And when the sunshine grew strong and lasting, so that the buttercups were thick in the meadows, Silas might be seen in the sunny mid-day, or in the late afternoon when the shadows were lengthening under the hedgerows, strolling out with uncovered head to carry Eppie beyond the Stone-pits to where the flowers grew, till they reached some favorite bank where he could sit down, while Eppie toddled to pluck the flowers, and make remarks to the winged things that murmured happily above the bright petals, calling "Dad-dad's" attention continually by bringing him the flowers. Then she would turn her ear to some sudden bird-note, and Silas learned to please her by making signs of hushed stillness, that they might listen for the note to come again: so that when it came, she set up her small back and laughed with gurgling triumph. Sitting on the banks in this way, Silas began to look for the once familiar herbs again; and as the leaves, with their unchanged outline and markings, lay on his palm, there was a sense of crowding remembrances from which he turned away timidly, taking refuge in Eppie's little world, that lay lightly on his enfeebled spirit. As the child's mind was growing into knowledge, his mind was growing into memory: as her life unfolded, his soul, long stupefied in a cold narrow prison, was unfolding too, and trembling gradually into full consciousness. It was an influence which must gather force with every new year: the tones that stirred Silas' heart grew articulate, and called for more distinct answers; shapes and sounds grew clearer for Eppie's eyes and ears, and there was more that "Dad-dad" was imperatively required to notice and account for.
[Extracted with edits and revisions from 'Silas Marner' by George Eliot]

Q. What was the primary influence that changed Silas' life and thoughts away from his hoarded gold?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.

Silas was a weaver and a notorious miser, but then the gold he had hoarded was stolen. Shortly after, Silas adopted a young child, Eppie, the daughter of an impoverished woman who had died suddenly.
The gold had kept his thoughts in an ever-repeated circle, leading to nothing beyond itself; but Eppie was an object compacted of changes and hopes that forced his thoughts onward, and carried them far away from their old eager pacing towards the same blank limit—to the new things that would come with the coming years, when Eppie would have learned to understand how her father Silas cared for her; and made him look for images of that time in the ties and charities that bound together the families of his neighbors. The gold had asked that he should sit weaving longer and longer, deafened and blinded more and more to all things except the monotony of his loom and the repetition of his web; but Eppie called him away from his weaving, and made him think all its pauses a holiday, reawakening his senses with her fresh life, even to the old winter-flies that came crawling forth in the early spring sunshine, and warming him into joy because she had joy. And when the sunshine grew strong and lasting, so that the buttercups were thick in the meadows, Silas might be seen in the sunny mid-day, or in the late afternoon when the shadows were lengthening under the hedgerows, strolling out with uncovered head to carry Eppie beyond the Stone-pits to where the flowers grew, till they reached some favorite bank where he could sit down, while Eppie toddled to pluck the flowers, and make remarks to the winged things that murmured happily above the bright petals, calling "Dad-dad's" attention continually by bringing him the flowers. Then she would turn her ear to some sudden bird-note, and Silas learned to please her by making signs of hushed stillness, that they might listen for the note to come again: so that when it came, she set up her small back and laughed with gurgling triumph. Sitting on the banks in this way, Silas began to look for the once familiar herbs again; and as the leaves, with their unchanged outline and markings, lay on his palm, there was a sense of crowding remembrances from which he turned away timidly, taking refuge in Eppie's little world, that lay lightly on his enfeebled spirit. As the child's mind was growing into knowledge, his mind was growing into memory: as her life unfolded, his soul, long stupefied in a cold narrow prison, was unfolding too, and trembling gradually into full consciousness. It was an influence which must gather force with every new year: the tones that stirred Silas' heart grew articulate, and called for more distinct answers; shapes and sounds grew clearer for Eppie's eyes and ears, and there was more that "Dad-dad" was imperatively required to notice and account for.
[Extracted with edits and revisions from 'Silas Marner' by George Eliot]

Q. Which of the following most accurately captures the central theme of the passage?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.

