Practice Section 3 question answer - general english mcq Online Quiz (set-1) For All Competitive Exams
DIRECTIONS:
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below. Certain words/phrases are printed in bold to help you to locate them while answering some of the questions.
PASSAGE
Since July 1991, the government of India has effectively put the liberalisation policy into practice. The drastic steps even include some administrative reforms for pruning the government agencies. Last year the Japanese business circles represented by the Ishikawa Mission called attention of their Indian counterparts to what they considered to be the major impediments in India. However, thanks to the almost revolutionary reforms put into effect by the Indian government, those impediments either have been removed or now are on their way out. This development gives a new hope for the future of economic co-operation between the two countries. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that there is a stiff competition with other countries, notably China and South-East Asian countries, in this regard. The success stories of ASEAN countries welcoming Japanese investments with adequate infrastructure are already known in India but it may be useful if further studies of Japanese joint ventures in ASEAN countries be made by Indian business circles. The coastal areas of China have initiated a very active campaign to welcome foreign economic participation.
Beyond our bilateral relationship, India's more active participation in global economy is needed. India certainly deserves a far bigger share of world trade considering its vast resources. It is strongly hoped that the Indian government's recently initiated effort of enlarging its export market would bear fruit.
India has steadfastly maintained its parliamentary democracy since independence. Considering its size, its population and its internal complexity, the overall maintenance of national integrity and political stability under parliamentary democracy is remarkable and admirable indeed. Here lies the base for the status of India in the world. By effectively implementing its economic reform with the support of public opinion, this democratic polity of India has again demonstrated its viability and resilience. At the same time, it gives hope and inspiration to the whole world which faces the difficult problem of North-South confromation.
Q-1) Choose the word which is most OPPOSITE in meaning to the word printed in bold as used in the passage.
IMPEDIMENTS
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
DIRECTIONS:
Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow. Some words / phrases are printed in bold in the passage in order to help you locate them while answering some of the questions asked.
PASSAGE
Currently showing at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) is a remarkable exhibition with aprovenance that dates back to 1925. That was the year the exhibition's subject, the legendary Ebrahim Alkazi, was born in Pune into the family of an Arab spice merchant.
Titled 'The Theatre of E. Alkazi — A Modernist Approach to Indian Theatre', the showcase is a retrospective of the life and works of Alkazi. The driving forces behind it have been his daughter, Amal Allana, a theatre doyenne in her own right, and her husband, the stage designer Nissar Allana. The exhibition continues till later this month, when Alkazi will turn 91. And in a sidelight of curated talks, Allana provides us rare insight into the man single-handedly credited with overhauling the National School of Drama into a legitimate national institution during his long tenure as its director from 1962 to 1977. Of course, before that, Alkazi had an eventful innings in Bombay. Under the aegis of the Theatre Group and the Theatre Unit, he galvanized the English theatre scene in the city.
The exhibition had its first airing in January at Delhi's Triveni Kala Sangam, where the Alkazi family founded the Art Heritage Gallery in 1977. In this Mumbai outing, the archival material is distributed to the semicircular galleries arranged around the central stairwell at the NGMA. Mock-ups of posters of Alkazi's celebrated productions adorn the walls of the entrance hall. If cinema hadn't swamped popular culture with its excesses, and theatre had been much less niche, some of these imprints could have well been the iconic images of their times. For instance, the stricken countenance of Usha Amin on a poster for Medea (1961), or a fetching Alaknanda Samarth pinned to the floor as a man looms ominously over her in Miss Julie (1960), or Rohini Hattangady conferring with Naseeruddin Shah in pitch-dark make-up in Sultan Razia (1974). The original photographs were, of course, in black and white. In these reconstructions, they are overlaid with anachronistic colors and typefaces that could perhaps warrant a rethink. As with any institutional display, the occasional tackiness doesn't really detract from the substance. Peering closer, the initials of Alkazi's Theatre Unit, arranged into a pitchfork, become an unmistakable monogram of quality.
Panels emblazoned 'The Alkazi Times' present the signposts of Alkazi's life as news clippings, interspersed with actual microfiche footage — ascensions of kings and Prime Ministers, declarations of war and independence, and even snapshots from theatre history. It is certainly monumental in scale, full of information about Alkazi's genealogy, childhood, education and illustrious career. While there is the slightest whiff of propaganda, it is whittled down by Allana's skills as a self-effacing raconteur during the talks. Her accounts are peppered with heart-warming personal anecdotes that give us a measure of the real person behind the bronzed persona.
