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There exists in the world all manner of political, religious, and social movements which have as their main objective the imposition of their view of reality, their particular version of the truth. Often the object is control over an ever-increasing base of followers. They swallow large numbers of people, if their ambitions are realized, in proselytizing campaigns designed to play on the common fears of the masses. They observe that people are afraid, claim to know why they are afraid, and they offer a solution designed to allay these fears. They are certain they have the key to peace, salvation, safety, and contentment, what Lifton calls “sacred science” (1961/1989, p. VIII).Although the glaring example of this kind of structure is Germany during the Nazi years, it is by no means the only one. Eastern Europe under the Soviets, Iran under Khomeini, or Kampuchia under Pol Pot are but a few others. It is possible to define nationless entities as well; for example the religio-politification of fundamentalist movements such as the Shiite extremists, the Jews for Jesus, the Black Muslims of Louis Farrakhan. Those that also bear close observation are Jerry Falwell and former Moral Majority (or Liberty Foundation), and Pat Robertson, the creator of the Christian Broadcasting Network and the Christian Coalition.Some movement leaders, such as Farrakhan, Hitler, and Khomeini, define an enemy who must be destroyed, an enemy defined as the source of primordial evil (Lester, 1985, p. 11). Others, like Stalin, Falwell and Robertson, see the evil in ideas and life-styles and initially attempt conversion. In either case these movements begin out of moral imperative and change once they achieve power and control. Goodness is an early posture. Later goodness is transformed into destruction as amply demonstrated by the Jonestown example. The struggle for power is one thing, but its attainment and subsequent applications quite another. Initially the identification of both problems and their solutions is oversimplified, thus offering the follower a quick answer to the existential dilemma created by questions such as where did I come from, why am I here, and where am I going. People are offered oversimplified answers that dispel fear created by doubt and uncertainty created by internal psychological conflict and external social forces. This has become particularly dangerous in the 20th century because of sophisticated communication technology and increasing expertise of the psycho-social sciences.One way these forces operate is by discouraging critical thinking and moral speculation in favour of a prepackaged imagery and doctrine designed to create impressions rather than reveal substance, to capture people’s hearts rather than stimulate their minds. Polarization and overzealous fundamentalism, whether derived from movements that are religious, social, or political, right or left, radical or reactionary, psychoanalytic or humanistic, Christian, Muslim, or Jewish, can grip us with a particular intensity. Perhaps it is not yet time for alarm, but surely we must learn to recognize leaders with autocratic tendencies before they attain power, before it is too late. Q1: The authors attitude towards autocrats is:(a)objective but disapproving.(b)biased but polite(c)logical, rational and critical.(d)one of strong opposition. Q2:The author has mentioned the Jonestown example:(a) to emphasize the danger in autocratic tendencies.(b) to show that misrepresentation plays a role in furthering a cause(c)to isolate the reason for mass conning of public.(d)to underline that simple answers are usually the wrong ones. Q3: Which of the following titles best describes the passage?(a)The Hows and Whys of Mass Mesmerism(b)Dictators A Universal Entity(c)The Relativity of Truth(d)Unshackling the Mind             ANSWERS AND EXPLANATION1-DExplanation: The analysis is objective, but disapproving is too mild a word, because he considers it necessary and urgent to nip autocracy in the bud. Biased implies personal involvement,and there is no indication of that in the passage. While logical and ratonal are correct, critical is again too mild to explain the authors strong reaction illustrated in terms like ‘swallowing people’, ‘destruction’ and ‘dangerous’. Only correctly sums up the authors attitude. Hence, .2-BExplanation: Refer to the paragraph 3, these movements begin out of … Jonestown example: One can infer that the leaders misrepresent themselves early on, and show their true colours only later, the Jonestown example being such a case. Hence, .3-D    

Vitamin C, known to be a DNA protecting antioxidant, is a switch hitter, also capable of inducing the production of DNA damaging compounds. Mutations caused by these compounds have been found in a variety of tumors. Such mutations can be repaired, however, and Ian Blair of the Centre for Cancer Pharmacology, at the University of Pennsylvania, cautioned that the study shouldnt be interpreted as a claim that vitamin C causes cancer. Nor does it question the wisdom of eating a balanced diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, he said. The findings, which come from test-tube experiments (in vitro), may help explain why vitamin C has thus far shown little effectiveness at preventing cancer in clinical trials. According to the Science authors. Its possible that vitamin C isnt working in cancer prevention studies because its causing as much damage as its preventing, but thats really speculation at this point. What we can say is that vitamin C clearly doesnt work when you expect it to, and now were in a position to see if thats whats happening in vivo, (or, in living cells) Blair said. Some scientists have long recommended dietary supplements of vitamin C, particularly for treating and preventing cancer. But the supplements effectiveness has been hotly debated; with critics saying they either have no effect or that they may