Comprehension
Since the worldwide inoculation process is going strong, vaccine diplomacy has become a hot topic. In their quest for ensuring vaccine security, a report by The New York Times, based on the data on vaccine contracts compiled by Duke University, shows that the advance purchase contracts made by some advanced countries for potential vaccines would vaccinate their population many times: the European Union, two times, the United States and the United Kingdom, four times, and Canada, six times. The expectation that an early vaccination will bring back normalcy and a required push to economic growth fuelled many advanced countries to engage in vaccine battles. The arguments of public good and global cooperation have gone out of the window now. While advanced countries have turned their back on the need of poor countries to access COVID-19 vaccines, India has displayed empathy to their needs. India has taken a position that a significant percentage of the approved doses will be permitted for exports. While its exports to neighbouring countries will be under grant mode, initial shipment of vaccines to least developed countries will be free of cost. And, shipments of vaccines from India have already started reaching different parts of the developing world. While India is in its first phase of vaccination to cover health-care workers, exports from India are helping other countries also in initiating phase one of their vaccination programme, a gesture well appreciated globally. In a democracy, one can expect the backlash of sending vaccines abroad without vaccinating its population. Nevertheless, India’s approach only reinforces the need of having coordinated global efforts in bringing COVID-19 under control. This response manifests India’s unstinted commitment to global development and has consolidated its name as the world’s pharmacy. The attitude of India towards vaccinating the populations in the poorer countries has generated discussion in the richer countries about the necessity for more proactive measures to roll out vaccines to the developing nations.
Question: 1
Which of the following best describes the purpose of this passage?
Which of the following best describes the purpose of this passage?
Updated On: Jul 15, 2026
- To encourage vaccine nationalism, and discourage global cooperation.
- To discourage vaccine nationalism, and encourage global cooperation
- To encourage poor countries and discourage advanced countries
- To encourage India to provide vaccines to poor nations.
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The Correct Option is B
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The correct Answer is (B):To discourage vaccine nationalism, and encourage global cooperation
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The question asks for the overall purpose of the passage, which should reflect its argument as a whole rather than one isolated detail.
- A) To encourage vaccine nationalism, and discourage global cooperation: This is the direct opposite of the passage's stance. The passage criticizes advanced countries for prioritizing their own populations through bulk advance contracts and praises India specifically for choosing a more cooperative route instead.
- B) To discourage vaccine nationalism, and encourage global cooperation: The passage criticizes wealthy nations for turning their back on the need of poor countries, praises India's willingness to export doses and support other nations, and ends by stressing the need of having coordinated global efforts. This lines up with discouraging self first vaccine nationalism and encouraging cooperation.
- C) To encourage poor countries and discourage advanced countries: The passage is not addressed at poor countries as an audience to encourage; it is making an argument about how nations should behave collectively. It criticizes a specific behavior, nationalism, not an entire group of countries.
- D) To encourage India to provide vaccines to poor nations: India is already shown doing this in the passage; the passage is not urging India toward a future action but is describing and endorsing what India has already done as a model for others.
The passage's criticism of advanced nations' hoarding and its praise for India's cooperative approach together point to one overall purpose.
The correct answer is B) To discourage vaccine nationalism, and encourage global cooperation.
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Question: 2
The term ‘inoculation process’ as used in the passage means
The term ‘inoculation process’ as used in the passage means
Updated On: Jul 15, 2026
- Production and distribution of vaccines.
- Global struggle for vaccines.
- Pharmaceutical production of vaccines.
- Artificially inducing immunity.
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The Correct Option is D
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The correct Answer is (D):Artificially inducing immunity.
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The question asks for the meaning of inoculation process as it is used in the passage, which is a vocabulary question about a specific medical term.
- A) Production and distribution of vaccines: This describes the supply chain around vaccines, making and shipping them, but inoculation itself refers to what happens to a person's body, not to a factory or a distribution network.
- B) Global struggle for vaccines: The passage does describe countries competing for vaccine access elsewhere, using the phrase vaccine battles, but inoculation is a specific medical term for a procedure on a person, not a description of international competition.
- C) Pharmaceutical production of vaccines: This describes the manufacturing side of vaccines, which is a separate process from what inoculation refers to. Inoculation happens after a vaccine already exists and is given to a person.
- D) Artificially inducing immunity: Inoculation is the standard medical term for deliberately introducing a vaccine or antigen into the body so that it builds immunity to a disease. This matches the passage's opening reference to a worldwide inoculation process describing the act of vaccinating people.
Since the passage uses inoculation process to describe the act of vaccinating populations, the meaning that fits is the medical one, artificially inducing immunity, rather than manufacturing, distribution, or competition.
The correct answer is D) Artificially inducing immunity.
