Musharraf sheds Uniform
1.International crude oil prices near $1 00 per barrel.
2.LTTE's Political Division Chief Thamilchelvan killed in an air attack
>>Floods affect 1 m. people in Mexico.
3.Pakistan President Musharrafclamps a state of emergency
>>Spacewalk by two astronauts from shuttle Discovery.
4.President Musharraf says judicial activism and extremism had demoralised Pakistan govemment, Benazir Bhutto says emergency rule will help extremists.
5.US asks Pakistan President Musharraf to return to the constitutional path
>>29 die in old age home fire in Russia
>>US and China agree to open a hotline between their Defence Ministries.
7.Seven killed in shooting in a school in southern Finland
>>63 killed in Sri Lanka fighting
>>Musherraf says elections in Pakistan will be held in February
>>France pledges support to US in stopping Iran from going nuclear.
9.Benazir Bhutto detained by Pakistan police.
11.UN official in Myanmar -Fierce storm in Black Sea Strait..
12.Danilo Turk is the new Siovenian President
>>Bangladesh joins Trans-Asian Railway network.
13.Benazir demands Musharraf step down
>>The Commonwealth sets a 10-day deadline for President Musharraf to lift the Emergency .
15.• Musharraf finalises caretaker government
>>Public sector strike paralyses France
>>Cyclone pounds Bangladesh's southwestern coast.
16.Muhammedmian Soomro sworn in caretaker Prime Minister of Pakistan
>>Spice Girls perform together once again,in Hollywood
>>Over 1000 die in Bangladesh super cyclone Sidr
>>IPCC meet at Valencia, Spain ends.
17.Bangladesh cyclone toll crosses 1 000, may reach 2300
>>Shia-Sunni clashes in Pakistan's tribal area bordering Afghanistan kill 45.
18.Fire in Saudi gas pipeline kills 28
>>Mine blast in Ukraine kills 33
>>Hashim Thad of Kosovo Democratic party wins a parliamentary election and threatens to declare independence
>>Roger Ferererwins his fourth Masters Cup in 5 years.
19.Khieu Samphan, former Khmer Rouge head of state, arrested
>>Imran Khan on hunger strike in prison.
20. Mike Tyson sentenced to 3 years probation and one day in jail for drug possession and driving under the influence of alcohol
>>ln an exhibition match in Seoul Roger Federer defeats Pete Sampras 6-4, 6- 3
>>France comes to a standstill as railway agitation enters the seventh day
>>ASEAN adopts a broad Charter .
21. Afghanistan to become 8th member of SAFT A from February 08
>>Crude oil price rises above $99 a barrel
>>Police lock the main gate of deposed Cj I.M. Chaudhry's house in Islamabad
>>Imran khan, released from prison .
23.Pakistan is suspended from Commonwealth
>>Queen opens CHOGM in Kampala .
24. Australia goes to the polls
>>Labour Jarty under Kevin Rudd comes to power in Australia
>>Twin suicide bombings kill 30 in Rawalpindi
>>Marlan Jones asked to return prize money.
25.Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif returns to Pakistan from Saudi Arabia after seven years of exile
>>Garry Kasparov sentenced to five days in jail for violating laws regulating public assembly
>>Nepal's Prachanda threatens to take up arms if monarchy is not abolished
>>The Hindu Rights Action Force stages rally in Kuala Lumpur, against alleged marginalisation of the ethnic Indian community in Malaysia.
26. President Musharr af to step down.
27.civilians killed in bombing 'Voice of tigers' building in Sri Lanka.
28. Pervez Musharraf presents the command baton to General Ashtaq Kayani, to
take oath as President on 29th•
29.Pervez Musharraf sworn in President of Pakistan for a new five-year term, emergency to go on Dee. 16
Sieqe of a hotel by renegade soldiers demanding the ouster of Philippine President Arroyo is followed by a curfew in Manila
*China's forex reserves, the world's largest, reach $1.455 trillion.
Education: A Chronological Chart
0 comments
1792 - Sanskrit College at Banaras
1800 - Fort Williams College at Kolkota
1817 January 20 - Raja Rammohan Royestablished the Hindu College, in Kolkota (re-named Presidency College in 1855)
1821 - Poona Sanskrit College
1824 - Sanskrit College at Kolkota
1826 - Governor of Madras established two schools in each collectorate and one school in each Tahsil
1834 - Basel Mission at Mangalore.
1835 February 02 - Macaulay's minute, in which he anticipated 'a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect.'
1835 - Calcutta Medical College, the first Medical College in India (also in Asia)
1844 - Lord Harding established 101 'vernacular' schools in Bengal
1847 _ Roorkee Engineering College, the first Engineering college in India
1854 - 'Wood's Despatch' - survey and suggestions for reforms; creation of Department of Public Instruction in each province.
1857 _ Establishment of universities at Kolkota, Mumbai, and Chennai(Calcutta,Bombay and Madras)
1882 _ Hunter Commission on education (responsibility of mass education shifted from Government to local boards! private sector; grant-in-aid system)
1882 - Punjab University
1887 - Allahabad University
1904 - Five Universities, 191 affiliated colleges, 23,000 students; 5498 secondary schools with 5. 61akhs students, 98, 538 primary schools with 331akhs students; special! industrial ! technical! art ! training schools.
1948 - Radhakrishnan Commission for university education - suggested 1 ° + 2 structure, three languages, scholarships & research.
1950 - Free and compulsory education enshrined as one of the Directive Principles of State Policy in the Constitution of the Indian Republic.
1951 - First Indian Institute of Technology (liT) established at Kharagpur
1952 - Mudaliar Commission on secondary education
1956 - University Grants Commission (UGq established by Act of Parliament
1961 - Dr. Sampurananand Committee on Emotional Integration
1964 - Kothari Commission on education at all stages.
1976 - Education changed from State list to Concurrent list in the Constitution.
1986 - New National Policy of Education
1988 -All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) with statutory status; National Literacy Mission launched
1993 - National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE)
2002 - Constitution amended to make free and compulsory education, a Fundamental Right
2004 - EDUSAT, a satellite dedicated to education, launched
2008 - Decision to set up eight new IITs.
1800 - Fort Williams College at Kolkota
1817 January 20 - Raja Rammohan Royestablished the Hindu College, in Kolkota (re-named Presidency College in 1855)
1821 - Poona Sanskrit College
1824 - Sanskrit College at Kolkota
1826 - Governor of Madras established two schools in each collectorate and one school in each Tahsil
1834 - Basel Mission at Mangalore.
1835 February 02 - Macaulay's minute, in which he anticipated 'a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect.'
1835 - Calcutta Medical College, the first Medical College in India (also in Asia)
1844 - Lord Harding established 101 'vernacular' schools in Bengal
1847 _ Roorkee Engineering College, the first Engineering college in India
1854 - 'Wood's Despatch' - survey and suggestions for reforms; creation of Department of Public Instruction in each province.
1857 _ Establishment of universities at Kolkota, Mumbai, and Chennai(Calcutta,Bombay and Madras)
1882 _ Hunter Commission on education (responsibility of mass education shifted from Government to local boards! private sector; grant-in-aid system)
1882 - Punjab University
1887 - Allahabad University
1904 - Five Universities, 191 affiliated colleges, 23,000 students; 5498 secondary schools with 5. 61akhs students, 98, 538 primary schools with 331akhs students; special! industrial ! technical! art ! training schools.
1948 - Radhakrishnan Commission for university education - suggested 1 ° + 2 structure, three languages, scholarships & research.
1950 - Free and compulsory education enshrined as one of the Directive Principles of State Policy in the Constitution of the Indian Republic.
1951 - First Indian Institute of Technology (liT) established at Kharagpur
1952 - Mudaliar Commission on secondary education
1956 - University Grants Commission (UGq established by Act of Parliament
1961 - Dr. Sampurananand Committee on Emotional Integration
1964 - Kothari Commission on education at all stages.
1976 - Education changed from State list to Concurrent list in the Constitution.
1986 - New National Policy of Education
1988 -All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) with statutory status; National Literacy Mission launched
1993 - National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE)
2002 - Constitution amended to make free and compulsory education, a Fundamental Right
2004 - EDUSAT, a satellite dedicated to education, launched
2008 - Decision to set up eight new IITs.
Medical Tourism in India
0 commentsRecently the New York Times newspaper ran a story about an American patient who was flown all the way to India to successfully undergo a heart procedure at a top notch private hospital in Bangalore. At the same time, the reporter noted, in that metropolitan vicinity in the latest 'hooch tragedy', more than a hundred migrant labourers lost their lives after drinking illicitly brewed liquor, a death toll whose numbers rose because many of their families could not reach or afford proper medical care in time that might otherwise have saved precious lives. This perceptive report brought to the reader's attention two seemingly anomalous features that nevertheless seem characteristic of recent developments in India.
The first is that of rampant and deeprooted poverty of the many (a persistently large number) amidst the presence of plenty of a few (though substantial and growing of late). Unequal access to (and often absence of) health care is the familiar variant, yet nonetheless more tragic because of it, of the iniquitous dualism that even after nearly six decades of 'development' still characterizes social and economic structures in India.
The second is the more novel phenomenon of citizens of the 'first world', rich and developed nations, choosing to undergo medical procedures or treatment in a 'third world' country such as India, albeit in multi-speciality hospitals. These well equipped hospitals with state of the art equipment, often staffed with doctors and nurses with substantial work experience acquired from working in hospitals abroad, boast and deliver medical care comparable or superior to what is available in most developed country hospitals at a fraction of the cost. These hospitals advertise and offer 'medical package tours' that not only include medical operations and procedures but also travel to and from the hospital, stay and recuperation at 'five star facilities' to attract the attention and custom of first world patients as well as well-heeled domestic ones. This phenomenon is commonly termed health or medical tourism.
As an aside on terminology, for our current purposes we shall treat health and medical tourism as similar though in its proper sense they may differ in the domain of activities that each encompasses. For instance medical tourism may sometimes be narrowly defined as involving only a subset of those activities limited to the medical procedural-pharmaceutical complex while health tourism may sometimes be more broadly understood to involve activities that include 'alternative' medical treatments, therapies, lifestyle and health resorts etc. The distinction is sometimes useful as when we focus on issues related to 'medical insurance' and the 'health care industry' and at other times less useful when we try to discern the larger social and economic impact of health or medical tourism.
Medical Tourism: Is it a new thing?
In one sense medical tourism is hardly a new phenomenon. For long, people have travelled to other places in search of better medical treatment. The presence of reputable medical services has often acted as a spur to local economic activity either directly or as a spin off. One only need look at the hive of small businesses bustling around the location of any medium large hospital to realize the truth of this statement. You not only find pharmacies, laboratories and medical supply stores but also a number of eateries, hotels, lodges, banks, general stores and transportation hubs. Secondly India and transportation hubs. Secondly India has also for many decades now served as a destination for those seeking better medical treatment or facilities within theSMRC and West Asia region. In general,most Indians themselves are likely to bemedical tourists at some level determinedprimarily by their disposable incomeDepending on their economic circumstances Indians are no less likely to travel long distances, even abroad, seeking better medical treatment as the experiences of many politicians and film stars can duly attest. Having established that medical tourism itself is not a new thing, even in India, it is still important to point out what is new about its latest manifestation. In a nutshell what differentiates the Indian medical tourist from the global medical tourist is the focus on not 'better' treatment but on 'cheaper' treatment. What prompts the global medical tourist, for e.g. the American patient, to fly half way around the globe to a hospital in India is not because health care in India is better but because the costs of standardized medical and surgical procedures in India is far less.
Medical Tourism as a Facet of Globalization
The determining factor that lower costs play in driving medical tourism cannot be overstated. According to Dr. PrathapC. Reddy, Founder and Chairman of the Apollo Hospitals Group, "Compared to countries like the UK or the US, procedures like heart bypass surgery or angioplasty come at a fraction of the cost in India, even though the quality of doctors and medical equipment is comparable to the best in the world. A heart bypass surgery in India costs USD 6,500, while in the US it costs between USD 30,000 and USD 80,000." The great emphasis placed on keeping costs down makes medical tourism part and parcel of the process of globalization. The economic logic that has resulted in the transfer of industry and services to regions where costs of production are the lowest is the same that underlies medical tourism as well.
Once we recognize that health care is a service industry just like the 'call centres' in India that fulfils the needs of various customers in the United States and other first world countries much of the radicalism of medical tourism seems very ordinary and common place. It is no different from the business process outsourcing (BPO) model that underpins the rapidly growing information technology (IT) sector in India. The same cost cutting impulses that lead multi-national corporations to off-shore and outsource business processes and production to other countries, also compels private and national health insurers to encourage their customers to consider undertaking certain medical procedures in India. It is crucial to note that it is not only the penny pinching or uninsured individual who is looking for a cheaper deal as it were, but increasingly large private or public health carriers who are looking to rein in the galloping costs of health care on the one hand and to whittle down long waiting lists of patients requiring medical procedures in the developed world. For example, according to the non-profit Kaiser Family Foundaiton, a leading health policy foundation in the U.S., "expenditures in the United States on health care surpassed $2 trillion in 2006 ... [and] accounted for 16% of the nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Total health care expenditures grew at an annual rate of 6.7 percent in 2006, a slower rate than recent years, yet still outpacing inflation and the growth in national income." It is therefore no wonder that health care providers are actively exploring facilities in India as a way to reduce costs.
Why India?
The advantages that India offers as a destination for medical tourism are similar to those that make it an attractive option for IT off shoring. Much like the legion of engineers that dominate the IT sectors, Indian doctors are educated in English under a medical curriculum that was closely modelled on the British system. After independence the Indian government expanded medical education starting a number of new medical colleges at the state level and also financing medical centres of excellence such as AIIMS. In the last decade or so there has been growing private investment in medical education as well, with a number of private medical colleges being started. The cost of a medical education has been relatively cheaper in India with a bulk of the expense being subsidized by the government. A peculiar feature of medical education in India is that the numbers have been skewed disproportionately in favour of graduating doctors rather than nurses compared to other countries. Consequently India has exported
doctors to other developed countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom and those in West Asia, a typical example of brain drain and the subsidizing of first world health by the tax resources of an impoverished third world country. No doubt these physicians have been able to acquire greater skill by working with state of the art technology and being exposed to the latest developments and best procedures in medical science.
