Explore topic-wise InterviewSolutions in Current Affairs.

Speaker is the presiding officer of the Lok Sabha.

नृवंशशास्त्र के अध्ययन का विषय समकालीन नृजातीय समूहों का विश्लेषणात्मक अध्ययन होता है। इसमें उनके रहन-सहन, खान-पान, आजीविका के साधन, प्रौद्योगिकी आदि की जाँच की जाती है।

14 days can the Rajya Sabha delay a Money Bill.

A money bill duly passed by the Lok Sabha can be delayed by fourteen days by the Rajya Sabha.

B) Between 1 to 2 hectares

The right to freedom is given in Articles 19-22. This right is a cluster of six freedoms. These are as follows :

• Freedom of speech and expression.
• Freedom to assemble peacefully and without arms.
• Freedom to form associations or unions.
• Freedom to move freely throughout the territory of India.
• Freedom to reside and settle in any part of the territory of India.
• Freedom to practise any profession or carry on any occupation, trade or business.

There are the following differences between the Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles of State Policy :

1. The Fundamental Rights have been granted by the Constitution to the people. The Directive Principles are instructions from the Constitution to the state.
2. The Fundamental Rights are enshrined in the Constitution and have special sanctity. They are justiciable. The Directive Principles are in the form of directions to the state and are not justiciable. They cannot be enforced by courts of law.
3. The Fundamental Rights can be suspended in case of national emergency but the Directive Principles cannot be suspended.
4. The scope of Fundamental Rights is limited. They intend to establish political democracy. The scope of Directive Principles is wider. Their aim is to establish social and economic democracy and a just society.

The Indian Constitution is the lengthiest and the most detailed Constitution in the world:

• There are 395 articles and 12 schedules in the Indian Constitution.
• It has a detailed description of the composition, powers and mutual relations of different organs of the government. It also explains the mutual relations of the state and the citizens.
• It has a detailed description of the Fundamental Rights of Indian citizens. Ten Fundamental Duties of the citizens have also been included in the Constitution by the 42nd constitutional amendment.
• The distribution of powers between the centre and the states has clearly been stated by the Constitution as it is federal in form.

The Indian Constitution in its original form did not contain the fundamental duties of citizens. The fundamental duties were added in the Indian constitution in 1976 through the Forty-second constitution amendment act.

1. Inclusion of Fundamental Duties in the Constitution is a progressive step.
2. The Fundamental Duties are incorporated in the Constitution to develop a sense of nationalism and patriotic feelings among the citizens.
3. The Fundamental Duties help the citizens to follow a code of conduct that would strengthen the nation, protect its sovereignty and integrity.

Hero-worship plays a huge negative role in Indian politics. By excessive admiration for a person, the people of India tend to sacrifice their liberties at the feet of the person whom they admire. This can lead to misuse of power by exercising unconstitutional methods and encroaching upon people’s freedom.

1. Duties of an Ideal Citizen

Respected chief guest Dr. Ashok Pillai, our Principal Dr. Pradeep Sanghvi, teachers and my dear friends, 

Good Evening ! I am Mayank Gala, a member of the NSS unit of our college. It is indeed a matter of pride for me to share my views on the topic ‘Duties of an Ideal Citizen.’ in front of an august gathering. ‘Duties of an ideal citizen’ according to me, has become a necessity for everyone to be aware of in the present situation of our country.

The first question that comes to my mind at this moment is “Who is an ideal citizen?” Is it a person who is honest, knows his responsibilities and values, respects others needs, is conscious of taking care of the environment and thus contributing to the society in general making it a better place to stay? , Yes, an ideal citizen ideally should have all these qualities.

I personally feel that an ideal citizen should not consider his duties as obligations and fulfill them on his own urge. If all of us make a sincere effort to carry on with our jobs, the society is bound to prosper. Since we all are members of the society, to make it exemplary is our duty. We need to remember this at every step we take in our lives and things will fall into their own places.

Here, I can give some examples which all of us can do easily. I know that there are big words like trustworthiness, honesty, courtesy, respecting the rights of others as well as laws, and these are the personal traits of an ideal citizen. But I want to give you a simple list of things which all of us can follow easily.

