UPSC CSE Prelims CSAT (Paper II) Reading Comprehension questions asked in 2016, with answers. There are 27 questions in this post. Read each passage, attempt the questions, then click Show Answer to check.
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Directions for the following 6 (six) items:
Read the following two passages and answer the items that follow each passage. Your answers to these items should be based on the passages only.
Passage – 1
Accountability, or the lack of it, in governance generally, and civil services, in particular, is a major factor underlying the deficiencies in governance and public administration. Designing an effective framework for accountability has been a key element of the reform agenda. A fundamental issue is whether civil services should be accountable to the political executive of the day or to society at large. In other words, how should internal and external accountability be reconciled? Internal accountability is sought to be achieved by internal performance monitoring, official supervision by bodies like the Central – Vigilance Commission-and-Comptroller and Auditor—General, and judicial review of executive decisions. Articles 311 and 312 of the Indian Constitution provide job security and safeguards to the civil services, especially the All-India Services. The framers of the Constitution had envisaged that provision of these safeguards would result in a civil service that is not totally subservient to the political executive but will have the strength to function in larger public interest. The need to balance internal and external accountability is thus built into the Constitution. The issue is where to draw the line. Over the years, the emphasis seems to have tilted in favour of greater internal accountability of the civil services to the political leaders of the day who in turn are expected to be externally accountable to the society at large through the election process. This system for seeking accountability to Society has not worked out, and has led to several adverse consequences for governance.
Some special measures can be considered for improving accountability in civil services. Provisions of articles 311 and 312 should be reviewed and laws and regulations framed to ensure external accountability of civil services. The proposed Civil Services Bill seeks to address some of these requirements. The respective roles of professional civil services and the political executive should he defined so that professional managerial functions and management of civil services are depoliticized. For this purpose, effective statutory civil service boards should be created at the centre and in the states. Decentralization and devolution of authority to bring government and decision making closer to the people also helps to enhance accountability.
1] According to the passage, which of the following factor/factors led to the adverse consequences for governance/public administration? [2016/1]
1. Inability of civil services to strike a balance between internal and external accountabilities
2. Lack of sufficient professional training to the officers of All India Services
3. Lack of proper service benefits in civil services
4. Lack of Constitutional provisions to define the respective roles of professional civil services vis-a-vis political executive in this context
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 4 only
(d) 2, 3 and 4
Show Answer
Ans: (c) 1 and 4 only
2] With reference to the passage, the following assumptions have been made:
1. Political executive is an obstacle to the accountability of the civil services to the society
2. In the present framework of Indian polity, the political executive is no longer accountable to the society
Which of these assumptions is/ are valid? [2016/2]
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
Show Answer
Ans: (a) 1 only
3] Which one of the following is the essential message implied by this passage? [2016/3]
(a) Civil services are not accountable to the society they are serving
(b) Educated and enlightened persons are not taking up political leadership
(c) The framers of the Constitution did not envisage the problems being encountered by the civil services
(d) There is a need and scope for reforms to improve the accountability of civil services
Show Answer
Ans: (d) There is a need and scope for reforms to improve the accountability of civil services
4] According to the passage, which one of the following is not a means of enhancing internal accountability of civil services? [2016/4]
(a) Better job security and safeguards
(b) Supervision by Central Vigilance Commission
(c) Judicial review of executive decisions
(d) Seeking accountability through enhanced participation by people in decision making process
Show Answer
Ans: (d) Seeking accountability through enhanced participation by people in decision making process
Passage – 2
In general, religious traditions stress our duty to God, or to some universal ethical principle. Our duties to one another derive from these. The religious concept of rights is primarily derived from our relationship to this divinity or principle and the implication it has on our other relationships. This correspondence between rights and duties is critical to any further understanding of justice. But, for justice to be practiced; virtue, rights and duties cannot remain formal abstractions. They must be grounded in a community (common unity) bound together by a sense of common union (communion). Even personal virtue, this solidarity is essential to the practice and understanding of justice.
