Directions (1-11): Each of the following questions has a paragraph from which the last sentence has been deleted. From the given options, choose the one that completes the paragraph in the most appropriate way.
1Q. By calling for exempting unionized businesses from the minimum wage, unions are creating more incentives for employers to favor unionized workers over the non-unionized sort. Such exemptions strengthen their power. This is useful because for all the effort unions throw at raising the minimum wage laws for better pay to have an awkward habit of undermining union clout. (.......................)

(A) High rates of unionization make minimum-wage rules unnecessary as collaborative wage setting achieves the flexibility goals of a low minimum wage and the fairness goals of a high one. (B) Workers who have no real alternative to employment in the unregulated shadows of the labor market are even more vulnerable to exploitation and abuse than workers with the legal right to take low wages. (C) The labor ethos of worker solidarity seems hollow if non-union workers are underpriced by union workers and left unemployed or scrambling for unauthorized work. (D) Once employers are obliged to pay the same minimum wage to both unionized and non-unionized labor, workers often see less reason to pay the dues to join a union. (E) However, labors do not want to join a union because the dues they pay to join the same adds to the burden on them.

Answer: Option (D)
Explanation: Sentence A talks about the effect of high rates of unionization. It makes minimum wage laws unnecessary as the unions are able to achieve flexible and fair wages through collaboration. This sentence does not complete the given paragraph, which discusses the effect of minimum wage laws on the clout of the union and not the vice-versa.
Sentence B discusses the case of workers without the legal right to take the low wages (as set by the minimum wage law) and no real alternative to employment being more vulnerable to exploitation. This is a new line of thought and does not complete the paragraph given.
Sentence C argues that the spirit of worker solidarity seems hollow if non-unionized workers are under-priced by their unionized counterparts. This is a thought that seems, at the outset, to be related to the idea discussed in the paragraph. Unions are calling for exempting unionized businesses from the minimum wage. Thus they are encouraging employers to prefer unionized workers over the non-unionized and thus going against the ethos of worker solidarity.
However, this choice is incorrect, as the given paragraph is about why and how unions are seeking to increase their power having worked towards minimum wage laws, which, rather contrarily, decrease their clout. Sentence C does not carry forward the idea in the penultimate sentence about how laws for better pay have the “awkward habit of undermining union clout”.
Sentence D discusses the idea that workers have less incentive to pay and join a union when protected by minimum wage laws. This, clearly, undermines the clout of the unions. Thus sentence D provides a good choice to complete the given paragraph, carrying forward the idea expressed in the penultimate line.
2Q. Trade protectionism, disguised as concern for the climate, is raising its head. Citing competitiveness concerns, powerful industrialized countries are holding out threats of a levy on imports of energy-intensive products from developing countries that refuse to accept their demands. The actual source of protectionist sentiment in the OECD countries is, of course, their current lackluster economic performance, combined with the challenges posed by the rapid economic rise of China and India – in that order. (.......................)

(A) Climate change is evoked to bring trade protectionism through the back door. (B) OECD countries are taking refuge in climate change issues to erect trade barriers against these two countries. (C) Climate change concerns have come as a convenient stick to beat the rising trade power of China and India. (D) Defenders of the global economic status quo are posing as climate change champions. (E) Today’s climate change champions are the perpetrators of global economic inequity.

Answer: Option (D)
Explanation: Options (A) and (C) are very generalized statements. Option (B) is a repetition of the idea presented in the beginning of the paragraph. This paragraph talks about how developed countries indulge in trade protectionism as a move against China and India’s economic rise under the guise of climate concern. Option (D) and (E) talk about the same thing but (D) goes along with the subtle suggestive tone of the paragraph while (E) is more curt in its accusation of ‘perpetrators of inequity’. Hence (D) is the correct option which goes with the meaning of the sentence.
3Q. The 16th century in Europe was a great century of change. The humanists and artists of the Renaissance would help characterize the age as one of individualism and self-creativity. Humanists such as Petrarch helped restore the dignity of mankind while men like Machiavelli injected humanism into politics. When all is said and done, the Renaissance helped to secularize European society. (.......................)

