Reading Comprehension

Read the passage and answer the following question:
Pastoral nomadism is associated with three important regions. The core region extends from the Atlantic shores of North Africa eastwards across the Arabian Peninsula into Mongolia and Central China. The second region extends over the tundra region of Eurasia. In the southern hemisphere there are small areas in South-West Africa and on the island of Madagascar.
A wide variety of animals is kept in different regions. In tropical Africa, cattle are the most important livestock, while in Sahara and Asiatic deserts, sheep, goats and camel are reared. In the mountainous areas of Tibet and Andes, yak and Ilamas and in the Arctic and sub Arctic areas, reindeer are the most important animals.
Movement in search of pastures is undertaken either over vast horizontal distances or vertically from one elevation to another in the mountainous regions. The process of migration from plain areas to pastures on mountains during summers and again from mountain pastures to plain areas during winters is known as transhumance. In mountain regions, such as Himalayas, Gujjars, Bakarwals, Gaddis and Bhotiyas migrate from plains to the mountains in summers and to the plains from the high altitude pastures in winters. Similarly, in the tundra regions, the nomadic herders move from south to north in summers and from north to south in winters.
The number of pastoral nomads has been decreasing and the areas operated by them shrinking. This is due to (a) imposition of political boundaries; (b) new settlement plans by different countries.

Read the passage and answer following question:
An important aspect of population growth in India is the growth of its adolescents. At present the share of adolescents i.e. up to the age group of 10-19 years is about 20.9 per cent (2011), among which male adolescents constitute 52.7 per cent and female adolescents constitute 47.3 per cent. The adolescent population, though, regarded as the youthful population having high potentials, but at the same time they are quite vulnerable if not guided and channelized properly. There are many challenges for the society as far as these adolescents are concerned, some of which are lower age at marriage, illiteracy-particularly female illiteracy, school dropouts, low intake of nutrients, high rate of maternal mortality of adolescent mothers, high rate of HIV and AIDS infections, physical and mental disability or retardeness, drug abuse and alcoholism, juvenile delinquency and commitence of crimes, etc. In view of these, the Government of India has undertaken certain polices to impart proper education to the adolescent groups so that their talents are better channelized and properly utilised. The National Youth Policy is one example which has been designed to look into the overall development of our large youth and adolescent population.
The National Youth Policy (NYP-2014) launched in February 2014 proposes a holistic vision' for the youth of India, which is "To empower the Youth of the country to achieve their full potential, and through them enable India to find its rightful place in the community of nations." The NYP-2014 has defined 'Youth' as persons in the age group of 15-29 years.

Read the passage given below and answer the question:
Services occur at many different levels. Low-order services, such as grocery shops and laundries, are more common and widespread than high-order services or more specialised ones like those of accountants, consultants and physicians. Services are provided to individual consumers who can afford to pay for them. For example, the gardener, the launderers and the barber do primarily physical labour. Teacher, lawyers, physicians, musicians and others perform mental labour. Many services have now been regulated. Making and maintaining highways and bridges, maintaining fire fighting departments and supplying or supervising education and customer-care are among the important services most often supervised or performed by governments or companies. State and union legislation have established corporations to supervise and control the marketing of such services as transport, telecommunication, energy and water supply. Professional services are primarily health care, engineering, law and management. The location of recreational and entertainment services depends on the market. Multiplexes and restaurants might find location within or near the Central Business District (CBD), whereas a golf course would choose a site where land costs are lower than in the CBD. Personal services are made available to the people to facilitate their work in daily life. The workers migrate from rural areas in search of employment and are unskilled. They are employed in domestic services as housekeepers, cooks, and gardeners.

