UPSC (Prelims) 2021 English & Comprehension Questions

Passage – 3

The resolution of bankruptcy cases of Indian banks under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code should help bring non-performing assets (NPA) situation under some control. Despite the slow pace of resolutions by the National Company Law Tribunal, the Code can be helpful in cleaning up bank books in future credit cycles. The recapitalisation of public sector banks too can help increase the capital cushion of banks and induce them to lend more and boost economic activity. But bad debt resolution and recapitalisation are only a part of the solution as they, by themselves, can do very little to rein in reckless lending that has pushed the Indian banking system to its current sorry state. Unless there are systemic reforms that address the problem of unsustainable lending, future credit cycles will continue to stress the banking system.

Which one of the following statements best reflects the most logical, rational and practical suggestion implied by the passage given above?

(a) Lending by the banks should be closely monitored and regulated by the Central Government.
(b) Interest rates should be kept low so as to induce banks to lend more, promote credit growth and thereby boost economic activity.
(c) Merger of many banks into a few large banks alone is the long-term solution to make them viable and prevent their bad performance.
(d) Indian banking system requires structural reforms as a long-term solution for bad loans problem.

Passage 3 (Food prices and emerging economies set):
Policy makers and media have placed the blame for skyrocketing food prices on a variety of factors, including high fuel prices, bad weather in key food producing countries, and the diversion of land to non-food production. Increased emphasis, however, has been placed on a surge in demand for food from the most populous emerging economies. It seems highly probable that mass consumption in these countries could be well poised to create a food crisis.

With reference to the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:

1. Oil producing countries are one of the reasons for high food prices.
2. If there is a food crisis in the world in the near future, it will be in the emerging economies.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

Passage 1 (Agroecology set):
Fig trees (genus Ficus) are considered sacred in India, East Asia and Africa and are common in agricultural and urban landscapes where other large trees are absent. In natural forests, fig trees provide food for wildlife when other resources are scarce and support a high density and diversity of frugivores (fruit-eating animals). If frugivorous birds and bats continue to visit fig trees located in sites with high human disturbance, sacred fig trees may promote frugivore abundance. Under favourable microclimate, plenty of seedlings of other tree species would grow around fig trees.

On the basis of the passage given above, the following assumptions have been made:

1. Fig trees can often be keystone species in natural forests.
2. Fig trees can grow where other large woody species cannot grow.
3. Sacred trees can have a role in biodiversity conservation.
4. Fig trees have a role in the seed dispersal of other tree species.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

Passage – 1

Nothing can exist in a natural state which can be called good or bad by common assent, since every man who is in a natural state consults only his own advantage, and determines what is good or bad according to his own fancy and insofar as he has regard for his own advantage alone, and holds himself responsible to no one save himself by any law; and therefore sin cannot be conceived in a natural state, but only in a civil state, which is decreed by common consent what is good or bad, and each one holds himself responsible to the state.

Which one of the following statements best reflects the central idea of the passage given above?

(a) The conceptions of what is right or wrong exist due to the formation of a state.
(b) Unless a ruling authority decides as to what is right or wrong, no man would be morally right.
(c) Man is inherently immoral and selfish in a natural state.
(d) The idea of what is right or wrong is necessary for the survival of human species.

Passage 1 (Religion and unity set):
With respect to what are called denominations of religion, if everyone is left to be a judge of his own religion, there is no such thing as religion that is wrong; but if they are to be a judge of each other's religion, there is no such thing as a religion that is right, and therefore all the world is wrong in the matter of religion.

What is the most logical assumption that can be made from the passage given above?

Passage 1 (India energy policy set):
India faces a challenging immediate future in energy and climate policy-making. The problems are multiple: sputtering fossil fuel production capabilities; limited access to electricity and modern cooking fuel for the poorest; rising fuel imports in an unstable global energy context; continued electricity pricing and governance challenges leading to its costly deficits or surplus supply; and not least, growing environmental contestation around land, water and air. But all is not bleak: growing energy efficiency programmes; integrated urbanisation and transport policy discussions; inroads to enhancing energy access and security; and bold renewable energy initiatives, even if not fully conceptualised, suggest the promise of transformation.

Which one of the following statements best reflects the critical message conveyed by the passage given above?

Passage – 4

In India, the objective of macroeconomic policy is to enhance the economic welfare of the people, and any one wing of such macro policy, monetary or fiscal, cannot independently work without active support of another.

Which one of the following statements best reflects the corollary to the passage given above?

(a) The central bank cannot work independently of the Government.
(b) Government should regulate financial markets and institutions closely.
(c) Market economy is not compatible with the socialist policies of the Government.
(d) Financial sector reforms are required for enhancing the economic welfare of the people.