Silas was a weaver and a notorious miser, but then the gold he had hoarded was stolen. Shortly after, Silas adopted a young child, Eppie, the daughter of an impoverished woman who had died suddenly.
The gold had kept his thoughts in an ever-repeated circle, leading to nothing beyond itself; but Eppie was an object compacted of changes and hopes that forced his thoughts onward, and carried them far away from their old eager pacing towards the same blank limit—to the new things that would come with the coming years, when Eppie would have learned to understand how her father Silas cared for her; and made him look for images of that time in the ties and charities that bound together the families of his neighbors. The gold had asked that he should sit weaving longer and longer, deafened and blinded more and more to all things except the monotony of his loom and the repetition of his web; but Eppie called him away from his weaving, and made him think all its pauses a holiday, reawakening his senses with her fresh life, even to the old winter-flies that came crawling forth in the early spring sunshine, and warming him into joy because she had joy. And when the sunshine grew strong and lasting, so that the buttercups were thick in the meadows, Silas might be seen in the sunny mid-day, or in the late afternoon when the shadows were lengthening under the hedgerows, strolling out with uncovered head to carry Eppie beyond the Stone-pits to where the flowers grew, till they reached some favorite bank where he could sit down, while Eppie toddled to pluck the flowers, and make remarks to the winged things that murmured happily above the bright petals, calling "Dad-dad's" attention continually by bringing him the flowers. Then she would turn her ear to some sudden bird-note, and Silas learned to please her by making signs of hushed stillness, that they might listen for the note to come again: so that when it came, she set up her small back and laughed with gurgling triumph. Sitting on the banks in this way, Silas began to look for the once familiar herbs again; and as the leaves, with their unchanged outline and markings, lay on his palm, there was a sense of crowding remembrances from which he turned away timidly, taking refuge in Eppie's little world, that lay lightly on his enfeebled spirit. As the child's mind was growing into knowledge, his mind was growing into memory: as her life unfolded, his soul, long stupefied in a cold narrow prison, was unfolding too, and trembling gradually into full consciousness. It was an influence which must gather force with every new year: the tones that stirred Silas' heart grew articulate, and called for more distinct answers; shapes and sounds grew clearer for Eppie's eyes and ears, and there was more that "Dad-dad" was imperatively required to notice and account for.
[Extracted with edits and revisions from 'Silas Marner' by George Eliot]

Q. What can be deduced about Eppie based on the statement, "As the child's mind was growing into knowledge..."?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.

Silas was a weaver and a notorious miser, but then the gold he had hoarded was stolen. Shortly after, Silas adopted a young child, Eppie, the daughter of an impoverished woman who had died suddenly.
The gold had kept his thoughts in an ever-repeated circle, leading to nothing beyond itself; but Eppie was an object compacted of changes and hopes that forced his thoughts onward, and carried them far away from their old eager pacing towards the same blank limit—to the new things that would come with the coming years, when Eppie would have learned to understand how her father Silas cared for her; and made him look for images of that time in the ties and charities that bound together the families of his neighbors. The gold had asked that he should sit weaving longer and longer, deafened and blinded more and more to all things except the monotony of his loom and the repetition of his web; but Eppie called him away from his weaving, and made him think all its pauses a holiday, reawakening his senses with her fresh life, even to the old winter-flies that came crawling forth in the early spring sunshine, and warming him into joy because she had joy. And when the sunshine grew strong and lasting, so that the buttercups were thick in the meadows, Silas might be seen in the sunny mid-day, or in the late afternoon when the shadows were lengthening under the hedgerows, strolling out with uncovered head to carry Eppie beyond the Stone-pits to where the flowers grew, till they reached some favorite bank where he could sit down, while Eppie toddled to pluck the flowers, and make remarks to the winged things that murmured happily above the bright petals, calling "Dad-dad's" attention continually by bringing him the flowers. Then she would turn her ear to some sudden bird-note, and Silas learned to please her by making signs of hushed stillness, that they might listen for the note to come again: so that when it came, she set up her small back and laughed with gurgling triumph. Sitting on the banks in this way, Silas began to look for the once familiar herbs again; and as the leaves, with their unchanged outline and markings, lay on his palm, there was a sense of crowding remembrances from which he turned away timidly, taking refuge in Eppie's little world, that lay lightly on his enfeebled spirit. As the child's mind was growing into knowledge, his mind was growing into memory: as her life unfolded, his soul, long stupefied in a cold narrow prison, was unfolding too, and trembling gradually into full consciousness. It was an influence which must gather force with every new year: the tones that stirred Silas' heart grew articulate, and called for more distinct answers; shapes and sounds grew clearer for Eppie's eyes and ears, and there was more that "Dad-dad" was imperatively required to notice and account for.
[Extracted with edits and revisions from 'Silas Marner' by George Eliot]

