BANK P.O.
SPECIAL
Descriptive Questions
Q. 1. “If we want to have real
democracy, our effort should be to have
100 per cent literacy.” Give three
arguments in favour and three
arguments against this statement.
Arguments in Favour of the View.
1. Democracy requires adequate
understanding of the implications,
various practices and processes of
democracy. Ignorant, uneducated
masses are incapable of participating in
these processes actively and with full
understanding.
2. Democracy in the USA and
Britain is a marked success because of
the 100 per cent literacy. Indian
democracy suffers from several
distortions because the majority of the
people are illiterate.
3. True democracy can serve as a
sure guarantee against arbitrary rule,
autocracy and unbridled exercise of
political power only if there is 100 per
cent literacy which makes people aware
of their rights, responsibilities and of the
importance of their vote.
Arguments Against the View
1. It would be unfair to make a
country wait for a fully democratic set-
up until there is 100 per cent literacy. In
a country like India with a huge
population it would take decades to
make all the people literate.
2. The percentage of literacy in
India is about 40, and yet the political
maturity they have displayed during
elections has won worldwide
appreciation. This shows that the
various processes of democracy can be
understood even by people who are not
educated.
3. Democracy demands discipline,
tolerance, mutual regard, common sense
and honesty of purpose. These virtues
can be found even among uneducated
people most of whom are free from the
taint of corruption which has badly
affected literate politicians.
Q. 2. “There is an alarming
increase in the number of applicants
for jobs in banks, public sector
organisations, etc.” Explain the causes
in regard to the above statement.
Ans. There is indeed a rush of
candidates for clerical and other posts
in government offices, banks and public
sector organisations. The major factors
in this regard are:
1. Young graduates seek security of
service, easy work that would not
involve hard labour but would ensure
regular receipt of salary. On the other
hand, private employment is uncertain,
with the ever-present risk of arbitrary
termination of service and consequent
unemployment. Hard work is
demanded and only limited periods of
leave and few other facilities are
allowed.
2. Clerical and other work in banks
mean fixed hours of work, many
holidays, constantly increasing
amenities such as housing, medical aid,
and pay-scales. This is not so in the
private sector. Private employers make
their employees work for long hours;
they are tough task-masters and do not
allow the staff to take liberties or remain
absent from duty without permission.
3. Public sector enterprises, such as
banks, generally let workers’ unions be
formed and arrange labour participation
in management. So the employees are
able to go on strike now and then to
secure more pay and bonus. Private
sector employers, on the other hand,
take steps to ensure regularity of
production and they seldom hesitate to
create splits in trade unions and take
strict action, including dismissal from
service, the series of laws designed to
safeguard labour ’s interests
notwithstanding.
727 ■ MARCH 2002 ■ THE COMPETITION MASTER
Q. 3. Some people feel that our
schools should impart such education
as would make our students real
human beings. Substantiate your
views by giving instances from your
own knowledge.
Ans. There is no denying that our
present education system is defective. It
turns out graduates whose mental
faculties are not adequately developed
and who lack even sound character.
Most of them are poor specimens of
humanity; they have little regard for
moral values and are unfit to face the
harsh realities of the world. So they
prove failures in life. What the country
needs is not ill-equipped youth lacking
the basic qualities of human beings but
people who have the requisite qualities
that would make them decent,
disciplined members of society, with full
consideration for others, the qualities of
tolerance, mercy, compassion,
dependability and self-reliance.
Education is not merely
memorising some facts, cramming
answers from help-books and cheap
“guides”. The youth must learn to
cohere and coordinate facts, learn to
discriminate between good and evil.
Education must instruct youth to serve
fellow men instead of becoming self-
seeking and pleasure-loving. What is
needed is full and continuous
development of integrated human
personality.
It is imperative that our youth be
imbued with the highest ideals. Schools
and colleges should be training grounds
where real knowledge is imparted,
where human bodies and brains are
cared for, where their faculties are
sharpened and where character is
moulded so that they can help promote
peace, harmony and social welfare.
Q. 4. Suppose we do not have any

script for any of the languages to
express our views. Give various
possible consequences (not fewer than
three).
Ans. 1. The first human beings on
earth had no language and of course no
script. The human race in ancient days
was not only languageless; it did not
inherit the gift or the power of speech
either. Script enables a nation to express
and convey its thoughts to others in
writing. Without a script a language
would be merely spoken, never having
the facility of putting on record, for use
of posterity, its thoughts and its prose
and poetry. It is the script that enables
writers, poets and dramatists to write
down their thoughts for the benefit of
his race, and even other races if the
quality of the works is unique.