be harmful. The logic being used (for vitamin C supplements) is that fruits, vegetables, etc. contain vitamin C; these foods prevent cancer; thus vitamin C prevents cancer, Blair said. But our message is that its the total diet thats important, not just one antioxidant in isolation. Vitamin C is known to do beneficial work in the body, including acting as an antioxidant that disarms free radicals. These highly reactive ions are produced by the breakdown of oxygen, which occurs constantly in cells. In addition to damaging DNA directly, free radicals can also act indirectly. They act by converting linoleic acid, the major polyunsaturated fatty acid in sunflower, and safflower cooking oils, as well as the major polyunsaturated fatty acid in human plasma, into another compound called a lipid hydroperoxide. When certain metal ions are present to act as catalysts, the lipid hydroperoxides degrade further, into DNA damaging agents called genetoxins. These compounds react with DNA, switching one base for another in mutations that have been found in human tumours. Scientists, including Blair and his colleagues, have suspected that vitamin C might also be capable of making lipid hydroperoxides degrade into genotoxins, in place of the transition metal ions. To investigate, the Science authors added vitamin C to solutions of lipid hydroperoxides in the lab. They used concentrations comparable to those found in the human body, assuming a person would take 200 milligrams a day. The vitamin was more than twice as efficient as transition metal ions at inducing the formation of genotoxins, including a particularly potent variety. The researchers next step is to see whether vitamin C produces significant amounts of genotoxins in intact cells, and whether they generate cancer-causing mutations. The study explains why vitamin C has thus far show little effectiveness in preventing cancer in clinical trials. 1. Which of the following simplifies the logic of taking vitamin supplements?A. If A and B are useful for C and D; C and D are also useful for A and B.B. If A contains B and C contains A, then B contains A.C. If A contains B and A is useful for C, then B is useful for C.D. If A is not useful for B, then B cannot prevent A.E. If A is used for C, and B is used for C, then B is used for A. 2. Which of the following can be inferred from te passage about the carcinogenic properties of vitamin C?A. Evidence shows that vitamin C can damage DNA in normal cells and bring in cancer causing changes.B. The clinical studies conducted confused cause with effect; vitamin C is only a catalyst in tumor formation.C. The studies so far are misleading because their findings disprove commonly accepted hypotheses.D. Vitamin C taken as supplements are more damaging than taken in the natural form.E. There is some evidence to prove it, but our understanding of the harmful effects of vitamin C is incomplete. 3. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage as a measure to prevent cancer?A. Regular intake of supplements containing vitamin C.B. A planned diet that is completely devoid of polyunsaturated and lipid hydro peroxides. C. Regular intake of vitamin C-rich fruits such as citrus fruits and lemons.D. A balanced diet that is rich in fruits, vegetables, and pulses. E. 200 milligrams of vitamin C supplement per day. 4. Which of the following is a finding of the study described in the passage?A. Genotoxins are catalysts that prevent the repair of damaged cells in the human body.B. Vitamin C is not very effective in preventing cancer.C. Vitamin C doesnt have antioxidant properties when taken as supplement.D. In normal cells mutation caused by DNA damaging compounds is rare.E. Vitamin C does not act as catalyst in degrading hydro peroxides into genotoxins. 1-C2-E 3-D 4-B      

PASSAGE: I head for a tried and tested book that I know will serve to yank me out of whatever state I find myself in. Which is how I came to The Outsider by Albert Campus (in the most recent translation by Joseph Laredo) for the umpteenth time. If you think you are wrung out and pissed off with life in general, the state of mind of young Meusault is guaranteed to set you right in a jiffy. From the opening scene where the bored and nihilistic youth boards a bus to attend his mothers funeral (where he does not cry, thereby damning him in the eyes of everyone present) to the final paragraphs in the book, where he lies exhausted in his cell, trying to summon up images of his own execution, The Outsider continues to be one of the greatest psychological inquiries into the kind of a man unable to comprehend the demands life makes on him. Looked at another way, Meusault typifies the uncompromising individual determined to live life on his own terms a man who in so doing upsets everyone around him as cold, heartless and unfit for decent human society. About a decade after The Outsider was published, Camus was asked about Meursault who continued to puzzle and vex readers and critics. The writer had this to say in response: A long time ago, I summed up The Outsider in a sentence which I realize is extremely paradoxical: In our society any man who doesnt cry at his mothers funeral is liable to be condemned to death. I simply meant that the hero of the book is condemned because he does not play the game. In this sense, he is an outsider to the society in which he lives, wandering on the fringe, on the outskirts of life, solitary and sensual. And for that reason, some readers have been tempted to regard him as a reject. But to get a more accurate picture of his character, or rather one which conforms more closely to his authors intentions, you must ask yourself in what way Meursault doesnt play the game. The answer is simple: he refuses to lie. Lying is not only saying what isnt true. It is also, in fact especially, saying more than one feels. We all do it, every day, to make life simpler. But contrary to appearances, Meursault doesnt want to make life simpler. He