In the following passage there are blanks, each of which has been numbered. These numbers are printed below the passage and against each, five words are suggested, one of which fits the blank appropriately. Find out the appropriate word in each case.
Pull a spring, let it go and it will snap back into shape. Pull it further and yet further and it will go on springing back (26) quite suddenly it won’t. What was once a spring has become a useless piece of curly wire. And that in a nutshell is what many scientists (27) may happen to the Earth if its systems are stretched like those of an abused spring. Perhaps of this concern, in the autumn of 2009, was the (28) of planetary boundaries. In the run up to that year’s climate conference in Copenhagen a group of scientists defined what they thought of as a safe operating space for human (29) – a set of nine limits beyond which people should not push their planet. The nine areas of concern were climate change, ocean acidification, the thinning of the ozone layer, intervention in the nitrogen and phosphate cycles (crucial to planet growth). (30) of wilderness to farms and cities extinctions, the build-up of chemical pollutants and the level of particulate pollutants in the atmosphere. For seven of these areas the scientists felt confident enough to put numbers to these boundaries and since then this concept has taken root.
Q:30
Rearrange the following sentences to make a meaningful paragraph and then answer the questions which follow :
(A) According to it, organised retail stores are not wolves at the doors of friendly neighbourhood grocery stores as there is room for expansion of both.
(B) Many have been crying foul over the entry of organised retail stores expressing concern over their impact on small store owners.
(C) The final winner in the competition, however, is the common man who gets to choose between the most suitable options and in turn fights with the runaway inflation in prices of essential commodities.
(D) In spite of this potential for expansion, it is doubtless that the small store owners face a decline in profit in initial years if organised retailers set up stores in the vicnity.
(E) But a study conducted over a period of two years goes a long way towards allaying these fears.
(F) This impact, however, wears off once they learn to take on the competition which in turn enhances efficiency all around.
Which of the following sentences should be the THIRD after rearrangement ?
In these questions, there are two/three statements which can be combined into a single statement in a number of different ways without changing their meaning. Below these two sentences are given three probable starters (A), (B) and (C) of such a combined sentence. One, two, three or none of them may be correct. Decide upon which is/are correct, if any and mark the option which denotes your answer. If none of the three starters is suitable mark ’None’ as your answer.
A professor of economics examined the cost structure of the tournament. He found that the costs of building the necessary stadiums, transport and accommodations were not properly taken into account.
(A) Although the costs of….
(B) On examining…..
(C) When he…..
After years of slow growth and overspending, in part to prop up a state pension scheme, the central government nearly ran out of cash late last year. The government has called in the IMF, which may now broker a resolution to the crisis.
(A) On account of years….
(B) Through the crisis….
(C) A resolution to….
Most electricity is transmitted today as alternating current (AC), which works well over short and medium distances. But transmission over longdistances requires very high voltages, which can be tricky for AC systems and ultra-highvoltage direct-current (UHV) connectors are better suited to such spans.
(A) While most electricity….
(B) Despite AC systems are better…
(C) Alternating current….
Openness delivers benefits. Migrants improve not just their own lives but the economies of host countries. European migrants who arrived in Britain since 2000 are contributors to the exchequer, adding more than 120 billion ($34 billion) to the public finances between 2001 and 2011.
(A) However openness…..
(B) Since 2000……
(C) Though migrants….
Working lives are so lengthy and so fast-changing that simply cramming more schooling at the start is not enough. People must also acquire new skills throughout their careers
(A) Not only….
(B) With working lives….
(C) Simple cramming…..
Read the following passage carefully and answer the given question. Certain words are given in bold to help you to locate them while answering some of the questions.
India being viewed as a land of contradictions is a fairly common refrain. From bustling metro polies to lightless villages, there is a huge variance in different aspects of life. Nowhere is this variance as amply clear as it is in the insurance sector in India. Consider this, with 52 insurance companies, India’s insurance sector is one of the largest in the world in terms of volumes of money involved. And yet, insurance is not as pervasive in India as it should be, as only about 25 percent of the people have general insurance cover. This dichotomy of market-size and market cover is the biggest lacunae in the sector, lacunae that the government hopes to fill through privatisation. Yet the road to FDI is fraught with many roadblocks. Successive governments have failed in opening up the sector, despite numerous attempts, leading to lot of confusion and conundrum. As a result the whole sector is in a flux. Even so, the insurance sector is projected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 12–15 percent in the next five years.
