Q6: MPPSC Mains 2023 GS-V: Mains Question

(a) Passage-A: If countless people of a nation remain sunk in the darkness of ignorance; if the pleasant opportunities of self-development are ignored; and if life keeps shrinking under laziness, injustice, humiliation and exploitation, then everything we have will become futile. The radiant world of knowledge and science will drift far from us. At the root of a country’s progress lies the awareness of its people. In fact, an immense power lies dormant within man; when awakened, this very power propels the nation forward and becomes formidable. With education a new creation colours life, the blot of illiteracy is erased and the doors of inter-stellar electric possibilities are opened. Questions: (i) What is the fundamental reason for everything becoming futile? (ii) How can immense power make a country strong? (iii) Explain the meaning of the sentence, “the doors of electric possibilities are opened.” (iv) How is the progress of a nation possible? (v) What is regarded as a blemish here?

(b) Passage-B: In our present country, the eternal snows of the Himalayas have given birth to many river-valleys; among them the life-giving Ganga and Yamuna have stood witness to Indian history like companions of our life. On their banks our ancestors played many new games within the courtyard of civilisation. The flow of life that streamed along their shores is alive even today. Mother India is our mother-land and we are her sons: this feeling is embedded in every fibre of our being. When we ponder over the life of the earliest ages that flourished in the river valleys, we realise that our own development and growth are firmly linked with the Earth. As long as the life of mankind grows with the land of India, millions will gather on the banks of these rivers; as long as the feeling of sacrifice for the country awakens in every heart and our identity as citizens of one nation remains alive, we must understand the totality of our existence. Questions: (i) What was the importance of rivers in the primitive age? (ii) What is meant by the statement, “Mother India is our mother and we are her sons”? (iii) What relation do development and growth have with the Earth? (iv) Of whose testimony are the rivers Ganga and Yamuna witnesses? (v) What are the factors behind the firmness of our internal structure?