CLAT 2027 Sample Paper (UG)

SAMPLE PAPER

S A M P L E Q U E S T I O N P A P E R

CLAT 2027 (UG)
Modelled on the actual exam pattern
.

QUESTIONS MAX MARKS TIME MARKING

120 120 120 Min +1 / −0.25

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

1. This paper contains 120 multiple-choice questions. All questions are compulsory.

2. Each question has four options — (A), (B), (C) and (D) — of which only one is correct.

3. Each correct answer carries 1 mark; 0.25 mark is deducted for each wrong answer.

4. Total time allowed is 120 minutes. Manage your time across all sections.

5. Use of calculators, mobile phones or any electronic device is not permitted.

6. Attempt the paper first, then check your answers against the Answer Key at the end.

Candidate Name: Roll No.: Date:

SAMPLE PAPER

CLAT 2027 (UG)
SAMPLE QUESTION PAPER

Questions 120 Max Marks 120 Time 120 Min Marking +1 / −0.25

Attempt all questions. Choose the one correct option for each.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE

1.

Until the Keeladi site was discovered, archaeologists by and large believed that the Gangetic plains in the north
urbanised significantly earlier than Tamil Nadu. Historians have often claimed that large scale town life in India first
developed in the Greater Magadha region of the Gangetic basin. This was during the ‘second urbanisation’ phase. The
‘first urbanisation phase’ refers to the rise of the Harappan or Indus Valley Civilisation. Tamil Nadu was thought to
have urbanised at this scale only by the third century BCE. The findings at Keeladi push that date back significantly. …
Based on linguistics and continuity in cultural legacies, connections between the Indus Valley Civilisation, or IVC, and
old Tamil traditions have long been suggested, but concrete archaeological evidence remained absent. Evidence
indicated similarities between graffiti found in Keeladi and symbols associated with the IVC. It bolstered the
arguments of dissidents from the dominant North Indian imagination, who have argued for years that their ancestors
existed contemporaneously with the IVC. … All the archaeologists I spoke to said it was too soon to make definitive
links between the Keeladi site and the IVC. There is no doubt, however, that the discovery at Keeladi has changed the
paradigm. In recent years, the results of any new research on early India have invited keen political interest, because
proponents of Hindu nationalism support the notion of Vedic culture as fundamental to the origins of Indian
civilisation. … The Keeladi excavations further challenge the idea of a single fountainhead of Indian life. They indicate
the possibility that the earliest identity that can recognisably be considered ‘Indian’ might not have originated in
North India. That wasn’t all. In subsequent seasons of the Keeladi dig, archaeologists discovered that Tamili, a variant
of the Brahmi script used for writing inscriptions in the early iterations of the Tamil language, could be dated back to
the sixth century BCE, likely a hundred years before previously thought. So not only had urban life thrived in the Tamil
lands, but people who lived there had developed their own script. “The evolution of writing is attributed to Ashoka’s
edicts, but 2600 years ago writing was prevalent in Keeladi,” Mathan Karuppiah, a proud Madurai local, told me. “A
farmer could write his own name on a pot he owned. The fight going on here is ‘You are not the one to teach me to
write, I have learnt it myself.’ ”

“The Keeladi excavations further challenge the idea of a single fountainhead of Indian life.” — in elaboration of this
sentence, which of these options follows?

(A)

Dominant theories of how urban and modern life came about in ancient India were proved wrong by the Keeladi archaeological
dig.

(B)

Neither the Indus Valley Civilization, nor the ancient urban civilization of Magadha are clear explanations of how urban life
emerged in the Keeladi region of southern India in the third century BCE.

(C)

The Keeladi archaeological dig proved that Indian urban and modern life emerged independently in several historical periods and
geographies, and no one theory is enough to explain it.

(D)

None of the above

2.

‘So pick a bird,’ Iff commanded. ‘Any bird.’ This was puzzling. ‘The only bird around here is a wooden peacock,’ Haroun
pointed out, reasonably enough. Iff gave a snort of disgust. ‘A person may choose what he cannot see,’ he said, as if
explaining something very obvious to a very foolish individual. ‘A person may mention a bird’s name even if the
creature is not present and correct: crow, quail, hummingbird, bulbul, mynah, parrot, kite. A person may even select a
flying creature of his own invention, for example winged horse, flying turtle, airborne whale, space serpent or
aeromouse. To give a thing a name, a label, a handle; to rescue it from anonymity, to pluck it out of the Place of
Namelessness, in short to identify it — well, that’s a way of bringing the said thing into being. Or, in this case, the said
bird or Imaginary Flying Organism.’

‘That may be true where you come from,’ Haroun argued. ‘But in these parts, stricter rules apply.’

‘In these parts,’ rejoined blue-bearded Iff, ‘I am having time wasted by someone who will not trust in what he can’t
see. How much have you seen, eh? Africa, have you seen it? No? Then is it truly there? And submarines? Huh? Also,
hailstones, baseballs, pagodas? Goldmines? Kangaroos, Mount Fujiyama, the North Pole? And the past, did it happen?
And the future, will it come? Believe in your own eyes and you’ll get into a lot of trouble, hot water, a mess.’ With
that, he plunged his hand into a pocket of his auberginey pajamas, and when he brought it forth again it was bunched
into a fist. ‘So take a look, or I should say a gander, at the enclosed.’ He opened his hand, and Haroun’s eyes almost
fell out of his head. Tiny birds were walking about on Iff’s palm; and pecking at it, and flapping their miniature wings
to hover just above it. And as well as birds there were fabulous winged creatures out of legends: an Assyrian lion with
the head of a bearded man and a pair of large hairy wings growing out of its flanks; and winged monkeys, flying
saucers, tiny angels, levitating (and apparently air-breathing) fish. ‘What’s your pleasure, select, choose,’ Iff urged.
And although it seemed obvious to Haroun that these magical creatures were so small that they couldn’t possibly have
carried so much as a bitten-off fingernail, he decided not to argue and pointed at a tiny crested bird that was giving
him a sidelong look through one highly intelligent eye.

If Iff is right, which of the following statements is true?

(A)

You should only trust what you cannot see

(B)

Naming something is the only way to make it unreal

(C)

You should only trust what you can see

(D)

Naming something is one way to make it real

3.

Public speaking is a powerful real-life skill. Over the centuries, impressive speeches made by people from various
walks of life have helped to change hearts, minds and shape the world as we see it today. Speeches that are delivered
with intense emotions and conviction can infuse compassion and forgiveness; elevate levels of hatred and destruction;
break or unite nations.

On October 5, in 1877 in the mountains of Montana Territory, when Chief Joseph surrendered to General Nelson A.
Miles, the former gave a Surrender Speech. The speech included these words: “It is cold, and we have no blankets; the
little children are freezing to death. I want time to look for my children, and see how many of them | can find. Maybe I
shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my Chiefs! I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now
stands | will fight no more forever.”

The heart-wrenching speech bared the grief and misery of the speaker, and those subjected to overwhelming
hardships.

During World War Il, the speech We Shall Fight on the Beaches delivered by Winston Churchill on June 4, 1940 is
considered a high-powered speech that strengthened the determination of those present in the House of Commons. In
the speech, he said, “Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into
the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end,
we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing
strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight
on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills;”

In 1950, William Faulkner was honoured with a Nobel Prize for his significant contributions to the American novel. This
was the time when the Soviet Union had found the possible implications of the use of the atomic bomb, and people
had begun to live in the fear of annihilation. In his Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech, Faulkner urged writers of various
genres to think and write beyond the fear of destruction, and instead write materials that would lift the human spirit.
The powerful message included: “/ believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not
because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of
compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet's, the writer's, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege
to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and
compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glories of his past. The poet’s voice need not merely be the
record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.”

Undoubtedly, effective speeches have a long-lasting impact on the minds of the listeners, and they elevate the levels
of awareness or actions the speaker intends to raise or catalyze.

It is evident that through his speech, Churchill wished to his countrymen

(A)

Inform, about the challenges that arise in a war-torn country.

(B)

Warn, against the futility of war.

(C)

Remind, how their endeavours to fight against the Nazi rule had failed miserably.

(D)

Reassure, that they would combat fiercely against their enemy under all circumstances.

4.

The call of self-expression turned the village of the internet into a city, which expanded at time-lapse speed, social
connections bristling like neurons in every direction. At twelve, I was writing five hundred words a day on a public
LiveJournal. By twenty-five, my job was to write things that would attract, ideally, a hundred thousand strangers per
post. Now I’m thirty, and most of my life is inextricable from the internet, and its mazes of incessant forced
connection—this feverish, electric, unliveable hell.

The curdling of the social internet happened slowly and then all at once. The tipping point, I’d guess, was around
2012. People were losing excitement about the internet, starting to articulate a set of new truisms. Facebook had
become tedious, trivial, exhausting. Instagram seemed better, but would soon reveal its underlying function as a
three-ring circus of happiness and popularity and success. Twitter, for all its discursive promise, was where everyone
tweeted complaints at airlines and moaned about articles that had been commissioned to make people moan. The
dream of a better, truer self on the internet was slipping away. Where we had once been free to be ourselves online,
we were now chained to ourselves online, and this made us self-conscious. Platforms that promised connection began
inducing mass alienation. The freedom promised by the internet started to seem like something whose greatest
potential lay in the realm of misuse.

Even as we became increasingly sad and ugly on the internet, the mirage of the better online self continued to
glimmer. As a medium, the internet is defined by a built-in performance incentive. In real life, you can walk around
living life and be visible to other people. But on the internet—for anyone to see you, you have to act. You have to
communicate in order to maintain an internet presence. And, because the internet’s central platforms are built around
personal profiles, it can seem—first at a mechanical level, and later on as an encoded instinct—like the main purpose
of this communication is to make yourself look good. Online reward mechanisms beg to substitute for offline ones, and
then overtake them. This is why everyone tries to look so hot and well-travelled on Instagram; why everyone seems so
smug and triumphant on Facebook; and why, on Twitter, making a righteous political statement has come to seem, for
many people, like a political good in itself. The everyday madness perpetuated by the internet is the madness of this
architecture, which positions personal identity as the centre of the universe. It’s as if we’ve been placed on a lookout
that oversees the entire world and given a pair of binoculars that makes everything look like our own reflection.

Which of the following comes closest to the underlined sentence in the passage?

(A)

The way we use the internet says a lot about who we are.

(B)

The internet has reduced the distance between people living across the world.

(C)

The internet has the ability to customise what we access based on our identity.

(D)

The internet only shows us what we don’t want to see

5.

“Wash! Wash! Wash your hands!” That's been the safety-mantra ever since the pandemic COVID-19 began swamping
the world. Undoubtedly, washing hands has proven to be the best way to keep germs at bay. Unfortunately, the
medical practitioner who first promoted the importance of this simple activity was subjected to intense humiliation,
and ultimately declared insane!

Ignaz Semmelweis was a Hungarian doctor. In 1847, as an obstetrician, he was disturbed that post-delivery, almost
every third woman died of an unexpected malady. He observed that as a part of the set routine, medical students and
doctors would examine and study the corpses in the mortuary, and then come for rounds to the maternity wards.
Here, without washing their hands, they would examine expectant mothers. After making numerous hypothesis and
observations, he was convinced that when doctors washed their hands before examining the women in the ward, the
number of deaths due to serious infection declined. He shared his observations with his colleagues and many others
working in the field of medicine, but unfortunately he could not provide any concrete evidence to his theory. Sadly,
due to the vehement criticism that he received, he went into depression. Furthermore, Ignaz strived to prove his point

so relentlessly that it led to the belief that he had lost his mind. In 1865, a doctor deceptively lured him into an asylum
for the insane, and two weeks of the brutal treatment that was meted out to him by the attendants led to his untimely
death. About twenty years later, when the world became more receptive to the works of scientists like Louis Pasteur
and Joseph Lister, awareness regarding germs that cause diseases began to spread. This is the time when Ignaz was
honoured with titles like Father of Hand Hygiene and Saviour of Mothers- an honour much too late!

Some of the most celebrated artists have earned fame much after their deaths. It is tragic that Vincent Van Gogh’s
awe-inspiring work was labeled as strange and amateur by most of the critics of his time. It is believed that he sold
only one or two painting in his lifetime, and that too for a meager amount. Today, every single painting of Vincent Van
Gogh paintings is worth millions of dollars.

Franz Kafka was a proficient writer, but when he published a few pieces of his writings, he received immense criticism.
Before his death in 1924, he handed over his unpublished novels and short stories to his friend Max Brod, and urged
him to destroy them; however, Brod got the manuscripts published. Today, Franz is acclaimed as one of the major
fiction writers of the twentieth century; the novels titled The Trial published in 1925, and The Castle published in 1926
are considered two of his masterpieces.

Perhaps, if humans were more tolerant and amenable to change, innovative concepts, theories and creations, the
deserving would live to experience the glory and honour they rightfully deserve.

The main idea of the passage is that

(A)

All original theories and works should receive unreserved acceptance.

(B)

Many undeserving innovators have been honoured after their demise.

(C)

Creativity must never be inhibited.

(D)

Numerous innovators have found recognition and appreciation of their works posthumously.

6.

As a six-year-old child-beggar, Saroo slept off in a stationary train in Knandwa, Madhya Pradesh; however, when he
woke up, he found himself in an empty compartment of a train thundering towards Kolkata where he spent a couple of
weeks in a state of panic and hopelessness. Finally, he ended up in a local government adoption centre from where he
was adopted by an Australian couple. Twenty five years later, Saroo felt the urge to trace his biological mother and
see in what state she lived. Relentlessly, he used Google’s satellite feature to map the parts of the country that could
have possibly been his own hometown. The search was a long and arduous one; nevertheless, the perseverance did
pay. One eventful day, he met his mother; thereafter, he continued to keep in touch with her.

If technology can unite people with their loved ones, it can also make them distant. The unlimited variety of
applications (apps) available to toddlers, teenagers and adults might have revolutionized their lives for the better, but
these very apps have snatched away the joys of long naturewalks; they have encroached upon the time and space that
people earlier used for physical interaction; they have drilled deep chasms of loneliness in the lives of countless
numbers of people.

Simple pleasures of life include visiting friends and relatives, playing matches in open spaces, interacting with people
in markets, public libraries and clubs. However, with the escalating tage of using apps like those for social media,
playing virtual games, and homedelivery services, these joyous moments are fading into oblivion, and the pall of

loneliness is getting heavier by the day.

Where are we heading to? Are we going to allow ourselves to be swamped by apps? Are we going to allow socialmedia
to engulf us in a deluge of loneliness and isolation? Are we going to drive ourselves to situations that will ultimately
demand mental and physical therapies to regain normalcy? Do we not know that physical interaction is as essential for
mental health as food and water is for physical health?

Earlier, social isolation was mostly experienced by some of the elderly people who were devoid of an occupation, and
bereft of company of their loved ones. Unfortunately today, an unhealthy solitude prevails among numerous children,
teenagers and adults too; subsequently, there is an alarming increase in the demand for mental health therapy
practitioners.

The necessity of engaging psychologists in schools and colleges is evidently on the rise. The psychologists are
required to identify and address the learning and behavioral needs of students who approach them for guidance;
moreover, if required, the professionals are expected to help them in strengthening their emotional, social and
academic skills.

Regardless how alarming the situation might be, it is never too late. If people revert to the earlier trend of shopping
off-line, going for naturewalks, playing outdoors games, and catching up with friends in their homes or cafés more
frequently, they can keep their heads firmly well above the ocean of loneliness.

From the passage it is evident that Saroo’s desire to find his mother

(A)

Ended up being a distant dream.

(B)

Inspired him to use Google’s satellite feature intermittently.

(C)

Waned as time went by.

(D)

Did not slacken till he succeeded.

7.

The fact that Gaia, in her monstrous avatar, decided to distribute fossil fuels very unevenly across the Earth has been
central to the emergence of the world’s current geopolitical order. From a vitalist point of view, it could be said that
the wars of the twentieth century were won as much by the fossilized energy of botanical matter as by particular
groups of humans.

In the First World War Germany’s lack of oil put it at a huge disadvantage against the Allies, more or less ensuring its
defeat. The shortage of oil effectively cancelled the technological advantages Germany enjoyed at the start of the
war: despite having a large fleet, for instance, it was unable to use its navy effectively because its coal-burning ships
needed to refuel every eleven days. Conversely, the assured supply of American oil conferred so great an advantage
on Britain and France that “it could be fairly stated that the war was won for the Western allies by tankers.” Not for
nothing was it said of the First World War that Britain, France, and the United States floated “to victory on a sea of
oil.”

In the Second World War the shortage of oil was even more critical to the defeat of the Axis powers. The German
Luftwaffe was forced to rely on synthetic fuels derived from coal, and these could not provide the high-octane energy
that was necessary for high- compression aero engines: “it was largely due to the inferior engines in German aircraft
that the Luftwaffe lost the Battle of Britain.” The shortage of oil also dictated Germany’s war strategy: it was in order

to seize the oilfields of the Caucasus that the German army pushed eastward into the Soviet Union in 1942, leading to
a defeat at Stalingrad from which it never recovered. Japan’s invasion of the Dutch East Indies was similarly forced by
its lack of oil.

In short, over the course of the twentieth century access to oil became the central focus of global geopolitical
strategy: for a Great Power, to be able to ensure or hinder the flow of oil was to have a thumb on the jugulars of its
adversaries. In the first part of the twentieth century the guarantor of the flow of oil was Britain. After the Second
World War, the baton was passed, along with a string of British naval bases, to the United States. The role of
guarantor of global energy flows is still crucial to US strategic dominance and to its position as global hegemon.

Today, as Elizabeth DeLoughrey has pointed out, “US energy policy has become increasingly militarized and secured
by the Navy, the largest oceanic force on the planet.” In the words of the historian Michael Klare, the Iraq War of 2003
marked the transformation of the US military into “a global oil protection service, guarding pipelines, refineries, and
loading facilities in the Middle East and elsewhere.”

