UGC NET PREPARATION: CBSE NET PAPER 1 READING COMPREHENSION PREVIOUS YEAR QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS

READING COMPREHENSION (DEC – 2004)

Read the following passage and answer the question numbers 1 to 5.

Each day at the Shantiniketan School starts with the Saraswati Vandana. When painting competitions are held in the school, images of Hindu gods and goddesses are most common. Sanskrit is a favourite subject of many a student. Nothing new about it except that the 1,200 - odd students studying in the Hindu - run school are Muslims.

In 1983, when Ranchodbhai Kiri started Shantiniketan in the all - Muslim Juhapura area of Ahmedabad in Gujarat, only 20 percent of the students were Muslims. But when riots involving the Muslims of Juhapura and the Hindus of nearby Jivrajpark - Vejalpur affected the locality, Hindus started migrating. Today, all the students are Muslims and the school is an unparalled example of harmony. In the 2002, when a section of inflamed Muslims wanted the school closed, the parents of the students stood like a wall behind it.

Shantiniketan's principal says, "We never thought of moving the school out of the area because of the love and affection of the local Muslims. Indeed, they value the high standard of education which we have set." Such is the reputation of the school that some of the local Muslim strongmen accused of involvement in communal riots are willing to protect the school during the riots.

The parents of Shantiniketan's students believe that it's the best school when it comes to the quality of the teaching. A large number of students have gone for both graduation and post graduation studies. Significantly, the only Muslim teacher in the 40 - member teaching staff, Husena Mansuri, teaches Sanskrit. In fact, she is so happy at the school that she recently declined the principalship of another Muslim - run school.

Some of the students' entries in a recent school painting competition mere truly moving. One drew a picture of Bharat Mata with a mosque and temple, while another portrayed a boy tying rakhi to his sister. Trully, Shantiniketan is a beacon of hope that, despite the provocations from both communities, Hindus and Muslims can live side-by-side with mutual respect.

1. How the Shantiniketan school starts the day ?

(A) National anthem (B) Prayer

Answer: C

2. Write the subject which is preferred by most of the students.

(A) Hindi (B) English

Answer: C

3. Who protects the school during the riot times ?

(A) Local Muslims (B) Hindus

Answer: A

4. Who is the teacher of Sanskrit?

(A) Ranchodbhai Kiri (B) Manisha Vakil

Answer: C

5. What is the hope despite the communal riots ?

(A) Hindus and Muslims cannot live side by side

(B) Hindus and Muslims can live side by side

(D) Only Muslims can live

Answer: B

Read the following passage and answer the questions 1 to 5 (DEC – 2005)

Knowledge creation in many cases requires creativity and idea generation. This is especially important in generating alternative decision support solutions. Some people believe that an individual’s creative ability stems primarily from personality traits such as inventiveness, independence, individuality, enthusiasm, and flexibility. I lowever, several studies have found that creativity is not so much a function of individual traits as was once believed, and that individual creativity can be learned and improved. This understanding has led innovative companies to recognise that the key to fostering creativity may be the development of an idea-nurturing work environment. Idea-generation methods and techniques, to be used by individuals or in groups, are consequently being developed. Manual methods for supporting idea generation, such as brainstorming in a group, can be very successful in certain situations. However, in other situations, such an approach is either not economically feasible or not possible. For example, manual methods in group creativity sessions will not work or will not be effective when (1) there is no time to conduct a proper idea-generation session; (2) there is a poor facilitator (or no facilitator at all); (3) it is too expensive to conduct an idea-generation session; (4) the subject matter is too sensitive for a face-to-face session; or (5) there are not enough participants, the mix of participants is not optimal, or there is no climate for idea generation. In such cases, computerised idea-generation methods have been tried, with frequent success.

Idea-generation software is designed to help stimulate a single user or a group to produce new ideas, options and choices. The user does all the work, but the software encourages and pushes, something like a personal trainer. Although idea-generation software is still relatively new, there are several packages on the market. Various approaches are used by idea-generating software to increase the flow of ideas to the user. Idea Fisher, for example, has an associate lexicon of the English language that cross-references words and phrases. These associative links, based on analogies and metaphors, make it easy for the user to be fed words related to a given theme. Some software packages use questions to prompt the user towards new, unexplored patterns of thought. This helps users to break out of cyclical thinking patterns, conquer mental blocks, or deal with bouts of procrastination.

1. The author, in this passage has focused on

(A) Knowledge creation (B) idea-generation

Answer: A

2. Fostering creativity needs an environment of

(A) Decision support systems (B) idea-nurturing

Answer: B

3. Manual methods for the support of idea-generation, in certain occasions,

(A) are alternatively effective (B) can be less expensive

Answer: A

4. Idea-generation software works as if it is a

(A) Stimulant (B) knowledge package

Answer: A

5. Mental blocks, bouts of procrastination and cyclical thinking patterns can be won when:

(A) Innovative companies employ electronic thinking methods

(B) idea-generation software prompts questions

(D) Individuals acquire a neutral attitude towards the software

Answer: B

Read the following passage and answer the questions 1 to 5: (JUN – 2006)

The superintendence, direction and control of preparation of electoral rolls for, and the conduct of, elections to Parliament and State Legislatures and elections to the offices of the President and the Vice - President of India are vested in the Election Commission of India. It is an independent constitutional authority.