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Question: 3
Advanced purchase contracts of vaccines by developed countries are premised on hopes that
Advanced purchase contracts of vaccines by developed countries are premised on hopes that
Updated On: Jul 15, 2026
- Vaccination will restore normalcy and thrust economic recovery
- Vaccination will bring back powers to nations.
- Vaccination will promote global well-being and growth.
- Vaccination will protect the health of the world population.
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The Correct Option is A
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The correct Answer is (A):Vaccination will restore normalcy and thrust economic recovery
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The question asks what hope or expectation drove advanced countries to sign advance purchase contracts for vaccines, based on the passage's own explanation.
- A) Vaccination will restore normalcy and thrust economic recovery: The passage states this directly, that the expectation of an early vaccination bringing back normalcy and a required push to economic growth fuelled many advanced countries to engage in vaccine battles. This is close to a word for word match.
- B) Vaccination will bring back powers to nations: The passage never mentions restoring political power or authority to nations as a motive; its stated motive is about returning to normal daily life and reviving the economy, not about political power.
- C) Vaccination will promote global well-being and growth: This describes a cooperative, worldwide benefit, but the passage is describing self interested behavior by advanced countries securing doses for their own populations, which is the opposite of a global good motive.
- D) Vaccination will protect the health of the world population: Again, this frames the motive as global in scope, while the passage is specifically explaining why individual advanced countries pursued large private contracts for their own citizens, not a shared worldwide health goal.
The passage gives one specific, quoted expectation behind the advance contracts, restoring normal life and pushing economic growth, which matches option A exactly.
The correct answer is A) Vaccination will restore normalcy and thrust economic recovery.
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Question: 4
The author cautions that India’s approach in vaccine distribution may have negative repercussions among
The author cautions that India’s approach in vaccine distribution may have negative repercussions among
Updated On: Jul 15, 2026
- People from advanced countries
- People from poor countries
- People from developing countries.
- People from India.
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The Correct Option is D
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The correct Answer is (D):People from India.
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The question asks whose reaction the author expects could turn against India's approach of exporting vaccines abroad.
- A) People from advanced countries: The passage's concern about backlash is about a domestic reaction inside the country giving away doses, not about how citizens of other, wealthier countries might react to India's choices.
- B) People from poor countries: Poor countries are described as the beneficiaries of India's exports, receiving free or grant based shipments. They would have no reason drawn from the passage to react negatively to receiving help.
- C) People from developing countries: Like poor countries, developing nations are shown benefiting from India's vaccine exports in the passage, so there is no stated reason for backlash among them either.
- D) People from India: The passage states that in a democracy, one can expect the backlash of sending vaccines abroad without vaccinating its population. The word its refers to India's own population, meaning the criticism the author anticipates would come from within India, from citizens who are not yet vaccinated while doses are being sent elsewhere.
The pronoun its in the passage ties the possible backlash specifically to India's own population, not to any other country's citizens.
The correct answer is D) People from India.
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Question: 5
Among Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the third goal reads, “Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages”. Which of the following sentences from the passage reflects the reversal of this SDG?
Among Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the third goal reads, “Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages”. Which of the following sentences from the passage reflects the reversal of this SDG?
Updated On: Jul 15, 2026
- The arguments of public good and global cooperation have gone out of the window now.
- Advanced countries have turned their back on the need of poor countries to access COVID-19 vaccines.
- Advanced countries have turned their back on the need of poor countries to access COVID-19 vaccines.
- The advance purchase contracts made by some advanced countries for potential vaccines would vaccinate their population many times.
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The Correct Option is D
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The correct Answer is (D):All the above.
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Sustainable Development Goal 3 promises healthy lives and well-being for all at all ages, a universal promise covering every person regardless of country. The question asks which sentence in the passage most directly captures the reversal of that universal promise.
- A) The arguments of public good and global cooperation have gone out of the window now: This sentence names the loss of a value, cooperation, rather than describing a concrete unequal outcome. It tells the reader that cooperation has faded but does not itself show the scale of the inequality the way a specific figure does.
- B) Advanced countries have turned their back on the need of poor countries to access COVID-19 vaccines: This sentence describes unequal access in general terms, wealthy nations ignoring poorer ones, which is relevant to the reversal of for all, but it stays at the level of a general statement rather than quantifying the imbalance.
- C) Advanced countries have turned their back on the need of poor countries to access COVID-19 vaccines: This repeats option B word for word, so it carries the same general point about unequal access without adding anything more specific.
- D) The advance purchase contracts made by some advanced countries for potential vaccines would vaccinate their population many times: This sentence gives the concrete, measurable form of the inequality, some nations securing enough doses to cover their own citizens several times over. A promise of health for all is most sharply reversed by a specific example of a few nations over securing supply while others go without, which is exactly what this sentence states.
