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The public sector banks are witnessing in India a period of transition and are at crossroads, where they without giving up social responsibility, should also remain healthy. They need to undertake risky experiments, yet perform it innovatively in a way it does not fail. They should make forays into new areas which are rarely tread by them and lose no emerging opportunities. It should be understood that absence of any bad advance is no sign of efficient banking system. It only indicates immense conservatism. However this is no guarantee for profit. There should be a balance between liquidity and risk. Past sins should be forgotten. Novel and pragmatic techniques should be adopted without which banks would be in danger.

What does the absence of any bad advance indicate?

Read the passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives.

Andaman and Nicobar Islands consist of mainly two groups of islands, with distinctive features of the original residents - Negroid and Mongolese. It is strange to see how these two different groups migrated to these islands so far from the mainland - from India and Myanmar. The aboriginals found in these islands are the Jarawas, Sentinelese, Onges, Shompenites, mainly found in Andaman and the Nicobarese in Nicobar. Of these the Nicobarese in general, and some of the Onges, have accepted that so-called modern civilization and learned the use of modern tools and facilities. They can be seen frequently in the Port Blair market. The aboriginals are looked after by the Anthropological Department of the Government, who make regular visits to their islands and supply them with food and other necessities.

These aboriginals still do not know how to use a matchbox and prepare fire by rubbing two pieces of wood; they also do not know the use of cloth. If the people from the Anthropological Department offer them clothes, they use them only as turbans and not to wrap their bodies

The aboriginals are looked after by

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The problem of water pollution by pesticides can be understood only in context, as part of the whole to which it belongs – the pollution of the total environment of mankind. The pollution entering our waterways comes from many sources, radioactive wastes from reactors, laboratories and hospitals; fallout from nuclear explosions; domestic wastes from cities and towns; chemical wastes from factories. To these is a added a new kid of fallout - the chemical sprays applied to crop lands and gardens, forests and fields. Many of the chemical agents in this alarming melange initiate and augment the harmful effects of radiation, and within the groups of chemicals themselves there are sinister and little - understood interactions, transformations and summations of effect.

Ever since the chemists began to manufacture substances that nature never invented, the problem of water purification have become complex and the danger to users of water has increased. As we have seen, the production of these synthetic chemicals in large volume began in the 1940’s. It has now reached such proportion that an appalling deluge of chemical pollution is daily poured into the nation’s waterways. When inextricably mixed with domestic and other wastes discharged into the same water, these chemicals sometimes defy detection by the methods in ordinary use by purification plants. Most of them are so complex that they cannot be identified. In rivers, a really incredible variety of pollutants combine to produce deposits that sanitary engineers can only despairingly refer to as “gunk”.

All the following words mean ‘chemicals’ except:

Choose the correct answer from the passage:
Most children start watching television long before they enter school. Many doctors have come to the conclusion that children up to the age of two years should not watch TV. The doctors are of the view that the first two years of life are very important for the development of a child’s brain. Spending time with parent and others encourages learning and healthy physical and social development. As children get older, TV can be watched toa limited extent. Children preparing to enter school can learn the alphabets and numbers from educational programme. They can also learn about wildlife on nature shows. Television can be excellent educator as well as entertainer for children.

In the phrase ‘ a good thing’ the determiner used is-

Direction :Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. Certain words are printed in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions.
 The Emperor had inherited a peaceful and prosperous kingdom at a young age after the untimely death of his father. A few months later a man arrived at court. He stated that he was from a far off land and had the gift of foresight. He impressed the Emperor with his witty remarks and was appointed a courtier. The Emperor and those at court all enjoyed hearing accounts of his travels. One day the newly appointed minister said, "Your Majesty, you are destined to great things. It is written in the stars. I have learnt the art of fortune telling. Do not be content with your kingdom along. Travel, See the world and conquer. There are many who are oppressed. They will bless you for rescuing them from the tyranny of their rulers." The Emperor was stunned to hear this but he refused to discuss the matter at the time. The courtiers too were astonished to hear this and began debating among themselves. "It is true," they said, "Our Emperor's father was a great warrior and he ruled wisely. Perhaps there is truth in this." So the newly appointed courtier shrewdly planted the idea of waging war against other kingdoms at court. After hearing several repeated arguments in favour of this idea the Emperor finally agreed. He was a young man and a battle seemed to be exciting against a smaller neighbouring kingdom The Emperor knew the ruler was cruel and felt justified in waging war against him. Having the superior army the easily defeated the king. Everyone celebrated. But the campaign did not stop there. With every victory the new minister would urge the Emperor on to the next battle. The soldiers grew tired after over two years at war but did not complain out of respect and loyalty to their ruler. Meanwhile the situation in his kingdom began to deteriorate. With no one to look after the daily administration and to resolve disputes, signs of neglect began to be seen.
The Emperor was no longer bothered if he wars. The new minister who was in charge of these funds kept a large part for himself and grew richer. An old man who had been a minister in the Emperor's father's court grew worried and decided to do something about this situation. A few days later when the Emperor was out riding in the forest he suddenly saw the old man. He greeted him like an old friends and inquired what he was doing there. The man pointed to two owls in the trees. "I am listening to their conversation". What are they saying?" the Emperor asked unbelieving. "They are negotiating the marriage of their children. The first owl wants to know wheter the other will be gifting his daughter fifty villages on her would have to gift her one hundred and fifty as the villages were in ruins and as such were worthless but with the Emperor as ruler there would be many such villages." When the Emperor heard this he realized the error of his ways. He returned home immediately, rewarded the old minister putting him in charge of reconstructing the ruined villages and dismissed the fortune teller from his court. 