Independence of the Election Commission and its insulation from executive interference is ensured by a specific provision under Article 324 (5) of the constitution that the chief Election Commissioner shall not be removed from his office except in like manner and on like grounds as a Judge of the Supreme Court and conditions of his service shall not be varied to his disadvantage after his appointment.

In C.W.P. No. 4912 of 1998 (Kushra Bharat Vs. Union of India and others), the Delhi High Court directed that information relating to Government dues owed by the candidates to the departments dealing with Government accommodation, electricity, water, telephone and transport etc. and any other dues should be furnished by the candidates and this information should be published by the election authorities under the commission.

1. The text of the passage reflects or raises certain questions:

(A) The authority of the commission cannot be challenged.

(B) This would help in stopping the criminalization of Indian politics.

(D) This would ensure fair and free elections.

Answer: D

2. According to the passage, the Election Commission is an independent constitutional authority. This is under Article No. :

(A) 324 (B) 356

Answer: A

3. Independence of the Commission means:

(A) Have a constitutional status. (B) Have legislative powers.

Answer: A

4. Fair and free election means:

(A) Transparency (B) to maintain law and order

Answer: B

5. The Chief Election Commissioner can be removed from his office under Article :

(A) 125 (B) 352

Answer: D

Read the following passage and answer the question nos. 1 to 5 : (DEC – 2006)

After almost three decades of contemplating Swarovski-encrusted navels on increasing flat abs, the Mumbai film industry is on a discovery of India and itself. With budgets of over 30 crore each, four soon to be released movies by premier directors are exploring the idea of who we are and redefining who the other is. It is a fundamental question which the bling-bling, glam-sham and disham-disham tends to avoid. It is also a question which binds an audience when the lights go dim and the projector rolls : as a nation, who are we ? As a people, where are we going ?

The Germans coined a word for it, zeitgeist, which perhaps Yash Chopra would not care to pronounce. But at 72, he remains the person who can best capture it. After being the first to project the diasporic Indian on screen in Lamhe in 1991, he has returned to his roots in a new movie. Veer Zaara, set in 1986, where Pakistan, the traditional other, the part that got away, is the lover and the saviour. In Subhas Ghai’s Kisna, set in 1947, the other is the English woman. She is not a memsahib, but a mehbooba. In Ketan Mehta’s The Rising, the East India Englishman is not the evil oppressor of countless cardboard characterisations, which span the spectrum from Jewel in the Crown to Kranti, but an honourable friend.

This is Manoj Kumar’s Desh Ki dharti with a difference : there is culture, not contentious politics; balle balle, not bombs : no dooriyan (distance), only nazdeekiyan

(closeness).

All four films are heralding a new hero and heroine. The new hero is fallible and vulnerable, committed to his dharma, but also not afraid of failure - less of a boy and more of a man. He even has a grown up name : Veer Pratap Singh in Veer-Zaara and Mohan Bhargav in Swades. The new heroine is not a babe, but often a bebe, dressed in traditional Punjabi clothes, often with the stereotypical body type as well, as in Bride and Prejudice of Gurinder Chadha.

1. Which word Yash Chopra would not be able to pronounce?

(A) Bling + bling (B) Zeitgeist

Answer: B

2. Who made Lamhe in 1991?

(A) Subhash Ghai (B) Yash Chopra

Answer: B

3. Which movie is associated with Manoj Kumar?

(A) Jewel in the Crown (B) Kisna

Answer: D

4. Which is the latest film by Yash Chopra?

(A) Deewar (B) Kabhi Kabhi

Answer: D

5. Which is the dress of the heroine in Veer-Zaara ?

(A) Traditional Gujarati Clothes

(B) Traditional Bengali Clothes

(D) Traditional Madrasi Clothes

Answer: C

Read the following passage and answer the questions 1 to 5: (JUN – 2007)

All political systems need to mediate the relationship between private wealth and public power. Those that fail risk a dysfunctional government captured by wealthy interests. Corruption is one symptom of such failure with private willingness-to-pay trumping public goals. Private individuals and business firms pay to get routine services and to get to the head of the bureaucratic queue. They pay to limit their taxes, avoid costly regulations, obtain contracts at inflated prices and get concessions and privatized firms at low prices. If corruption is endemic, public officials - both bureaucrats and elected officials - may redesign programmes and propose public projects with few public benefits and many opportunities for private profit. Of course, corruption, in the sense of bribes, pay-offs and kickbacks, is only one type of government failure. Efforts to promote ‘good governance’ must be broader than anti-corruption campaigns. Governments may be honest but inefficient because no one has an incentive to work productively, and narrow elites may capture the state and exert excess influence on policy. Bribery may induce the lazy to work hard and permit those not in the inner circle of cronies to obtain benefits. However, even in such cases, corruption cannot be confined to ‘functional’ areas. It will be a temptation whenever private benefits are positive. It may be a reasonable response to a harsh reality but, over time, it can facilitate a spiral into an even worse situation.