says what he is, he refuses to hide his feelings and society immediately feels threatened. For example, he is asked to say that he regrets his crime. In time-honoured fashion, he replies that he feels more annoyance about it than true regret. And it is this nuance that condemns him. In his passion to be true to himself, Meursault offends and wounds people both figuratively and literally, of course. But the author refuses to apologise for the character he has created. In his view, Meursault is not a reject, but a poor and naked man, in love with a sun which leaves no shadows. Far from lacking all sensibility, he is driven by a tenacious and therefore profound passion, the passion for an absolute and for truth. This truth is as yet a negative one, a truth born of living and feeling, but without which no triumph over the self or over the world will ever be possible. For nearly 60 years now The Outsider has been the existentialist novel against which all others have been measured. Its a tribute enough to its greatness that it has lasted so long, and to thousands of new readers everywhere, it is as fresh and as compelling as when it was first written. For me, time and again, it has proved to be a great pick-me-up. After a few hours in Meursaults company ones own dispiritedness pales into utter insignificance. 1. Camus comment on his novel, In our society any man who doesnt cry at his mothers funeral is liable to be condemned to death, is considered a paradox by the author himself. The paradox is thatA. the protagonist of the novel, Meursault is an impassive being who neither feels happy nor remorseful.B. the protagonist refuses to hide his feelings and expresses his true feelings, negative or positive.C. the protagonist of the novel The Outsider is a reject, an antisocial being.D. the protagonist of the novel is tenacious and iconoclastic and doesnt heed to the true feelings of other.E. the author didnt create the character of his novel as a personification of his own ideals. 2. Which of the following summarizes the analysts view of The Outsider?A. The translated version of The Outsider doesnt have the character and flavour of the original.B. It is an endeavour to probe into the state of mind of a man who is overwhelmed by the pleasures life offers him.C. The novel is an inquiry into the hypocritical beliefs of ordinary people, depicted through its protagonist Meursault.D. The novel is a standard against which other works of similar nature are measured.E. The novel is an attempt to understand the social psyche of a community that is decadent and moribund. 3. Which of the following words used in the passage best explains the significance of The Outsider?A. Compelling and fresh. B. Nihilistic and uncompromising.C. Demanding and paradoxical. D. Simple and dogmatic.E. Dispirited and triumphant. 4. Which of the following is not true of the critics interpretation of Camus? A. Camus doesnt express his intentions through the protagonist of his novel.B. Meursault could easily be comprehended by readers as a social reject.C. Camus character Meursault can easily degenerate into the hypocrisy of present day prudishness.D. An ordinary reader would find it difficult to interpret the character Meursault.E. Camus novels are read once and forgotten as it fails to create the magic usually seen in existentialistic writings.             Ans.1-b 2-d 3-a 4-c

PASSAGE To discover the relation between rules, paradigms, and normal science, consider first how the historian isolates the particular loci of commitment that have been described as accepted rules. Close historical investigation of a given specialty at a given time discloses a set of recurrent and quasi-standard illustrations of various theories in their conceptual, observational, and instrumental applications. These are the community’s paradigms, revealed in its textbooks, lectures, and laboratory exercises. By studying them and by practicing with them, the members of the corresponding community learn their trade. The historian, of course, will discover in addition a penumbral area occupied by achievements whose status is still in doubt, but the core of solved problems and techniques will usually be clear. Despite occasional ambiguities, the paradigms of a mature scientific community can be determined with relative ease. That demands a second step and one of a somewhat different kind. When undertaking it, the historian must compare the community’s paradigms with each other and with its current research reports. In doing so, his object is to discover what isolable elements, explicit or implicit, the members of that community may have abstracted from their more global paradigms and deploy it as rules in their research. Anyone who has attempted to describe or analyze the evolution of a particular scientific tradition will necessarily have sought accepted principles and rules of this sort. Almost certainly, he will have met with at least partial success. But, if his experience has been at all like my own, he will have found the search for rules both more difficult and less satisfying than the search for paradigms. Some of the generalizations he employs to describe the community’s shared beliefs will present more problems. Others, however, will seem a shade too strong. Phrased in just that way, or in any other way he can imagine, they would almost certainly have been rejected by some members of the group he studies. Nevertheless, if the coherence of the research tradition is to be understood in terms of rules, some specification of common ground in the corresponding area is needed. As a result, the search for a body of rules competent to constitute a given normal research tradition becomes a source of continual and deep frustration. Recognizing that frustration, however, makes it possible to diagnose its source. Scientists can agree that a Newton, Lavoisier, Maxwell, or Einstein has produced an apparently permanent solution to a group of outstanding problems