OPSC OAS 2019 General Studies Paper-II Official Paper

Read the following passage and answer the question that follow passage. Your answer to these question should be based on the passage only.

Erosion in Nature is a beneficent process without which the world would have died long ago. The same process, accelerated by human mismanagement, has become one of the most vicious and destructive forces that has ever been released by man. What is usually known as ‘geological erosion’ or ‘denudation’ is a universal phenomenon which through thousands of years has carved the earth into its present shape. Denudation is an early and important process in soil formation, whereby the original rock material is continuously broken down and sorted out by wind and water until it becomes suitable for colonization by plants. Plants, by the binding effects of their roots, by the protection they afford against rain and wind and by the fertility they impart to the soil, bring denudation almost to a standstill. Everybody must have compared the rugged and irregular shape of bare mountain peaks where denudation is still active with the smooth and harmonious curves of slopes that have long been protected by a manile of vegetation. Nevertheless, some slight denudation is always occurring. As each superficial film of plant covered soil becomes exhausted it is removed by rain or wind, to be deposited mainly in the rivers and sea, and a corresponding thin layer of new soil forms by slow weathering of the underlying rock. The earth is continuously discarding its old, wom out skin and renewing its living sheath of soil from the dead rock beneath. In this way an equilibrium is reached between denudation and soil formation so that, unless the equilibrium is disturbed, a mature soil preserves a more or less constant depth and character indefinitely. The depth is sometimes only a few inches, occasionally several feet, but within it lies the whole capacity of the earth to produce life. Below that thin layer comprising the delicate organism known as soil is a planet as lifeless as the moon.

The equilibrium between denudation and soil formation is easily disturbed by the activities of man. Cultivation, deforestation or the destruction of natural vegetation by grazing or other means,  unless carried out according to certain immutable conditions imposed by each region, may so accelerate denudation that the soil, which would normally be washed or blown away in a century, disappears within a year or even within a day. But no human ingenuity can accelerate the soil-renewing process from lifeless rock to an extent at all comparable to the acceleration of denudation. This man accelerated denudation is what is now known as soil erosion. It is the almost inevitable result of reducing below a certain limit the natural fertility of the soil of a man betraying his most sacred trust when he assumed dominion over the land. That the ultimate consequence of unchecked soil erosion, when it sweeps over whole countries as it is doing today, must be national extinction is obvious, for whatever other essential raw material a nation may dispense with, it cannot exist without fertile soil. Nor is extinction of a nation by erosion merely a hypothetical occurrence that may occur some future date; it has occurred several times in the past. Erosion has, indeed, been one of the most potent factors causing the downfall of former civilisations and empires whose ruined cities now lie amid barren wastes that once were the world’s most fertile lands. The deserts of North China, Persia, Mesopotamia and North Africa tell all the same story of gradual exhaustion of the soil as the increasing demands made upon it by expanding civilization exceeded its recuperative powers. Soil erosion, then as . now, followed soil exhaustion.

In the beginning of the passage the author implies that:

Read the following passage and answer the question that follow passage. Your answer to these question should be based on the passage only.

Erosion in Nature is a beneficent process without which the world would have died long ago. The same process, accelerated by human mismanagement, has become one of the most vicious and destructive forces that has ever been released by man. What is usually known as ‘geological erosion’ or ‘denudation’ is a universal phenomenon which through thousands of years has carved the earth into its present shape. Denudation is an early and important process in soil formation, whereby the original rock material is continuously broken down and sorted out by wind and water until it becomes suitable for colonization by plants. Plants, by the binding effects of their roots, by the protection they afford against rain and wind and by the fertility they impart to the soil, bring denudation almost to a standstill. Everybody must have compared the rugged and irregular shape of bare mountain peaks where denudation is still active with the smooth and harmonious curves of slopes that have long been protected by a manile of vegetation. Nevertheless, some slight denudation is always occurring. As each superficial film of plant covered soil becomes exhausted it is removed by rain or wind, to be deposited mainly in the rivers and sea, and a corresponding thin layer of new soil forms by slow weathering of the underlying rock. The earth is continuously discarding its old, wom out skin and renewing its living sheath of soil from the dead rock beneath. In this way an equilibrium is reached between denudation and soil formation so that, unless the equilibrium is disturbed, a mature soil preserves a more or less constant depth and character indefinitely. The depth is sometimes only a few inches, occasionally several feet, but within it lies the whole capacity of the earth to produce life. Below that thin layer comprising the delicate organism known as soil is a planet as lifeless as the moon.

