DPM 20

A to E

A. Words along with their meaning, Pronunciation and usage

Vacillate /ˈvasɪleɪt/

[Verb] waver between different opinions or actions; be indecisive.

Usage – He vacillated between finishing his work and attending a concert.

Origin – late-16thcentury (in the sense ‘sway unsteadily’): from Latin vacillat- ‘swayed’, from the
verb vacillare.

Vanguard /ˈvanɡɑːd/

[Noun] 1) a group of people leading the way in new developments or ideas.

2) a position at the forefront of new developments or ideas.

3) the foremost part of an advancing army or naval force.

Usage 1) – There has been a marked shift in the realm of the post-modernist vanguard.

Usage 2) – The prototype was in the vanguard of robotics.

Origin – late Middle English (denoting the foremost part of an army): shortening of Old French
avan(t)garde, from avant ‘before’ + garde‘guard’.

Verbiage /ˈvəːbɪɪdʒ/

[Noun] 1) excessively lengthy or technical speech or writing.

2) (US) the way in which something is expressed; wording or diction.

Usage 1) –The basic idea, despite all the verbiage, is simple.

Usage 2) – We need to look at how the rule should be applied, based on the verbiage.

Origin – early 18th century: from French, from obsolete verbeier ‘to chatter’, from verbe ‘word’.

Verisimilitude /ˌvɛrɪsɪˈmɪlɪtjuːd/

[Noun] the appearance of being true or real.

Usage – The details give the plot verisimilitude.

Origin – early17thcentury: from Latin verisimilitudo, from verisimilis ‘probable’, from veri(genitive
of verus ‘true’) + similis ‘like’.

Visceral /ˈvɪs(ə)r(ə)l/

[Adjective] 1) relating to the viscera.

2) relating to deep inward feelings rather than to the intellect.

Usage 1) – The visceral nervous system is complex.

Usage 2) – The people have a visceral fear of change and chaos.

Origin -1570s “affecting inward feelings”, from Middle French visceral and directly from Medieval
Latin visceralis "internal," from Latin viscera, plural of viscus "internal organ, inner parts of the
body,".

Vitiate /ˈvɪʃɪeɪt/

[Verb] 1) spoil or impair the quality or efficiency of.

2) destroy or impair the legal validity of.

Usage 1) – Development programmes have been vitiated by the rise in population.

Usage 2) – The insurance is vitiated because of foolish acts on the part of the tenant.
Verboten /vəːˈbəʊt(ə)n,Germanfɛɐˈboːtn/

[Adjective, German] forbidden, especially by an authority.

Usage – Public gatherings are verboten during the pandemic.

Vis-à-vis /ˌviːzɑːˈviː,Frenchvizavi/

[Preposition] 1) in relation to; with regard to.

2) as compared with; as opposed to.

Usage 1) – Many agencies have a unit that deals with women’s need vis-à-vis employment.

Usage 2) – The advantage for US exports is the value of the dollar vis-à-vis other currencies.

[Adverb] (Archaic) in a position facing a specified or implied object.

Usage – He was there vis-à-vis Miss Mary.

[Noun] 3) a person or group occupying a corresponding position to that of another in a different

sphere; a counterpart.

4) a face-to-face meeting.

Usage 3) – His admiration of the US armed forces extends to their vis-à-vis, the British army.

Usage 4) – He was waiting for the dreaded vis-à-vis with his boss.

Vade mecum

[Noun, Latin] constant companion

Usage – That little pocketbook became my vade mecum for the whole trip.

Volte-face

[Noun, French] reversal.

Usage – The politician made a complete volte-face on the issue.

B. RC Passage (with Link)

Article 1: https://www.cjr.org/analysis/tech_editorial_facebook.php

Summary : Shortly after Omidyar established First Look Media, he held a series of meetings
with journalists, academics, and technologists to think about what a new model news
organization ought to look like. The rise of platform companies is having a particularly strong
impact on the news app and product teams of news organizations. Facebook, Google,
Snapchat, and Apple have all built impressive new ways for news organizations to distribute
their journalism, and in the case of Facebook, new ways to actually assemble and tell stories.

Article 2: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/13/opinion/economy-bubble-recession.html

Summary : Considering the virtual silence among economists about the danger they pose, one
has to wonder whether in a year or two, when those bubbles eventually burst, the queen will not
be asking the same sort of question. While in 2008 bubbles were largely confined to the
American housing and credit markets, they are now to be found in almost every corner of the
world economy. As the former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan recently warned,
years of highly unorthodox monetary policy by the world's major central banks has created a
global government bond bubble, with long-term interest rates plumbing historically low levels.