and still disagree, sometimes without being aware of it, about the particular abstract characteristics that make those solutions permanent. They can, that is, agree in their identification of a paradigm without agreeing on, or even attempting to produce, a full interpretation or rationalization of it. Lack of a standard interpretation or of an agreed reduction to rules will not prevent a paradigm from guiding research. Normal science can be determined in part by the direct inspection of paradigms, a process that is often aided by but does not depend upon the formulation of rules and assumption. Indeed, the existence of a paradigm need not even imply that any full set of rules exists. Q.What is the author attempting to illustrate through this passage? A) Relationships between rules, paradigms, and normal science. B) How a historian would isolate a particular ‘loci of commitment’. C) How a set of shared beliefs evolve in to a paradigm. D) Ways of understanding a scientific tradition.       Ans. D  

PASSAGE A sensible and fair approach would be to let the high-end tax cuts expire as scheduled, but keep the other tax cuts for another year. That would keep more cash in the hands of people most likely to spend it and prop up consumer demand while the economy is weak. It would give Congress and the administration time to undertake tax reform. Most Congressional Republicans are willing to embrace reform, but only if it is revenue neutral. There is no question that the system is overly complicated; it is also riddled with hugely costly special deals for special interests. Any reform must streamline the code, make it fairer and most important raise more revenue. Each year, the government provides $1 trillion in tax breaks. Some of the largest breaks for itemized deductions and retirement savings should be retained because they subsidize important goals, like home ownership and old-age security. Right now, wealthier taxpayers get the greatest benefit. The process needs to be reformed so that most of the help flows to those who most need it: low- and middle-income taxpayers. At the same time, super-low tax rates for investment income should be ended. Capital gains are taxed at a top rate of 15 percent, compared with a top rate for wages and salary of 35 percent. Proponents argue that the lower rate is an incentive to invest, but research shows that it also encourages gaming of the system. Tax breaks that have outlived their purpose must be ended, starting with subsidies for the oil industry, which is making billions in profits. The revenue from such reforms could be used to pay down the deficit and allow all tax rates to be lowered, improving incentives to work. The amount of revenue raised and the drop in tax rates will depend on how much tax breaks are curbed. Congress should consider raising revenues in other ways, like a value-added tax, or carbon taxes. That way all of the needed revenue for deficit reduction, and for what government provides, does not need to be squeezed from the income tax. A value-added tax is conducive to saving, and a carbon tax helps protect the environment. The public is open to new taxes, and the economic facts are clear. Until tax increases are considered in equal measure to spending cuts, there will be no budget fix. Q.1 What is the tone of the passage? A) Placatory B) Advisory C) Premonitory D) Critical Q.2 Which of the following can be inferred from the passage? A) The current tax structure does not give the greatest benefit to low- and middle-income taxpayers. B) The current tax structure aims to give the greatest benefit to low- and middle-income taxpayers. C) Tax breaks give the greatest benefit to wealthier taxpayers. D) The current tax structure does not give the greatest benefit to wealthier taxpayers. Q.3 Which of the following can be inferred from the last sentence of the passage? A) Tax increase will give Congress and the administration time to undertake tax reforms. B) The economy can be strengthened if more importance is given to tax increases. C) The economy can be strengthened if less importance is given to spending cuts. D) The economy can be strengthened with equal importance given to tax increases and spending cuts.         1) B2) A3) D

PASSAGE While many points are worth making in an evaluation of the single six-year presidential term, one of the most telling points against the single term has not been advanced. This kind of constitutional limitation on elections is generally a product of systems with weak or non-existent political parties. Since there is no party continuity or corporate party integrity in such systems, there is no basis for putting trust in the desire for re-election as a safeguard against mismanagement in the executive branch. Better under those conditions to operate on the basis of negative assumptions against incumbents. I do not know if the earliest proposal for a single, non repeatable term was made in the 1820s because that was a period of severely weak political parties. But I do feel confident that this is a major reason, if not the only reason, that such a proposal has been popular since the 1940s. Though the association of the non-repeatable election with weak political parties is not in itself an argument against the limitation, the fallout from this association does contribute significantly to the negative argument. Single-term limitations are strongly associated with corruption. In any weak party system, including the presidential system, the onus of making deals and compromises, both shady and honourable, rests heavily upon individual candidates. Without some semblance of corporate integrity in a party, individual candidates have few opportunities to amortize their obligations across the spectrum of elective and appointive jobs and policy proposals. The deals tend to be personalized and the payoffs come home to roost accordingly. If that situation is already endemic in conditions of weak or non-existent