Direction (Q. 1 - 5) : In each question below is given a statement followed by two assumptions numbered I and II. An assumption is something supposed or taken for granted. You have to consider the statement and the following assumptions and decide which of the assumptions is implicit in the statement.
Statement: "Provide scholarships to the children in primary schools to increase the number of students in school." — View of Mr X
Assumptions:
I. Scholarship will attract the children to school.
II. Those children who are deprived of money but intelligent will attend the school and scholarship will make their aspirations feasible.
Statement: "Smartness cannot be the only criteria for deciding a person's personality."— Mr Y
Assumptions:
I. Persons with equal smartness are not necessarily treated equally.
II. Personality of a person is not linked only with smartness.
Statement: "Everyone desires to buy a mobile phone." — a student
Assumptions:
I. Mobile phones are not a necessity but an item of luxury.
II. Mobile phone makes one more active.
Statement: "Top rankers of forthcoming examination for probationary officers will definitely be from our classroom coaching." — Co-ordinator of XYZ classroom coaching
Assumptions:
I. Most of the intelligent competitors are from XYZ coaching institutes.
II. Question-paper of the forthcoming examination will be entirely based on the concept-building papers of XYZ institute.
Neither I nor II is implicit. Only intelligent competitors are not the basis of the statement of the co-ordinator. Hence I is not implicit. II may or may not be assumption. Hence, II is also not implicit.
Statement: "It has become the need of the hour that we should entrust all the power, regulating our franchisees, to one person to maintain smooth running of our franchisees as well as the organisation."—An employee of XYZ institute
Assumptions:
I. Entrusting powers to more persons will cause flexibility and indiscipline and as a result regulation of organisational work will be hindered.
II. Smooth running of franchisees is necessary for the organisation.
Direction (Q. 6 - 10) : In making decisions about important questions, it is desirable to be able to distinguish between strong arguments and weak arguments insofar as they relate to the question. Strong arguments are those which are both important and directly related to the question. Weak arguments are those which are of minor importance and also may not be direct related to the question or may be related to a trivial aspect of the question.
Instruction: Each question below is followed by two arguments numbered I and II. You have to decide which of the arguments is a strong argument and which is a weak argument.
Statement: Should government hospitals charge user charges from those government employees who pay income taxes ?
Arguments:
I. Yes. This will lessen the burden of the government and money thus accumulated will be helpful in providing more facilities to the needy.
II. No. It will be an injustice towards those persons who pay income taxes as a revenue to the country.
I is strong, because it will make the financial position of hospitals more strong and since user charges will be paid by the income- tax payer class, they will put only a nominal burden on the budget of the class. II is a strong argument because the very reason why the state collects taxes is to provide physical and social infrastructure.
Statement: Should the habit of being absent from the class-room be checked in educational institutions ?
Arguments:
I. Yes. Otherwise it will create a poor image of the institute in the society.
II. No. This will be an act of encroaching upon one's liberty.
Both I and II are weak arguments. I portrays a trivial aspect, hence it is weak. II is weak because it advocates for one's liberty not in a rational sense.
Statement: Should children be prevented completely from using the Internet ?
I. No. Internet is a medium of education where children get education with entertainment.
II.Yes. There are some sites available on Internet which show porno films or programmes etc, which affect the child's mind to a great extent; recent surveys have revealed most of the users of these sites are children.
I is strong because a good medium of education through entertainment must not be banned. II is a weak argument because just because of a few sites it would be not wise to ban children completely from using the Internet.
Statement: Should there be a ban on the persons providing services to more than one firm or organisation ?
Arguments:
I. Yes. It will reduce the problem of unemployment to some extent.
II. No. It will create a lot of frustration and large amount of dissatisfaction and disappointment among the skilful and intellectual classes.
I is not the appropriate way to reduce unemployment. Hence, I is a weak argument. II is obviously strong; otherwise the intellectual classes will feel humiliated and it will hamper the progress of the nation in the long run.
Statement: Should people be allowed to keep traditional arms while on a long train iournev ?
Arguments:
I. Yes. This will reduce the cases of train dacoities and other activities such as snatching chains or ornaments.
II. No. This will create inconvenience to the passengers and aggravate the law-and-order situation.
I may appear strong in view of self defence of the passengers. But it falls weak if you consider the scales of the problem and its solution. II is obviously a strong argument. Free flow of traditional arms in people's hand may lead to violence.
