Q.13645·Miscellaneous·2013·EasyThe law in many parts of the world increasingly restricts the discharge of agricultural slurry into watercourses. The simplest and most economically sound practice returns the material to the land as semisolid manure or as sprayed slurry. This dilutes its concentration in the environment to what might have occurred in a more primitive and sustainable type of agriculture and converts pollutant into fertilizer. Soil microorganisms decompose the organic components of sewage and slurry and most of the mineral nutrients become available to be absorbed again by the vegetation. The excess input of nutrients, both nitrogen and phosphorus — based, from agricultural runoff (and human sewage) has caused many ‘healthy’ oligotrophic lakes (low nutrient concentrations, low plant productivity with abundant water weeds, and clear water) to change to eutrophic condition where high nutrient inputs lead to high phytoplankton productivity (sometimes including bloom-forming toxic species). This makes the water turbid, eliminates large plants and, in the worst situations, leads to anoxia and fish kills; so called cultural eutrophication . Thus, important ecosystem services are lost, including the provisioning service of wild-caught fish and the cultural services associated with recreation. The process of cultural eutrophication of lakes has been understood for some time. But only recently did scientists notice huge ‘dead zones’ in the oceans near river outlets, particularly those draining large catchment areas such as the Mississippi in North America and the Yangtze in China. The nutrient-enriched water flows through streams, rivers and lakes, and eventually to the estuary and ocean where the ecological impact may be huge, killing virtually all invertebrates and fish in areas up to 70,000 km² in extent. More than 150 sea areas worldwide are now regularly starved of oxygen as a result of decomposition of algal blooms, fuelled particularly by nitrogen from agricultural runoff of fertilizers and sewage from large cities. Oceanic dead zones are typically associated with industrialized nations and usually lie off countries that subsidize their agriculture, encouraging farmers to increase productivity and use more fertilizer. According to the passage, what are the effects of indiscriminate use of fertilizers? 1. Addition of pollutants to the soil and water. 2. Destruction of decomposer microorganisms in soil. 3. Nutrient enrichment of water bodies. 4. Creation of algal blooms. Select the correct answer from the codes given below:View question
Q.13646·Miscellaneous·2013·EasyThe law in many parts of the world increasingly restricts the discharge of agricultural slurry into watercourses. The simplest and most economically sound practice returns the material to the land as semisolid manure or as sprayed slurry. This dilutes its concentration in the environment to what might have occurred in a more primitive and sustainable type of agriculture and converts pollutant into fertilizer. Soil microorganisms decompose the organic components of sewage and slurry and most of the mineral nutrients become available to be absorbed again by the vegetation. The excess input of nutrients, both nitrogen and phosphorus — based, from agricultural runoff (and human sewage) has caused many ‘healthy’ oligotrophic lakes (low nutrient concentrations, low plant productivity with abundant water weeds, and clear water) to change to eutrophic condition where high nutrient inputs lead to high phytoplankton productivity (sometimes including bloom-forming toxic species). This makes the water turbid, eliminates large plants and, in the worst situations, leads to anoxia and fish kills; so called cultural eutrophication . Thus, important ecosystem services are lost, including the provisioning service of wild-caught fish and the cultural services associated with recreation. The process of cultural eutrophication of lakes has been understood for some time. But only recently did scientists notice huge ‘dead zones’ in the oceans near river outlets, particularly those draining large catchment areas such as the Mississippi in North America and the Yangtze in China. The nutrient-enriched water flows through streams, rivers and lakes, and eventually to the estuary and ocean where the ecological impact may be huge, killing virtually all invertebrates and fish in areas up to 70,000 km² in extent. More than 150 sea areas worldwide are now regularly starved of oxygen as a result of decomposition of algal blooms, fuelled particularly by nitrogen from agricultural runoff of fertilizers and sewage from large cities. Oceanic dead zones are typically associated with industrialized nations and usually lie off countries that subsidize their agriculture, encouraging farmers to increase productivity and use more fertilizer. The passage refers to the conversion of “pollutant to fertilizer”. What is pollutant and what is fertilizer in this context?