5] With reference to the passage, the following assumptions have been made:
1. Human relationships are derived from their religious traditions
2. Human beings can be duty bound only if they believe in God
3. Religious traditions are essential to practice and understand justice
Which of these assumption(s) is/are valid? [2016/5]
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Show Answer
Ans: (a) 1 only
6] Which one of the following is the crux of this passage? [2016/6]
(a) Our duties to one another derive from our religious traditions
(b) Having relationship to the divine principle is a great virtue
(c) Balance between and duties is crucial to the delivery of justice in a society
(d) Religious concept of rights is primarily derived from our relationship to God
Show Answer
Ans: (c) Balance between and duties is crucial to the delivery of justice in a society
Directions for the following 5 (five) items:
Read the following two passages and answer the items that follow each passage. Your answers to these items should be based on the passages only.
Passage – 1
Biomass as fuel for power, heat, and transport has the highest mitigation potential of all renewable sources. It comes from agriculture and forest residues as well as from energy crops. The biggest challenge in using biomass residues is a long-term reliable supply delivered to the power plant at reasonable costs; the key problems are logistical constraints and the costs of fuel collection. Energy crops, if not managed properly, compete with food production and may have undesirable impacts on food prices. Biomass production is also sensitive to the physical impacts of a changing climate.
Projections of the future role of biomass are probably overestimated, given the limits to the sustainable biomass supply, unless breakthrough technologies substantially increase productivity. Climate-energy models project that biomass use could increase nearly four-fold to around 150 — 200 exajoules, almost a quarter of world primary energy in 2050. However, the maximum sustainable technical potential of biomass resources (both residues and energy crops) without disruption of food and forest resources ranges from 80 — 170 exajoules a year by 2050, and only part of this is realistically and economically feasible. In addition, some climate models rely on biomass-based carbon capture and storage, an unproven technology, to achieve negative emissions and to buy some time during the first half of the century.
Some liquid biofuels such as corn-based ethanol, mainly for transport, may aggravate rather than ameliorate carbon emissions on a life-cycle basis. Second generation biofuels, based on ligno-cellulosic feedstocks — such as straw, bagasse, grass and wood — hold the promise of sustainable production that is high-yielding and emit low levels of greenhouse gases, but these are still in the R & D stage.
7] What is/are the present constraint/constraints in using biomass as fuel for power generation? [2016/21]
1. Lack of sustainable supply of biomass
2. Biomass production competes with food production
3. Bio-energy may not always be low carbon on a life-cycle basis
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 3 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Show Answer
Ans: (d) 1, 2 and 3
8] Which of the following can lead to food security problem? [2016/22]
1. Using agricultural and forest residues as feedstock for power generation
2. Using biomass for carbon capture and storage
3. Promoting the cultivation of energy crops
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 3 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Show Answer
Ans: (b) 3 only
9] In the context of using biomass, which of the following is/are the characteristic/characteristics of the sustainable production of biofuel? [2016/23]
1. Biomass as a fuel for power generation could meet all the primary energy requirements of the world by 2050
2. Biomass as a fuel for power generation does not necessarily disrupt food and forest resources
3. Biomass as a fuel for power generation could help in achieving negative emissions, given certain nascent technologies
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 3 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Show Answer
Ans: (c) 2 and 3 only
10] With reference to the passage, following assumptions have been madeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee:
1. Some climate-energy models suggest that the use of biomass as a fuel for power generation helps in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions
2. It is not possible to use biomass as a fuel for power generation without disrupting food and forest resources
Which of these assumptions is/are valid? [2016/24]
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
Show Answer
Ans: (a) 1 only
Passage – 2
We are witnessing a dangerous dwindling of biodiversity in our food supply. The green revolution is a mixed blessing. Over time farmers have come to rely heavily on broadly adapted, high yield crops to the exclusion of varieties adapted to the local conditions. Monocropping vast fields with the same genetically uniform seeds helps boost yield and meet immediate hunger needs. Yet high-yield varieties are also genetically weaker crops that require expensive chemical fertilizers and toxic pesticides. In our focus on increasing the amount of food we produce today; we have accidentally put ourselves at risk for food shortages in future.
