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

Inequality violates a basic democratic norm: the equal standing of citizens. Equality is a relation that obtains between persons in respect of some fundamental characteristic that they share in common. Equality is, morally speaking, a default principle. Therefore, persons should not be discriminated on grounds such as race, caste, gender, ethnicity, disability, or class. These features of human condition are morally irrelevant. The idea that one should treat persons with respect not only because. some of these persons possess some special features or talent, for example skilled cricketers, gifted musicians, or literary giants, but because persons are human beings, is by now part of commonsense morality.

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

1. Equality is a prerequisite for people to participate in the multiple transactions of society from a position of confidence.

2. Occurrence of inequality is detrimental to the survival of democracy.

3. Equal standing of all citizens is an idea that cannot actually be realised even in a democracy.

4. Right to equality should be incorporated into our values and day-to-day political vocabulary.

Which of the above assumptions are valid?

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

Aristocratic government ruins itself by limiting too narrowly the circle within which power is confined; oligarchic government ruins itself by the incautious scramble for immediate wealth. But even democracy ruins itself by excess of democracy. Its basic principle is the equal right of all to hold office and determine public policy. This is, at first glance, a delightful arrangement; it becomes disastrous because the people are not properly equipped by education to select the best rulers and the wisest courses. The people have no understanding and only repeat what their rulers are pleased to tell them. Such a democracy is tyranny or autocracy - Plato

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

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

Fig trees (genus Ficus) are considered sacred in India, East Asia and Africa and are common in agricultural and urban landscapes where other large trees are absent. In natural forests, fig trees provide food for wildlife when other resources are scarce and support a high density and diversity of frugivores (fruit-eating animals). If frugivorous birds and bats continue to visit fig trees located in sites with high human disturbance, sacred fig trees may promote frugivore abundance. Under microclimate, plenty of seedlings of other tree species would grow around fig trees.

On the basis of the passage given above, the following assumptions have been made :

1. Fig trees can often be keystone species in natural forests.

2. Fig trees can grow where other large woody species cannot grow.

3. Sacred trees can have a role in biodiversity conservation.

4. Fig trees have a role in the seed dispersal of other tree species. 

which of the above assumptions is/are valid ?

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

At the heart of agroecology is the idea that agroecosystems should mimic the biodiversity levels and functioning of natural ecosystems. Such agricultural mimics, like their natural models, can be productive, pest-resistant, nutrient conserving, and resilient to shocks and stresses. In ecosystems there is no ‘waste’, nutrients are recycled indefinitely. Agroecology aims at closing nutrient loops, i.e., returning all nutrients that come out of the soil back to the soil such as through application of farmyard manure. It also harnesses natural processes to control pests and build soil fertility i.e., through intercropping. Agroecological practices include integrating trees with livestock and crops.

Consider the following :

1. Cover crops

2. Fertigation

3. Hydroponics

4. Mixed farming

5. Polyculture

6. Vertical farming

Which of the above farming practices can be compatible with agroecology, as implied by the passage?