Q.13647·Miscellaneous·2013·EasyWhich one of the following pairs is correctly matched? Geographical Feature : RegionView question
Q.13648·Miscellaneous·2013·EasyConsider the following animals 1). Sea cow 2). Sea horse 3). Sea lion Which of the above is/are mammal/mammals?View question
Q.13649·Miscellaneous·2013·EasyThe miseries of the world cannot be cured by physical help only. Until man’s nature changes, his physical needs will always arise, and miseries will always be felt. And miseries will arise as long as there are differences in economic needs between individuals and societies. So long as such differences exist, men will strive to get the better of one another. That will cause competition, quarrels, and strife. Good and evil have existed side by side since the beginning of creation. The solution does not lie in destroying evil, but in modifying the character of man. Man must be taught that he is not born to wrestle with others, but to cooperate. Physically, we are all one, but we keep imagining that we are separate. According to the passage, which of the following statements is most likely to be true as the reason for man’s miseries?View question
Q.13650·Miscellaneous·2013·EasyWith reference to the passage, the following assumptions have been made: 1. The author gives primary importance to physical and material help in eradicating human misery. 2. Charitable homes, hospitals, etc. can remove human misery to a great extent. Which of the assumptions is/are valid?View question
Q.13651·Miscellaneous·2013·EasyConsider the following matrix: 3 370 7 2 224 6 1 730 X What is the number at ‘X’ in the above matrix?View question
Q.13652·Miscellaneous·2013·EasyIf Psychology professors = 2% of all professors in the University, what is the total number of professors in the University?View question
Q.13653·Miscellaneous·2013·EasyWhich of the following adds/add nitrogen to the soil? 1. Excretion of urea by animals 2. Burning of coal by man 3. Death of vegetation Select the correct answer using the codes given below.View question
Q.13654·Miscellaneous·2013·EasyIn the grasslands, trees do not replace the grasses as a part of an ecological succession because ofView question
Q.13655·Miscellaneous·2013·EasyIn a class of 45 students, a boy is ranked 20th. When two boys joined, his rank was dropped by one. What is his new rank from the end?View question
Q.13656·Miscellaneous·2013·EasyRecombinant DNA technology (Genetic Engineering) allows genes to be transferred 1). across different species of plants 2). from animals to plants 3). from microorganisms to higher organisms Select the correct answer using the codes given below.View question
Q.13657·Miscellaneous·2013·EasyA train travels at a certain average speed for a distance of 63 km and then travels a distance of 72 km at an average speed of 6 km/hr more than its original speed. If it takes 3 hours to complete the total journey, what is the original speed of the train in km/hr?View question
Q.13658·Miscellaneous·2013·EasyA number of empirical studies find that farmers are risk-averse, though only moderately in many cases. There is also evidence to show that farmers’ risk aversion results in cropping patterns and input use designed to reduce risk rather than to maximize income. Farmers adopt a number of strategies to manage and cope with agricultural risks. These include practices like crop and field diversification, non-farm employment, storage of stocks and strategic migration of family members. There are also institutions ranging from share tenancy to kinship, extended family and informal credit agencies. One major obstacle to risk sharing by farmers is that the same type of risks can affect a large number of farmers in the region. Empirical studies show that the traditional methods are not adequate. Hence there is a need for policy interventions, especially measures that cut across geographical regions. Policies may aim at tackling agricultural risks directly or indirectly. Examples of risk-specific policies are crop insurance, price stabilization and the development of varieties resistant to pests and diseases. Policies which affect risk indirectly are irrigation, subsidized credit and access to information. No single risk-specific policy is sufficient to reduce risk and is without side-effects, whereas policies not specific to risk influence the general situation and affect risks only indirectly. Crop insurance, as a policy measure to tackle agricultural risk directly, deserves careful consideration in the Indian context and in many other developing countries — because the majority of farmers depend on rain-fed agriculture and in many areas yield variability is the predominant cause of their income instability. Consider the following statements: (i) A primary group is relatively smaller in size. (ii) Intimacy is an essential characteristic of a primary group. (iii) A family may be an example of a primary group. In the light of the above statements, which one of the following is true?
