[Mission 2022] Insta–DART (Daily Aptitude and Reasoning Test) 21 August 2021

The despotism of custom is everywhere the standing hindrance to human advancement, being in unceasing antagonism to that disposition to aim at something better than customary, which is called the spirit of liberty. The spirit of improvement is not always a spirit of liberty, for it may aim at forcing improvements on unwilling people and the spirit of liberty, in so far as it resists such attempts, may ally itself locally and temporarily with the opponents of improvement; but only permanent sources of improvement liberty. We have a warning example in China – a nation of much talent and in some respects, even wisdom, owing to the rare good fortune of having been provided at an early period with a particularly good set of customs. They are remarkable, too, in the excellence of their apparatus for impressing, as far as possible, the best wisdom they possess upon every mind in the community but they have become stationary – have remained so for thousands of years; and if they are ever to be further improved, it must be by foreigners. They have succeeded beyond all hope in making people all alike, all governing their thoughts and conduct by the same maxims and rules; and these are the fruits.

According to the passage, the paradox of tradition versus progress lies in which of the following statements?

1. The spirit of improvement is not always the spirit of liberty
2. Custom is antagonistic to change.
3. It is the spirit of liberty that leads to a break from custom

Select the correct answer using the codes given below.

The despotism of custom is everywhere the standing hindrance to human advancement, being in unceasing antagonism to that disposition to aim at something better than customary, which is called the spirit of liberty. The spirit of improvement is not always a spirit of liberty, for it may aim at forcing improvements on unwilling people and the spirit of liberty, in so far as it resists such attempts, may ally itself locally and temporarily with the opponents of improvement; but only permanent sources of improvement liberty. We have a warning example in China – a nation of much talent and in some respects, even wisdom, owing to the rare good fortune of having been provided at an early period with a particularly good set of customs. They are remarkable, too, in the excellence of their apparatus for impressing, as far as possible, the best wisdom they possess upon every mind in the community but they have become stationary – have remained so for thousands of years; and if they are ever to be further improved, it must be by foreigners. They have succeeded beyond all hope in making people all alike, all governing their thoughts and conduct by the same maxims and rules; and these are the fruits.

According to the passage, which of the following assumption(s) is/are valid?

1. The East has not progressed because custom is deeply entrenched there.
2. European culture with its noble antecedents can never become stagnant.
3. The East must have been original at one time.
4. The West considers itself morally superior to the East.

Select the correct answer using the codes given below.

Although an eco-friendly process is one of the main ways to save the environment, recycling is not gaining pace in the industry. The process of recycling undergoes many processes. First is collecting and sorting of garbage. This requires a lot of manpower and tools which are expensive. Another disadvantage of recycling which makes it unviable is that for the manufacturers

economically, the recycled material is not highly demanded since its quality is not as good as the original material. So, if the marketing of recycled goods is not worthwhile, then the whole process of recycling cannot be economically efficient. Recycled products face other disadvantages as well, such as short shelf-life, difficulty in de-inking the dyed products and less durability.

What is the main idea of, the passage?

We generally talk about democracy but when it comes to any particular thing, we prefer belonging to our caste or community or religion. As long as we have this kind of temptation, our democracy will remain a phoney kind of a man and to extend opportunities for development to democracy. We must be in a position to respect a man as those who deserve them and not to those who happen to belong to our community or race. This fact of favouritism has been responsible for much discontent and ill-will in our country

Which one of the following statements best sums up the above passage?

The Global Financial Stability Report finds that the share of portfolio investments from advanced economies in the total debt and equity investments in emerging economies has doubled in the past decade to 12%. The phenomenon has implications for Indian policy-makers as foreign portfolio investments in the debt and equity markets have been on the rise. The phenomenon is also flagged as a threat that could compromise global financial stability in a chain reaction, in the event of United States federal Reserve’s imminent reversal of its ‘Quantitative Easing policy.

Which among the following is the most rational and critical inference that can be made from the above passage?