Q. Which word is closest in meaning to the opposite of the word 'enfeebled'?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.

Silas was a weaver and a notorious miser, but then the gold he had hoarded was stolen. Shortly after, Silas adopted a young child, Eppie, the daughter of an impoverished woman who had died suddenly.
The gold had kept his thoughts in an ever-repeated circle, leading to nothing beyond itself; but Eppie was an object compacted of changes and hopes that forced his thoughts onward, and carried them far away from their old eager pacing towards the same blank limit—to the new things that would come with the coming years, when Eppie would have learned to understand how her father Silas cared for her; and made him look for images of that time in the ties and charities that bound together the families of his neighbors. The gold had asked that he should sit weaving longer and longer, deafened and blinded more and more to all things except the monotony of his loom and the repetition of his web; but Eppie called him away from his weaving, and made him think all its pauses a holiday, reawakening his senses with her fresh life, even to the old winter-flies that came crawling forth in the early spring sunshine, and warming him into joy because she had joy. And when the sunshine grew strong and lasting, so that the buttercups were thick in the meadows, Silas might be seen in the sunny mid-day, or in the late afternoon when the shadows were lengthening under the hedgerows, strolling out with uncovered head to carry Eppie beyond the Stone-pits to where the flowers grew, till they reached some favorite bank where he could sit down, while Eppie toddled to pluck the flowers, and make remarks to the winged things that murmured happily above the bright petals, calling "Dad-dad's" attention continually by bringing him the flowers. Then she would turn her ear to some sudden bird-note, and Silas learned to please her by making signs of hushed stillness, that they might listen for the note to come again: so that when it came, she set up her small back and laughed with gurgling triumph. Sitting on the banks in this way, Silas began to look for the once familiar herbs again; and as the leaves, with their unchanged outline and markings, lay on his palm, there was a sense of crowding remembrances from which he turned away timidly, taking refuge in Eppie's little world, that lay lightly on his enfeebled spirit. As the child's mind was growing into knowledge, his mind was growing into memory: as her life unfolded, his soul, long stupefied in a cold narrow prison, was unfolding too, and trembling gradually into full consciousness. It was an influence which must gather force with every new year: the tones that stirred Silas' heart grew articulate, and called for more distinct answers; shapes and sounds grew clearer for Eppie's eyes and ears, and there was more that "Dad-dad" was imperatively required to notice and account for.
[Extracted with edits and revisions from 'Silas Marner' by George Eliot]

Q. How did Eppie impact Silas' life and behavior?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.

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

Q. What is the primary challenge mentioned in the passage in the fight against anti-progressive customs related to women?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.

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

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

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

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.

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

Q. Which figure of speech is exemplified by the sentence "Social capital — education and employment — or the lack of it is no insurance against this venomous tradition"?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.

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

Q. Which of the following options expresses a meaning opposite to the word 'radical' as it is used in the passage?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.