11] Which among the following is the most logical and critical inference that can be made from the above passage? [2016/25]
(a) In our agricultural practices, we have become heavily dependent on expensive chemical fertilizers and toxic pesticides only due to green revolution
(b) Monocropping vast fields with high-yield varieties is possible due to green revolution
(c) Monocropping with high-yield varieties is the only way to ensure food security to millions
(d) Green revolution can pose a threat to biodiversity in food supply and food security in the long run
Show Answer
Ans: (d) Green revolution can pose a threat to biodiversity in food supply and food security in the long run
Directions for the following 8 (eight) items:
Read the following eight passages and answer the items that follow the passages. Your answer to these items should be based on the passages only.
Passage – 1
By killing transparency and competition, crony capitalism is harmful to free enterprise, opportunity and economic growth. Crony capitalism, where rich and the influential are alleged to have received land and natural resources and various licences in return for payoffs to venal politicians, is now a major issue to be tackled. One of the greatest dangers to growth of developing economies like India is the middle-income where crony capitalism creates oligarchies that slow down the growth.
12] Which among the following is the most logical corollary to the above passage? [2016/41]
(a) Launching more welfare schemes and allocating more finances for the current schemes are urgently needed
(b) Efforts should be made to push up economic growth by other means and provide licences to the poor
(c) Greater transparency in the functioning of the government and promoting the financial inclusion are needed at present
(d) We should concentrate more on developing manufacturing sector than service sector
Show Answer
Ans: (c) Greater transparency in the functioning of the government and promoting the financial inclusion are needed at present
Passage – 2
Climate adaptation may be rendered ineffective if policies are not designed in the context of other development concerns. For instance, a comprehensive strategy that seeks to improve food security in the context of climate change may include a set of coordinated measures related to agricultural extension, crop diversification, integrated water and pest management and agricultural information services. Some of these measures may have to do with climate changes and others with economic development.
13] What is the most logical and rational inference that can be made from the above passage? [2016/42]
(a) It is difficult to pursue climate adaptation in the developing countries
(b) Improving food security is a far more complex issue than climate adaptation
(c) Every developmental activity is directly or indirectly linked to climate adaptation
(d) Climate adaptation should be examined in tandem with other economic development options
Show Answer
Ans: (d) Climate adaptation should be examined in tandem with other economic development options
Passage – 3
Understanding of the role of biodiversity in the hydrological cycle enables better policy-making. The term biodiversity refers to the variety of plants, animals, microorganisms, and the ecosystems in which they occur. Water and biodiversity are interdependent. In reality, the hydrological cycle decides how biodiversity functions. In turn, vegetation and soil drive the movement of water. Every glass of water we drink has, at least in part, passed through fish, trees, bacteria, soil and other organisms. Passing through these ecosystems, it is cleansed and made fit for consumption. The supply of water is a critical service that the environment provides.
14] Which among the following is the most critical inference that can be made from the above passage? [2016/43]
(a) Biodiversity sustains the ability of nature to recycle water
(b) We cannot get potable water without the existence of living organisms
(c) Plants, animals, and microorganisms continuously interact among themselves
(d) Living organisms could not have come into existence without hydrological cycle
Show Answer
Ans: (a) Biodiversity sustains the ability of nature to recycle water
Passage – 4
In the last decade, the banking sector has been restructured with a high degree of automation and products that mainly serve middle-class and upper middle-class society. Today there is need for a new agenda for the banking and non-banking financial services that does not exclude the common man.
15] Which one of the following is the message that is essentially implied in the above passage? [2016/44]
(a) Need for more automation and more products of bank
(b) Need for a radical restructuring of our entire public finance system
(c) Need to integrate banking and non-banking institutions
(d) Need to promote financial inclusion
Show Answer
Ans: (d) Need to promote financial inclusion
Passage – 5
Safe and sustainable sanitation in slums has immeasurable benefits to women and girls in terms of their health, safety, privacy, and dignity. However, women do not feature in most of the schemes and policies on urban sanitation. The fact that even now the manual scavenging exists, ones to show that not enough has been done to promote pour-flush toilets and discontinue the use of dry latrines. A more sustained and rigorous campaign needs to be launched towards the right to sanitation on a very large scale. This should primarily focus on the abolition of manual scavenging.