1. The governments which fail to focus on the relationship between private wealth and public power are likely to become:

(A) Functional (B) Dysfunctional

Answer: B

2. One important symptom of bad governance is:

(A) Corruption (B) High taxes

Answer: A

3. When corruption is rampant, public officials always aim at many opportunities for

(A) Public benefits (B) Public profit

Answer: C

4. Productivity linked incentives to public/private officials is one of the indicatives for:

(A) Efficient government (B) Bad governance

Answer: A

5. The spiralling corruption can only be contained by promoting:

(A) Private profit (B) Anti-corruption campaign

Answer:C

Read the following passage and answer the questions 1 to 5: (DEC – 2007)

Gandhi’s overall social and environmental philosophy is based on what human beings need rather than what they want. His early introduction to the teachings of Jains, Theosophists, Christian sermons, Ruskin and Tolstoy, and most significantly the Bhagavad Gita, were to have profound impact on the development of Gandhi’s holistic thinking on humanity, nature and their ecological interrelation. His deep concern for the disadvantaged, the poor and rural population created an ambience for an alternative social thinking that was at once far-sighted, local and immediate. For Gandhi was acutely aware that the demands generated by the need to feed and sustain human life, compounded by the growing industrialization of India, far outstripped the finite resources of nature. This might nowadays appear naïve or commonplace, but such pronouncements were as rare as they were heretical a century ago. Gandhi was also concerned about the destruction, under colonial and modernist designs, of the existing infrastructures which had more potential for keeping a community flourishing within ecologically-sensitive traditional patterns of subsistence, especially in the rural areas, than did the incoming Western alternatives based on nature-blind technology and the enslavement of human spirit and energies.

Perhaps the moral principle for which Gandhi is best known is that of active non-violence, derived from the traditional moral restraint of not injuring another being. The most refined expression of this value is in the great epic of the Mahabharata, (c. 100 BCE to 200 CE), where moral development proceeds through placing constraints on the liberties, desires and acquisitiveness endemic to human life. One’s action is judged in terms of consequences and the impact it is likely to have on another. Jainas had generalized this principle to include all sentient creatures and biocommunities alike. Advanced Jaina monks and nuns will sweep their path to avoid harming insects and even bacteria. Non-injury is a non-negotiable universal prescription.

1. Which one of the following have a profound impact on the development of Gandhi’s holistic thinking on humanity, nature and their ecological interrelations ?

(A) Jain teachings (B) Christian sermons

Answer: C

2. Gandhi’s overall social and environmental philosophy is based on human beings’ :

(A) Need (B) desire

Answer: D

3. Gandhiji’s deep concern for the disadvantaged, the poor and rural population created

an ambience for an alternative:

(A) Rural policy (B) social thinking

Answer: B

4. Colonial policy and modernization led to the destruction of:

(A) Major industrial infrastructure (B) irrigation infrastructure

Answer: D

5. Gandhi’s active non-violence is derived from:

(A) Moral restraint of not injuring another being

(B) Having liberties, desires and acquisitiveness

(D) Nature-blind technology and enslavement of human spirit and energies

Answer: A

Read the following passage and answer the questions 1 to 5 (JUN – 2008)

The fundamental principle is that Article 14 forbids class legislation but permits reasonable classification for the purpose of legislation which classification must satisfy the twin tests of classification being founded on an intelligible differentia which distinguishes persons or things that are grouped together from those that are left out of the group and that differentia must have a rational nexus to the object sought to be achieved by the Statute in question. The thrust of Article 14 is that the citizen is entitled to equality before law and equal protection of laws. In the very nature of things the society being composed of unequals a welfare State will have to strive by both executive and legislative action to help the less fortunate in society to ameliorate their condition so that the social and economic inequality in the society may be bridged. This would necessitate a legislative application to a group of citizens otherwise unequal and amelioration of whose lot is the object of state affirmative action. In the absence of the doctrine of classification such legislation is likely to flounder on the bed rock of equality enshrined in Article 14. The Court realistically appraising the social and economic inequality and keeping in view the guidelines on which the State action must move as constitutionally laid down in Part IV of the Constitution evolved the doctrine of

classification. The doctrine was evolved to sustain a legislation or State action designed to help weaker sections of the society or some such segments of the society in need of succour. Legislative and executive action may accordingly be sustained if it satisfies the twin tests of reasonable classification and the rational principle correlated to the object sought to be achieved.

The concept of equality before the law does not involve the idea of absolute equality among human beings which is a physical impossibility. All that Article 14 guarantees is a similarity of treatment contra-distinguished from identical treatment. Equality before law means that among equals the law should be equal and should be equally administered and that the likes should be treated alike. Equality before the law does not mean that things which are different shall be as though they are the same. It ofcourse means denial of any special privilege by reason of birth, creed or the like. The legislation as well as the executive government, while dealing with diverse problems arising out of an infinite variety of human relations must of necessity have the power of making special laws, to attain any particular object and to achieve that object it must have the power of selection or classification of persons and things upon which such laws are to operate.

