Question : Comprehension:
Read the given passage and answer the questions that follow.
It is not an exaggeration to say that the question of where and when the Black Death, the deadliest pandemic ever, originated is one of the biggest mysteries in human history. After all, the Black Death was the first wave of the second plague pandemic of the 14th to early 19th centuries. It killed some 50-60% of the population in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa and an unaccountable number of people in Central Asia. Different proposals, based on competing theories, have been put forward. But in 2017, I came across some records describing an intriguing medieval cemetery in Kara-Djigach, Chüy Valley, northern Kyrgyzstan, which I suspected may hold the key. As part of a multidisciplinary team co-led by Maria Spyrou at the University of Tubingen, we have now investigated several specimens from individuals buried at that site – and come up with an answer. The idea that the Black Death originated in the east – territories overlapping, roughly speaking, Central Asia, Mongolia and China – dates back to the contemporaries of the pandemic in Europe and the Islamic world. The modern, academic Chinese origin theory dates back to at least 1756-8 and a publication about the history of Central Asia by French scholar Joseph de Guignes.
How does the passage describe the Black Death?

Option 1: The first wave of the second plague pandemic

Option 2: The worst specimen of human created tragedy

Option 3: The specimen of human evolution and its evidence

Option 4: The initiator of all the future pandemics

Question : With which two countries does India share land boundaries in the northwest?

Option 1: Pakistan and Afghanistan

Option 2: China and Nepal

Option 3: Myanmar and Bangladesh

Option 4: Sri Lanka and Maldives

Question : Which country has the lowest HDI among India, Pakistan, and China?

Option 1: India

Option 2: Pakistan

Option 3: China

Option 4: Cannot be determined

Question : There are certain words missing in the passage given below. The options given contain an answer that will fit in those given blanks. Choose the correct word to be used to make the sentence coherent and grammatically correct.

The decision made by the goverment of India to purchase crude oil at a discounted rate from Russia,  when the Putin goverment is bombing civilians in Ukraine, is 1) __________________ by many. 2)________________ to the Narendra Modi administration’s request to not to politicise the issue, in the current scenario the decision is as much political as it is economic, however much we may wish it were not.

While the major countries like US, Europe , Japan and Australia have made no secret revelation that India should  join them in 3) _____________________ Putin’s war, as the goverment of 141 countries who voted in favour of the UN General Assembly resolution did. Russia has intentionally offered the discount at the oil to show that India is among the ‘many’ countries that resist the Atlantic alliance’s attempt to 4) __________________ and punish Putin. On the other hand Xi’s China has suddenly discovered that Modi’s India is worth talking to: it will provide cover for the Xi government to not only 5) ________________ attention from its own support for Russia, but also to position itself as someone who is more willing to engage with the Atlantic alliance than India.

Choose the correct word to be used in the blank 3

Option 1: exceling
 

Option 2: antiquated

Option 3: ubiquitous

Option 4:  condemning

Question : Comprehension:

Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.

India's favourable demographic trends, which have increased the workforce's percentage of the overall population, have paved the way for a significant middle-class expansion. A big population bulge emerging from absolute poverty and set to reach the middle class would generate new dynamics. In India, over 55 per cent of the population is predicted to reach the middle class. In reality, because India's demographics are significantly younger than China and the United States, the country's middle class might be the world's largest (in terms of population) by 2025.

It is no exaggeration to argue that future growth will be reliant on the increasing middle class and that the middle class's development will be reliant on growth. Growth has been fuelled by both private consumption and saving, both of which are fuelled by the middle class. India's private consumption accounts for over 60% of the country's GDP, while private consumption growth has contributed to 70% of the country's growth since 2000.

Despite the fact that China's middle class is now greater than India's, private spending in the former accounts for a lesser share of growth. In contrast to the United States, where domestic savings are dropping and the country borrows excess funds from outside to invest and expand, India's domestic savings and investments are increasing and funding investments. The emergence of the middle class is anticipated to coincide with a transition away from large-scale informality, which now characterises much of the services and industrial sectors, and toward more formal, wage-earning, and medium-scale firms. Technological advancements will spread at a faster rate. Cities will expand as job possibilities concentrate on them. If there is enough movement across states and from rural to urban regions, the population increase will be more evenly distributed.

Question:

Select the most appropriate ANTONYM of the given word.

Coincide

Option 1: Differ

Option 2: Agree

Option 3: Confuse

Option 4: Detest

Question : Assertion: China adopted the 'Great Leap Forward Campaign' which transformed it into a modern economy from an agrarian economy through rapid industrialization.

Reason: Under this campaign, students and many professionals were sent to work countryside.

Option 1: Both assertion and reason are true, and the reason is the correct explanation of the assertion.

Option 2: Both assertion and reason are true, but the reason is not the correct explanation of the assertion.

Option 3: Assertion is true, but the reason is false.

Option 4: Assertion is false, but the reason is true.

Question : ___________ having an authoritarian militarist political power structure.
 

Option 1: India
 

Option 2: China
 

Option 3: Pakistan
 

Option 4: China and Pakistan
 

Question : Statement 1: All three countries: China, India, and Pakistan introduced their reforms in the same year.

Statement 2: China's annual growth rate population is more than India and Pakistan.

Option 1: Both statements are true.

Option 2: Both statements are false.

Option 3: Statement 1 is true and Statement 2 is false.

Option 4: Statement 2 is true and Statement 1 is false.

Question : Comprehension:

In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Fill in the blanks with the help of the alternatives given. Select the most appropriate option for each number.

If you enjoy (1)_____ crime shows on TV, you know that fingerprints play a large role in (2)_____ people. But, you might be (3)_____ to find out that using fingerprints for identification is not a new science. In fact, it is very old (4)_____ back at least as far as 1885-1913 B.C.E. In Babylon, when people agreed to a business contract, they pressed their fingerprints into the clay on which the contract was written. (5)_____ have also been found on clay seals from ancient China.

Select the most appropriate option to fill in the blank No. 3.

Option 1: certain

Option 2: calculable

Option 3: blocked

Option 4: surprised

Question : Which international conflict is associated with the Kashmir problem between India and Pakistan?  
 

Option 1: Indo-China War  
 

Option 2: Kargil War  
 

Option 3: Indo-Pakistani War of 1947  

Option 4: Bangladesh Liberation War