We learn of how Alkazi came to take up the reins of Theatre Group after the untimely passing of Sultan 'Bobby' Padamsee, the young genius who was one of his formative influences. One of their earliest collaborations was Padamsee's version of Oscar Wilde's Salomé. The play was barred from performance at their alma mater, St Xavier's College, because of its risqué material and Wilde's festering notoriety as a gay felon even in India. It was ultimately performed at the very venue that is now housing the exhibition. Allana is thus able to touchingly fashion the showcase as a homecoming soirée. Later, there is a piquant episode at England's Dartington Hall. As a student at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, Alkazi had requested Dartington founder Leonard Elmhirst the princely sum of £4 so to return to India by ship. Elmhirst graciously complied. The letters exchanged still exist, and have been preserved (though they are not part of this exhibit).
The galleries themselves, chock-a-block with photographs, come across more like a feat of collation than curation. Yet, within this preponderance of imagery, there are stories that can be pieced together. The clarion call of Dharamvir Bharati's Andha Yug (directed by Alkazi in 1962) sounded off from the ramparts of Feroze Shah Kotla changed the manner in which Hindi theatre was presented. Its political echoes found resonance in a country undergoing massive blood-letting. Nehru and his mandarins all attended one of the earliest stagings, and the play placed Alkazi firmly on the national stage. His earlier work, though innovative, appeared to cater to the bourgeoisie.
In the NSD years, we see a coalescing of a strident western approach to drama with the 'theatre of roots' in India — traditions lying on the cusp of an imminent decrepitude. This amalgamation may have led to the derivative mongrelisation we observe so frequently in today's contemporary theatre. Yet at that time, it must have provided an active ferment for experimentation.
The photographic stills, it must be said, are mostly posed publicity shots. They capture the calculated repose of a burnished generation of actors, many recognizable faces among them. Some, grainier in texture, but with more character, appear to have been taken mid-performance. The living breathing form, theatre's raison d'être, is almost always absent, raising questions about the kind of archiving that would best serve theatre. In an upstairs gallery, video clips of a Hindi adaptation of Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba, featuring Zohra Sehgal, are looped in perpetuity. They do provide insight into his working, but are woefully inadequate as a show reel for a man whose career spanned decades. Film, in any case, can never capture the truthfulness of a live form.
Such a display of theatre royalty comes inextricably linked with the idea of privilege, that of wealth, class or language perhaps, but primarily of pioneer-ship. Being the first off the stumbling blocks with his revolutionary ideas for theatre, Alkazi forged new ground at every step. Certainly, the politics of language added lustre to this glory. The power of English as an aspirational tongue has dimmed somewhat in recent times. Its colonial baggage has hopefully been obliterated. One can only speculate about how much these notions were amplified in the late 40s and 50s in a country just delivered from British rule.
Yet, the imprimatur of excellence that Alkazi brought to his works does not need to be rationalized to be made sense of. In order to recreate history, it is important to bring together all the elements that went in the making of an epoch. Nissar Allana has recreated miniature facsimiles of sets from Alkazi's plays and of the venues he nurtured himself, like the Meghdoot terrace. These are reproduced assiduously from photographs. In one reconstruction, Macbeth's scope is enhanced in an outdoor set that exudes both Greek grandeur and an artistic sparseness. That those were heady days is an idea one cannot escape from, when we look at how close to penury theatre practitioners operate in these days.
Q-2) Which among the following is SIMILAR in meaning to the word laudably as used in the passage?
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
In the context of the passage, the Supreme Court has made a just intervention in the management of the wealthiest sports body in the world i.e. BCCI.
This makes option (a) the right choice among the given options
DIRECTIONS:
Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow. Some words / phrases are printed in bold in the passage in order to help you locate them while answering some of the questions asked.
PASSAGE
Currently showing at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) is a remarkable exhibition with aprovenance that dates back to 1925. That was the year the exhibition's subject, the legendary Ebrahim Alkazi, was born in Pune into the family of an Arab spice merchant.
Titled 'The Theatre of E. Alkazi — A Modernist Approach to Indian Theatre', the showcase is a retrospective of the life and works of Alkazi. The driving forces behind it have been his daughter, Amal Allana, a theatre doyenne in her own right, and her husband, the stage designer Nissar Allana. The exhibition continues till later this month, when Alkazi will turn 91. And in a sidelight of curated talks, Allana provides us rare insight into the man single-handedly credited with overhauling the National School of Drama into a legitimate national institution during his long tenure as its director from 1962 to 1977. Of course, before that, Alkazi had an eventful innings in Bombay. Under the aegis of the Theatre Group and the Theatre Unit, he galvanized the English theatre scene in the city.
