Directions (1Q - 3Q): Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. Certain parts are given in bold to answer some of the questions based on the passage.
Finally some good news: The Central government has begun to recognise that women workers need adequate maternity protection. Of course, the new measures announced are still quite limited. The ministry of women and child development has decided to increase maternity leave from the current 12 weeks to 26 weeks and extend this to all women workers in both public and private employment. The ministry of labor is to require all establishments with 30 women workers or 50 total workers to provide crèche [kresh(A hospital where foundlings (infant children of unknown parents) are taken in and cared for)] facilities for their employees, either at the premises or within half a kilometer.
These are definitely welcome measures, apparently a response to low and declining rates of female work participation. India stands out in the world because of shockingly low rates of recognized work participation by women (around 24 percent) that have even declined over the past decade. This obviously represents a huge economic loss for the country — but it is also a sign of the continuing low status of women and their lack of agency in Indian society.
As it happens, most women in India do indeed work, but they are involved not in paid employment but in unpaid work in their homes or communities. Such work is socially necessary but unsung and unrewarded — everything from cooking and cleaning to looking after the young, the old and the sick, to collecting fuelwood and water for households, to tending gardens and livestock, and so on. Bizarrely during the recent economic boom in India, official data suggests that more women have moved from paid or recognized employment to doing unpaid work in their households.
There are many factors behind this peculiar tendency. The sheer inadequacy of job creation in the economy makes it hard for women to find suitable jobs. Gender gaps in education also work against them. For less-skilled women, available paid jobs tend to be physically arduous and pay much lower wages than for men. The double burden of paid work and unpaid work creates extreme time poverty for working women. So when family incomes improve even slightly (as they did in the previous decade when real wage rates were rising — something that is no longer the case) women may be less inclined to try and do both.
And there are other impediments to women working outside the home: Patriarchal attitudes within families and social restriction on mobility; concerns about commuting time and about security at work and during the commute; and the difficulties of managing domestic responsibilities along with the paid jobs, given the unequal division of household work between men and women within families.
So maternity leave for the actual period of childbirth and the immediate aftermath is only one of the many concerns that working women have — though it is in itself a big one. If the government does succeed in making private employers provide increased maternity leave and in providing crèches at or near workplaces, that will certainly be a step towards somewhat easing the double burden that working mothers face. It would put India (at least legally) in a better position than many other countries like the US, though still far behind more enlightened countries in northern and eastern Europe as well as Central Asia. Some countries like Canada and Australia even provide a year of parental leave, which can be shared between parents.
Q1. Which of the following can be the suitable title of the passage?

A. Working or non working Women B. Paid or unpaid working women C. What works for women at work D. Women at work E. None of these

Answer - Option C
Explanation - What works for women at work
Q2. Choose the word which is MOST OPPOSITE in meaning of the word 'peculiar' as used in the passage?

A. Particular B. General C. Individual D. Intrinsic E. Strange

Answer - Option B
Explanation - General
Q3. Which of the following statements is/ are true according to passage?

A. If government increase maternity leave in jobs then it would put India in a better position than many other countries. B. Lack working participation by women obviously represents a huge economic loss for the country. C. Recently, official data suggests that more women have moved from paid employment to unpaid work in their households. D. All of above E. None of these

Answer - Option D
Explanation - All of above
Directions (4Q): Read the following question which are SYNONYMS and answer them.
Q4. Venial

A. blameable B. aggrandize C. abrogate D. pardonable E. All of above

Answer - Option D
Explanation - Venial – denoting a sin that is not regarded as depriving the soul of divine grace.
Directions (5Q): Read the following question which are ANTONYMS and answer them.
Q5. Leniency

A. hushed B. determine C. no mercy D. inquire E. discern

Answer - Option C
Explanation - Leniency – the fact or quality of being more merciful or tolerant than expected; clemency.