My list begins with a simple task of not littering the environment, followed by, conserving water, encouraging greenery in our housing societies, wearing helmets and also encouraging our pillons to wear one, maintaining dignity of all the communities and last but not the least, paying taxes on time.

Of course, the list will be longer than this. But “well begun is half done”. And the most important things, I remind all of us again that the “charity begins at home” So, let’s start! 

I thank the organizers to give me an opportunity to talk to all of you. I am also grateful to each and every person in the audience for their patient hearing. I am convinced that we can full fill our dreams of having an ideal society. 

Thank you !

2. Merits of Democracy

Respected judges and my dear friends, I am Sandeep Agarwal wishing all of you a very good afternoon.

Today, I am going to talk on ‘Merits of Democracy’ I am sure, we all remember the definition Abraham Lincoln gave of democracy that it is “Government of the people, for the people and by the people”. In short, I can say that democracy is rule of the people. 

So, what can be the merits of the rule of the people? The first merit that immediately comes to my mind is that recognizes the strength of people’s will which is expressed through their elected representatives sitting in the Parliament.

A true democracy limits the power of these representatives and they have to strictly follow the constitution which again cannot be altered or amended except through right procedural process.

This is, I feel, the merit of democracy, where every effort is made to prevent the accumulation of power in the hands of any particular individual.

This leads us to the fact that the foremost demand of democracy is free and fair election. Every voter not only has access to the voting machine but secrecy of his vote has to be strictly maintained. Liberty, equality, fraternity are the three pillars of a good democracy and in a proper democratic situation it must be followed religiously.

Unless these principles are sincerely maintained, how will people who are an integral part of democracy, get assurance of safety, security as well as courage to express their views/ problems freely? Here comes the win of democracy over dictatorship where people do not have freedom of speech.

The role of unbiased press and then freedom of expression are urgent necessities so that they can reach a large number of people’s opinion to the government to judge the pros and cons of their decisions. The Parliament proceedings should be open to the public so that they can see how their elected representatives are behaving. In a true democracy, the people have the power of rejecting their representatives and that is their best safeguard.

But, I am sure you will all agree with me that no electoral system can be fool-proof and perfect democracy can be found in the utopia of poets and dreamers. We have to be satisfied with the nearest maintenance of the sanctity of democracy. Democracy is an evolutionary process. So, it is not wrong on our part to expect the scope for modification and change in the light of experience. 

In conclusion, I request all of you to keep your hopes and expectations alive not only to have a true democracy in our country but to maintain its merits also. I thank our Cultural Forum team for giving me the opportunity to speak in front of an august audience. Thank you for your patient hearing !

3. Advantages of Education

Respected judges and my dear friends, 

Good afternoon! I am Deepak Shah and my topic for today’s elocution competition is ‘Advantages of Education’. 

As I was thinking about the topic, two immediate questions that came to mind are, “How and when does education begin? Does it start when a child goes to school or learn alphabet? Looking around, I get a strong ’NO’ as answer. I believe, education begins with the Mother’s encouraging work, father’s words of praise and approval, sibling’s sympathy, help and sometimes fights even, with the gathering of flowers from the garden, with the chirping of the birds and last but not the least in the company of friends. Thus, the child learns to feel, observe, receive and remember as his mind opens out.

The ultimate aim of education, I know, everyone will agree, is to develop all the faculties of a person physical, mental or moral. Education needs to help a person to be true to his own self as Shakespeare said, “To thy own self, be true.” Book-bound education limits a person. Rabindranath Tagore showed us the way at Shantiniketan how education would make a complete personality.

The true objective of education is to train the mind , to build confidence, to judge the good and bad of the things. I feel, the least advantage of education is to create the right temperament needed at the right time. I must include here the need for physical education since “A sound mind can only exist in a sound body” The harmony among mental, physical and moral learning can only supply the proper benefits of education.

To talk about the advantages of education, standing in front of so many educators, is not a small task. This has been possible because of my teachers who have been facilitators of giving me confidence to go ahead with my aspirations. This has been the advantage of my education, I believe and I salute my teachers for that.

I thank the judges, the Cultural forum team once again and all my dear friends and teachers sitting in the audience for their patient hearing which gave me the courage to present my views.