The equilibrium between denudation and soil formation is easily disturbed by the activities of man. Cultivation, deforestation or the destruction of natural vegetation by grazing or other means,  unless carried out according to certain immutable conditions imposed by each region, may so accelerate denudation that the soil, which would normally be washed or blown away in a century, disappears within a year or even within a day. But no human ingenuity can accelerate the soil-renewing process from lifeless rock to an extent at all comparable to the acceleration of denudation. This man accelerated denudation is what is now known as soil erosion. It is the almost inevitable result of reducing below a certain limit the natural fertility of the soil of a man betraying his most sacred trust when he assumed dominion over the land. That the ultimate consequence of unchecked soil erosion, when it sweeps over whole countries as it is doing today, must be national extinction is obvious, for whatever other essential raw material a nation may dispense with, it cannot exist without fertile soil. Nor is extinction of a nation by erosion merely a hypothetical occurrence that may occur some future date; it has occurred several times in the past. Erosion has, indeed, been one of the most potent factors causing the downfall of former civilisations and empires whose ruined cities now lie amid barren wastes that once were the world’s most fertile lands. The deserts of North China, Persia, Mesopotamia and North Africa tell all the same story of gradual exhaustion of the soil as the increasing demands made upon it by expanding civilization exceeded its recuperative powers. Soil erosion, then as . now, followed soil exhaustion.

According to the author denudation :

Read the following passage and answer the question that follow passage. Your answer to these question should be based on the passage only.

Erosion in Nature is a beneficent process without which the world would have died long ago. The same process, accelerated by human mismanagement, has become one of the most vicious and destructive forces that has ever been released by man. What is usually known as ‘geological erosion’ or ‘denudation’ is a universal phenomenon which through thousands of years has carved the earth into its present shape. Denudation is an early and important process in soil formation, whereby the original rock material is continuously broken down and sorted out by wind and water until it becomes suitable for colonization by plants. Plants, by the binding effects of their roots, by the protection they afford against rain and wind and by the fertility they impart to the soil, bring denudation almost to a standstill. Everybody must have compared the rugged and irregular shape of bare mountain peaks where denudation is still active with the smooth and harmonious curves of slopes that have long been protected by a manile of vegetation. Nevertheless, some slight denudation is always occurring. As each superficial film of plant covered soil becomes exhausted it is removed by rain or wind, to be deposited mainly in the rivers and sea, and a corresponding thin layer of new soil forms by slow weathering of the underlying rock. The earth is continuously discarding its old, wom out skin and renewing its living sheath of soil from the dead rock beneath. In this way an equilibrium is reached between denudation and soil formation so that, unless the equilibrium is disturbed, a mature soil preserves a more or less constant depth and character indefinitely. The depth is sometimes only a few inches, occasionally several feet, but within it lies the whole capacity of the earth to produce life. Below that thin layer comprising the delicate organism known as soil is a planet as lifeless as the moon.

The equilibrium between denudation and soil formation is easily disturbed by the activities of man. Cultivation, deforestation or the destruction of natural vegetation by grazing or other means,  unless carried out according to certain immutable conditions imposed by each region, may so accelerate denudation that the soil, which would normally be washed or blown away in a century, disappears within a year or even within a day. But no human ingenuity can accelerate the soil-renewing process from lifeless rock to an extent at all comparable to the acceleration of denudation. This man accelerated denudation is what is now known as soil erosion. It is the almost inevitable result of reducing below a certain limit the natural fertility of the soil of a man betraying his most sacred trust when he assumed dominion over the land. That the ultimate consequence of unchecked soil erosion, when it sweeps over whole countries as it is doing today, must be national extinction is obvious, for whatever other essential raw material a nation may dispense with, it cannot exist without fertile soil. Nor is extinction of a nation by erosion merely a hypothetical occurrence that may occur some future date; it has occurred several times in the past. Erosion has, indeed, been one of the most potent factors causing the downfall of former civilisations and empires whose ruined cities now lie amid barren wastes that once were the world’s most fertile lands. The deserts of North China, Persia, Mesopotamia and North Africa tell all the same story of gradual exhaustion of the soil as the increasing demands made upon it by expanding civilization exceeded its recuperative powers. Soil erosion, then as . now, followed soil exhaustion.