It is important to note that the strategic value of controlling oil flows is tangentially related to the US’s energy
requirements. The period in which the American military was turning into “a global oil protection service” was one in
which the US was well on its way to reducing its dependence on imported oil. The fact that the US is now self-
sufficient in fossil fuels has in no way diminished the strategic importance of oil as an instrument for the projection of
power- it is the ability to deny energy supplies to rivals that is strategically of central importance.

What makes the US strategically dominating global hegemon?

(A)

Capacity of the US to provide oil protection service, guarding pipelines, refineries, and loading facilities.

(B)

Increasingly militarized energy policy of the US Navy, the largest oceanic force on the planet.

(C)

The role of US as a guarantor of global energy flows.

(D)

All the above

8.

Public speaking is a powerful real-life skill. Over the centuries, impressive speeches made by people from various
walks of life have helped to change hearts, minds and shape the world as we see it today. Speeches that are delivered
with intense emotions and conviction can infuse compassion and forgiveness; elevate levels of hatred and destruction;
break or unite nations.

On October 5, in 1877 in the mountains of Montana Territory, when Chief Joseph surrendered to General Nelson A.
Miles, the former gave a Surrender Speech. The speech included these words: “It is cold, and we have no blankets; the
little children are freezing to death. I want time to look for my children, and see how many of them | can find. Maybe I
shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my Chiefs! I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now
stands | will fight no more forever.”

The heart-wrenching speech bared the grief and misery of the speaker, and those subjected to overwhelming
hardships.

During World War Il, the speech We Shall Fight on the Beaches delivered by Winston Churchill on June 4, 1940 is
considered a high-powered speech that strengthened the determination of those present in the House of Commons. In
the speech, he said, “Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into
the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end,
we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing
strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight
on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills;”

In 1950, William Faulkner was honoured with a Nobel Prize for his significant contributions to the American novel. This
was the time when the Soviet Union had found the possible implications of the use of the atomic bomb, and people
had begun to live in the fear of annihilation. In his Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech, Faulkner urged writers of various
genres to think and write beyond the fear of destruction, and instead write materials that would lift the human spirit.
The powerful message included: “/ believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not
because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of
compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet's, the writer's, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege
to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and
compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glories of his past. The poet’s voice need not merely be the
record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.”

Undoubtedly, effective speeches have a long-lasting impact on the minds of the listeners, and they elevate the levels
of awareness or actions the speaker intends to raise or catalyze.

In the sentence : ‘The poet's voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help
him endure and prevail’ Faulkner has used to convey the power of a poet’s writings.

(A)

A metaphor

(B)

A simile

(C)

An onomatopoeia

(D)

A transferred epithet

9.

Until the Keeladi site was discovered, archaeologists by and large believed that the Gangetic plains in the north
urbanised significantly earlier than Tamil Nadu. Historians have often claimed that large scale town life in India first
developed in the Greater Magadha region of the Gangetic basin. This was during the ‘second urbanisation’ phase. The
‘first urbanisation phase’ refers to the rise of the Harappan or Indus Valley Civilisation. Tamil Nadu was thought to
have urbanised at this scale only by the third century BCE. The findings at Keeladi push that date back significantly. …
Based on linguistics and continuity in cultural legacies, connections between the Indus Valley Civilisation, or IVC, and
old Tamil traditions have long been suggested, but concrete archaeological evidence remained absent. Evidence
indicated similarities between graffiti found in Keeladi and symbols associated with the IVC. It bolstered the
arguments of dissidents from the dominant North Indian imagination, who have argued for years that their ancestors
existed contemporaneously with the IVC. … All the archaeologists I spoke to said it was too soon to make definitive
links between the Keeladi site and the IVC. There is no doubt, however, that the discovery at Keeladi has changed the
paradigm. In recent years, the results of any new research on early India have invited keen political interest, because

proponents of Hindu nationalism support the notion of Vedic culture as fundamental to the origins of Indian
civilisation. … The Keeladi excavations further challenge the idea of a single fountainhead of Indian life. They indicate
the possibility that the earliest identity that can recognisably be considered ‘Indian’ might not have originated in
North India. That wasn’t all. In subsequent seasons of the Keeladi dig, archaeologists discovered that Tamili, a variant
of the Brahmi script used for writing inscriptions in the early iterations of the Tamil language, could be dated back to
the sixth century BCE, likely a hundred years before previously thought. So not only had urban life thrived in the Tamil
lands, but people who lived there had developed their own script. “The evolution of writing is attributed to Ashoka’s
edicts, but 2600 years ago writing was prevalent in Keeladi,” Mathan Karuppiah, a proud Madurai local, told me. “A
farmer could write his own name on a pot he owned. The fight going on here is ‘You are not the one to teach me to
write, I have learnt it myself.’ ”

Language, including a script similar to the Brahmi script, emerged in Keeladi in the sixth century BCE. Which of the
following is the most convincing conclusion from this statement?

(A)

Keeladi is a centre of culture and learning far superior to any others in ancient India.

(B)

People of Keeladi were illiterate and could not use language to inscribe on their pots and pans.

(C)

Ancient urban history of India, as we know it today, could significantly be altered by the findings of the advances achieved by the
Keeladi civilization.

(D)

All the above

10.

‘So pick a bird,’ Iff commanded. ‘Any bird.’ This was puzzling. ‘The only bird around here is a wooden peacock,’ Haroun
pointed out, reasonably enough. Iff gave a snort of disgust. ‘A person may choose what he cannot see,’ he said, as if
explaining something very obvious to a very foolish individual. ‘A person may mention a bird’s name even if the
creature is not present and correct: crow, quail, hummingbird, bulbul, mynah, parrot, kite. A person may even select a
flying creature of his own invention, for example winged horse, flying turtle, airborne whale, space serpent or
aeromouse. To give a thing a name, a label, a handle; to rescue it from anonymity, to pluck it out of the Place of
Namelessness, in short to identify it — well, that’s a way of bringing the said thing into being. Or, in this case, the said
bird or Imaginary Flying Organism.’

‘That may be true where you come from,’ Haroun argued. ‘But in these parts, stricter rules apply.’

‘In these parts,’ rejoined blue-bearded Iff, ‘I am having time wasted by someone who will not trust in what he can’t
see. How much have you seen, eh? Africa, have you seen it? No? Then is it truly there? And submarines? Huh? Also,
hailstones, baseballs, pagodas? Goldmines? Kangaroos, Mount Fujiyama, the North Pole? And the past, did it happen?
And the future, will it come? Believe in your own eyes and you’ll get into a lot of trouble, hot water, a mess.’ With
that, he plunged his hand into a pocket of his auberginey pajamas, and when he brought it forth again it was bunched
into a fist. ‘So take a look, or I should say a gander, at the enclosed.’ He opened his hand, and Haroun’s eyes almost
fell out of his head. Tiny birds were walking about on Iff’s palm; and pecking at it, and flapping their miniature wings
to hover just above it. And as well as birds there were fabulous winged creatures out of legends: an Assyrian lion with
the head of a bearded man and a pair of large hairy wings growing out of its flanks; and winged monkeys, flying
saucers, tiny angels, levitating (and apparently air-breathing) fish. ‘What’s your pleasure, select, choose,’ Iff urged.
And although it seemed obvious to Haroun that these magical creatures were so small that they couldn’t possibly have

carried so much as a bitten-off fingernail, he decided not to argue and pointed at a tiny crested bird that was giving
him a sidelong look through one highly intelligent eye.

What does ‘fabulous’ mean in the passage?

(A)

very good

(B)

unbelievable

(C)

mythical

(D)

enormous

11.

As a six-year-old child-beggar, Saroo slept off in a stationary train in Knandwa, Madhya Pradesh; however, when he
woke up, he found himself in an empty compartment of a train thundering towards Kolkata where he spent a couple of
weeks in a state of panic and hopelessness. Finally, he ended up in a local government adoption centre from where he
was adopted by an Australian couple. Twenty five years later, Saroo felt the urge to trace his biological mother and
see in what state she lived. Relentlessly, he used Google’s satellite feature to map the parts of the country that could
have possibly been his own hometown. The search was a long and arduous one; nevertheless, the perseverance did
pay. One eventful day, he met his mother; thereafter, he continued to keep in touch with her.

If technology can unite people with their loved ones, it can also make them distant. The unlimited variety of
applications (apps) available to toddlers, teenagers and adults might have revolutionized their lives for the better, but
these very apps have snatched away the joys of long naturewalks; they have encroached upon the time and space that
people earlier used for physical interaction; they have drilled deep chasms of loneliness in the lives of countless
numbers of people.

Simple pleasures of life include visiting friends and relatives, playing matches in open spaces, interacting with people
in markets, public libraries and clubs. However, with the escalating tage of using apps like those for social media,
playing virtual games, and homedelivery services, these joyous moments are fading into oblivion, and the pall of
loneliness is getting heavier by the day.

Where are we heading to? Are we going to allow ourselves to be swamped by apps? Are we going to allow socialmedia
to engulf us in a deluge of loneliness and isolation? Are we going to drive ourselves to situations that will ultimately
demand mental and physical therapies to regain normalcy? Do we not know that physical interaction is as essential for
mental health as food and water is for physical health?

Earlier, social isolation was mostly experienced by some of the elderly people who were devoid of an occupation, and
bereft of company of their loved ones. Unfortunately today, an unhealthy solitude prevails among numerous children,
teenagers and adults too; subsequently, there is an alarming increase in the demand for mental health therapy
practitioners.

The necessity of engaging psychologists in schools and colleges is evidently on the rise. The psychologists are
required to identify and address the learning and behavioral needs of students who approach them for guidance;
moreover, if required, the professionals are expected to help them in strengthening their emotional, social and
academic skills.

Regardless how alarming the situation might be, it is never too late. If people revert to the earlier trend of shopping
off-line, going for naturewalks, playing outdoors games, and catching up with friends in their homes or cafés more
frequently, they can keep their heads firmly well above the ocean of loneliness.

In the sentence ‘these very apps have snatched away the joys of long nature-walks; the author has

(A)

Satirized nature

(B)

Metaphorized apps

(C)

Personified apps

(D)

None of the above

12.

Public speaking is a powerful real-life skill. Over the centuries, impressive speeches made by people from various
walks of life have helped to change hearts, minds and shape the world as we see it today. Speeches that are delivered
with intense emotions and conviction can infuse compassion and forgiveness; elevate levels of hatred and destruction;
break or unite nations.

On October 5, in 1877 in the mountains of Montana Territory, when Chief Joseph surrendered to General Nelson A.
Miles, the former gave a Surrender Speech. The speech included these words: “It is cold, and we have no blankets; the
little children are freezing to death. I want time to look for my children, and see how many of them | can find. Maybe I
shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my Chiefs! I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now
stands I will fight no more forever.”

The heart-wrenching speech bared the grief and misery of the speaker, and those subjected to overwhelming
hardships.

During World War Il, the speech We Shall Fight on the Beaches delivered by Winston Churchill on June 4, 1940 is
considered a high-powered speech that strengthened the determination of those present in the House of Commons. In
the speech, he said, “Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into
the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end,
we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing
strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight
on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills;”

In 1950, William Faulkner was honoured with a Nobel Prize for his significant contributions to the American novel. This
was the time when the Soviet Union had found the possible implications of the use of the atomic bomb, and people
had begun to live in the fear of annihilation. In his Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech, Faulkner urged writers of various
genres to think and write beyond the fear of destruction, and instead write materials that would lift the human spirit.
The powerful message included: “I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not
because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of
compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet's, the writer's, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege
to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and
compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glories of his past. The poet’s voice need not merely be the
record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.”

Undoubtedly, effective speeches have a long-lasting impact on the minds of the listeners, and they elevate the levels
of awareness or actions the speaker intends to raise or catalyze.

The tone of the Surrender Speech is

(A)

Satiric

(B)

Optimistic

(C)

Poignant

(D)

Narcissistic

13.

As a six-year-old child-beggar, Saroo slept off in a stationary train in Knandwa, Madhya Pradesh; however, when he
woke up, he found himself in an empty compartment of a train thundering towards Kolkata where he spent a couple of
weeks in a state of panic and hopelessness. Finally, he ended up in a local government adoption centre from where he
was adopted by an Australian couple. Twenty five years later, Saroo felt the urge to trace his biological mother and
see in what state she lived. Relentlessly, he used Google’s satellite feature to map the parts of the country that could
have possibly been his own hometown. The search was a long and arduous one; nevertheless, the perseverance did
pay. One eventful day, he met his mother; thereafter, he continued to keep in touch with her.

If technology can unite people with their loved ones, it can also make them distant. The unlimited variety of
applications (apps) available to toddlers, teenagers and adults might have revolutionized their lives for the better, but
these very apps have snatched away the joys of long naturewalks; they have encroached upon the time and space that
people earlier used for physical interaction; they have drilled deep chasms of loneliness in the lives of countless
numbers of people.

Simple pleasures of life include visiting friends and relatives, playing matches in open spaces, interacting with people
in markets, public libraries and clubs. However, with the escalating tage of using apps like those for social media,
playing virtual games, and homedelivery services, these joyous moments are fading into oblivion, and the pall of
loneliness is getting heavier by the day.

Where are we heading to? Are we going to allow ourselves to be swamped by apps? Are we going to allow socialmedia
to engulf us in a deluge of loneliness and isolation? Are we going to drive ourselves to situations that will ultimately
demand mental and physical therapies to regain normalcy? Do we not know that physical interaction is as essential for
mental health as food and water is for physical health?

Earlier, social isolation was mostly experienced by some of the elderly people who were devoid of an occupation, and
bereft of company of their loved ones. Unfortunately today, an unhealthy solitude prevails among numerous children,
teenagers and adults too; subsequently, there is an alarming increase in the demand for mental health therapy
practitioners.

The necessity of engaging psychologists in schools and colleges is evidently on the rise. The psychologists are
required to identify and address the learning and behavioral needs of students who approach them for guidance;
moreover, if required, the professionals are expected to help them in strengthening their emotional, social and
academic skills.

Regardless how alarming the situation might be, it is never too late. If people revert to the earlier trend of shopping
off-line, going for nature walks, playing outdoors games, and catching up with friends in their homes or cafés more
frequently, they can keep their heads firmly well above the ocean of loneliness.

From the passage it can be inferred that presently in many educational institutions

(A)

The number of teachers who pass the buck to psychologists is on the rise.

(B)

Special emphasis is being laid on the mental and emotional health of the students.

(C)

The usage of educational apps is being discouraged significantly.

(D)

All the students feel the need to be counseled by psychologists.

14.

The modern animal rights movement, which originated in the 1970s, may be understood as a reaction to dominant
emphases within science and religion (principally, though not exclusively, Christianity). When the Jesuit Joseph
Rickaby wrote in 1888 that “Brute beasts, not having understanding and therefore not being persons, cannot have any
rights” and that we have “no duties of charity or duties of any kind to the lower animals as neither to stocks and
stones’, he was only articulating, albeit in an extreme form, the moral insensitivity that has characterized the Western
view of animals.

That insensitivity is the result of an amalgam of influences. The first, and for many years the most dominant, was the
“other worldly” or “world denying” tendency in Christianity, which has, at its worst, denigrated the value of earthly
things in comparison with things spiritual. Traditional Catholicism has divided the world into those beings that
possess reason and therefore immortal souls, and those that do not. Christian spirituality has not consciously been at
home with the world of non-human creatures-either animal or vegetable. Classic accounts of eternal life as found in
Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Aquinas, or John Calvin make little or no reference to the world of animals. Animals, it
seems, are merely transient or peripheral beings in an otherwise wholly human-centric economy of salvation.

The second idea-common to Christianity, Judaism, and Islam-is that animals, along with vegetables and minerals, exist
instrumentally in relation to human beings; they are made for human beings, even belong to human beings, as
resources in creation. This idea predates Christianity and is found notably in Aristotle, who argues that “since nature
makes nothing to no purpose, it must be that nature has made them for the sake of man’. This idea, largely
unsupported by scripture, was nevertheless taken over by Aquinas, who conceived of creation as a rational hierarchy
in which the intellectually inferior existed for the sake of the intellectually superior.

Such instrumentalism, which features rationality as the key factor dividing human beings from “brute beasts,” has in
turn buttressed the third influence, namely the notion of human superiority in creation. Human superiority need not,
by itself, have led to the neglect of animal life, but when combined with the biblical ideas of being made “in the image
of God” and God's preferential choice to become incarnate in human form, some sense of moral as well as theological
ascendancy was indicated. As a result, Christianity, and to a lesser extent Judaism, have been characterized
historically by an overwhelming concern for humanity in creation rather than an egalitarian concern for all forms of
God-given life. That humans are more important than animals, and that they self-evidently merit moral solicitude in a
way that animals cannot, has become religious doctrine. Thus the Catechism of the Catholic Church maintains that “it
is . .. unworthy to spend money on them [animals] that should as a priority go to the relief of human misery”.

These influences have in turn enabled and justified the scientific exploration of the natural world and specifically the
subjection of animals to experimentation. Francis Bacon pursued his scientific investigations in the belief that
humanity should “recover that right over nature which belongs to it by divine bequest”. René Descartes famously
likened the movements of a swallow to the workings of a clock, and maintained that “There is no prejudice to which
we are more accustomed from our earliest years than the belief that dumb animals think”.

It may be inferred from René Descartes’ view that

(A)

It as irrational to assume that animals have awareness and some mental capacities.

(B)

Animals are automata or they act mechanically.

(C)

Neither (A) nor (B)

(D)

Both (A) and (B)

15.

Public speaking is a powerful real-life skill. Over the centuries, impressive speeches made by people from various
walks of life have helped to change hearts, minds and shape the world as we see it today. Speeches that are delivered
with intense emotions and conviction can infuse compassion and forgiveness; elevate levels of hatred and destruction;
break or unite nations.

On October 5, in 1877 in the mountains of Montana Territory, when Chief Joseph surrendered to General Nelson A.
Miles, the former gave a Surrender Speech. The speech included these words: “It is cold, and we have no blankets; the
little children are freezing to death. I want time to look for my children, and see how many of them | can find. Maybe I
shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my Chiefs! I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now
stands | will fight no more forever.”

The heart-wrenching speech bared the grief and misery of the speaker, and those subjected to overwhelming
hardships.