Directions (1Q - 3Q): Read the following questions which are SPOTTING ERRORS and answer them below.
Q1. Studies of depression and violent behaviour have / also confirmed that certain mutations may / predispose some individuals to behave in / a particular manner depending on the environment.

A. Studies of depression and violent behaviour have B. also confirmed that certain mutations may C. predispose some individuals to behave in D. a particular manner depending on the environment. E. No error

Answer - Option E
Explanation - Giving sentence is correct.
Q2. While the Human Genome Project have been a success in / terms of our ability to quickly map out the entire / genome, there is still much work to be done in terms of / grasping how the deceptively simple genome works.

A. While the Human Genome Project have been a success in B. terms of our ability to quickly map out the entire C. genome, there is still much work to be done in terms of D. grasping how the deceptively simple genome works. E. No error

Answer - Option A
Explanation - It should be ‘have’ instead of ‘has’.
the Human Genome Project is singular so helping verb will be singular.
Q3. The Nazi regime felt this was a perfect tool / to signal the superiority of their race / and went about eliminating every person / whom was deemed physically or mentally unfit.

A. The Nazi regime felt this was a perfect tool B. to signal the superiority of their race C. and went about eliminating every person D. whom was deemed physically or mentally unfit. E. No error

Answer - Option D
Explanation - Replace ‘whom’ with ‘who’
Whom should be used to refer to the object of a verb or preposition. When in doubt, try this simple trick: If you can replace the word with “he”’ or “’she,” use who. If you can replace it with “him” or “her,” use whom. Who should be used to refer to the subject of a sentence.
Directions (4Q - 5Q): An idiom/phrase and four possible meanings are given, identify the meaning from the choices and mark its number as the answer.
Q4. The jewellery has been HANDED DOWN in my family for generations.

A. hand of B. hand in C. hand on D. hand out E. No correction required.

Answer - Option E
Explanation - No correction required.
Q5. After winning, she CASHED ON her chips.

A. cashed of B. Cast around for C. cashed out D. Cast aside E. No correction required.

Answer - Option C
Explanation - Cash out – Exchange something for money, collect winnings.

Directions (1Q - 3Q): Read the following questions which are FILL IN THE BLANKS and answer them.
Q1. Subsidised kerosene, a sooty pre-modern fuel and a poor source of light, needs to be____________replaced with aids like solar lanterns, It should____________improve public health.

A. dynamic, heedless B. abandoning, behindhand C. promptly, hugely D. prettify, ignorance E. spirited, derelict

Answer - Option C
Explanation - promptly, hugely
promptly – with little or no delay; immediately.
hugely – very much; to a very great extent.
Q2. The move now is to fast-track the price __________ , so as to better allocate ___________ resources.

A. plentiful, slipshod B. slack, frequent C. revision, scarce D. slapdash, abundant E. indeed, chalant

Answer - Option C
Explanation - revision, scarce
revision – the action of revising.
scarce – (especially of food, money, or some other resource) insufficient for the demand.
Q3. The notion of a tautology can be used in place _________ the axioms and inferences from them; inference is _________ completely absent from the Tractatus.

A. in, corporeality B. of, verisimilitude C. for, indeed D. to, solidity E. on, indubitably

Answer - Option B
Explanation - of, verisimilitude
of expressing the relationship between a part and a whole.
indeed – used to emphasize a statement or response confirming something already suggested
Directions (4Q): An idiom/phrase and four possible meanings are given, identify the meaning from the choices and mark its number as the answer.
Q4. Learning a language is difficult, but if you KEEP UP IN it, you’ll succeed in the end.

A. keep up at B. kicked of C. kicked away D. kicked in E. No correction required.

Answer - Option A
Explanation - Keep up at – Continue, not quit.
Directions (5Q): Read the following question which are ANTONYMS and answer them.
Q5. Elixir

A. disease B. ransack C. explore D. scrappy E. combative

Answer - Option A
Explanation - Elixir – a magical or medicinal potion.