parties, adding to it the limitation against re-election means that candidates and officials, already prevented from amortizing their deals across space, are also unable to amortize their obligations temporally. This makes for a highly beleaguered situation. The single six-year term for presidents is an effort to compensate for the absence of a viable party system, but it is a compensation ultimately paid for by further weakening the party system itself. Observers, especially foreign observers, have often noted that one source of weakness in American political parties is the certainty of election every two or four years, not only because any artificial limitation on elections is a violation of democratic principles but also because when elections are set in a certain and unchangeable cycle, political parties do not have to remain alert but can disappear into inactivity until a known point prior to the next election. To rigidify matters by going beyond the determinacy of the electoral cycle to add an absolute rule of one term would hang still another millstone around the neck of already doddering political parties. Q.1 Suppose that America adopted a single-term political system. Considering the foreign observers mentioned in the passage. how would they be expected to respond to such a development? A) They would endorse it because it further strengthens American democracy. B) They would condemn it because it further limits American democracy. C) They would neither endorse nor condemn it. D) They would condemn it because it gives the President too much power. Q.2 According to the passage, which of the following is most likely to be true of a political system with weak political parties? A) Politicians appoint unqualified people to important posts. B) Political parties favour frequent elections. C) Political bargains are made by individual candidates. D) Elections tend to occur with very great frequency. Q.3 Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the authors claim about single-term political systems? A) The discovery that foreign observers like this system B) The discovery that most politicians are honest C) The discovery that Americans dislike this system D) The discovery that parliamentary systems are more democratic     1) B2) C3) B

PASSAGE Throughout human history the leading causes of death have been infection and trauma. Modem medicine has scored significant victories against both, and the major causes of ill health and death are now the chronic degenerative diseases, such as coronary artery disease, arthritis, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s, macular degeneration, cataract and cancer. These have a long latency period before symptoms appear and a diagnosis is made. It follows that the majority of apparently healthy people are pre-ill. But are these conditions inevitably degenerative? A truly preventive medicine that focused on the pre-ill, analysing the metabolic errors which lead to clinical illness, might be able to correct them before the first symptom. Genetic risk factors are known for all the chronic degenerative diseases, and are important to the individuals who possess them. At the population level, however, migration studies confirm that these illnesses are linked for the most part to lifestyle factors exercise, smoking and nutrition. Nutrition is the easiest of these to change, and the most versatile tool for affecting the metabolic changes needed to tilt the balance away from disease. Many national surveys reveal that malnutrition is common in developed countries. This is not the calorie and/or micronutrient deficiency associated with developing nations (Type A malnutrition); but multiple micronutrient depletion, usually combined with calorific balance or excess (Type B malnutrition). The incidence and severity of Type B malnutrition will be shown to be worse if newer micronutrient groups such as the essential fatty acids, xanthophylls and flavonoids are included in the surveys. Commonly ingested levels of these micronutrients seem to be far too low in many developed countries. There is now considerable evidence that Type B malnutrition is a major cause of chronic degenerative diseases. If this is the case, then it is logical to treat such diseases not with drugs but with multiple micronutrient repletion, or pharmaco-nutrition. This can take the form of pills and capsules nutraceuticals, or food formats known as functional foods, This approach has been neglected hitherto because it is relatively unprofitable for drug companies the products are hard to patent and it is a strategy which does not sit easily with modem medical interventionism. Over the last 100 years, the drug industry has invested huge sums in developing a range of subtle and powerful drugs to treat the many diseases we are subject to. Medical training is couched in pharmaceutical terms and this approach has provided us with an exceptional range of therapeutic tools in the treatment of disease and in acute medical emergencies. However, the pharmaceutical model has also created an unhealthy dependency culture, in which relatively few of us accept responsibility for maintaining our own health. Instead, we have handed over this responsibility to health professionals who know very little about health maintenance, or disease prevention. One problem for supporters of this argument is lack of the right kind of hard evidence. We have a wealth of epidemiological data linking dietary factors to health profiles / disease risks, and a great deal of information on mechanism: how food factors interact with our biochemistry. But almost all intervention studies with micronutrients, with the notable exception of the omega 3 fatty acids, have so far produced conflicting or negative results. In other words, our science appears to have no predictive value. Does this invalidate the science? Or are we simply asking the wrong questions? Based on pharmaceutical thinking, most intervention studies have