16] With reference to the above passage, consider the following statements:
1. Urban sanitation problems can be fully solved by the abolition of manual scavenging only
2. There is a need to promote greater awareness on safe sanitation practices in urban areas
Which of the statements given above is/are correct? [2016/45]
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both I and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
Show Answer
Ans: (b) 2 only
Passage – 6
To understand the nature and quantity of Government proper for man, it is necessary to attend to his character. As nature created him for social life, she fitted him for the station she intended. In all cases she made his natural wants greater than his individual powers. No one man is capable, without the aid of society, of supplying his own wants; and those wants, acting upon every individual, impel the whole of them into society.
17] Which among the following is the most logical and rational inference that can be made from the above passage? [2016/46]
(a) Nature has created a great diversity in human society
(b) Any given human society is always short of its wants
(c) Social life is a specific characteristic of man
(d) Diverse natural wants forced man towards social system
Show Answer
Ans: (d) Diverse natural wants forced man towards social system
Passage – 7
The nature of the legal imperatives in any given state corresponds to the effective demands that state encounters, and that these, in their turn, depend, in a general way, upon the manner in which economic power is distributed in the society which the state controls.
18] The statement refers to: [2016/47]
(a) the antithesis of Politics and Economics
(b) the interrelationship of Politics and Economics
(c) the predominance of Economics over Politics
(d) the predominance of Politics over Economics
Show Answer
Ans: (b) the interrelationship of Politics and Economics
Passage – 8
About 15 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions come from agricultural practices. This includes nitrous oxide fertilizers; methane from livestock, rice production, and manure storage; and carbon dioxide () from burning biomass, but this excludes emissions from soil management practices, savannah burning and deforestation. Forestry, land use, and land-use change account for another 17 percent of greenhouse gas emissions each ear, three quarters of which come from tropical deforestation. The remainder is largely from draining and burning tropical peatland. About the same amount of carbon is stored in the world’s peatlands as is stored in the Amazon rainforest.
19] Which among the following is the most logical and rational inference that can be made from the above passage? [2016/48]
(a) Organic farming should immediately replace mechanised and chemical dependant agricultural practices all over the world
(b) It is imperative for us to modify our land use practices in order to mitigate climate change.
(c) There are no technological solutions to the problem of greenhouse gas emissions
(d) Tropical areas are the chief sites of carbon sequestration
Show Answer
Ans: (b) It is imperative for us to modify our land use practices in order to mitigate climate change.
Directions for the following 8 (eight) items:
Read the following five passages and answer the items that follow the passages. Your answer to these items should be based on the passages only.
Passage – 1
As we look to 2050, when we will need to feed two billion more people, the question of which diet is best has taken on new urgency. The foods we choose to eat in the coming decades will have dramatic ramifications for the planet. Simply put, a diet that revolves around meat and dairy, a way of eating that is on the rise throughout the developing. world, will take a greater toll on the world’s resources than one that revolves around unrefined grains, nuts, fruits and vegetables.
20] What is the critical message conveyed by the above passage? [2016/64]
(a) Our increasing demand for foods sourced from animals puts a greater burden on our natural resources
(b) Diets based on grains, nuts, fruits and vegetables are best suited for health in developing countries
(c) Human beings change their food habits from time to time irrespective of the health concerns
(d) From a global perspective, we still do not know which type of diet is best for us
Show Answer
Ans: (a) Our increasing demand for foods sourced from animals puts a greater burden on our natural resources
Passage – 2
All humans digest mother’s milk as infants, but until cattle began being domesticated 10,000 years ago, children once weaned no longer needed to digest milk. As a result, they stopped making the enzyme lactase, which breaks down the sugar lactose into simple sugars. After humans began herding cattle, it became tremendously advantageous to digest milk, and lactose tolerance evolved independently among cattle herders in Europe, the middle East and Africa. Groups not dependant on cattle, such as the Chinese and Thai, remain lactose intolerant.
21] Which among the following is the most logical assumption that can be made from the above passage? [2016/65]
(a) About 10,000 years ago, the domestication of animals took place in some parts of the world
(b) A permanent change in the food habits of a community can bring about a genetic change in its members
(c) Lactose tolerant people only are capable of getting simple sugars in their bodies
(d) People who are not lactose tolerant cannot digest any dairy product
Show Answer
Ans: (b) A permanent change in the food habits of a community can bring about a genetic change in its members
Passage – 3
“The conceptual difficulties in National Income comparisons between underdeveloped and industrialised countries are particularly serious because a part of the national output in various underdeveloped countries is produced without passing through the commercial channels.”