The exhibition had its first airing in January at Delhi's Triveni Kala Sangam, where the Alkazi family founded the Art Heritage Gallery in 1977. In this Mumbai outing, the archival material is distributed to the semicircular galleries arranged around the central stairwell at the NGMA. Mock-ups of posters of Alkazi's celebrated productions adorn the walls of the entrance hall. If cinema hadn't swamped popular culture with its excesses, and theatre had been much less niche, some of these imprints could have well been the iconic images of their times. For instance, the stricken countenance of Usha Amin on a poster for Medea (1961), or a fetching Alaknanda Samarth pinned to the floor as a man looms ominously over her in Miss Julie (1960), or Rohini Hattangady conferring with Naseeruddin Shah in pitch-dark make-up in Sultan Razia (1974). The original photographs were, of course, in black and white. In these reconstructions, they are overlaid with anachronistic colors and typefaces that could perhaps warrant a rethink. As with any institutional display, the occasional tackiness doesn't really detract from the substance. Peering closer, the initials of Alkazi's Theatre Unit, arranged into a pitchfork, become an unmistakable monogram of quality.
Panels emblazoned 'The Alkazi Times' present the signposts of Alkazi's life as news clippings, interspersed with actual microfiche footage — ascensions of kings and Prime Ministers, declarations of war and independence, and even snapshots from theatre history. It is certainly monumental in scale, full of information about Alkazi's genealogy, childhood, education and illustrious career. While there is the slightest whiff of propaganda, it is whittled down by Allana's skills as a self-effacing raconteur during the talks. Her accounts are peppered with heart-warming personal anecdotes that give us a measure of the real person behind the bronzed persona.
We learn of how Alkazi came to take up the reins of Theatre Group after the untimely passing of Sultan 'Bobby' Padamsee, the young genius who was one of his formative influences. One of their earliest collaborations was Padamsee's version of Oscar Wilde's Salomé. The play was barred from performance at their alma mater, St Xavier's College, because of its risqué material and Wilde's festering notoriety as a gay felon even in India. It was ultimately performed at the very venue that is now housing the exhibition. Allana is thus able to touchingly fashion the showcase as a homecoming soirée. Later, there is a piquant episode at England's Dartington Hall. As a student at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, Alkazi had requested Dartington founder Leonard Elmhirst the princely sum of £4 so to return to India by ship. Elmhirst graciously complied. The letters exchanged still exist, and have been preserved (though they are not part of this exhibit).
The galleries themselves, chock-a-block with photographs, come across more like a feat of collation than curation. Yet, within this preponderance of imagery, there are stories that can be pieced together. The clarion call of Dharamvir Bharati's Andha Yug (directed by Alkazi in 1962) sounded off from the ramparts of Feroze Shah Kotla changed the manner in which Hindi theatre was presented. Its political echoes found resonance in a country undergoing massive blood-letting. Nehru and his mandarins all attended one of the earliest stagings, and the play placed Alkazi firmly on the national stage. His earlier work, though innovative, appeared to cater to the bourgeoisie.
In the NSD years, we see a coalescing of a strident western approach to drama with the 'theatre of roots' in India — traditions lying on the cusp of an imminent decrepitude. This amalgamation may have led to the derivative mongrelisation we observe so frequently in today's contemporary theatre. Yet at that time, it must have provided an active ferment for experimentation.
The photographic stills, it must be said, are mostly posed publicity shots. They capture the calculated repose of a burnished generation of actors, many recognizable faces among them. Some, grainier in texture, but with more character, appear to have been taken mid-performance. The living breathing form, theatre's raison d'être, is almost always absent, raising questions about the kind of archiving that would best serve theatre. In an upstairs gallery, video clips of a Hindi adaptation of Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba, featuring Zohra Sehgal, are looped in perpetuity. They do provide insight into his working, but are woefully inadequate as a show reel for a man whose career spanned decades. Film, in any case, can never capture the truthfulness of a live form.
Such a display of theatre royalty comes inextricably linked with the idea of privilege, that of wealth, class or language perhaps, but primarily of pioneer-ship. Being the first off the stumbling blocks with his revolutionary ideas for theatre, Alkazi forged new ground at every step. Certainly, the politics of language added lustre to this glory. The power of English as an aspirational tongue has dimmed somewhat in recent times. Its colonial baggage has hopefully been obliterated. One can only speculate about how much these notions were amplified in the late 40s and 50s in a country just delivered from British rule.