Article3:https://www.ft.com/content/10d8f5e8-74eb-11ea-95fe-
fcd274e920ca?segmentid=acee4131-99c2-09d3-a635-873e61754ec6

Summary : In this piece penned by Arundhati Roy on how COVID-19 threatens India. She
describes the virus as one seeking “proliferation, not profit,” and how it has “mocked immigration
controls, biometrics, digital surveillance and every other kind of data analytics”. She likens the
pandemic to a “portal, a gateway between one world and the next.” She underlines how it has
struck hardest — thus far —the richest, most powerful nations of the world, “bringing the engine
of capitalism to a juddering halt”. She is deeply critical of the state machinery, both for its
preparedness and response to the pandemic. The article reads like a diary of major milestones,
a blow by blow account of what transpired on the ground and in the ivory towers of the ruling
regime while in the grip of Corona.

Article 4: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/coronavirus-lockdown-
history-dealing-with-solitude-loneliness-a9452496.html

Summary : In this article, David Vincent introduces us to the history of solitude and suggests that
we should take comfort that our modern society, at least with reference to the West, is so much
better equipped to meet the current challenge posed by COVID-19.Vincent is a professor of social
history and his book ‘A History of Solitude’ will soon be published.

Article 5: https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/justice.htm

Summary : Justice can be thought of as distinct from benevolence, charity, prudence, mercy,
generosity, or compassion, although these dimensions are regularly understood to also be
interlinked.
C. RC Passage (with Questions)

Journalism is about discovery and disclosure. That is its raison d’etre: that is the rationale
supporting it in a society with the controlled media , the task of government is, in the short term,
made very easy: apply the necessary sanctions and either extinguish the media that do not
support and agree with the government or make sure that the only communication system in the
country is owned, operated , and controlled by the government . That way. A government will
have a docile public, a public knowing only what authority believes is good for them to know. In
these circumstances the government can - in theory anyway - do what it likes , when it lights,
how it likes ,and where it likes. But it doesn't work.

To my mind , the press and publishing restrictions currently being applied in South Africa
exemplify the paradox that arises. South Africa proclaims itself to be a westernized, high-tech
nation embracing the traditional democratic values. Although the South African idea of
democracy may perfectly properly be quibbled about when large numbers of the population are
disenfranchised, hitherto the government's attitude toward the media has not been an object of
criticism .For years South Africa had the freest and the most unfettered press on that continent.
Then, suddenly, new sorts of restrictions were imposed that virtually prevent any kind of
reporting of the social and political turmoil there. In one morning South Africa had put itself
behind an iron curtain of information controls .The excuse is that the threat of terrorism is too
great and that publicity with encourage the African National Congress (ANC) to greater
excesses.“ South Africa” said one government minister to me, “is at war. Even in Europe you
don’t hesitate to censor and control the media in such a crisis at war you don't hesitate to
censor and control the media in such a crisis.

This argument is not without its superficial - but somewhat simplistic -attractions. It begs many
questions , however, not least the right of the citizen to know what is being done – or not done –
in his or her name. Does it also raise a more fundamental question? Terrorism can be a last
resort argument. Perhaps the democratic state itself attracts problems if it fails to give the
dissenting voice the opportunity for a hearing, usually obtained through a free press.
A democracy must have free, unfettered, undirected, but responsible media. Without that,
people are deprived of that spectrum of data on which to make up their minds. Task of
journalism is not to tell people what to think ; it is to provide information to people to use in their
thinking. Once directed, controlled media are in place, a credibility chasm develops between
electorate and government that strikes at the heart of what all of us in the United Kingdom stand
for. Be quite clear that, despite “controls”, people hear of events and incidents that, they quickly
notice, are not being repeated in their own media. In short order, the government is placed at
risk, the more so when citizens realize that elsewhere in the world free media report the
undisclosed machinations of the state in which they live.

In a democracy, things are more different and more difficult. A democracy has a multiplicity of
voices, opinions and attitudes ; some are angry, others awkward, and a few potentially
dangerous. The degree to which a democracy permits the audibility of those most difficult voices
poses one of the problems that add upto what I choose to call” the democratic dilemma “.

In a democracy, I believe that the dissident and even the most dangerous voices must be
heard , not least because nothing angers me more than the arrogant assumption by those in
power that the public is not capable of differentiating between good and evil and that the public
needs to be led. The public is more than capable of making up its own mind, without directed
thought from officialdom. The public – in Britain, anyway- has consistently demonstrated its
capacity to understand some complex and abstract concepts – territorial integrity, for example –
and to recognize truth. However, it learns to differentiate. I submit, through the efforts of free ,
unfettered responsible media.

Question 1 ) Journalism in the author’s view can do all of the following except :

(A) Inform (B) Expose (C) Instruct (D) Analyze

Question 2 ) According to the passage, the South African government imposed restrictions on
the press:

(A) To quell the social and political turmoil in the country.