attempted to measure the impact of a single micronutrient on the incidence of disease. The classical approach says that if you give a compound formula to test subjects and obtain positive results, you cannot know which ingredient is exerting the benefit, so you must test each ingredient individually. But in the field of nutrition, this does not work. Each intervention on its own will hardly make enough difference to be measured. The best therapeutic response must therefore combine micronutrients to normalise our internal physiology. So do we need to analyse each individual’s nutritional status and then tailor a formula specifically for him or her? While we do not have the resources to analyse millions of individual cases, there is no need to do so. The vast majority of people are consuming suboptimal amounts of most micronutrients, and most of the micronutrients concerned are very safe. Accordingly, a comprehensive and universal program of micronutrient support is probably the most cost-effective and safest way of improving the general health of the nation.Q.1 Why are a large number of apparently healthy people deemed pre-ill? A) They may have chronic degenerative diseases. B) They do not know their own genetic risk factors which predispose them to diseases. C) They suffer from Type-B malnutrition. D) There is a lengthy latency period associated with chronically degenerative diseases Q.2 Type-B malnutrition is a serious concern in developed countries because A) developing countries mainly suffer from Type-A malnutrition. B) it is a major contributor to illness and death. C) pharmaceutical companies are not producing drugs to treat this-condition. D) national surveys on malnutrition do not include newer micronutrient groups. Q.3 Tailoring micronutrient-based treatment plans to suit individual deficiency profiles is not necessary because A) it very likely to give inconsistent or negative results. B) it is a classic pharmaceutical approach not suited to micronutrients. C) most people are consuming suboptimal amounts of safe-to-consume micronutrients. D) it is not cost effective to do so. Q.4 The author recommends micronutrient-repletion for large-scale treatment of chronic degenerative diseases because A) it is relatively easy to manage. B) micronutrient deficiency is the cause of these diseases. C) it can overcome genetic risk factors. D) it can compensate for other lifestyle fa   1) D2) B3) D4) A

PASSAGE Three judgments by the Supreme Court in the month of July mark a sharp departure from pedantic legalism and point to the possibilities of a transformative constitutionalism that sustains and elaborates the idea of constitutional morality developed in the Naz Foundation judgment of the Delhi High Court in 2009. The three cases are also very different pieces that speak to different realities in similar fashion: Ram Jethmalani v Union of India (SIT); Nandini Sundar and Others v State of Chhattisgarh (SJ); and Delhi Jal Board v National Campaign for Dignity and Rights of Sewerage and Allied Workers (DJB). It might be argued, and rightly too, that radical jurisprudence by the Supreme Court is not a recent phenomenon – it has an older history rooted in struggles for civil and political rights. While that is the genealogy of this jurisprudence, we need yet to celebrate each signpost in the development of deliberative jurisprudence that responds not merely to the manifestations of a case, narrowly construed, but sees the larger socio-political context as an inextricable part of the bare facts, so to speak. The guarantee of public goods – security, infrastructure for governance, law making and enforcement, provision of material and cultural goods especially for classes that lack the power, privilege and status to secure these for themselves – is state obligation. Neither markets (which cater to self-centered activities of individuals and groups) nor purely private social action can be expected to stand in for the state and provide public goods. Central to the delineation of the problem in these cases is the opening out of the idea of constitutionalism to include a broader idea of justice that enables the mapping of injustice in all its complexity. Tracing the link between the existence of perennial channels for unaccounted monies abroad and the erosion of developmental goals of the state, the Supreme Court contextualizes the need to reign in cash flows and ensure total accountability with reference to the structure of a neo-liberal economy. Gunnar Myrdal’s caution about the dangers of a “soft state” that spawns the “unholy nexus between the law maker, the law keeper, and the law breaker” is immediately relevant. “Carried away by the ideology of neo-liberalism, it is entirely possible that the agents of the State entrusted with the task of supervising the economic and social activities may err more on the side of extreme caution, whereby signals of wrongdoing may be ignored even when they are strong. Instances of the powers that be ignoring publicly visible stock market scams, or turning a blind eye to large-scale illegal mining have become all too familiar, and may be readily cited.” The framework of justice by this token stretches illimitably beyond the narrow confines of constitutional law and decided cases to the letter and spirit of the constitution. “Modern constitutionalism posits that no wielder of power should be allowed to claim the right to perpetrate state’s violence against anyone, much less its own citizens, unchecked by law, and notions of innate human dignity of every individual.” Q.1 Which of the following options correctly sums up the areas that the author seeks to cover through the passage? A) Jurisprudence, Justice and the Constitution B) Jurisprudence, Neo-liberalism and Politics C) Society, Politics and Jurisprudence D) The Constitution, Jurisprudence and Enforcement of justice Q.2 “Central to the delineation of the problem in these cases is the opening out of the idea of