Reading Comprehension Challenge 22.10.2019

Dear Students

Reading Comprehension plays a pivotal role in the English Section of all competitive exams. So, it is imperative to develop reading habit and that too from problem solving point of view. Hence, to inculcate this habit, we will be periodically dishing out RCs with some questions.  We will also provide some important Vocabulary from the passage. The Length of the passage as well as the number of questions may vary for each day but the takeaways will be the same which are as given below:

• To develop reading habit and question solving skills
• To develop assessing and understanding capabilities
• To build your vocabulary
• To provide ample practice for the exams
• To have an idea about the type of questions asked in various exams

The following passage emphasises on overall benefits that accrue from investing in women’s education.

Read the passage carefully and answer the questions given below it: 

If the evidence is clear and present, then not acting on it would be a chilling demonstration of inability and inefficiency, and the lack of will to bring about change. There should be no doubt that educating a woman serves a larger ameliorative purpose. The recently released Health Ministry survey that showed a direct correlation between the nutritional status of children and their mothers’ education is a further stroke for the case of women’s education. The Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey, which studied 1.2 lakh children between 2016-18, measured diet diversity, meal frequency and minimum acceptable diet as the three core indicators of nutritional deficiency among infants and young children. It demonstrated that with higher levels of schooling for a mother, her children received better diets. On two counts, meal diversity and minimum acceptable diet, and in terms of bolstering food with micro nutrients, the children of mothers with better education did well. The data is revelatory: Only 11.4% of children of mothers with no schooling received adequately diverse meals, while 31.8% whose mothers finished Class XII received diverse meals. While 9.6% of children whose mothers had finished schooling got minimum acceptable diets, only 3.9% of children whose mothers had zero schooling got such a diet.

Development economists have long studied the role that education of girls plays in enabling them to emerge as agents of change. Empirical work in recent years, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen reasons, has clearly shown how the relative aspect and regard for women’s well being is strongly influenced by women’s literacy and educated participation in decisions within and outside the family. In the late 1990s, Tamil Nadu along with the Danish International Development Agency, launched a mass rural literacy project in Dharmapuri, then considered backward, riding largely on local leaders, most of them women. Evaluation showed overall salubrious effects on the community within a short while. Implemented largely through the employ of the local arts, one measure of success, as recorded then, was an increased outpatient attendance in primary health centres. There is a body of compelling evidence for the government to focus on improving female literacy. In Census 2011, the female literacy rate was 65.46%, much lower than for males, at 82.14%. States such as Kerala with a high literacy rate (male and female) also sit at the top of the table on development indicators. As former American First Lady Michelle Obama said, “Because we know that when girls are educated, their countries become stronger and more prosperous.” No other task can assume greater urgency for a nation striving to improve its performance on all fronts.

(Source: The Hindu)

Q.1 How according to the author, a woman’s education is related to the diet of her children?

(a) The more the mother is educated, the less is the nutritional value in the food she prepares for her children.

(b) Education of the mother is inversely proportional to the nutritional status of her children.

(c) Levels of schooling of the mother have got nothing to do with her child’s diets.

(d) An educated mother provides good nutritional value in her children’s diet and vice-versa. 

Q.2 Find the incorrect statement.

(i) One shouldn’t be sceptical about the education of girls.

(ii) The Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey is responsible for gathering data of Nutritional Value in food.

(iii) According to Amartya Sen, women’s literacy is mandatory for regard for relative aspect and regard for women’s well being.

(a) Only (i)

(b) Both (i) and (ii)

(c) Both (ii) and (iii)

(d) All (i), (ii) and (iii)

Q.3 What was the outcome of the mass rural literacy project launched in Tamil Nadu?

(a) It concluded that Dharmapuri was a womem dominated backward area.

(b) It benefitted the community within a short span of time.

(c) Women of Dharmapuri did not get motivated to attend the health centres.

(d)  It concluded that women education is must for each and every community irrespective of its standard of living.

Answers and Explanations:

1. (d); It can be inferred from the third sentence of the passage. Further, the data given in the first paragraph also reveals the same.
2. (c); (ii) is nowhere mentioned in the passage. (iii) appears to be a correct statement in a go but it is incorrect because the passage states that ‘relative aspect and regard for women’s well being is strongly influenced by women’s literacy and educated participation in decisions within and outside the family’. It has not been mentioned that women’s literacy is ‘mandatory’.
3. (b); It can be inferred from the third and fourth sentence of the second paragraph of the passage.

Important Vocabulary:

(i) Ameliorate - To make or become better; improve

Synonyms: Alleviate, Upgrade, Mitigate, Lighten

Antonyms: Aggravate, Harm, Worse, Intensify

Sentence example:

• We wanted to ameliorate the situation.
• Is there anything I can do to ameliorate your punishment?

(ii) Bolster - Support or strengthen

Synonyms: Boost, Aid, Reinforce, Buoy

Antonyms: Discourage, Hinder, Block, Neglect

Sentence example:

• We would need to recall the armies from the south to bolsterour numbers.
• His mother’s presence would bolsterhis weak will.

(iii) Salubrious – Health giving, healthy

Synonyms: Good, Healthful, Sanitary, Beneficial

Antonyms: Unhealthy, Unwholesome, Insalubrious, Harmful

Sentence example:

• There are many salubrious eating establishments on this road.
• There was a salubrious air, at least compared with most of South Delhi.