(A) The year 1543 can be said to have marked the origin of the Scientific Revolution, with Copernicus publishing De Revolutionibus and setting in motion a wave of scientific advance. (B) The century witnessed the growth of royal power, the appearance of centralized monarchies and the discovery of new lands. (C) The very powerful notion that man makes his own history and destiny took root. (D) In the meantime, urbanization continued unabated as did the growth of universities. (E) Besides this, industrialization also played an important role in the development of Europe.

Answer: Option (C)
Explanation: Option (A) talks of the year 1543 heralding the Scientific Revolution. This is not the correct sentence to complete the given paragraph as it does not relate to humanism. Option (B) discusses the growth of royal power and centralized monarchies at this time. Again, we can rule out this option, as it does not relate to humanism (human interests, values, and dignity) in the 16th century. Option (C) clearly is the correct option. The very powerful notion that man creates his own history and destiny took root in the 16th century. This carries forward the idea discussed in the rest of the paragraph. Option (D) discusses urbanization and the growth of universities. This is unrelated to the central idea of the given paragraph.
4Q. Most people at their first consultation take a furtive look at the surgeon’s hands in the hope of reassurance. Prospective patients look for delicacy, sensitivity, steadiness, perhaps unblemished pallor. On this basis, Henry Perowne loses a number of cases each year. Generally, he knows it’s about to happen before the patient does: the downward glance repeated, the prepared questions beginning to falter, the overemphatic thanks during the retreat to the door. (.......................)

(A) Other people do not communicate due to their poor observation. (B) Other patients don’t like what they see but are ignorant of their right to go elsewhere. (C) But Perowne himself is not concerned. (D) But others will take their place, he thought. (E) These hands are steady enough, but they are large.

Answer: Option (C)
Explanation: In the paragraph, the author suggests why the doctor loses some of his patients. Option (E) can easily be eliminated as the pronoun “these” has no antecedent in the paragraph. Option (B) & (D) are farfetched as they are to do with the doctor’s attitude towards the problem, which the paragraph does not indicate in any way. Option (A) can also be done away with as it suggests those patients who fail to speak up and not about those who leave his treatment, as indicated in the paragraph. Hence Option (C) fits in perfectly.
5Q. Age has a curvilinear relationship with the exploitation of opportunity. Initially, age will increase the likelihood that a person will exploit an entrepreneurial opportunity because people gather much of the knowledge necessary to exploit opportunities over the course of their lives and because age provides credibility in transmitting that information to others. However, as people become older, their willingness to bear risks declines, their opportunity costs rise, and they become less receptive to new information. (.......................)

(A) As a result, people transmit more information rather than experiment with new ideas as they reach an advanced age. (B) As a result, people are reluctant to experiment with new ideas as they reach an advanced age. (C) As a result, only people with lower opportunity costs exploit opportunity when they reach an advanced age. (D) As a result, people become reluctant to exploit entrepreneurial opportunities when they reach an advanced age. (E) As a result, people depend on credibility rather than on novelty as they reach an advanced age.

Answer: Option (D)
Explanation: The relationship between a person’s age and his likelihood of exploiting new opportunities is presented in the passage. When people gain more knowledge and experience they try to exploit new opportunities. However, as they grow even older they try to avoid risks and become less receptive to new ideas. Hence at an advanced age, a person becomes reluctant to exploit new opportunities as he wants to avoid risks. Choice (A) can be ruled out because the focus of the passage is on the exploitation of opportunity whereas this option talks of ‘transmit more information’ and ‘experiment with new ideas’. Choice (B) can be eliminated as it categorically states that they are reluctant to “experiment with new ideas. Since the context is of “entrepreneurial opportunity option (D) becomes better as the concluding line. Choice (C) says people with lower opportunity cost exploit opportunity when they became old whereas the passage says that “as people become older less receptive to new information. Choice (E) introduces a new concept of ‘credibility’ which is inappropriate in the concluding line.
6Q. Given the cultural and intellectual interconnections, the question of what is ‘Western’ and what is ‘Eastern’ (or Indian) is often hard to decide, and the issue can be discussed only in more dialectical terms. The diagnosis of thought as ‘purely Western’ or ‘purely Indian’ can be very illusory. (.......................)

