Directions (Question: Following eight questions) : Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. Certain words/phrases have been printed in hold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions.
India is rushing headlong towards economic success and modernisation, counting on high-tech industries such as information technology and biotechnology to propel the nation to prosperity. India's recent announcement that it would no longer produce unlicensed inexpensive generic pharmaceuticals bowed to the realities of the World Trade Organisation while at the same time challenging the domestic drug industry to compete with the multinational firms. Unfortunately, its weak higher education sector constitutes the Achilles' heel of this strategy. Its systematic disinvestment in higher education in recent years has yielded neither world-class research nor very many highly trained scholars, scientists or managers to sustain high-tech development.
India's main competitors-especially China, but also Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea—are investing in large and differentiated higher education systems. They are providing access to a large number of students at the bottom of the academic system while at the same time building some research-based universities that are able to compete with the world's best institutions. The recent London Times Higher Education Supplement ranking of the world's top 200 universities included three in China, three in Hong Kong, three in South Korea, one in Taiwan, and one in India. These countries are positioning themselves for leadership in the knowledge-based economies of the coming era.
There was a time when countries could achieve economic success with cheap labour and low-tech manufacturing. Low wages still help, but contemporary large-scale development requires a sophisticated and at least partly knowledge-based economy. India has chosen that path, but will find a major stumbling block in its university system.
India has significant advantages in the 21st century knowledge race. It has a large higher education sector—the third largest in the world in terms of number of students, after China and the United States. It uses English as a primary language of higher education and research It has a long academic tradition. Academic freedom is respected. There are a small number of high-quality institutions, departments, and centres that can form the basis of quality sector in higher education. The fact that the States, rather than the Central Government, exercise major responsibility for higher education creates a rather cumbersome structure, but the system allows for a variety of policies and approaches.
Yet the weaknesses far outweigh the strengths. India educates approximately 10 per cent of its young people in higher education compared to more than half in the major industrialised countries and 15 per cent in China. Almost all of the world's academic systems resemble a pyramid, with a small, high-quality tier at the top and a massive sector at the bottom. India has a tiny top tier. None of its universities occupies a solid position at the top. A few of the best universities have some excellent departments and centres, and there are a small number of outstanding undergraduate colleges. The University Grants Commission's recent major support to five universities to build on their recognised strength is a step towards recognising a differentiated academic system and fostering excellence. These universities, combined, enrol well under one percent of the student population.
Directions (Question: Following ten questions) : Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. Certain words/phrases have been printed in Bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions.
Jagir Singh has sold red onions at a market in south Delhi every day for the past half-century. Perched on an upturned crate, wrapped tight against the chill air, he offers pyaz a staple for much Indian cooking, for 60 rupees a kilo, the most he can remember. Business is brisk but most customers pick up only a small handful of onions. That is just as well. Wholesale supplies are tight, he says, and the quality is poor.
As India's economy grows by some 9% a year, food prices are soaring. In late December, the commerce ministry judged that food inflation had reached 18.3%, with pricey vegetables mostly to blame. Officials have made some attempts to temper the rise in the past month—scrapping import taxes for onions, banning their export and ordering low-priced sales at government-run shops. But there is no quick fix.
Heavy rain in the west of India brought a rctten harvest. Vegetables from farther afield—including a politically sensitive delivery from a neighbouring country—are costly to move on India's crowded, pot-holed roads. Few refrigerated lorries and poor logistics mean that much of each harvest is wasted. Newspapers allege hoarders are cashing in.
The biggest problems are structural. Food producers, hampered by land restrictions, archaic retail networks and bad infrastructure, fail to meet extra demand from consumers. It was estimated in October that a 39% rise in income per person in the previous five years might have created an extra 220 million regular consumers of milk, eggs, meat and fish. Supplies have not kept up with this potential demand.
The broader inflation rate may be a less eye-watering problem than the onions suggest. The central bank has lifted interest rates steadily in the past year and is expected to do so again later this month. Headline inflation fell to 7.5% in November, down by just over a percentage point from October, though it is still above the central bank's forecast of 5.5% for March.
Directions (Question: Following five questions) : In the following passage there are blanks, each of which has been numbered. These numbers are printed below the passage and against each, five words/ phrases are suggested, one of which fits the blank appropriately. Find out the appropriate word/ phrase in each case.
There is a considerable amount of research about the factors that make a company innovate. So is it possible to create an environment (186) to innovation? This is a particularly pertinent (187 ) for India today. Massive problems in health, education etc (188 ) be solved using a conventional Approach but (189 ) creative and innovative solutions that can ensure radical change and (190 ). There are several factors in India's (191 ). Few countries have the rich diversity that India or its large, young population (192 ). While these (193 ) innovation policy interventions certain additional steps are also required. These include (194 ) investment in research and development by (195 ) the government and the private sector, easy transfer of technolgy from the academic world etc. To fulfil its promise of being prosperious and to be at the forefront, India must be innovative.