1. Right to equality, one of the fundamental rights, is enunciated in the constitution under Part III, Article

(A) 12 (B) 13

Answer: C

2. The main thrust of Right to equality is that it permits:

(A) Class legislation

(B) Equality before law and equal protection under the law

(D) Special privilege by reason of birth

Answer: B

3. The social and economic inequality in the society can be bridged by:

(A) Executive and legislative action (B) universal suffrage

Answer: A

4. The doctrine of classification is evolved to:

(A) Help weaker sections of the society (B) Provide absolute equality

Answer: A

5. While dealing with diverse problems arising out of an infinite variety of human relations, the government:

(A) Must have the power of making special laws

(B) Must not have any power to make special laws

(D) None of the above

Answer: A

(DEC – 2008)

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions 1 to 5:

Radically changing monsoon patterns, reduction in the winter rice harvest and a quantum increase in respiratory diseases all part of the environmental doomsday scenario which is reportedly playing out in South Asia. According to a United Nations Environment Programme report, a deadly three-kilometer deep blanket of pollution comprising a fearsome, cocktail of ash, acids, aerosols and other particles has enveloped in this region. For India, already struggling to cope with a drought, the implication of this are devastating and further crop failure will amount to a life and death question for many Indians. The increase in premature deaths will have adverse social and economic consequences and a rise in morbidities will place an unbearable burden on our crumbling health system. And there is no one to blame but ourselves. Both official and corporate India has always been allergic to any mention of clean technology. Most mechanical two wheelers roll of the assembly line without proper pollution control system. Little effort is made for R&D on simple technologies, which could make a vital difference to people's lives and the environment.

However, while there is no denying that South Asia must clean up its act, skeptics might question the timing of the haze report. The Kyoto meet on climate change is just two weeks away and the stage is set for the usual battle between the developing world and the West, particularly the Unites States of America. President Mr. Bush has adamantly refused to sign any protocol, which would mean a change in American consumption level. U.N. environment report will likely find a place in the U.S. arsenal as it plants an accusing finger towards controls like India and China. Yet the U.S.A. can hardly deny its own dubious role in the matter of erasing trading quotas.

Richer countries can simply buy up excess credits from poorer countries and continue to pollute. Rather than try to get the better of developing countries, who undoubtedly have taken up environmental shortcuts in their bid to catch up with the West, the USA should take a look at the environmental profligacy, which is going on within. From opening up virgin territories for oil exploration to relaxing the standards for drinking water, Mr. Bush's policies are not exactly beneficial, not even to America's interests. We realize that we are all in this together and that pollution anywhere should be a global concern otherwise there will only be more tunnels at the end of the tunnel.

1. Both official and corporate India is allergic to:

(A) Failure of Monsoon (B) Poverty and Inequality

Answer: D

2. If the rate of premature death increases it will:

(A) Exert added burden on the crumbling economy

(B) Have adverse social and economic consequences

(D) Have less job aspirants in the society

Answer: B

3. According to the passage, the two wheeler industry is not adequately concerned about:

(A) Passenger safety on the roads

(B) Life cover insurance of the vehicle owner

(D) Rising cost of the two wheelers

Answer: C

4. What could be the reason behind timing of the haze report just before the Kyoto meet?

(A) United Nations is working hand-in-glove with U.S.A.

(B) Organizers of the forthcoming meet to teach a lesson to the U.S.A.

(D) U.S.A. wants to use it as a handle against the developing countries in the forthcoming meet

Answer: D

5. Which of the following is the indication of environmental degradation in South Asia?

(A) Social and economic inequality

(B) Crumbling health care system

(D) Radically changing monsoon pattern

Answer: D

Read the following passage and answer the questions 1 to 5: (JUN – 2009)

While the British rule in India was detrimental to the economic development of the country, it did help in starting of the process of modernizing Indian society and formed several progressive institutions during that process. One of the most beneficial institutions, which were initiated by the British, was democracy. Nobody can dispute that despite its many shortcomings, democracy was and is far better alternative to the arbitrary rule of the rajas and nawabs, which prevailed in India in the pre-British days.

However, one of the harmful traditions of British democracy inherited by India was that of conflict instead of cooperation between elected members. This was its essential feature. The party, which got the support of the majority of elected members, formed the Government while the others constituted a standing opposition. The existence of the opposition to those in power was and is regarded as a hallmark of democracy.

In principle, democracy consists of rule by the people; but where direct rule is not possible, it's rule by persons elected by the people. It is natural that there would be some differences of opinion among the elected members as in the rest of the society.

Normally, members of any organizations have differences of opinion between themselves on different issues but they manage to work on the basis of a consensus and they do not normally form a division between some who are in majority and are placed in power, while treating the others as in opposition.

The members of an organization usually work on consensus. Consensus simply means that after an adequate discussion, members agree that the majority opinion may prevail for the time being. Thus persons who form a majority on one issue and whose opinion is allowed to prevail may not be on the same side if there is a difference on some other issue.

It was largely by accident that instead of this normal procedure, a two party system came to prevail in Britain and that is now being generally taken as the best method of democratic rule.

Many democratically inclined persons in India regret that such a two party system was not brought about in the country. It appears that to have two parties in India – of more or less equal strength - is a virtual impossibility. Those who regret the absence of a two-party system should take the reasons into consideration.

When the two party system got established in Britain, there were two groups among the rules (consisting of a limited electorate) who had the same economic interests among themselves and who therefore formed two groups within the selected members of Parliament.

There were members of the British aristocracy (which landed interests and consisting of lord, barons etc) and members of the new commercial class consisting of merchants and artisans. These groups were more or less of equal strength and they were able to establish their separate rule at different times.