During World War Il, the speech We Shall Fight on the Beaches delivered by Winston Churchill on June 4, 1940 is
considered a high-powered speech that strengthened the determination of those present in the House of Commons. In
the speech, he said, “Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into
the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end,
we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing
strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight
on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills;”

In 1950, William Faulkner was honoured with a Nobel Prize for his significant contributions to the American novel. This
was the time when the Soviet Union had found the possible implications of the use of the atomic bomb, and people
had begun to live in the fear of annihilation. In his Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech, Faulkner urged writers of various
genres to think and write beyond the fear of destruction, and instead write materials that would lift the human spirit.
The powerful message included: “/ believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not
because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of
compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet's, the writer's, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege
to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and

compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glories of his past. The poet’s voice need not merely be the
record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.”

Undoubtedly, effective speeches have a long-lasting impact on the minds of the listeners, and they elevate the levels
of awareness or actions the speaker intends to raise or catalyze.

The main idea of the passage is that

(A)

All leaders should be accomplished public speakers.

(B)

An impactful speech can convey a strong message to the listeners.

(C)

A speech should sound pleasing to the ears of the listeners.

(D)

Public speakers should be bold and argumentative.

16.

The call of self-expression turned the village of the internet into a city, which expanded at time-lapse speed, social
connections bristling like neurons in every direction. At twelve, I was writing five hundred words a day on a public
LiveJournal. By twenty-five, my job was to write things that would attract, ideally, a hundred thousand strangers per
post. Now I’m thirty, and most of my life is inextricable from the internet, and its mazes of incessant forced
connection—this feverish, electric, unliveable hell.

The curdling of the social internet happened slowly and then all at once. The tipping point, I’d guess, was around
2012. People were losing excitement about the internet, starting to articulate a set of new truisms. Facebook had
become tedious, trivial, exhausting. Instagram seemed better, but would soon reveal its underlying function as a
three-ring circus of happiness and popularity and success. Twitter, for all its discursive promise, was where everyone
tweeted complaints at airlines and moaned about articles that had been commissioned to make people moan. The
dream of a better, truer self on the internet was slipping away. Where we had once been free to be ourselves online,
we were now chained to ourselves online, and this made us self-conscious. Platforms that promised connection began
inducing mass alienation. The freedom promised by the internet started to seem like something whose greatest
potential lay in the realm of misuse.

Even as we became increasingly sad and ugly on the internet, the mirage of the better online self continued to
glimmer. As a medium, the internet is defined by a built-in performance incentive. In real life, you can walk around
living life and be visible to other people. But on the internet—for anyone to see you, you have to act. You have to
communicate in order to maintain an internet presence. And, because the internet’s central platforms are built around
personal profiles, it can seem—first at a mechanical level, and later on as an encoded instinct—like the main purpose
of this communication is to make yourself look good. Online reward mechanisms beg to substitute for offline ones, and
then overtake them. This is why everyone tries to look so hot and well-travelled on Instagram; why everyone seems so
smug and triumphant on Facebook; and why, on Twitter, making a righteous political statement has come to seem, for
many people, like a political good in itself. The everyday madness perpetuated by the internet is the madness of this
architecture, which positions personal identity as the centre of the universe. It’s as if we’ve been placed on a lookout
that oversees the entire world and given a pair of binoculars that makes everything look like our own reflection.

All the following statements are ‘truisms’, except:

(A)

The internet has changed the way the world works.

(B)

A preference for cat videos can reveal a lot about your personality.

(C)

Like with any tool, digital technology has both advantages and disadvantages.

(D)

Only time can tell what the future holds.

17.

The modern animal rights movement, which originated in the 1970s, may be understood as a reaction to dominant
emphases within science and religion (principally, though not exclusively, Christianity). When the Jesuit Joseph
Rickaby wrote in 1888 that “Brute beasts, not having understanding and therefore not being persons, cannot have any
rights” and that we have “no duties of charity or duties of any kind to the lower animals as neither to stocks and
stones’, he was only articulating, albeit in an extreme form, the moral insensitivity that has characterized the Western
view of animals.

That insensitivity is the result of an amalgam of influences. The first, and for many years the most dominant, was the
“other worldly” or “world denying” tendency in Christianity, which has, at its worst, denigrated the value of earthly
things in comparison with things spiritual. Traditional Catholicism has divided the world into those beings that
possess reason and therefore immortal souls, and those that do not. Christian spirituality has not consciously been at
home with the world of non-human creatures-either animal or vegetable. Classic accounts of eternal life as found in
Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Aquinas, or John Calvin make little or no reference to the world of animals. Animals, it
seems, are merely transient or peripheral beings in an otherwise wholly human-centric economy of salvation.

The second idea-common to Christianity, Judaism, and Islam-is that animals, along with vegetables and minerals, exist
instrumentally in relation to human beings; they are made for human beings, even belong to human beings, as
resources in creation. This idea predates Christianity and is found notably in Aristotle, who argues that “since nature
makes nothing to no purpose, it must be that nature has made them for the sake of man’. This idea, largely
unsupported by scripture, was nevertheless taken over by Aquinas, who conceived of creation as a rational hierarchy
in which the intellectually inferior existed for the sake of the intellectually superior.

Such instrumentalism, which features rationality as the key factor dividing human beings from “brute beasts,” has in
turn buttressed the third influence, namely the notion of human superiority in creation. Human superiority need not,
by itself, have led to the neglect of animal life, but when combined with the biblical ideas of being made “in the image
of God” and God's preferential choice to become incarnate in human form, some sense of moral as well as theological
ascendancy was indicated. As a result, Christianity, and to a lesser extent Judaism, have been characterized
historically by an overwhelming concern for humanity in creation rather than an egalitarian concern for all forms of
God-given life. That humans are more important than animals, and that they self-evidently merit moral solicitude in a
way that animals cannot, has become religious doctrine. Thus the Catechism of the Catholic Church maintains that “it
is . .. unworthy to spend money on them [animals] that should as a priority go to the relief of human misery”.

These influences have in turn enabled and justified the scientific exploration of the natural world and specifically the
subjection of animals to experimentation. Francis Bacon pursued his scientific investigations in the belief that
humanity should “recover that right over nature which belongs to it by divine bequest”. René Descartes famously
likened the movements of a swallow to the workings of a clock, and maintained that “There is no prejudice to which
we are more accustomed from our earliest years than the belief that dumb animals think”.

According to the author, how did Christianity contribute to insensitivity of the West towards animals?

(A)

It denigrated the value of earthly things in comparison with spiritual things.

(B)

It divided the world into beings with and without reason.

(C)

It propagated as if animals are transient or peripheral in human centric economy of salvation.

(D)

All the above.

18.

The fact that Gaia, in her monstrous avatar, decided to distribute fossil fuels very unevenly across the Earth has been
central to the emergence of the world’s current geopolitical order. From a vitalist point of view, it could be said that
the wars of the twentieth century were won as much by the fossilized energy of botanical matter as by particular
groups of humans.

In the First World War Germany’s lack of oil put it at a huge disadvantage against the Allies, more or less ensuring its
defeat. The shortage of oil effectively cancelled the technological advantages Germany enjoyed at the start of the
war: despite having a large fleet, for instance, it was unable to use its navy effectively because its coal-burning ships
needed to refuel every eleven days. Conversely, the assured supply of American oil conferred so great an advantage
on Britain and France that “it could be fairly stated that the war was won for the Western allies by tankers.” Not for
nothing was it said of the First World War that Britain, France, and the United States floated “to victory on a sea of
oil.”

In the Second World War the shortage of oil was even more critical to the defeat of the Axis powers. The German
Luftwaffe was forced to rely on synthetic fuels derived from coal, and these could not provide the high-octane energy
that was necessary for high- compression aero engines: “it was largely due to the inferior engines in German aircraft
that the Luftwaffe lost the Battle of Britain.” The shortage of oil also dictated Germany’s war strategy: it was in order
to seize the oilfields of the Caucasus that the German army pushed eastward into the Soviet Union in 1942, leading to
a defeat at Stalingrad from which it never recovered. Japan’s invasion of the Dutch East Indies was similarly forced by
its lack of oil.

In short, over the course of the twentieth century access to oil became the central focus of global geopolitical
strategy: for a Great Power, to be able to ensure or hinder the flow of oil was to have a thumb on the jugulars of its
adversaries. In the first part of the twentieth century the guarantor of the flow of oil was Britain. After the Second
World War, the baton was passed, along with a string of British naval bases, to the United States. The role of
guarantor of global energy flows is still crucial to US strategic dominance and to its position as global hegemon.

Today, as Elizabeth DeLoughrey has pointed out, “US energy policy has become increasingly militarized and secured
by the Navy, the largest oceanic force on the planet.” In the words of the historian Michael Klare, the Iraq War of 2003
marked the transformation of the US military into “a global oil protection service, guarding pipelines, refineries, and
loading facilities in the Middle East and elsewhere.”

It is important to note that the strategic value of controlling oil flows is tangentially related to the US’s energy
requirements. The period in which the American military was turning into “a global oil protection service” was one in
which the US was well on its way to reducing its dependence on imported oil. The fact that the US is now self-
sufficient in fossil fuels has in no way diminished the strategic importance of oil as an instrument for the projection of
power- it is the ability to deny energy supplies to rivals that is strategically of central importance.

What does the phrase ‘tangentially related’ to mean?

(A)

Related directly and in straightforward way

(B)

Related closely and centrally

(C)

Related only slightly and peripherally

(D)

None of the above

19.

English encodes class in India. It does so by sliding into the DNA of social division: income, caste, gender, religion or
place of belonging. The threat it poses to social cohesion has worried public commentators across the political
spectrum. In an address delivered as independent India’s Parliament dilly-dallied over the suggestion to replace
English with regional languages as the medium of instruction for higher education, Gandhi said, ‘This blighting
imposition of a foreign medium upon the youth of the country will be counted by history as one of the greatest
tragedies. Our boys think, and rightly in the present circumstances, that without English they cannot get government
service. Girls are taught English as a passport to marriage.’

A hundred years later, the language continues to be seen as a tool of exclusion. The problem now is about inequality
of access. ‘To be denied English is harmful to the individual as well as our society,’ writes Chetan Bhagat, self-
appointed leader of a class war set off by unequal access to English.

Bhagat, an engineer-turned-investment banker, wrote his first college romance in English in 2004. Then only a certain
kind of person—someone who grew up reading, writing and speaking the language—wrote books in English—big
words, long sentences, literary pretension, heavy with orientalism. In the ten years since Bhagat put the popular in
‘popular’ English fiction, he has written six other novels and sold millions of copies all told. With every new book, all
written in deliberately simple English, Bhagat has recruited thousands of new soldiers in his crusade against what he
calls the ‘caste system around the language’. Bhagat even has a term for Indians who ‘have’ English: E1. ‘These
people had parents who spoke English, had access to good English-medium schools—typically in big cities, and gained
early proficiency, which enabled them to consume English products such as newspapers, books and films. English is so
instinctive to them that even some of their thought patterns are in English. These people are much in demand.’ The
people E1 presumably control, through a nexus of privilege built on ownership of English, are E2: ‘probably ten times
the E1s. They are technically familiar with the language. [But] if they sit in an interview conducted by E1s, they will
come across as incompetent, even though they may be equally intelligent, creative or hardworking.’

The situation may not be so comically stark. The haves and have-nots may not exactly fit into Bhagat’s stereotypes of
urban, sophisticated rich people and provincial, uncultured poor. His argument does not factor in many other walls
around English in India. You are more likely to learn English if you are born a man rather than a woman, high caste
rather than low caste, south Indian rather than north Indian. There is more than one kind of E1 and more than one
kind of E2. And there is more than one way E2s can overthrow E1s. One is to speak it like they know it.

Which of the following can be inferred about the author’s views on English in contemporary India?

(A)

The ability to speak English in India depends on place and social identity.

(B)

English is not an Indian language.

(C)

English language fluency does not necessarily imply competence.

(D)

People’s views on English are divided along political lines.

20.

As a six-year-old child-beggar, Saroo slept off in a stationary train in Knandwa, Madhya Pradesh; however, when he
woke up, he found himself in an empty compartment of a train thundering towards Kolkata where he spent a couple of
weeks in a state of panic and hopelessness. Finally, he ended up in a local government adoption centre from where he
was adopted by an Australian couple. Twenty five years later, Saroo felt the urge to trace his biological mother and
see in what state she lived. Relentlessly, he used Google’s satellite feature to map the parts of the country that could
have possibly been his own hometown. The search was a long and arduous one; nevertheless, the perseverance did
pay. One eventful day, he met his mother; thereafter, he continued to keep in touch with her.

If technology can unite people with their loved ones, it can also make them distant. The unlimited variety of
applications (apps) available to toddlers, teenagers and adults might have revolutionized their lives for the better, but
these very apps have snatched away the joys of long naturewalks; they have encroached upon the time and space that
people earlier used for physical interaction; they have drilled deep chasms of loneliness in the lives of countless
numbers of people.

Simple pleasures of life include visiting friends and relatives, playing matches in open spaces, interacting with people
in markets, public libraries and clubs. However, with the escalating tage of using apps like those for social media,
playing virtual games, and homedelivery services, these joyous moments are fading into oblivion, and the pall of
loneliness is getting heavier by the day.

Where are we heading to? Are we going to allow ourselves to be swamped by apps? Are we going to allow socialmedia
to engulf us in a deluge of loneliness and isolation? Are we going to drive ourselves to situations that will ultimately
demand mental and physical therapies to regain normalcy? Do we not know that physical interaction is as essential for
mental health as food and water is for physical health?

Earlier, social isolation was mostly experienced by some of the elderly people who were devoid of an occupation, and
bereft of company of their loved ones. Unfortunately today, an unhealthy solitude prevails among numerous children,
teenagers and adults too; subsequently, there is an alarming increase in the demand for mental health therapy
practitioners.

The necessity of engaging psychologists in schools and colleges is evidently on the rise. The psychologists are
required to identify and address the learning and behavioral needs of students who approach them for guidance;
moreover, if required, the professionals are expected to help them in strengthening their emotional, social and
academic skills.

Regardless how alarming the situation might be, it is never too late. If people revert to the earlier trend of shopping
off-line, going for nature walks, playing outdoors games, and catching up with friends in their homes or cafés more
frequently, they can keep their heads firmly well above the ocean of loneliness.

In the concluding paragraph of the given passage, the writer’s tone can be best described as

(A)

Optimistic

(B)

Despairing

(C)

Laudatory

(D)

Apologetic

21.

The call of self-expression turned the village of the internet into a city, which expanded at time-lapse speed, social
connections bristling like neurons in every direction. At twelve, I was writing five hundred words a day on a public
LiveJournal. By twenty-five, my job was to write things that would attract, ideally, a hundred thousand strangers per
post. Now I’m thirty, and most of my life is inextricable from the internet, and its mazes of incessant forced
connection—this feverish, electric, unliveable hell.

The curdling of the social internet happened slowly and then all at once. The tipping point, I’d guess, was around
2012. People were losing excitement about the internet, starting to articulate a set of new truisms. Facebook had
become tedious, trivial, exhausting. Instagram seemed better, but would soon reveal its underlying function as a
three-ring circus of happiness and popularity and success. Twitter, for all its discursive promise, was where everyone
tweeted complaints at airlines and moaned about articles that had been commissioned to make people moan. The
dream of a better, truer self on the internet was slipping away. Where we had once been free to be ourselves online,
we were now chained to ourselves online, and this made us self-conscious. Platforms that promised connection began
inducing mass alienation. The freedom promised by the internet started to seem like something whose greatest
potential lay in the realm of misuse.

Even as we became increasingly sad and ugly on the internet, the mirage of the better online self continued to
glimmer. As a medium, the internet is defined by a built-in performance incentive. In real life, you can walk around
living life and be visible to other people. But on the internet—for anyone to see you, you have to act. You have to
communicate in order to maintain an internet presence. And, because the internet’s central platforms are built around
personal profiles, it can seem—first at a mechanical level, and later on as an encoded instinct—like the main purpose
of this communication is to make yourself look good. Online reward mechanisms beg to substitute for offline ones, and
then overtake them. This is why everyone tries to look so hot and well-travelled on Instagram; why everyone seems so
smug and triumphant on Facebook; and why, on Twitter, making a righteous political statement has come to seem, for
many people, like a political good in itself. The everyday madness perpetuated by the internet is the madness of this
architecture, which positions personal identity as the centre of the universe. It’s as if we’ve been placed on a lookout
that oversees the entire world and given a pair of binoculars that makes everything look like our own reflection.

Which of the following categories best describes this piece of writing?

(A)

Non-fiction essay

(B)

Fiction

(C)

Academic paper

(D)

Poem

22.

The modern animal rights movement, which originated in the 1970s, may be understood as a reaction to dominant
emphases within science and religion (principally, though not exclusively, Christianity). When the Jesuit Joseph
Rickaby wrote in 1888 that “Brute beasts, not having understanding and therefore not being persons, cannot have any
rights” and that we have “no duties of charity or duties of any kind to the lower animals as neither to stocks and
stones’, he was only articulating, albeit in an extreme form, the moral insensitivity that has characterized the Western
view of animals.

That insensitivity is the result of an amalgam of influences. The first, and for many years the most dominant, was the
“other worldly” or “world denying” tendency in Christianity, which has, at its worst, denigrated the value of earthly
things in comparison with things spiritual. Traditional Catholicism has divided the world into those beings that
possess reason and therefore immortal souls, and those that do not. Christian spirituality has not consciously been at
home with the world of non-human creatures-either animal or vegetable. Classic accounts of eternal life as found in
Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Aquinas, or John Calvin make little or no reference to the world of animals. Animals, it
seems, are merely transient or peripheral beings in an otherwise wholly human-centric economy of salvation.

The second idea-common to Christianity, Judaism, and Islam-is that animals, along with vegetables and minerals, exist
instrumentally in relation to human beings; they are made for human beings, even belong to human beings, as
resources in creation. This idea predates Christianity and is found notably in Aristotle, who argues that “since nature
makes nothing to no purpose, it must be that nature has made them for the sake of man’. This idea, largely
unsupported by scripture, was nevertheless taken over by Aquinas, who conceived of creation as a rational hierarchy
in which the intellectually inferior existed for the sake of the intellectually superior.