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

Q. What does the author describe as 'sarcasm' in the passage?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.

The late JP Naik, the doyen of Indian education during the twentieth century, titled his seminal work on Indian education Equality, Quality and Quantity: The Elusive Triangle in Indian Education. Through some of its landmark initiatives, such as the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), India has been able to address issues of access and retention by providing a primary school in every habitation of the country with midday meals (the largest such programme in the world).
As a result, enrolment has risen from 72 per cent in 2002 (when fifty-nine million children, of two hundred and twenty million in the age group of 6-14 years were out of school) to over 99 per cent in recent years. The attendance in schools has gone up and retention till Class VIII has risen from 42 per cent in 2002 to around 80 per cent in recent times.
But the elusiveness that JP Naik pointed to is borne out by the fact that the third vertex of this triangle, namely, quality of education has remained unattainable. Often, suggestions for improvement of the quality of government school education have harped on teacher accountability and incentives; the use of technology in schools; and other efficiency-related actions. These have taken us nowhere.
Thankfully, in recent times, the approach to this vexing problem is changing and the centrality of the teacher and the need to invest in their professional preparedness is being recognised. To those working on the ground with rural government schools for years, this acknowledgement is a welcome validation of the criticality of teacher education.
This signals that sustained improvement in school quality will not come through fixing a few specific aspects but by addressing the core issue which is to create well-equipped, well-prepared teachers. There are no shortcuts, the path to a complete revamp of teacher education in the country will be long and arduous.
How well we can reform teacher education, implement high quality four-year integrated teacher education programmes and create excellent institutions for teacher education will determine the fate of three hundred and seventy million children who will, in a few years, join India's adult population.
Perhaps one of the most crucial aspects within this that needs to be fixed is our very weak undergraduate education system that fails to equip teachers with subject-matter proficiency. For our teachers to be truly competent in their subjects, our Bachelor programmes ought to provide them with depth and breadth in their chosen disciplines. One cannot discuss quality in school education without acknowledging that the root cause is the abysmal quality of our undergraduate programmes.

Q. What is the recent change in the approach to improving the quality of government school education in India, as mentioned in the passage?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.

The late JP Naik, the doyen of Indian education during the twentieth century, titled his seminal work on Indian education Equality, Quality and Quantity: The Elusive Triangle in Indian Education. Through some of its landmark initiatives, such as the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), India has been able to address issues of access and retention by providing a primary school in every habitation of the country with midday meals (the largest such programme in the world).
As a result, enrolment has risen from 72 per cent in 2002 (when fifty-nine million children, of two hundred and twenty million in the age group of 6-14 years were out of school) to over 99 per cent in recent years. The attendance in schools has gone up and retention till Class VIII has risen from 42 per cent in 2002 to around 80 per cent in recent times.
But the elusiveness that JP Naik pointed to is borne out by the fact that the third vertex of this triangle, namely, quality of education has remained unattainable. Often, suggestions for improvement of the quality of government school education have harped on teacher accountability and incentives; the use of technology in schools; and other efficiency-related actions. These have taken us nowhere.
Thankfully, in recent times, the approach to this vexing problem is changing and the centrality of the teacher and the need to invest in their professional preparedness is being recognised. To those working on the ground with rural government schools for years, this acknowledgement is a welcome validation of the criticality of teacher education.
This signals that sustained improvement in school quality will not come through fixing a few specific aspects but by addressing the core issue which is to create well-equipped, well-prepared teachers. There are no shortcuts, the path to a complete revamp of teacher education in the country will be long and arduous.
How well we can reform teacher education, implement high quality four-year integrated teacher education programmes and create excellent institutions for teacher education will determine the fate of three hundred and seventy million children who will, in a few years, join India's adult population.
Perhaps one of the most crucial aspects within this that needs to be fixed is our very weak undergraduate education system that fails to equip teachers with subject-matter proficiency. For our teachers to be truly competent in their subjects, our Bachelor programmes ought to provide them with depth and breadth in their chosen disciplines. One cannot discuss quality in school education without acknowledging that the root cause is the abysmal quality of our undergraduate programmes.

Q. What is the meaning of the word 'vexing' as it is used in the passage?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.

