1
UPSC Civil Service Prelims Paper II 2021 (CSAT)
MCQ (Single Correct Answer)
+2.5
-0.83
Change Language

Read the following passage and answer the items that follow. Your answers to these items should be based on the passages only.

Can a democracy avoid being a welfare state for long ? Why cannot mass welfare be left entirely to the markets ? There is a built-in tension between markets and democracy. Markets do not work on a one-person-one-vote principle as democracies do. What one gets out of the market place depends on one’s endowments, skills, purchasing power and the forces of demand and supply. Markets reward individual initiative and skill, and may also lift many from the bottom rungs of society, but some people never get the opportunity to develop skills that markets demand; they are simply too poor and too handicapped; or skill formation takes too long. By creating jobs, markets may be able to help even unskilled people, but capitalism has always witnessed bursts of unemployment.

With reference to the above passage, the following assumptions have been made :

1. Modern democracies rely on the forces to enable them to be welfare states.

2. Markets ensure sufficient economic growth necessary for democracies to be effective.

3. Government programmes are needed for those left behind in economic growth.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid ?

A
1 and 3 only
B
3 only
C
2 and 3 only
D
1, 2 and 3
2
UPSC Civil Service Prelims Paper II 2021 (CSAT)
MCQ (Single Correct Answer)
+2.5
-0.83
Change Language

Read the following passage and answer the items that follow. Your answers to these items should be based on the passages only.

In our schools, we teach our children all that is there to know about physics, maths and history and what have you. But do we teach them about the bitter caste divide that plagues the country, about the spectre of famine that stalks large parts of our land, about gender sensitivity, about the possibility of atheism as a choice, etc.? Equally important, do we teach them to ask questions, or do we teach them only to passively receive our wisdom? From the cocooned world of school, suddenly, the adolescent finds himself/herself in the unfettered world of university. Here he/she is swept up in a turmoil of ideas, influences and ideologies. For someone who has been discouraged from asking questions and forming an opinion, this transition can be painful.

Which one of the following statements best reflects the central idea of the passage given above ? 

A
School curriculum is not compatible with. the expectations of children and parents.
B
Emphasis on academic achievements does give time for development of personality and skills.
C
Preparing the children to be better citizens should be the responsibility of the education system.
D
To be a better citizen, the present world order demands societal and life-coping skills in addition to academic content.
3
UPSC Civil Service Prelims Paper II 2021 (CSAT)
MCQ (Single Correct Answer)
+2.5
-0.83
Change Language

Read the following passage and answer the items that follow. Your answers to these items should be based on the passages only

Nothing can exist in a natural state which can be called good or bad by common assent, since every man who is in a natural state consults only his own advantage, and determines what is good or bad according to his own fancy and insofar as he has regard for his own advantage alone, and holds himself responsible to no one save himself by any law; and therefore sin cannot be conceived in a natural state, but only in a civil state, which is decreed by common consent what is good or bad, and each one holds himself responsible to the state.

Which one of the following statements best reflects the central idea of the passage given above?

A
The conceptions of what is right or wrong exist due to the formation of a state.
B
Unless a ruling authority decides as to what is right or wrong, no man would be morally right.
C
Man is inherently immoral and selfish in a natural state.
D
The idea of what is right or wrong is necessary for the survival of human species
4
UPSC Civil Service Prelims Paper II 2021 (CSAT)
MCQ (Single Correct Answer)
+2.5
-0.83
Change Language

Read the following passage and answer the items that follow. Your answers to these items should be based on the passages only

In the immediate future, we will see the increasing commodification of many new technologies - artificial intelligence and robotics, 3D manufacturing, custom made biological and pharmaceutical products, lethal autonomous weapons and driverless cars. This will pose conundrums. The moral question of how a driverless car will decide between hitting a jaywalker and swerving and damaging the car has often been debated. The answer is both simple - save the human life - and complex. At which angle should the car swerve - just enough to save. the jaywalker or more than enough? If the driverless car is in Dublin, who would take the decision? The Irish Government, or the car’s original code writer in California, or a software programmer in Hyderabad to whom maintenance is outsourced? If different national jurisdictions have different fine print on prioritising a human life, how will it affect insurance and investment decisions, including transnational ones?

Which of the following statements best reflect the rational, plausible and practical implications that can be derived from the passage given above?

1. Too much globalization is not in the best interests of any country.

2. Modern technologies are increasingly blurring the economic borders.

3. Innovation and capital have impinged on the domain of the State.

4. Public policy of every country should focus on developing its own supply chains.

5. Geopolitics will have to reconcile to many ambiguities and uncertainties.

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

A
1, 4 and 5 only
B
1, 2, 3 and 4 only
C
2, 3 and 5 only
D
1, 2, 3, 4 and 5
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