Indeed a major selling point of medical tourism is precisely its ability to attract these Indian doctors to return from abroad to work (either full time or part time) in these multi-speciality hospitals where they would not lack for the latest and the best in equipment or technology. Newly returned non-resident Indian (NRI) physicians have served not only as the poster-boys (and girls) of medical tourism in India but in some cases have been prime movers in setting up such hospitals incorporating the latest in medical technology and medical practices, and often bringing with them their entire support staff in order to replicate in minute detail the environment of a first world facility.
Of course this reverse brain drain of NRI physicians could not have taken place without certain enabling factors. These relate to the process of opening up of the Indian economy itself, involving the ability to undertake larger quantum of private investment (including foreign investment) in the health sector (multispeciality hospitals require heavy capital investment upfront), more perrnrssrve rules on importing medical technology and improvements in transportation and communications infrastructure. The potential to establish backward and forward linkages with a maturing Indian pharmaceutical industry and growing sophistication of indigenous medical equipment manufacturers may well be another reason that makes India an attractive destination.
Medical Tourism: A Mixed Blessing
There are certainly large sums being bandied about the full potential of medical tourism in India. A much cited CIl-McKin-sey study estimates that medical tourism can contribute Rs 5,000-10,000 crore additional revenue for up-market tertiary hospitals by 2012. Leaving aside these astounding figures for the moment, a few preliminary remarks may be in order here regarding the larger effects of medical tourism for Indian economy and society. There is legitimate concern that medical tourism, much like economic liberalization, will further exacerbate the divisions between the haves and the have-nots which now will include those with access to the best medical facilities and those whose lives will be tragically cut short because of the continuing lack of access to basic preventable health care.
Thus far medical tourism has benefited from the benign neglect of the govern- ment which has saved it from being smothered in its infancy by overregulation. However it is inevitable that in the coming years due to the sheer potential size of this service sector the government will have to shake off its habit of indifference. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has of late been pressing the government to treat medical tourism as a national priority sector which would bring in its wake a full blast of tax and other incentives. The need for greater state involvement arises from another less savoury aspect as well. This has to do with the seamier side of medical tourism which has also benefitted from the absence of state regulation or more commonly ineffective implementation. There exists a class of medical tourists who see India as an easier source to obtain transplant organs such as kidneys for which they may have to wait for years in their own countries. Going by the frequent reports in the media about organ and kidney rackets there is cause to believe that this kind of predatory medical tourism is a serious problem. Given the enormous social and economic inequality and deprivation prevalent in India the possibility of exploiting weaker off sections in this medical organ trade is only too real. It is also not inconceivable that despite protestations to the contrary, even the most reputed of hospitals may playa passive facilitating role in this organ trade. It is imperative that the government should take a more active regulatory role in order to prevent medical tourism from descending into an extension of the illegal organ trade. There is a strong case to be made for greater government regulation and vigilance in order to protect medical tourism from its own worst excesses.
The revenue oriented models that trumpet the benefits of medical tourism suffer from the moral tension that national health and welfare cannot be held captive to the profit motive. And sceptics may well point out that providing low cost health options to foreigners does little to improve health overall for Indians. It is also clear that medical tourism cannot be an excuse for continued government neglect of public health or of retreating further from this arena pleading financial and budgetary constraints. If medical tourism is indeed a net revenue generator for the government it would do well to increase its allocation for public health.
The more durable gains of medical tourism may be more imperceptible gains that are difficult to precisely quantify. One of the immediate benefits may be that of reversing the brain drain, with more trained personnel opting to stay back in India as opportunities for employment and professional advancement increase. These may have valuable spill-over effects for the rest of the economy but more importantly for the health sector itself. To continue to attract a reliable stream of clients, Indian hospitals catering to medical tourism have willingly adopted (and have had to maintain) very high standards of medical practice. This may spur greater efforts towards effective selfregulation among these hospitals as they realize the importance of protecting the 'market brand' where the short-sighted practices of a few renegade members can cause industrywide damage and loss of confidence which may be impossible to regain. Much like export firms, exposure to a competitive global market will induce gains in cost efficiency and quality consciousness which may in turn be passed on to domestic consumers. Hopefully along with medical technology, better medical practices will also be adopted by second tier hospitals catering more exclusively to a domestic clientele. Indeed once exposed to superior medical practices, it is more than likely that Indian consumers will demand better quality in their own care.
Lower costs being the bedrock of medical tourism, this capital intensive service industry cannot sustain itself on temporary cost advantages. In order to ensure that costs remain lower, the industry will have to encourage, directly or indirectly, investment in medical education and research. This may take the form of lobbying the government or accreditation bodies such as the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to periodically raise the quality of medical and nursing graduates and the standard of the medical curriculum. It may take the direct form of setting up new medical colleges with updated educational curricula and facilities, increased focus on research and development of various kinds, or more plausibly greater avenues for apprenticeships and training of medical personnel so that skills are continually updated.
The question of sustainability allows one to consider another possibility that will have a more direct bearing on health care for the Indian masses. In a globalizing world of cut-throat competition this new medical industry may soon discover that its most valuable asset is its pool of domestic customers. As extemal demand waxes or wanes for their services, the industry may out of its own self interest press the Indian state to institute some form of comprehensive health coverage for its population as part of its social safety net. It is possible to contemplate a future when this may well dovetail with a government that takes its own rhetoric of economic and social justice seriously. With certain kinds of central government employees already being allowed to avail themselves of treatment at these private multi-speciality hospitals, it may prove politically and morally untenable for the government not to offer some kind of coverage for the rest of the population, It is not an impossible dream that the migrant workers which this article briefly referred to in the beginning and the medical tourists from the first world who today seem to belong to two different universes, may ultimately both manage to live in the same one.
The first is that of rampant and deeprooted poverty of the many (a persistently large number) amidst the presence of plenty of a few (though substantial and growing of late). Unequal access to (and often absence of) health care is the familiar variant, yet nonetheless more tragic because of it, of the iniquitous dualism that even after nearly six decades of 'development' still characterizes social and economic structures in India.
The second is the more novel phenomenon of citizens of the 'first world', rich and developed nations, choosing to undergo medical procedures or treatment in a 'third world' country such as India, albeit in multi-speciality hospitals. These well equipped hospitals with state of the art equipment, often staffed with doctors and nurses with substantial work experience acquired from working in hospitals abroad, boast and deliver medical care comparable or superior to what is available in most developed country hospitals at a fraction of the cost. These hospitals advertise and offer 'medical package tours' that not only include medical operations and procedures but also travel to and from the hospital, stay and recuperation at 'five star facilities' to attract the attention and custom of first world patients as well as well-heeled domestic ones. This phenomenon is commonly termed health or medical tourism.
As an aside on terminology, for our current purposes we shall treat health and medical tourism as similar though in its proper sense they may differ in the domain of activities that each encompasses. For instance medical tourism may sometimes be narrowly defined as involving only a subset of those activities limited to the medical procedural-pharmaceutical complex while health tourism may sometimes be more broadly understood to involve activities that include 'alternative' medical treatments, therapies, lifestyle and health resorts etc. The distinction is sometimes useful as when we focus on issues related to 'medical insurance' and the 'health care industry' and at other times less useful when we try to discern the larger social and economic impact of health or medical tourism.
Medical Tourism: Is it a new thing?
In one sense medical tourism is hardly a new phenomenon. For long, people have travelled to other places in search of better medical treatment. The presence of reputable medical services has often acted as a spur to local economic activity either directly or as a spin off. One only need look at the hive of small businesses bustling around the location of any medium large hospital to realize the truth of this statement. You not only find pharmacies, laboratories and medical supply stores but also a number of eateries, hotels, lodges, banks, general stores and transportation hubs. Secondly India and transportation hubs. Secondly India has also for many decades now served as a destination for those seeking better medical treatment or facilities within theSMRC and West Asia region. In general,most Indians themselves are likely to bemedical tourists at some level determinedprimarily by their disposable incomeDepending on their economic circumstances Indians are no less likely to travel long distances, even abroad, seeking better medical treatment as the experiences of many politicians and film stars can duly attest. Having established that medical tourism itself is not a new thing, even in India, it is still important to point out what is new about its latest manifestation. In a nutshell what differentiates the Indian medical tourist from the global medical tourist is the focus on not 'better' treatment but on 'cheaper' treatment. What prompts the global medical tourist, for e.g. the American patient, to fly half way around the globe to a hospital in India is not because health care in India is better but because the costs of standardized medical and surgical procedures in India is far less.
Medical Tourism as a Facet of Globalization
The determining factor that lower costs play in driving medical tourism cannot be overstated. According to Dr. PrathapC. Reddy, Founder and Chairman of the Apollo Hospitals Group, "Compared to countries like the UK or the US, procedures like heart bypass surgery or angioplasty come at a fraction of the cost in India, even though the quality of doctors and medical equipment is comparable to the best in the world. A heart bypass surgery in India costs USD 6,500, while in the US it costs between USD 30,000 and USD 80,000." The great emphasis placed on keeping costs down makes medical tourism part and parcel of the process of globalization. The economic logic that has resulted in the transfer of industry and services to regions where costs of production are the lowest is the same that underlies medical tourism as well.
Once we recognize that health care is a service industry just like the 'call centres' in India that fulfils the needs of various customers in the United States and other first world countries much of the radicalism of medical tourism seems very ordinary and common place. It is no different from the business process outsourcing (BPO) model that underpins the rapidly growing information technology (IT) sector in India. The same cost cutting impulses that lead multi-national corporations to off-shore and outsource business processes and production to other countries, also compels private and national health insurers to encourage their customers to consider undertaking certain medical procedures in India. It is crucial to note that it is not only the penny pinching or uninsured individual who is looking for a cheaper deal as it were, but increasingly large private or public health carriers who are looking to rein in the galloping costs of health care on the one hand and to whittle down long waiting lists of patients requiring medical procedures in the developed world. For example, according to the non-profit Kaiser Family Foundaiton, a leading health policy foundation in the U.S., "expenditures in the United States on health care surpassed $2 trillion in 2006 ... [and] accounted for 16% of the nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Total health care expenditures grew at an annual rate of 6.7 percent in 2006, a slower rate than recent years, yet still outpacing inflation and the growth in national income." It is therefore no wonder that health care providers are actively exploring facilities in India as a way to reduce costs.
Why India?
The advantages that India offers as a destination for medical tourism are similar to those that make it an attractive option for IT off shoring. Much like the legion of engineers that dominate the IT sectors, Indian doctors are educated in English under a medical curriculum that was closely modelled on the British system. After independence the Indian government expanded medical education starting a number of new medical colleges at the state level and also financing medical centres of excellence such as AIIMS. In the last decade or so there has been growing private investment in medical education as well, with a number of private medical colleges being started. The cost of a medical education has been relatively cheaper in India with a bulk of the expense being subsidized by the government. A peculiar feature of medical education in India is that the numbers have been skewed disproportionately in favour of graduating doctors rather than nurses compared to other countries. Consequently India has exported
doctors to other developed countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom and those in West Asia, a typical example of brain drain and the subsidizing of first world health by the tax resources of an impoverished third world country. No doubt these physicians have been able to acquire greater skill by working with state of the art technology and being exposed to the latest developments and best procedures in medical science.
Indeed a major selling point of medical tourism is precisely its ability to attract these Indian doctors to return from abroad to work (either full time or part time) in these multi-speciality hospitals where they would not lack for the latest and the best in equipment or technology. Newly returned non-resident Indian (NRI) physicians have served not only as the poster-boys (and girls) of medical tourism in India but in some cases have been prime movers in setting up such hospitals incorporating the latest in medical technology and medical practices, and often bringing with them their entire support staff in order to replicate in minute detail the environment of a first world facility.
Of course this reverse brain drain of NRI physicians could not have taken place without certain enabling factors. These relate to the process of opening up of the Indian economy itself, involving the ability to undertake larger quantum of private investment (including foreign investment) in the health sector (multispeciality hospitals require heavy capital investment upfront), more perrnrssrve rules on importing medical technology and improvements in transportation and communications infrastructure. The potential to establish backward and forward linkages with a maturing Indian pharmaceutical industry and growing sophistication of indigenous medical equipment manufacturers may well be another reason that makes India an attractive destination.
Medical Tourism: A Mixed Blessing
There are certainly large sums being bandied about the full potential of medical tourism in India. A much cited CIl-McKin-sey study estimates that medical tourism can contribute Rs 5,000-10,000 crore additional revenue for up-market tertiary hospitals by 2012. Leaving aside these astounding figures for the moment, a few preliminary remarks may be in order here regarding the larger effects of medical tourism for Indian economy and society. There is legitimate concern that medical tourism, much like economic liberalization, will further exacerbate the divisions between the haves and the have-nots which now will include those with access to the best medical facilities and those whose lives will be tragically cut short because of the continuing lack of access to basic preventable health care.
Thus far medical tourism has benefited from the benign neglect of the govern- ment which has saved it from being smothered in its infancy by overregulation. However it is inevitable that in the coming years due to the sheer potential size of this service sector the government will have to shake off its habit of indifference. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has of late been pressing the government to treat medical tourism as a national priority sector which would bring in its wake a full blast of tax and other incentives. The need for greater state involvement arises from another less savoury aspect as well. This has to do with the seamier side of medical tourism which has also benefitted from the absence of state regulation or more commonly ineffective implementation. There exists a class of medical tourists who see India as an easier source to obtain transplant organs such as kidneys for which they may have to wait for years in their own countries. Going by the frequent reports in the media about organ and kidney rackets there is cause to believe that this kind of predatory medical tourism is a serious problem. Given the enormous social and economic inequality and deprivation prevalent in India the possibility of exploiting weaker off sections in this medical organ trade is only too real. It is also not inconceivable that despite protestations to the contrary, even the most reputed of hospitals may playa passive facilitating role in this organ trade. It is imperative that the government should take a more active regulatory role in order to prevent medical tourism from descending into an extension of the illegal organ trade. There is a strong case to be made for greater government regulation and vigilance in order to protect medical tourism from its own worst excesses.
