Insta–DART (Daily Aptitude and Reasoning Test) 14 August 2021

A smart city has no absolute definition. The term originated among Western planners to describe a city which uses Internet of Things data to optimize its services. The Indian ministry of housing and urban affairs mentions this aspect in only one of the eight features it lists for a smart city. The rest focus on urban planning strategies for quality of life, such as reducing pollution and improving land use. Health is mentioned only in one point, which discusses urban identity conferred through local economic activities like making sports goods and hosiery, and providing medical facilities. Health is not acknowledged as the substrate of productivity. Historically, India has hesitated to invest adequately in school education and health, the twin foundations of a mature society, and these sectors remained neglected even by the reforms process. Now, it appears that even the newest innovation for optimising spaces and communities for growth, the Smart Cities Mission, hasn’t understood the foundational importance of health.

Which of the following is/are the valid assumption/(s) from the passage?

1. Smart Cities Mission perpetuates the traditional neglect of health.
2. A political culture and economic system invested in the ideal of ever-increasing GDP must invest more in the health of its citizens, who power the engine of growth.

I have got a chance to see very different views of the world — of the tremendous potential and success technology has brought to our lives and the tremendous deprivation and inequity that still exists all around us. This reality is visible, but often not noticed. While we are all familiar with the economic hardship of many Indians, the figures tell us how deep this issue is. Even before the pandemic, the median household income in India was Rs 15,000 per month. That means a family of four at the median income level lived on just Rs 125 per day per person for all their expenditure on food, clothing, housing, healthcare, festivals and more. Half of India lives with less than that. It isn’t a surprise that one health emergency can crush an entire family economically even at the median income level — and this happens to fellow citizens in our country every day.The bottom 25 per cent of households (about 300 million people in India) lived on an income of less than Rs 8,500 per month or Rs 70 per day per person. For the bottom 10 per cent these numbers are even more gut-wrenching. And these numbers do not account for the economic devastation that the pandemic has caused. None of these numbers capture stark inequities and injustices across gender, caste, regions, and more. Can we even imagine what circumstances many of our fellow citizens live in?  There is no doubt that from the wonderful day when India became free in 1947 to today we have made enormous progress. However, we still have work to do to build the India that we promised to ourselves in our Constitution. To make progress on these inequities, I propose we add an additional key measure to that of the GDP — the Human Development Product (HDP).

In reference to the above passage, Which of the following assumptions is/are valid?

1. We need a way to measure true human progress.
2. GDP alone is not enough to measure growth in true sense.

The food sector in India is highly inefficient as it engages over 50 per cent of the national workforce but contributes a mere 17 per cent to the national gross value, reflecting huge redundancy. Almost half of the Indian farmers are small and marginal landholders (owning < 2 hectares) and many live below the poverty line or with stagnant incomes. Moreover, the Indian agriculture sector has     massive environmental impacts. Crop irrigation accounts for 90 per cent of the country’s freshwater use, leaving groundwater reserves depleted and resulting in acute drinking water shortages every year. Over half of India’s ice-free land is devoted to agriculture, encroaching on the natural habitat of its biodiversity and threatening thousands of species with extinction. Fertilisers, pesticides, diesel use, and other farm inputs emit large amounts of greenhouse gases causing climate change and contribute to ground and river water pollution while crop residue burning results in air pollution episodes every year. These environmental damages trigger human health problems which in turn cascades into a net loss of the national economy. Despite all these economic and environmental costs to provide food to its population, India remains one of the most malnourished countries in the world suffering from a triple burden of hunger, over nutrition, and hidden hunger. Almost every third child under the age of 5 years in India is undernourished with 36 per cent underweight, 38 per cent stunted , and 21 per cent wasted. The number of stunted children in India accounts for almost one-third of the world’s cases. This coincides with a high prevalence of overweight, obesity, and concomitant non-communicable diseases (NCDs) with an estimated 61 per cent of deaths in India attributable to NCDs in 2017 and almost 20 per cent of the population suffering from overweight or obesity. In addition, almost two-thirds of the Indian population suffers from a deficiency of one or more micronutrients necessary for the healthy functioning of the mind, body, and immune system. In terms of individual nutrients, for both rural and urban areas, the current intake of 11 out of 24 essential micronutrients is below the recommended levels for almost all Indian states and Union Territories. The average diets in many states do not meet the daily requirements of calcium and vitamin B12. Sustainable diets were derived by replacing nutrient-poor and high-environmental-footprint foods with nutrient-dense and low-footprint foods. For example, the carbon emissions, freshwater use, nitrogen, and phosphorus fertiliser application is often higher during the production of popular staple cereals rice and wheat than coarse cereals such as millet (bajra), ragi, sorghum (jowar), oats, barley, or maize. However, the micronutrient content per unit weight is higher in the coarse cereals than wheat and rice. Hence, replacing rice and wheat with these coarse cereals in our diet can create win-win scenarios for nutrition and environmental outcomes at the national level. Replacing junk fast food or snacks high in bad nutrients such as sugar, sodium, saturated fats with fruits and vegetables will also improve the nutritional quality of daily diets. While affordability is the main reason for nutritionally inadequate diet for many people, even the households with sufficient income to afford healthy diets are deficient in micronutrients due to their everyday food choices and consumption behavior.