Answer the following questions:

1. In pre-British period, when India was ruled by the independent rulers:

(A) Peace and prosperity prevailed in the society

(B) People were isolated from political affairs

(D) Law was equal for one and all

Answer: C

2. What is the distinguishing feature of the democracy practiced in Britain?

(A) End to the rule of might is right.

(B) Rule of the people, by the people and for the people.

(D) Cooperation between elected members.

Answer: B

3. Democracy is practiced where:

(A) Elected members form a uniform opinion regarding policy matter.

(B) Opposition is more powerful than the ruling combine.

(D) None of these.

Answer: A

4. Which of the following is true about the British rule in India?

(A) It was behind the modernization of the Indian society.

(B) India gained economically during that period.

(D) None of these.

Answer: A

5. Who became the members of the new commercial class during that time?

(A) British Aristocrats (B) Lord and barons

Answer: D

Read the following passage and answer the Question Nos. 1 to 15: (DEC – 2009)

The decisive shift in British Policy really came about under mass pressure in the autumn and winter of 1945 to 46 – the months which Perderel Moon while editing Wavell’s Journal has perceptively described as ‘The Edge of a Volcano’. Very foolishly, the British initially decided to hold public trials of several hundreds of the 20,000 I.N.A. prisoners (as well as dismissing from service and detaining without trial no less than 7,000). They compounded the folly by holding the first trial in the Red Fort, Delhi in November 1945, and putting on the dock together a Hindu, a Muslim and a Sikh (P.K. Sehgal, Shah Nawaz, Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon). Bhulabhai Desai, Tejbahadur Sapru and Nehru appeared for the defence (the latter putting on his barrister’s gown after 25 years), and the Muslim League also joined the countrywide protest. On 20 November, an Intelligence Bureau note admitted that “there has seldom been a matter which has attracted so much Indian public interest and, it is safe to say, sympathy … this particular brand of sympathy cuts across communal barriers.’ A journalist (B. Shiva Rao) visiting the Red Fort prisoners on the same day reported that ‘There is not the slightest feeling among them of Hindu and Muslim … A majority of the men now awaiting trial in the Red Fort is Muslim. Some of these men are bitter that Mr. Jinnah is keeping alive a controversy about Pakistan.’ The British became extremely nervous about the I.N.A. spirit spreading to the Indian Army, and in January the Punjab Governor reported that a Lahore reception for released I.N.A. prisoners had been attended by Indian soldiers in uniform.

1. Which heading is more appropriate to assign to the above passage?

(A) Wavell’s Journal (B) Role of Muslim League

Answer: C

2. The trial of P.K. Sehgal, Shah Nawaz and Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon symbolises

(A) Communal harmony

(B) Threat to all religious persons

(D) British reaction against the natives

Answer: A

3. I.N.A. stands for

(A) Indian National Assembly

(B) Indian National Association

(D) Indian National Army

Answer: D

4. ‘There has seldom been a matter which has attracted so much Indian Public Interest and, it is safe to say, sympathy … this particular brand of sympathy cuts across communal barriers.’

Who sympathises to whom and against whom?

(A) Muslims sympathised with Shah Nawaz against the British

(B) Hindus sympathised with P.K. Sehgal against the British

(D) Indians sympathised with the persons who were to be trialled

Answer: D

5. The majority of people waiting for trial outside the Red Fort and criticising Jinnah were the

(A) Hindus (B) Muslims

Answer: B

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions 1 to 6. (JUN – 2010)

The phrase “What is it like ?” stands for a fundamental thought process. How does one go about observing and reporting on things and events that occupy segments of earth space ? Of all the infinite variety of phenomena on the face of the earth, how does one decide what phenomena to observe ? There is no such thing as a complete description of the earth or any part of it, for every microscopic point on the earth’s surface differs from every other such point. Experience shows that the things observed are already familiar, because they are like phenomena that occur at home or because they resemble the abstract images and models developed in the human mind.

How are abstract images formed ? Humans alone among the animals possess language; their words symbolize not only specific things but also mental images of classes of things. People can remember what they have seen or experienced because they attach a word symbol to them.

During the long record of our efforts to gain more and more knowledge about the face of the earth as the human habitat, there has been a continuing interplay between things and events. The direct observation through the senses is described as a percept; the mental image is described as a concept. Percepts are what some people describe as reality, in contrast to mental images, which are theoretical, implying that they are not real.

The relation of Percept to Concept is not as simple as the definition implies. It is now quite clear that people of different cultures or even individuals in the same culture develop different mental images of reality and what they perceive is a reflection of these preconceptions. The direct observation of things and events on the face of the earth is so clearly a function of the mental images of the mind of the observer that the whole idea of reality must be reconsidered.

Concepts determine what the observer perceives, yet concepts are derived from the generalizations of previous percepts. What happens is that the educated observer is taught to accept a set of concepts and then sharpens or changes these concepts during a professional career. In any one field of scholarship, professional opinion at one time determines what concepts and procedures are acceptable, and these form a kind of model of scholarly behaviour.

