th december parajumble – se415 · crore every year. nearly 600 million ... not a large price to...

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5th DecemberCloze Test The Hindu

In his autobiography Living to Tell the Tale,Gabriel Garcia Marquez says: If you can livewithout writing, dont write. Its blunt and itsalmost a ______(1)______ of himself. As a youngman, Marquez was desperate to write and_______(2)_________. Often penurious, he wouldgo from caf to caf, running a tab in each,working a kind of _______(3)______ credit systemto keep him going till he got paid his meagresalary. He carried in his pocket a roll ofnewsprint paper stolen from the newspaperwhere he worked, and sitting in the cafs hewould write stories, essays, and finally hisfirst short novels. He would often spend thenight in the press where the paper was beingprinted, where it was warm, and even there hewould stay up ______(4)_______. There would bedrinking, there would be the tertulias the addas with older and more establishedwriters and artists, there would bethe whores and the lovers, but across the day allthese activities were joined by the act of writing.Around him occurred revolutions and coups andthrough all this the man kept writing, often byhand at first and then transferring his writing towhatever typewriter he could borrow. Gabo, ashis friends called him, lived to write, to tell thetales.

1. (a) quote (b) anecdote(c) maxim (d) description

2. (a) to be read (b) to read(c) to being read (d) reading

3. (a) circular (b) internal(c) external (d) triangler

4. (a) to write (b) writing(c) for writing (d) write

5. (a) in (b) across(c) through (d) thorough

Parajumble SE415A. Amidst this unremarkable scene, young

clerks a woman in a hijab who seemed incharge,

B. In the line, along with my friend, werewomen in hijabs who had come in theafternoon.

C. kept time with periodic rattles and thuds,like a bored mridangam player at a Carnaticconcert.

D. Last month, I accompanied a friend to applyfor an Aadhaar card at an Akshya Kendraoffice in a small town in the heart ofMalappuram district in Kerala.

E. and three men who handled the machines went about processing the forms,fingerprinting, and scanning eyes withadmirable earnestness and efficiency.

F. The afternoon sun was ablaze and since theair conditioner was no longer functioning, atable fan in the corner desultorily

Basic Fillers21. A good hen ________ six or seven eggs a day.A) lies B) lays C) putsD) places E) reproduces

22. The rapid rise in the cost of ________ isworrying many people.A) existing B) living C) survivingD) breathing E) respiring

23. You must look in the ________ section of thenewspaper to find out what films are showing.A) variety B) diversion C) recreationD) hospitality E) entertainment

24. He had a very bad cold and couldnt stop________.A) snoring B) sneezing C) sighingD) yawning E) spitting

25. Mr. Smith walked along the corridor andcame face to ________ with his boss.A) eye B) figure C) faceD) head E) front

26. She ________ going to the dentist althoughher teeth needed attention.

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A) put in B) put out C) put throughD) put off E) put away

27. Its very easy to ________ your temper whensomeone annoys you.A) mislay B) lose C) missD) forget E) damage

28. If the World Population ________ continues, itwill be impossible to feed everybody.A) outbreak B) bang C) blastD) explosion E) contraction

29. The brave man was greatly honored whenthe general said You ________ a medal.A) earn B) expect C) deserveD) reserve E) justify

30. I wish to see the manager to ________ aboutthe terrible food in this restaurant.A) inquire B) complain C) criticizeD) revolt E) disapprove

Idioms Theory

1.Fall on your perchTo dieBy the time I fall off my perch, Britain maywell be a republic.

2.A false dawnA situation seems to be good but it does notHis victory in the French open proved to bea false dawn after he failed to win anothertitle for next five years.

3.Familiarity breeds contemptKnowing sth may very well may cause you tolose admiration of sthYou two are going to find it difficult livingand working together. Familiarity breedscontempt.

4.Take/tickle sbs fancyTo attract/please sbIf you see sth that tickles your fancy, Ill buyit for you.

5.Play fast and loose with sth/sbTo treat sth/sb without enough careLike many film-makers, he plays fast andloose with the facts to tell his own version ofthe story.