Which of the following is the most logical and rational inference that can be derived from the above passage?

The food sector in India is highly inefficient as it engages over 50 per cent of the national workforce but contributes a mere 17 per cent to the national gross value, reflecting huge redundancy. Almost half of the Indian farmers are small and marginal landholders (owning < 2 hectares) and many live below the poverty line or with stagnant incomes. Moreover, the Indian agriculture sector has     massive environmental impacts. Crop irrigation accounts for 90 per cent of the country’s freshwater use, leaving groundwater reserves depleted and resulting in acute drinking water shortages every year. Over half of India’s ice-free land is devoted to agriculture, encroaching on the natural habitat of its biodiversity and threatening thousands of species with extinction. Fertilisers, pesticides, diesel use, and other farm inputs emit large amounts of greenhouse gases causing climate change and contribute to ground and river water pollution while crop residue burning results in air pollution episodes every year. These environmental damages trigger human health problems which in turn cascades into a net loss of the national economy. Despite all these economic and environmental costs to provide food to its population, India remains one of the most malnourished countries in the world suffering from a triple burden of hunger, over nutrition, and hidden hunger. Almost every third child under the age of 5 years in India is undernourished with 36 per cent underweight, 38 per cent stunted , and 21 per cent wasted. The number of stunted children in India accounts for almost one-third of the world’s cases. This coincides with a high prevalence of overweight, obesity, and concomitant non-communicable diseases (NCDs) with an estimated 61 per cent of deaths in India attributable to NCDs in 2017 and almost 20 per cent of the population suffering from overweight or obesity. In addition, almost two-thirds of the Indian population suffers from a deficiency of one or more micronutrients necessary for the healthy functioning of the mind, body, and immune system. In terms of individual nutrients, for both rural and urban areas, the current intake of 11 out of 24 essential micronutrients is below the recommended levels for almost all Indian states and Union Territories. The average diets in many states do not meet the daily requirements of calcium and vitamin B12. Sustainable diets were derived by replacing nutrient-poor and high-environmental-footprint foods with nutrient-dense and low-footprint foods. For example, the carbon emissions, freshwater use, nitrogen, and phosphorus fertiliser application is often higher during the production of popular staple cereals rice and wheat than coarse cereals such as millet (bajra), ragi, sorghum (jowar), oats, barley, or maize. However, the micronutrient content per unit weight is higher in the coarse cereals than wheat and rice. Hence, replacing rice and wheat with these coarse cereals in our diet can create win-win scenarios for nutrition and environmental outcomes at the national level. Replacing junk fast food or snacks high in bad nutrients such as sugar, sodium, saturated fats with fruits and vegetables will also improve the nutritional quality of daily diets. While affordability is the main reason for nutritionally inadequate diet for many people, even the households with sufficient income to afford healthy diets are deficient in micronutrients due to their everyday food choices and consumption behavior.

With reference to the above passage, which of the following could be the most rational and practical implications?

1. Fiscal interventions by government to discourage the production of foods that are low in nutrition and high in environmental impact.
2. Improvements in storage and logistics to minimise food losses
3. Expanding micronutrient supplementation and food fortification programs
4. Including nutrient dense foods in subsidised public distribution system (PDS)

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

Climate change is affecting individuals, families, communities, societies and systems around the world. The impacts of climate change are being felt across many social, economic, environmental and political systems. Climate change is contributing to more intense and frequent extreme weather events. Wildfires, floods, storms, extreme precipitation, drought, and extreme heat are among the most serious. Many extreme weather events contribute to increased stress on water supplies, particularly in drought conditions. The impacts of climate change and disaster are experienced differently by men and women due to their gender roles and relationships in society. Women’s caregiving roles in the household and community are affected by climate change effects on their livelihoods and resources. Women’s experiences and perspectives on climate change are critical to inform climate change adaptation and mitigation policies at the local and global levels. The impacts of climate change are experienced in communities, and the role of place has emerged as an important consideration in developing sustainability policies and recovery plans. Community members value the natural and physical environment, which are changing due to the impacts of climate change and related disasters.

Which of the following is the most logical corollary to the above passage?