(A) Thoughts are not the kind of things that can be easily categorized. (B) Though ‘Occidentalism’ and ‘orientalism’ as dichotomous concepts have found many adherents. (C) ‘East is East and West is West’ has been a discredited notion for a long time now. (D) Compartmentalizing thoughts is often desirable. (E) The origin of thought is not the kind of thing to which ‘purity’ happens easily.

Answer: Option (E)
Explanation: Option (A) can be easily eliminated as it is a mere repetition of the ideas presented in the paragraph. Option (B) is a little farfetched as it should come one or two more sentences later in the paragraph. Option (C) does not match with the idea presented in the passage. Option (D) does not match with the tone of the paragraph. Option (E) completes the idea as the emphasis in the last line of the paragraph is that the idea of pure Western and pure Indian thoughts is deceptive.
7Q. Relations between the factory and the dealer are distant and usually strained as the factory tries to force cars on the dealers to smooth out production. Relations between the dealer and the customer are equally strained because dealers continuously adjust prices or make deals or to adjust demand with supply while maximizing profits. This becomes a system marked by a lack of long-term commitment on either side, which maximizes feelings of mistrust. In order to maximize their bargaining positions, everyone holds back information or the dealer about the product and the consumer about his true desires. (.......................)

(A) As a result, “deal making” becomes rampant, without concern for customer satisfaction. (B) As a result, inefficiencies creep into the supply chain. (C) As a result, everyone treats the other as an adversary, rather than as an ally. (D) As a result, fundamental innovations are becoming scarce in the automobile industry. (E) As a result, everyone loses in the long run.

Answer: Option (E)
Explanation: The passage explains the kind of differences that exist between the components in the supply chain, (i.e. production to distribution to consumer). The nature of the differences results in a system lacking commitment on the part of the components, and lacking transparency. The paragraph is best closed with the option that points to the logical result of such a situation – that is provided in choice e ‘everyone loses in the long run’. Choice (A) is inappropriate since, in ‘deal-making’, the customer would have his own satisfaction in mind. Choice (B) brings in circumstances that would follow in continuation. Choice (C) brings in a thought contrary to the tone of the paragraph Choice (E) is not relevant to the content of the paragraph.
8Q. The East India Company no longer exists, and it has, thankfully, no exact modern equivalent. Walmart, which is the world’s largest corporation in revenue terms, does not number among its assets a fleet of nuclear submarines; neither Facebook nor Shell possesses regiments of infantry. Yet the East India Company – the first great multinational corporation, and the first to run amok – was the ultimate model for many of today’s joint-stock corporations. The most powerful among them do not need their own armies: they can rely on governments to protect their interests and bail them out. The East India Company remains history’s most terrifying warning about the potential for the abuse of corporate power – and the insidious means by which the interests of shareholders become those of the state. Three hundred and fifteen years after its founding, its story has never been more current. (.......................).

(A) The East India Company’s story is the first example of a nation-state extracting, as its price for saving a failing corporation, the right to regulate and severely rein it in. (B) For all the power wielded today by the world’s largest corporations – whether ExxonMobil, Walmart or Google – they are tame beasts compared with the ravaging territorial appetites of the militarized East India Company. (C) Answerable only to its shareholders and with no stake in the just governance of the region, or its long-term wellbeing, the East India Company’s rule quickly turned into the straightforward pillage of India, and the rapid transfer westwards of its wealth. (D) If history shows anything, it is that in the intimate dance between the power of the state and that of the corporation, while the latter can be regulated, it will use all the resources in its power to resist. (E) East India Company has no modern counterpart today.