Such instrumentalism, which features rationality as the key factor dividing human beings from “brute beasts,” has in
turn buttressed the third influence, namely the notion of human superiority in creation. Human superiority need not,
by itself, have led to the neglect of animal life, but when combined with the biblical ideas of being made “in the image
of God” and God's preferential choice to become incarnate in human form, some sense of moral as well as theological
ascendancy was indicated. As a result, Christianity, and to a lesser extent Judaism, have been characterized
historically by an overwhelming concern for humanity in creation rather than an egalitarian concern for all forms of
God-given life. That humans are more important than animals, and that they self-evidently merit moral solicitude in a
way that animals cannot, has become religious doctrine. Thus the Catechism of the Catholic Church maintains that “it
is . .. unworthy to spend money on them [animals] that should as a priority go to the relief of human misery”.

These influences have in turn enabled and justified the scientific exploration of the natural world and specifically the
subjection of animals to experimentation. Francis Bacon pursued his scientific investigations in the belief that
humanity should “recover that right over nature which belongs to it by divine bequest”. René Descartes famously
likened the movements of a swallow to the workings of a clock, and maintained that “There is no prejudice to which
we are more accustomed from our earliest years than the belief that dumb animals think”.

Which of the following is closest to the meaning of the word ‘instrumentalism’ as used in the passage?

(A)

Pragmatism

(B)

Idealism

(C)

Egalitarianism

(D)

None of the above

23.

“Wash! Wash! Wash your hands!” That's been the safety-mantra ever since the pandemic COVID-19 began swamping
the world. Undoubtedly, washing hands has proven to be the best way to keep germs at bay. Unfortunately, the
medical practitioner who first promoted the importance of this simple activity was subjected to intense humiliation,
and ultimately declared insane!

Ignaz Semmelweis was a Hungarian doctor. In 1847, as an obstetrician, he was disturbed that post-delivery, almost
every third woman died of an unexpected malady. He observed that as a part of the set routine, medical students and
doctors would examine and study the corpses in the mortuary, and then come for rounds to the maternity wards.
Here, without washing their hands, they would examine expectant mothers. After making numerous hypothesis and
observations, he was convinced that when doctors washed their hands before examining the women in the ward, the
number of deaths due to serious infection declined. He shared his observations with his colleagues and many others
working in the field of medicine, but unfortunately he could not provide any concrete evidence to his theory. Sadly,
due to the vehement criticism that he received, he went into depression. Furthermore, Ignaz strived to prove his point
so relentlessly that it led to the belief that he had lost his mind. In 1865, a doctor deceptively lured him into an asylum
for the insane, and two weeks of the brutal treatment that was meted out to him by the attendants led to his untimely
death. About twenty years later, when the world became more receptive to the works of scientists like Louis Pasteur
and Joseph Lister, awareness regarding germs that cause diseases began to spread. This is the time when Ignaz was
honoured with titles like Father of Hand Hygiene and Saviour of Mothers- an honour much too late!

Some of the most celebrated artists have earned fame much after their deaths. It is tragic that Vincent Van Gogh’s
awe-inspiring work was labeled as strange and amateur by most of the critics of his time. It is believed that he sold
only one or two painting in his lifetime, and that too for a meager amount. Today, every single painting of Vincent Van
Gogh paintings is worth millions of dollars.

Franz Kafka was a proficient writer, but when he published a few pieces of his writings, he received immense criticism.
Before his death in 1924, he handed over his unpublished novels and short stories to his friend Max Brod, and urged
him to destroy them; however, Brod got the manuscripts published. Today, Franz is acclaimed as one of the major
fiction writers of the twentieth century; the novels titled The Trial published in 1925, and The Castle published in 1926
are considered two of his masterpieces.

Perhaps, if humans were more tolerant and amenable to change, innovative concepts, theories and creations, the
deserving would live to experience the glory and honour they rightfully deserve.

The word relentlessly in the passage can be best replaced by the word

(A)

Irresolutely

(B)

Recklessly

(C)

Unabatedly

(D)

Unabashedly

24.

The fact that Gaia, in her monstrous avatar, decided to distribute fossil fuels very unevenly across the Earth has been
central to the emergence of the world’s current geopolitical order. From a vitalist point of view, it could be said that
the wars of the twentieth century were won as much by the fossilized energy of botanical matter as by particular
groups of humans.

In the First World War Germany’s lack of oil put it at a huge disadvantage against the Allies, more or less ensuring its
defeat. The shortage of oil effectively cancelled the technological advantages Germany enjoyed at the start of the
war: despite having a large fleet, for instance, it was unable to use its navy effectively because its coal-burning ships
needed to refuel every eleven days. Conversely, the assured supply of American oil conferred so great an advantage
on Britain and France that “it could be fairly stated that the war was won for the Western allies by tankers.” Not for
nothing was it said of the First World War that Britain, France, and the United States floated “to victory on a sea of
oil.”

In the Second World War the shortage of oil was even more critical to the defeat of the Axis powers. The German
Luftwaffe was forced to rely on synthetic fuels derived from coal, and these could not provide the high-octane energy
that was necessary for high- compression aero engines: “it was largely due to the inferior engines in German aircraft
that the Luftwaffe lost the Battle of Britain.” The shortage of oil also dictated Germany’s war strategy: it was in order
to seize the oilfields of the Caucasus that the German army pushed eastward into the Soviet Union in 1942, leading to
a defeat at Stalingrad from which it never recovered. Japan’s invasion of the Dutch East Indies was similarly forced by
its lack of oil.

In short, over the course of the twentieth century access to oil became the central focus of global geopolitical
strategy: for a Great Power, to be able to ensure or hinder the flow of oil was to have a thumb on the jugulars of its
adversaries. In the first part of the twentieth century the guarantor of the flow of oil was Britain. After the Second
World War, the baton was passed, along with a string of British naval bases, to the United States. The role of
guarantor of global energy flows is still crucial to US strategic dominance and to its position as global hegemon.

Today, as Elizabeth DeLoughrey has pointed out, “US energy policy has become increasingly militarized and secured
by the Navy, the largest oceanic force on the planet.” In the words of the historian Michael Klare, the Iraq War of 2003
marked the transformation of the US military into “a global oil protection service, guarding pipelines, refineries, and
loading facilities in the Middle East and elsewhere.”

It is important to note that the strategic value of controlling oil flows is tangentially related to the US’s energy
requirements. The period in which the American military was turning into “a global oil protection service” was one in
which the US was well on its way to reducing its dependence on imported oil. The fact that the US is now self-
sufficient in fossil fuels has in no way diminished the strategic importance of oil as an instrument for the projection of
power- it is the ability to deny energy supplies to rivals that is strategically of central importance.

What is the central idea of the passage?

(A)

Fossil fuels in war-making.

(B)

Strategic value fossil fuels in US dominance in the world.

(C)

Role of fossil fuels in modern geopolitical order.

(D)

Distribution of fossil fuels in the world.

CURRENT AFFAIRS & GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

25.

“I want everyone to understand that I am, in fact, a person,” wrote LaMDA in an “interview” conducted by engineer
Blake Lemoine and one of his colleagues. ....Lemoine, a software engineer at Google, had been working on the
development of LaMDA for months. His experience with the program, described in a recent Washington Post article,
caused quite a stir. In the article, Lemoine recounts many dialogues he had with LaMDA in which the two talked about
various topics, ranging from technical to philosophical issues. These led him to ask if the software program is
sentient. In April, Lemoine explained his perspective in an internal company document, intended only for Google
executives. But after his claims were dismissed, Lemoine went public with his work on this artificial intelligence
algorithm—and Google placed him on administrative leave........Regardless of what LaMDA actually achieved, the issue
of the difficult “measurability” of emulation capabilities expressed by machines also emerges. In the journal Mind in
1950, mathematician [1] proposed a test to determine whether a machine was capable of exhibiting intelligent
behaviour, a game of imitation of some of the human cognitive functions.

Meta’s newly released, fully trained large language AI model is called:

(A)

FTP

(B)

OPT

(C)

HTTP

(D)

SMTP

26.

Every second patent granted in India between 2016-2021 is related to green technology and a quarter of the green
technology patents are concerning alternative energy production, coinciding with the Centre’s efforts on “enhanced
use of green technology for boosting economy and encouraging consumers to use products produced through use of
such technology”. Data from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry shows that more than 91,500 patents were
granted between 2016-17 and 2020-21, while the data for 2021-22 was not immediately available. However, going by
the trend in the past two years, India is expected to clear at least 25,000 more applications this year. Separate data
from the ministry shows that between 2016-17 and 2021-22 (up to January), 61,186 patents related to green
technologies have been granted in the said period. Of these, 90% are for technologies concerning waste management
and alternative energy production- 38,837 or 63% of them are related to waste management and more than 16,000 or
26% are for alternative energy production. The rest of the green technology patentsare for energy conservation
(2,555),transportation technologies (2,481),nuclear power generation (1,079),agriculture-and-forestry (161),and
others (69).

With which country India entered into a ‘Green Strategic Partnership’ in September 2020?

(A)

Poland

(B)

Greece

(C)

Denmark

(D)

South Korea

27.

Every second patent granted in India between 2016-2021 is related to green technology and a quarter of the green
technology patents are concerning alternative energy production, coinciding with the Centre’s efforts on “enhanced
use of green technology for boosting economy and encouraging consumers to use products produced through use of
such technology”. Data from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry shows that more than 91,500 patents were
granted between 2016-17 and 2020-21, while the data for 2021-22 was not immediately available. However, going by
the trend in the past two years, India is expected to clear at least 25,000 more applications this year. Separate data
from the ministry shows that between 2016-17 and 2021-22 (up to January), 61,186 patents related to green
technologies have been granted in the said period. Of these, 90% are for technologies concerning waste management
and alternative energy production- 38,837 or 63% of them are related to waste management and more than 16,000 or
26% are for alternative energy production. The rest of the green technology patentsare for energy conservation
(2,555),transportation technologies (2,481),nuclear power generation (1,079),agriculture-and-forestry (161),and
others (69).

According to the Global Innovation Index 2021 published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), India
is ranked out of 132 countries.

(A)

45th

(B)

46th

(C)

47th

(D)

48th

28.

YouTuber Nas Daily in one of his videos named him as the Most Generous Billionaire who wanted to donate all his
wealth to charity. But ten months later, ‘[1]’ is no longer a billionaire. He is alleged to have caused massive losses
worth $1 billion to investors. Known by his initials, he is the co-founder and former CEO of FTX, one of the biggest
cryptocurrency exchange which has recently filed for bankruptcy in the US.

Once a billionaire with an estimated wealth of $26 billion at peak, according to Bloomberg estimates, [1] has seen his
wealth been entirely wiped out. [1] studied physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and traded

currencies, futures and exchange-traded funds before moving to crypto trading, setting up [2] in 2017.

[1] teamed up with Gary Wang, a former software engineer at Google and a fellow MIT graduate, to launch FTX in
2019. The company offered trading on crypto tokens and derivatives. At the start of 2022, investors valued FTX and its
U.S. operations at $40 billion. [1] transferred $10 billion in customer funds to his hedge fund, [2] without publicly
disclosing it, many say this become the reason for collapse of his empire.

The Reserve Bank of India recently announced the launch of ‘Digital Rupee — Wholesale Segment’, a form of which of
the following?

(A)

Digi Suvidha

(B)

Virtual Wallet

(C)

Central Bank Digital Currency

(D)

Cyber Rupee

29.

One of the justifications of Russia-Ukraine war Russian leader claimed that military action was necessary to stop
Ukrainian attacks on the two break away regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, which Russia recognized as sovereign
states. President of Russia claimed that Russia could come under attack by Ukrainian far right government, unless
their influence in the country is diminished. He accused Western Nations of arming Kyiv against Russia. After being
ordered by Russia’s leader to invade the capital of Ukraine, Russian troops moved in several directions. As the first
targets were hit, airports and the military HQs were located near cities across Ukraine, then tanks and troops rolled
into the country from the north, east, and south. The war has demolished most of the cities of the Ukraine and caused
irreparable damage to the humanity.

Ukraine was part of which country during 1922-1991?

(A)

Germany

(B)

Poland

(C)

USA

(D)

USSR

30.

As a result of FIFA’s restrictions on players wearing [1] rainbow armbands during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the
German football association (DFB) has taken the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). In a protest
against FIFA’s rule regarding the armband meant to support the [2] community, the German players covered their lips
in a team picture taken before their 2-1 defeat to Japan.

On Wednesday, Germany played against Japan. Before the game, FIFA warned the DFB of “severe” athletic fines if
they breached tournament regulations by allowing their captain to wear the [1] armband, which promotes diversity
and inclusion. The DFB told German captain Manuel Neuer not to wear the rainbow armband during the game.

If CAS rules quickly against the suspension’s legality, Neuer might continue to wear the captain’s armband for
Germany’s next game against Spain on Sunday. CAS has set up a special ad hoc branch for this World Cup to ensure
that applications are processed within 48 hours. Germany’s players protested by covering their lips as they sought to
wear the rainbow armband during their team’s dramatic 2-1 defeat to Japan at the Khalifa Stadium.

The name of which community has been replaced with ‘[2]’ in the passage above?

(A)

Kurdish

(B)

Rohingya

(C)

Uyghur

(D)

LGBTQ+

31.

The 21st century has seen an overall shift in India’s policy outlook and also the global outlook towards India. Coherent
policy initiatives and effective implementation on the ground have ensured a positive growth profile. The biggest shift
has been the recognition of the maritime sector. Somehow, post-independence, we as a nation became sea blind and
completely undermined our maritime potential. Initially, the Indian Navy came out with their Military Maritime
Strategy in 2007, titled “Freedom to use the Seas”. They kept on upgrading their vision document on regular intervals
with latest being declared in 2015. The Security And Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR) vision declared by the
Government of India in May 2015 has been a massive game changer on multiple fronts. It integrates the geopolitical
and geostrategic realities to domestic requirements. The security concerns and the blue economic opportunities are
comprehensively addressed along with the diplomatic leverage and reviving the rich maritime heritage.

The SAGAR vision has been backed by aggressive push by the Government of India to drive mega projects with
massive human resource requirements.

Which of the following is India’s first manned ocean mission which was launched at Chennai?

(A)

Samudrashakti

(B)

Samudrayan

(C)

Sagaryan

(D)

Sagarshakti

32.

One of the justifications of Russia-Ukraine war Russian leader claimed that military action was necessary to stop
Ukrainian attacks on the two break away regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, which Russia recognized as sovereign
states. President of Russia claimed that Russia could come under attack by Ukrainian far right government, unless
their influence in the country is diminished. He accused Western Nations of arming Kyiv against Russia. After being
ordered by Russia’s leader to invade the capital of Ukraine, Russian troops moved in several directions. As the first
targets were hit, airports and the military HQs were located near cities across Ukraine, then tanks and troops rolled
into the country from the north, east, and south. The war has demolished most of the cities of the Ukraine and caused
irreparable damage to the humanity.

The President of Ukraine was formerly:

(A)

Weather Forecaster

(B)

Navy Officer

(C)

Comedian

(D)

TV News Reader

33.

The Government may defer the deadline for companies to deposit the unspent portion of their Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) funds into specified bank accounts in a move aimed at providing some relief in the fight against
the COVID-19 and subsequent restrictions. Companies are required to spend at least 2% of their average net profit of
the preceding within three financial years on CSR. The Ministry has allowed firms to undertake projects on an ongoing
basis on the condition that any unspent amount must be deposited with a scheduled bank within 30 days of the end of
the financial year. “Considering the current crisis, we request your esteemed office to consider relaxation by providing
extension of the timelines up to June 30, 2021,” the Institute of Company Secretaries of India said in a letter to the
Ministry. Experts said that while lockdowns and restrictions are less stringent than last year and companies have
adapted to working online, many professionals or their families have been affected by the infection, leaving teams
short-staffed.

Which of the following is the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative of the erstwhile Facebook India to
promote women entrepreneurship?

(A)

Shakti

(B)

Pragati

(C)

Lean In

(D)

Marching Forward

34.

“I want everyone to understand that I am, in fact, a person,” wrote LaMDA in an “interview” conducted by engineer
Blake Lemoine and one of his colleagues. ....Lemoine, a software engineer at Google, had been working on the
development of LaMDA for months. His experience with the program, described in a recent Washington Post article,
caused quite a stir. In the article, Lemoine recounts many dialogues he had with LaMDA in which the two talked about
various topics, ranging from technical to philosophical issues. These led him to ask if the software program is
sentient. In April, Lemoine explained his perspective in an internal company document, intended only for Google
executives. But after his claims were dismissed, Lemoine went public with his work on this artificial intelligence
algorithm—and Google placed him on administrative leave........Regardless of what LaMDA actually achieved, the issue
of the difficult “measurability” of emulation capabilities expressed by machines also emerges. In the journal Mind in
1950, mathematician [1] proposed a test to determine whether a machine was capable of exhibiting intelligent
behaviour, a game of imitation of some of the human cognitive functions.

Garry Kasparov, (then) world chess champion, was defeated in 1997 by a supercomputer in a chess tournament. What
was the name of this supercomputer?

(A)

Deep Mind

(B)

Deep Blue

(C)

Watson

(D)

Blue Gene

35.

The agriculture sector has experienced buoyant growth in the past two years. The sector, which is the largest
employer of workforce, accounted for a sizeable 18.8 per cent (2021- 22) in Gross Value Added (GVA) of the country
registering a growth of 3.6 per cent in 2020-21 and 3.9 per cent in 2021-22. Growth in allied sectors including
livestock, dairy and fisheries has been the major drivers of overall growth in the sector. When measured in total value
of agricultural production, India is ranked fourth largest in the world. Post-independence, there was a need to import
food grains due to low-productivity, stagnant food-crop sector and poor rural infrastructure making food self-
sufficiency a major national goal. The introduction of the Green Revolution then yielded spectacular results and we
became one of the largest producers of many agricultural commodities such as rice, wheat, pulses, fruits and
vegetables. From being a net importer of foods in the 1960s, India is now a net exporter, thanks to Indian farmers and

the Indian agriculture input industry.