22] In the above statement, the author implies that: [2016/66]
(a) the entire national output produced and consumed in industrialized countries passes through commercial channels
(b) the existence of a non-commercialized sector in different underdeveloped countries renders the national income comparisons over countries difficult
(c) no part of national output should be produced and consumed without passing through commercial channels
(d) a part of the national output being produced and consumed without passing through commercial channels is a sign of underdevelopment
Show Answer
Ans: (b) the existence of a non-commercialized sector in different underdeveloped countries renders the national income comparisons over countries difficult
Passage – 4
An increase in human-made carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could initiate a chain reaction between plants and microorganisms that would unsettle one of the largest carbon reservoirs on the planet — soil. In a study, it was found that the soil, which contains twice the amount of carbon present in all plants and Earth’s atmosphere combined, could become increasingly volatile as people add more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. This is largely because of increased plant growth. Although a greenhouse gas and a pollutant, carbon dioxide also supports plant growth. As trees and other vegetation flourish in a carbon dioxide-rich future, their roots could stimulate microbial activity in soil that may in turn accelerate the decomposition of soil carbon and its release into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.
23] Which among the following is the most logical corollary to the above passage? [2016/67]
(a) Carbon dioxide is essential for the survival of microorganisms and plants
(b) Humans are solely responsible for the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere
(c) Microorganisms and soil carbon are mainly responsible for the increased plant growth
(d) Increasing green cover could trigger the release of carbon trapped in soil
Show Answer
Ans: (d) Increasing green cover could trigger the release of carbon trapped in soil
Passage – 5
Historically, the biggest Challenge to world agriculture has been to achieve a balance between demand for and supply of food. At the level of individual countries, the demand-supply balance can be a critical policy issue for a closed economy, especially if it is a populous economy and its domestic agriculture is not growing sufficiently enough to ensure food supplies, on an enduring basis; it is not so much and not always, of a constraint for an open, and growing economy, which has adequate exchange surpluses to buy food abroad. For the world as a whole, supply-demand balance is always an inescapable prerequisite for warding off hunger and starvation. However, global availability of adequate supply does not necessarily mean that food would automatically move from countries of surplus to countries of deficit if the latter lack in purchasing power. The uneven distribution of hunger, starvation, under or malnourishment, etc., at the world-level, thus owes itself to the presence of empty-pocket hungry mouths, overwhelmingly confined to the underdeveloped economies. Inasmuch as ‘a two-square meal’ is of elemental significance to basic human existence, the issue of worldwide supply of food has been gaining significance, in recent times, both because the quantum and the composition of demand has been undergoing big changes, and because, in recent years, the capabilities of individual countries to generate uninterrupted chain of food supplies have come under strain. Food production, marketing and prices, especially price-affordability by the poor in the developing world, have become global issues that need global thinking and global solutions.
24] According to the above passage, which of the followingare the fundamental solutions for the world food security problem? [2016/68]
1. Setting up more agro-based industries
2. Improving the price affordability by the poor
3. Regulating the conditions of marketing
4. Providing food subsidy to one and all
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1 and 2
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1, 3 and 4 only
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
Show Answer
Ans: (b) 2 and 3 only
25] According to the above passage, the biggest challenge to world agriculture is: [2016/69]
(a) to find sufficient land for agriculture and to expand food processing industries
(b) to eradicate hunger in underdeveloped countries
(c) to achieve a balance between the production of food and non-food items
(d) to achieve a balance between demand for and supply of food
Show Answer
Ans: (d) to achieve a balance between demand for and supply of food
26] According to the above passage, which of the following helps/help in reducing hunger and starvation in the developing economies? [2016/70]
1. Balancing demand and supply of food
2. Increasing imports of food
3. Increasing purchasing power of the poor
4. Changing the food consumption patterns and practices
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1 only
(b) 2, 3 and 4 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
Show Answer
Ans: (c) 1 and 3 only
27] The issue of worldwide supply of food has gained importance mainly because of: [2016/71]
1. overgrowth of the population worldwide
2. sharp decline in the area of food production
3. limitation in the capabilities for sustained supply of food
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 3 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Show Answer
Ans: (b) 3 only
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