6.A fat lot of good/useNot helpful/usefulShe cant lift anything heavy, so shes a fat lotof use!

7.A faux passAn embarrassing mistake made in publicI realized Id made a real faux pass by eatingmy soup with my dessert spoon.

8.A feeding frenzyA situation where people try to get as muchinformation/profit as possibleHer sudden tragic death sparked off afeeding frenzy in the media.

9.Feet of clayHidden faultsSome of the greatest geniuses in history hadfeet of clay.

10.A very high level of excitementThe crowd had been roused to fever pitch bythe drama of the game.

Answers:Cloze Test DAABB

Parajumble DFCAEB

Basic Fillers - 21-B 22-B 23-E 24-B 25-C

26-D 27-B 28-D 29-C 30-B





Forgotten war onSaudi-Yemen crisisFor the past 33 months, Saudi Arabia has beenbombing Yemen with help from its Westernallies, turning the country into a humanitariantragedy. Yemen is now on the brink of theworlds largest famine, according to the UnitedNations. Already, 17 million people aredependent on external aid for food and medicine,while the country is fighting a massive choleraoutbreak. The breakdown of governmentservices, lack of drinking water and a crumblinghealth sector, besides the miseries of civil warand aerial bombardment, are fast turning Yemeninto a failed state, and a breeding ground forextremist groups such as al-Qaeda in theArabian Peninsula. The Saudis say they arefighting Houthi rebels on behalf of thelegitimate government of Yemen led byAbdrabbuh Mansur Hadi. But the facts are morecomplicated. When Yemen plunged into chaosafter the resignation of President Ali AbdullahSaleh in 2012, Houthi rebels mobilised forcesand captured the capital city Sanaa and westernparts of the country. Saudi Arabia, which sharesa long border with Yemen, was wary of the risinginfluence of the Shia Houthis, who it sees asIran-sponsored militia. The Saudis formed acoalition of anti-Houthi Sunni groups in Yemenand provided them with money and weapons,while its warplanes started attacking Houthipositions in March 2015. The war has draggedon since, with Sanaa still under Houthi control.Saudi Arabia appears desperate to change theoutcome of the war. This explains its decisionlast month to impose a blockade on the countryin the midst of a severe food crisis. Though iteased the blockade later due to internationalpressure, the war still rages. It is high time theSaudis and the Houthis came to terms withreality. Houthis have ground-level supportamong Shias and perhaps assistance from Iran,but it is unclear whether they are capable ofcontrolling the whole of Yemen and uniting itsdiverse populace. On the other side, SaudiArabia has allies on the ground and superior airpower, but it has still failed to defeat theHouthis. In recent weeks, the Saudis had

reached out to Saleh, whose loyalists werefighting alongside the Houthis, in an apparentbid to break the rebel coalition. But a day afterSaleh expressed readiness for talks with Riyadh,Houthis claimed to have killed him on Monday,escalating the civil war. To break this cycle, allwarring parties, including the Houthis, the Salehfaction, fighters loyal to President Hadi andSaudi Arabia should move towards talks. Tillnow, the international community has largelylooked away. It cannot continue to do so. Alliesshould put pressure on Riyadh to cease thebombing, and set the stage for talks between thefactions.

Daily Vocab The Hindu Editorial 5th DecForgotten war on Saudi-Yemen crisis

On the brink of in a very new, dangerous orexciting position - Famine a lack of food during a long period oftime in a region- Misery suffering - Plunge into to experience sth unpleasant Chaos disorder - Wary cautions - Rage to continue in a violent way - Escalate to become or make sth greater - Faction a small group of people -





In his address on National Law Day 2017, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi once again sounded thebugle for simultaneous elections to Parliament and allState Assemblies, under the banner of one nationone election. Mr. Modi also cited four reasons:massive expenditure; diversion of security and civilstaff from primary duties; impact on governance dueto the model code of conduct, and disruption tonormal public life. The case is weak and the reasonsare a mere alibi.