Passage 2:
Approximately 80 percent of all flowering plant species are pollinated by animals, including birds and mammals, but the main pollinators are insects. Pollination is responsible for providing us with a wide variety of food, as well as many plant-derived medicines. At least one-third of the world's agricultural crops depend upon pollination. Bees are the most dominant taxa when it comes to pollination and they are crucial to more than four hundred crops. Pollination is an essential service that is the result of intricate relationships between plants and animals, and the reduction or loss of either affects the survival of both. Effective pollination requires resources, such as refuges of pristine natural vegetation.

On the basis of the passage given above, the following assumptions have been made:

1. Sustainable production of India's cereal food grains is impossible without the diversity of pollinating animals.
2. Monoculture of horticultural crops hampers the survival of insects.
3. Pollinators become scarce in cultivated areas devoid of natural vegetation.
4. Diversity in insects induces diversity of plants.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

Passage 4 (GDP and development set):
A central message of modern development economics is the importance of income growth, by which is meant growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In theory, rising GDP creates employment and investment opportunities. As incomes grow in a country where the level of GDP was once low, households, communities, and governments are increasingly able to set aside some funds for the production of things that make for a good life. Today GDP has assumed such a significant place in the development lexicon, that if someone mentions 'economic growth', we know they mean growth in GDP.

With reference to the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:

1. Rising GDP is essential for a country to be a developed country.
2. Rising GDP guarantees a reasonable distribution of income to all households.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

Passage 2 (Agroecology set):
At the heart of agroecology is the idea that agroecosystems should mimic the biodiversity levels and functioning of natural ecosystems. Such agricultural mimics, like their natural models, can be productive, pest-resistant, nutrient conserving, and resilient to shocks and stresses. In ecosystems there is no 'waste', nutrients are recycled indefinitely. Agroecology aims at closing nutrient loops, i.e., returning all nutrients that come out of the soil back to the soil such as through application of farmyard manure. It also harnesses natural processes to control pests and build soil fertility i.e., through intercropping. Agroecological practices include integrating trees with livestock and crops.

Consider the following:

1. Cover crops
2. Fertigation
3. Hydroponics
4. Mixed farming
5. Polyculture
6. Vertical farming

Which of the above farming practices can be compatible with agroecology, as implied by the passage?

Passage 4 (Democracy and tyranny — Plato set):
Aristocratic government ruins itself by limiting too narrowly the circle within which power is confined; oligarchic government ruins itself by the incautious scramble for immediate wealth. But even democracy ruins itself by excess of democracy. Its basic principle is the equal right of all to hold office and determine public policy. This is, at first glance, a delightful arrangement; it becomes disastrous because the people are not properly equipped by education to select the best rulers and the wisest courses. The people have no understanding and only repeat what their rulers are pleased to tell them. Such a democracy is tyranny or autocracy. — Plato

Which one of the following statements best reflects the crux of the passage given above?

Passage 2 (Sedition and good governance set):
It is certain, that seditions, wars, and contempt or breach of the laws are not so much to be imputed to the wickedness of the subjects, as to the bad state of a dominion. For men are not born fit for citizenship, but must be made so. Besides, men's natural passions are everywhere the same; and if wickedness more prevails, and more offences are committed in one commonwealth than in another, it is certain that the former has neither enough pursued the end of unity, nor framed its laws with sufficient forethought; and that, therefore, it has failed in making quite good its right as a commonwealth.

Which among the following is the most logical and rational inference that can be made from the passage given above?

Passage 4 (Hygiene and infectious disease set):
A social and physical environment riddled with poverty, inequities, unhygienic and insanitary conditions generates the risk of infectious diseases. Hygiene has different levels: personal, domestic and community hygiene. There is no doubt that personal cleanliness brings down the rate of infectious diseases. But the entry of the market into this domain has created a false sense of security that gets conditioned and reinforced by the onslaught of advertisements. Experience in Western Europe shows that along with personal hygiene, general improvements in environmental conditions and components like clean water, sanitation and food security have brought down infant/child death/infection rates considerably. The obsession with hand hygiene also brings in the persisting influence of the market on personal health, overriding or marginalising the negative impact on ecology and the emergence of resistant germs.

On the basis of the passage given above, the following assumptions have been made:

1. People who are obsessed with personal hygiene tend to ignore the community hygiene.
2. Emergence of multi-drug resistant germs can be prevented by personal cleanliness.
3. Entry of the market in the domain of hygiene increases the risk of infectious diseases.
4. Scientific and micro-level interventions are not sufficient to bring down the burden of infectious diseases.
5. It is community hygiene implemented through public health measures that is really effective in the battle against infectious diseases.

Which of the above assumptions are valid?