1. The problem raised in the passage reflects on

(A) Thought process (B) human behaviour

Answer: A

2. According to the passage, human beings have mostly in mind

(A) Observation of things

(B) Preparation of mental images

(D) To gain knowledge

Answer: C

3. Concept means

(A) A mental image

(B) A reality

(D) All the above

Answer: A

4. The relation of Percept to Concept is

(A) Positive (B) Negative

Answer: C

5. In the passage, the earth is taken as

(A) The Globe (B) The Human Habitat

Answer: B

6. Percept means

(A) Direct observation through the senses

(B) A conceived idea

(D) An abstract image

Answer: A

Read the following passage carefully and answer questions from 1 to 5: (DEC – 2010)

It should be remembered that the nationalist movement in India, like all nationalist movements, was essentially a bourgeois movement. It represented the natural historical stage of development, and to consider it or to criticise it as a working-class movement is wrong. Gandhi represented that movement and the Indian masses in relation to that movement to a supreme degree, and he became the voice of Indian people to that extent. The main contribution of Gandhi to India and the Indian masses has been through the powerful movements which he launched through the National Congress. Through nation-wide action he sought to mould the millions, and largely succeeded in doing so, and changing them from a demoralised, timid and hopeless mass, bullied and crushed by every dominant interest, and incapable of resistance, into a people with self-respect and self-reliance, resisting tyranny, and capable of united action and sacrifice for a larger cause.

Gandhi made people think of political and economic issues and every village and every bazaar hummed with argument and debate on the new ideas and hopes that filled the people. That was an amazing psychological change. The time was ripe for it, of course, and

circumstances and world conditions worked for this change. But a great leader is necessary to take advantage of circumstances and conditions. Gandhi was that leader, and he released

many of the bonds that imprisoned and disabled our minds, and none of us who experienced it can ever forget that great feeling of release and exhilaration that came over the Indian people.

Gandhi has played a revolutionary role in India of the greatest importance because he knew how to make the most of the objective conditions and could reach the heart of the masses, while groups with a more advanced ideology functioned largely in the air because they did not fit in with those conditions and could therefore not evoke any substantial response from the masses.

It is perfectly true that Gandhi, functioning in the nationalist plane, does not think in terms of the conflict of classes, and tries to compose their differences. But the action he has indulged and taught the people has inevitably raised mass consciousness tremendously and made social issues vital. Gandhi and the Congress must be judged by the policies they pursue and the action they indulge in. But behind this, personality counts and colours those policies and activities. In the case of very exceptional person like Gandhi the question of personality becomes especially important in order to understand and appraise him. To us he has represented the spirit and honour of India, the yearning of her sorrowing millions to be rid of their innumerable burdens, and an insult to him by the British Government or others has been an insult to India and her people.

1. Which one of the following is true of the given passage?

(A) The passage is a critique of Gandhi’s role in Indian movement for independence.

(B) The passage hails the role of Gandhi in India’s freedom movement.

(D) It is an account of Indian National Congress’s support to the working-class movement.

Answer: B

2. The change that the Gandhian movement brought among the Indian masses was

(A) Physical (B) Cultural

Answer: D

3. To consider the nationalist movement or to criticise it as a working-class movement was wrong because it was a

(A) Historical movement (B) voice of the Indian people

Answer: C

4. Gandhi played a revolutionary role in India because he could

(A) Preach morality (B) reach the heart of Indians

Answer: B

5. Groups with advanced ideology functioned in the air as they did not fit in with

(A) Objective conditions of masses

(B) The Gandhian ideology

(D) The differences among masses

Answer: A

6. The author concludes the passage by

(A) Criticizing the Indian masses

(B) The Gandhian movement

(D) Identifying the sorrows of millions of Indians

Answer: C

Read the following passage carefully and answer questions 5 to 10: (JUN – 2011)

All historians are interpreters of text if they be private letters, Government records or parish birthlists or whatever. For most kinds of historians, these are only the necessary means to understanding something other than the texts themselves, such as a political action or a historical trend, whereas for the intellectual historian, a full understanding of his chosen texts is itself the aim of his enquiries. Of course, the intellectual history is particularly prone to draw on the focus of other disciplines that are habitually interpreting texts for purposes of their own, probing the reasoning that ostensibly connects premises and conclusions. Furthermore, the boundaries with adjacent subdisciplines are shifting and indistinct : the history of art and the history of science both claim a certain autonomy, partly just because they require specialised technical skills, but both can also be seen as part of a wider intellectual history, as is evident when one considers, for example, the common stock of knowledge about cosmological beliefs or moral ideals of a period.

Like all historians, the intellectual historian is a consumer rather than a producer of ‘methods’. His distinctiveness lies in which aspect of the past he is trying to illuminate, not in having exclusive possession of either a corpus of evidence or a body of techniques. That being said, it does seem that the label ‘intellectual history’ attracts a disproportionate share of misunderstanding.

It is alleged that intellectual history is the history of something that never really mattered. The long dominance of the historical profession by political historians bred a kind of philistinism, an unspoken belief that power and its exercise was ‘what mattered’. The prejudice was reinforced by the assertion that political action was never really the outcome of principles or ideas that were ‘more flapdoodle’. The legacy of this precept is still discernible in the tendency to require ideas to have ‘licensed’ the political class before they can be deemed worthy of intellectual attention, as if there were some reasons why the history of art or science, of philosophy or literature, were somehow of interest and significance than the history of Parties or Parliaments. Perhaps in recent years the mirror-image of this philistinism has been more common in the claim that ideas of any one is of systematic expression or sophistication do not matter, as if they were only held by a minority.