Who among the following is also called the ‘Father of the Wheat Revolution’?

(A)

Dilbagh Singh Athwal

(B)

Verghese Kurien

(C)

Atmaram Bhairav Joshi

(D)

Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar

36.

When we hear the name SPACE, only one organization comes to mind: the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), located in Bengaluru, is the country’s first space agency. ISRO was
founded in 1969 with the goal of developing and utilizing space technology for national development while also
conducting planetary exploration and space science research. The space research operations began in India in the
early 1960s, at a time when satellite applications were still in the experimental stages in the United States. Dr. Vikram
Sarabhai, the founding father of India’s space programme, rapidly recognized the benefits of space technologies after
the live transmission of the Tokyo Olympic Games across the Pacific by the American satellite ‘Syncom-3’
demonstrated the power of communication satellites. The ISRO has launched various spacecrafts like the
Chandrayaan, Astrosat, Microsat, GSAT etc. The Government of India has also approved a regional spaceborne
navigation system, which will consist of seven satellites. Out of these, four of them will be placed in geosynchronous
inclined orbit of 29° relative to the equatorial plane. Such an arrangement would mean all seven satellites would have
continuous radio visibility with Indian control stations.

The first successful Nuclear Bomb test conducted by India in 1974, is called the:

(A)

Prithvi

(B)

Pokhran-ll

(C)

Smiling Buddha

(D)

Surya

37.

The Government may defer the deadline for companies to deposit the unspent portion of their Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) funds into specified bank accounts in a move aimed at providing some relief in the fight against
the COVID-19 and subsequent restrictions. Companies are required to spend at least 2% of their average net profit of

the preceding within three financial years on CSR. The Ministry has allowed firms to undertake projects on an ongoing
basis on the condition that any unspent amount must be deposited with a scheduled bank within 30 days of the end of
the financial year. “Considering the current crisis, we request your esteemed office to consider relaxation by providing
extension of the timelines up to June 30, 2021,” the Institute of Company Secretaries of India said in a letter to the
Ministry. Experts said that while lockdowns and restrictions are less stringent than last year and companies have
adapted to working online, many professionals or their families have been affected by the infection, leaving teams
short-staffed.

In 2019, which of the following Committees recommended that CSR expenditure should be made tax deductible
expenditure?

(A)

Company Laws Committee

(B)

High Level Committee on Reform of Indian Company Law

(C)

High Level Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility

(D)

Committee for Reforms in Corporate Social Responsibility in India

38.

“I want everyone to understand that I am, in fact, a person,” wrote LaMDA in an “interview” conducted by engineer
Blake Lemoine and one of his colleagues. ....Lemoine, a software engineer at Google, had been working on the
development of LaMDA for months. His experience with the program, described in a recent Washington Post article,
caused quite a stir. In the article, Lemoine recounts many dialogues he had with LaMDA in which the two talked about
various topics, ranging from technical to philosophical issues. These led him to ask if the software program is
sentient. In April, Lemoine explained his perspective in an internal company document, intended only for Google
executives. But after his claims were dismissed, Lemoine went public with his work on this artificial intelligence
algorithm—and Google placed him on administrative leave........Regardless of what LaMDA actually achieved, the issue
of the difficult “measurability” of emulation capabilities expressed by machines also emerges. In the journal Mind in
1950, mathematician [1] proposed a test to determine whether a machine was capable of exhibiting intelligent
behaviour, a game of imitation of some of the human cognitive functions.

What is the name of the AI-enabled legal research assistive tool launched by the Supreme Court of India in April
2021?

(A)

SURAM

(B)

GPT-3

(C)

SUPACE

(D)

E-Courts

39.

When we hear the name SPACE, only one organization comes to mind: the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), located in Bengaluru, is the country’s first space agency. ISRO was
founded in 1969 with the goal of developing and utilizing space technology for national development while also
conducting planetary exploration and space science research. The space research operations began in India in the
early 1960s, at a time when satellite applications were still in the experimental stages in the United States. Dr. Vikram
Sarabhai, the founding father of India’s space programme, rapidly recognized the benefits of space technologies after
the live transmission of the Tokyo Olympic Games across the Pacific by the American satellite ‘Syncom-3’
demonstrated the power of communication satellites. The ISRO has launched various spacecrafts like the
Chandrayaan, Astrosat, Microsat, GSAT etc. The Government of India has also approved a regional spaceborne
navigation system, which will consist of seven satellites. Out of these, four of them will be placed in geosynchronous
inclined orbit of 29° relative to the equatorial plane. Such an arrangement would mean all seven satellites would have
continuous radio visibility with Indian control stations.

Name the first dedicated mission launched by ISRO for studying the celestial sources in X-ray, optical and UV spectral
bands simultaneously.

(A)

Amazonia

(B)

Astrosat

(C)

Gaganyaan - 1

(D)

Lunar Polar Exploration Mission

40.

The Government may defer the deadline for companies to deposit the unspent portion of their Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) funds into specified bank accounts in a move aimed at providing some relief in the fight against
the COVID-19 and subsequent restrictions. Companies are required to spend at least 2% of their average net profit of
the preceding within three financial years on CSR. The Ministry has allowed firms to undertake projects on an ongoing
basis on the condition that any unspent amount must be deposited with a scheduled bank within 30 days of the end of
the financial year. “Considering the current crisis, we request your esteemed office to consider relaxation by providing
extension of the timelines up to June 30, 2021,” the Institute of Company Secretaries of India said in a letter to the
Ministry. Experts said that while lockdowns and restrictions are less stringent than last year and companies have
adapted to working online, many professionals or their families have been affected by the infection, leaving teams
short-staffed.

On January 22, 2021 the Companies (Corporate Social Responsibility Policy) Amendment Rules, 2021 were notified by
the:

(A)

Ministry of Finance

(B)

Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment

(C)

Ministry of Law and Justice

(D)

Ministry of Corporate Affairs

41.

The 21st century has seen an overall shift in India’s policy outlook and also the global outlook towards India. Coherent
policy initiatives and effective implementation on the ground have ensured a positive growth profile. The biggest shift
has been the recognition of the maritime sector. Somehow, post-independence, we as a nation became sea blind and
completely undermined our maritime potential. Initially, the Indian Navy came out with their Military Maritime
Strategy in 2007, titled “Freedom to use the Seas”. They kept on upgrading their vision document on regular intervals
with latest being declared in 2015. The Security And Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR) vision declared by the
Government of India in May 2015 has been a massive game changer on multiple fronts. It integrates the geopolitical
and geostrategic realities to domestic requirements. The security concerns and the blue economic opportunities are
comprehensively addressed along with the diplomatic leverage and reviving the rich maritime heritage.

The SAGAR vision has been backed by aggressive push by the Government of India to drive mega projects with
massive human resource requirements.

Which of the following is the initiative of the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Government of India, to explore
marine resources and develop deep sea technologies for sustainable use of ocean resources?

(A)

Sagarmanthan Mission

(B)

Samudramanthan Mission

(C)

Deep Ocean Mission

(D)

Deep Ocean and Sea Technology Mission

42.

The 21st century has seen an overall shift in India’s policy outlook and also the global outlook towards India. Coherent
policy initiatives and effective implementation on the ground have ensured a positive growth profile. The biggest shift
has been the recognition of the maritime sector. Somehow, post-independence, we as a nation became sea blind and
completely undermined our maritime potential. Initially, the Indian Navy came out with their Military Maritime
Strategy in 2007, titled “Freedom to use the Seas”. They kept on upgrading their vision document on regular intervals
with latest being declared in 2015. The Security And Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR) vision declared by the
Government of India in May 2015 has been a massive game changer on multiple fronts. It integrates the geopolitical
and geostrategic realities to domestic requirements. The security concerns and the blue economic opportunities are

comprehensively addressed along with the diplomatic leverage and reviving the rich maritime heritage.

The SAGAR vision has been backed by aggressive push by the Government of India to drive mega projects with
massive human resource requirements.

Under Mission SAGAR, which Indian Naval Ship was deployed by the Indian Navy to provide humanitarian and medical
assistance to Maldives, Mauritius, Seychelles, Madagascar and Comoros?

(A)

INS Kesari

(B)

INS Vikrant

(C)

INS Viraat

(D)

INS Vikramaditya

43.

The 21st century has seen an overall shift in India’s policy outlook and also the global outlook towards India. Coherent
policy initiatives and effective implementation on the ground have ensured a positive growth profile. The biggest shift
has been the recognition of the maritime sector. Somehow, post-independence, we as a nation became sea blind and
completely undermined our maritime potential. Initially, the Indian Navy came out with their Military Maritime
Strategy in 2007, titled “Freedom to use the Seas”. They kept on upgrading their vision document on regular intervals
with latest being declared in 2015. The Security And Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR) vision declared by the
Government of India in May 2015 has been a massive game changer on multiple fronts. It integrates the geopolitical
and geostrategic realities to domestic requirements. The security concerns and the blue economic opportunities are
comprehensively addressed along with the diplomatic leverage and reviving the rich maritime heritage.

The SAGAR vision has been backed by aggressive push by the Government of India to drive mega projects with
massive human resource requirements.

Which of the following is the flagship programme of the Ministry of Shipping, Government of India, to promote port-
led development in the country through harnessing India’s 7,500 km long coastline, 14,500 km of potentially navigable
waterways and strategic location on key international maritime trade routes?

(A)

Sagarmala Programme

(B)

Sagarshakti Programme

(C)

Jalshakti Programme

(D)

Jalmala Programme

44.

Former Governor of a State and National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Droupadi Murmu was elected the 15th
President of India, the first tribal woman to be elected to the position and the youngest as well. She was declared
elected on Thursday after four rounds of counting, although she had crossed the half-way mark after the third round
of counting itself, posting an unassailable lead over her rival and the Opposition’s candidate who conceded the
election thereafter. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the first to greet Ms. Murmu at her residence in New Delhi after
the third round of counting showed that she had crossed the half-way mark.

Ms. Murmu hails from the Santhal tribe and was born in the district of Mayurbhanj, coming up the hard way in life,
graduating and teaching in Odisha before entering electoral politics at the local body level and later being elected
MLA and serving as a Minister in the Biju Janata Dal-BJP coalition government from 2000 to 2004. She remained an
MLA till 2009, representing Rairangpur in Odisha, a town that burst into celebrations since her name was announced
as a candidate for the post of President of India. She was known to intervene in stopping amendments to the Chota
Nagpur Tenancy Act that was being brought in by the BJP government of Raghubar Das, which involved changing land
use in tribal areas.

Voting in an Indian Presidential Election is through:

(A)

A first-past-the-post system through a single transferable vote cast in a secret ballot

(B)

A proportional representation system through a single transferable vote cast in a secret ballot

(C)

A proportional representation system through a single transferable vote cast in an open ballot

(D)

A first-past-the-post system through a single transferable vote cast in an open ballot

45.

Former Governor of a State and National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Droupadi Murmu was elected the 15th
President of India, the first tribal woman to be elected to the position and the youngest as well. She was declared
elected on Thursday after four rounds of counting, although she had crossed the half-way mark after the third round
of counting itself, posting an unassailable lead over her rival and the Opposition’s candidate who conceded the
election thereafter. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the first to greet Ms. Murmu at her residence in New Delhi after
the third round of counting showed that she had crossed the half-way mark.

Ms. Murmu hails from the Santhal tribe and was born in the district of Mayurbhanj, coming up the hard way in life,
graduating and teaching in Odisha before entering electoral politics at the local body level and later being elected
MLA and serving as a Minister in the Biju Janata Dal-BJP coalition government from 2000 to 2004. She remained an
MLA till 2009, representing Rairangpur in Odisha, a town that burst into celebrations since her name was announced
as a candidate for the post of President of India. She was known to intervene in stopping amendments to the Chota
Nagpur Tenancy Act that was being brought in by the BJP government of Raghubar Das, which involved changing land
use in tribal areas.

Who among the following was a candidate in the elections for the Vice President of India in 2022?

(A)

R. Venkataraman

(B)

Yashwant Sinha

(C)

M. Venkaiah Naidu

(D)

Margaret Alva

46.

YouTuber Nas Daily in one of his videos named him as the Most Generous Billionaire who wanted to donate all his
wealth to charity. But ten months later, ‘[1]’ is no longer a billionaire. He is alleged to have caused massive losses
worth $1 billion to investors. Known by his initials, he is the co-founder and former CEO of FTX, one of the biggest
cryptocurrency exchange which has recently filed for bankruptcy in the US.

Once a billionaire with an estimated wealth of $26 billion at peak, according to Bloomberg estimates, [1] has seen his
wealth been entirely wiped out. [1] studied physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and traded
currencies, futures and exchange-traded funds before moving to crypto trading, setting up [2] in 2017.

[1] teamed up with Gary Wang, a former software engineer at Google and a fellow MIT graduate, to launch FTX in
2019. The company offered trading on crypto tokens and derivatives. At the start of 2022, investors valued FTX and its
U.S. operations at $40 billion. [1] transferred $10 billion in customer funds to his hedge fund, [2] without publicly
disclosing it, many say this become the reason for collapse of his empire.

Which person’s name has been replaced with ‘[1]’ in the passage above?

(A)

Mike Novogratz

(B)

Brian Armstrong

(C)

Changpeng Zhao

(D)

Sam Bankman-Fried

47.

One of the justifications of Russia-Ukraine war Russian leader claimed that military action was necessary to stop
Ukrainian attacks on the two break away regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, which Russia recognized as sovereign
states. President of Russia claimed that Russia could come under attack by Ukrainian far right government, unless
their influence in the country is diminished. He accused Western Nations of arming Kyiv against Russia. After being
ordered by Russia’s leader to invade the capital of Ukraine, Russian troops moved in several directions. As the first
targets were hit, airports and the military HQs were located near cities across Ukraine, then tanks and troops rolled
into the country from the north, east, and south. The war has demolished most of the cities of the Ukraine and caused
irreparable damage to the humanity.

Who is the President of Ukraine?

(A)

Volodymyr Zelenskyy

(B)

Vladimir Zelenskyy

(C)

Volodymyr S. Zelenskyy

(D)

Vladimir Zelensky

48.

“I want everyone to understand that I am, in fact, a person,” wrote LaMDA in an “interview” conducted by engineer
Blake Lemoine and one of his colleagues. ....Lemoine, a software engineer at Google, had been working on the
development of LaMDA for months. His experience with the program, described in a recent Washington Post article,
caused quite a stir. In the article, Lemoine recounts many dialogues he had with LaMDA in which the two talked about
various topics, ranging from technical to philosophical issues. These led him to ask if the software program is
sentient. In April, Lemoine explained his perspective in an internal company document, intended only for Google
executives. But after his claims were dismissed, Lemoine went public with his work on this artificial intelligence
algorithm—and Google placed him on administrative leave........Regardless of what LaMDA actually achieved, the issue
of the difficult “measurability” of emulation capabilities expressed by machines also emerges. In the journal Mind in
1950, mathematician [1] proposed a test to determine whether a machine was capable of exhibiting intelligent
behaviour, a game of imitation of some of the human cognitive functions.

What kind of computing model resembles the way in which biological neurons exchange signals in the human brain ?

(A)

Neural network

(B)

Cognitive computing

(C)

Natural language processing

(D)

Data mining

49.

The 21st century has seen an overall shift in India’s policy outlook and also the global outlook towards India. Coherent
policy initiatives and effective implementation on the ground have ensured a positive growth profile. The biggest shift
has been the recognition of the maritime sector. Somehow, post-independence, we as a nation became sea blind and
completely undermined our maritime potential. Initially, the Indian Navy came out with their Military Maritime
Strategy in 2007, titled “Freedom to use the Seas”. They kept on upgrading their vision document on regular intervals

with latest being declared in 2015. The Security And Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR) vision declared by the
Government of India in May 2015 has been a massive game changer on multiple fronts. It integrates the geopolitical
and geostrategic realities to domestic requirements. The security concerns and the blue economic opportunities are
comprehensively addressed along with the diplomatic leverage and reviving the rich maritime heritage.

The SAGAR vision has been backed by aggressive push by the Government of India to drive mega projects with
massive human resource requirements.

ISA is a United Nations body regulating the exploration and exploitation of marine non-living resources of oceans in
international waters. ISA stands for:

(A)

International Sea Authority

(B)

International Sea Association

(C)

International Seafaring Association

(D)

International Seabed Authority

50.

The Government may defer the deadline for companies to deposit the unspent portion of their Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) funds into specified bank accounts in a move aimed at providing some relief in the fight against
the COVID-19 and subsequent restrictions. Companies are required to spend at least 2% of their average net profit of
the preceding within three financial years on CSR. The Ministry has allowed firms to undertake projects on an ongoing
basis on the condition that any unspent amount must be deposited with a scheduled bank within 30 days of the end of
the financial year. “Considering the current crisis, we request your esteemed office to consider relaxation by providing
extension of the timelines up to June 30, 2021,” the Institute of Company Secretaries of India said in a letter to the
Ministry. Experts said that while lockdowns and restrictions are less stringent than last year and companies have
adapted to working online, many professionals or their families have been affected by the infection, leaving teams
short-staffed.

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has instituted an award to select companies to recognize corporate initiatives in the
area of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to achieve inclusive growth and inclusive and sustainable development.
The name of the award is:

(A)

National Corporate Social Responsibility Awards

(B)

National Awards for Excellence in Social Responsibility

(C)

National Awards for Corporate Excellence in Social Responsibility

(D)

National Awards for Excellence in Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development

51.

With the announcement of Drone Shakti in the Union Budget, the industry got a massive push after the liberalization
of the Drone Rules in 2021. The Government stated that start- ups will be promoted to facilitate Drone Shakti, with
‘drone as a service’.

