1
NDA General Ability 14th September 2025
MCQ (Single Correct Answer)
+4
-1.33

Directions: Read the following passage carefully and answer the items that follow the passage. Your answers to these items should be based solely on the passage.

Can agricultural productivity meet human needs in the long run? Since twentieth century advances, given increasing costs, do not seem sustainable, further increases in output will not be achieved easily. Global population growth, while showing signs of slowing down, has pushed farmers and herders into areas unsuited to intensive agriculture, accelerating worldwide ecological disruptions. Reserves of arable land and fresh water have diminished alarmingly. Chemical runoffs have compounded pollution problems. Invasion of natural habitats have hastened species extinction. Desertification has been severe in the last hundred years, especially in North Africa, southern portions of Africa, Australia, northern Mexico, and the American Southwest. Tropical forests have shrunk by one-half since World War II, with agricultural pressures causing three-quarters of that loss. Government inter- vention has produced its share of catastrophes, ranging from a terrible famine in China between 1958-1961 that may have killed 30 million people and destroyed the Aral Sea. Taking everything into consideration, we may remain hopeful about humankind's agricultural prospects, but we can scarcely look forward optimistically at the end of the first quarter of the twenty-first century.

Which one of the following is NOT true, according to the passage, for ecological degradation?
1
Global population growth
2
Excess use of chemicals
3
Desertification
4
World War II
2
NDA General Ability 14th September 2025
MCQ (Single Correct Answer)
+4
-1.33

Directions: Read the following passage carefully and answer the items that follow the passage. Your answers to these items should be based solely on the passage.

Can agricultural productivity meet human needs in the long run? Since twentieth century advances, given increasing costs, do not seem sustainable, further increases in output will not be achieved easily. Global population growth, while showing signs of slowing down, has pushed farmers and herders into areas unsuited to intensive agriculture, accelerating worldwide ecological disruptions. Reserves of arable land and fresh water have diminished alarmingly. Chemical runoffs have compounded pollution problems. Invasion of natural habitats have hastened species extinction. Desertification has been severe in the last hundred years, especially in North Africa, southern portions of Africa, Australia, northern Mexico, and the American Southwest. Tropical forests have shrunk by one-half since World War II, with agricultural pressures causing three-quarters of that loss. Government inter- vention has produced its share of catastrophes, ranging from a terrible famine in China between 1958-1961 that may have killed 30 million people and destroyed the Aral Sea. Taking everything into consideration, we may remain hopeful about humankind's agricultural prospects, but we can scarcely look forward optimistically at the end of the first quarter of the twenty-first century.

What is the conclusion of the author in the passage about the prospects of agriculture in the world?
1
 The author is both hopeful and sceptical of the prospects of agriculture
2
The author is very hopeful of the prospects of agriculture
3
The author is sceptical of the prospects of agriculture
4
The author is neither hopeful nor sceptical of the prospects of agriculture
3
NDA General Ability 14th September 2025
MCQ (Single Correct Answer)
+4
-1.33

Directions: Read the following passage carefully and answer the items that follow the passage. Your answers to these items should be based solely on the passage.

Can agricultural productivity meet human needs in the long run? Since twentieth century advances, given increasing costs, do not seem sustainable, further increases in output will not be achieved easily. Global population growth, while showing signs of slowing down, has pushed farmers and herders into areas unsuited to intensive agriculture, accelerating worldwide ecological disruptions. Reserves of arable land and fresh water have diminished alarmingly. Chemical runoffs have compounded pollution problems. Invasion of natural habitats have hastened species extinction. Desertification has been severe in the last hundred years, especially in North Africa, southern portions of Africa, Australia, northern Mexico, and the American Southwest. Tropical forests have shrunk by one-half since World War II, with agricultural pressures causing three-quarters of that loss. Government inter- vention has produced its share of catastrophes, ranging from a terrible famine in China between 1958-1961 that may have killed 30 million people and destroyed the Aral Sea. Taking everything into consideration, we may remain hopeful about humankind's agricultural prospects, but we can scarcely look forward optimistically at the end of the first quarter of the twenty-first century.

Which one of the following words means 'incursion'?
1
invasion
2
intensive
3
severe
4
intervention
4
NDA General Ability 14th September 2025
MCQ (Single Correct Answer)
+4
-1.33

Directions: The following items have a sentence in direct or indirect speech, followed by four options. One of the options correctly converts the direct speech into indirect speech. Select the most appropriate option and mark your answer on the Answer Sheet.

Convert from direct into indirect speech.

Ayushi said to the group, "We have had enough of suffering today. It is time to march forward." 

1
Ayushi told the group that they had had enough of suffering that day and it was time to march forward
2
Ayushi asked the group that they had had enough of suffering this day and it was time to march forward
3
Ayushi told the group that they had enough of suffering and that it is time to march forward
4
Ayushi told the group that we had had enough of suffering this day and it was time to march forward