Answer the following questions:

1. An intellectual historian aims to fully understand

(A) The chosen texts of his own (B) political actions

Answer: A

2. Intellectual historians do not claim exclusive possession of

(A) Conclusions (B) any corpus of evidence

Answer: B

3. The misconceptions about intellectual history stem from

(A) A body of techniques

(B) The common stock of knowledge

(D) Cosmological beliefs

Answer: A

4. What is philistinism?

(A) Reinforcement of prejudice

(B) Fabrication of reasons

(D) Belief that power and its exercise matter

Answer: D

5. Knowledge of cosmological beliefs or moral ideas of a period can be drawn as part of

(A) Literary criticism (B) history of science

Answer: D

6. The claim that ideas of any one is of systematic expression do not matter, as if they were held by a minority, is

(A) To have a licensed political class (B) a political action

Answer: D

(DEC – 2011)

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions (Qn. Nos.1 to 6):

The catalytic fact of the twentieth century is uncontrollable development, consumerist society, political materialism, and spiritual devaluation. This inordinate development has led to the transcendental ‘second reality’ of sacred perception that biologically transcendence is a part of human life. As the century closes, it dawns with imperative vigour that the ‘first reality’ of enlightened rationalism and the ‘second reality’ of the Beyond have to be harmonised in a worthy state of man. The de facto values describe what we are, they portray the ‘is’ of our ethic, they are est values (Latin est means is). The ideal values tell us what we ought to be, they are esto values (Latin esto ‘ought to be’). Both have to be in the ebb and flow of consciousness. The ever new science and technology and the ever-perennial faith are two modes of one certainty, that is the wholeness of man, his courage to be, his share in Being.

The materialistic foundations of science have crumbled down. Science itself has proved that matter is energy, processes are as valid as facts, and affirmed the non - materiality of the universe. The encounter of the ‘two cultures’, the scientific and the humane, will restore the normal vision, and will be the bedrock of a ‘science of understanding’ in the new century. It will give new meaning to the ancient perception that quantity (measure) and quality (value) coexist at the root of nature. Human endeavours cannot afford to be humanistically irresponsible.

1. The problem raised in the passage reflects overall on

(A) Consumerism (B) Materialism

Answer:

2. The ‘de facto’ values in the passage means

(A) What is (B) What ought to be

Answer: A

3. According to the passage, the ‘first reality’ constitutes

(A) Economic prosperity (B) Political development

Answer: D

4. Encounter of the ‘two cultures’, the scientific and the human implies

(A) Restoration of normal vision

(B) Universe is both material and non-material

(D) Co-existence of quantity and quality in nature

Answer:

5. The contents of the passage are

(A) Descriptive (B) Prescriptive

Answer:

6. The passage indicates that science has proved that

(A) universe is material (B) matter is energy

Answer:

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions 1 to 6: (JUN – 2012)

James Madison said, “A people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with power that knowledge gives.” In India, the Official Secrets Act, 1923 was a convenient smokescreen to deny members of the public access to information. Public functioning has traditionally been shrouded in secrecy. But in a democracy in which people govern themselves, it is necessary to have more openness. In the maturing of our democracy, right to information is a major step forward; it enables citizens to participate fully in the decision-making process that affects their lives so profoundly. It is in this context that the address of the Prime Minister in the Lok Sabha is significant. He said, “I would only like to see that everyone, particularly our civil servants, should see the Bill in a positive spirit; not as a draconian law for paralyzing Government, but as an instrument for improving Government-Citizen interface resulting in a friendly, caring and effective Government functioning for the good of our People.” He further said, “This is an innovative Bill, where there will be scope to review its functioning as we gain experience. Therefore, this is a piece of legislation, whose working will be kept under constant reviews.”

The Commission, in its Report, has dealt with the application of the Right to Information in Executive, Legislature and Judiciary. The judiciary could be a pioneer in implementing the Act in letter and spirit because much of the work that the Judiciary does is open to public scrutiny, Government of India has sanctioned an e-governance project in the Judiciary for about Rs 700 crores which would bring about systematic classification, standardization and categorization of records. This would help the judiciary to fulfil its mandate under the Act. Similar capacity building would be required in all other public authorities. The transformation from nontransparency to transparency and public accountability is the responsibility of all three organs of State.

1. A person gets power

(A) By acquiring knowledge

(B) From the Official Secrets Act, 1923

(D) By denying public information

Answer: A

2. Right to Information is a major step forward to

(A) Enable citizens to participate fully in the decision making process

(B) To make the people aware of the Act

(D) To make the people Government friendly

Answer: A

3. The Prime Minister considered the Bill

(A) to provide power to the civil servants

(B) as an instrument for improving Government-citizen interface resulting in a friendly, caring and effective Government

(D) to check the harassment of the people

Answer: B

4. The Commission made the Bill effective by

(A) Extending power to the executive authorities

(B) Combining the executive and legislative power

(D) Educating the people before its implementation

Answer: C

5. The Prime Minister considered the Bill innovative and hoped that

(A) It could be reviewed based on the experience gained on its functioning.

(B) The civil servants would see the Bill in a positive spirit.