The word ‘Weathering’ in the phrase ‘slow weathering of the underlying rock’ means:

Read the following passage and answer the question that follow passage. Your answer to these question should be based on the passage only.

Erosion in Nature is a beneficent process without which the world would have died long ago. The same process, accelerated by human mismanagement, has become one of the most vicious and destructive forces that has ever been released by man. What is usually known as ‘geological erosion’ or ‘denudation’ is a universal phenomenon which through thousands of years has carved the earth into its present shape. Denudation is an early and important process in soil formation, whereby the original rock material is continuously broken down and sorted out by wind and water until it becomes suitable for colonization by plants. Plants, by the binding effects of their roots, by the protection they afford against rain and wind and by the fertility they impart to the soil, bring denudation almost to a standstill. Everybody must have compared the rugged and irregular shape of bare mountain peaks where denudation is still active with the smooth and harmonious curves of slopes that have long been protected by a manile of vegetation. Nevertheless, some slight denudation is always occurring. As each superficial film of plant covered soil becomes exhausted it is removed by rain or wind, to be deposited mainly in the rivers and sea, and a corresponding thin layer of new soil forms by slow weathering of the underlying rock. The earth is continuously discarding its old, wom out skin and renewing its living sheath of soil from the dead rock beneath. In this way an equilibrium is reached between denudation and soil formation so that, unless the equilibrium is disturbed, a mature soil preserves a more or less constant depth and character indefinitely. The depth is sometimes only a few inches, occasionally several feet, but within it lies the whole capacity of the earth to produce life. Below that thin layer comprising the delicate organism known as soil is a planet as lifeless as the moon.

The equilibrium between denudation and soil formation is easily disturbed by the activities of man. Cultivation, deforestation or the destruction of natural vegetation by grazing or other means,  unless carried out according to certain immutable conditions imposed by each region, may so accelerate denudation that the soil, which would normally be washed or blown away in a century, disappears within a year or even within a day. But no human ingenuity can accelerate the soil-renewing process from lifeless rock to an extent at all comparable to the acceleration of denudation. This man accelerated denudation is what is now known as soil erosion. It is the almost inevitable result of reducing below a certain limit the natural fertility of the soil of a man betraying his most sacred trust when he assumed dominion over the land. That the ultimate consequence of unchecked soil erosion, when it sweeps over whole countries as it is doing today, must be national extinction is obvious, for whatever other essential raw material a nation may dispense with, it cannot exist without fertile soil. Nor is extinction of a nation by erosion merely a hypothetical occurrence that may occur some future date; it has occurred several times in the past. Erosion has, indeed, been one of the most potent factors causing the downfall of former civilisations and empires whose ruined cities now lie amid barren wastes that once were the world’s most fertile lands. The deserts of North China, Persia, Mesopotamia and North Africa tell all the same story of gradual exhaustion of the soil as the increasing demands made upon it by expanding civilization exceeded its recuperative powers. Soil erosion, then as . now, followed soil exhaustion.

The author condemns

Read the following passage and answer the question that follow passage. Your answer to these question should be based on the passage only.