Yet, the imprimatur of excellence that Alkazi brought to his works does not need to be rationalized to be made sense of. In order to recreate history, it is important to bring together all the elements that went in the making of an epoch. Nissar Allana has recreated miniature facsimiles of sets from Alkazi's plays and of the venues he nurtured himself, like the Meghdoot terrace. These are reproduced assiduously from photographs. In one reconstruction, Macbeth's scope is enhanced in an outdoor set that exudes both Greek grandeur and an artistic sparseness. That those were heady days is an idea one cannot escape from, when we look at how close to penury theatre practitioners operate in these days.
Q-3) Which among the following is OPPOSITE in meaning to the word Chimerical as used in the passage?
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
The word chimerical in the passage implies that everybody thinks there is nothing that can change the state of affairs in the case of sports management in India. This is something fanciful if we are thinking of any change in the state of affairs in the sports administration in our country.
This makes option (b) the right choice among the given options as realistic means that something can actually happen regarding this.
DIRECTIONS:
Read the fol lowing passages carefully and answer the questions given below them. Certain words are given in bold to help you to locate them while answering some of the questions.
PASSAGE
After the "Liberal" a new catch-phrase is being coined: `A New Health Order'. Talking about setting it up is the theme of the WHO-sponsored international conference on primary health and medical care, currently being held at Milan in Italy. While much has been said and written on establishing "new order", little has actually been done. Will the conference at Milan too swear by the "new health order", go home and then forget about it, while the present medical and healthcare set-up in poor countries further entrenches itself? This does not have to be the fate of the radical resolutions that will undoubtedly be passed at Milan. Unlike creating a new world economic or information order, establishing a new health setup is essentially a matter for individual countries to accomplish. No conflict of international interests is involved. But this advantage is, at least until it begins to take concrete shape, only theoretical. The milliondollar question is whether individual third-world governments are able and willing to muster the will, the resources, the administrative and other infrastructure to carry out what it is entirely within their power to attain and implement.
The dimensions of the problem are known and the solutions broadly agreed on. The present medical and health-care system is urban-based, closely geared to drugs, hospitals and expensively trained apathetic doctors. The bulk of the population in poor countries, who live in rural areas, are left untouched by all this and must rely on traditional healers. The answer is to turn out medical/health personnel sufficiently, but not expensively, trained to handle routine complaints and to get villagers to pay adequate attention to cleanliness, hygienic sanitation, garbage disposal and other elementary but crucial matters. More complicated ailments can be referred to properly equipped centres in district towns, cities and metropolises. Traditional healers, whom villagers trust, can be among these intermediate personnel. Some third-world countries, including India, have launched or are preparing elaborate schemes of this nature. But the experience is not quite happy. There is resistance from the medical establishment which sees them as little more than licensed quackery but is not prepared either to offer condensed medical courses such as the former licentiate course available in this country and unwisely scrapped. There is the question of how much importance to give to indigenous system of medicine. And there is the difficult matter of striking the right balance between preventive healthcare and curative medical attention. These are complex issues and the Milan conference would perhaps be more fruitful if it were to discuss such specific subjects.
Q-4) Choose the word which is most nearly the SAME in meaning to the word printed in bold as used in the passage.
LAUNCHED
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
The meaning of the word ‘launch’ as mentioned in the passage is ‘to put into action’; ‘to start’. Hence the words ‘launched’ and ‘started’ are synonymous.
DIRECTIONS:
Read the fol lowing passages carefully and answer the questions given below them. Certain words are given in bold to help you to locate them while answering some of the questions.
PASSAGE
After the "Liberal" a new catch-phrase is being coined: `A New Health Order'. Talking about setting it up is the theme of the WHO-sponsored international conference on primary health and medical care, currently being held at Milan in Italy. While much has been said and written on establishing "new order", little has actually been done. Will the conference at Milan too swear by the "new health order", go home and then forget about it, while the present medical and healthcare set-up in poor countries further entrenches itself? This does not have to be the fate of the radical resolutions that will undoubtedly be passed at Milan. Unlike creating a new world economic or information order, establishing a new health setup is essentially a matter for individual countries to accomplish. No conflict of international interests is involved. But this advantage is, at least until it begins to take concrete shape, only theoretical. The milliondollar question is whether individual third-world governments are able and willing to muster the will, the resources, the administrative and other infrastructure to carry out what it is entirely within their power to attain and implement.