(B) To silence its critics.
(C) On the pretext of fighting terrorism.
(D) To put the African National Congress in poor light.

Question 3) Democratic Dilemma as understood from the passage is :

(A) The choice that governments have to take between controlling the media and freeing the
media.
(B) The predicament that governments find themselves in while enforcing restrictions on the
media.
(C) The limit to which democracies choose to allow voices of dissent.
(D) The problem that democracies face in dealing with the extent to which they allow
dissenting voices to be heard.
D. Quantitative Aptitude

Direction for question 1 and 2: A fruit vendor sells three varieties of fruits – strawberries,
asparagus and peaches. He can sell maximum of 25 fruits of each variety on any day. The
number of strawberries sold is more than the asparagus which is more than that of peaches. He
can sell a total of 68 fruits.

1. The price of each strawberry is Rs. 10, each asparagus is Rs. 5, and each peach is Rs.
7. Find the maximum amount, in Rs., that the fruit vendor can earn.
(A) 509 (B) 680 (C) 507 (D) 500

2. If the number of peaches sold is a prime number, how many peaches did he sell?
(A) 23 (B) 19 (C) 17 (D) 13

3. The goods in a god own are to be moved to a different location. 20 men can move all the
goods in 185 days. If 20 men start the work and 10 men are deployed additionally after
every 20 days, in how many days will the goods be transferred?
(A) 100 days (B) 135 days (C) 78 days (D) 95 days

4 (𝑛−3)
4. For how many integral values of n are √ 𝑛−48
is a positive integer?

(A) 1 (B) 3 (C) 4 (D) 6

5. In ∆ABC. AD is perpendicular to BC, AB = 5 cm, BC = 10 cm, AC = 3√5 cm. Find the

area of ∆BDE if ∆BDE is equilateral?
 (A) √3 (B) 2√3 (C) 3√3 (D) 4√3

6. Let A = (10,0) and B = (30,20) be two points in the plane and let P = (0,x) be a moving
point on the Y-axis. Find the value of X for which the sum of distances of P from A and B
is minimum.
(A) 3 (B) -5 (C) 4 (D) 5

7. If the roots of equation a(ab – C2) + b(bc – a2) + c(ac – b2) = 0 are equal, then
𝑎 𝑏 𝑐 𝑏 𝑎 𝑐 𝑎 𝑏 𝑐 𝑏 𝑎 2𝑐
(A) 𝑏 + 𝑐 + 𝑎 = 0 (B) 𝑎 + 𝑐
= 𝑏
(C) 𝑏 + 𝑐
+𝑎 =1 (D) 𝑎 + 𝑐
= 𝑏

8. If x2 + y2 + z2 = 16, then maximum value of xy + yz + zx is ___

9. The graph f(x) is symmetrical about the line x – 2 = 0, f(3) = f(4), f(5) = 12 and f(0) = 3.
Find the value of f(-1) + f(o) + f(1) + f(3) +f(4) + f(5).

10. From a chess board, measures 8cm by 8cm with each unit square measuring 1cm by
1cm, a rectangle is chosen at random, find the probability that its area is 24 cm 2.
(A) 5/424 (B) 7/432 (C) 7/216 (D) 4/81
E. DILR – 1 Set
Directions for questions 1 to 5: These questions are based on the following graph.

A = Rice, B = Wheat, C = Coarse Cereals,

D = Total Cereals which includes Rice, Wheat and Coarse Cereals,

E = Pulses

1. The production target for food grains in 1999-2000 is 20% more than that of 1989-1990.
What is the percentage deficit in 1999-2000 with respect to the target?

(A) 3.1% (B) 3.3% (C) 3.5% (D) 3.7%

2. The percentage decrease in the production of pulses from 1989-90 to 1999-2000 is equal to
the percentage increase in the price of the pulses during the same period. If the average price
of pulses is rupees 18 per kg in 1989-90, what is its price in 1999-2000?

(A) Rs. 19.36 (B Rs. 22.38 (C) Rs. 20.40 (D) Rs. 21.14

3. If the population of India was hundred crores in the year 1999-2000, what is the per capita
availability of food grains in 1999-2000?

(A) 2.03 Kg (B) 20.3 Kg (C) 2.30 Kg (D) 203 Kg

4. The government fixes a target of 240 million tonnes of total cereals in 2009-2010. If the
percentage increase in production of rice and wheat from 1989-90 to 1999-2000 is applicable
for the period 1999-2000 to 2009-2010, what should be the production of course cereals in
2009-2010 in order to achieve the given target?

(A) 26.2 million tonnes (B) 34 million tonnes

(C) 43.4 million tonnes (D) 39.1 million tonnes

5. Which of the following food grains had the highest percentage change, in the quantity
produced, from 1989-90 to 1999-2000?

(A) Rice (B) Wheat

(C) Coarse Cereals (D) None of these