The revenue oriented models that trumpet the benefits of medical tourism suffer from the moral tension that national health and welfare cannot be held captive to the profit motive. And sceptics may well point out that providing low cost health options to foreigners does little to improve health overall for Indians. It is also clear that medical tourism cannot be an excuse for continued government neglect of public health or of retreating further from this arena pleading financial and budgetary constraints. If medical tourism is indeed a net revenue generator for the government it would do well to increase its allocation for public health.
The more durable gains of medical tourism may be more imperceptible gains that are difficult to precisely quantify. One of the immediate benefits may be that of reversing the brain drain, with more trained personnel opting to stay back in India as opportunities for employment and professional advancement increase. These may have valuable spill-over effects for the rest of the economy but more importantly for the health sector itself. To continue to attract a reliable stream of clients, Indian hospitals catering to medical tourism have willingly adopted (and have had to maintain) very high standards of medical practice. This may spur greater efforts towards effective selfregulation among these hospitals as they realize the importance of protecting the 'market brand' where the short-sighted practices of a few renegade members can cause industrywide damage and loss of confidence which may be impossible to regain. Much like export firms, exposure to a competitive global market will induce gains in cost efficiency and quality consciousness which may in turn be passed on to domestic consumers. Hopefully along with medical technology, better medical practices will also be adopted by second tier hospitals catering more exclusively to a domestic clientele. Indeed once exposed to superior medical practices, it is more than likely that Indian consumers will demand better quality in their own care.
Lower costs being the bedrock of medical tourism, this capital intensive service industry cannot sustain itself on temporary cost advantages. In order to ensure that costs remain lower, the industry will have to encourage, directly or indirectly, investment in medical education and research. This may take the form of lobbying the government or accreditation bodies such as the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to periodically raise the quality of medical and nursing graduates and the standard of the medical curriculum. It may take the direct form of setting up new medical colleges with updated educational curricula and facilities, increased focus on research and development of various kinds, or more plausibly greater avenues for apprenticeships and training of medical personnel so that skills are continually updated.
The question of sustainability allows one to consider another possibility that will have a more direct bearing on health care for the Indian masses. In a globalizing world of cut-throat competition this new medical industry may soon discover that its most valuable asset is its pool of domestic customers. As extemal demand waxes or wanes for their services, the industry may out of its own self interest press the Indian state to institute some form of comprehensive health coverage for its population as part of its social safety net. It is possible to contemplate a future when this may well dovetail with a government that takes its own rhetoric of economic and social justice seriously. With certain kinds of central government employees already being allowed to avail themselves of treatment at these private multi-speciality hospitals, it may prove politically and morally untenable for the government not to offer some kind of coverage for the rest of the population, It is not an impossible dream that the migrant workers which this article briefly referred to in the beginning and the medical tourists from the first world who today seem to belong to two different universes, may ultimately both manage to live in the same one.
Israeli elections and after
0 commentsThe recent elections in Israel have left uncertainty about the shape of a new govt, but little doubt that the Obama administration had suffered a setback in its bid to mobilise efforts to bring peace to the Middle East. The surge in votes for conservative parties revealed declining Israeli support for negotiations with a divided Palestinian leadership. Whether the new govt is formed by the right-wing Likud party or the centrist Kadirna, It will likely be too divided to conduct a peace negotiation, even if it wants to.
While US president Barack Obama's new team might be able to help stabilise the Gaza Strip after weeks of heavy fighting, and gradually improve Palestinian living conditions and institutions, chances for a comprehensive peace deal have been diminished. US officials acknowledged the difficulty of their task but said they thought Israel's new governmem would move towards peace because it's in the national interest. Middle East experts said the new conservative cast of the govt makes USIsraeli friction more likely in several areas.
One is over the accelerating growth of Israeli settlements on the West Bank. Another is over how to deal with the Palestinian govt if the Palestinian Authority, which controls the West Bank, tries again to form a unity govt with the rival Hamas faction that controls Gaza. Many experts foresee a potential clash over how to deal with Iran's nuclear programme. While the Obama administration is preparing to make a diplomatic approach to Tehran, Israelis arc worried that Iran may be close to acquiring the means to make a nuclear weapon.
Israeli President Shimon Peres is expected to ask Likud, led by former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, or Kadima, led by foreign minister Tzipi Livni, to try to put together a governing coalition. Many analysts predicted that Netanyahu would prevail. But they said that even if Livni, who has worked with the Bush administration on peace efforts, forms the govt, she would have to rely on conservative coalition partners who would keep her from moving towards a settlement, The fact that Livni will be unable to form a coalition without right-wing parries indicates that Israelis want a new direction. They feel that the current path of negotiating with a Palestinian Authority that lacks any real authority over thePalestinians is meaningless, and that Israelis want reciprocity.
The elections have made AvigdorLieberman, leader of Yisrael Beitenu. the kingmaker. Lieberman has been called a demagogue by some for proposing that Israel's Arab citizens be required to take loyalty oaths. Some Kadima officials warned that if right-wing parties form the new govt, Israel could lose international support. Neta nyahu had a strained relationship with the Clinton administration during his years as prime minister, from 1996 to 1999. Books written about Clinton's peace efforts quote the former president and aides delivering scalding denunciations of the strong-willed Netanyahu. The Likud party leader was critical, during the election campaign,of the peace process promoted by the Bush administration, and skeptical that a deal could be struck. He has called instead for Israel to work on an "Economic Peace Plan" for the Palestinian territories.
While US president Barack Obama's new team might be able to help stabilise the Gaza Strip after weeks of heavy fighting, and gradually improve Palestinian living conditions and institutions, chances for a comprehensive peace deal have been diminished. US officials acknowledged the difficulty of their task but said they thought Israel's new governmem would move towards peace because it's in the national interest. Middle East experts said the new conservative cast of the govt makes USIsraeli friction more likely in several areas.
One is over the accelerating growth of Israeli settlements on the West Bank. Another is over how to deal with the Palestinian govt if the Palestinian Authority, which controls the West Bank, tries again to form a unity govt with the rival Hamas faction that controls Gaza. Many experts foresee a potential clash over how to deal with Iran's nuclear programme. While the Obama administration is preparing to make a diplomatic approach to Tehran, Israelis arc worried that Iran may be close to acquiring the means to make a nuclear weapon.
Israeli President Shimon Peres is expected to ask Likud, led by former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, or Kadima, led by foreign minister Tzipi Livni, to try to put together a governing coalition. Many analysts predicted that Netanyahu would prevail. But they said that even if Livni, who has worked with the Bush administration on peace efforts, forms the govt, she would have to rely on conservative coalition partners who would keep her from moving towards a settlement, The fact that Livni will be unable to form a coalition without right-wing parries indicates that Israelis want a new direction. They feel that the current path of negotiating with a Palestinian Authority that lacks any real authority over thePalestinians is meaningless, and that Israelis want reciprocity.
The elections have made AvigdorLieberman, leader of Yisrael Beitenu. the kingmaker. Lieberman has been called a demagogue by some for proposing that Israel's Arab citizens be required to take loyalty oaths. Some Kadima officials warned that if right-wing parties form the new govt, Israel could lose international support. Neta nyahu had a strained relationship with the Clinton administration during his years as prime minister, from 1996 to 1999. Books written about Clinton's peace efforts quote the former president and aides delivering scalding denunciations of the strong-willed Netanyahu. The Likud party leader was critical, during the election campaign,of the peace process promoted by the Bush administration, and skeptical that a deal could be struck. He has called instead for Israel to work on an "Economic Peace Plan" for the Palestinian territories.
The second credit policy announcement by RBI Governor
0 commentsThe second credit policy announcement by RBI Governor D Subbarao recently is disappointing. While clearly acknowledging that the world economy was in deep trouble, that the Indian economy was showing visible signs of slowing down and that inflation had fallen sharply, the RBI chose to do nothing. Most importantly he did not cut the reverse repo rate even though banks are parking excess funds with the RBI. Since mid-October the RBI has cut the repo rate from 9 per cent to 5.5 per cent ----- that is, by 350 basis points. However, even public sector banks, which have been cajoled into cutting rates, have cut their prime lending rates by not more than 150-175 basis points. The RBI appears to have taken this to mean that there is no point in doing much more - it has already done its bit.
However, when banks do not follow the RBI in cutting rates, it implies that the monetary policy transmission mechanism is broken. The policies the RBI has followed for many years have hampered the development of the bond --currency --- derivatives markets that would have provided such a mechanism. The way to handle this situation is two fold. One, to implement changes which would make the monetary policy transmission work (such as removing the administered interest rates on saving deposits, small savings, removing restrictions on the government bond market, on currency derivatives, etc).
The other, to aggressively cut rates. If it needs a 300 basis point rate cut to achieve a 100 basis point cut in bank lending rates then, instead of a discussion of whether it is public or private or foreign banks which have cut interest rates, the need of the hour was to cut policy ratesharply. With the way output and price growth are decelerating on a month-onmonth basis the RBI should have take action rather than waiting and watching
The unfortunate part is that even 0n the data used for conducting monetary. policy the RBI is making a mistake. Instead of the focus of monetary policy being on forecasting output and inflation, it is looking at year-on-year figures that tell us about the past 12 months. As the situation worsens it will be more difficult to come out of the slowdown. Saving ammunition for the future makes little sense if monetary policy actions today take a few months to have an impact. The same rate cut would be more effective now. rather than later when the situation is much worse.
However, when banks do not follow the RBI in cutting rates, it implies that the monetary policy transmission mechanism is broken. The policies the RBI has followed for many years have hampered the development of the bond --currency --- derivatives markets that would have provided such a mechanism. The way to handle this situation is two fold. One, to implement changes which would make the monetary policy transmission work (such as removing the administered interest rates on saving deposits, small savings, removing restrictions on the government bond market, on currency derivatives, etc).
The other, to aggressively cut rates. If it needs a 300 basis point rate cut to achieve a 100 basis point cut in bank lending rates then, instead of a discussion of whether it is public or private or foreign banks which have cut interest rates, the need of the hour was to cut policy ratesharply. With the way output and price growth are decelerating on a month-onmonth basis the RBI should have take action rather than waiting and watching
The unfortunate part is that even 0n the data used for conducting monetary. policy the RBI is making a mistake. Instead of the focus of monetary policy being on forecasting output and inflation, it is looking at year-on-year figures that tell us about the past 12 months. As the situation worsens it will be more difficult to come out of the slowdown. Saving ammunition for the future makes little sense if monetary policy actions today take a few months to have an impact. The same rate cut would be more effective now. rather than later when the situation is much worse.
Indian ban on import of Chinese toys
0 commentsThe govt's recent decision to impose a six-month ban on the import of toys from China creates a small window of opportunity to introspect. The Indian toy industry has never been in a state of good health, but the past two decades have been particularly bad. What little drive there was to invent and innovate got washed away by the flood of Chinese toys. They came in millions. They were colourful and diverse, loud and crude, but their greatest attraction was their low price.
The reason for the sudden decision to ban them is not known, but some guesses are being made. Complaints against the toxic plastics used in Chinese toys have been around for some time now. Powerful western toy companies which outsource their manufacturing requirements to China have also been critical. Toy giant MatteI withdrew some 21 million toys made in China because they carried high levels of lead paint. Still, it is hard to imagine that the ban is really a response to toxicity. Many toys made in India are also dangerous, and there is hardly any reliable mechanism to stop them from reaching babies.
Perhaps there is an economic rationale. Since late 1990s, in metropolitan and smalltown shops, the presence of Chinese toys has grown to overwhelming proportions. Was the heavy import hurting Indian manufacturers? Maybe, but it is hard to say which ones, for the industry is highly fragmented and largely disorganised. Toy parts form a considerable proportion of the imports, and they too will now face the ban, leading to some immediate distress among low-grade assembly units. If the goal is to encourage indigenous production, half a year is hardly long enough for an unimaginative and mostly primitive industry to develop fresh energy and drive.
Arvind Gupta and Sudarshan Khanna are India's pioneers in toy research and design. Arvind Gupta has devoted the past few decades to devising and promoting inexpensive toys that teachers can make themselves, using locally-available material. His individual initiative in this sphere has had greater impact than that of many institutions put together. Sudarshan Khanna teaches at the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, where he has set up a toy centre co train students to conceptualise innovative and safe toys. In his own research, Khanna has focussed on the importance of folk toys as a source of inspiration and ideas.
His writing reminds us how big a cost India has paid by neglecting its cottage industry of toys, an industry that needs to be studied as much for its aesthetics as for its imaginative use of local resources like paper, bamboo and cloth. Some students trained at Khanna's toy centre have introduced new ideas in toy manufacturing, but this contribution of NID is too small to make a dent in the industry, especially when it is transforming itself into a trading network dependant on China.
The reason for the sudden decision to ban them is not known, but some guesses are being made. Complaints against the toxic plastics used in Chinese toys have been around for some time now. Powerful western toy companies which outsource their manufacturing requirements to China have also been critical. Toy giant MatteI withdrew some 21 million toys made in China because they carried high levels of lead paint. Still, it is hard to imagine that the ban is really a response to toxicity. Many toys made in India are also dangerous, and there is hardly any reliable mechanism to stop them from reaching babies.
Perhaps there is an economic rationale. Since late 1990s, in metropolitan and smalltown shops, the presence of Chinese toys has grown to overwhelming proportions. Was the heavy import hurting Indian manufacturers? Maybe, but it is hard to say which ones, for the industry is highly fragmented and largely disorganised. Toy parts form a considerable proportion of the imports, and they too will now face the ban, leading to some immediate distress among low-grade assembly units. If the goal is to encourage indigenous production, half a year is hardly long enough for an unimaginative and mostly primitive industry to develop fresh energy and drive.
Arvind Gupta and Sudarshan Khanna are India's pioneers in toy research and design. Arvind Gupta has devoted the past few decades to devising and promoting inexpensive toys that teachers can make themselves, using locally-available material. His individual initiative in this sphere has had greater impact than that of many institutions put together. Sudarshan Khanna teaches at the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, where he has set up a toy centre co train students to conceptualise innovative and safe toys. In his own research, Khanna has focussed on the importance of folk toys as a source of inspiration and ideas.