Q.13659·Miscellaneous·2013·EasyThe subject of democracy has become severely muddled because of the way the rhetoric surrounding it has been used in recent years. There is, increasingly, an oddly confused dichotomy between those who want to ‘impose’ democracy on countries in the non-Western world (in these countries’ ‘own interest’, of course) and those who are opposed to such ‘imposition’ (because of the respect for the countries’ ‘own ways’). But the entire language of ‘imposition’, used by both sides, is extraordinarily inappropriate since it makes the implicit assumption that democracy belongs exclusively to the West, taking it to be a quintessentially ‘Western’ idea which has originated and flourished only in the West. But the thesis and the pessimism it generates about the possibility of democratic practice in the world would be extremely hard to justify. There were several experiments in local democracy in ancient India. Indeed, in understanding the roots of democracy in the world, we have to take an interest in the history of people participation and public reasoning in different parts of the world. We have to look beyond thinking of democracy only in terms of European and American evolution. We would fail to understand the pervasive demands for participatory living on which Aristotle spoke with far-reaching insight, if we take democracy to be a kind of a specialized cultural product of the West. It cannot, of course, be doubted that the institutional structure of the contemporary practice of democracy is largely the product of European and American experience over the last few centuries. This is extremely important to recognize since these developments in institutional formats were immensely innovative and ultimately effective. There can be little doubt that there is a major ‘Western’ achievement here. Which of the following is closest to the view of democracy as mentioned in the above passage?View question
Q.13660·Miscellaneous·2013·EasyThe subject of democracy has become severely muddled because of the way the rhetoric surrounding it has been used in recent years. There is, increasingly, an oddly confused dichotomy between those who want to ‘impose’ democracy on countries in the non-Western world (in these countries’ ‘own interest’, of course) and those who are opposed to such ‘imposition’ (because of the ‘respect for the countries’ own ways’). But the entire language of ‘imposition’, used by both sides, is extraordinarily inappropriate since it makes the implicit assumption that democracy belongs exclusively to the West, taking it to be a quintessentially ‘Western’ idea which has originated and flourished only in the West. But the thesis and the pessimism it generates about the possibility of democratic practice in the world would be extremely hard to justify. There were several experiments in local democracy in ancient India. Indeed, in understanding the roots of democracy in the world, we have to take an interest in the history of people participation and public reasoning in different parts of the world. We have to look beyond thinking of democracy only in terms of European and American influence. We would fail to understand the pervasive demands for participatory living, on which Aristotle spoke with far-reaching insight, if we take democracy to be a kind of a specialized cultural product of the West. It cannot, of course, be doubted that the institutional structure of the contemporary practice of democracy is largely the product of European and American experience over the last few centuries. This is extremely important to recognize since these developments in institutional formats were immensely innovative and ultimately effective. There can be little doubt that there is a major ‘Western’ achievement here. With reference to the passage, the following assumptions have been made: 1. Many of the non-Western countries are unable to have democracy because they take democracy to be a specialized cultural product of the West. 2. Western countries are always trying to impose democracy on non-Western countries. Which of the above is/are valid assumption/assumptions?
Q.13661·Miscellaneous·2013·EasyCorporate governance is based on principles such as conducting the business with all integrity and fairness, being transparent with regard to all transactions, making all the necessary disclosures and decisions, complying with all the laws of the land, accountability and responsibility towards the stakeholders and commitment to conducting business in an ethical manner. Another point which is highlighted on corporate governance is the need for those in control to be able to distinguish between what are personal and corporate funds while managing a company. Fundamentally, there is a level of confidence that is associated with a company that is known to have good corporate governance. The presence of an active group of independent directors on the board contributes a great deal towards ensuring confidence in the market. Corporate governance is known to be one of the criteria that foreign institutional investors are increasingly depending on when deciding on which companies to invest in. It is also known to have a positive influence on the share price of the company. Having a clean image on the corporate governance front could also make it easier for companies to source capital at more reasonable costs. Unfortunately, corporate governance often becomes the centre of discussion only after the exposure of a large scam. According to the passage, which of the following should be the practice/practices in good corporate governance? 1. Companies should always comply with labour and tax laws of the land. 2. Every company in the country should have a government representative as one of the independent directors on the board to ensure transparency. 3. The manager of a company should never invest his personal funds in the company. Select the correct answer using the codes given below:View question
Q.13662·Miscellaneous·2013·EasyCorporate governance is based on principles such as conducting the business with all integrity and fairness, being transparent with regard to all transactions, making all the necessary disclosures and decisions, complying with all the laws of the land, accountability and responsibility towards the stakeholders and commitment to conducting business in an ethical manner. Another point which is highlighted on corporate governance is the need for those in control to be able to distinguish between what are personal and corporate funds while managing a company. Fundamentally, there is a level of confidence that is associated with a company that is known to have good corporate governance. The presence of an active group of independent directors on the board contributes a great deal towards ensuring confidence in the market. Corporate governance is known to be one of the criteria that foreign institutional investors are increasingly depending on when deciding on which companies to invest in. It is also known to have a positive influence on the share price of the company. Having a clean image on the corporate governance front could also make it easier for companies to source capital at more reasonable costs. Unfortunately, corporate governance often becomes the centre of discussion only after the exposure of a large scam. According to the passage, which of the following is/are the major benefit/benefits of good corporate governance? 1. Good corporate governance leads to increase in share price of the company. 2. A company with good corporate governance always increases its business turnover rapidly. 3. Good corporate governance is the main criterion for foreign institutional investors when they decide to buy a company. Select the correct answer using the codes given below:View question