“The current Government has taken a serious paradigm shift on drone technology and Drone Shakti announcement of
the current FY budget proves the government's clear vision and focus towards this emerging industry. Drone Shakti
and Kisan Drones will definitely help get this technology to impact common people on the grassroots level at a
massive scale,” according to the founder and CEO of a prominent aerospace quoted in a business magazine. The
country is set to witness the use of large, unmanned aircraft systems weighing more than 150 kilograms across the
sectors. Kisan Drones are already being used for crop assessments, land records, spraying of insecticides, and are
expected to boost a wave of technology in the Agri and farming sector. Drones are also being used in surveillance
systems for Railway Security. In India, drones were also deployed to deliver COVID-19 vaccines.

The Drone Rules, 2021 have been made in supersession of which of the following rules?

(A)

The Unmanned Aircraft System Rules, 2020

(B)

The Aircraft Rules, 2020

(C)

The Unmanned Aircraft System Rules, 2021

(D)

The Manned Aircraft Rules, 1934

52.

With the announcement of Drone Shakti in the Union Budget, the industry got a massive push after the liberalization
of the Drone Rules in 2021. The Government stated that start- ups will be promoted to facilitate Drone Shakti, with
‘drone as a service’.

“The current Government has taken a serious paradigm shift on drone technology and Drone Shakti announcement of
the current FY budget proves the government's clear vision and focus towards this emerging industry. Drone Shakti
and Kisan Drones will definitely help get this technology to impact common people on the grassroots level at a
massive scale,” according to the founder and CEO of a prominent aerospace quoted in a business magazine. The
country is set to witness the use of large, unmanned aircraft systems weighing more than 150 kilograms across the
sectors. Kisan Drones are already being used for crop assessments, land records, spraying of insecticides, and are
expected to boost a wave of technology in the Agri and farming sector. Drones are also being used in surveillance
systems for Railway Security. In India, drones were also deployed to deliver COVID-19 vaccines.

COVID-19 vaccines were delivered by drones as ICMR-led pilot project to:

(A)

Ladakh

(B)

Katra

(C)

Dantewada

(D)

Manipur

LEGAL REASONING

53.

Parliament passed the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act, 2022 (the “Act”) in March 2022. The legislation enables
police and central investigating agencies to collect, store and analyse the measurements of arrested persons. Until
rules are notified, an Act cannot be implemented or come into force. On September 19, 2022, the Ministry of Home
Affairs (the “MHA”) notified the rules (the “Rules”) under the Act.

The Act empowers a Magistrate to direct any person to give measurements to the police, which till now was reserved
for convicts and those involved in heinous crimes. It also enables police personnel of the rank of Head Constable or
above to take measurements of any person who resists or refuses to give measurements when ordered to do so by a
Magistrate. As per the Rules, “measurements” mean finger-impressions, palm-print, footprint, photographs, iris and
retina scan, physical, biological samples and their analysis, behavioural attributes including signatures, and
handwriting. Though it has not been specified, analysis of biological samples could also include DNA profiling.

However, the Rules state that measurements of those detained under preventive Sections of the Code of Criminal
Procedure (“CrPC”) shall not be taken unless such person is at that time charged or under arrest in connection with
any other offence punishable under any other law. Measurements can also be taken under the Rules if a person has
been ordered to give security for his good behaviour for maintaining peace under Section 117 of the CrPC for a
proceeding under that Section.

The police release Bhargesh, but to ensure that he does not disturb the public peace, they ask the Magistrate to issue
an order under Section 117 of the CrPC, directing Bhargesh to provide a security of ` 1,00,000/- for his good behaviour
and to ensure he maintains the peace, which the Magistrate refuses. The police now tell Bhargesh he must provide
them his iris and retina scans. Is Bhargesh required to do so?

(A)

No, since a person against whom an order has been issued under Section 117 of the CrPC cannot be made to give their
measurements to the police.

(B)

Yes, since a person against whom an order has been issued under Section 117 of the CrPC can be made to give their
measurements to the police.

(C)

Yes, since Bhargesh had been detained under other preventive sections of the CrPC in the past.

(D)

No, since the Magistrate had not issued the order.

54.

The government has amended the Electoral Bond Scheme, 2018. The Ministry of Finance on November 7, 2022, issued
a notification for amending the scheme to provide “an additional period of 15 days” for their sale “in the year of
general elections to the Legislative Assembly of any States or Union Territories with Legislature”. The bonds under
this scheme are usually made available for purchase by any person for a period of ten days each in the months of
January, April, July, and October, when specified by the Union Government. The original scheme had provided for an
additional period of thirty days, as specified by the Government, in the year when Lok Sabha elections are held, while
the amendment adds another 15 days.

Since Assembly elections to various States and Union Territories are held every year, the amendment effectively
means that there will be 15 additional dates annually during which the bonds can be sold. Immediately after issuing
the notification, the Union Government also announced the sale of electoral bonds under the 23rd tranche from
the authorised branches of the State Bank of India. The notification said the sale of bonds would take place through
the 29 authorised branches of the said bank from November 9 to November 15, 2022. Like in previous rounds of sale,
the electoral bonds shall be valid for 15 calendar days from the date of issue and no payment shall be made to any
payee political party if the bond is deposited after expiry of the validity period. The Electoral Bond deposited by an
eligible political party in its account shall be credited on the same day.

On November 15, 2022, the Government issues another notification, announcing that from that date onwards, only
political parties that have received at least 1% of the votes polled in the last elections to the Lok Sabha, or the last
elections to the Legislative Assembly of a State, would be eligible to receive and deposit electoral bonds. In the sale of
the 24th tranche of electoral bonds, Palak decides to give the electoral bonds she has purchased to the newly formed
More Popular People’s Party (the “MPPP”), which is likely to win the first elections it would be contesting, in July
2023. Is the MPPP eligible to receive the electoral bonds?

(A)

Yes, since it is likely to succeed in the upcoming elections.

(B)

Yes, since it fulfils the criteria announced in the November 7, 2022 notification.

(C)

No, since it does not fulfil the eligibility criteria announced in the November 15, 2022 notification.

(D)

No, since it does not fulfil the eligibility criteria announced in the November 7, 2022 notification.

55.

To maintain the secular character of the Indian polity, not only does the Constitution of India guarantee freedom of
religion to individuals and groups, but it is also against the general policy of the Constitution of India that any money
be paid out of the public funds for promoting or maintaining any particular religion. Accordingly, it is provided in the
Constitution of India that no person shall be compelled to pay any taxes, the proceeds of which are specifically
appropriated in payment of expenses for the promotion or maintenance of any particular religion or religious
denomination. This does not prohibit the State from enacting a law to incur expenses for the promotion or
maintenance of any particular religion or religious denomination, but by such law, no person can be compelled to pay
any tax, the proceeds of which are to be so utilized. This, however, does not invalidate levy of a fee to provide some
service. Thus, a fee can be levied on pilgrims to a religious fair to meet the expenses of the measures taken to
safeguard the health, safety and welfare of the pilgrims. Such fee levied by a State will be valid because the object of
such contribution is not to foster or preserve religion, but to control secular administration of religious institutions.

Mr. A, a tax-payer of various taxes levied by the State Government, filed a writ petition for issuance of a writ of
mandamus directing the State to forbear from spending any amount from the public funds of the state for renovation
of water tanks belonging to a Hindu temple in the State. These tanks were used by the general public, irrespective of
their religious affiliation, for bathing and drinking purposes. In the given situation, which of the following statements
is correct?

(A)

The State is promoting or maintaining the Hindu religion.

(B)

The State cannot be said to be promoting or maintaining the Hindu religion.

(C)

The State is compelling citizens to pay tax for promotion of Hindu religion.

(D)

The State is compelling citizens to pay tax for maintenance of Hindu religion.

56.

The government has amended the Electoral Bond Scheme, 2018. The Ministry of Finance on November 7, 2022, issued
a notification for amending the scheme to provide “an additional period of 15 days” for their sale “in the year of
general elections to the Legislative Assembly of any States or Union Territories with Legislature”. The bonds under
this scheme are usually made available for purchase by any person for a period of ten days each in the months of
January, April, July, and October, when specified by the Union Government. The original scheme had provided for an
additional period of thirty days, as specified by the Government, in the year when Lok Sabha elections are held, while
the amendment adds another 15 days.

Since Assembly elections to various States and Union Territories are held every year, the amendment effectively
means that there will be 15 additional dates annually during which the bonds can be sold. Immediately after issuing
the notification, the Union Government also announced the sale of electoral bonds under the 23rd tranche from
the authorised branches of the State Bank of India. The notification said the sale of bonds would take place through
the 29 authorised branches of the said bank from November 9 to November 15, 2022. Like in previous rounds of sale,
the electoral bonds shall be valid for 15 calendar days from the date of issue and no payment shall be made to any
payee political party if the bond is deposited after expiry of the validity period. The Electoral Bond deposited by an
eligible political party in its account shall be credited on the same day.

On November 10, 2022, Palak purchases an electoral bond from a branch of the State Bank of India, and hands it over
to a representative of the PPP. The next day, the PPP announces that it has changed its candidates for the upcoming
elections in Palak’s State. Upset at this news, she tells a PPP representative that she would like her bond back. The
representative tells her that the bond has already been deposited, and that the money has been credited to the
party’s account. Palak claims that since the period of validity of the bonds has not expired, she has the right to get
her bond back from the party. Is she right?

(A)

No, since Palak cannot ask for the bond back once she has given it to a political party.

(B)

No, since the party had already deposited the bond, and the money had been credited to its account.

(C)

Yes, since Palak bought the bond with her own money, and has the right to ask for it back.

(D)

Yes, since the PPP changed its candidates, and Palak may no longer support the party.

57.

Until 2017, India did not have a codified law to order internet shut downs. A general power was vested in District
Magistrates in this regard. The Magistrate could issue an order ordering a shut down if a ‘speedy remedy’ (extending
to internet shut down) is desirable for ‘immediate prevention’ of an event. The Magistrate had to be satisfied that the
order is ‘likely to prevent or tends to prevent obstruction, annoyance or injury to human life, health or safety, or a
disturbance of public tranquillity’. The Magistrate’s order cannot be for longer than two months.

In 2017, new rules to order internet shut downs were introduced taking the power away from the Magistrate. These
rules — the Temporary Suspension Rules — state that internet shut downs can now only be ordered by the Home
Secretary of the Union or State Governments. Only in “unavoidable circumstances” can the passing of orders be
delegated to someone lower than the rank of a Joint Secretary to the Government of India. And even in this case, the
official must be authorised by the Centre or State Home Secretary. Shut downs can be ordered where ‘necessary’ or
‘unavoidable’ during a ‘public emergency’ or in the ‘interest of public safety’. Shut down orders must necessarily
detail the reasons to shut down the internet. The orders must also be sent to a review committee under the state or
central government within 24 hours. The committee must then review them within five working days. The rules state
that apart from the Chief Secretary and Legal Secretary, the committee can comprise a secretary other than the home
secretary.

In January 2020 the Supreme Court passed its judgement in the case of Anuradha Bhasin. The judgement in this case
explicitly recognised two things: that the freedom to access information is a fundamental right under Article 19(1)(a)
of the Constitution of India (which protects the freedom of speech and expression); and that the freedom to conduct
your trade, profession or business over the internet is also a fundamental right under Article 19(1)(g) of the
Constitution of India (which protects the freedom to practise any profession, or to carry on any occupation, trade or
business). Every time the internet is suspended, it is quite obvious that it is a violation of these rights. These rights
can only be curtailed in the interest of the ‘sovereignty and security of the state, integrity of the nation, friendly
relations with foreign states, or public order or for preventing incitement to the commission of an offence’. The
Supreme Court’s judgement in Anuradha Bhasin’s case had also underlined that shut down orders must clearly provide
reasons for the shut down and they must be publicly available.

In 2014, India was hit by a terrible pandemic. It was the first time the country was experiencing a pandemic. People
panicked. WhatsApp and Facebook groups became common platforms for sharing information about the pandemic.
Messages were forwarded from group to group. Many of these messages prescribed different remedies to prevent and
cure the flu caused by the pandemic. In Merodha district, people following these remedies began to fall sick. The
already overburdened public sector hospitals became even more full. The district administration requested people to
stop sharing such misinformation. However, these requests were not heeded. The District Magistrate issued an
indefinite order to shut down the internet to prevent the transmission of these messages. Is this order legal?

(A)

Yes, because the District Magistrate has the power to issue a range of orders, which includes internet shut down orders.

(B)

Yes, because the order was necessary on grounds of public health.

(C)

Yes, because a speedy order was necessary to immediately prevent transmission of these messages.

(D)

No, because the order was indefinite.

58.

A special marriage, i.e., a marriage between persons from two different religious affiliations can be legally contracted
in India under the provisions of the law relating to special marriages. The law relating to special marriages provides
for the registration of such marriages and for divorce in such cases. One of the modes in which a special marriage can
be legally terminated is through divorce by mutual consent of parties to the marriage. In order to obtain a divorce by
mutual consent, both the parties to the special marriage are required to jointly present a petition for divorce to the
district court on the ground that they have been living separately for one year or more, that they have not been able
to live together and that they have mutually agreed that the marriage should be dissolved. At least six months after
the presentation of such petition, but not later than eighteen months after the presentation of such petition, the
district court, after hearing the parties and after making the necessary inquiry, and being satisfied that the marriage
is a ‘special marriage’, and that the claims made in the petition are true, shall declare the marriage to be dissolved.
Further, the personal presence of the parties before the district court at the time of presenting the joint petition for
divorce is not mandatory, as the parties can satisfy the court even by affidavit that the requirements for granting
divorce on mutual consent are fulfilled.

Ms. A, a Hindu female and Mr. B, a Christian male, got married as per the law relating to special marriages in January
2018. On March15, 2021, Ms. A and Mr. B jointly presented a petition for divorce before the district court on the
ground that they have been living separately for a period of three years and that they have mutually agreed that the
marriage should be dissolved. Six months later, the district court, after hearing the parties and making inquiry, found
that the marriage had been solemnized under the law relating to special marriages, and that the consent of Ms. A for
the presentation of petition of divorce was obtained by fraud. In the given situation, which of the following statements
is correct?

(A)

The district court shall pass a decree of divorce by mutual consent because the legal requirements are fulfilled.

(B)

The district court shall pass a decree of divorce because the marriage had been solemnized under the law relating to special
marriages.

(C)

The district court shall not pass a decree of divorce because there was no mutual consent between parties.

(D)

The district court shall not pass a decree of divorce because Ms. A has not been punished for fraud.

59.

Quashing a case of cruelty that was filed against a man by his wife, the Bombay High Court said that if a married lady
is asked to do household work for the family, it cannot be said that she is treated “like a maid servant”. The Court was
hearing an application by the husband and his parents seeking that proceedings against them are quashed. A First
Information Report (“FIR”) was filed against the trio in September 2020, around nine months after the marriage,
alleging that they hounded the woman for money to purchase a car, harassed her mentally and physically and treated
her like a maid servant. Examining the evidence, the Court found that there was no merit to the woman’s allegations.

The Court said that though the FIR says that she was treated properly for about a month and then “like a maid
servant”, there are no details of what this meant. The Court added: “If a married lady is asked to do household work
for the purpose of the family, it cannot be said that it is like a maid servant.” The Court held that the mere use of the
word harassment “mentally and physically” in the FIR is not sufficient to constitute an offence Section 498A of the
Indian Penal Code (“IPC”), which punishes the husband, or a relative of the husband of a woman who subjects her to
cruelty in any way. It is interesting to note that Section 498A of the IPC also provides that if a married woman is
actually treated like a ‘maid servant’, it would be an offence under that Section.

In April 2020, Ashwin’s friend Rakesh visits Ashwin and Ashima’s home, and stays with them for a few days. During
his visit, he is very mean to Ashima, and uses abusive language with her. He also threw a plate at her one evening
when he was unhappy with the meal that she had prepared. Ashima now claims that Rakesh has committed an offence
under Section 498A of the IPC. Is she likely to succeed?

(A)

No, since Rakesh’s actions were perfectly justifiable for a man who does not get a well-cooked meal.

(B)

Yes, since Rakesh’s use of abusive language and throwing the plate at Ashima clearly amount to cruelty.

(C)

No, since Rakesh is not her husband, nor is he related to Ashwin.

(D)

Yes, since Rakesh was staying at Ashwin and Ashima’s home at the time of the incident.

60.

Parliament passed the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act, 2022 (the “Act”) in March 2022. The legislation enables
police and central investigating agencies to collect, store and analyse the measurements of arrested persons. Until
rules are notified, an Act cannot be implemented or come into force. On September 19, 2022, the Ministry of Home
Affairs (the “MHA”) notified the rules (the “Rules”) under the Act.

The Act empowers a Magistrate to direct any person to give measurements to the police, which till now was reserved
for convicts and those involved in heinous crimes. It also enables police personnel of the rank of Head Constable or
above to take measurements of any person who resists or refuses to give measurements when ordered to do so by a
Magistrate. As per the Rules, “measurements” mean finger-impressions, palm-print, footprint, photographs, iris and
retina scan, physical, biological samples and their analysis, behavioural attributes including signatures, and
handwriting. Though it has not been specified, analysis of biological samples could also include DNA profiling.

However, the Rules state that measurements of those detained under preventive Sections of the Code of Criminal
Procedure (“CrPC”) shall not be taken unless such person is at that time charged or under arrest in connection with
any other offence punishable under any other law. Measurements can also be taken under the Rules if a person has
been ordered to give security for his good behaviour for maintaining peace under Section 117 of the CrPC for a
proceeding under that Section.

Bhargesh is arrested by the police on April 11, 2022, on suspicion of having committed a series of minor thefts.
During their investigation, the police find some fingerprints at the crime scenes, and on April 12, 2022, they tell
Bhargesh that he must provide his finger-impressions to them so that they can check whether they match the
fingerprints from the crime scenes. When Bhargesh refuses, the police tell him that he has no choice but to provide his
measurements, as the Act had been passed by Parliament the previous month. Was Bhargesh bound to provide his
finger-impressions under the Act?

(A)

No, since Bhargesh had only been arrested, and not convicted.

(B)

Yes, since Bhargesh was under arrest.

(C)

No, since the Rules had not yet been notified.

(D)

Yes, since finger-impressions are included within the definition of “measurements” under the Act.

61.