His writing reminds us how big a cost India has paid by neglecting its cottage industry of toys, an industry that needs to be studied as much for its aesthetics as for its imaginative use of local resources like paper, bamboo and cloth. Some students trained at Khanna's toy centre have introduced new ideas in toy manufacturing, but this contribution of NID is too small to make a dent in the industry, especially when it is transforming itself into a trading network dependant on China.
Issue of air safety in India
0 commentsThe near-collision between an Air India passenger aircraft and an IAF helicopter in President Pratibha Paril's entourage at the Mumbai airport has highlighted the perilous state of air safety in India. But for the AI pilot's alertness and presence of mind, a major accident would have taken place, endangering the lives of a number of people. Such narrow escapes from accidents have become all too common in Indian aviation. While the Mumbai incident happened recently, the next two days saw similar scares elsewhere. Another IAF plane and an AI Airbus came close to a mid-air collision in Assam and there was a scare involving two private airlines planes carrying passengers in Kolkata later on. The increase in brushes with air mishaps in the past few years reflects poorly on the aviation safety system and procedures in the countty.
The phenomenal increases in air traffic, number offlights and aircraft may be the reasons for the frequent occurrence of close shaves with danger but they expose the inadequacy of the support mechanisms at the airports. The Air Traffic Control (ATC) system is poorly staffed and therefore overworked. Air safety is cruciall y dependent on the skills and alertness of the ground staff and pilots and coordination between the two. In the Mumbai incident there was no such coordination. The IAF pilot landed earlier on the runway than when he was expected to.
The usual blame game is on with the IAF asserting that its pilot followed ground instructions and both the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the IAF ordering separate enquiries. The routine suspensions have also taken place. The enquiries should pinpoint the responsibility for the incident and the DGCA should take corrective action that goes even beyond the Mumbai incident. Often such enquiries lead nowhere and the findings are not acted upon.
The statements by IAF officials and DGCA after the incidents have given an impression of discord between the two organisations. It is obvious that steps taken to iron out their differences have not yielded resul ts. Immediate steps need to be taken to ensure smooth functioning of these two bodies. The aviation sector is growing and the DGCA is right in seeking help from the International Civil Aviation Organisation to set up national projects to monitor flight safety, airports and air navigation. The govt must [alee short-term measures like actingon the enquiry reports' findings and ensure that such incidents are not repeated.
The ground infrastructure and facilities at the airports that support flights are also inadequate. There are international norms of air safety and accepted practices and these should be implemented without fail. Availability of the best devices and systems and strict adherence to the best practices will minimise the scope for human error on the part of the ground staff and pilots. Investment for this purpose, however high, should be the immediate priority because passenger safety has to be the most importan t consideration of the aviation industry. The industry, which, in spite of the recent slowdown, has immense prospects in the country, will be adversely affected if public confidence in it is shaken.
The phenomenal increases in air traffic, number offlights and aircraft may be the reasons for the frequent occurrence of close shaves with danger but they expose the inadequacy of the support mechanisms at the airports. The Air Traffic Control (ATC) system is poorly staffed and therefore overworked. Air safety is cruciall y dependent on the skills and alertness of the ground staff and pilots and coordination between the two. In the Mumbai incident there was no such coordination. The IAF pilot landed earlier on the runway than when he was expected to.
The usual blame game is on with the IAF asserting that its pilot followed ground instructions and both the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the IAF ordering separate enquiries. The routine suspensions have also taken place. The enquiries should pinpoint the responsibility for the incident and the DGCA should take corrective action that goes even beyond the Mumbai incident. Often such enquiries lead nowhere and the findings are not acted upon.
The statements by IAF officials and DGCA after the incidents have given an impression of discord between the two organisations. It is obvious that steps taken to iron out their differences have not yielded resul ts. Immediate steps need to be taken to ensure smooth functioning of these two bodies. The aviation sector is growing and the DGCA is right in seeking help from the International Civil Aviation Organisation to set up national projects to monitor flight safety, airports and air navigation. The govt must [alee short-term measures like actingon the enquiry reports' findings and ensure that such incidents are not repeated.
The ground infrastructure and facilities at the airports that support flights are also inadequate. There are international norms of air safety and accepted practices and these should be implemented without fail. Availability of the best devices and systems and strict adherence to the best practices will minimise the scope for human error on the part of the ground staff and pilots. Investment for this purpose, however high, should be the immediate priority because passenger safety has to be the most importan t consideration of the aviation industry. The industry, which, in spite of the recent slowdown, has immense prospects in the country, will be adversely affected if public confidence in it is shaken.
S.S.C. Tax Assistant Examination, 2008
0 comments
(Held on 14-12-2008)
General English : Solved Paper
Directions—(Q. 1–10) Some of the sentences have errors and some have none. Find out which part of a sentence has an error and blacken the rectangle [■] corresponding to the appropriate letter (A), (B) or (C). If there is no error, blacken the rectangle [■ ] corresponding to the letter (D) in the Answer-Sheet.
1. The whole country (A) / was suffering by (B) / a financial crisis. (C) No Error. (D)
2. I do not know where could he have gone (A) / so early (B) / in the morning. (C) No Error. (D)
3. I suggest that (A) / he goes (B) / to the doctor as soon as he returns from taking the examination. (C) No Error. (D)
4. The introduction of tea and coffee (A) / and such other beverages (B) / have not been without some effect. (C) No Error. (D)
5. In spite of the roadblock (A) / the guards allowed us (B) / enter the restricted area to search for our friends. (C) No Error. (D)
6. The newer type of automatic machines (A) / wash (B) / the clothes faster. (C) No Error. (D)
7. By the time (A) / we got our tickets and entered the cinema theatre (B) / the show was already begun. (C) No Error. (D)
8. Each of the students in the computer class (A) / has to type (B) / their own research paper this semester. (C) No Error. (D)
9. The fact of me (A) / being a stranger (B) / does not excuse his conduct. (C) No Error. (D)
10. The sea looks (A) / as if it has been (B) / agitated by a storm. (C) No Error. (D)
Directions—(Q. 11–20) Out of the four alternatives, choose the one which best expresses the meaning of the given word and mark it in the Answer-Sheet.
11. Illicit
(A) immoral
(B) illegal
(C) ineligible
(D) illegible
12. Flair
(A) talent
(B) tendency
(C) bias
(D) need
13. Conservation
(A) preservation
(B) respiration
(C) correction
(D) confusion
14. Abysmal
(A) sickening
(B) gloomy
(C) sad
(D) bottomless
15. Salient
(A) valiant
(B) variant
(C) prudent
(D) prominent
16. Decamp
(A) move
(B) encamp
(C) flee
(D) hide
17. Philanthropist
(A) benefactor
(B) beneficiary
(C) matron
(D) sponsor
18. Exotic
(A) alien
(B) strange
(C) rare
(D) grand
19. Incapacitate
(A) cripple
(B) strengthen
(C) imprison
(D) invent
20. Congregation
(A) concentration
(B) meeting
(C) discussion
(D) judgement
Directions—(Q. 21–30) Choose the word(s) opposite in meaning to the given word and blacken the appropriate rectangle [■] in the Answer-Sheet.
21. Suppress
(A) stir up
(B) rouse
(C) urge
(D) incite
22. Loosen
(A) fasten
(B) accelerate
(C) delay
(D) paste
23. Rebellion
(A) forgiveness
(B) retribution
(C) submission
(D) domination
24. Idiosyncrasy
(A) insanity
(B) sanity
(C) generality
(D) singularity
25. Sanguine
(A) diffident
(B) hopeless
(C) cynical
(D) morose
26. Sobriety
(A) moderation
(B) drunkenness
(C) dizziness
(D) stupidity
27. Extinct
(A) recent
(B) distinct
(C) alive
(D) ancient
28. Fiendish
(A) diabolical
(B) devilish
(C) angelic
(D) friendly
29. Subsequent
(A) eventual
(B) succeeding
(C) prior
(D) comparative
30. Orthodox
(A) revolutionary
(B) heretical
(C) anarchist
(D) generous
Directions—(Q. 31–40) Groups of four words are given. In each group, one word is wrongly spelt. Find the misspelt word and mark your answer in the Answer-Sheet.
31. (A) prioratise
(B) picturise
(C) visualise
(D) individualise
32. (A) mendacious
(B) obnoxcious
(C) pernicious
(D) ferocious
33. (A) pennetrate
(B) irritate
(C) hesitate
(D) perforate
34. (A) passagway
(B) causeway
(C) subway
(D) straightway
35. (A) rapport
(B) support
(C) repport
(D) purport
36. (A) stationery
(B) dictionery
(C) revolutionary
(D) voluntary
37. (A) temperature
(B) temperament
(C) tempastuous
(D) temptation
38. (A) whether
(B) weathere
(C) whither
(D) wither
39. (A) legible
(B) communiceble
(C) incorrigible
(D) eligible
40. (A) audacious
(B) auspicious
(C) caprisious
(D) credulous
Directions—(Q. 41–50) Four alternatives are given for the Idiom/Phrase Bold in the sentence. Choose the alternative which best expresses the meaning of the Idiom/Phrase and mark it in the Answer-Sheet.
41. Don’t worry about the silly row. It was just a storm in a tea cup.
(A) important matter dealt with ease
(B) hot tea being served
(C) commotion over a trivial matter
(D) confusion and chaos
42. The Rajput warriors set their face against the invader.
(A) became enemies
(B) turned away from
(C) faced difficulty
(D) opposed strongly
43. Syria is now currying favour with America.
(A) pleasing
(B) favouring
(C) obliging
(D) ingratiating itself with
44. Our Principal is not a man to mince matters.
(A) to confuse issues
(B) to say something mildly
(C) to mix everything together
(D) to be very modest
45. We tend to take for granted the conveniences of modern life.
(A) to consider
(B) to admit
(C) to accept readily
(D) to care for
46. The prodigal son was left high and dry by his friends, when he lost all his money.
(A) wounded
(B) alone
(C) depressed
(D) neglected
47. The success of his first novel completely turned his head.
(A) made him vain
(B) made him look back
(C) changed him completely
(D) made him think
48. She turns up her nose at this kind of dress.
(A) despises
(B) loves
(C) sees no harm in
(D) can just tolerate
49. At last the rioters fell back.
(A) fell on the ground
(B) yielded
(C) ran back
(D) turned back
50. The Madagascar Coup attempt ended in a fiasco.
(A) had no effect
(B) was an utter failure
(C) resulted in blood-shed
(D) was a disaster
Directions—(Q. 51–55) Out of the four alternatives, choose the one which can be substituted for the given words/sentence and indicate it by blackening the appropriate rectangle [■] in the. Answer-Sheet.
51. Belief that God is in everything and that everything is God—
(A) Atheism
(B) Pantheism
(C) Scepticism
(D) Animism
52. A picture of a person or a thing drawn in such a highly exaggerated manner as to cause laughter—
(A) Cartoon
(B) Cacography
(C) Cartography
(D) Caricature
53. The state of being miserable bereft of all possessions—
(A) Dependant
(B) Complacent
(C) Destitute
(D) Omnipresent
54. That which cannot be called back—
(A) Irresponsible
(B) Irrevocable
(C) Irredeemable
(D) Incalculable
55. One who journeys from place to place—
(A) Quack
(B) Cannibal
(C) Itinerant
(D) Courier
Directions—(Q. 56–60) A sentence has been given in Active Voice/Passive Voice. Out of the four alternatives suggested, select the one which best expresses the same sentence in Passive Voice/Active Voice and mark your answer in the Answer-Sheet.
56. We have already done the exercise.
(A) Already, the exercise has been done by us
(B) The exercise has already been done by us
(C) The exercise had been already done by us
(D) The exercise is already done by us
57. The main skills we seek to develop include analysing, interpreting and evaluating ideas.
(A) The main skills sought by us to develop include analysing, interpreting and evaluating ideas
(B) The main skills sought to be developed by us include analysing, interpreting and evaluating ideas
(C) The main skills that we are seeking to be developed include analysing, interpreting and evaluating ideas
(D) The main skills include analysing, interpreting and evaluating ideas which are sought by us to develop
58. Who can question Gandhi’s integrity ?
(A) By whom Gandhi’s integrity can be questioned ?
(B) By whom can Gandhi’s integrity be questioned ?
(C) Gandhi’s integrity can be questioned by whom ?
(D) Who could have questioned Gandhi’s integrity ?
59. He presented me a bouquet on my birthday.
(A) A bouquet is presented to me on my birthday by him
(B) I was presented on my birthday a bouquet by him
(C) I was presented a bouquet on my birthday by him
(D) I will be presented a bouquet on my birthday by him
60. This surface feels smooth.
(A) This surface is felt smooth
(B) This surface is smooth when it is felt
(C) This surface when felt is smooth
(D) This surface is smooth as felt
Directions—(Q. 61–65) A part of the sentence is Bold. Below are given alternatives to the Bold part at (A), (B) and (C), which may improve the sentence. Choose the correct alternative. In case no improvement is needed, your answer is (D) and mark it in the Answer-Sheet.
61. In the desert, the sun is the master, all else resigns before its merciless rays.
(A) collapses
(B) falls
(C) retires
(D) No improvement
62. I intend to learn French next year.
(A) learning
(B) learn
(C) have learnt
(D) No improvement
63. The police needed him for armed robbery.
(A) liked
(B) was after
(C) were looking to
(D) No improvement
64. There is no more room for you in this compartment.
(A) no more seat
(B) no more space
(C) no more accommodation
(D) No improvement
65. It is easy to see why cities grew on the river banks.
(A) along the river banks
(B) in the river banks
(C) upon the river banks
(D) No improvement
Directions—(Q. 66–70) The first and the last parts of the sentence/passage are numbered (1) and (6). The rest of the sentence/passage is split into four parts and named (P), (Q), (R) and (S). These four parts are not given in their proper order. Read the sentence/passage and find out which of the four combinations is correct and mark your answer in the Answer-Sheet—
66. (1) Einstein was a bad student.
(P) He attended classes regularly and took down careful notes.