4. Equality : A Blessing

Respected dignitaries on the dais, our honourable guests, my teachers and my dear friends,

Good afternoon to you all ! I am Deepali Doshi who is fortunate to be selected as one of the speakers to represent our college for the seminar organized by our college on the topic ‘Equality : A Blessing’.

‘Equality : A Blessing’ – one of the topics which is very close to my heart. From my childhood, I have enjoyed the situation of ‘no discrimination’ at home by my parents. I always thought of this as a natural things to happen.

I grew up and faced the big world. I started understanding the value and necessity of equal opportunity in the society. How a person uses that opportunity depends on his/her capabilities and the situations he/she faces in life. Ideally, equality means that all citizens are equal before the law, allowed to exercise the franchise, are entitled to fulfill equal rights and duties prescribed in the constitution. That leads to a levelling process which is definitely a blessing.

I must admit here, equality needs to be maintained at various levels like having social equality, political equality, economic equality and of course equality of opportunity and education. Social equality is an urgency for peaceful co-existence as it refers to the absence of discrimination of caste, creed, colour, clans, groups and classes.

Who can deny the benefits of this? Political equality gives access to all citizens similar political rights. We the people of India have the benefits of Universal Adult Franchise which gives us the right to elect our representatives to run the government the way we deserve it.

Economic equality is a dream-like situation where each citizen is provided equal opportunity to make economic progress. Practically, that seems difficult but a responsible government definitely makes an attempt to fulfill it to a large extent. Equal right to education is the birthright of every citizen. I know, everybody in this hall will say in unison with me, ‘Education is the great equalizer… opening doors of opportunity for all.’

I have tried to talk about various equalities and the ideal situations to provide them. But the toughest job is to make equality, a blessing in real life, though each one of us wishes for it. To make it a reality is the joint responsibility of the government and we, the people.

I enjoyed talking to such an alert and responsible audience. Thank you for all your patient hearing.

5. Freedom of Speech

Respected judges, my teachers and my dear friends, 

Good Evening ! I am Pooja Banerji. I am going to talk on ‘Freedom of Speech’.

‘Freedom of speech’ is an oft-quoted expression these days. Everyday wants to enjoy this freedom but in the process, knowingly or may be unknowingly, disturbs the peace in the society.

If freedom of speech is so powerful that it is capable of disturbing the peace in an otherwise stable society, then let me find out the answers to the questions like, “What is freedom of speech and what is the ideal situation to use this freedom?” I am sure, we all are bothered by these questions often because many times, some utterances in the name of freedom of speech, spread like wild fire, making the situations go out of hand.

We know that the constitution of India provides this fundamental right to the general public as well as the media to express their ideas and opinions freely. Like India, this right is provided by some other countries also but with some limitations.

But can’t freedom of speech be used positively? Constructive criticism is always welcome and is also needed to keep a person or the government under check since all activities are closely monitored.

With freedom comes responsibility. This license should not be misused to excite others and invite unwanted problems. When we get to enjoy the rights we need to respect it so that it does not spoil the peace and harmony of the society. These days, a common practice of spreading half-truths has become rampant just to create sensation. This, in the name of freedom of speech, causes serious harm and self-discipline, according to me, is the only remedy.

All good things have their positives and negatives and one should know how the use of them should not become liabilities. I want to conclude with a request to everyone that basic humanity should not be forgotten in the pretext of using the fundamental rights of freedom of speech. I join Tracy Morgan to tell all of you, “We have freedom of speech but you got to watch what you say”. 

Thank you all for allowing my freedom of speech and giving it a patient hearing.

6. Unity in Diversity

Respected judges, my teachers and my dear friends,

Good Morning ! I am Gauri Arora and I am fortunate that I have been assigned the job of talking on a topic, ‘Unity in Diversity’.

For the inter-collegiate elocution competition organized by our college. Here I am standing on the podium of a hall which is self-explanatory of ‘Unity in Diversity’. We can see very clearly that people of different religious beliefs, may be caste and creeds, languages, cultures , dresses, and diverse lifestyles as well as eating habits are harmoniously sitting under one roof.

‘Unity in Diversity’ is an expression which is frequently referred to when one talks of India. We, the Indians, are children of one mother, Mother India and that unites us on the principle of brotherhood. I am sure, my friends sitting over there, have ever bothered about caste, religion, social status of the person sitting next to them. That is, in other words, we can call national integration, in the true sense of the term.