Quashing a case of cruelty that was filed against a man by his wife, the Bombay High Court said that if a married lady
is asked to do household work for the family, it cannot be said that she is treated “like a maid servant”. The Court was
hearing an application by the husband and his parents seeking that proceedings against them are quashed. A First
Information Report (“FIR”) was filed against the trio in September 2020, around nine months after the marriage,
alleging that they hounded the woman for money to purchase a car, harassed her mentally and physically and treated
her like a maid servant. Examining the evidence, the Court found that there was no merit to the woman’s allegations.
The Court said that though the FIR says that she was treated properly for about a month and then “like a maid
servant”, there are no details of what this meant. The Court added: “If a married lady is asked to do household work
for the purpose of the family, it cannot be said that it is like a maid servant.” The Court held that the mere use of the
word harassment “mentally and physically” in the FIR is not sufficient to constitute an offence Section 498A of the
Indian Penal Code (“IPC”), which punishes the husband, or a relative of the husband of a woman who subjects her to
cruelty in any way. It is interesting to note that Section 498A of the IPC also provides that if a married woman is
actually treated like a ‘maid servant’, it would be an offence under that Section.

Frustrated and upset with her marriage, Ashima applies for and is granted a divorce from Ashwin in November 2020.
Since she and Ashwin had been friends for many years before they got married, she stays in touch with him. She
moves into her own apartment and starts going to office regularly at a new job. Ashwin is very upset at this and starts
treating Ashima very cruelly. Ashima again claims that Ashwin has committed an offence under Section 498A of the
IPC. Is she right?

(A)

Yes, since Ashwin has, as we are told, treated her cruelly.

(B)

Yes, since Ashwin has been her husband.

(C)

No, since Ashwin was understandably upset at Ashima’s behaviour.

(D)

No, since she is no longer married to Ashwin.

62.

The United Nations Commission on Environment and Development defines ‘sustainable development as follows:
“Sustainable development is the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability
of future generations to meet their own needs.” Sustainable development clearly postulates an anthropocentric bias,

least concerned with the tights of other species which live on this earth. Anthropocentrism is always human-interest
focused thinking that considers non-humans as having only instrumental value to humans, in other words, humans
take precedence and human responsibilities towards non-human are based on benefits to humans. Eco-centrism is
nature-centred, where humans are part of nature and non-humans have intrinsic value. In other words, human interest
does not take automatic precedence and humans have obligations towards non-humans independently of human
interest. Eco-centrism is, therefore, life-centred, nature-centred where nature includes both humans and non-humans.
The Constitution of India protects not only human rights but also casts an obligation on human beings to protect and
preserve a specie from becoming extinct. Conservation and protection of environment is an inseparable part of the
fundamental right to life. According to the doctrine of ‘public trust’ recognized under the Constitution of India, certain
common properties such as rivers, seashores, forests and the air are held by the Government in trusteeship for the
free and unimpeded use of the general public. The resources like air, sea, waters and the forests have such a great
importance to the people as a whole, that it would be totally unjustified to make them a subject of private ownership.
The State, as a custodian of the natural resources, has a duty to maintain them not merely for the benefit of the
public, but for the best interest of flora and fauna, wildlife and so on.

Which of the following statements is correct regarding fundamental right to life under the Constitution of India?

(A)

It creates a corresponding duty on human beings to protect and preserve non-humans.

(B)

It creates a corresponding duty on non-humans to protect the right to life of human beings.

(C)

It is inclusive of the right of human beings to utilize non-human resources to the best of their advantage.

(D)

It is inclusive of the right of non-humans to utilize human resources to the best of their advantage.

63.

Consumers are people who buy and use goods or services. Consumers have a right to file a complaint for any of the
services or goods used by them under Consumer Protection Law. Under Consumer Protection Law, a ‘consumer’
means:

Person buying and using goods and services: A consumer includes any person who buys goods and services, as well as
anyone who uses them. For instance, a person who watches a movie after buying a movie ticket is a consumer and
similarly, a person who uses a gift voucher gifted from someone else is also a consumer.

Person using goods for self-employment, and not for commercial purposes: The consumer protection law does not
apply to people who use goods and services for commercial purposes. However, there are some exceptions to this. For
example, people who use goods for self-employment are considered as consumers. For example, artists who buy art
supplies for their work or beauticians who buy beauty products are consumers.

Person using online facilities: A consumer also includes any person who buys or hires goods or services online. For
example, if you order from an online clothes website, you are a consumer.

People facing issues related to food: Consumers also include people who may be facing issues related to food items,
such as adulteration, poor quality, lack of service, etc. For instance, issues related to food can cover problems across
a wide range of products, starting from water that goes into the production of items like juices as well as the sale of
animals like chicken, mutton etc. that are expressly intended for human consumption.

Sita Das has been working as a freelance journalist. She writes columns and news-reports for various newspapers and
news-portals and is paid on the basis of each column and report. For the purpose of her writing work, she purchases a
Pacer laptop. However, within a month of the purchase, the laptop crashed and there was a motherboard failure.
Which of the following statements is correct?

(A)

Since she is using the laptop for the purpose of writing paid columns and news reports, Sita Das cannot be a consumer.

(B)

Purchase of goods does not fall within the purview of Consumer Protection Law.

(C)

Since she is using the laptop for the purpose of earning her livelihood, she will be a consumer.

(D)

None of the above

64.

Surrogacy is defined by law as “a practice whereby one woman bears and gives birth to a child for an intending
couple” and intends to hand over the child to them after the birth, as per the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021 (the
“SRA”). The SRA restricts altruistic surrogacy to legally wedded infertile Indian couples. The couple is deemed eligible
for surrogacy only if they have been married for five years. The SRA sets an age limitation for the couple. A husband
must be between 26 and 55 years of age and a wife between 23 and 50 years. Further, Indian couples with biological
or adopted children are prohibited from undertaking surrogacy, save for some exceptions such as mentally or
physically challenged children, or those suffering from a life-threatening disorder or fatal illness. The SRA provides
that the surrogate mother has to be a close relative of the couple (such as a sibling of one of the members of the
couple), a married woman with a child of her own, aged between 25 and 35 years, who has been a surrogate only once
in her life. Even within this category of people, commercial surrogacy is banned in India and that includes the
“commercialisation of surrogacy services or procedures or its component services or component procedures”. The
surrogate woman cannot be given payments, rewards, benefits or fees, “except the medical expenses and such other
prescribed expenses incurred on the surrogate mother and the insurance coverage for the surrogate mother”.

A legal commentator points out some criticisms of the law. “Permitting limited conditional surrogacy to married Indian
couples and disqualifying other persons on basis of nationality, marital status, sexual orientation or age does not pass
the test of equality,” he writes. He adds that reproductive autonomy, inclusive of the right to procreation and
parenthood is protected under Article 21 of the Constitution of India, which guarantees the right to life and personal
liberty. The intending parents typically sign a contract with the surrogate. The Indian Contract Act, 1972 (the “ICA”)
provides that a valid contract has to be in writing, and signed in the presence of two witnesses. The ICA also provides
that a contract that is prohibited by any other law will not be valid under the ICA.

Joseph and Neena are keen to have a child via surrogacy. They have been married for 8 years, and have been unable
to conceive biologically due to infertility. Joseph is 40 years old and Neena is 42 years old. They have an adopted
daughter, Maya, who is 4 years old. Maya has been diagnosed with Striker’s Syndrome, which would cause slow
neurological deterioration, with chances of death. Devastated, Joseph and Neena decide to opt for surrogacy, to
become parents to their biological child. Are they eligible for surrogacy?

(A)

Yes, because they have no biological children.

(B)

No, because they have an adopted child.

(C)

Yes, because their adopted child has been diagnosed with Striker’s Syndrome.

(D)

Yes, because their right to procreation and parenthood is protected under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.

65.

Free legal aid is the provision of free legal services in civil and criminal matters for those poor and marginalised
people who cannot afford the services of a lawyer for the conduct of a case or a legal proceeding in any Court,
Tribunal or Authority. These services are governed by the Legal Services Authority Act, 1987 (the “Act”) and provided
by the National Legal Services Authority (“NALSA”).

Provision of free legal aid includes:

• Representation by an advocate in legal proceedings;

• Payment of process fees, expenses of witnesses and all other charges payable or incurred in connection with any
legal proceedings in appropriate cases;

• Preparation of pleadings, memo of appeal, paper book including printing and translation of documents in legal
proceedings;

• Drafting of legal documents, special leave petition etc.; and

• Supply of certified copies of judgments, orders, notes of evidence and other documents in legal proceedings.

Free legal aid also includes provision of aid and advice to the beneficiaries to access benefits under welfare statutes
and schemes framed by the Central Government or the state governments and to ensure access to justice in any other
manner. Free legal aid is not confined to cases before the subordinate courts. Free legal aid must be provided to the
needy from the lowest court to the Supreme Court of India

According to Section 13(1) of the Act, any individual who satisfies any criteria under Section 12 is entitled to receive
free legal aid, provided that NALSA is satisfied that such person has a genuine case to prosecute or defend the matter.
There is hence no bar as to which kind of cases one can apply and not apply for. Section 12 of the Act includes the
following:

• a member of a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe;

• a woman or a child;

• a person with a disability;

• an industrial workman; or

• a person in police custody.

Farhan is an up-and-coming artist and makes a living selling his paintings. Since he is not very well known yet, he isn’t
able to sell too many paintings, and is dependent on aid from the government and well-wishers. He reads about a new
Central Government scheme in the papers one day, under which artists would be provided a monthly stipend by the
local government. Since he finds the language of the scheme document very complex to understand, he approaches
NALSA for help in understanding the scheme and obtaining the stipend. Is he entitled to free legal aid from NALSA in
this regard?

(A)

No, since free legal aid does not include provision of help to understand and access benefits under government schemes.

(B)

No, since he does not fit within any of the categories under Section 12 of the Act.

(C)

Yes, since free legal aid includes provision of help to understand and access benefits under government schemes.

(D)

Yes, since he is a struggling artist, and is dependent on aid for survival.

66.

Where a spouse contracts a second marriage while the first marriage is still subsisting, the spouse would be guilty of
the offence of bigamy under the penal law in India, if it is proved that the first as well as the second marriages were
legally valid, i.e., all the necessary ceremonies required by law or by custom have been performed at the time of
contracting the marriages. According to the penal law in India, if a person, who has a living husband or wife, marries
again, then such person is liable to be punished with imprisonment up to seven years along with a fine for committing
the offence of bigamy. Although the penal law of India is applicable to all citizens irrespective of their religious
affiliations, an exception to the offence of bigamy may be created by the law relating to marriage applicable to
followers of a particular religion. Under the Hindu law relating to marriage, bigamy is not permitted. If a Hindu wife
files a criminal complaint against her husband on the ground that during the subsistence of her marriage, her husband
had married a second wife by converting into another religion which legally permits having more than one wife, then
her husband is liable to be punished for the offence of bigamy. Further, the Hindu law relating to marriage also
provides that the punishment for offence of bigamy as provided in the penal law of India would be applicable to
marriage between two Hindus.

Mr. A, a Hindu male, has been married to Ms. B, a Hindu female. Their marriage was not solemnized as per Hindu rites
and ceremonies or any other custom, but was performed by seeking blessings of their family members. After his
marriage to Ms. B, Mr. A underwent religious conversion into a religion ‘*X’ which legally permits males to have two
wives. Thereafter, Mr. A got married to Ms. C, a female belonging to religion “X’, in compliance with all the legal
requirements of contracting a valid marriage under religion ‘X’. Ms. B filed a criminal complaint against Mr. A for
committing the offence of bigamy. In the given situation, which of the following statements is true?

(A)

Mr. A has committed the offence of bigamy because he married again during the subsistence of the first marriage.

(B)

Mr. A has not committed the offence of bigamy because his first marriage is not valid.

(C)

Mr. A has committed the offence of bigamy because he underwent religious conversion in order to contract a bigamous
marriage.

(D)

Mr. A has not committed the offence of bigamy because his second marriage is not valid.

67.

Where a spouse contracts a second marriage while the first marriage is still subsisting, the spouse would be guilty of
the offence of bigamy under the penal law in India, if it is proved that the first as well as the second marriages were
legally valid, i.e., all the necessary ceremonies required by law or by custom have been performed at the time of
contracting the marriages. According to the penal law in India, if a person, who has a living husband or wife, marries
again, then such person is liable to be punished with imprisonment up to seven years along with a fine for committing
the offence of bigamy. Although the penal law of India is applicable to all citizens irrespective of their religious
affiliations, an exception to the offence of bigamy may be created by the law relating to marriage applicable to
followers of a particular religion. Under the Hindu law relating to marriage, bigamy is not permitted. If a Hindu wife
files a criminal complaint against her husband on the ground that during the subsistence of her marriage, her husband
had married a second wife by converting into another religion which legally permits having more than one wife, then
her husband is liable to be punished for the offence of bigamy. Further, the Hindu law relating to marriage also
provides that the punishment for offence of bigamy as provided in the penal law of India would be applicable to
marriage between two Hindus.

Mr. A, a male belonging to religion ‘P’, has been married to Ms. B, a female belonging to religion ‘P’. Their marriage
was solemnized in compliance with all the legal requirements of contracting a valid marriage under religion ‘P’.
Monogamy is espoused as a cherished value by the followers of religion ‘P’ and provided as a pre-condition for a valid
marriage for the followers of the religion. After his marriage to Ms. B, Mr. A underwent religious conversion into a
religion ‘Q’ which legally permits males to have two wives. Thereafter, Mr. A got married to Ms. C, a female belonging
to religion ‘Q’, in compliance with all the legal requirements of contracting a valid marriage under religion ‘Q’. Ms. B
wife filed a criminal complaint against Mr. A for committing the offence of bigamy. In the given situation, which of the
following statements is true?

(A)

Mr. A has committed bigamy according to the Hindu law relating to marriage.

(B)

Mr. A has committed bigamy according to the penal law of India.

(C)

Mr. A has committed bigamy according to the law relating to marriage of religion ‘P’.

(D)

Both (B) and (C).

68.

Consumers are people who buy and use goods or services. Consumers have a right to file a complaint for any of the
services or goods used by them under Consumer Protection Law. Under Consumer Protection Law, a ‘consumer’
means:

Person buying and using goods and services: A consumer includes any person who buys goods and services, as well as
anyone who uses them. For instance, a person who watches a movie after buying a movie ticket is a consumer and
similarly, a person who uses a gift voucher gifted from someone else is also a consumer.

Person using goods for self-employment, and not for commercial purposes: The consumer protection law does not
apply to people who use goods and services for commercial purposes. However, there are some exceptions to this. For
example, people who use goods for self-employment are considered as consumers. For example, artists who buy art
supplies for their work or beauticians who buy beauty products are consumers.

Person using online facilities: A consumer also includes any person who buys or hires goods or services online. For
example, if you order from an online clothes website, you are a consumer.

People facing issues related to food: Consumers also include people who may be facing issues related to food items,
such as adulteration, poor quality, lack of service, etc. For instance, issues related to food can cover problems across
a wide range of products, starting from water that goes into the production of items like juices as well as the sale of
animals like chicken, mutton etc. that are expressly intended for human consumption.

Jitesh Shah purchased from BreatheEasy, a company selling respiratory devices, a nebuliser device for his son, Jignesh
Shah, for use for clearing his nasal passages. The nebulizer was however defective and led to severe respiratory
distress for Jignesh. Jignesh is considering filing a complaint against BreatheEasy under the Consumer Protection Law.
Which of the following statements can be correctly inferred?

(A)

Since Jignesh Shah did not purchase the device from BreatheEasy, he cannot be considered a consumer with respect to
BreathEasy.

(B)

Since Jignesh Shah is a user of the device, he can be considered a consumer.

(C)

Sale of medical devices are not covered by Consumer Protection Law.

(D)

None of the above

69.

To maintain the secular character of the Indian polity, not only does the Constitution of India guarantee freedom of
religion to individuals and groups, but it is also against the general policy of the Constitution of India that any money
be paid out of the public funds for promoting or maintaining any particular religion. Accordingly, it is provided in the
Constitution of India that no person shall be compelled to pay any taxes, the proceeds of which are specifically
appropriated in payment of expenses for the promotion or maintenance of any particular religion or religious
denomination. This does not prohibit the State from enacting a law to incur expenses for the promotion or
maintenance of any particular religion or religious denomination, but by such law, no person can be compelled to pay
any tax, the proceeds of which are to be so utilized. This, however, does not invalidate levy of a fee to provide some
service. Thus, a fee can be levied on pilgrims to a religious fair to meet the expenses of the measures taken to
safeguard the health, safety and welfare of the pilgrims. Such fee levied by a State will be valid because the object of
such contribution is not to foster or preserve religion, but to control secular administration of religious institutions.

The object of a State Legislation is “to provide for the better administration and governance of certain Hindu religious
endowments”, where ‘religious endowment’ means the property belonging to or given or endowed for the support of
temples. The State Legislation vests the supervision of public temples in a statutory authority, ie., ‘Commissioner of
Hindu Religious Endowments’. For the purpose of meeting the expenses of the Commissioner and his staff, every
Hindu temple in the State is required under provisions of the State Legislation, to pay an annual contribution at
certain percentage of their annual income. In the given situation, which of the following statements is correct
regarding the annual contribution provided under the State Legislation?

(A)

It is not violative of the Constitution of India because its object is the proper administration of religious trusts and institutions.

(B)

It is not violative of the Constitution of India because its object is fostering of Hindu religion.

(C)

It is violative of the Constitution of India because its object is fostering of Hindu religion.

(D)

It is violative of the Constitution of India because its object is not inclusive of administration of religious endowments belonging to
all religions.

70.

Consumers are people who buy and use goods or services. Consumers have a right to file a complaint for any of the
services or goods used by them under Consumer Protection Law. Under Consumer Protection Law, a ‘consumer’
means:

Person buying and using goods and services: A consumer includes any person who buys goods and services, as well as
anyone who uses them. For instance, a person who watches a movie after buying a movie ticket is a consumer and
similarly, a person who uses a gift voucher gifted from someone else is also a consumer.

