SOLVED PAPER 2022 (CDS) (II) (English)

Total Questions: 120

61. (Questions 61-65) In this section you have three short passages. After each passage, you will find some items based on the passage. Read the passage carefully and answer the questions based on it.

Passage I

China's Government announced on 19th April that it had signed a landmark security pact with the Solomon Islands, evoking concern from Australia and the US. The agreement is the first of its kind that China has agreed with any country and underlines its ambitions to play a security role in the Pacific. The final version has not been made public. It will pave the way for China to deploy its security forces there. The Solomon Islands can request police and military personnel "to assist in maintaining social order", while China can make ship visits and use its ports for logistics. This will give China's vessels a strategic foothold in the Pacific, in a region close to Australia and Guam, where the US has a naval base. Both countries unsurprisingly expressed concern, with Washington, even dispatching a senior official to the Solomon Islands, who will take up the pact as well as plans to reopen the US Embassy there.

The significance of the pact extends beyond the immediate regional security concerns in the Pacific. The Solomon Islands Government said the agreement does not imply China will build a base there. The pact does, however, relate to a second key pillar of China's avowed "peaceful rise" doctrine, which was, as popularised by "Panchsheel" or the "five principles of peaceful coexistence" the "non-interference" in the internal affairs of other countries. The deployment of security forces in a foreign country certainly does not square with that idea. China has already begun to do so elsewhere, albeit on a limited scale. China's past commitments on military bases and non-interference were intended to show the world Beijing would not seek to become a global "hegemon", its favoured term to describe the US.

China's objective of signing a security pact with Solomon Islands is

Correct Answer: (a) to contribute in ensuring security in the Pacific.
Solution:It is clear after reading the passage that China's objective of signing a Security Pact with Solomon Islands is to contribute in ensuring security in the Pacific.

62. The Pact symbolises China's doctrine of

Correct Answer: (d) principles of peaceful coexistence.
Solution:The pact symbolises China's doctrine of the principles of peaceful co-existence.

63. Which one of the following is implied by 'Beijing would not seek to become a global hegemon'?

Correct Answer: (c) Beijing is not aspiring to have control over the world.
Solution:'Beijing would not seek to become a global hegemon' means that Beijing is not aspiring to have control over the world.

64. What does 'square with that idea' imply in the passage?

Correct Answer: (b) Not in agreement with the idea
Solution:'Square with that idea' means to be not is agreement with the idea.

65. What does 'strategic foothold' imply in the passage?

Correct Answer: (b) Planned access
Solution:'Strategic foothold' implies 'planned access'.

66. (Questions 66-70) In this section you have three short passages. After each passage, you will find some items based on the passage. Read the passage carefully and answer the questions based on it.

Passage II

Among the major objectives of the Glasgow Summit was to frame the foundation of an international carbon trading system listed in the Paris Agreement to achieve the target of net zero emissions by 2050. It would enable nations to transfer credits to each other and offset their emission targets. Critics of the trading system, and there are many, say it would give leeway to developed countries and companies that are highly polluting to stave off making deeper cuts in their low emissions by buying credits from poorer countries at exploitative prices. There are also major differences over whether the new trading system will recognise historical emissions permitted under earlier protocols. Others want rules that permit double credits for the nation funding a particular carbon reducing project, such as the regeneration of forests to act as a carbon sink and for the country implementing it. A third issue is whether a share of the revenue from such a bilateral trading agreement will go toward the UN's Adaptation Fund. There have also been concerns about the integrity of the accounting system for such credits.

What is 'international carbon trading system' here?

Correct Answer: (d) Counting how developed countries evade accountability
Solution:The 'international carbon trading system' here refers to the exchange of carbon credits between nations.

67. What is the third issue being mentioned in the context of 'share of the revenue'?

Correct Answer: (a) The revenue may not be shared with UN's Adaptation Fund.
Solution:The revenue may not be shared with the UN's adaptation fund is the third issue mentioned in the context of 'share of the revenue'.

68. '....... forests to act as a carbon sink' means

Correct Answer: (a) forests reduce carbon emission.
Solution:'Forest to act as carbon sink' means forests reduce carbon emission. 'Carbon sink' refers to a large area of forest that is believed to help the environment by taking carbon from the air so that the effects of global warming are reduced.

69. What is the concern about the integrity of the accounting system?

Correct Answer: (a) Developed countries and companies would not be adhering to the credit system.
Solution:The concern about the integrity of the accounting system is that the developed countries and companies would not be adhering to the credit system.

70. Which of the following words is nearer to the meaning of the word 'protocol' in the text?

Correct Answer: (c) Formal ways of doing something
Solution:'Protocol' means a written record of a formal or international agreement, or an early form of agreement. Hence, 'formal ways of doing something' is nearer to the meaning of the word 'protocol'.