India has won its freedom from the British rule of 200 years and the freedom fighters never bothered about their diversities. They all had one mantra in life and that was to free Mother India from the shackles of British rule.

We carry on that tradition after so many years of our independence. India is the land of festivals irrespective of culture, language, rituals, faiths, we are lost in the celebration forgetting completely the existence of our own origin.

One may ask, “How is it possible in the midst of so many diversities?” My answer to such questions will be “Its possible because we respect our togetherness. How can we forget the benefits of safeguarding this unity? It protects our heritage and in the process attracts tourism. The foreigners feel amased with the existence of so many traditions, cuisines, clothings, languages and of course the diverse gifts of Mother Nature.

I feel, the biggest benefit of ‘Unity in Diversity’ is the protection of human rights of all. This gives the citizens confidence of having safety at workplace and automatically encourages healthy teamwork that ultimately leads to progress.

Every coin has two sides, so has the principle of unity. It is an utopian idea to think that there is no social tension because of these diversities. But they can be tactfully handled by the authorities for getting global recognition and most importantly safety and security of our nation.

We all know the age-old saying, ‘United we stand, Divided we fall’ Today, my dear young friends, I am quoting J.K. Rowling, the creator of Harry Potter, “ we are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided” I am sure you all believe her and take it as a maxim to protect the principle of ‘Unity and Diversity’ which is so unique for our country. I want to express my gratitude to Cultural Forum for selecting me to talk on a topic so close to my heart.

1. Respected chief guest Dr. Ashok Pillai, our Principal Dr. Pradeep Sanghvi, teachers and my dear friends,

Good Evening ! I am Mayank Gala, a member of the NSS unit of our college. It is indeed a matter of pride for me to share my views on the topic ‘Duties of an Ideal Citizen.’ in front of an august gathering. ‘Duties of an ideal citizen’ according to me, has become a necessity for everyone to be aware of in the present situation of our country.

The first question that comes to my mind at this moment is “Who is an ideal citizen?” Is it a person who is honest, knows his responsibilities and values, respects others needs, is conscious of taking care of the environment and thus contributing to the society in general making it a better place to stay? , Yes, an ideal citizen ideally should have all these qualities.

I personally feel that an ideal citizen should not consider his duties as obligations and fulfill them on his own urge. If all of us make a sincere effort to carry on with our jobs, the society is bound to prosper. Since we all are members of the society, to make it exemplary is our duty. We need to remember this at every step we take in our lives and things will fall into their own places.

Here, I can give some examples which all of us can do easily. I know that there are big words like trustworthiness, honesty, courtesy, respecting the rights of others as well as laws, and these are the personal traits of an ideal citizen. But I want to give you a simple list of things which all of us can follow easily.

My list begins with a simple task of not littering the environment, followed by, conserving water, encouraging greenery in our housing societies, wearing helmets and also encouraging our pillons to wear one, maintaining dignity of all the communities and last but not the least, paying taxes on time.

Of course, the list will be longer than this. But “well begun is half done”. And the most important things, I remind all of us again that the “charity begins at home” So, let’s start!

I thank the organizers to give me an opportunity to talk to all of you. I am also grateful to each and every person in the audience for their patient hearing. I am convinced that we can fullfill our dreams of having an ideal society. 

Thank you !

2. Respected judges and my dear friends, I am Sandeep Agarwal wishing all of you a very good afternoon.

Today, I am going to talk on ‘Merits of Democracy’ I am sure, we all remember the definition Abraham Lincoln gave of democracy that it is “Government of the people, for the people and by the people”. In short, I can say that democracy is rule of the people. 

So, what can be the merits of the rule of the people? The first merit that immediately comes to my mind is that recognizes the strength of people’s will which is expressed through their elected representatives sitting in the Parliament. 

A true democracy limits the power of these representatives and they have to strictly follow the constitution which again cannot be altered or amended except through right procedural process.

This is, I feel, the merit of democracy, where every effort is made to prevent the accumulation of power in the hands of any particular individual. 

This leads us to the fact that the foremost demand of democracy is free and fair election. Every voter not only has access to the voting machine but secrecy of his vote has to be strictly maintained. Liberty, equality, fraternity are the three pillars of a good democracy and in a proper democratic situation it must be followed religiously. 