Passage – 2

In the immediate future, we will see the increasing commodification of many new technologies — artificial intelligence and robotics, 3D manufacturing, custom made biological and pharmaceutical products, lethal autonomous weapons and driverless cars. This will pose conundrums. The moral question of how a driverless car will decide between hitting a jaywalker and swerving and damaging the car has often been debated. The answer is both simple — save the human life — and complex. At which angle should the car swerve — just enough to save the jaywalker or more than enough? If the driverless car is in Dublin, who would take the decision? The Irish Government, or the car's original code writer in California, or a software programmer in Hyderabad to whom maintenance is outsourced? If different national jurisdictions have different fine print on prioritising a human life, how will it affect insurance and investment decisions, including transnational ones?

Which of the following statements best reflect the rational, plausible and practical implications that can be derived from the passage given above?

1. Too much globalization is not in the best interests of any country.
2. Modern technologies are increasingly blurring the economic borders.
3. Innovation and capital have impinged on the domain of the State.
4. Public policy of every country should focus on developing its own supply chains.
5. Geopolitics will have to reconcile to many ambiguities and uncertainties.

Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1, 4 and 5 only
(b) 1, 2, 3 and 4 only
(c) 2, 3 and 5 only
(d) 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5

Passage 4:
Researchers were able to use stem cells to gauge the neurotoxic effects of the environmental pollutant Bisphenol A (BPA). They used a combination of biochemical and cell-based assays to examine the gene expression profile during the differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells upon treatment with BPA, a compound known to cause heart diseases, diabetes, and developmental abnormalities in humans. They were able to detect and measure BPA toxicity towards the proper specification of primary germ layers, such as endoderm and ectoderm, and the establishment of neural progenitor cells.

On the basis of the passage given above, the following assumptions have been made:

1. BPA may alter embryonic development in vivo.
2. Biochemical and cell-based assays are useful in finding out treatments for pollution-induced diseases.
3. Embryonic stem cells could serve as a model to evaluate the physiological effects of environmental pollutants.

Which of the above assumptions are valid?

Passage 2 (Antibiotics in farming set):
There are reports that some of the antibiotics sold in the market are fed to poultry and other livestock as growth promoters. Overusing these substances can create superbugs, pathogens that are resistant to multiple drugs and could be passed along humans. Mindful of that, some farming companies have stopped using the drugs to make chickens gain weight faster. Since Denmark banned antibiotic growth promoters in the 1990s, the major pork exporter says it is producing more pigs — and the animals get fewer diseases.

Which one of the following statements best reflects the critical message conveyed by the passage given above?

Passage 1:
Researchers simulated street lighting on artificial grassland plots containing pea-aphids, sap-sucking insects, at night. These were exposed to two different types of light — a white light similar to newer commercial LED lights and an amber light similar to sodium street lamps. The low intensity amber light was shown to inhibit, rather than induce, flowering in a wild plant of the pea family which is a source of food for the pea-aphids in grasslands. The number of aphids was also significantly suppressed under the light treatment due to the limited amount of food available.

Which one of the following statements best reflects the most critical inference that can be made from the passage given above?

Passage 3:
A study conducted on the impacts of climate change over the Cauvery basin of Tamil Nadu using regional climate models showed an increasing trend for maximum and minimum temperatures, and a decrease in the number of rainy days. These climatic shifts will have an impact on the hydrological cycles in the region, lead to more run-off and less recharge, and affect the groundwater tables. Further, there has been an increase in the frequency of droughts in the State. This has driven farmers to increase dependency on groundwater resources to secure their crops.

Which one of the following statements best reflects the crux of the passage given above?

Passage 3 (Internet of Things set):
Computers increasingly deal not just with abstract data like credit card details and databases, but also with the real world of physical objects and vulnerable human bodies. A modern car is a computer on wheels; an aeroplane is a computer on wings. The arrival of the 'Internet of Things' will see computers baked into everything from road signs and MRI scanners to prosthetics and insulin pumps. There is little evidence that those gadgets will be any more trustworthy than their desktop counterparts. Hackers have already proved that they can take remote control of internet connected cars and pacemakers.

Which one of the following statements best reflects the most critical inference that can be made from the passage given above?

Passage 3 (Equality and democracy set):
Inequality violates a basic democratic norm: the equal standing of citizens. Equality is a relation that obtains between persons in respect of some fundamental characteristics that they share in common. Equality is, morally speaking, a default principle. Therefore, persons should not be discriminated on grounds such as race, caste, gender, ethnicity, disability, or class. These features of human condition are morally irrelevant. The idea that one should treat persons with respect not only because some of them possess some special features or talent, for example skilled cricketers, gifted musicians, or literary giants, but because persons are human beings, is by now part of commonsense morality.

With reference to the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:

1. Equality is a prerequisite for people to participate in the multiple transactions of society from a position of confidence.
2. Occurrence of inequality is detrimental to the survival of democracy.
3. Equal standing of all citizens is an idea that cannot actually be realised even in a democracy.
4. Right to equality should be incorporated into our values and day-to-day political vocabulary.

Which of the above assumptions are valid?