General Comprehension (UPSC) (Part-III)

Total Questions: 50

41. What is the most logical and rational inference that can be made from the above passage? [2016-11]

Climate adaptation may be rendered ineffective if policies are not designed in the context of other development concerns. For instance, a comprehensive strategy that seeks to improve food security in the context of climate change may include a set of coordinated measures related to agricultural extension, crop diversification, integrated water and pest management and agricultural information series. Some of these measures may have to do with climate changes and others with economic development.

(a) It is difficult to pursue climate adaptation in the developing countries.
(b) Improving food security is a far more complex issue than climate adaptation.
(c) Every developmental activity is directly or indirectly linked to climate adaptation.
(d) Climate adaptation should be examined in tandem with other economic development options.

Correct Answer: (d) Climate adaptation should be examined in tandem with other economic development options.

Solution:Climatic adaptation is relative to many vital factors. So while formulating policies, the other parameters need to be simultaneously evaluated with respect to the climatic adaptation.

42. Which among the following is the most critical inference that can be made from the above passage? [2016-11]

Understanding of the role of biodiversity in the hydrological cycle enables better policy-making. The term biodiversity refers to the variety of plants, animals, microorganisms, and the ecosystems in which they occur. Water and biodiversity are interdependent. In reality, the hydrological cycle decides how biodiversity functions. In turn, vegetation and soil drive the movement of water. Every glass of water we drink has, at least in part, passed through fish, trees, bacteria, soil and other organisms. Passing through these ecosystems, it is cleansed and made fit for consumption. The supply of water is a critical service that the environment provides.

(a) Biodiversity sustains the ability of nature to recycle water.
(b) We cannot get potable water without the existence of living organisms.
(c) Plants, animals and microorganisms continuously interact among themselves.
(d) Living organisms could not have come into existence without hydrological cycle.

Correct Answer: (a) Biodiversity sustains the ability of nature to recycle water.

Solution:Biodiversity is an important aspect of our ecosystem. Given that water is an essential component of our existence, it is subjected through many organisms before we get to sip a glass. Thus, water is naturally recycled with the help of the biodiversity.

43. Which one of the following is the message that is essentially implied in the above passage? [2016-11]

In the last decade, the banking sector has been restructured with a high degree of automation and products that mainly serve middle-class and upper middle-class society. Today there is need for a new agenda for the banking and non-banking financial services that does not exclude the common man.

(a) Need for more automation and more products of bank.
(b) Need for a radical restructuring of our entire public finance system.
(c) Need to integrate banking and non-banking institutions.
(d) Need to promote financial inclusion.

Correct Answer: (d) Need to promote financial inclusion.

Solution:The biggest problem in our country is the disparity in the financial status of the citizens. For instance, all the wealth is mostly accumulated by the elite class and the upper-middle class. However, the poor continues to be deprived and exploited. The banking sector should look forward to promote financial inclusion, for equal distribution of financial services.

44. With reference to the above passage, consider the following statements: [2016-11]

1. Urban sanitation problems can be fully solved by the abolition of manual scavenging only

2. There is a need to promote greater awareness on safe sanitation practices in urban areas.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

Safe and sustainable sanitation in slums has immeasurable benefits to women and girls in terms of their health, safety, privacy and dignity. However, women do not feature in most of the schemes and policies on urban sanitation. The fact that even now the manual scavenging exists, only goes to show that not enough has been done to promote pour-flush toilets and discontinue the use of dry latrines. A more sustained and rigorous campaign needs to be launched towards the right to sanitation on a very large scale. This should primarily focus on the abolition of manual scavenging.

(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Correct Answer: (b) 2 only

Solution:Manual scavenging needs to be addressed. However, campaigns and awareness programmes are needed to be conducted, especially targeting the female counterparts, to address issues related to sanitation hazards; manual scavenging being a part of it.

45. Which among the following is the most logical and rational inference that can be made from the above passage? [2016-11]

To understand the nature and quantity of Government proper for man, it is necessary to attend to his character. As nature created him for social life, she fitted him for the station she intended. In all cases she made his natural wants greater than his individual powers. No one man is capable, without the aid of society, of supplying his own wants; and those wants, acting upon every individual, impel the whole of them into society.

(a) Nature has created a great diversity in human society
(b) Any given human society is always short of its wants
(c) Social life is a specific characteristic of man
(d) Diverse natural wants forced man towards social system

Correct Answer: (d) Diverse natural wants forced man towards social system

Solution:The various needs and demands of man compelled him to creating a society, as these needs could not have been achieved individually.

46. The statement refers to : [2016-11]

The nature of the legal imperatives in any given state corresponds to the effective demands that state encounters, and that these, in their turn, depend, in a general way, upon the manner in which economic power is distributed in the society which the state controls.