constitutionalism to include a broader idea of justice that enables the mapping of injustice in all its complexity.” Which of the following statements would correctly paraphrase the above line? A) The main way to define the problem is to merge the understanding of constitutionalism and justice so that all aspects of injustice are covered. B) The essential way to define the problem is to include the understanding of constitutionalism and justice with all aspects of injustice. C) The crucial aspect of defining the problem is to broaden the understanding of constitutionalism and hence justice to include aspects of injustice. D) The crucial aspect of defining the problem is to widen the understanding of constitutionalism and hence justice so that all complexities of injustice are covered. Q.3 How does the author develop the central idea? A) By making a reference to three cases which form the core of the discussion. B) By making a reference to the Naz foundation judgment which forms the base for the core of the discussion. C) By making a reference to recent judicial developments and referring to the lineage of jurisprudence that includes the socio-political context. D) By making a reference to recent judicial developments and referring to the lineage of jurisprudence in the context of neo-liberalism. Q.4 It can be inferred that the tone of the author in the third paragraph is A) critical B) forgiving C) objective D) disparaging       1) A2) D3) C4) C    

PASSAGE It is now forty years and something more since I surveyed the scene in the economically advanced countries, especially the United States, and wrote The Affluent Society. The book had a satisfying reception, and Im here asked as to its latter-day relevance. That should not be asked of any author, but the mistake having been made, I happily respond. The central argument in the book was that in the economically advanced countries, and especially in the United States, there has been a highly uneven rate of social development. Privately produced goods and services for use and consumption are abundantly available. So available are they, indeed, that a large and talented expenditure on advertising and salesmanship is needed to persuade people to want what is produced. Consumer sovereignty, once governed by the need for food and shelter, is now the highly contrived consumption of an infinite variety of goods and services. That, however, is in what has come to be called the private sector. There is no such abundance in the services available from the state. Social services, health care, education especially education public housing for the needful, even food, along with action to protect life and the environment, are all in short supply. Damage to the environment is the most visible result of this abundant production of goods and services. In a passage that was much quoted,I told of the family that took its modern, highly styled, tail-finned automobile out for a holiday. They went through streets and countryside made hideous by commercial activity and commercial art. They spent their night in a public park replete with refuse and disorder and dined on delicately packaged food from an expensive portable refrigerator. All this, were I writing now, I would still emphasize. I would especially stress the continuing unhappy position of the poor. This, if anything, is more evident than it was forty years ago. Then in the United States it was the problem of southern plantation agriculture and the hills and hollows of the rural Appalachian Plateau. Now it is the highly visible problem of the great metropolis. There is another contrast. Were I writing now, I would give emphasis to the depressing difference in well-being as between the affluent world and the less fortunate countries mainly the post-colonial world. The rich countries have their rich and poor. The world has its rich and poor nations. There has been a developing concern with these problems; alas, the progress has not kept pace with the rhetoric. The problem is not economics; it goes back to a far deeper part of human nature. As people become fortunate in their personal well-being, and as countries become similarly fortunate, there is a common tendency to ignore the poor. Or to develop some rationalization for the good fortune of the fortunate. This is not, of course, the full story. After World War II decolonization, a greatly civilized and admirable step, nonetheless left a number of countries without effective self-government. Nothing is so important for economic development and the human condition as stable, reliable, competent and honest government. Here Im not suggesting an independent role for any one country and certainly not for the United States. I do believe we need a much stronger role for international action, including, needless to say, the United Nations. We need to have a much larger sense of common responsibility. So I take leave of my work of forty years ago.. There remains always the possibility, even the probability, that books do more for the self-esteem of the author than for the fate of the world. Q.1 What is the author attempting to illustrate through this passage? A) The fact that books like The Affluent Society, end up promoting the cause of the author more than finding real solutions to the issues they deal with. B) The disparity in the development of utilities and services between the private sector and the state sector in the United States. C) The trend of bipolar disparities in economic endowments observed by him from the time of the first publication of The Affluent Society. D) That human nature and not economic factors are responsible for the gap between the rich and the poor. Q.2 The author is likely to agree with which of the following? A) Contrived consumption in todays world leads to unfair competitive practices among sellers of private goods. B) The environmental impact of consumer sovereignty is best addressed by bodies like the United Nations rather than by individual countries in the developing world. C) The family (quoted in the passage) which went for a holiday liked commercial art because commercial art is one of the features of the affluent society. D) A disregard for the public good is one of the hallmarks of the affluent society. Q.3 Which of the following terms corresponds best to the definition of consumer sovereignty? A) Buyers market B) Consumerist culture C) Consumer Goods D) Perfect competition among seller         1) C2) D3) B