The late JP Naik, the doyen of Indian education during the twentieth century, titled his seminal work on Indian education Equality, Quality and Quantity: The Elusive Triangle in Indian Education. Through some of its landmark initiatives, such as the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), India has been able to address issues of access and retention by providing a primary school in every habitation of the country with midday meals (the largest such programme in the world).
As a result, enrolment has risen from 72 per cent in 2002 (when fifty-nine million children, of two hundred and twenty million in the age group of 6-14 years were out of school) to over 99 per cent in recent years. The attendance in schools has gone up and retention till Class VIII has risen from 42 per cent in 2002 to around 80 per cent in recent times.
But the elusiveness that JP Naik pointed to is borne out by the fact that the third vertex of this triangle, namely, quality of education has remained unattainable. Often, suggestions for improvement of the quality of government school education have harped on teacher accountability and incentives; the use of technology in schools; and other efficiency-related actions. These have taken us nowhere.
Thankfully, in recent times, the approach to this vexing problem is changing and the centrality of the teacher and the need to invest in their professional preparedness is being recognised. To those working on the ground with rural government schools for years, this acknowledgement is a welcome validation of the criticality of teacher education.
This signals that sustained improvement in school quality will not come through fixing a few specific aspects but by addressing the core issue which is to create well-equipped, well-prepared teachers. There are no shortcuts, the path to a complete revamp of teacher education in the country will be long and arduous.
How well we can reform teacher education, implement high quality four-year integrated teacher education programmes and create excellent institutions for teacher education will determine the fate of three hundred and seventy million children who will, in a few years, join India's adult population.
Perhaps one of the most crucial aspects within this that needs to be fixed is our very weak undergraduate education system that fails to equip teachers with subject-matter proficiency. For our teachers to be truly competent in their subjects, our Bachelor programmes ought to provide them with depth and breadth in their chosen disciplines. One cannot discuss quality in school education without acknowledging that the root cause is the abysmal quality of our undergraduate programmes.

Q. Which of the following statements best summarizes the main point made by the author in the given passage?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.

The late JP Naik, the doyen of Indian education during the twentieth century, titled his seminal work on Indian education Equality, Quality and Quantity: The Elusive Triangle in Indian Education. Through some of its landmark initiatives, such as the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), India has been able to address issues of access and retention by providing a primary school in every habitation of the country with midday meals (the largest such programme in the world).
As a result, enrolment has risen from 72 per cent in 2002 (when fifty-nine million children, of two hundred and twenty million in the age group of 6-14 years were out of school) to over 99 per cent in recent years. The attendance in schools has gone up and retention till Class VIII has risen from 42 per cent in 2002 to around 80 per cent in recent times.
But the elusiveness that JP Naik pointed to is borne out by the fact that the third vertex of this triangle, namely, quality of education has remained unattainable. Often, suggestions for improvement of the quality of government school education have harped on teacher accountability and incentives; the use of technology in schools; and other efficiency-related actions. These have taken us nowhere.
Thankfully, in recent times, the approach to this vexing problem is changing and the centrality of the teacher and the need to invest in their professional preparedness is being recognised. To those working on the ground with rural government schools for years, this acknowledgement is a welcome validation of the criticality of teacher education.
This signals that sustained improvement in school quality will not come through fixing a few specific aspects but by addressing the core issue which is to create well-equipped, well-prepared teachers. There are no shortcuts, the path to a complete revamp of teacher education in the country will be long and arduous.
How well we can reform teacher education, implement high quality four-year integrated teacher education programmes and create excellent institutions for teacher education will determine the fate of three hundred and seventy million children who will, in a few years, join India's adult population.
Perhaps one of the most crucial aspects within this that needs to be fixed is our very weak undergraduate education system that fails to equip teachers with subject-matter proficiency. For our teachers to be truly competent in their subjects, our Bachelor programmes ought to provide them with depth and breadth in their chosen disciplines. One cannot discuss quality in school education without acknowledging that the root cause is the abysmal quality of our undergraduate programmes.

Q. What is emphasized as a crucial aspect that needs to be fixed within the teacher education system in the passage?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.