Answer: Option (A)
Explanation: The East India Company’s story is the first example of a nation-state extracting, as its price for saving a failing corporation, the right to regulate and severely rein it in. The given paragraph discusses the East India Company and its relevance in today’s context, especially with regard to large multinational companies and the power they wield over the governments. Statement A does not conclude the given paragraph. It discusses a different line of thought, of how a government saving a company in crisis extracted from it, in turn, the right to regulate. Option (B)- For all the power wielded today by the world’s largest corporations – whether ExxonMobil, Walmart or Google – they are tame beasts compared with the ravaging territorial appetites of the militarized East India Company. Statement B states that the East India Company was far more powerful than the largest corporations of the world today. This is not the right option to conclude the paragraph, which talks of the similarities between the corporations of today and the lessons to be learned from the East India Company. Option (C)- Answerable only to its shareholders and with no stake in the just governance of the region, or its long-term wellbeing, the East India Company’s rule quickly turned into the straightforward pillage of India, and the rapid transfer westwards of its wealth. Statement C tells us how the East India Company quickly rose to power. However, it does not conclude or add to the given paragraph in terms of how and what its example teaches the corporations of today. Option (E) does not go with the sense of the paragraph. Option (D)- If history shows anything, it is that in the intimate dance between the power of the state and that of the corporation, while the latter can be regulated, it will use all the resources in its power to resist. This statement summarizes the relevance of the East India Company in the context of today’s corporations perfectly. This is hence the right option to conclude the paragraph.
9Q. We can usefully think of theoretical models as maps, which help us navigate unfamiliar territory. The most accurate map that is possible to construct would be of no practical use whatsoever, for it would be an exact replica, on exactly the same scale, of the place where we were. Good maps pull out the most important features and throw away a huge amount of much less valuable information. Of course, maps can be bad as well as good one witness the attempts by medieval Europe to produce a map of the world. In the same way, a bad theory, no matter how impressive it may seem in principle, does little or nothing to help us understand a problem. (.......................)

(A) But good theories, just like good maps, are invaluable, even if they are simplified. (B) But good theories, just like good maps, will never represent unfamiliar concepts in detail. (C) But good theories, just like good maps, need to balance detail and feasibility of representation. (D) But good theories, just like good maps, are accurate only at a certain level of abstraction. (E) But good theories, just like good maps, are useful in the hands of a user who knows their limitations.

Answer: Option (A)
Explanation: The passage compares maps with theories. Good maps give only the “most important features and leave out less valuable information. So too are good theories. Choice (B) categorically states that good theories will never represent unfamiliar concepts whereas a concept being familiar or unfamiliar depends on a person’s knowledge”. Choice (C) can be ruled out because the passage does not talk of balancing details with the feasibility of representation. Choice (D) cannot be the answer because maps don’t have to become abstract to be accurate. Choice (E) is not the answer because the paragraph has not mentioned a user so far. Hence, (A) is the correct answer.
10Q. In the evolving world order, the comparative advantage of the United States lies in its military force. Diplomacy and international law have always been regarded as annoying encumbrances unless they can be used to advantage against an enemy. Every active player in world affairs professes to seek only peace and to prefer negotiation to violence and coercion. (.......................)

(A) However, diplomacy has often been used as a mask by nations which intended to use force. (B) However, when the veil is lifted, we commonly see that diplomacy is understood as a disguise for the rule of force. (C) However, history has shown that many of these nations do not practice what they profess. (D) However, history tells us that peace is professed by those who intend to use violence. (E) However, when unmasked, such nations reveal a penchant for the use of force.

Answer: Option (B)
Explanation: All the choices provided seem to follow from the last line of the passage. However, since the statement indicates what is professed, the contradiction would be in the intentions behind that – best expressed in choice (B). In addition, choice (B) is the only sentence that corresponds to the singular “every active player” – all the other sentences use plurals. Hence, option (B) is the correct option.
11Q. Cancer of the nervous system, brain, breast, ovaries, lungs, and mouth tops cancer cases in Haryana, Delhi, and Uttar Pradesh, as per the Fortis Memorial Research Institute (FMRI) cancer registry. Among the few private institutes set up in 2013 to collect data on the prevalence and trends in cancer in India, the registry aims to help authorities make better decisions to combat cancer. It includes a pre-devised questionnaire, which records information based on socio-demographic factors, diagnosis, the clinical extent of the disease, stage, treatment, prognosis, etc., as recorded by doctors. (.......................)