(Q) His friend Marcel Grossman, on the other hand, was an irreproachable student
(R) These notes he shared with Einstein
(S) He resented having to attend lectures
(6) If Einstein passed his examinations, it was only because of Grossman
(A) SQPR
(B) QRPS
(C) PSRQ
(D) RSQP
67. (1) Creating and modifying a school timetable is a complex task.
(P) ‘TT Plus’ closely models the real world timetable creation tasks
(Q) So is the job of computerizing it
(R) All timetables can be viewed on the screen before they are actually printed
(S) It has a comprehensive manual and a useful glossary of terms.
(6) It relieves you of the anxiety to get it all right.
(A) QPSR
(B) RPSQ
(C) SPRQ
(D) PQSR
68. (1) Three painters competed for a prize.
(P) Ram painted a curtain.
(Q) A butterfly came and sat on the bunch of flowers–was painted by Shyam
(R) And an ox tried to eat from the basket of apples–was painted by Sohan
(S) And the judge himself tried to lift the curtain.
(6) So Ram got the prize.
(A) PSQR
(B) PQRS
(C) PSRQ
(D) QRPS
69. (1) The farmer wanted to please the men.
(P) The poor donkey struggled and kicked.
(Q) They tied his legs together and slung him on a pole.
(R) The farmer and his son put the ends of the pole on their shoulders
(S) He and his son got off the donkey.
(6) They walked into the town carrying the donkey
(A) PQRS
(B) SQRP
(C) RSQP
(D) QSPR
70. (1) The wife is.
(P) not the husband’s slave
(Q) but his companion and his help-mate
(R) and an equal partner
(S) in all his joys and sorrows,
(6) as free as the husband to choose her own path.
(A) QRSP
(B) PRQS
(C) QSRP
(D) PQRS
Directions—(Q. 71–80) Sentences are given with blanks to be filled in with the appropriate word(s). Four alternatives are suggested for each question. Choose the correct alternative out of the four and indicate it by blackening the appropriate rectangle [■] in the Answer-Sheet.
71. When I was speaking to Rani over the phone suddenly we were………
(A) hung up
(B) run out
(C) broken down
(D) cut off
72. The farmer had……… land and many servants.
(A) very little
(B) some
(C) a lot of
(D) many
73. The tribes lived …… customs different from anything the English had ever seen.
(A) on
(B) by
(C) off
(D) with
74. The criminal together with his associates…… arrested.
(A) are
(B) was
(C) were
(D) have
75. By the time I reach America, it …… morning.
(A) is
(B) would be
(C) must be
(D) was
76. When he got married he……… a life insurance policy.
(A) took up
(B) took out
(C) took in
(D) took over
77. In the last few days, …… to help him ?
(A) anything has been done
(B) is anything done
(C) something is done
(D) has anything been done
78. While picking a rose she …… her hand on a thorn.
(A) stung
(B) scratched
(C) cut
(D) damaged
79. The child did not approve…… the father’s plan.
(A) to
(B) by
(C) of
(D) with
80. None of the food was wasted, ……… ?
(A) wasn’t it
(B) was it
(C) weren’t it
(D) were it
Directions—(Q. 81–90) You have two brief passages with five questions following each passage. Read the passages carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives and mark it in the Answer-Sheet.
Passage I
(Question Nos. 81 to 85)
Read not to contradict and confuse, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested. That is some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. Some books may also be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others but that would be only in the less important arguments and the meaner sort of books; else distilled books are like common distilled waters, flashy things. Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man and writing an exact man.
81. What should be the purpose of reading a book ?
(A) To contradict
(B) To weigh and consider
(C) To take it for granted
(D) To understand the contents
82. Why are some books to be tasted ?
(A) To be read with great care
(B) To be read with great attention
(C) To be read only in parts
(D) To be read for fun
83. How is man’s character influenced by the art of writing ?
(A) It makes him a great writer
(B) It makes him a ready man
(C) It makes him a full man
(D) It makes him an exact man
84. What kind of books is to be read by the deputy ?
(A) Extraordinary books
(B) Ordinary books
(C) Interesting books
(D) Meaner sort of books
85. What is meant by ‘chewed and digested’ ?
(A) Thoroughly read and understood
(B) Partly read and understood
(C) Understood without any effort
(D) None of the above
Passage II
(Question Nos. 86 to 90)
From the world of magic, hypnosis is moving into the world of medicine. From hocus-pocus performed by men in black capes, to hypnotherapy practised by doctors in white coats. The purpose is to help people stop smoking, lose weight, overcome phobias, and control pain in a variety of medical situations, from childbirth to cancer. Research laboratories are currently checking out the success rate of therapy under hypnosis, while medical journals stand by to publish the results. And the important thing is, nobody is laughing.
In the 1840’s, a British doctor in Calcutta created a controversy by performing over 1000 operations with hypnosis as the only anaesthesia. During the World Wars, German and British doctors used hypnosis to treat war neuroses.
86. Hypnosis means—
(A) auto-suggestion
(B) suggestion made in trance
(C) anaesthesia
(D) hocus-pocus
87. ‘Nobody is laughing’ at hypnotherapy now, because they are—
(A) sad
(B) angry
(C) taking it seriously
(D) annoyed
88. The purpose of hypnotherapy is to—
(A) cure patients
(B) make life easier
(C) carry out research
(D) check out the success rate
89. German and British doctors used hypnosis as—
(A) anaesthesia was not available
(B) anaesthesia was not needed
(C) it was a substitute for anaesthesia
(D) it was fashionable during the war period
90. Treating war neurosis means—
(A) curing madness
(B) curing brain fever
(C) dealing with war problems
(D) curing war anxiety
Directions—(Q. 91–100) In the following passage, some of the words have been left out and the blanks have been numbered from 91 to 100. First read the passage over and try to understand what it is about. Then fill in the blanks with the help of the alternatives given. Mark your answer in the Answer-Sheet.
Passage
The Aryans …91… about northern Asia and Europe over the wide grasslands. But as their numbers grew and the climate became drier and the land …92…, there was not …93… food for all of them to eat. …94… they were forced to move to other parts of the world in search of …95… They spread out all over Europe and …96… to India, Persia and Mesopotamia. Thus we find that nearly all the people of Europe and northern India and Persia and Mesopotamia, although they differ so much …97… each other now, are really descendants from the same …98…, the Aryans. Of course this was very long …99… and since then much has happened and races have got mixed up to a large extent. The Aryans are …100…, one great ancestral race of the people of the world today.
91. (A) wandered
(B) wondered
(C) worked
(D) worried
92. (A) grassful
(B) green
(C) grassless
(D) dead
93. (A) full
(B) enough
(C) plenty
(D) grass
94. (A) So
(B) As
(C) Because
(D) Yet
95. (A) riches
(B) money
(C) shelter
(D) food
96. (A) went
(B) came
(C) come
(D) has come
97. (A) to
(B) with
(C) on
(D) from
98. (A) friends
(B) family
(C) ancestors
(D) Aryans
99. (A) ago
(B) time
(C) period
(D) wait
100. (A) so
(B) since
(C) therefore
(D) but
Answers with Hints
1. (B) Change ‘by’ to ‘from’.
2. (A) Reword it as ‘where he could have’.
3. (B) Change ‘goes’ to ‘go’. Strictly grammatically ‘he’ should be followed by ‘goes’. But where suggestion is involved it assumes imperative form. i.e., go.
4. (C) Change ‘have’ to ‘has’ in order to accord with its subject introduction’.
5. (C) Change ‘enter’ to ‘to enter’.
6. (D)
7. (C) Change the clause as “the show had already begun”.
8. (C) Change ‘their’ to ‘his’. Use singular possessive with a singular subject.
9. (A) Change ‘me’ to ‘my’.
10. (B) Change ‘has been’ to ‘had been’.
11. (B) 12. (B) 13. (A) 14. (D) 15. (D) 16. (C) 17. (A) 18. (B)
19. (A) 20. (B) 21. (A) 22. (A) 23. (C) 24. (C) 25. (A) 26. (D)
27. (C) 28. (C) 29. (C) 30. (A)
31. (A) Correct spelling is ‘prioritise’.
32. (B) Correct spelling is ‘obnoxious’.
33. (A) Correct spelling is ‘penetrate’.
34. (A) Correct spelling is ‘passageway’.
35. (C) Correct spelling is ‘report’.
36. (B) Correct spelling is ‘dictionary’.
37. (C) Correct spelling is ‘tempestuous’.
38. (B) Correct spelling is ‘weather’.
39. (B) Correct spelling is ‘communicable’.
40. (C) Correct spelling is ‘capricious’.
41. (C) 42. (D) 43. (D) 44. (A) 45. (C) 46. (D) 47. (A) 48. (A)
49. (D) 50. (B) 51. (B) 52. (A) 53. (C) 54. (C) 55. (C) 56. (B)
57. (B) 58. (B) 59. (C) 60. (A) 61. (A) 62. (D) 63. (B) 64. (D)
65. (A) 66. (A) 67. (A) 68. (B) 69. (B) 70. (D) 71. (D) 72. (C)
73. (D) 74. (B) 75. (B) 76. (C) 77. (D) 78. (B) 79. (C) 80. (B)
81. (B) 82. (C) 83. (D) 84. (D) 85. (A) 86. (B) 87. (C) 88. (A)
89. (A) 90. (D) 91. (A) 92. (C) 93. (B) 94. (A) 95. (D) 96. (B)
97. (D) 98. (C) 99. (A) 100. (C)
General English : Solved Paper
Directions—(Q. 1–10) Some of the sentences have errors and some have none. Find out which part of a sentence has an error and blacken the rectangle [■] corresponding to the appropriate letter (A), (B) or (C). If there is no error, blacken the rectangle [■ ] corresponding to the letter (D) in the Answer-Sheet.
1. The whole country (A) / was suffering by (B) / a financial crisis. (C) No Error. (D)
2. I do not know where could he have gone (A) / so early (B) / in the morning. (C) No Error. (D)
3. I suggest that (A) / he goes (B) / to the doctor as soon as he returns from taking the examination. (C) No Error. (D)
4. The introduction of tea and coffee (A) / and such other beverages (B) / have not been without some effect. (C) No Error. (D)
5. In spite of the roadblock (A) / the guards allowed us (B) / enter the restricted area to search for our friends. (C) No Error. (D)
6. The newer type of automatic machines (A) / wash (B) / the clothes faster. (C) No Error. (D)
7. By the time (A) / we got our tickets and entered the cinema theatre (B) / the show was already begun. (C) No Error. (D)
8. Each of the students in the computer class (A) / has to type (B) / their own research paper this semester. (C) No Error. (D)
9. The fact of me (A) / being a stranger (B) / does not excuse his conduct. (C) No Error. (D)
10. The sea looks (A) / as if it has been (B) / agitated by a storm. (C) No Error. (D)
Directions—(Q. 11–20) Out of the four alternatives, choose the one which best expresses the meaning of the given word and mark it in the Answer-Sheet.
11. Illicit
(A) immoral
(B) illegal
(C) ineligible
(D) illegible
12. Flair
(A) talent
(B) tendency
(C) bias
(D) need
13. Conservation
(A) preservation
(B) respiration
(C) correction
(D) confusion
14. Abysmal
(A) sickening
(B) gloomy
(C) sad
(D) bottomless
15. Salient
(A) valiant
(B) variant
(C) prudent
(D) prominent
16. Decamp
(A) move
(B) encamp
(C) flee
(D) hide
17. Philanthropist
(A) benefactor
(B) beneficiary
(C) matron
(D) sponsor
18. Exotic
(A) alien
(B) strange
(C) rare
(D) grand
19. Incapacitate
(A) cripple
(B) strengthen
(C) imprison
(D) invent
20. Congregation
(A) concentration
(B) meeting
(C) discussion
(D) judgement
Directions—(Q. 21–30) Choose the word(s) opposite in meaning to the given word and blacken the appropriate rectangle [■] in the Answer-Sheet.
21. Suppress
(A) stir up
(B) rouse
(C) urge
(D) incite
22. Loosen
(A) fasten
(B) accelerate
(C) delay
(D) paste
23. Rebellion
(A) forgiveness
(B) retribution
(C) submission
(D) domination
24. Idiosyncrasy
(A) insanity
(B) sanity
(C) generality
(D) singularity
25. Sanguine
(A) diffident
(B) hopeless
(C) cynical
(D) morose
26. Sobriety
(A) moderation
(B) drunkenness
(C) dizziness
(D) stupidity
27. Extinct
(A) recent
(B) distinct
(C) alive
(D) ancient
28. Fiendish
(A) diabolical
(B) devilish
(C) angelic
(D) friendly
29. Subsequent
(A) eventual
(B) succeeding
(C) prior
(D) comparative
30. Orthodox
(A) revolutionary
(B) heretical
(C) anarchist
(D) generous
Directions—(Q. 31–40) Groups of four words are given. In each group, one word is wrongly spelt. Find the misspelt word and mark your answer in the Answer-Sheet.
31. (A) prioratise
(B) picturise
(C) visualise
(D) individualise
32. (A) mendacious
(B) obnoxcious
(C) pernicious
(D) ferocious
33. (A) pennetrate
(B) irritate
(C) hesitate
(D) perforate
34. (A) passagway
(B) causeway
(C) subway
(D) straightway
35. (A) rapport
(B) support
(C) repport
(D) purport
36. (A) stationery
(B) dictionery
(C) revolutionary
(D) voluntary
37. (A) temperature
(B) temperament
(C) tempastuous
(D) temptation
38. (A) whether
(B) weathere
(C) whither
(D) wither
39. (A) legible
(B) communiceble
(C) incorrigible
(D) eligible
40. (A) audacious
(B) auspicious
(C) caprisious
(D) credulous
Directions—(Q. 41–50) Four alternatives are given for the Idiom/Phrase Bold in the sentence. Choose the alternative which best expresses the meaning of the Idiom/Phrase and mark it in the Answer-Sheet.