Direction  : Choose the word which is most nearly the SAME in meaning as the word given in bold as used in the passage. 
STUNNED

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If the census tells us that India has two or three hundred languages, it also tells us, I believe, that Germany has about fifty or sixty languages. I do not remember anyone pointing out this fact in proof of the disunity or disparity of Germany. As a matter of fact, a census mentions all manner of petty languages, sometimes spoken by a few thousand persons only; and often dialects are classed for scientific purposes as different languages. India seems to me to have surprisingly few languages, considering its area. Compared to the same area in Europe, it is far more closely allied in regard to language, but because of widespread illiteracy, common standards have not developed and dialects have formed. The principal languages of India are Hindustani (of the two varieties, Hindi and Urdu), Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada. If Assamese, Oriya, Sindhi, Kashmiri, Pushtu and Punjabi are added, the whole country is covered except for some hill and forest tribes. Of these, the Indo-Aryan languages, which cover the whole north, centre and west of India, are closely allied; and the southern Dravidian languages, though different, have been greatly influenced by Sanskrit, and are full of Sanskrit words. 

One of the reasons why there are many dialects in India is- 

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From January 28 to February 4, 2023, a Chinese-operated, large white high-altitude balloonwas seen in North American airspace, including Alaska, western Canada, and the contiguousUnited States. The American and Canadian militaries asserted that the balloon was for surveillance, while the Chinese government maintained it was a civilian meteorological research airship that had been blown off course. Analysts said that the balloon's flight path and structural characteristics made it dissimilar from those which have typically been used formeteorological research. The U.S. Department of State said that the balloon was capable oflocating electronic communication devices, including mobile phones and radios, and that American U-2 reconnaissance aircraft deployed to track the balloon in the air revealed that the balloon carried antennas and other equipment "clearly for intelligence surveillance and inconsistent with the equipment on board weather balloons." The State Department said that the spy balloon was part of a global Chinese military-directed surveillance effort in which Chinese spy balloons have flown over more than 40 nations in five continents. On February 4, the U.S. Air Force shot down the balloon over U.S. territorial waters off the coast of South Carolina, on the order of U.S. President Joe Biden. Debris from the wreckage was recovered and sent to the FBI Laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, for analysis. The incident increased U.S.-China tensions. The incident prompted U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to delay a diplomatic visit to Beijing, which was set to be his first since 2018. Italso further strained Canada–China relations, as Canada summoned the Chinese ambassador because of the violation of Canadian airspace. On February 3, the U.S. Department of Defense announced that a second Chinese balloon was passing over Latin America, which China also said belonged to it. On February 10, the Air Force shot down another aerial object over U.S. territory at the order of President Biden.

How did US make sure that the Balloon flying over its territory was a ‘spy’ balloon? 

Read the given passage and answer the questions that follow.

The sage of science, Einstein, was sitting in a depressive and pensive mood one evening. His eyes were brimming with tears. The pain was evident on his face. He peeped out of the window of his room. The sun had set a few minutes back. The sky was filled with a reddish glow. At this sunset, he felt that it was humanity that had sunk into devilish darkness and the reddish glow in the sky was the blood of humanity spilling all over the sky from earth. With tired steps, he walked back to his chair and settled down. It was the 9th of August 1945. Three days back, he had felt the same agony as if someone had torn him apart. He was deeply hurt and depressed when he heard on the radio that America had dropped an atom bomb on the Japanese city, Hiroshima. Today, within three days another bomb was dropped on another city, Nagasaki and lakhs of people had been killed.

He had heard that the blast released so much energy that it had paled all past destructions in comparison and death had played out a pitiable dance of destruction. The flames that broke out of the bomb were burning, melting, and exploding buildings. Scared of the heat of the bomb, people had jumped into lakes and rivers, but the water was boiling and the people too were burnt and killed. The animals in the water were already boiled to death. Animals, trees, herbs, fragrant flowering plants were all turned into ashes. The atomic energy destruction had just not stopped there. It had entered the atmosphere there and had spread radiation that would affect people for generations to come and would also bring about destructive irreversible biological change in animals and plants.

As the news of the atomic attack reached Einstein, and he became aware of the glaring horror of the abuse of atomic energy, his distress and restlessness knew no bounds. He could not control himself and picked up his violin to turn his mind on to other things. While playing the violin, he tried to dissolve his distress in its sad notes, but couldn’t. He was burning on the embers of destruction; his heart was filled with an ocean of agony and tears just continued streaming uncontrollably out of his eyes. Night had fallen. His daughter came up and asked him to eat something as he had not taken anything for the last four days. His voice was restrained and he said, “I don’t feel like eating.”

He could not sleep that night. Lying down, he was thinking how he had drawn the attention of the then American President Roosevelt towards the destructive powers of an atomic bomb. He had thought that this would be used to scare Hitler and put an end to the barbarism that Hitler was up to. However, Roosevelt kept him in the dark and made false promises. Eventually, he had abused Einstein’s equation of E = mc2 that resulted in the destructive experiments. His actions had made science and scientists as murderers. Einstein kept on thinking for a long time. Eventually, he slipped into sleep. When he woke up at dawn, there was a new dawn in him too. The atomic threat had transformed his heart.

What is the central theme of the passage?