The cost factorThe Election Commission incurs a total cost ofroughly 8,000 crore to conduct all State and federalelections in a span of five years, or roughly 1,500crore every year. Nearly 600 million Indians vote inIndias elections, which means, it costs 27 per voterper year to keep India an electoral democracy. Is thisa massive expense? To put this in context, all theStates and the Centre combined incurred anexpenditure of nearly 30 lakh crore in FY2014.Surely, 0.05% of Indias total annual expenditure isnot a large price to pay for the pride of being theworlds largest and most vibrant electoral democracy.The notion that elections are prohibitively expensiveis false and misleading.

Code of conduct and pollsThe model code of conduct for elections was agreed toby political parties in 1979, and prohibits the rulingparty from incurring capital expenditure for certainprojects after elections are announced. If India isindeed embarking on a path of cooperativefederalism as the Prime Minister also claims, thenmore such projects will be undertaken by each Stateand not by the Centre. So, why should elections inone State hinder governance in the rest of the States?And if all political parties still feel the need to reformthe code, they are free to do so. The solution is toreform the code and not the electoral cycle.Governance paralysis due to State elections is a merealibi. The real reason is that the two national partiesare excessively dependent on their national leaderscampaigns in State elections, as seen in Gujarat. Thisis certainly a drain on the Prime Ministers time and adistraction from governance. Depending on theirnational leaders is the problem and the prerogative ofthe national parties. It is not the fault of the electoralsystem. In the elections in West Bengal and TamilNadu, in 2016, and where the two national partiesand their leaders had a minimal role, nothing stoppedthe Union government from continuing its governancefor the rest of India. Thus it is wrong to conflate theinterests of the national parties with those of theflaws of the electoral system.

Diversion of civil staff and disruption of public lifewere the two other reasons cited, but these soundmore like reasons against holding elections ingeneral. Surely, a disruption to public life twice in fiveyears is not a binding constraint in the largerinterests of interim accountability. The right of a voterto exercise her choice twice in a span of five years andhold governments accountable is much moreimportant than just casting her vote once and havingno option to express her opinion for the next fiveyears. These two reasons are very weak whenmeasured against the costs of limiting electoralopportunities for citizens.

Voter behaviourMy research on all simultaneous elections to StateAssemblies and Parliament between 1999 and 2014shows that simultaneous elections do have an impacton voter behaviour. These elections comprised 513million voter choices. In 77% of these constituencies,voters chose the same political party for both Stateand Centre. When elections were held even sixmonths apart, only 61% chose the same politicalparty. When elections became disparate, there was noevidence of the voter choosing the same party. Thisanalysis is not based on mere headline victory in aState but on vote shares and the winners in eachconstituency. There is clear empirical evidence thatmost Indian voters tend to choose the same partywhen elections are held simultaneously to bothCentre and State, with the relationship diminishingas elections are held farther away.

Political autonomyFurther, simultaneous elections impinge on thepolitical autonomy of States. Today, any elected Stategovernment can choose to dissolve its Assembly andcall for fresh elections. If elections are to be heldsimultaneously, States will have to give up this powerand wait for a national election schedule. There canbe legitimate reasons for State governments todissolve their Assemblies and call for fresh elections,as should be the case in Tamil Nadu. Under asimultaneous elections regime, the State will bebeholden to the Union government for elections to itsState, which goes against the very grain of politicalautonomy under our federal structure.There is still much that is wrong with our nation inits governance and elections. But disparate electionsto States and Parliament are not one of them. There ismuch to improve in terms of efficiency of ourgovernance. But oneness is not the desired path toefficiency in a diverse polity such as India.





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If youre following comprehension method (120Marks SSC Mains) then its easier to solve PQRS,Cloze Test, Passage, Fill up the blanks, Sentence

Improvement, option elimination in vocabulary part.

And

If youre following grammar & vocabulary (80 Marks SSC Mains), then its a guessing game. You hit

sometimes and you miss many times.

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th december parajumble – se415 · crore every year. nearly 600 million ... not a large price to...

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