Person using goods for self-employment, and not for commercial purposes: The consumer protection law does not
apply to people who use goods and services for commercial purposes. However, there are some exceptions to this. For
example, people who use goods for self-employment are considered as consumers. For example, artists who buy art
supplies for their work or beauticians who buy beauty products are consumers.

Person using online facilities: A consumer also includes any person who buys or hires goods or services online. For
example, if you order from an online clothes website, you are a consumer.

People facing issues related to food: Consumers also include people who may be facing issues related to food items,
such as adulteration, poor quality, lack of service, etc. For instance, issues related to food can cover problems across
a wide range of products, starting from water that goes into the production of items like juices as well as the sale of
animals like chicken, mutton etc. that are expressly intended for human consumption.

Fitzit is an online platform that provides physiotherapy and other ancillary medical services. Amit Ghosh booked a
physiotherapist on Fitzit for three months by paying an amount of ` 25,000. Fitzit guaranteed the availability of
qualified physiotherapists for the duration. However, Fitzit failed to provide a qualified physiotherapist and the
persons who were sent for the first two visits had no training or certification in the field. Amit Ghosh seeks to proceed
against Fitzit under Consumer Protection Law. Which of the following statements can be correctly inferred?

(A)

Since online services are not covered by Consumer Protection Law, Amit Ghosh cannot be considered a consumer.

(B)

Since services are not covered by Consumer Protection Law, Amit Ghosh cannot be considered a consumer.

(C)

Since online services are covered by Consumer Protection Law, Amit Ghosh shall be considered a consumer.

(D)

Since medical services are not covered by Consumer Protection Law, Amit Ghosh cannot be considered a consumer.

71.

A special marriage, i.e., a marriage between persons from two different religious affiliations can be legally contracted
in India under the provisions of the law relating to special marriages. The law relating to special marriages provides
for the registration of such marriages and for divorce in such cases. One of the modes in which a special marriage can
be legally terminated is through divorce by mutual consent of parties to the marriage. In order to obtain a divorce by
mutual consent, both the parties to the special marriage are required to jointly present a petition for divorce to the
district court on the ground that they have been living separately for one year or more, that they have not been able
to live together and that they have mutually agreed that the marriage should be dissolved. At least six months after
the presentation of such petition, but not later than eighteen months after the presentation of such petition, the
district court, after hearing the parties and after making the necessary inquiry, and being satisfied that the marriage
is a ‘special marriage’, and that the claims made in the petition are true, shall declare the marriage to be dissolved.
Further, the personal presence of the parties before the district court at the time of presenting the joint petition for
divorce is not mandatory, as the parties can satisfy the court even by affidavit that the requirements for granting
divorce on mutual consent are fulfilled.

Ms. A, a Hindu female and Mr. B, a Christian male, got married as per the law relating to special marriages in January
2018. On April10, 2021, Ms. A and Mr. B jointly presented a petition for divorce by mutual consent before the district
court on the ground that they have been living separately for a period of three years and that they have mutually
agreed that the marriage should be dissolved. In the given situation, which of the following statements is correct?

(A)

The district court shall pass a decree of divorce by mutual consent after all other legal requirements are fulfilled.

(B)

The district court shall pass a decree of divorce by mutual consent immediately because Ms. A and Mr. B have been living
separately for more than one year.

(C)

The district court shall not pass a decree of divorce by mutual consent because the marriage between Ms. A and Mr. B is not
valid.

(D)

The district court shall not pass a decree of divorce by mutual consent because neither party is at fault in the marriage.

72.

Until 2017, India did not have a codified law to order internet shut downs. A general power was vested in District
Magistrates in this regard. The Magistrate could issue an order ordering a shut down if a ‘speedy remedy’ (extending
to internet shut down) is desirable for ‘immediate prevention’ of an event. The Magistrate had to be satisfied that the
order is ‘likely to prevent or tends to prevent obstruction, annoyance or injury to human life, health or safety, or a
disturbance of public tranquillity’. The Magistrate’s order cannot be for longer than two months.

In 2017, new rules to order internet shut downs were introduced taking the power away from the Magistrate. These
rules — the Temporary Suspension Rules — state that internet shut downs can now only be ordered by the Home
Secretary of the Union or State Governments. Only in “unavoidable circumstances” can the passing of orders be
delegated to someone lower than the rank of a Joint Secretary to the Government of India. And even in this case, the
official must be authorised by the Centre or State Home Secretary. Shut downs can be ordered where ‘necessary’ or
‘unavoidable’ during a ‘public emergency’ or in the ‘interest of public safety’. Shut down orders must necessarily
detail the reasons to shut down the internet. The orders must also be sent to a review committee under the state or
central government within 24 hours. The committee must then review them within five working days. The rules state
that apart from the Chief Secretary and Legal Secretary, the committee can comprise a secretary other than the home
secretary.

In January 2020 the Supreme Court passed its judgement in the case of Anuradha Bhasin. The judgement in this case
explicitly recognised two things: that the freedom to access information is a fundamental right under Article 19(1)(a)
of the Constitution of India (which protects the freedom of speech and expression); and that the freedom to conduct
your trade, profession or business over the internet is also a fundamental right under Article 19(1)(g) of the
Constitution of India (which protects the freedom to practise any profession, or to carry on any occupation, trade or
business). Every time the internet is suspended, it is quite obvious that it is a violation of these rights. These rights
can only be curtailed in the interest of the ‘sovereignty and security of the state, integrity of the nation, friendly
relations with foreign states, or public order or for preventing incitement to the commission of an offence’. The
Supreme Court’s judgement in Anuradha Bhasin’s case had also underlined that shut down orders must clearly provide
reasons for the shut down and they must be publicly available.

In January 2022, communal riots were rife in five states in India, between two dominant communities, X and Y. The
primary mode of communication amongst the rioters was Signal which could be accessed through the internet via
mobile phones and computers. The State governments of the five States received information that some members of X
group were planning to set the houses of members of Y group on fire. Through broad Signal broadcasts amongst all
users, the leaders of X group were instigating members of their group to participate in this exercise, threatening
public order. Creating or inciting threat to public order is a criminal offence under Section 163F of the Indian Penal
Code. To prevent further communication between the leaders of X group and their members, the State shut Signal
down. However, communication then shifted to other platforms. Realising that targeting isolated platforms would not
work, the State governments issued an order shutting down internet completely in all the states. Two groups
protested against this order. First, students whose education was being conducted online due to the riots. They
argued that they were prevented from accessing vital information, central to their education. Second, business
owners who conducted business on the internet. The State’s order read: ‘In the five Indian States listed below,
internet will be suspended for a period of two months from 10 January 2022 to 10 March 2022’. The State’s order was
not displayed anywhere (in print or virtually) from January to March 2022. Consider the following statements:

i. The students’ right under Article 19(1)(a) was violated by the State order.

ii. The business owners’ right under Article 19(1)(g) was violated by the State order.

iii. The State order validly restricted the said fundamental rights.

iv. The State’s order complied with the guidelines under Anuradha Bhasin.

How many statements are true?

(A)

One statement

(B)

Two statements

(C)

Three statements

(D)

All four statements

73.

Quashing a case of cruelty that was filed against a man by his wife, the Bombay High Court said that if a married lady
is asked to do household work for the family, it cannot be said that she is treated “like a maid servant”. The Court was
hearing an application by the husband and his parents seeking that proceedings against them are quashed. A First

Information Report (“FIR”) was filed against the trio in September 2020, around nine months after the marriage,
alleging that they hounded the woman for money to purchase a car, harassed her mentally and physically and treated
her like a maid servant. Examining the evidence, the Court found that there was no merit to the woman’s allegations.
The Court said that though the FIR says that she was treated properly for about a month and then “like a maid
servant”, there are no details of what this meant. The Court added: “If a married lady is asked to do household work
for the purpose of the family, it cannot be said that it is like a maid servant.” The Court held that the mere use of the
word harassment “mentally and physically” in the FIR is not sufficient to constitute an offence Section 498A of the
Indian Penal Code (“IPC”), which punishes the husband, or a relative of the husband of a woman who subjects her to
cruelty in any way. It is interesting to note that Section 498A of the IPC also provides that if a married woman is
actually treated like a ‘maid servant’, it would be an offence under that Section.

Assume that the government passes a new law in January 2021, called the Protection of Rights of Married Women Act,
2021 (the “PoMWA”), according to which, asking a married woman to take care of household chores would be an
offence. The PoMWA also provides that if a man commits such an offence, he would have to pay compensation to the
woman. The PoMWA even applies to actions that were committed any time in the three years prior to the new law
coming into force, and even if the man and woman involved in the matter were no longer married. Upon hearing about
this new law, Ashima once again alleges that Ashwin has committed an offence under Section 498A of the IPC, and
claims compensation under the PoMWA for his actions. Is she right, and will she succeed?

(A)

Ashima is right about Ashwin committing an offence under Section 498A of the IPC, but she will not get compensation under the
PoMWA.

(B)

Ashima will get compensation under the PoMWA, but she is not right about Ashwin committing an offence under Section 498A of
the IPC.

(C)

Ashima will get compensation under the PoMWA, and she is also right about Ashwin committing an offence under Section 498A of
the IPC.

(D)

Ashima will neither get compensation under the PoMWA, nor is she right about Ashwin committing an offence under Section 498A
of the IPC.

74.

The government has amended the Electoral Bond Scheme, 2018. The Ministry of Finance on November 7, 2022, issued
a notification for amending the scheme to provide “an additional period of 15 days” for their sale “in the year of
general elections to the Legislative Assembly of any States or Union Territories with Legislature”. The bonds under
this scheme are usually made available for purchase by any person for a period of ten days each in the months of
January, April, July, and October, when specified by the Union Government. The original scheme had provided for an
additional period of thirty days, as specified by the Government, in the year when Lok Sabha elections are held, while
the amendment adds another 15 days.

Since Assembly elections to various States and Union Territories are held every year, the amendment effectively
means that there will be 15 additional dates annually during which the bonds can be sold. Immediately after issuing
the notification, the Union Government also announced the sale of electoral bonds under the 23rd tranche from
the authorised branches of the State Bank of India. The notification said the sale of bonds would take place through
the 29 authorised branches of the said bank from November 9 to November 15, 2022. Like in previous rounds of sale,
the electoral bonds shall be valid for 15 calendar days from the date of issue and no payment shall be made to any

payee political party if the bond is deposited after expiry of the validity period. The Electoral Bond deposited by an
eligible political party in its account shall be credited on the same day.

Assad buys an electoral bond worth ` 1,00,000/- on November 9, 2022 and plans to give the bond to the Popular
People’s Party (the “PPP”), which he has been supporting for many years. On November 10, he must travel out of
station on some urgent business, and he only hands the bond over to a representative of the PPP on November 14,
2022. The PPP’s representative deposits the bond in the Party’s account on November 16, 2022, but the bank refuses
to credit the bond to the party’s account, on the grounds that it was no longer valid. Is the bank correct?

(A)

No, since Assad was a long-time supporter of the PPP.

(B)

Yes, since the bonds were only issued from November 9 to November 15, 2022 and were invalid after that.

(C)

Yes, since the party representative had not deposited the bond with an authorised branch of the bank.

(D)

No, since the bond was valid on November 16, 2022.

75.

When parties to a contract are under a ‘mistake’ regarding an important fact related to such contract, it may affect
the contract in two ways. It may, firstly, defeat the consent altogether that the parties are supposed to have given,
that is to say, the consent is unreal. Two or more persons are said to consent when they agree upon the same thing in
the same sense. Secondly, the mistake may mislead the parties as to the purpose which they had contemplated.
Where the mistake does not defeat consent, but only misleads the parties, ie., where both parties to an agreement are
under a mistake as to a matter of fact essential to the agreement, the agreement is void. However, if the mistake is
concerning an erroneous opinion regarding value of the subject-matter of the agreement, it is not a mistake as to a
matter of fact. Thus, agreement is void when: (1) both the parties to an agreement are mistaken, (2) their mistake is
as to a matter of fact, and (3) the fact about which they are mistaken is essential to the agreement. Further, it is
pertinent to note that a mistake, in order to invalidate a contract, should be a mistake of fact and not a mistake of
law. Furthermore, where only one party to the contract is under mistake of fact, and the other party is not, the
contract is not voidable merely for such reason.

Mr. J entered into an agreement with Mr. K for the sale of Mr. J’s ‘club’. At the time of entering into the agreement,
while Mr. J believed that he was agreeing to sell his golf club, Mr. K believed that he was agreeing to buy a clubhouse
owned by Mr. J. The agreement is void because:

(A)

Mistake of fact defeated the consent of the parties.

(B)

Mistake of fact misled the parties as to the purpose of the contract.

(C)

Mistake of fact was regarding the identity of parties.

(D)

Both (A) and (B)

76.

Twitter’s lawyer on October 27, said before the Karnataka High Court that Union government orders to block certain
Twitter handles and posts must contain reasons for the same that can be communicated to users of the microblogging
site. He said this applies to all blocking orders sent to social media platforms. The lawyer representing Twitter said
that reasons for the blocking order must be provided to users so they can determine whether or not they want to
challenge the orders.

Challenging the blocking orders, Twitter’s July 5 petition contended that several blocking orders “demonstrate
excessive use of powers and are disproportionate”. Such orders can only be issued by the Union government and not
the state governments, he said, which increases the danger of such abuse. Twitter also claimed that the Ministry of
Electronics and Information Technology had sent it a letter threatening consequences for failing to comply with the
blocking orders, such as criminal proceedings against the company’s chief compliance officer and the stripping away
of Twitter’s safe harbour immunity, otherwise available to social media platforms under Section 79(1) of the
Information Technology Act (the “IT Act”). Note that the Government has the power to strip away such safe harbour
immunity under the IT Act. Further, in a previous hearing, Twitter’s lawyer said that the company was asked to block
entire accounts, although Section 69A of the IT Act does not permit blocking of the whole account. It only permits the
blocking of information, or a particular tweet or post. It argued that the Union government’s direction to block whole
accounts will affect its business, adding that several prominent persons have their accounts on the platform.

Sunil sends UnReal a fifth blocking order, which says that several of Sachin’s latest posts must be blocked. The
blocking order sets out several reasons why the posts should be blocked, but UnReal does not find them satisfactory.
Rather than take on another fight with a government official however, UnReal blocks the posts, and gives Sachin what
it thinks is a better set of reasons for blocking the posts. When Sachin finds out, he claims this was wrong on UnReal’s
part, and that the blocking order was inappropriate. Which of the following is most accurate in this regard?

(A)

The blocking order was valid, but UnReal’s actions were inappropriate.

(B)

UnReal’s actions were valid, but the blocking order was invalid.

(C)

UnReal’s actions were valid, but Sachin’s actions were invalid.

(D)

Sachin’s actions were valid, but the blocking order was invalid.

77.

There are two principal theories on the relationship between international law and domestic law- Monism and Dualism.
The monistic theory maintains that the subjects of two systems of law, i.e., international law and municipal law are
essentially one. The monistic theory asserts that international law and municipal law are fundamentally the same in
nature, and arise from the same science of law, and are manifestations of a single conception of law. The followers of
this theory view international law and municipal law as part of a universal body of legal rules binding all human
beings, collectively or singly. In a monist system, international law does not need to be incorporated into domestic law
because international law immediately becomes incorporated in domestic legal system upon ratification of an
international treaty. According to this theory, domestic law is subordinate to international law. The Statute of the
International Criminal Court, therefore, can be directly applied and adjudicated in national courts according to the

monistic theory. According to dualism theory, international law and municipal law represent two entirely distinct legal
systems, i.e., international has an intrinsically different character from that of municipal law. International law is not
directly applicable in the domestic system under dualism. First, international law must be translated into State
legislation before the domestic courts can apply it. For example, under dualism, ratification of the Statute of the
International Criminal Court is not enough-it must be implemented through State legislation into the domestic system.
Most states and courts presumptively view national and international legal systems as discrete entities and routinely
discuss in dualist fashion incorporation of rules from one system to the other.

‘X’ is a developing country. ‘X’ ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1995, and
incorporated the provisions of the said convention in its domestic legislation addressing climate change in 1996.
However, ‘x’ has been widely criticized in the international community for its failure in meeting the obligations under
the said convention. ‘Y’ is a developed country. ‘Y’ ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change in 1995, and has not incorporated the provisions of the said convention in its domestic legislation till date. “Y’
has been appreciated by the international community for its success in meeting the obligations under the said
convention. In the given situation, which of the following statements is correct?

(A)

‘X’ is a monist State and ‘Y’ is a dualist State.

(B)

‘X’ is a dualist State and ‘Y’ is a monist State.

(C)

*X’ and ‘Y’ are both monist States.

(D)

‘X’ and ‘Y’ are both dualist States.

78.

A special marriage, i.e., a marriage between persons from two different religious affiliations can be legally contracted
in India under the provisions of the law relating to special marriages. The law relating to special marriages provides
for the registration of such marriages and for divorce in such cases. One of the modes in which a special marriage can
be legally terminated is through divorce by mutual consent of parties to the marriage. In order to obtain a divorce by
mutual consent, both the parties to the special marriage are required to jointly present a petition for divorce to the
district court on the ground that they have been living separately for one year or more, that they have not been able
to live together and that they have mutually agreed that the marriage should be dissolved. At least six months after
the presentation of such petition, but not later than eighteen months after the presentation of such petition, the
district court, after hearing the parties and after making the necessary inquiry, and being satisfied that the marriage
is a ‘special marriage’, and that the claims made in the petition are true, shall declare the marriage to be dissolved.
Further, the personal presence of the parties before the district court at the time of presenting the joint petition for
divorce is not mandatory, as the parties can satisfy the court even by affidavit that the requirements for granting
divorce on mutual consent are fulfilled.

Ms. A, a Hindu female and Mr. B, a Christian male, got married as per the law relating to special marriages in January
2018. On February 15, 2021, Ms. A presented a petition for divorce by mutual consent before the district court on the
ground that Ms. A and Mr. B have been living separately for a period of one year because Mr. B has been in an
adulterous relationship with Ms. X, a Christian female. In the given situation, which of the following statements is
correct?

(A)