Read the passage given below and answer the question:
Drought Prone Area Programme was initiated during the Fourth Five Year Plan with the objectives of providing employment to the people in drought-prone areas and creating productive assets, Initially, this programme laid emphasis on the construction of labour-intensive civil works. But later on, it emphasised on irrigaion projects, land developement programmes, afforestation, grassland development and creation of basic rural infrastructure, such as electricity, roads, market, credit and services. The National Committee on Development of Backward Areas reviewed the performance of this programme. It has been observed that this programme is largely confined to the development of agriculture and allied sectors with major focus on restoration of ecological balance. Since growing population pressure is forcing the society to utilise the marginal lands for agriculture, and thereby causing ecological degradation, there is a need to create alternative employment opportunities in the drought prone areas. The other strategies of development of these areas include adoption of integrated watershed development approach at the micro-level. The restoration of ecological balance between water, soil, plants, and human and animal population should be a basic consideration in the strategy of development of drought-prone areas. The Planning Commission of India (1967) identified 67 districts (entire or partly) of the country prone to drought. The Irrigation Commission (1972) introduced the criterion of 30 per cent irrigated area and demarcated the drought-prone areas. Broadly, the drought prone areas in India spread over semi-arid and arid tract of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Western Madhya Pradesh, Marathwada region of Maharashtra, Rayalseema and Telangana plateaus of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka plateau and highlands and interior parts of Tamil Nadu. The drought-prone areas of Punjab, Haryana and north-Rajasthan are largely protected due to spread of irrigation in these regions

Read the given passage carefully and answer the following question :
Depending on the mode of occurence and the nature of the ore, mining is of two types : surface and underground mining. The surface mining is also known as open-cast mining is the easiest and the cheapest way of mining minerals that occur close to the surface. Overhead costs such as safety precaution and equipment is relatively low in this method. The output is both large and rapid.
When the ore lies deep below the surface, underground mining method (shaft method) has to be used. In this method, vertical shafts have to be sunk, from where underground galleries radiate to reach the minerals. Minerals are extracted and transported to the surface through these passages. It requires specially designed lifts, drills, haulage vehicles, ventilation system for safety and efficient movement of people and material. This method is risky. Poisonous gases, fires, floods and caving in lead to fatal accidents.
The developed economies are retreating from mining, processing and refining stages of production due to high labour costs, while the developing countries with large labour force and striving for higher standard of living are becoming more important. Several countries of Africa and few of south America and Asia have over fifty per cent of the earnings from minerals alone.

Read the given passage carefully and answer the following question :
Based on the universal law “Polluter pays”, effect to restore the ecology and safeguard the human health with people's participation has taken place in Daurala near Meerut. These efforts are now bearing fruits after a span of three years when Meerut based NGO had developed a model for ecological restoration. The meeting of the Daurala Industries officials, NGOs, Government officials and other stackholders at Meerut has brought out results. The powerful logics, authentic studies and the pressure of people have brought a new lease of life to the twelve thousand residents of this village. It was in the year 2003 that the pitiable condition of Dauralaities drew the attention of the civil society. The groundwater of this village was contaminated with heavy metals. The reason was that the untreated waste water of Daurala industries was leaching to the groundwater table. The NGO conducted a door to door survey of the health status of the residents and came out with a report. The organisation, the village community and people's representatives sat together to find out sustainable solutions to the health problem. The industrialists showed a keen interest towards checking the deteriorating ecology. The overhead water tank's capacity in the village was enhanced and a 900m extra pipeline was laid to supply potable water to the community. The silted pond of the village was cleaned and recharged by distilling it. Large quantity of silt was removed paving way to large quantity of water so that it recharged the aquifers. Rainwater harvesting structures have been constructed at different places which has helped in diluting the contaminants of the groundwater after the monsoons. 1000 trees have also been planted which improved the environment.

