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CLAT - 2011Directions: The questions in this section are based on a single passage. The questions
are to be answered on the basis of what is stated or implied in the passage.
In 1954, a Bombay economist named A.D. Shroff began a Forum of Free Enterprise,
whose ideas on economic development were somewhat at odds with those then
influentially articulated by the Planning Commission of the Government of India. Shroff
complained against the 'indifference, if not discouragement' with which the state treated
entrepreneurs.
At the same time as Shroff, but independently of him, a journalist named Philip Spratt
was writing a series of essays in favour of free enterprise. Spratt was a Cambridge
communist who was sent by the party in 1920s to foment revolution in the sub-continent.
Detected in the act, he spent many years in an Indian jail. The books he read in the prison,
and his marriage to an Indian woman afterwards, inspired a steady move rightwards. By
the 1950s.He was editing a pro-American weekly from Bangalore, called Mysindia. There
he inveighed against the economic policies of the Government of India. These, he said,
treated the entrepreneur 'as a criminal who has dared to use his brains independently of
the state to create wealth and give employment'. The state's chief planner, P.C.
Mahalanobis, had surrounded himself with Western leftists and Soviet academicians, who
reinforced his belief in 'rigid control by the government over all activities'. The result,
said Spratt, would be 'the smothering of free eenterprise, a famine of consumer goods,
and the tying down of millions of workers to soul-deadening techniques.'
The voices of men like Spratt and Shroff were drowned in the chorus of popular support
for a model of heavy industrialization funded and directed by the governments. The 1950s
were certainly not propitious times for free marketers in India. But from time-to-time
their ideas were revived. After the rupee was devalued in 1966, there were some moves
towards freeing the trade regime, and hopes that the licensing system would also be
liberalized. However, after Indira Gandhi split the Congress Party in 1969, her
government took its 'left turn', nationalizing a fresh range of industries and returning to
economic autarky.
1. Which of the following statements can most reasonably be inferred from the
information available in the passage
(a) P.C. Mahalanobis believed in empowering private entrepreneurs and promoting free
market
(b) Phillip Spratt preferred plans that would create economic conditions favourable for
a forward march by the private enterprise
(c) Restrictions on free markets enriched large Indian companies
(d) Philip Spratt opposed the devaluation of rupee in 1966.
2. Which of the following statements is least likely to be inferred from the passage
(a) Acceptance of A.D. Sheriff’s plans in the official circles smothered free enterprise
in India
(b) The views of the Forum of Free Enterprise ran against the conception of
development then prevalent among the policy makers
(c) A.D. Shroff believed that state should actively support the private sector
, (d) Philip Spratt had been educated in Cambridge.
3. Select the statement that best captures the central purpose of this passage
(a) Highlight that even though there were advocates for free-market and private
enterprise in the early years of independent India, they were crowded out by others
who supported a dominant role for state over private enterprise
(b) Explain the politics behind Indira Gandhi's decision to nationalize the banks
(c) Demonstrate with the help of statistics how the preference of policy makers for
Soviet-style economic policies prevented India's economic growth
(d) Establish that devaluation of rupee in 1966 was vindicated by subsequent
experience.
4. Philip Spratt came to India because he
(a) Fell in love with an Indian woman
(b) Wanted to protest against the economic policies of the Indian Government.
(c) Was offered the editorship of My India.
(d) Had been instructed to work towards the goal of inciting a revolution in India.
5. The author avers that A.D Sheriff’s ideas were somewhat at odds with the views of
Planning Commission because
(a) A.D. Shroff was in favour of rigid governmental control over all economic activities
(b) Shroff had opposed government's decision to devalue Indian rupee
(c) The hostility of the government to private entrepreneurs was complained against by
A.D. Shroff
(d) Shroff had been critical of the influence of Soviet academicians over India’s
economic policy.
6. The ideological shift of Philip Spratt to the right was caused by
(a) The demise of the Soviet Union
(b) The start of the weekly called My-India
(c) The books that he encountered in the prison
(d) The dissolution of his first marriage to j his college friend.
7. Select the statement that could be most plausibly inferred from this passage
(a) Philip Spratt and A.D. Shroff were 1 members of the Forum for Free j Enterprise
(b) The first two Five-Year Plans emphasized on the importance of private
enterprise as the spearhead of economic growth.
(c) P.C. Mahalanobis had mooted the expulsion of foreign firms like Coca Cola and
IBM from India
(d) The hopes that the licensing regime would be liberalized after the devaluation of
Indian rupee were belied in the aftermath of the split in the Congress Party.
8. The author alludes to nationalization of industries in 1969 in order to
(a) Show the contradictions between A.D. Sheriff’s economic views and the official
economic policies of the Government of India
(b) Exemplify the shift of the Indira Gandhi led government to the 'left'
(c) Demonstrate the ideological changes in the world-view of Philip Spratt
(d) Highlight the negative political repercussions of the decision to devalue the Indian
currency.
,9. "Neither Philip Sprattnor A.D, Shroff.........able to convince Mahalanobis." Select
the most appropriate phrase out of the four options for filling the blank space in
the aforesaid sentence.