Unless these principles are sincerely maintained, how will people who are an integral part of democracy, get assurance of safety, security as well as courage to express their views/ problems freely? Here comes the win of democracy over dictatorship where people do not have freedom of speech. 

The role of unbiased press and then freedom of expression are urgent necessities so that they can reach a large number of people’s opinion to the government to judge the pros and cons of their decisions. The Parliament proceedings should be open to the public so that they can see how their elected representatives are behaving. In a true democracy, the people have the power of rejecting their representatives and that is their best safeguard.

But, I am sure you will all agree with me that no electoral system can be fool-proof and perfect democracy can be found in the utopia of poets and dreamers. We have to be satisfied with the nearest maintenance of the sanctity of democracy. Democracy is an evolutionary process. So, it is not wrong on our part to expect the scope for modification and change in the light of experience. 

In conclusion, I request all of you to keep your hopes and expectations alive not only to have a true democracy in our country but to maintain its merits also. I thank our Cultural Forum team for giving me the opportunity to speak in front of an august audience. Thank you for your patient hearing!

According to Dr. Ambedkar, a nation divided into several thousands of castes, was one of the biggest problems of India becoming a nation. His suggestion was the realization of this fact as early as possible and think of ways and means to realize that goal.

(i) I live in Mumbai / the flowers will bloom in spring.

The frog jumped into the well. 

The jacket was inside the cupboard.

(ii) The duster was on the teacher’s desk. 

The child scattered all his toys onto the floor. 

We were driving over the expressway. 

My friend lives just above my apartment.

(iii) Ramu sits beside his best friend in the classroom. 

Besides being learned, the gentleman is a good human being.

(iv) My grandparents will stay only for three hours. 

My grandparents have been waiting since morning. 

My grandparents have been waiting from 10 o’ clock.

(v) I was going to school. (Definite destination) 

I was going towards school. (May be somewhere near the school)

(vi) The mountaineers came down safely. 

The temperature never went below 40°C. 

The scenes under the sea were very well filmed. 

My mother kept my football kit safely beneath the cot. (Usually used in formal language) 

You can search your slippers underneath the sofa. (Casually used)

(vii) She was sitting between two of us. 

I distributed the chocolates among all my friends, (more commonly used) 

My sister was the topper amongst the girls, (less common than ‘among’)

1. Situation in opposition 

2. harmony to one another 

3. liberation 

4. deterioration

1. We need to hold fast to constitutional methods.

2. There is nothing wrong to be grateful to great men.

3. What are we going to enter into on the 26th January, 1950?

4. In-Inside something

5. A great delusion is being cherished by us.

6. We shall realize that it is necessary to become a nation.

Dr. Ambedkar was worried about the contradictions of equality and fraternity. He was concerned about equality in politics but the possible inequality in our social and economic life. For him, fraternity might be a good concept but it was difficult to achieve.

The first thing that is needed to maintaihn democracy is to follow constitutional methods of achieving our social and economic objectives. The second thing which is of utmost importance to safeguard our democracy is not to lay our liberties even at the feet of a great man blindly.

1. liturgy 

2. solidarity

India as a democratic nation is indeed successful though there are certain elements which come in the way obstructing the smooth functioning of the government. Such elements are regionalism, casteism and fanaticism

(a) Western Ghats

(b) Alaknanda

(b) 30 – 09 – 1993

Finding faults with oneself and criticising them may lead one to disappointment. The person gets discouraged and finds himself guilty. With this feeling of guilt, he cannot dare to do anything positively. He turns pessimistic and loses the battle of life. Therefore, this write-up suggests that only deleting SELFCRITIC.EXE is not enough, it is never to be recovered and it should also go out of the recycle bin.

One who has ‘installed Love’ in his life, is the happiest person in life. Because whoever gives/shares Love, gets it back from them in its due course. ‘Love’ ropes in high esteem, warmth, peace and contentment in one’s life.

When ‘Love’ is installed in somebody’s heart, automatically vicious feelings like pasthurt, lowesteem, grudge, resentment, etc. would go away and in their absence, man can but be happy.