Read the given passage carefully and answer following question.
The Ruhr Coal field of Germany has been one of the major industrial regions of Europe for a long time. Coal and iron and steel formed the basis of economy, but as the demand for coal declined, the industry started shrinking. Even after the iron ore was exhausted, the industry remained, using imported ore brought by waterways to the Ruhr.
The Ruhr region is responsible for 80 per cent of Germany's total steel production. Changes in the industrial structure have led to the decay of some areas, and there are problems of industrial waste and pollution. The future prosperity of the Ruhr is based less on the products of coal and steel, for which it was initially famous, and more on the new industries like the huge Opel car assembly plant, new chemical plants, universities. Out-of-town shopping centres have appreared resulting in a ‘New Ruhr’ landscape.
The iron and steel industry forms the base of all other industries and, therefore, it is called a basic industry. It is basic because it provides raw material for other industries such as machine tools used for further production. It may also be called a heavy industry because it uses large quantities of bulky raw materials and its products are also heavy.
Iron is extracted from iron ore by smelting in a blast furnace with carbon (coke) and limestone. The molten iron is cooled and moulded to form a pig iron which is used for converting into steel by adding strengthening materials manganese.

Study the given table carefully and answer the following question :
Composition of India's Export, 2009-2017
(Percentage share in Exports)

Commodities	2009-10	2010-11	2015-16	2016-17
Agriculture and allied products	10.0	9.9	12.6	12.3
Ore and Minerals	4.9	4.0	1.6	1.9
Maunfactured goods	67.4	68.0	72.9	73.6
Crude and petroleum products	16.2	16.8	11.9	11.7
Other Commodities	1.5	1.2	1.1	0.5

Read the passage and answer 5 questions that follow:
High technology, or simply high-tech, is the latest generation of manufacturing activities. It is best understood as the application of intensive research and development (R and D) efforts leading to the manufacture of products of an advanced scientific and engineering character. Professional (white collar) workers make up a large share of the total workforce. These highly skilled specialists greatly outnumber the actual production (blue collar) workers. Robotics on the assembly line, computer-aided design (CAD) and manufacturing, electronic controls of smelting and refining processes, and the constant development of new chemical and pharmaceutical products are notable examples of a high-tech industry.
Neatly spaced, low, modern, dispersed, office-plant-lab buildings rather than massive assembly structures. factories and storage areas mark the-tech industrial landscape. Planned business parks for high-tech start-ups have become part of regional and local development schemes.
High-tech industries which are regionally concentred, self-sustained and highly specialised are called technopolies. The Silicon Valley near San Francisco and Silicon Forest near Seattle are examples of techonopolies.
Manufacturing contributes significantly to the world economy. Iron and steel, textiles, automobiles, petrochemicals and electronics are some of the world's most important manufacturing industries.

Read the passage and answer 5 questions that follow:
Watershed management basically refers to efficient management and conservation of surface and groundwater resources. It involves prevention of runoff and shortage and recharge of groundwater through various methods like percolation tanks. Recharge wells. Etc. however. In broad sense watershed management includes conservation. Regeneration and judicious use of all resources- natural (like land water plants and animals) and human with in a watershed. Watershed management aims at bringing about balance between natural resources on the one hand and society on the other. The success of watershed development largely depends upon community participation.
The Central and State Government have initiated many watershed development and management programmes in the country. some of these are being implemented by non-government organisations also. Haryali is a watershed development project sponsored by the Central Government which aims at enabling the rural populations to conserve water for drinking, irrigation. fisheries and afforestation. The Project is being executed by Gram Panchayats with people's participation. Neeru-Meeru (water and you) programme (in Andhra Pradesh) and Arvary Pani Sansad (in Alwar Rajasthan) have taken up constructions of various water- harvesting structures such as percolation tanks, Dug out ponds (Johand), Check dams, etc... through people's participation. Tamil Nadu has made water harvesting structures in the houses compulsory. No building can be constructed without making structures for water harvesting.
watershed development projects in some areas have been successful in rejuvenating environment and economy. However. There are only a few success stories. In majority of cases. The programme is still in its nascent stage. There is a need to generate awareness regarding benefits of watershed development and management among people in the country, and through this integrated water resource management approach water availability can be ensured on sustainable basis.

Study the map carefully and answer the question.

