Questions

The minimum age limit for the membership of the Vidhan Parishad is _____

The outermost layer of skin is

The minimum short­term natural hazard is __________

The question below consists of a set of labelled sentences. These sentences, when properly sequenced form a coherent paragraph. Select the most logical order of sentences from among the options.

P: Banks, which garner the lion’s share of retail debt allocations, pegged down their term deposit interest rates with alacrity by 200-250 basis points between 2014 and 2016 as market rates fell.
Q: Indian savers have made a decisive shift from real to financial assets in recent years prompted by policy nudges and sluggish gold and property markets.
R: But they have been tardy in passing on the rate increases of the past year.
S: But while umpteen new equity-linked options have sprung up on their menu – MFs, NPS, market-linked insurance plans – there’s a notable dearth of debt options.

In the following passage, some of the words have been left out. Read the passage carefully and select the correct answer for the given blank out of the four alternatives.

That is why publicly invoking these symbols has to be an act of responsible citizenship and not self­____________ demagoguery, but the difference can be hard to _______________. The problem with emotive symbols is that _________________ they can multiply the force of arguments, they cannot replace the arguments__________________. All persuasion harnesses symbols but principled persuasion must also provide arguments that can be _____________ debated.

The problem with emotive symbols is that _________________ they can multiply the force of arguments,

In the following question, some part of the sentence may have errors. Find out which part of the sentence has an error and select the appropriate option. If a sentence is free from error, select 'No Error'.

He swam to(A)/an island that(B)/was not far away.(C)/No error(D)

In the following question, four words are given out of which one word is correctly spelt. Select the correctly spelt word.

Read the passage carefully and select the best answer to each question out of the given four alternatives.

The conclusion of World Trade Organization’s 11th biennial ministerial conference at Buenos Aires was worrisome. From an Indian standpoint, there was no loss as status quo continues in the most important issue: the right to continue the food security programme by using support prices. But the inability of the negotiators to reach even one substantive outcome suggests that WTO’s efficacy is under question. As a 164-country multilateral organisation dedicated to crafting rules of trade through consensus, WTO represents the optimal bet for developing countries such as India. Strengthening WTO is in India’s best interest.

Perhaps the biggest threat to WTO’s efficacy today is the attitude of the US. The world’s largest economy appears to have lost faith in the organisation and has begun to undermine one of its most successful segments, the dispute redressal mechanism. This is significant as the US has been directly involved in nearly half of all cases brought to WTO. Separately, large groups of countries decided to pursue negotiations on e-commerce, investment facilitation and removal of trade obstacles for medium and small scale industries. By itself this should not weaken WTO. But it comes at a time when there is growing frustration with gridlock at WTO.

India did well to defend its position on its food security programme. The envisaged reform package which will see a greater use of direct cash transfers to beneficiaries will be in sync with what developed countries do. But it’s important for India to enhance its efforts to reinvigorate WTO. In this context, India’s plan to organise a meeting of some countries early next year is a step in the right direction. WTO represents the best available platform to accommodate interests of a diverse set of nations. Therefore, India should be at the forefront of moves to fortify it.

Which of the following nation is keen to fortify its interest on WTO platform?