(A) However, challenges exist in the availability of updated data for the public and stakeholders. (B) Such a database is critical for yearly mapping of prevalence, future planning of resources, assessment of preventive measures and charting disease trends (C) A database is critical for yearly mapping of prevalence, planning of resources, assessment of preventive measures and charting trends (D) The data is then validated using quality control programmes followed by cancer registries of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). (E) None of the above.

Answer: Option (D)
Explanation: Option (D) is the correct and most apt choice for the given paragraph and fits the paragraph most suitably. Option (D) is correct as in the last few sentences of the passage were talking about recording information and thus our option which talks about validating it further is correct.

Directions (1-11): Each of the following questions has a paragraph from which the last sentence has been deleted. From the given options, choose the one that completes the paragraph in the most appropriate way.
1Q. Parsing the 2014 results by AC segment, a complicated picture emerges. The Akali-BJP combine won 45 AC segments, the Congress 37, and the AAP 33. From this perspective, the contest between the Congress and the AAP was much closer. Much like the BJP at the national level, the AAP did a good job in converting its votes into seats in Punjab. This is because its success was highly regionally concentrated. Punjab can be broken into three regions, Doaba, Majha, and Malwa. Malwa with 69 ACs is the largest region, while Doaba and Majha have 23 and 25 ACs, respectively. The AAP won 31 of its 33 AC segments in Malwa (and the other two in Doaba).

(A) However, the AAP simply does not have the legacy or the reach of the Congress Party in Punjab, and unless it significantly increases it reaches from 2014 with all communities. (B) The Punjabi voter seems to be truly concerned about politicians qua governance actors Bhanu Joshi Ashish Ranjan. (.......................) (C) While much of the country was riding the “Modi wave,” the Akali-BJP combine ceded a lot of electoral territory to the Congress and the AAP. (D) The relative success or failure of the AAP will depend on whether it can extend beyond the base it built in 2014; anecdotally, the AAP seems to have done so. (E) Strategically voting for the preferred party between the AAP and the Congress, this mass of voters will have decisive power in this election.

Answer: Option (D)
Explanation: Option (D) is the correct choice. Option (E) is incorrect as here the subject of discussion is the masses and not AAP. The only option (D) completes the paragraph as it is in harmony to the theme of the passage.
2Q. The move was aimed at protecting domestic steel makers in the backdrop of the decline in prices of these items as well as the surge in cheap imports of iron and steel. The Centre said with that duty increase, the ‘duty differential’ between iron or steel scrap and products obtained from such scrap went up to 10%. It said, therefore, reducing the BCD on ship-breaking further from 2.5% to zero will “disturb the rationalization in rates between vessels and other floating structures for breaking up and melting a scrap of iron or steel (other than stainless steel).” Eliminating the duty will also increase the ‘duty differential’ (to 12.5%) between ships for breaking up and products obtained from the scrap generated after their break up that is plates of iron and steel, HR Coils and CR Coils. (.......................)

(A) So far, the yard has helped recycle more than 7,000 vessels and generate 54 million LDT (Light Displacement Tonnage) steel, the Gujarat government said. (B) Lowering BCD on ship-breaking to zero will “disturb the rationalization in duty rates. (C) Due to all these reasons, “there is no economic justification” for abolishing the BCD on ships for breaking up, the Centre said. (D) The state government’s proposal was turned down by the Centre saying items obtained from the scrap generated from breaking up of ships will compete with the products manufactured by them. (E) The State said the factors that hurt the ship recycling industry include rupee depreciation and high volatility against the U.S. dollar.