Study the passage and answer the following question:
Benda lives in the wilds of the Abujh Maad area of central India. His village consists of three huts deep in the wilds. Not even birds or stray dogs that usually crowd villages can be seen in these areas. Wearing a small loin cloth and armed with his axe he slowly surveys the penda (forest) where his tribe practices a primitive form of agriculture called shifting cultivation. Benda and his friends burn small patches of forest to clear them for cultivation. The ash is used for making the soil fertile. Benda is happy that the Mahua trees around him are in bloom. How lucky I am to be a part of this beautiful universe, he thinks as he looks up to see the Mahua, Palash and Sal trees that have sheltered him since childhood. Crossing the penda in a gliding motion, Benda makes his way to a stream. As he bends down to scoop up a palmful of water, he remembers to thank Loi- Lugi, the spirit of the forest for allowing him to quench his thirst. Moving on with his friends, Benda chews on succulent leaves and roots. The boys have been trying to collect Gajjhara and Kuchla, from the forest. These are special plants that Benda and his people use. He hopes the spirits of the forest will be kind and lead him to these herbs. These are needed to barter in the madhai or tribal fair coming up the next full moon. He closes his eyes and tries hard to recall what the elders had taught him about the herbs and the places they are found in. He wishes he had listened more carefully. Suddenly there is a rustling of leaves. Benda and his friends know it is the outsiders who have come searching for them in the wilds. In a single fluid motion Benda and his friends disappear behind the thick canopy of trees and become one with the spirit of the forest.

Read the passage and answer the following question.
Market gardening and horticulture specialise in the cultivation of high value crops such as vegetables, fruits and flowers, solely for the urban markets. Farms are small and are located where there are good transportation links with the urban centre where high income group of consumers is located. It is both labour and capital intensive and lays emphasis on the use of irrigation, HYV seeds, fertilisers, insecticides, greenhouses and artificial heating in colder regions.
This type of agriculture is well developed in densely populated industrial districts of north west Europe, north eastern United States of America and the Mediterranean regions. The Netherlands specialises in growing flowers and horticultural crops especially tulips, which are flown to all major cities of Europe.
The regions where farmers specialise in vegetables only, the farming is know as truck farming. The distance of truck farms from the market is governed by the distance that a truck can cover overnight, hence the name truck farming.
In addition to market gardening, a modern development in the industrial regions of Western Europe and North America is factory farming. Livestock, particularly poultry and cattle rearing is done in stalls and pens, fed on manufactured feedstuff and carefully supervised against diseases. This requires heavy capital investment in terms of building, machinery for various operations, veterinary services and heating and lighting. One of the important features of poultry farming and cattle rearing is breed selection and scientific breeding.

Read the given passage carefully and answer the following question.
An important aspect of population growth in India is the growth of its adolescents. At present, the share of adolescents i.e., up to the age group of 10-19 years is about 20.9 per cent (2011), among which male adolescents constitute 52.7 per cent and female adolescents constitute 47.3 per cent. The adolescent population, though, regarded as the youthful population having high potentials, but at the same time they are quite vulnerable if not guided and channelised properly. There are many challenges for the society as far as these adolescents are concerned, some of which are lower age at marriage, illiteracy - particularly female illiteracy, school dropouts, low intake of nutrients, high rate of maternal mortality of adolescent mothers, high rate of HIV and AIDS infections, physical and mental disability or retardedness, drug abuse and alcoholism, juvenile delinquency and commitence of crimes, etc.
In view of these, the Government of Indra has undertaken certain policies to impart proper education to the adolescent groups so that their talents are better channelised and properly utilised. The National Youth Policy is one example which has been designed to look into the overall development of our large youth and adolescent population.
The National Youth Policy (NYP-2014) launched in February 2014 proposes a holistic 'vision' for the youth of Indra, which is "To empower the youth of the country to achieve their full potential, and through them enable India to find its rightful place in the community of nations". The NYP-2014 has defined 'youth as persons in the age group of 15-29 years.