Erosion in Nature is a beneficent process without which the world would have died long ago. The same process, accelerated by human mismanagement, has become one of the most vicious and destructive forces that has ever been released by man. What is usually known as ‘geological erosion’ or ‘denudation’ is a universal phenomenon which through thousands of years has carved the earth into its present shape. Denudation is an early and important process in soil formation, whereby the original rock material is continuously broken down and sorted out by wind and water until it becomes suitable for colonization by plants. Plants, by the binding effects of their roots, by the protection they afford against rain and wind and by the fertility they impart to the soil, bring denudation almost to a standstill. Everybody must have compared the rugged and irregular shape of bare mountain peaks where denudation is still active with the smooth and harmonious curves of slopes that have long been protected by a manile of vegetation. Nevertheless, some slight denudation is always occurring. As each superficial film of plant covered soil becomes exhausted it is removed by rain or wind, to be deposited mainly in the rivers and sea, and a corresponding thin layer of new soil forms by slow weathering of the underlying rock. The earth is continuously discarding its old, wom out skin and renewing its living sheath of soil from the dead rock beneath. In this way an equilibrium is reached between denudation and soil formation so that, unless the equilibrium is disturbed, a mature soil preserves a more or less constant depth and character indefinitely. The depth is sometimes only a few inches, occasionally several feet, but within it lies the whole capacity of the earth to produce life. Below that thin layer comprising the delicate organism known as soil is a planet as lifeless as the moon.

The equilibrium between denudation and soil formation is easily disturbed by the activities of man. Cultivation, deforestation or the destruction of natural vegetation by grazing or other means,  unless carried out according to certain immutable conditions imposed by each region, may so accelerate denudation that the soil, which would normally be washed or blown away in a century, disappears within a year or even within a day. But no human ingenuity can accelerate the soil-renewing process from lifeless rock to an extent at all comparable to the acceleration of denudation. This man accelerated denudation is what is now known as soil erosion. It is the almost inevitable result of reducing below a certain limit the natural fertility of the soil of a man betraying his most sacred trust when he assumed dominion over the land. That the ultimate consequence of unchecked soil erosion, when it sweeps over whole countries as it is doing today, must be national extinction is obvious, for whatever other essential raw material a nation may dispense with, it cannot exist without fertile soil. Nor is extinction of a nation by erosion merely a hypothetical occurrence that may occur some future date; it has occurred several times in the past. Erosion has, indeed, been one of the most potent factors causing the downfall of former civilisations and empires whose ruined cities now lie amid barren wastes that once were the world’s most fertile lands. The deserts of North China, Persia, Mesopotamia and North Africa tell all the same story of gradual exhaustion of the soil as the increasing demands made upon it by expanding civilization exceeded its recuperative powers. Soil erosion, then as . now, followed soil exhaustion.

The best title for the passage will be

Read the following passage and answer the question that follows the passage. Your answer to these questions should be based on the passage only.

Management is a set of process that can keep a complicated system of people and technology running smoothly. The most important aspects of management include planning, budgeting, organizing, staffing, controlling and problem solving. Leadership is a set of processes that creates organisations in the first place or adapts them to significantly changing circumstances. Leadership defines what the future should look like, aligns people with that vision, and inspires them to make it happen despite the obstacles. This distinction is absolutely crucial for our purposes here. Successful transformation is 70 to 90 percent leadership and only 10 to 30 percent management. Yet for historical reasons, many organisations today do not have much leadership and almost everyone thinks about the problems here as one of the managing change.

For most of this century, as we created thousands of large organizations for the first time in human history, we did not have enough good managers to keep all those bureaucracies functioning. So many companies and universities developed management programmes, and hundreds and thousands of people were encouraged to learn management on the job and they did. But people were taught little about leadership. To some degree, management was the main item on the twentieth century agenda because that is what was needed who was a leader, we needed hundreds of managers to run their ever growing enterprises.

Unfortunately for us today, this emphasis on management has often been institutionalized in corporate cultures that discourage employees from learning how to lead. Ironically, past success is usually the key ingredient in producing this outcome. The syndrome, as I have observed it on many occasions, goes like this: success creates some degree of marked dominance, which keeping in turn produces much growth. After a while keeping the ever larger organization under control becomes the primary challenges. So attention turns inward, and managerial competencies are nurtured. With a strong emphasis on management but not leadership, bureaucracy and an inward focus take over. But with continued success, the result mostly of market dominance, the problem often goes unaddressed and an unhealthy arrogance begins to evolve. All of these characteristics then make any transformation effort much more difficult.