The dimensions of the problem are known and the solutions broadly agreed on. The present medical and health-care system is urban-based, closely geared to drugs, hospitals and expensively trained apathetic doctors. The bulk of the population in poor countries, who live in rural areas, are left untouched by all this and must rely on traditional healers. The answer is to turn out medical/health personnel sufficiently, but not expensively, trained to handle routine complaints and to get villagers to pay adequate attention to cleanliness, hygienic sanitation, garbage disposal and other elementary but crucial matters. More complicated ailments can be referred to properly equipped centres in district towns, cities and metropolises. Traditional healers, whom villagers trust, can be among these intermediate personnel. Some third-world countries, including India, have launched or are preparing elaborate schemes of this nature. But the experience is not quite happy. There is resistance from the medical establishment which sees them as little more than licensed quackery but is not prepared either to offer condensed medical courses such as the former licentiate course available in this country and unwisely scrapped. There is the question of how much importance to give to indigenous system of medicine. And there is the difficult matter of striking the right balance between preventive healthcare and curative medical attention. These are complex issues and the Milan conference would perhaps be more fruitful if it were to discuss such specific subjects.
Q-5) Choose the word which is most nearly the SAME in meaning to the word printed in bold as used in the passage.
MUSTER
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
The meaning of the word ‘muster’ as mentioned in the passage is ‘to succeed in creating a particular feeling or attitude in oneself or in other people’. Out of the given words, ‘enlist’ means ‘to obtain something as help, support etc.’; ‘to get somebody to provide help, support etc’. Hence the words ‘muster’ and ‘enlist’ are synonymous.
DIRECTIONS:
Read the fol lowing passages carefully and answer the questions given below them. Certain words are given in bold to help you to locate them while answering some of the questions.
PASSAGE
After the "Liberal" a new catch-phrase is being coined: `A New Health Order'. Talking about setting it up is the theme of the WHO-sponsored international conference on primary health and medical care, currently being held at Milan in Italy. While much has been said and written on establishing "new order", little has actually been done. Will the conference at Milan too swear by the "new health order", go home and then forget about it, while the present medical and healthcare set-up in poor countries further entrenches itself? This does not have to be the fate of the radical resolutions that will undoubtedly be passed at Milan. Unlike creating a new world economic or information order, establishing a new health setup is essentially a matter for individual countries to accomplish. No conflict of international interests is involved. But this advantage is, at least until it begins to take concrete shape, only theoretical. The milliondollar question is whether individual third-world governments are able and willing to muster the will, the resources, the administrative and other infrastructure to carry out what it is entirely within their power to attain and implement.
The dimensions of the problem are known and the solutions broadly agreed on. The present medical and health-care system is urban-based, closely geared to drugs, hospitals and expensively trained apathetic doctors. The bulk of the population in poor countries, who live in rural areas, are left untouched by all this and must rely on traditional healers. The answer is to turn out medical/health personnel sufficiently, but not expensively, trained to handle routine complaints and to get villagers to pay adequate attention to cleanliness, hygienic sanitation, garbage disposal and other elementary but crucial matters. More complicated ailments can be referred to properly equipped centres in district towns, cities and metropolises. Traditional healers, whom villagers trust, can be among these intermediate personnel. Some third-world countries, including India, have launched or are preparing elaborate schemes of this nature. But the experience is not quite happy. There is resistance from the medical establishment which sees them as little more than licensed quackery but is not prepared either to offer condensed medical courses such as the former licentiate course available in this country and unwisely scrapped. There is the question of how much importance to give to indigenous system of medicine. And there is the difficult matter of striking the right balance between preventive healthcare and curative medical attention. These are complex issues and the Milan conference would perhaps be more fruitful if it were to discuss such specific subjects.
Q-6) Choose the word which is most nearly OPPOSITE in meaning of the word printed in bold as used in the passage.
CONDENSED
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
The meaning of the word ‘condense’ as mentioned in the passage is ‘to put something in fewer words’. Hence the words ‘condensed’ and ‘lengthened’ are antonymous.
DIRECTIONS:
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below. Certain words/phrases are printed in bold to help you to locate them while answering some of the questions.