2. There would be no short stories,
novels, plays, etc., because unless there
is a script, no plays would be available
to people (Oral dialogues cannot be
memorised by everyone). As a result, a
nation would have no literature of its
own. To that extent, it would be poorer.
Nor would there be any books for school
and college students. Only instruction
through speech and words would be
possible. How will examinations and
tests be held? There would be no
answers to enable an examiner to assess
a candidate’s worth.
3. No less important, the nation
would have no history, no record of its
achievements, no books of reference,
nothing. It would be an empty world,
shorn of its past and present; mere words
cannot become a permanent record.
Even ordinary people will not be able to
convey their thoughts to friends and
relations in other cities and lands.
Without a script even communication
might become difficult. It is the miracle
of language and script that has enabled
great saints and sages to write epics of
permanent value.
Q. 5. The performance of girls is
better than that of boys in most
examinations. Give two or three
reasons.
Ans. This statement is to be
accepted with qualifications. The fact is
BANK P.O. SPECIAL
that girls’ performance is better in some,
not most examinations. However, the
reasons for this feat, wherever it is
evident, are the following:
1. Girl students are more serious
about their studies, their home work,
their class attendance (boys frequently
miss classes and play truant).
2. Boys have many diversions;
avenues of spending, or rather wasting,
precious time. They are often guilty of
indiscipline, defiance of their teachers
and parents; many boys take to
drugs (it is only rarely that girls take to
drugs, though there are a few cases
of girls falling victims to drugs and
liquor).
3. Studies have shown that boys
generally are not conscientious
regarding their responsibility towards
their parents, especially when the
parents are rich and the children have
generous pocket money.
4. Moreover, only such girls go to
colleges and universities as are earnest
about their studies; on the other hand,
boys are sent to college to get a degree
somehow, even if they are dullards and
adopt unfair means. They want to secure
a degree or diploma so that they may
get a job somewhere.
5. Many girls of today are eager to
qualify themselves for good jobs and
build careers; the aim of becoming self-
reliant is becoming common among
them. In these hard times, intelligent
girls realise that if they are to maintain
a good standard of living after marriage,
they must take up service somewhere
to supplement the income of their
husbands. Well-educated parents go all
out to encourage their daughters to
study hard to be able to stand on their
own feet in all contingencies. Girls of
poor families wish to serve their aged
fathers and mothers by becoming
earning hands. Their resolve to do well
in studies and enhance their usefulness
is even greater when they know their
parents cannot give good dowry in
marriage. So they acquire high
educational qualifications to make
dowry avoidable.
Q. 6. “In cases of bribery the
728 ■ MARCH 2002 ■ THE COMPETITION MASTER
person giving bribe should be
punished, not the person taking it.”
What is your view? Argue.
Ans. There are of course two parties
to an act of bribery; who is more to blame
is a debatable question. In my view, both
parties are guilty and should be
punished in accordance with the law of
the land. When a person wishing to get
some work done through a government
office, say a licence, permit, sanction for
a house plan or a water or electricity
connection, finds that the relevant file
does not move, he is compelled to bribe
the greedy office concerned. Without a
bribe he would not get the requisite
permit or connection. Those who advise
against giving any bribe and go without
the facility sought (say of water or
electricity) live in an unrealistic world.
The practice of giving bribes as “speed
money” and palm greasing has become
unavoidable.
It is easy to give advice on moral
grounds and contend that the bribe
giver promotes an evil habit. But
merely punishing the bribe giver
without taking the requisite corrective
actions to make the administration free
from corruption and ensuring a clean
administration, would be futile. The
real remedy is to eliminate corrupt
men from the administration, ensure
quick disposal of public business and
avoid all types of delay. It is delay in
the disposal of business that breeds
corruption. The important thing is to
create an atmosphere where the bribe
giver and the bribe taker are both
condemned. But corrupt men flourish
and become prominent social and
political figures, even industrial
giants.
The punishment to people found
guilty of taking bribes is seldom
deterrent; they escape scot-free by
employing top lawyers who find
loopholes in the prosecution case. When
the entire system reeks with corruption
and graft, it is, I think, unfair to single
out the bribe giver. If there were no bribe
takers, or greedy people who are ever
ready to accept bribes even for
petty work, there would be no bribe
givers.