(a) were
(b) are
(c) was
(d) is.
10. The word 'inveighed' in this passage means
(a) Praised
(b) Recited
(c) Proclaimed
(d) Remonstrated.
In Mann Joseph's debut novel Serious Men, the protagonist, Ayyan Mani, is a scheming
Dalit-Buddhist who almost gets away with passing off his partially deaf son, Adi, as a
prodigy, a genius who can recite the first 1,000 prime numbers. The garb of satire where
almost every character cuts a sorry figure-gives the author the licence to offer one of the
most bleak and pessimistic portrayals of urban Dalits Despite his savage portrayal of
Dalit (and female) characters—or perhaps because of it-Serious Men has won critical
appreciation from a cross-section of readers and critics.
At a time when a formidable body of Dalit literature - writing by Dalits about Dalit lives -
has created a distinct space for itself, how and why is it that a novel such as Serious Men,
with its gleefully skewed portrayal of an angry Dalit man, manages to win such
accolades? In American literature—and particularly in the case of African-American
authors and characters-these issues of representation have been debated for decades. But
in India, the sustained refusal to address issues related to caste in everyday life—and the
continued and unquestioned predominance of a Brahminical stranglehold over cultural
production-have led us to a place where non-Dalit portrayal of Dalits in literature, cinema
and art remains the norm.
The journey of modern Dalit literature has been a difficult one. But even though it has not
necessarily enjoyed the support of numbers, we must engage with what Dalits are
writing—not simply for reasons of authenticity, or as a concession to identity politics, but
simply because of the aesthetic value of this body of writing, and for the insights it offers
into the human condition. In a society that is still largely unwilling to recognise Dalits as
equal, rights-bearing human beings, in a society that is inherently indifferent to the
everyday violence against Dalits, in a society unwilling to share social and cultural
resources equitably with Dalits unless mandated by law (as seen in the anti-reservation
discourse), Dalit literature has the potential to humanise non-Dalits and sensitise them to
a world into which they have no insight. But before we can understand what Dalit
literature is seeking to accomplish, we need first to come to terms with the stranglehold of
non-Dalit representations of Dalits.
Rohinton Mistry's A Fine Balance, published 15 years ago, chronicles the travails of two
Dalit characters-uncles Ishvar and nephew Om Prakash—that migrate to Bombay and yet
cannot escape brutality. While the present of the novel is set at the time of the
Emergency, Ishvar's father Dukhi belongs to the era of the anti-colonial nationalist
, movement. During one of Dukhi's visits to the town, he chances upon a meeting of the
Indian National Congress, where speakers spread the "Mahatma's message regarding the
freedom struggle, the struggle for justice," and wiping out "the disease of untouchability;
ravaging us for centuries, denying dignity to our fellow human beings."
Neither in the 1940s, .where the novel's past is set, nor in the Emergency period of
the 1970s-when the minds and bodies Ishvar and Omprakash, are savaged by the state-do
we find any mention of a figure like B.R. Ambedkar or of Dalit movements. In his
'nationalist' understanding of modem Indian history, Mistry seems to have not veered too
far from the road charted by predecessors like Mulk Raj Anand and Premchand. Sixty
years after Premchand, Mistry's literary imagination seems stuck in the empathy-realism
mode, trapping Dalits in abjection. Mistry happily continues the broad stereotype of the
Dalit as a passive sufferer, without consciousness of caste politics.
11. Which of the following is the closest description of the central argument of this
passage?
(a) Manu Joseph's novel presents a scathing portrayal of Dalits
(b) Contemporary American literature is very cautious on politically correct
representation of minorities
(c) The last two decades have witnessed the rise of a very vibrant Dalit literature
(d) Portrayal of Dalits by non-Dalits merely as passive victims has been the dominant
norm in Indian literature, cinema and art.
12. According to this passage, Premchand and Mulk Raj Anand
(a) Presented a stereotyped version of Dalit characters in their writings
(b) Excelled in writing satires on social inequality
(c) Were politically opposed to the views of B.R. Ambedkar
(d) Were closely involved with the leadership of the nationalist movement.
13. The writer refers to the 'anti-reservation discourse' in order to argue that
(a) Dalit literature has had a very difficult journey since its origins
(b) Manu Joseph is viscerally opposed to Dalits
(c) Persons belonging to the upper caste! are inherently indifferent to routine violence
against Dalits
(d) Indian society is not yet ready to equitably share, on its own, social, cultural and
political space with Dalits.
14. Which of the following statements is least likely to be inferred from this passage?
(a) The author of Serious Men has used the literary device of satire to present an
unflattering picture of women characters
(b) Issues of representation to minorities have been debated extensively in American
literature.
(c) The writer of this passage believes that engagement with Dalits is necessary only
because such engagement affirms the importance of identity politics
(d) The writer believes that Rohinton Mistry presented a stereotypical representation of
Dalits character in his book.
15. According to the information available in the passage, the writer attributes the
prevalence of representation of Dalits by non-Dalits in literature, art and media to
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