The late JP Naik, the doyen of Indian education during the twentieth century, titled his seminal work on Indian education Equality, Quality and Quantity: The Elusive Triangle in Indian Education. Through some of its landmark initiatives, such as the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), India has been able to address issues of access and retention by providing a primary school in every habitation of the country with midday meals (the largest such programme in the world).
As a result, enrolment has risen from 72 per cent in 2002 (when fifty-nine million children, of two hundred and twenty million in the age group of 6-14 years were out of school) to over 99 per cent in recent years. The attendance in schools has gone up and retention till Class VIII has risen from 42 per cent in 2002 to around 80 per cent in recent times.
But the elusiveness that JP Naik pointed to is borne out by the fact that the third vertex of this triangle, namely, quality of education has remained unattainable. Often, suggestions for improvement of the quality of government school education have harped on teacher accountability and incentives; the use of technology in schools; and other efficiency-related actions. These have taken us nowhere.
Thankfully, in recent times, the approach to this vexing problem is changing and the centrality of the teacher and the need to invest in their professional preparedness is being recognised. To those working on the ground with rural government schools for years, this acknowledgement is a welcome validation of the criticality of teacher education.
This signals that sustained improvement in school quality will not come through fixing a few specific aspects but by addressing the core issue which is to create well-equipped, well-prepared teachers. There are no shortcuts, the path to a complete revamp of teacher education in the country will be long and arduous.
How well we can reform teacher education, implement high quality four-year integrated teacher education programmes and create excellent institutions for teacher education will determine the fate of three hundred and seventy million children who will, in a few years, join India's adult population.
Perhaps one of the most crucial aspects within this that needs to be fixed is our very weak undergraduate education system that fails to equip teachers with subject-matter proficiency. For our teachers to be truly competent in their subjects, our Bachelor programmes ought to provide them with depth and breadth in their chosen disciplines. One cannot discuss quality in school education without acknowledging that the root cause is the abysmal quality of our undergraduate programmes.

Q. What is the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan's (SSA) greatest positive outcome in the author's opinion?

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

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s latest Budget is noteworthy for the emphasis she has laid on the government’s commitment to move towards net-zero carbon emission by ‘[1]’. With the country’s population set to overtake China’s some time this year, India’s appetite for energy to propel the economy is set to surge exponentially. The transition to green alternatives from the current reliance on fossil fuels is therefore an urgent imperative.

In a nod to this, Budget 2023-24 devoted a fair amount of space to the green industrial and economic transition needed. One of the key proposals is related to the establishment of a viability gap funding mechanism to support the creation of battery energy storage systems with a capacity of 4,000 MWh.  Energy storage systems are crucial in power grid stabilisation and essential as India increases its reliance on alternative sources of power generation including solar and wind.

Ms. Sitharaman also set aside a vital ₹8,300 crore towards a ₹20,700 crore project for building an inter-State transmission system for the evacuation and grid integration of 13 GW of renewable energy from ‘[2]’. With its vast stretches of barren land and one of the country’s highest levels of sunlight availability, ‘[2]’ is considered an ideal location to site photovoltaic arrays for producing a substantial capacity of solar power.

[Extracted, with edits and revisions, from: “Going green: On Budget 2023’s and India’s net-zero commitment”, The Hindu]

Q. What is the primary focus of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's latest Budget?

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

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s latest Budget is noteworthy for the emphasis she has laid on the government’s commitment to move towards net-zero carbon emission by ‘[1]’. With the country’s population set to overtake China’s some time this year, India’s appetite for energy to propel the economy is set to surge exponentially. The transition to green alternatives from the current reliance on fossil fuels is therefore an urgent imperative.

In a nod to this, Budget 2023-24 devoted a fair amount of space to the green industrial and economic transition needed. One of the key proposals is related to the establishment of a viability gap funding mechanism to support the creation of battery energy storage systems with a capacity of 4,000 MWh.  Energy storage systems are crucial in power grid stabilisation and essential as India increases its reliance on alternative sources of power generation including solar and wind.

Ms. Sitharaman also set aside a vital ₹8,300 crore towards a ₹20,700 crore project for building an inter-State transmission system for the evacuation and grid integration of 13 GW of renewable energy from ‘[2]’. With its vast stretches of barren land and one of the country’s highest levels of sunlight availability, ‘[2]’ is considered an ideal location to site photovoltaic arrays for producing a substantial capacity of solar power.