Answer: Option (C)
Explanation: Option (C) is the correct choice as throughout the passage the center was justifying its move of turning down state’s proposal an option (C) is stating the same fact and is in continuation of the paragraph, hence it is the correct choice for the given question.
3Q. What compounds the problem of higher corporate tax rates is the unpredictable taxation environment in the country and it does not look like the situation improving in the future. The General AntiAvoidance Rules (GAAR) is now to come into effect on April 1, 2017, and the government has issued a four-page circular as clarification on the provisions of GAAR. The circular is too brief and does not compare favorably with the detailed guidelines issued by Australia, New Zealand or the UK for instance. (.......................)

(A) India is not attracting foreign investment in manufacturing because of a poor investment environment, and one of the reasons for this is the high rate of corporate taxation. (B) In order to ensure that it is implemented in a predictable manner, it is necessary for the government to make the guidelines more elaborate and detailed. (C) For foreign investors, the corporate tax is even higher where the total income is in excess of INR 100 million the foreign investor has to pay 43.26%. (D) An exporting country of manufacturers is nearer to that of Thailand and Malaysia, which are much smaller economies. (E) These are partial measures that do not go far particularly because they do no put us on par with other emerging countries named above.

Answer: Option (B)
Explanation: All options are relating to the topic but only option (B) is completing the passage as it is talking about the implementation of GAAR which was the main topic of the passage.
4Q. Meantime, depositors take a back seat. The other day the head of a leading private bank was being interviewed on a television channel on what made him take the lead in cutting base rate. Pointing out that rate fixation by individual banks is a function of the cost of funds and how they view demand and supply of credit in the near future, he predicted a fall in deposit rates. (.......................)

(A) For the category of bank depositors who depend solely on interest, there is very little choice except to continue with the banking system. (B) There is not even one word about depositors without whose support the bank would not have made such impressive strides. (C) Its objective is to discuss the implication of falling bank interest rates on the welfare of senior citizens. (D) Almost all readers are aware of the context in which the current debate over falling deposit rates is being held. (E) The nuances of a repo rate (interest rate) cut by the RBI and its impact on lending and deposit rates are appreciated.

Answer: Option (B)
Explanation: The given paragraph talks about the interview of the head of a leading private bank. So the concluding sentence should be related to the points mentioned by the person in the interview. Option (B) is the only choice which concludes the paragraph in the desired manner. Other options are not in relation to the meaning of the paragraph.
5Q. Are banks becoming less relevant? This conflict between a generalist and a specialist takes place all the time and can never be resolved satisfactorily. The debate has deep implications for a bank’s human resources policies. Should we recruit specialist officers? What will be the implications for the rank and file? What career path are you promising for the youngster with special qualifications and so on? (.......................)

(A) It might be far-fetched but the government is basically reacting to the forces of disintermediation, forces that diminish a bank’s traditional role and move to new areas. (B) Among the important factors driving disintermediation is competition. (C) Yet the forces of competition, essentially from foreign banks forced many government banks to undertake activities they were neither qualified for nor experienced in. (D) This has had enormous consequences, not the least on bank profitability as well as on regulation. (E) Such questions should resonate well with us in India.

Answer: Option (E)
Explanation: The given paragraph contains many questions as these are raised to evoke a proper debate. Hence the concluding sentence should match its meaning. Option (E) makes the most appropriate conclusion to the paragraph. Other options are out of context.
6Q. Slum dwellers give each other material and psychological support along with informal insurance in ways that, for now, the state cannot provide. Low take-up of PMAY housing suggests that the programme, in its current form, risks some of the same failures as the one we studied. Studies of “Moving to Opportunity” — a programme in the US in the 1990s that gave lottery winners vouchers to move from high- to low-poverty neighborhoods — provide another useful benchmark. These studies found no financial or employment benefits for participants or their adult children. (.......................)

(A) In our study, we found that lottery winners were not better off on a variety of socio-economic measures, including income, labor force participation, household health outcomes. (B) They reported feeling isolated and were six to nine percentage points less likely to know someone they could rely on for borrowing needs. (C) Lottery losers, but not winners, reported receiving money through their social networks during hard times. (D) It may be that such benefits only materialize among those relocated at an early age. (E) In some cases, local authorities have demolished slums and provided residents with rental subsidies until MAY housing can be built.

