Indian Governance and Policy

Which of the following statements is/are true about Sam Pitroda who was appointed as the Advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Infrastructure, Innovation and Information recently? I.          He is the Chairman of National Knowledge Commission II.         He will have the rank of a Cabinet Minister III.        He has earlier served as the Scientific Advisor to the Prime Minister

Which of the following statements is/are true regarding Nepal Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal's official visit to India recently? I.          The two countries signed the revised Treaty of Trade and Agreement of Cooperation to Control Unauthorised Trade II.         India has agreed to invest 'in strengthening Nepal's rail and road linkages in the Terai region. III.        India agreed to Nepal's request for building a Military Academy

Which of the following statements is/are true regarding the Justice Liberhan Commission which submitted its report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh earlier this year? I.          Commission probed the sequence of events that led to the Babri Masjid demolition in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992 II.         The Commission was appointed during the tenure of P. V. Narasimha Rao as Prime Minister of India III.        The Justice Liberhan Commission was asked to probe the role played by the (then) Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav (Samajwadi Party) and his government in connection with the demolition

 Which of the following is true regarding the APEC CEO Summit & APEC Leaders Meeting scheduled for 12-14 November 2009? I.          It was organised in Seoul II.         It has the theme - �Rebuilding the Global Economy: Crisis and Opportunity� III.        Leaders from 24 member nations of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) will participate in the meeting  

Directions: The question has a set of four sequentially ordered statements; each statement can be classified as one of the following: Facts, which deal with pieces of information that one has heard, seen or read, and which are pen the discovery or verification (the answer option indicates such a statements with an 'F') Inferences, which are conclusions drawn about the unknown, on the basis of the known (the answer option indicates such a statement with an 'I'). Judgments, which are opinions that imply approval or disapproval of persons, objects, situations, and occurrences in the past, the present, or the future (the answer option indicates such as statement with a 'J') Select the answer option that best describes the set of four statements.

1. Indian society has seen a remarkable social transformation. Rapid urbanization, the breakdown of traditional families; the arrival of India on the world stage, information flow and technology boom are some of the social realities.
2. On medical front, the picture is dismal; India is fast becoming the diabetes capital of the world, not to speak of the Indian gene's proclivity to heart attacks and strokes.
3. Consumer behavior is fast changing; yoga and Ayurveda do help in keeping many ailments at bay, Ayurvedic spas, a clear preference for natural or herbal solutions are gaining currency.
4. Some Indian marketers are responding to the changed behavior of the consumer as the stores are flooded with fortified foods, organic foods and sugar free items.

Directions: The question has a set of four sequentially ordered statements; each statement can be classified as one of the following: Facts, which deal with pieces of information that one has heard, seen or read, and which are pen the discovery or verification (the answer option indicates such a statements with an 'F') Inferences, which are conclusions drawn about the unknown, on the basis of the known (the answer option indicates such a statement with an 'I'). Judgments, which are opinions that imply approval or disapproval of persons, objects, situations, and occurrences in the past, the present, or the future (the answer option indicates such as statement with a 'J') Select the answer option that best describes the set of four statements.

1. India's employment market is humming with net employment outlook standing at 82 percent, up one percentage point over the last two quarters as jobs are being created across the entire spectrum of the economy.
2. Infrastructure is an important sector that is expected to generate employment potential; the business confidence looks positive as the government plans to spend 350 billion US dollars on infrastructure.
   
3. The metropolis cities such as Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore are becoming commercial capitals, in IT and in Telecom sectors, the demand for human resources is increasing.
4. The multinational companies recruit people from metros and class I cities as these cities have a placeable population whose skill sets are synchronized to the needs of the recruiters.

Directions: Read the passage given below and answer the question that follows it.

Only an MP from XYZ region would oppose the bill for population control law that aims to help control the burgeoning population of the country. Mr. R. P. Singh cannot be the MP from that XYZ region because he supports the bill.

Which of the following statements points out why the conclusion is invalidly drawn?

Between 1990 and 1998, the municipal council contributed one-third more in food and clothing for the beggars than did NGO groups from their own collections. In 2000, for the first time, NGO groups contributed more in food and clothing for the beggars than did the municipal council. Members of the NGO groups assert that this data shows a heightened commitment on the part of the NGO groups to assist the beggars.

Which of the following, if true, would cast most doubt on the assertion made by the members of the NGO groups?

Directions: Read the following information carefully and answer the question given below.The purpose of a socialist state is to provide support while fostering self-reliance. Member of Parliament Mr. K. Singh insists, however, that a socialist state that focuses on developing in an individual the qualities necessary for self-reliance will not provide government-funded assistance to that individual. K. Singh concludes that government-funded socialist programs for the poor not only place an unsupportable burden on the government, but also will not lead to true self-reliance on the part of the individual.

Which of the following is an assumption on which Member of Parliament K. Singh's argument is based?

Which of the following options can be inferred about AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Act) from the passage?

1. The act provides extraordinary powers only to all officers.
2. The Supreme Court asked the state government to repeal the act.
3. Rather than controlling the insurgency, AFSPA has fuelled the insurgency.
4. The act has been somewhat successful in curtailing the insurgency.

   Directions: Answer the question based on the following passage.

   The unabated protests in Manipur over the death in custody of Thangjam Manoroma Devi show that the Centre and the State Government need to address the situation with measures that go beyond token gestures. Thirty–two–year–old Manoroma was found shot dead a few hours after her arrest by personnel of the Assam Rifles on the suspicion that she was an activist of the secessionist People's Liberation Army.

   The Manoroma incident is not the first of its kind. Going by the number of atrocities reported, the security forces deployed in the State seem to conduct themselves with total impunity. In this, they are enabled by the Armed Forces (Manipur and Assam) Special Powers Act (AFSPA) of 1958, amended in 1972, and in force in the whole of Manipur since 1980. This gives the security forces not just extraordinary powers but also uncommon protection. Once an area is declared disturbed under the Act, an officer of any rank, including a non–commissioned officer, can enter and search a place without a warrant, destroy it, and carry out an arrest on reasonable suspicion that a person has committed or is about to commit a cognizable offence! It allows the killing of a person who in the opinion of the officer violates prohibitory orders. But the most shocking aspect of the Act is this: it shuts out avenues of redress by barring all legal proceedings against security forces personnel without the prior sanction of the Central Government. The Act was brought in to deal with the insurgency in the State, but its sweeping provisions have only led to a long list of human rights violations by the security forces, worsening the sense of alienation among the people of the State and fuelling the insurgency.

   The protests against the Manoroma incident are in reality an explosion of years of bottled–up rage against the actions that are covered up by this Act. It is the responsibility of the Centre to ensure that the situation does not deteriorate any further. Without doubt, the solution to the present problem in Manipur lies in taking a close and honest look at the draconian provisions of the Act and devising a political strategy to deal with the insurgency instead of depending on the armed forces to sort it out.