PASSAGE
Since July 1991, the government of India has effectively put the liberalisation policy into practice. The drastic steps even include some administrative reforms for pruning the government agencies. Last year the Japanese business circles represented by the Ishikawa Mission called attention of their Indian counterparts to what they considered to be the major impediments in India. However, thanks to the almost revolutionary reforms put into effect by the Indian government, those impediments either have been removed or now are on their way out. This development gives a new hope for the future of economic co-operation between the two countries. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that there is a stiff competition with other countries, notably China and South-East Asian countries, in this regard. The success stories of ASEAN countries welcoming Japanese investments with adequate infrastructure are already known in India but it may be useful if further studies of Japanese joint ventures in ASEAN countries be made by Indian business circles. The coastal areas of China have initiated a very active campaign to welcome foreign economic participation.
Beyond our bilateral relationship, India's more active participation in global economy is needed. India certainly deserves a far bigger share of world trade considering its vast resources. It is strongly hoped that the Indian government's recently initiated effort of enlarging its export market would bear fruit.
India has steadfastly maintained its parliamentary democracy since independence. Considering its size, its population and its internal complexity, the overall maintenance of national integrity and political stability under parliamentary democracy is remarkable and admirable indeed. Here lies the base for the status of India in the world. By effectively implementing its economic reform with the support of public opinion, this democratic polity of India has again demonstrated its viability and resilience. At the same time, it gives hope and inspiration to the whole world which faces the difficult problem of North-South confromation.
Q-7) Choose the word which is most OPPOSITE in meaning to the word printed in bold as used in the passage.
STIFF
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
DIRECTIONS:
Read the fol lowing passages carefully and answer the questions given below them. Certain words are given in bold to help you to locate them while answering some of the questions.
PASSAGE
After the "Liberal" a new catch-phrase is being coined: `A New Health Order'. Talking about setting it up is the theme of the WHO-sponsored international conference on primary health and medical care, currently being held at Milan in Italy. While much has been said and written on establishing "new order", little has actually been done. Will the conference at Milan too swear by the "new health order", go home and then forget about it, while the present medical and healthcare set-up in poor countries further entrenches itself? This does not have to be the fate of the radical resolutions that will undoubtedly be passed at Milan. Unlike creating a new world economic or information order, establishing a new health setup is essentially a matter for individual countries to accomplish. No conflict of international interests is involved. But this advantage is, at least until it begins to take concrete shape, only theoretical. The milliondollar question is whether individual third-world governments are able and willing to muster the will, the resources, the administrative and other infrastructure to carry out what it is entirely within their power to attain and implement.
The dimensions of the problem are known and the solutions broadly agreed on. The present medical and health-care system is urban-based, closely geared to drugs, hospitals and expensively trained apathetic doctors. The bulk of the population in poor countries, who live in rural areas, are left untouched by all this and must rely on traditional healers. The answer is to turn out medical/health personnel sufficiently, but not expensively, trained to handle routine complaints and to get villagers to pay adequate attention to cleanliness, hygienic sanitation, garbage disposal and other elementary but crucial matters. More complicated ailments can be referred to properly equipped centres in district towns, cities and metropolises. Traditional healers, whom villagers trust, can be among these intermediate personnel. Some third-world countries, including India, have launched or are preparing elaborate schemes of this nature. But the experience is not quite happy. There is resistance from the medical establishment which sees them as little more than licensed quackery but is not prepared either to offer condensed medical courses such as the former licentiate course available in this country and unwisely scrapped. There is the question of how much importance to give to indigenous system of medicine. And there is the difficult matter of striking the right balance between preventive healthcare and curative medical attention. These are complex issues and the Milan conference would perhaps be more fruitful if it were to discuss such specific subjects.
Q-8) Choose the word which is most nearly OPPOSITE in meaning of the word printed in bold as used in the passage.
RESISTANCE
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
The word ‘resistance’ and ‘acceptance’ are anotnymous. Passage 6
DIRECTIONS:
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. Certain words in the passage are printed in bold to help you to locate them easily while answering some of the questions.
PASSAGE
The debt swap scheme is one among the various market based debt restructuring measures available to provide debt relief without hampering the Interest of the creditor. The basic notion of debt swap/conversion is relatively simple. The principle is that instead of continuing to make interest 1 payments on outstanding loans contracted in past at a very high rate, the debtor is able to find some other means of settling the debt which is satisfactory to both the debtor and creditor. The debt swap can be of various types, the most prominent being the debt equity swaps, or debt-to-debt swaps. Debt equity swaps are exchange of bonds or bank loans for ownership rights to equity. Such debt equity swaps have formed part of private corporations restructuring process for some time. The debt swap whether internal or external has an array of macroeconomic effects. It is to be noted that in any debt swap scheme, the debtor must surrender an asset in return for having a liability extinguished. For example, in case of debt equity swap, debt is exchanged by a claim on capital stock owned by the debtor.