Answer: Option (A)
Explanation: Read the last two sentences of the paragraph, it can be easily inferred from there that option (A) forms the most appropriate conclusion to it. Other options talk about different matters.
7Q. Where it would be utopian to imagine a workplace without conflict, one has to acknowledge that notwithstanding one’s favorites and bête-noirs, it is the manager’s job to treat everyone alike. There are various factors that can lead to a perception of biased management and a warped image of reality. However, the repercussions of differential treatment, if it does exist, can tell upon the productivity, employee morale and the overall reputation of the company. (.......................)

(A) More often nurturing of bias results into titled viewpoint which could ignore even the very basics of competence and survival. (B) The first step to deal with imaginary or true perceptions regarding the management’s approach is to start with an appraisal that is rooted in equality. (C) Management has seen partial and hence unethical fails to draw sharpest brains and the resultant is mediocrity. (D) That’s why equality of opportunity is believed to be the best bait to keep the employees glued. (E) None of these.

Answer: Option (B)
8Q. It’s a well-known fact that Alcoholics Anonymous – the informal self-help group for people with drinking problems – has a huge dropout rate. What’s well not so known is that it’s more widespread among winos who are either atheists or agnostics. The reason is because of the set of guiding principles for recovery in the AM 12-step the programme includes the suggestion to accept that only a power greater than oneself can restore a booze addict to sanity. (.......................)

(A) Surprisingly enough, the specter of higher authority has helped them gain sobriety. (B) Despite their incapacitating condition, unbelieving addicts can’t get themselves to acknowledge the authority of such a higher power. (C) Addiction, however, has too desensitized them to realize the superiority of the high power. (D) Can a power wean someone away from indulgence? (E) None of these.

Answer: Option (B)
9Q. Thus, ancient ideas of knowing yourself were about becoming a better person. While the process may have been psychological, it involved conditioning one’s mind rather than finding out why the mind does what it does. As Marcus Aurelius said, “Cast away opinion and you are saved. But who hinders you from casting it away?” Nor does your ‘heart’ always listen to your head. The best of the ancient writers, including Aurelius, concede the difficulty of the endeavor and “with a smile and a shrug provide exercises for teaching ourselves to improve what self-control we have,” says Hecht. That’s what religion and New Age philosophies are doing with their rituals and their meditations: (.......................)

(A) Teaching us to wake up to ourselves, for the sake of happiness. (B) Trying to separate your heart your mind even further. (C) Providing a detailed prescription of what to do and what not. (D) Telling us when to list to your heart and when to respond to your mind. (E) None of these.

Answer: Option (A)
10Q. It’s the pleasure principle that keeps us in perpetual motion, said Freud, referring to the constant effort at gratification of incessant desire. According to Buddhist teachings, craving springs from the notion that if one’s desires are fulfilled it will, by itself, lead to lasting happiness or well-being. However, such beliefs normally result in further cravings or desire and the repeated enactment of activities to bring about the desired results. By desire, of course, we mean the craving for anything from sexual pleasure to material goods and gains of fame and power, all of which are wants that apparently can never be satisfied. (.......................)

(A) It is, thus, futile to try to satiate them. (B) The pursuit of pleasure is, thus, the generating core of desire. (C) As a result, desiring them only brings suffering. (D) Man must, therefore, learn which one to satisfy and which one to ignore. (E) None of these.

Answer: Option (D)
11Q. Another way of looking at logic is its power of deconstruction – the same as happens with the scientific method. For example, Democritus who lived a little before Aristotle proposed an atomic theory of the universe in which all things originate from indivisible atoms. Today scientists have gone further and found atoms are made of subatomic particles and those of even smaller constituents to, ultimately, when they’re saying everything is composed of unimaginably minuscule entities called strings. However, some of them think strings, in turn, should be made of something else too. (.......................)

(A) This is, in fact, what destruction stands for. (B) After all, it stands to reason: if something exists, it has to be made of something. (C) Logical deconstruction postulates that we have not yet reached to the smallest fragment. (D) Like subatomic particles, sub-string is also a possibility. (E) None of these.