PASSAGE Recent years have brought minority-owned businesses in the United States unprecedented opportunities-as well as new and significant risks. Civil rights activists have long argued that one of the principal reasons why Blacks, Hispanics, and other minority groups have difficulty establishing themselves in business is that they lack access to the sizable orders and subcontracts that are generated by large companies. Now Congress, in apparent agreement, has required by law that businesses awarded federal contracts of more than $500,000 do their best to find minority subcontractors and record their efforts to do so on forms filed with the government. Indeed, some federal and local agencies have gone so far as to set specific percentage goals for apportioning parts of public works contracts to minority enterprises. Corporate response appears to have been substantial. According to figures collected in 1977, the total of corporate contracts with minority businesses rose from $77 million in 1972 to $1.1 billion in 1977. The projected total of corporate contracts with minority businesses for the early 1980’s is estimated to be over 53 billion per year with no letup anticipated in the next decade. Promising as it is for minority businesses, this increased patronage poses dangers for them, too. First, minority firms risk expanding too fast and overextending themselves financially, since most are small concerns and, unlike large businesses, they often need to make substantial investments in new plants, staff, equipment, and the like in order to perform work subcontracted to them. If, thereafter, their subcontracts are for some reason reduced, such firms can face potentially crippling fixed expenses. The world of corporate purchasing can be frustrating for small entrepreneurs who get requests for elaborate formal estimates and bids. Both consume valuable time and resources, and a small company’s efforts must soon result in orders, or both the morale and the financial health of the business will suffer. A second risk is that White-owned companies may seek to cash in on the increasing apportionments through formation of joint ventures with minority-owned concerns. Of course, in many instances there are legitimate reasons for joint ventures; clearly, White and minority enterprises can team up to acquire business that neither could acquire alone. But civil rights groups and minority business owners have complained to Congress about minorities being set up as “fronts” with White backing, rather than being accepted as full partners in legitimate joint ventures. Third, a minority enterprise that secures the business of one large corporate customer often runs the danger of becoming-and remaining-dependent. Even in the best of circumstances, fierce competition from larger, more established companies makes it difficult for small concerns to broaden their customer bases: when such firms have nearly guaranteed orders from a single corporate benefactor, they may truly have to struggle against complacency arising from their current success. Q.1 The primary purpose of the passage is to A) present a commonplace idea and its inaccuracies B) describe a situation and its potential drawbacks C) propose a temporary solution to a problem D) analyze a frequent source of disagreement Q.2 The passage supplies information that would answer which of the following questions? A) What federal agencies have set percentage goals for the use of minority-owned businesses in public works contracts? B) To which government agencies must businesses awarded federal contracts report their efforts to find minority subcontractors? C) How widespread is the use of minority-owned concerns as “fronts” by White backers seeking to obtain subcontracts? D) What is one set of conditions under which a small business might find itself financially overextended? Q.3 According to the passage, civil rights activists maintain that one disadvantage under which minority-owned businesses have traditionally had to labor is that they have A) been especially vulnerable to governmental mismanagement of the economy B) been denied bank loans at rates comparable to those afforded larger competitors C) not had sufficient opportunity to secure business created by large corporations D) not been able to advertise in those media that reach large numbers of potential customers Q.4 The passage suggests that the failure of a large business to have its bids for subcontracts result quickly in orders might cause it to A) experience frustration but not serious financial harm B) face potentially crippling fixed expenses C) have to record its efforts on forms filed with the government D) increase its spending with minority subcontractors Q.5 The author implies that a minority-owned concern that does the greater part of its business with one large corporate customer should A) avoid competition with larger, more established concerns by not expanding B) concentrate on securing even more business from that corporation C) try to expand its customer base to avoid becoming dependent on the corporation D) pass on some of the work to be done for the corporation to other minority-owned concerns Q.6 It can be inferred from the passage that, compared with the requirements of law, the percentage goals set by “some federal and local agencies” (lines 14-15) are A) more popular with large corporations B) more specific C) less controversial D) less expensive to enforce     1) B2) D3) C4) A5) C6) B