In the case of external debt, if the government retires external debt by issuing domestic bonds, in a balanced budget there are no real effects beyond those created by the initial wealth effect 1 the economy will display a current account surplus, accompanied by an initial appreciation of parallel exchange rate and a high real interest rate. These effects are independent of the discounts received by the government. The practice of debt equity swap or debt to debt swap particularly in the context of external debt has given rise to active controversy. The debate covers wide ranging issues such as welfare characteristics of such swaps, their potential for reducing net capital flows, and the degree to which swap can reduce the negative incentive effects of debt overhang. Attention has also been paid on the effect of debt swap on the secondary market prices of debt. In the case of external debt, Mexico and Brazil suspended the debt conversion programme, because they can be inflationary as they put excessive pressure on the free market for foreign exchange or because swapping No foreign debt with domestic debt can be expensive. If the debt is swapped through money financing, it leads to an expansion of money supply.
If the government can run sustained deficits, the fiscal side provides a key link through which swaps can create macroeconomic disequilibrium. In a deficit situation, if the supply of bond is increased to swap the debt, and if the discounts obtained by the government due to interest rate differential are not large enough to cover the deficit, government will have to issue fresh bonds, which in turn may push up the interest rate. Finally, if the government continues to run a fiscal deficit and to avoid inflationary effects if it relies mostly on debt for bonds swapped and if this in turn leads to an accumulation of domestic debt, which the public expects will eventually be monetized, the domestic rate of inflation will immediately begin to rise. In the case of the debt swap scheme between central and state governments in India, states can restructure their debt by prepayment of high cost central debt with additional market borrowing at a lower rate of interest. Essentially, this should result in the reduction in the average cost of debt of the state government, However, that would largely depend on the volume of savings in the Interest cost in relation to the outstanding debt stock available for swapping. Despite the savings in interest cost due to debt swap, if a large gap is to be filled by additional borrowing, there is a possibility that swap induced additional market borrowing may put pressure on the interest rate. Also, in an extreme case, continuous financing of swappable debt through bond financing may fuel inflation if the holder of the bond expects that debt will eventually be monetized. It is evident from this discussion that aggressive debt restructuring proposed to reap the benefit of low interest rate regime a times may itself become the cause of hardening of future interest rates.
Q-9) Which factors may raise the inflation rate on the domestic side?
- If accumulated internal debts start getting monetized.
- If interest rates start reducing for public borrowings.
- If a debt swap is done through the issue of bonds in a deficit situation.
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
DIRECTIONS:
Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow. Some words / phrases are printed in bold in the passage in order to help you locate them while answering some of the questions asked.
PASSAGE
Currently showing at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) is a remarkable exhibition with aprovenance that dates back to 1925. That was the year the exhibition's subject, the legendary Ebrahim Alkazi, was born in Pune into the family of an Arab spice merchant.
Titled 'The Theatre of E. Alkazi — A Modernist Approach to Indian Theatre', the showcase is a retrospective of the life and works of Alkazi. The driving forces behind it have been his daughter, Amal Allana, a theatre doyenne in her own right, and her husband, the stage designer Nissar Allana. The exhibition continues till later this month, when Alkazi will turn 91. And in a sidelight of curated talks, Allana provides us rare insight into the man single-handedly credited with overhauling the National School of Drama into a legitimate national institution during his long tenure as its director from 1962 to 1977. Of course, before that, Alkazi had an eventful innings in Bombay. Under the aegis of the Theatre Group and the Theatre Unit, he galvanized the English theatre scene in the city.
The exhibition had its first airing in January at Delhi's Triveni Kala Sangam, where the Alkazi family founded the Art Heritage Gallery in 1977. In this Mumbai outing, the archival material is distributed to the semicircular galleries arranged around the central stairwell at the NGMA. Mock-ups of posters of Alkazi's celebrated productions adorn the walls of the entrance hall. If cinema hadn't swamped popular culture with its excesses, and theatre had been much less niche, some of these imprints could have well been the iconic images of their times. For instance, the stricken countenance of Usha Amin on a poster for Medea (1961), or a fetching Alaknanda Samarth pinned to the floor as a man looms ominously over her in Miss Julie (1960), or Rohini Hattangady conferring with Naseeruddin Shah in pitch-dark make-up in Sultan Razia (1974). The original photographs were, of course, in black and white. In these reconstructions, they are overlaid with anachronistic colors and typefaces that could perhaps warrant a rethink. As with any institutional display, the occasional tackiness doesn't really detract from the substance. Peering closer, the initials of Alkazi's Theatre Unit, arranged into a pitchfork, become an unmistakable monogram of quality.