Answer: Option (B)

Directions (1-3): Each of the following questions has a paragraph from which one sentence has been deleted. From the given options, choose the one that completes the paragraph in the most appropriate way.
1Q. Ever since Penicillin was discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1929, an “antibiotic revolution” has been ushered in medicine with new antibiotics flooding the market every year. _________________.The only way in which antibiotic resistance can be prevented is not to use the antibiotic, which, of course, is not possible. Preventing resistance against Bedaquiline is a must, but the manner in which this is being done is impractical and undemocratic.

(A) But there is hardly any antibiotic against which “no resistance” has been reported. (B) The rationing of Bedaquiline by the government on the fears of drug resistance is understandable. (C) If the priority is the prevention of drug resistance, it could be attained by methods less draconian than controlling the availability of the drug. (D) A compassionate approach supplemented by scientific rationality is a must in promoting, not rationing, Bedaquiline therapy. (E) Restricting patients and means to treat them in specific regions is unprecedented.

Answer: Option (A)
Explanation: Before choosing any option, read the paragraph carefully. It talks about antibiotic resistance. The first sentence and the sentence following the blank space should tally with the required statement for the given space. Among five options, option (A) fits appropriately to the given blank space as it is the only option focusing on antibiotic resistance. Other options talk about either Bedaquiline therapy or drug resistance. Hence (A) is the correct choice.
2Q. The word “gross” has more than one meaning and every possible meaning isn’t palatable. There are people who are engrossed in GDP, and its growth, on a daily basis. But just after the Union budget, many more people are interested in GDP which is the annual value of goods and services produced, as opposed to gross national income, which adds net factor income from abroad. _______________________ . I mean the concept, not quality of data. How can GDP measure welfare?

(A) Income, the foundation of GDP, is at best a means to an end. (B) GDP is a term widely used and also abused. (C) If one reads the report, one realizes every criticism “discovered” afresh today was anticipated by Kuznets in 1934. (D) What does one make of the GDP critique? (E) Indicators aren’t the same as a summary or aggregate measure.

Answer: Option (B)
Explanation: The paragraph talks about the GDP and how its meaning is interpreted differently. Read the paragraph carefully. The first and the second last sentence of the paragraph leads to the elimination of options (A), (C) and (E). Now option (D) is an interrogative statement which should follow a sentence defining the meaning of GDP critique as asked in the question but the following sentence talks about the concept, hence option (D) is eliminated. Only another option left is (B) which fits correctly to the blank space as it can be inferred from its preceding sentences. Hence option (B) is the correct choice.
3Q. It is clear that institutional credit availability to facilitate rural consumption and growth has been on the wane, with larger household debts being incurred through non-institutional sources, borrowed at very high rates of interest for unproductive purposes. While international studies point to the negative long-run impact of household debt on consumption and growth, such debt-driven consumption as prevalent in India is likely to be even more unsustainable, and non-growth-inducing. (_______________)The success of monetary policy and the transmission mechanism would be predicated on the successful reach of institutional credit agencies in rural areas and their growing share in rural household debt.

(A) The presence of the right institutional environment will have a bearing on the sustainability of household debt. (B) Monetary policy will need to pay attention to this link between consumption and growth. (C) While the Economic Survey and the budget document have raised concerns about corporate debt and government debt, the growing household debt may be the blind spot. (D) Economic analysts, as also the monetary authorities, may need to go beyond their traditional obsession with the growth-inflation outcomes of monetary policy to the underlying conundrums of such growth itself. (E) More important is the declining role of cheaper institutional credit in the total cash debt in rural segments, vis-à-vis the exploitative traditional sources of non-institutional credit such as agricultural moneylenders, landlords, traders, etc.

Answer: Option (B)
Explanation: Option (B) is correct. The sentence, written in option (B), complete the passage in the most appropriate way. The need for effective monetary policy is expressed in this article to balance the link between consumption and growth.