The insurance sector opened up in 2001 with the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit being set to 26 percent. According to various reports this sector has subsequently witnessed two phases, one that saw high growth between 2001 and 2010 and the other a dormant period between 2010 and 2012, However, apart from these periods of rapid and moderate growth the industry has also seen product and operational innovations, given the increase in competition.
As of FY 13, the total marketsize of this sector was US 350-400 billion by 2020. According to experts, while India’s insurance industry is no doubt growing and is poised to grow further, it is also facing profitability issues on account of distribution and operating models. It pegs the cumulative losses to private life insurers in the excess of Rs. 187 billion till March 2012. Slow growth, rising costs and stalled reforms are further hindering the steady growth of this industry.
If the announcement made in the Union Budget 2014–15 is anything to go by, the future of this sector looks optimistic. Taking a reformative step, the Finance Minister had proposed increasing the FDI cap in the insurance to 49 percent To this effect, in July 2014, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved 49% FDI in insurance, thus green-flagging reforms in the sector. This is a welcome move for the insurance industry which was looking to raise more capital from overseas for quite some time now. The investment starved sector has definitely got a boost. Insurance penetration in India is on a decline in 2010. Insurance penetration was 4.4 percent, which further dipped to 3.17 percent in 2012-13. For insurance penetration to increase, the sector will need huge amounts of capital investment and the hike in FDI cap will only make this easier. As the sector expands, it will also lead to job creation in the sector. As more capital flows into the insurance sector and the manpower increases, it will be easier for insurance companies to tap under-insured markets. By 2020, India’s insurable population is expected to touch 75 crore. As a result, the importance of life insurance in financial planning is only set to increase.
With the new government stress on reforms, steps taken by IRDA to make insurance more consumer-friendly and India’s favourable demographics, the future of India’s insurance industry looks good. However, it remains to be seen how this sector impacts the unbanked sections of India, in the years to come.
Which of the following is nearly the SAME in meaning to the word given in bold as used in the passage ?
Dichotomy
According to the passage, which of the following will be the result of increased FDI in the insurance sector ?
(A) Inclusion of insurance in financial planning of individuals as well as the country.
(B) Making insurance products available in areas previously under insured.
(C) Creation of more jobs in the sector.
As mentioned in the passage, which of the following will help in providing a boost to the insurance sector in India?
According to the passage, which of the following can be said about the present position of insurance sector in India ?
(A) The efforts made by the Government to boost this sector are being met with a lot of resistance from the public.
(B) The amount of money invested in the sector is not in sync with the number of people insured.
(C) The number of insurance companies in India is very high.
Which of the following is nearly the OPPOSITE in meaning to the word given in bold as used in the passage ?
Flux
Which of the following is nearly the SAME in meaning to the word given in bold as used in the passage ?
POISED
Which of the following is nearly the OPPOSITE in meaning to the word given in bold as used in the passage ?
Welcome
Which of the following is true according to the passage ?
(A) By 2020 the insurance sector is expected to grow at least by around four hundred percent from 2013.
(B) The authorities are taking efforts to make insurance products easily understandable and available.
(C) Previous efforts of the government to open up the insurance sector have met with failure.
Read each sentence to find out whether there is any grammatical error or idiomatic error in it. The error, if any, will be in one part of the sentence. The number of that part is the answer. If there is no error, the answer is (5). (Ignore errors of punctuation, if any)
India is set to (1)/ import eight million barrels of oil (2)/ to fill (3)/ its first Strategic Petroleum Reserve. (4)/ No error (5)
A uniform policy for (1)/ regularising and redeveloping illegal and old buildings, (2)/ is being submit to the government (3)/ by the end of this month. (4)/ No error (5)
Before paying the developer’s sales (1)/ office a visit, make sure you are aware on (2)/ the fancy marketing pitches being used (3)/ by them to lure potential buyers. (4)/ No error (5)
Thousands of international travellers was (1)/ stranded at (2)/ the airport as fifty pilots (3)/ from Airline A went on strike. (4)/ No error (5)
The city joined a league of (1)/ seventy other cities from across the globe (2)/ for a city-to-city collaboration to tackling (3)/ climate change and increase urban resilience. (4)/ No error (5)