41. Don’t worry about the silly row. It was just a storm in a tea cup.
(A) important matter dealt with ease
(B) hot tea being served
(C) commotion over a trivial matter
(D) confusion and chaos
42. The Rajput warriors set their face against the invader.
(A) became enemies
(B) turned away from
(C) faced difficulty
(D) opposed strongly
43. Syria is now currying favour with America.
(A) pleasing
(B) favouring
(C) obliging
(D) ingratiating itself with
44. Our Principal is not a man to mince matters.
(A) to confuse issues
(B) to say something mildly
(C) to mix everything together
(D) to be very modest
45. We tend to take for granted the conveniences of modern life.
(A) to consider
(B) to admit
(C) to accept readily
(D) to care for
46. The prodigal son was left high and dry by his friends, when he lost all his money.
(A) wounded
(B) alone
(C) depressed
(D) neglected
47. The success of his first novel completely turned his head.
(A) made him vain
(B) made him look back
(C) changed him completely
(D) made him think
48. She turns up her nose at this kind of dress.
(A) despises
(B) loves
(C) sees no harm in
(D) can just tolerate
49. At last the rioters fell back.
(A) fell on the ground
(B) yielded
(C) ran back
(D) turned back
50. The Madagascar Coup attempt ended in a fiasco.
(A) had no effect
(B) was an utter failure
(C) resulted in blood-shed
(D) was a disaster
Directions—(Q. 51–55) Out of the four alternatives, choose the one which can be substituted for the given words/sentence and indicate it by blackening the appropriate rectangle [■] in the. Answer-Sheet.
51. Belief that God is in everything and that everything is God—
(A) Atheism
(B) Pantheism
(C) Scepticism
(D) Animism
52. A picture of a person or a thing drawn in such a highly exaggerated manner as to cause laughter—
(A) Cartoon
(B) Cacography
(C) Cartography
(D) Caricature
53. The state of being miserable bereft of all possessions—
(A) Dependant
(B) Complacent
(C) Destitute
(D) Omnipresent
54. That which cannot be called back—
(A) Irresponsible
(B) Irrevocable
(C) Irredeemable
(D) Incalculable
55. One who journeys from place to place—
(A) Quack
(B) Cannibal
(C) Itinerant
(D) Courier
Directions—(Q. 56–60) A sentence has been given in Active Voice/Passive Voice. Out of the four alternatives suggested, select the one which best expresses the same sentence in Passive Voice/Active Voice and mark your answer in the Answer-Sheet.
56. We have already done the exercise.
(A) Already, the exercise has been done by us
(B) The exercise has already been done by us
(C) The exercise had been already done by us
(D) The exercise is already done by us
57. The main skills we seek to develop include analysing, interpreting and evaluating ideas.
(A) The main skills sought by us to develop include analysing, interpreting and evaluating ideas
(B) The main skills sought to be developed by us include analysing, interpreting and evaluating ideas
(C) The main skills that we are seeking to be developed include analysing, interpreting and evaluating ideas
(D) The main skills include analysing, interpreting and evaluating ideas which are sought by us to develop
58. Who can question Gandhi’s integrity ?
(A) By whom Gandhi’s integrity can be questioned ?
(B) By whom can Gandhi’s integrity be questioned ?
(C) Gandhi’s integrity can be questioned by whom ?
(D) Who could have questioned Gandhi’s integrity ?
59. He presented me a bouquet on my birthday.
(A) A bouquet is presented to me on my birthday by him
(B) I was presented on my birthday a bouquet by him
(C) I was presented a bouquet on my birthday by him
(D) I will be presented a bouquet on my birthday by him
60. This surface feels smooth.
(A) This surface is felt smooth
(B) This surface is smooth when it is felt
(C) This surface when felt is smooth
(D) This surface is smooth as felt
Directions—(Q. 61–65) A part of the sentence is Bold. Below are given alternatives to the Bold part at (A), (B) and (C), which may improve the sentence. Choose the correct alternative. In case no improvement is needed, your answer is (D) and mark it in the Answer-Sheet.
61. In the desert, the sun is the master, all else resigns before its merciless rays.
(A) collapses
(B) falls
(C) retires
(D) No improvement
62. I intend to learn French next year.
(A) learning
(B) learn
(C) have learnt
(D) No improvement
63. The police needed him for armed robbery.
(A) liked
(B) was after
(C) were looking to
(D) No improvement
64. There is no more room for you in this compartment.
(A) no more seat
(B) no more space
(C) no more accommodation
(D) No improvement
65. It is easy to see why cities grew on the river banks.
(A) along the river banks
(B) in the river banks
(C) upon the river banks
(D) No improvement
Directions—(Q. 66–70) The first and the last parts of the sentence/passage are numbered (1) and (6). The rest of the sentence/passage is split into four parts and named (P), (Q), (R) and (S). These four parts are not given in their proper order. Read the sentence/passage and find out which of the four combinations is correct and mark your answer in the Answer-Sheet—
66. (1) Einstein was a bad student.
(P) He attended classes regularly and took down careful notes.
(Q) His friend Marcel Grossman, on the other hand, was an irreproachable student
(R) These notes he shared with Einstein
(S) He resented having to attend lectures
(6) If Einstein passed his examinations, it was only because of Grossman
(A) SQPR
(B) QRPS
(C) PSRQ
(D) RSQP
67. (1) Creating and modifying a school timetable is a complex task.
(P) ‘TT Plus’ closely models the real world timetable creation tasks
(Q) So is the job of computerizing it
(R) All timetables can be viewed on the screen before they are actually printed
(S) It has a comprehensive manual and a useful glossary of terms.
(6) It relieves you of the anxiety to get it all right.
(A) QPSR
(B) RPSQ
(C) SPRQ
(D) PQSR
68. (1) Three painters competed for a prize.
(P) Ram painted a curtain.
(Q) A butterfly came and sat on the bunch of flowers–was painted by Shyam
(R) And an ox tried to eat from the basket of apples–was painted by Sohan
(S) And the judge himself tried to lift the curtain.
(6) So Ram got the prize.
(A) PSQR
(B) PQRS
(C) PSRQ
(D) QRPS
69. (1) The farmer wanted to please the men.
(P) The poor donkey struggled and kicked.
(Q) They tied his legs together and slung him on a pole.
(R) The farmer and his son put the ends of the pole on their shoulders
(S) He and his son got off the donkey.
(6) They walked into the town carrying the donkey
(A) PQRS
(B) SQRP
(C) RSQP
(D) QSPR
70. (1) The wife is.
(P) not the husband’s slave
(Q) but his companion and his help-mate
(R) and an equal partner
(S) in all his joys and sorrows,
(6) as free as the husband to choose her own path.
(A) QRSP
(B) PRQS
(C) QSRP
(D) PQRS
Directions—(Q. 71–80) Sentences are given with blanks to be filled in with the appropriate word(s). Four alternatives are suggested for each question. Choose the correct alternative out of the four and indicate it by blackening the appropriate rectangle [■] in the Answer-Sheet.
71. When I was speaking to Rani over the phone suddenly we were………
(A) hung up
(B) run out
(C) broken down
(D) cut off
72. The farmer had……… land and many servants.
(A) very little
(B) some
(C) a lot of
(D) many
73. The tribes lived …… customs different from anything the English had ever seen.
(A) on
(B) by
(C) off
(D) with
74. The criminal together with his associates…… arrested.
(A) are
(B) was
(C) were
(D) have
75. By the time I reach America, it …… morning.
(A) is
(B) would be
(C) must be
(D) was
76. When he got married he……… a life insurance policy.
(A) took up
(B) took out
(C) took in
(D) took over
77. In the last few days, …… to help him ?
(A) anything has been done
(B) is anything done
(C) something is done
(D) has anything been done
78. While picking a rose she …… her hand on a thorn.
(A) stung
(B) scratched
(C) cut
(D) damaged
79. The child did not approve…… the father’s plan.
(A) to
(B) by
(C) of
(D) with
80. None of the food was wasted, ……… ?
(A) wasn’t it
(B) was it
(C) weren’t it
(D) were it
Directions—(Q. 81–90) You have two brief passages with five questions following each passage. Read the passages carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives and mark it in the Answer-Sheet.
Passage I
(Question Nos. 81 to 85)
Read not to contradict and confuse, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested. That is some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. Some books may also be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others but that would be only in the less important arguments and the meaner sort of books; else distilled books are like common distilled waters, flashy things. Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man and writing an exact man.
81. What should be the purpose of reading a book ?
(A) To contradict
(B) To weigh and consider
(C) To take it for granted
(D) To understand the contents
82. Why are some books to be tasted ?
(A) To be read with great care
(B) To be read with great attention
(C) To be read only in parts
(D) To be read for fun
83. How is man’s character influenced by the art of writing ?
(A) It makes him a great writer
(B) It makes him a ready man
(C) It makes him a full man
(D) It makes him an exact man
84. What kind of books is to be read by the deputy ?
(A) Extraordinary books
(B) Ordinary books
(C) Interesting books
(D) Meaner sort of books
85. What is meant by ‘chewed and digested’ ?
(A) Thoroughly read and understood
(B) Partly read and understood
(C) Understood without any effort
(D) None of the above
Passage II
(Question Nos. 86 to 90)
From the world of magic, hypnosis is moving into the world of medicine. From hocus-pocus performed by men in black capes, to hypnotherapy practised by doctors in white coats. The purpose is to help people stop smoking, lose weight, overcome phobias, and control pain in a variety of medical situations, from childbirth to cancer. Research laboratories are currently checking out the success rate of therapy under hypnosis, while medical journals stand by to publish the results. And the important thing is, nobody is laughing.
In the 1840’s, a British doctor in Calcutta created a controversy by performing over 1000 operations with hypnosis as the only anaesthesia. During the World Wars, German and British doctors used hypnosis to treat war neuroses.
86. Hypnosis means—
(A) auto-suggestion
(B) suggestion made in trance
(C) anaesthesia
(D) hocus-pocus
87. ‘Nobody is laughing’ at hypnotherapy now, because they are—
(A) sad
(B) angry
(C) taking it seriously
(D) annoyed
88. The purpose of hypnotherapy is to—
(A) cure patients
(B) make life easier
(C) carry out research
(D) check out the success rate
89. German and British doctors used hypnosis as—
(A) anaesthesia was not available
(B) anaesthesia was not needed
(C) it was a substitute for anaesthesia
(D) it was fashionable during the war period
90. Treating war neurosis means—
(A) curing madness
(B) curing brain fever
(C) dealing with war problems
(D) curing war anxiety
Directions—(Q. 91–100) In the following passage, some of the words have been left out and the blanks have been numbered from 91 to 100. First read the passage over and try to understand what it is about. Then fill in the blanks with the help of the alternatives given. Mark your answer in the Answer-Sheet.
Passage
The Aryans …91… about northern Asia and Europe over the wide grasslands. But as their numbers grew and the climate became drier and the land …92…, there was not …93… food for all of them to eat. …94… they were forced to move to other parts of the world in search of …95… They spread out all over Europe and …96… to India, Persia and Mesopotamia. Thus we find that nearly all the people of Europe and northern India and Persia and Mesopotamia, although they differ so much …97… each other now, are really descendants from the same …98…, the Aryans. Of course this was very long …99… and since then much has happened and races have got mixed up to a large extent. The Aryans are …100…, one great ancestral race of the people of the world today.
91. (A) wandered
(B) wondered
(C) worked
(D) worried
92. (A) grassful
(B) green
(C) grassless
(D) dead
93. (A) full
(B) enough
(C) plenty
(D) grass
94. (A) So
(B) As
(C) Because
(D) Yet
95. (A) riches
(B) money
(C) shelter
(D) food
96. (A) went
(B) came
(C) come
(D) has come
97. (A) to
(B) with
(C) on
(D) from
98. (A) friends
(B) family
(C) ancestors
(D) Aryans
99. (A) ago
(B) time
(C) period
(D) wait
100. (A) so
(B) since
(C) therefore
(D) but
Answers with Hints
1. (B) Change ‘by’ to ‘from’.
2. (A) Reword it as ‘where he could have’.
3. (B) Change ‘goes’ to ‘go’. Strictly grammatically ‘he’ should be followed by ‘goes’. But where suggestion is involved it assumes imperative form. i.e., go.
4. (C) Change ‘have’ to ‘has’ in order to accord with its subject introduction’.
5. (C) Change ‘enter’ to ‘to enter’.
6. (D)
7. (C) Change the clause as “the show had already begun”.
8. (C) Change ‘their’ to ‘his’. Use singular possessive with a singular subject.
9. (A) Change ‘me’ to ‘my’.
10. (B) Change ‘has been’ to ‘had been’.
11. (B) 12. (B) 13. (A) 14. (D) 15. (D) 16. (C) 17. (A) 18. (B)
19. (A) 20. (B) 21. (A) 22. (A) 23. (C) 24. (C) 25. (A) 26. (D)
27. (C) 28. (C) 29. (C) 30. (A)
31. (A) Correct spelling is ‘prioritise’.
32. (B) Correct spelling is ‘obnoxious’.
33. (A) Correct spelling is ‘penetrate’.
34. (A) Correct spelling is ‘passageway’.
35. (C) Correct spelling is ‘report’.
36. (B) Correct spelling is ‘dictionary’.
37. (C) Correct spelling is ‘tempestuous’.
38. (B) Correct spelling is ‘weather’.
39. (B) Correct spelling is ‘communicable’.
40. (C) Correct spelling is ‘capricious’.
