Q.1-10. In question numbers 1 to 10, you have two passages with 5 questions following each passage. Read the passages carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives and mark it by blackening the appropriate oval () in the Answer Sheet.
PASSAGE-I (Question numbers 1 to 5):
The public distribution system, which provides food at low prices, is a subject of vital concern. There is a growing realization that though India has enough food to feed its masses two square meals a day, the monster of starvation and food insecurity continues to haunt the poor in our country.
Increasing the purchasing power of the poor through providing productive employment leading to rising income, and thus good standard of living is the ultimate objective of public policy. However, till then, there is a need to provide assured supply of good through a restructured, more efficient and decentralized public distribution system (PDS). Although the PDS is extensive it is one of the largest such systems in the world - it has not reached the rural poor and the remote places. It remains an urban phenomenon, with the majority of the rural poor still out of its reach due to lack of economic and physical access. The poorest in the cities and the migrants are left out, for they generally do not possess ration cards. The allocation of PDS supplies in big cities is larger than in rural areas. In view of such deficiencies in the system, the PDS urgently needs to be streamlined. Also, considering the large food grains production combined with food subsidy on one hand and the continuing slow starvation and dismal poverty of rural population on the other, there is a strong case for making PDS target group oriented. By making PDS target group oriented, not only the poorest and the neediest would be reached without additional cost but we can also reduce the overall costs incurred.
Q.1. Which of the following is true of public distribution system?
(A) It has reached the remotest corner of the country
(B) It has improved its effectiveness over the years
(C) It is unique in the world because of its effectiveness.
(D) It has remained effective only in the cities.
Q.2. What, according to the passage, would be the rationale of making the PDS target - group oriented?
(A) It will motivate the target-group population to work more
(B) It will abolish the imbalance of urban and rural sectors.
(C) It will remove poverty
(D) It will give food to the poorest section without additional cost.
Q.3. The full form of PDS is:
(A) Public distribution system
(B) Private distribution system
(C) Partial distribution system
(D) Party distribution system
Q.4. The public distribution system, which provides food at ______ is a subject of vital concern.
(A) as per capita income
(B) fair prices
(C) low prices
(D) high prices
Q.5. What should be an appropriate step to make the PDS effective?
(A) To reduce administrative cost
(B) To make it target group oriented
(C) To increase the amount of food grains per ration card
(D) To decrease the allotment of food grains
PASSAGE-II (Question numbers 6 to 10):
The desert floras shame us with their cheerful adaptations to the seasonal limitations. Their whole duty is to flower and fruit, and they do it hardly, or with tropical luxuriance, as the rain admits. It is recorded in the report of the Death Valley expedition that after a year of abundant rains, on the Colorado desert was found a specimen of Amaranths ten feet high. A year later the same species in the same place matured in the drought at four inches. Seldom does the desert herb attain the full stature of the type. Extreme aridity and extreme altitude have the same dwarfing effect, so that we find in the high Sierras and in Death Valley related species in miniature that reach a comely growth in mean temperatures. Very fertile are the desert plants in expedients to prevent evaporation, turning their foliage edge-wise toward the sun, growing silky hairs, exuding thick gum. The wind, which has a long sweep, harries and helps them. It rolls up dunes about the stocky stems, encompassing the protective, and above the dunes, which may be, as with the mesquite, three times as high as a man, the blossoming twigs flourish and bear fruit.
Q.6. What lesson do the desert floras have to teach us?
(A) how to grow with grace
(B) How to grow in dry places
(C) how to adapt to limitations
(D) how to live a long time
Q.7. What stops the desert floras from performing their duty well?
(A) the desert sand
(B) the people who pluck them
(C) the desert animals
(D) the rain
Q.8. The mesquite is a _______.
(A) a desert flora
(B) a tribe of people
(C) a type of desert animal
(D) a sand dune
Q.9. How does the wind help the desert floras to grow?
(A) By blowing the heat away
(B) By rolling up protective sand dunes
(C) By blowing gently
(D) By blowing the clouds away
Q.10. The desert plants face the danger of _______ from extreme aridity and extreme attitude.
(A) painful growth
(B) early death
(C) loss of reproduction
(D) dwarfism
ANSWERS –
Q.1.(D)
Q.2.(D)
Q.3.(A)
Q.4.(C)
Q.5.(B)
Q.6.(C)
Q.7.(A)
Q.8.(A)
Q.9.(B)
Q.10.(D)