You can start like this: I see a big mountain. White clouds are moving up the mountain. In the east, I see the sun rising. It is clad in purple glory. The snow-covered peaks of the Himalayan range are glowing with white light and seem calm and serene. They seem beautiful as they have put on shining white robes. They are bathing in golden light at the horizon.

I find morning dews and different changing moist colour-shades. It seems that these colour-shades are painting the peaks of the snow-covered mountains. The sun beyond the hills seems as if it were kissing the hills. The love-light lingers the whole day.

At the close of the day, the faint light spreads over the hills and it makes them more beautiful. The voice coming from the hills really thrills me and I makes me feel that it is a voice of soul living : in the mountains.

1. The more you quieten the mind, the more restless it becomes. 

2. Whenever I speak, he interrupts me. 

3. It is nice to be important. But it is more important to be nice. 

4. To live well on earth is good. But to leave well is better.

‘Personification’ is predominantly used in this stanza.

The Himalaya’s Queen returns the rays of the sun falling on it. These rays of the sun are called heaven’s greeting here.

And the morning dewsAnd mellow hues Paint her cheeks with fairy fingers,
While o’er the rills And the sun-kissed hills,
The love-light gently lingers. And the breaking day Sends the first faint ray Of Love’s undying fountains,
While the heart feels the thrills Of the voice from the hills And the Soul that dwells in the mountains. — A. Christina Albers

According to the poet, the summit ‘Kangchenjunga’ is the Himalaya’s Queen.

The Figure of Speech in the line ‘And mellow hues paint her cheeks with fairy fingers.’ is Personification.

(1) The snow is on the age-long summits.

(2) The similar word of ‘ancient’ is ‘hoary’ in the stanza.

(3) The poet calls ‘Kangchenjunga’ the Himalaya’s Queen.

The adjectives used for the Kangchenjunga are ‘Calm and Serene’.

The lion could not walk any further as the hot sand had burned his paws.

They started meeting now and then. Eventually, they fell in love with each other and decided to marry.

The vulture describes the camel as a lone animal in the desert who was big and fat.

The camel agreed to serve the lion in return for a home at his court.

No, I didn’t expect the lion to be kind to the camel who was his prey. Yes, I think the lion’s decision was right as he was thankful to the camel for saving their lives by carrying them back to the forest. His decision was a mark of gratitude towards the camel.

The king realized that his courtiers were unfaithful. In contrast, the camel was loyal and good. So, he offered friendship to the camel.

When the lion king went hunting, the courtiers found animals for him to kill.

The lion king was very witty and wise. He had the skill of teaching his wicked and cunning courtiers a lesson without being cruel to them. He also had the quality of distinguishing between the faithful and the unfaithful. These qualities of the lion king impress me the most.

The camel comes across as very humble and loyal character. He knows very well that he could not be of much use to the lion in the forest. Moreover, he is willing to lay down his life for the sake of his king which means that he is extremely selfless.

1. Lion: Lion was big and strong and very fierce. All the other animals in the forest called him king. The king promised other animals to give them food and protection. Whenever the king roared other animals stood in awe. Whenever he took a walk, others followed him. The lion was king also very responsible. When he had his meal, he left remains for other. So they always had enough to eat.

2. Fox: He was wise and clever creature and adviser of lion king. The fox took an oath of loyalty to the king.

3. Leopard: He was watchful and swift of foot, and a body of lion king.

4. Vulture: He was bird and can fly high in sky and a messager of lion.

No, the courtiers were not being loyal to their king as by getting the camel killed by the lion they would force the lion king to go against his own promise of protecting the camel thereby spoiling the king’s image.

The lion laughed to see the courtiers go because he knew they were unfaithful courtiers and were only with him to serve their own selfish motives. He had been successful in driving them away without pronouncing a cruel judgment against them.

1. False

2. True

Comparative degree.

(i) Yonamine Chiru was the most admired girl in Okinawa. She was intelligent, tall, strong, beautiful and so well trained in Karate that no one could beat her. She had put a condition that she would marry the man who would defeat her in a fair fight.

(ii) Kojo was one of the first men to ask for Yonamine Chiru’s hand. He was so tall and well-built that his hands were like shovels, and his legs resembled tree trunks. He played foul and broke the rules of the game and thus lost his chance to marry Yonamine Chiru.