41. (C) 42. (D) 43. (D) 44. (A) 45. (C) 46. (D) 47. (A) 48. (A)
49. (D) 50. (B) 51. (B) 52. (A) 53. (C) 54. (C) 55. (C) 56. (B)
57. (B) 58. (B) 59. (C) 60. (A) 61. (A) 62. (D) 63. (B) 64. (D)
65. (A) 66. (A) 67. (A) 68. (B) 69. (B) 70. (D) 71. (D) 72. (C)
73. (D) 74. (B) 75. (B) 76. (C) 77. (D) 78. (B) 79. (C) 80. (B)
81. (B) 82. (C) 83. (D) 84. (D) 85. (A) 86. (B) 87. (C) 88. (A)
89. (A) 90. (D) 91. (A) 92. (C) 93. (B) 94. (A) 95. (D) 96. (B)
97. (D) 98. (C) 99. (A) 100. (C)
S.S.C. Central Police Organizations
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S.S.C. Central Police Organizations
Sub-Inspectors Exam. 2008
General Awareness : Solved Paper
Test–II
51. The Qutub Minar was completed by the famous ruler—
(A) Qutub-ud-din Aibak
(B) Iltutmish
(C) Firoz Shah Tughlaq
(D) Alauddin Khilji
51. The Qutub Minar was completed by the famous ruler—
(A) Qutub-ud-din Aibak
(B) Iltutmish
(C) Firoz Shah Tughlaq
(D) Alauddin Khilji
52. Which of the following are incorrectly paired ?
(A) Krishnadeva Raya—Amukta malyada
(B) Harshavardhana—Nagananda
(C) Kalidasa—Ritusamhara
(D) Visakhadatta—Kiratarjuniyam
53. Who was the first Muslim President of the Indian National Congress ?
(A) Muhammed Ali Jinnah
(B) Badruddin Tyabji
(C) Sir Syed Ahmed Khan
(D) Abul Kalam Azad
54. During which Gupta King’s reign did the Chinese traveller Fa-hien visit India ?
(A) Chandra Gupta I
(B) Samudra Gupta
(C) Chandra Gupta II
(D) Kumara Gupta
55. The administrative consequence of the Revolt of 1857 was transfer of power from—
(A) East India Company to the British Crown
(B) British Crown to the East India Company
(C) East India Company to the Governor General
(D) British Crown to the Board of Directors
56. The issue on which the Civil Disobedience Movement of 1930 was launched was—
(A) Equal employment opportunities for Indians
(B) The proposed execution of Bhagat Singh
(C) Salt monopoly exercised by the British Government
(D) Complete freedom
57. The Rajya Sabha is dissolved after—
(A) Every five years
(B) Every six years
(C) On the advice of the Prime Minister
(D) None of the above
58. Who was the last Governor-General of India ?
(A) Sir Cripps
(B) Lord Mountbatten
(C) C. Rajagopalachari
(D) Sir Attlee
59. Which party provided two Prime Ministers in two years’ time ?
(A) B.J.P.
(B) Janata Party
(C) Janata Dal
(D) Samajwadi Janata Party
60. Which Directive Principle bears the direct impact of Gandhi’s moral philosophy ?
(A) Equal pay for equal work
(B) Provision of free legal aid and advice
(C) Prohibition of the slaughter of cows
(D) Protection of the monuments of historical importance
61. Which Article of the Indian Constitution abolishes ‘Untouchability’ ?
(A) 14
(B) 15
(C) 16
(D) 17
62. In case the President wishes to resign, to whom is he to address his resignation letter ?
(A) Chief Justice of India
(B) Secretary of Lok Sabha
(C) Vice-President
(D) Prime Minister
63. The Preamble of our Constitution reads India as—
(A) Sovereign, Democratic, Socialist, Secular Republic
(B) Socialist, Democratic, Secular Republic
(C) Democratic, Sovereign, Secular, Socialist Republic
(D) Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic Republic
64. Which of the following are Financial Committees of Parliament in India ?
1. Public Accounts Committee
2. Estimates Committee
3. Committee on Public Undertaking
(A) 1 and 3
(B) 1 and 2
(C) 2 and 3
(D) 1, 2 and 3
65. Match the following cities and their airports—
List-I
(a) Chhatrapati Shivaji
(b) Heathrow
(c) Payalebar
(d) Kaitak
List-II
1. Singapore
2. Hongkong
3. London
4. Mumbai
Code
(a) (b) (c) (d)
(A) 2 4 1 3
(B) 3 2 4 1
(C) 1 3 2 4
(D) 4 3 1 2
66. Which one of the following methods of soil conservation is most effective in arid areas ?
(A) Mulching
(B) Shelter belt
(C) Gully plugging
(D) Terracing
67. The river which is not Westflowing towards the Arabian Sea is—
(A) Narmada
(B) Tapti
(C) Periyar
(D) Kaveri
68. Tsunamis are caused by—
(A) Mixing of cold and warm currents
(B) Earthquakes
(C) Changes in sea level
(D) Volcanic eruption
69. Which current is responsible for increasing the temperature of Western Europe ?
(A) Labrador current
(B) Gulf stream
(C) Canari current
(D) North Equatorial current
70. Smog is a combination of—
(A) Air and water vapours
(B) Water and smoke
(C) Fire and water
(D) Smoke and fog
71. A refrigerator operating in a chemist’s shop is an example of—
(A) Free good
(B) Final good
(C) Producer’s good
(D) Consumer’s good
72. Disinvestment is—
(A) Offloading of shares of private companies to government
(B) Offloading of government shares to private companies
(C) Increase in investment
(D) Closing down of business concerns
73. S.D.R. stands for—
(A) Special Dollar Rights
(B) Special Drawing Rights
(C) State Drawing Rights
(D) Specific Dollar Rights
74. The Commission in India dealing with minimum support price, procurement price, etc. in connection with agricultural goods is the—
(A) Planning Commission
(B) Agricultural Costs and Prices Commission
(C) Agricultural Price Commission
(D) National Marketing Commission
75. Which one of the following is a development expenditure ?
(A) Irrigation expenditure
(B) Civil administration
(C) Debt services
(D) Grant-in-aid
76. When average cost of production (AC) falls, marginal cost of production must be—
(A) Rising
(B) Falling
(C) Greater than the average cost
(D) Less than the average cost
77. Green Banking means—
(A) Development of forestry by banks
(B) Financing of environmental friendly projects by banks
(C) Financing of irrigation projects by banks
(D) None of the above
78. Which one of the following is not correct ?
(A) First Five Year Plan, 1951-56
(B) Second Five Year Plan, 1956-61
(C) Third Five Year Plan, 1961-66
(D) Fourth Five Year Plan, 1966-71
79. Which one of the following is not a quantitative credit control technique ?
(A) Bank Rate
(B) Cash Reserve Ratio
(C) Statutory Liquidity Ratio
(D) Increase of interest rate on saving deposit
80. Which one of the following statements is correct ?
(A) Good money drives bad money out of circulation
(B) Bad money drives good money out of circulation
(C) Good and bad money cannot circulate together
(D) Cannot say
81. Tetanus is caused by—
(A) Clostridium
(B) Virus
(C) Bacteriophage
(D) Salmonella
82. Vitamin E is particularly important for—
(A) Development of teeth
(B) Carbohydrate metabolism
(C) Normal activity of sex glands
(D) General health of epithelial tissues
83. Birds usually have a single—
(A) Kidney
(B) Lung
(C) Testis
(D) Ovary
84. Blood pressure is controlled by—
(A) Adrenal gland
(B) Thyroid gland
(C) Thymus
(D) Corpus luteum
85. The carbon dioxide content in the air that we exhale is about—
(A) 4%
(B) 8%
(C) 12%
(D) 16%
86. Maximum harm to a tree is caused by—
(A) Loss of half of its leaves
(B) Loss of all leaves
(C) Loss of half of its branches
(D) Loss of its bark
87. Mineral constituent of chlorophyll is—
(A) Iron
(B) Magnesium
(C) Calcium
(D) Potassium
88. Which part of tongue bears cells for sour taste ?
(A) Front
(B) Back
(C) Sides
(D) Middle
89. The deficiency of Vitamin B causes—
(A) Scurvy
(B) Dermatitis
(C) Beri-beri
(D) Phynoderma
90. In which vertebrate does oxygenated and deoxygenated blood get mixed ?
(A) Fish
(B) Amphibian
(C) Bird
(D) Mammal
91. Which of the following circuit elements is used to ‘block’ DC in an electronic circuit ?
(A) Resistance
(B) Capacitance
(C) Inductance
(D) Diode
92. Spectacles used for viewing 3D films have—
(A) Bifocal lens
(B) Convex lens
(C) Concave lens
(D) Polaroids
93. The number of satellites of the planet Mercury is—
(A) 0
(B) 1
(C) 2
(D) 16
94. A boy sitting in an open car moving with constant speed throws a ball straight up into the air. The ball falls—
(A) Behind him
(B) In front of him
(C) Into his hand
(D) By his side
95. Which of the following does not belong to the solar system ?
(A) Asteroids
(B) Comets
(C) Planets
(D) Nebulae
96. The process involved in making soap is—
(A) Saponification
(B) Hydrolysis
(C) Condensation
(D) Polymerisation
97. Sea water can be purified by the process of—
(A) Distillation
(B) Evaporation
(C) Filtration
(D) Fractional distillation
98. Detergents clean surfaces on the principle of—
(A) Viscosity
(B) Surface tension
(C) Elasticity
(D) Floatation
99. The compound to which H2 does not add is—
(A) Biphenyl ethylene
(B) Tetraphenyl ethylene
(C) Tetrachloro ethane
(D) Tetracyano ethylene
100. Ammonal is a mixture of—
(A) Aluminium powder and ammonium nitrate
(B) Aluminium powder and ammonium chloride
(C) Aluminium powder and ammonium sulphate
(D) Aluminium powder and potassium nitrate
101. Which gas does not form the part of atmosphere ?
(A) Nitrogen
(B) Helium
(C) Chlorine
(D) None of the above
102. The number of players in each side in Water Polo is—
(A) 07
(B) 09
(C) 05
(D) 04
103. A kilowatt-hour is unit of—
(A) Energy
(B) Power
(C) Electric charge
(D) Electric current
104. In the post-independence period, economic reforms were first introduced in India under—
(A) P.V. Narasimha Rao Government (1990)
(B) Indira Gandhi Government (1980)
(C) Rajiv Gandhi Government (1985)
(D) Janata Party Government (1977)
105. The Report of Vijay Kelkar Committee relates to—
(A) Trade Reforms
(B) Centre-State Financial Relations
(C) Disinvestment in Public Sector Enterprises
(D) Tax Reforms
106. Molotov cocktail is a—
(A) Meeting
(B) Council
(C) Drink
(D) Grenade
107. Who was the first woman in the world to scale the Mount Everest ?
(A) Bachendri Pal
(B) Junko Tabei
(C) Yoko Ono
(D) Aung Sung
108. Who was the author of the Kadambari, a great romantic play ?
(A) Banabhatta
(B) Harshavardhana
(C) Bhaskaravardhan
(D) Bindusara
109. Who is the author of the book ‘What Went Wrong’ ?
(A) Sushma Swaraj
(B) Sonia Gandhi
(C) Shaila Nigar
(D) Kiran Bedi
110. Which sports person is nick named Dennis the Menace ?
(A) Andre Agassi
(B) Jim Courier
(C) Pete Samprass
(D) John McNroe
111. Bhilai Steel Plant was built with the collaboration of—
(A) Germany
(B) Soviet Union
(C) United Kingdom
(D) Japan
112. Ventilators are provided near the ceiling of the room because—
(A) The exhaled warmer air rises up and goes out
(B) These provide cross ventilation in the room
(C) These provide some sunlight in the room
(D) These do not look nice in the lower part
113. The hair of shaving brush clings together when removed from water due to—
(A) Surface tension
(B) Viscosity
(C) Elasticity
(D) Friction
114. In severe winter, in cold countries water pipes burst because—
(A) Water expands on freezing
(B) Contraction of water pipes
(C) High atmospheric pressure
(D) Combined effect of all the above three
115. The pair which is not a twin-city is—
(A) Hyderabad-Secunderabad
(B) Durgapur-Asansol
(C) Calcutta-Howrah
(D) Delhi-New Delhi
116. Who was the second man to land on the Moon ?
(A) Yuri Gagarin
(B) Neil Armstrong
(C) Buzz Aldrin
(D) Michael Collins
117. The fuel used in an atomic reactor is—
(A) Coal
(B) Petrol
(C) Combustable gases
(D) Uranium
118. The Gir Forest is noted for its—
(A) Lion sanctuary
(B) Deer-Park
(C) Tiger sanctuary
(D) Crocodile Park
119. White coal is—
(A) Uranium
(B) Hydro-electricity
(C) Diamond
(D) Ice
120. Who amongst the following cricketers has been chosen for Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, 2007 ?
(A) Rahul Dravid
(B) M. S. Dhoni
(C) Sachin Tendulkar
(D) Virender Sehwag
121. ICI is the name associated with—
(A) A MNC which manufactures chemicals
(B) Indian Cement Industry
(C) Chamber of Commerce and Industry
(D) A private sector bank
122. With the inclusion of Coal India Limited recently in the list of Nav Ratna PSEs, their number now stands at—
(A) 15
(B) 16
(C) 17
(D) 18
123. ‘Nextzone’, an information technology SEZ is being established at—
(A) Panki in Uttar Pradesh
(B) Panvel in Maharashtra
(C) Bangalore in Karnataka
(D) Secunderabad in Andhra Pradesh
124. The name of India’s research station at the North pole is—
(A) Dakshin Gangotri
(B) Maitri
(C) Himadri
(D) None of the above
125. The finalists of the AFC Challenge Cup 2008 were—
(A) India and Myanmar
(B) India and Tajakistan
(C) D.P.R.K. and Tajakistan
(D) Myanmar and D.P.R.K.