Arrogant managers can over evaluate their current performances and competitive position, listen poorly, and learn slowly those who want to respond to shifting conditions. And the lack of leadership leaves no force inside these organizations ‘to break out of the morass.

To main topic of the passage is

Read the following passage and answer the question that follows the passage. Your answer to these questions should be based on the passage only.

Management is a set of process that can keep a complicated system of people and technology running smoothly. The most important aspects of management include planning, budgeting, organizing, staffing, controlling and problem solving. Leadership is a set of processes that creates organisations in the first place or adapts them to significantly changing circumstances. Leadership defines what the future should look like, aligns people with that vision, and inspires them to make it happen despite the obstacles. This distinction is absolutely crucial for our purposes here. Successful transformation is 70 to 90 percent leadership and only 10 to 30 percent management. Yet for historical reasons, many organisations today do not have much leadership and almost everyone thinks about the problems here as one of the managing change.

For most of this century, as we created thousands of large organizations for the first time in human history, we did not have enough good managers to keep all those bureaucracies functioning. So many companies and universities developed management programmes, and hundreds and thousands of people were encouraged to learn management on the job and they did. But people were taught little about leadership. To some degree, management was the main item on the twentieth century agenda because that is what was needed who was a leader, we needed hundreds of managers to run their ever growing enterprises.

Unfortunately for us today, this emphasis on management has often been institutionalized in corporate cultures that discourage employees from learning how to lead. Ironically, past success is usually the key ingredient in producing this outcome. The syndrome, as I have observed it on many occasions, goes like this: success creates some degree of marked dominance, which keeping in turn produces much growth. After a while keeping the ever larger organization under control becomes the primary challenges. So attention turns inward, and managerial competencies are nurtured. With a strong emphasis on management but not leadership, bureaucracy and an inward focus take over. But with continued success, the result mostly of market dominance, the problem often goes unaddressed and an unhealthy arrogance begins to evolve. All of these characteristics then make any transformation effort much more difficult.

Arrogant managers can over evaluate their current performances and competitive position, listen poorly, and learn slowly those who want to respond to shifting conditions. And the lack of leadership leaves no force inside these organizations ‘to break out of the morass.

In a successful transformation, the leadership contribution in percentage is:

Read the following passage and answer the question that follows the passage. Your answer to these questions should be based on the passage only.

Management is a set of process that can keep a complicated system of people and technology running smoothly. The most important aspects of management include planning, budgeting, organizing, staffing, controlling and problem solving. Leadership is a set of processes that creates organisations in the first place or adapts them to significantly changing circumstances. Leadership defines what the future should look like, aligns people with that vision, and inspires them to make it happen despite the obstacles. This distinction is absolutely crucial for our purposes here. Successful transformation is 70 to 90 percent leadership and only 10 to 30 percent management. Yet for historical reasons, many organisations today do not have much leadership and almost everyone thinks about the problems here as one of the managing change.

For most of this century, as we created thousands of large organizations for the first time in human history, we did not have enough good managers to keep all those bureaucracies functioning. So many companies and universities developed management programmes, and hundreds and thousands of people were encouraged to learn management on the job and they did. But people were taught little about leadership. To some degree, management was the main item on the twentieth century agenda because that is what was needed who was a leader, we needed hundreds of managers to run their ever growing enterprises.

Unfortunately for us today, this emphasis on management has often been institutionalized in corporate cultures that discourage employees from learning how to lead. Ironically, past success is usually the key ingredient in producing this outcome. The syndrome, as I have observed it on many occasions, goes like this: success creates some degree of marked dominance, which keeping in turn produces much growth. After a while keeping the ever larger organization under control becomes the primary challenges. So attention turns inward, and managerial competencies are nurtured. With a strong emphasis on management but not leadership, bureaucracy and an inward focus take over. But with continued success, the result mostly of market dominance, the problem often goes unaddressed and an unhealthy arrogance begins to evolve. All of these characteristics then make any transformation effort much more difficult.

Arrogant managers can over evaluate their current performances and competitive position, listen poorly, and learn slowly those who want to respond to shifting conditions. And the lack of leadership leaves no force inside these organizations ‘to break out of the morass.

According to the author, the leadership is