Panels emblazoned 'The Alkazi Times' present the signposts of Alkazi's life as news clippings, interspersed with actual microfiche footage — ascensions of kings and Prime Ministers, declarations of war and independence, and even snapshots from theatre history. It is certainly monumental in scale, full of information about Alkazi's genealogy, childhood, education and illustrious career. While there is the slightest whiff of propaganda, it is whittled down by Allana's skills as a self-effacing raconteur during the talks. Her accounts are peppered with heart-warming personal anecdotes that give us a measure of the real person behind the bronzed persona.
We learn of how Alkazi came to take up the reins of Theatre Group after the untimely passing of Sultan 'Bobby' Padamsee, the young genius who was one of his formative influences. One of their earliest collaborations was Padamsee's version of Oscar Wilde's Salomé. The play was barred from performance at their alma mater, St Xavier's College, because of its risqué material and Wilde's festering notoriety as a gay felon even in India. It was ultimately performed at the very venue that is now housing the exhibition. Allana is thus able to touchingly fashion the showcase as a homecoming soirée. Later, there is a piquant episode at England's Dartington Hall. As a student at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, Alkazi had requested Dartington founder Leonard Elmhirst the princely sum of £4 so to return to India by ship. Elmhirst graciously complied. The letters exchanged still exist, and have been preserved (though they are not part of this exhibit).
The galleries themselves, chock-a-block with photographs, come across more like a feat of collation than curation. Yet, within this preponderance of imagery, there are stories that can be pieced together. The clarion call of Dharamvir Bharati's Andha Yug (directed by Alkazi in 1962) sounded off from the ramparts of Feroze Shah Kotla changed the manner in which Hindi theatre was presented. Its political echoes found resonance in a country undergoing massive blood-letting. Nehru and his mandarins all attended one of the earliest stagings, and the play placed Alkazi firmly on the national stage. His earlier work, though innovative, appeared to cater to the bourgeoisie.
In the NSD years, we see a coalescing of a strident western approach to drama with the 'theatre of roots' in India — traditions lying on the cusp of an imminent decrepitude. This amalgamation may have led to the derivative mongrelisation we observe so frequently in today's contemporary theatre. Yet at that time, it must have provided an active ferment for experimentation.
The photographic stills, it must be said, are mostly posed publicity shots. They capture the calculated repose of a burnished generation of actors, many recognizable faces among them. Some, grainier in texture, but with more character, appear to have been taken mid-performance. The living breathing form, theatre's raison d'être, is almost always absent, raising questions about the kind of archiving that would best serve theatre. In an upstairs gallery, video clips of a Hindi adaptation of Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba, featuring Zohra Sehgal, are looped in perpetuity. They do provide insight into his working, but are woefully inadequate as a show reel for a man whose career spanned decades. Film, in any case, can never capture the truthfulness of a live form.
Such a display of theatre royalty comes inextricably linked with the idea of privilege, that of wealth, class or language perhaps, but primarily of pioneer-ship. Being the first off the stumbling blocks with his revolutionary ideas for theatre, Alkazi forged new ground at every step. Certainly, the politics of language added lustre to this glory. The power of English as an aspirational tongue has dimmed somewhat in recent times. Its colonial baggage has hopefully been obliterated. One can only speculate about how much these notions were amplified in the late 40s and 50s in a country just delivered from British rule.
Yet, the imprimatur of excellence that Alkazi brought to his works does not need to be rationalized to be made sense of. In order to recreate history, it is important to bring together all the elements that went in the making of an epoch. Nissar Allana has recreated miniature facsimiles of sets from Alkazi's plays and of the venues he nurtured himself, like the Meghdoot terrace. These are reproduced assiduously from photographs. In one reconstruction, Macbeth's scope is enhanced in an outdoor set that exudes both Greek grandeur and an artistic sparseness. That those were heady days is an idea one cannot escape from, when we look at how close to penury theatre practitioners operate in these days.
Q-10) Which among the following is SIMILAR in meaning to the word pragmatic as used in the passage?
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
The word in the passage is used in the sense that the Supreme Court has made a practical intervention in the case of BCCI management in our country.
This makes option (a) the right choice among the given options