Answers :
51. (B) 52. (D) 53. (B) 54. (C) 55. (A) 56. (D) 57. (D) 58. (C) 59. (B) 60. (B)
61. (D) 62. (C) 63. (D) 64. (D) 65. (D) 66. (B) 67. (D) 68. (B) 69. (D) 70. (D)
71. (D) 72. (B) 73. (B) 74. (B) 75. (A) 76. (D) 77. (B) 78. (D) 79. (D) 80. (B)
81. (A) 82. (C) 83. (D) 84. (A) 85. (A) 86. (B) 87. (B) 88. (C) 89. (C) 90. (B)
91. (B) 92. (A) 93. (A) 94. (C) 95. (D) 96. (A) 97. (A) 98. (B) 99. (D) 100. (A)
101. (C) 102. (A) 103. (A) 104. (A) 105. (D) 106. (D) 107. (B) 108. (A) 109. (D) 110. (A)
111. (B) 112. (A) 113. (A) 114. (A) 115. (B) 116. (C) 117. (D) 118. (A) 119. (B) 120. (B)
121. (A) 122. (D) 123. (B) 124. (C) 125. (B)
Sub-Inspectors Exam. 2008
General Awareness : Solved Paper
Test–II
51. The Qutub Minar was completed by the famous ruler—
(A) Qutub-ud-din Aibak
(B) Iltutmish
(C) Firoz Shah Tughlaq
(D) Alauddin Khilji
51. The Qutub Minar was completed by the famous ruler—
(A) Qutub-ud-din Aibak
(B) Iltutmish
(C) Firoz Shah Tughlaq
(D) Alauddin Khilji
52. Which of the following are incorrectly paired ?
(A) Krishnadeva Raya—Amukta malyada
(B) Harshavardhana—Nagananda
(C) Kalidasa—Ritusamhara
(D) Visakhadatta—Kiratarjuniyam
53. Who was the first Muslim President of the Indian National Congress ?
(A) Muhammed Ali Jinnah
(B) Badruddin Tyabji
(C) Sir Syed Ahmed Khan
(D) Abul Kalam Azad
54. During which Gupta King’s reign did the Chinese traveller Fa-hien visit India ?
(A) Chandra Gupta I
(B) Samudra Gupta
(C) Chandra Gupta II
(D) Kumara Gupta
55. The administrative consequence of the Revolt of 1857 was transfer of power from—
(A) East India Company to the British Crown
(B) British Crown to the East India Company
(C) East India Company to the Governor General
(D) British Crown to the Board of Directors
56. The issue on which the Civil Disobedience Movement of 1930 was launched was—
(A) Equal employment opportunities for Indians
(B) The proposed execution of Bhagat Singh
(C) Salt monopoly exercised by the British Government
(D) Complete freedom
57. The Rajya Sabha is dissolved after—
(A) Every five years
(B) Every six years
(C) On the advice of the Prime Minister
(D) None of the above
58. Who was the last Governor-General of India ?
(A) Sir Cripps
(B) Lord Mountbatten
(C) C. Rajagopalachari
(D) Sir Attlee
59. Which party provided two Prime Ministers in two years’ time ?
(A) B.J.P.
(B) Janata Party
(C) Janata Dal
(D) Samajwadi Janata Party
60. Which Directive Principle bears the direct impact of Gandhi’s moral philosophy ?
(A) Equal pay for equal work
(B) Provision of free legal aid and advice
(C) Prohibition of the slaughter of cows
(D) Protection of the monuments of historical importance
61. Which Article of the Indian Constitution abolishes ‘Untouchability’ ?
(A) 14
(B) 15
(C) 16
(D) 17
62. In case the President wishes to resign, to whom is he to address his resignation letter ?
(A) Chief Justice of India
(B) Secretary of Lok Sabha
(C) Vice-President
(D) Prime Minister
63. The Preamble of our Constitution reads India as—
(A) Sovereign, Democratic, Socialist, Secular Republic
(B) Socialist, Democratic, Secular Republic
(C) Democratic, Sovereign, Secular, Socialist Republic
(D) Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic Republic
64. Which of the following are Financial Committees of Parliament in India ?
1. Public Accounts Committee
2. Estimates Committee
3. Committee on Public Undertaking
(A) 1 and 3
(B) 1 and 2
(C) 2 and 3
(D) 1, 2 and 3
65. Match the following cities and their airports—
List-I
(a) Chhatrapati Shivaji
(b) Heathrow
(c) Payalebar
(d) Kaitak
List-II
1. Singapore
2. Hongkong
3. London
4. Mumbai
Code
(a) (b) (c) (d)
(A) 2 4 1 3
(B) 3 2 4 1
(C) 1 3 2 4
(D) 4 3 1 2
66. Which one of the following methods of soil conservation is most effective in arid areas ?
(A) Mulching
(B) Shelter belt
(C) Gully plugging
(D) Terracing
67. The river which is not Westflowing towards the Arabian Sea is—
(A) Narmada
(B) Tapti
(C) Periyar
(D) Kaveri
68. Tsunamis are caused by—
(A) Mixing of cold and warm currents
(B) Earthquakes
(C) Changes in sea level
(D) Volcanic eruption
69. Which current is responsible for increasing the temperature of Western Europe ?
(A) Labrador current
(B) Gulf stream
(C) Canari current
(D) North Equatorial current
70. Smog is a combination of—
(A) Air and water vapours
(B) Water and smoke
(C) Fire and water
(D) Smoke and fog
71. A refrigerator operating in a chemist’s shop is an example of—
(A) Free good
(B) Final good
(C) Producer’s good
(D) Consumer’s good
72. Disinvestment is—
(A) Offloading of shares of private companies to government
(B) Offloading of government shares to private companies
(C) Increase in investment
(D) Closing down of business concerns
73. S.D.R. stands for—
(A) Special Dollar Rights
(B) Special Drawing Rights
(C) State Drawing Rights
(D) Specific Dollar Rights
74. The Commission in India dealing with minimum support price, procurement price, etc. in connection with agricultural goods is the—
(A) Planning Commission
(B) Agricultural Costs and Prices Commission
(C) Agricultural Price Commission
(D) National Marketing Commission
75. Which one of the following is a development expenditure ?
(A) Irrigation expenditure
(B) Civil administration
(C) Debt services
(D) Grant-in-aid
76. When average cost of production (AC) falls, marginal cost of production must be—
(A) Rising
(B) Falling
(C) Greater than the average cost
(D) Less than the average cost
77. Green Banking means—
(A) Development of forestry by banks
(B) Financing of environmental friendly projects by banks
(C) Financing of irrigation projects by banks
(D) None of the above
78. Which one of the following is not correct ?
(A) First Five Year Plan, 1951-56
(B) Second Five Year Plan, 1956-61
(C) Third Five Year Plan, 1961-66
(D) Fourth Five Year Plan, 1966-71
79. Which one of the following is not a quantitative credit control technique ?
(A) Bank Rate
(B) Cash Reserve Ratio
(C) Statutory Liquidity Ratio
(D) Increase of interest rate on saving deposit
80. Which one of the following statements is correct ?
(A) Good money drives bad money out of circulation
(B) Bad money drives good money out of circulation
(C) Good and bad money cannot circulate together
(D) Cannot say
81. Tetanus is caused by—
(A) Clostridium
(B) Virus
(C) Bacteriophage
(D) Salmonella
82. Vitamin E is particularly important for—
(A) Development of teeth
(B) Carbohydrate metabolism
(C) Normal activity of sex glands
(D) General health of epithelial tissues
83. Birds usually have a single—
(A) Kidney
(B) Lung
(C) Testis
(D) Ovary
84. Blood pressure is controlled by—
(A) Adrenal gland
(B) Thyroid gland
(C) Thymus
(D) Corpus luteum
85. The carbon dioxide content in the air that we exhale is about—
(A) 4%
(B) 8%
(C) 12%
(D) 16%
86. Maximum harm to a tree is caused by—
(A) Loss of half of its leaves
(B) Loss of all leaves
(C) Loss of half of its branches
(D) Loss of its bark
87. Mineral constituent of chlorophyll is—
(A) Iron
(B) Magnesium
(C) Calcium
(D) Potassium
88. Which part of tongue bears cells for sour taste ?
(A) Front
(B) Back
(C) Sides
(D) Middle
89. The deficiency of Vitamin B causes—
(A) Scurvy
(B) Dermatitis
(C) Beri-beri
(D) Phynoderma
90. In which vertebrate does oxygenated and deoxygenated blood get mixed ?
(A) Fish
(B) Amphibian
(C) Bird
(D) Mammal
91. Which of the following circuit elements is used to ‘block’ DC in an electronic circuit ?
(A) Resistance
(B) Capacitance
(C) Inductance
(D) Diode
92. Spectacles used for viewing 3D films have—
(A) Bifocal lens
(B) Convex lens
(C) Concave lens
(D) Polaroids
93. The number of satellites of the planet Mercury is—
(A) 0
(B) 1
(C) 2
(D) 16
94. A boy sitting in an open car moving with constant speed throws a ball straight up into the air. The ball falls—
(A) Behind him
(B) In front of him
(C) Into his hand
(D) By his side
95. Which of the following does not belong to the solar system ?
(A) Asteroids
(B) Comets
(C) Planets
(D) Nebulae
96. The process involved in making soap is—
(A) Saponification
(B) Hydrolysis
(C) Condensation
(D) Polymerisation
97. Sea water can be purified by the process of—
(A) Distillation
(B) Evaporation
(C) Filtration
(D) Fractional distillation
98. Detergents clean surfaces on the principle of—
(A) Viscosity
(B) Surface tension
(C) Elasticity
(D) Floatation
99. The compound to which H2 does not add is—
(A) Biphenyl ethylene
(B) Tetraphenyl ethylene
(C) Tetrachloro ethane
(D) Tetracyano ethylene
100. Ammonal is a mixture of—
(A) Aluminium powder and ammonium nitrate
(B) Aluminium powder and ammonium chloride
(C) Aluminium powder and ammonium sulphate
(D) Aluminium powder and potassium nitrate
101. Which gas does not form the part of atmosphere ?
(A) Nitrogen
(B) Helium
(C) Chlorine
(D) None of the above
102. The number of players in each side in Water Polo is—
(A) 07
(B) 09
(C) 05
(D) 04
103. A kilowatt-hour is unit of—
(A) Energy
(B) Power
(C) Electric charge
(D) Electric current
104. In the post-independence period, economic reforms were first introduced in India under—
(A) P.V. Narasimha Rao Government (1990)
(B) Indira Gandhi Government (1980)
(C) Rajiv Gandhi Government (1985)
(D) Janata Party Government (1977)
105. The Report of Vijay Kelkar Committee relates to—
(A) Trade Reforms
(B) Centre-State Financial Relations
(C) Disinvestment in Public Sector Enterprises
(D) Tax Reforms
106. Molotov cocktail is a—
(A) Meeting
(B) Council
(C) Drink
(D) Grenade
107. Who was the first woman in the world to scale the Mount Everest ?
(A) Bachendri Pal
(B) Junko Tabei
(C) Yoko Ono
(D) Aung Sung
108. Who was the author of the Kadambari, a great romantic play ?
(A) Banabhatta
(B) Harshavardhana
(C) Bhaskaravardhan
(D) Bindusara
109. Who is the author of the book ‘What Went Wrong’ ?
(A) Sushma Swaraj
(B) Sonia Gandhi
(C) Shaila Nigar
(D) Kiran Bedi
110. Which sports person is nick named Dennis the Menace ?
(A) Andre Agassi
(B) Jim Courier
(C) Pete Samprass
(D) John McNroe
111. Bhilai Steel Plant was built with the collaboration of—
(A) Germany
(B) Soviet Union
(C) United Kingdom
(D) Japan
112. Ventilators are provided near the ceiling of the room because—
(A) The exhaled warmer air rises up and goes out
(B) These provide cross ventilation in the room
(C) These provide some sunlight in the room
(D) These do not look nice in the lower part
113. The hair of shaving brush clings together when removed from water due to—
(A) Surface tension
(B) Viscosity
(C) Elasticity
(D) Friction
114. In severe winter, in cold countries water pipes burst because—
(A) Water expands on freezing
(B) Contraction of water pipes
(C) High atmospheric pressure
(D) Combined effect of all the above three
115. The pair which is not a twin-city is—
(A) Hyderabad-Secunderabad
(B) Durgapur-Asansol
(C) Calcutta-Howrah
(D) Delhi-New Delhi
116. Who was the second man to land on the Moon ?
(A) Yuri Gagarin
(B) Neil Armstrong
(C) Buzz Aldrin
(D) Michael Collins
117. The fuel used in an atomic reactor is—
(A) Coal
(B) Petrol
(C) Combustable gases
(D) Uranium
118. The Gir Forest is noted for its—
(A) Lion sanctuary
(B) Deer-Park
(C) Tiger sanctuary
(D) Crocodile Park
119. White coal is—
(A) Uranium
(B) Hydro-electricity
(C) Diamond
(D) Ice
120. Who amongst the following cricketers has been chosen for Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, 2007 ?
(A) Rahul Dravid
(B) M. S. Dhoni
(C) Sachin Tendulkar
(D) Virender Sehwag
121. ICI is the name associated with—
(A) A MNC which manufactures chemicals
(B) Indian Cement Industry
(C) Chamber of Commerce and Industry
(D) A private sector bank
122. With the inclusion of Coal India Limited recently in the list of Nav Ratna PSEs, their number now stands at—
(A) 15
(B) 16
(C) 17
(D) 18
123. ‘Nextzone’, an information technology SEZ is being established at—
(A) Panki in Uttar Pradesh
(B) Panvel in Maharashtra
(C) Bangalore in Karnataka
(D) Secunderabad in Andhra Pradesh
124. The name of India’s research station at the North pole is—
(A) Dakshin Gangotri
(B) Maitri
(C) Himadri
(D) None of the above
125. The finalists of the AFC Challenge Cup 2008 were—
(A) India and Myanmar
(B) India and Tajakistan
(C) D.P.R.K. and Tajakistan
(D) Myanmar and D.P.R.K.
Answers :
51. (B) 52. (D) 53. (B) 54. (C) 55. (A) 56. (D) 57. (D) 58. (C) 59. (B) 60. (B)
61. (D) 62. (C) 63. (D) 64. (D) 65. (D) 66. (B) 67. (D) 68. (B) 69. (D) 70. (D)
71. (D) 72. (B) 73. (B) 74. (B) 75. (A) 76. (D) 77. (B) 78. (D) 79. (D) 80. (B)
81. (A) 82. (C) 83. (D) 84. (A) 85. (A) 86. (B) 87. (B) 88. (C) 89. (C) 90. (B)
91. (B) 92. (A) 93. (A) 94. (C) 95. (D) 96. (A) 97. (A) 98. (B) 99. (D) 100. (A)
101. (C) 102. (A) 103. (A) 104. (A) 105. (D) 106. (D) 107. (B) 108. (A) 109. (D) 110. (A)
111. (B) 112. (A) 113. (A) 114. (A) 115. (B) 116. (C) 117. (D) 118. (A) 119. (B) 120. (B)
121. (A) 122. (D) 123. (B) 124. (C) 125. (B)
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