(a) the antithesis of Politics and Economics
(b) the interrelationship of Politics and Economics
(c) the predominance of Economics over Politics
(d) the predominance of Politics over Economics

Correct Answer: (b) the interrelationship of Politics and Economics

Solution:The word 'corresponds' indicates a strong bond or the interrelationship between politics and economics, for effective formulation of state policies.

47. Which among the following is the most logical and rational inference that can be made from the above passage? [2016-11]

About 15 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions come from agricultural practices. This includes nitrous oxide from fertilizers; methane from livestock, rice production, and manure storage, and carbon dioxide (CO) from burning biomass, but this excludes CO, 2 emissions from soil management practices, sayannah burning and deforestation. Foresty and use, and land-use change account for another 17 percent of greenhouse gas emissions each year, three quarters of which come from tropical deforestation. The remainder is largely from draining and burning tropical peatland. About the same amount of carbon is stored in the world's peatlands as is stored in the Amazon rainforest.

(a) Organic farming should immediately replace mechanised and chemical dependant agricultural practices all over the world.
(b) It is imperative for us to modify our land use practices in order to mitigate climate change.
(c) There are no technological solutions to the problem of greenhouse gas emissions.
(d) Tropical areas are the chief sites of carbon sequestration.

Correct Answer: (b) It is imperative for us to modify our land use practices in order to mitigate climate change.

Solution:As the passage denotes forestry and use, and land-use change account for another 17 percent of greenhouse gas emissions each year, three quarters of which come from tropical deforestation. So, it is imperative for us to modify our land use practices in order to mitigate climate change.

48. What is the critical message conveyed by the above passage? [2016-11]

As we look to 2050, when we will need to feed two billion more people, the question of which diet is best has taken on new urgency. The foods we choose to eat in the coming decades will have dramatic ramifications for the planet. Simply put, a diet that revolves around meat and dairy a way of eating that is on the rise throughout the developing world, will take a greater toll on the world's resources than one that revolves around unrefined grains, nuts, fruits and vegetables.

(a) Our increasing demand for foods sourced from animals puts a greater burden on our natural resources.
(b) Diets based on grains, nuts, fruits and vegetables are best suited for health in developing countries.
(c) Human beings change their food habits from time to time irrespective of the health concerns.
(d) From a global perspective, we still do not know which type of diet is best for us.

Correct Answer: (a) Our increasing demand for foods sourced from animals puts a greater burden on our natural resources.

Solution:The critical message that can be conveyed from the passage can be that a diet involving meat and dairy is on the rise throughout the developing world, will take a greater toll on the world's resources. Hence, our increasing demand for foods sourced from animals puts a greater burden on our natural resources.

49. Which among the following is the most logical assumption that can be made from the above passage? [2016-11]

All humans digest mother's milk as infants, but until cattle began being domesticated 10,000 years ago, children once weaned no longer needed to digest milk. As a result, they stopped making the enzyme lactase, which breaks down the sugar lactose into simple sugars. After humans began herding cattle, it became tremendously advantageous to digest milk, and lactose tolerance evolved independently among cattle herders in Europe, the middle East and Africa. Groups not dependent on cattle, such as the Chinese and Thai, remain lactose intolerant.

(a) About 10,000 years ago, the domestication of animals took place in some parts of the world.
(b) A permanent change in the food habits of a community can bring about a genetic change in its members.
(c) Lactose tolerant people only are capable of getting simple sugars in their bodies.
(d) People who are not lactose tolerant cannot digest any dairy product.

Correct Answer: (b) A permanent change in the food habits of a community can bring about a genetic change in its members.

Solution:Genetic alteration arises from the introduction of a new practice, and subsequent follow up of the same. In this case, a particular modification in the food habit of the cattle herders resulted in a massive change in the genetic constitution.

50. In the above statement, the author implies that: [2016-11]

"The conceptual difficulties in National Income comparisons between underdeveloped and industrialised countries are particularly serious because a part of the national output in various underdeveloped countries is produced without passing through the commercial channels."

(a) the entire national output produced and consumed in industrialized countries passes through commercial channels.
(b) the existence of a non-commercialized sector in different underdeveloped countries renders the national income comparisons over countries difficult.
(c) no part of national output should be produced and consumed without passing through commercial channels.
(d) a part of the national output being produced and consumed without passing through commercial channels is a sign of underdevelopment.

Correct Answer: (b) the existence of a non-commercialized sector in different underdeveloped countries renders the national income comparisons over countries difficult.

Solution:The passage clearly states that the existence of a non-commercialized sector in different underdeveloped countries renders the national income comparisons over countries difficult.

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