[Extracted, with edits and revisions, from: “Going green: On Budget 2023’s and India’s net-zero commitment”, The Hindu]

Q. Why is '2' considered an ideal location for solar power generation?

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

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s latest Budget is noteworthy for the emphasis she has laid on the government’s commitment to move towards net-zero carbon emission by ‘[1]’. With the country’s population set to overtake China’s some time this year, India’s appetite for energy to propel the economy is set to surge exponentially. The transition to green alternatives from the current reliance on fossil fuels is therefore an urgent imperative.

In a nod to this, Budget 2023-24 devoted a fair amount of space to the green industrial and economic transition needed. One of the key proposals is related to the establishment of a viability gap funding mechanism to support the creation of battery energy storage systems with a capacity of 4,000 MWh.  Energy storage systems are crucial in power grid stabilisation and essential as India increases its reliance on alternative sources of power generation including solar and wind.

Ms. Sitharaman also set aside a vital ₹8,300 crore towards a ₹20,700 crore project for building an inter-State transmission system for the evacuation and grid integration of 13 GW of renewable energy from ‘[2]’. With its vast stretches of barren land and one of the country’s highest levels of sunlight availability, ‘[2]’ is considered an ideal location to site photovoltaic arrays for producing a substantial capacity of solar power.

[Extracted, with edits and revisions, from: “Going green: On Budget 2023’s and India’s net-zero commitment”, The Hindu]

Q. What position does India hold in the 2021 Energy Transition Index (ETI)?

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

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s latest Budget is noteworthy for the emphasis she has laid on the government’s commitment to move towards net-zero carbon emission by ‘[1]’. With the country’s population set to overtake China’s some time this year, India’s appetite for energy to propel the economy is set to surge exponentially. The transition to green alternatives from the current reliance on fossil fuels is therefore an urgent imperative.

In a nod to this, Budget 2023-24 devoted a fair amount of space to the green industrial and economic transition needed. One of the key proposals is related to the establishment of a viability gap funding mechanism to support the creation of battery energy storage systems with a capacity of 4,000 MWh.  Energy storage systems are crucial in power grid stabilisation and essential as India increases its reliance on alternative sources of power generation including solar and wind.

Ms. Sitharaman also set aside a vital ₹8,300 crore towards a ₹20,700 crore project for building an inter-State transmission system for the evacuation and grid integration of 13 GW of renewable energy from ‘[2]’. With its vast stretches of barren land and one of the country’s highest levels of sunlight availability, ‘[2]’ is considered an ideal location to site photovoltaic arrays for producing a substantial capacity of solar power.

[Extracted, with edits and revisions, from: “Going green: On Budget 2023’s and India’s net-zero commitment”, The Hindu]

Q. In the excerpt above, which state or UT's name has been changed to '[2]'?

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

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s latest Budget is noteworthy for the emphasis she has laid on the government’s commitment to move towards net-zero carbon emission by ‘[1]’. With the country’s population set to overtake China’s some time this year, India’s appetite for energy to propel the economy is set to surge exponentially. The transition to green alternatives from the current reliance on fossil fuels is therefore an urgent imperative.

In a nod to this, Budget 2023-24 devoted a fair amount of space to the green industrial and economic transition needed. One of the key proposals is related to the establishment of a viability gap funding mechanism to support the creation of battery energy storage systems with a capacity of 4,000 MWh.  Energy storage systems are crucial in power grid stabilisation and essential as India increases its reliance on alternative sources of power generation including solar and wind.

Ms. Sitharaman also set aside a vital ₹8,300 crore towards a ₹20,700 crore project for building an inter-State transmission system for the evacuation and grid integration of 13 GW of renewable energy from ‘[2]’. With its vast stretches of barren land and one of the country’s highest levels of sunlight availability, ‘[2]’ is considered an ideal location to site photovoltaic arrays for producing a substantial capacity of solar power.

[Extracted, with edits and revisions, from: “Going green: On Budget 2023’s and India’s net-zero commitment”, The Hindu]

Q. In the passage, which year has been changed to '[1]'?