(D) All the above

Answer: D

6. The transparency and public accountability is the responsibility of three organs of the State. These three organs are

(A) Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and Judiciary

(B) Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and Executive

(D) Legislature, Executive and Judiciary

Answer: D

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions (1 to 6) : (DEC – 2012)

The popular view of towns and cities in developing countries and of urbanization process is that despite the benefits and comforts it brings, the emergence of such cities connotes environmental degradation, generation of slums and squatters, urban poverty, unemployment, crimes, lawlessness, traffic chaos etc. But what is the reality ? Given the unprecedental increase in urban population over the last 50 years from 300 million in 1950 to 2 billion in 2000 in developing countries, the wonder really is how well the world has coped, and not how badly.

In general, the urban quality of life has improved in terms of availability of water and sanitation, power, health and education, communication and transport. By way of illustration, a large number of urban residents have been provided with improved water in urban areas in Asia’s largest countries such as China, India, Indonesia and Philippines. Despite that, the access to improved water in terms of percentage of total urban population seems to have declined during the last decade of 20th century, though in absolute numbers, millions of additional urbanites, have been provided improved services. These countries have made significant progress in the provision of sanitation services too, together, providing for an additional population of more than 293 million citizens within a decade (1990-2000). These improvements must be viewed against the backdrop of rapidly increasing urban population, fiscal crunch and strained human resources and efficient and quality-oriented public management.

1. The popular view about the process of urbanization in developing countries is

(A) Positive (B) Negative

Answer: B

2. The average annual increase in the number of urbanites in developing countries, from 1950 to 2000 A.D. was close to

(A) 30 million (B) 40 million

Answer: A

3. The reality of urbanization is reflected in

(A) How well the situation has been managed.

(B) How badly the situation has gone out of control.

(D) How fast the environment has degraded.

Answer: A

4. Which one of the following is not considered as an indicator of urban quality of life?

(A) Tempo of urbanization (B) Provision of basic services

Answer: A

5. The author in this passage has tried to focus on

(A) Extension of Knowledge

(B) Generation of Environmental Consciousness

(D) Descriptive Statement

Answer: C

6. In the above passage, the author intends to state

(A) The hazards of the urban life

(B) The sufferings of the urban life

(D) The limits to growth

Answer: D

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions (1 to 6): (JUN – 2013)

The Taj Mahal has become one of the world's best known monuments. This domed white marble structure is situated on a high plinth at the southern end of a four-quartered garden evoking the gardens of paradise, enclosed within walls measuring 305 by 549 metres. Outside the walls, in an area known as Mumtazabad, were living quarters for attendants, markets, serais and other structures built by local merchants and nobles. The tomb complex and the other imperial structures of Mumtazabad were maintained by the income of thirty villages given specifically for the tomb's support. The name Taj Mahal is unknown in Mughal chronicles, but it is used by contemporary Europeans in India, suggesting that this was the tomb's popular name. In contemporary texts, it is generally called simply the Illuminated Tomb (Rauza-i-Munavvara).

Mumtaz Mahal died shortly after delivering her fourteenth child in 1631. The Mughal court was then residing in Burhanpur. Her remains were temporarily buried by the grief- stricken emperor in a spacious garden known as Zainabad on the bank of the river Tapti. Six months later her body was transported to Agra, where it was interred in land chosen for the mausoleum. This land, situated south of the Mughal city on the bank of the Jamuna, had belonged to the Kachhwaha rajas since the time of Raja Man Singh and was purchased from the then current raja, Jai Singh. Although contemporary chronicles indicate Jai Singh's willing cooperation in this exchange, extant, farmans (imperial commands) indicate that the final price was not settled until almost two years after the mausoleum's commencement. Jai Singh's further cooperation was insured by imperial orders issued between 1632 and 1637 demanding that he provide stone masons and carts to transport marble from the mines at Makrana, within his "ancestral domain", to Agra where both the Taj Mahal and Shah Jahan's additions to the Agra fort were constructed concurrently.

Work on the mausoleum was commenced early in 1632. Inscriptional evidence indicates much of the tomb was completed by 1636. By 1643, when Shah Jahan most lavishly celebrated the 'Urs ceremony for Mumtaz Mahal', the entire complex was virtually complete.

1. Marble stone used for the construction of the Taj Mahal was brought from the ancestral domain of Raja Jai Singh. The name of the place where mines of marble is

(A) Burhanpur (B) Makrana

Answer: B

2. The popular name Taj Mahal was given by

(A) Shah Jahan (B) Tourists

Answer: D

3. Point out the true statement from the following:

(A) Marble was not used for the construction of the Taj Mahal.

(B) Red sandstone is non-visible in the Taj Mahal complex.

(D) The Taj Mahal was constructed to celebrate the 'Urs ceremony for Mumtaz Mahal'.

Answer: C

4. In the contemporary texts the Taj Mahal is known

(A) Mumtazabad (B) Mumtaz Mahal

Answer: D

5. The construction of the Taj Mahal was completed between the period

(A) 1632 - 1636 A.D. (B) 1630 - 1643A.D.

Answer: C

6. The documents indicating the ownership of land, where the Taj Mahal was built, known as

(A) Farman (B) Sale Deed

Answer: A

Saturday, May 13, 2017

CBSE NET PAPER 1 READING COMPREHENSION PREVIOUS YEAR QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS

READING COMPREHENSION (DEC – 2004)

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