Because this sentence turns the general idea of unequal access into a specific, countable imbalance, doses multiplied several times over for a few nations, it is the sentence that most concretely reverses the for all promise in SDG 3.
The correct answer is D) The advance purchase contracts made by some advanced countries for potential vaccines would vaccinate their population many times.
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Top CLAT Questions
- In the realm of contemporary literature, the interplay between character and setting is a nuanced dance that shapes the narrative’s essence. The setting, often described with painstaking detail, becomes more than a backdrop; it becomes a character, influencing the plot and character development.
Consider, for instance, the barren expanse of the desert in Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake. The arid landscape mirrors the sense of isolation felt by the protagonist, Gogol, as he navigates his identity crisis in a foreign land. The relentless sun and vast sands are not mere descriptions; they are the silent witnesses to his inner turmoil.
On the other end of the literary spectrum, there is Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things. The lush, vibrant Kerala backwaters are not just the setting; they are a character woven into the fabric of the story. The teeming, humid landscape reflects the complex web of human relationships and secrets that unravel in the narrative. This interplay is not confined to contemporary literature alone. In Shakespeare’s timeless tragedy Macbeth, the eerie and foreboding setting of the Scottish moors casts a dark shadow over the characters’ actions. The moors, shrouded in mist and mystery, serve as an ever-present omen of the impending tragedy. - The crisis of justice that is the subject matter of discussion in the media today is in fact the crisis of “justice for the middle class”. The main difference between India and the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries is that whereas the middle class in these countries has reasonable access to justice, in India it does not. A vocal and powerful middle class has emerged in India since 1991. It is demanding reasonable access to justice. Much of the judicial reform effort will help meet this demand…
The question of justice for the poor is, however, an altogether different challenge. No country in the world has been able to secure justice for the poor. Most of the jails of the richest countries are filled with the poorest. The “masses” are more often victims of the criminal justice system than of crime. In India as well, jails are almost exclusively filled with the poor. The civil justice system is hardly accessible to them. They are often victimised by lawyers, touts and court staff. They are docket-excluded, a new type of untouchability. The language and the logic—and the colonial and feudal culture—of the judicial system are alien to them. It rarely takes cognisance of their needs and interests.
Their main concern, therefore, is to escape the attention of the justice system, criminal and civil. A landless Dalit person in the interior of Madhya Pradesh once gave me an insightful definition of a court from the perspective of the masses: “A court is a place where you are forcibly taken by the police to be punished; no one goes to a court.” In contrast, many lawyers and judges colloquially define a court as “a temple of justice where rights are protected”.
These sharply divergent visions mean that justice for one section is often injustice for another. Protecting the livelihood of traditional taxi and auto drivers from predatory pricing by corporate app-based taxi providers by imaginatively using the available tools of law to delay their incursion would be seen by the rich and by sections of the middle class as a failure of the judicial system, and possibly as also resulting in a downgrading of the “ease of doing business” measure. However, the masses would see such a judicial intervention as strong evidence of a good justice system. Although the conflict over competing visions of the nation and conflicting demands from social and economic segments have confined judicial reform of judicial administration mainly to “neutral” areas such as process reform, procedural law, technology, planning and court and case management, judge strength, and the workload of judges, there has been considerable improvement in these areas, and the judicial system has improved its performance.
[Extracted, with edits, from “Justice and the Two Ideas of India”, by G. Mohan Gopal, Frontline] - Everything she wanted was here, at Carignano, in Kasauli. Here, on the ridge of the mountain, in this quiet house. It was the place, and the time of life, that she had wanted and prepared for all her life-as she realized on the first day at Carignano, with a great, cool flowering of relief - and at last she had it. She wanted no one and nothing else. Whatever else came, or happened here, would be an unwelcome intrusion and distraction. This she tried to convey to the plodding postman with a cold and piercing stare from the height of the ridge onto his honest bull back. Unfortunately, he did not look up at her on the hilltop but stared stolidly down at the dust piling onto his shoes as he plodded on. A bullock-man, an oafish ox, she thought bitterly. She stepped backwards into the garden and the wind suddenly billowed up and threw the pine branches about as though to curtain her. She was grey, tall and thin and her silk sari made a sweeping, shivering sound and she fancied she could merge with the pine trees and be mistaken for one. To be a tree, no more and no less, was all she was prepared to undertake.
What pleased and satisfied her so, here at Carignano, was its barrenness. This was the chief virtue of all Kasauli of course-its starkness. It had rocks, it had pines, it had light and air. In every direction there was a sweeping view - to the north, of the mountains, to the south, of the plains. Occasionally an eagle swam through this clear unobstructed mass of light and air, that was all. And Carignano, her home on the ridge, had no more than that. Why should it? The sun shone on its white walls. Its windows were open the ones facing north opened on to the blue waves of the Himalayas flowing out and up to the line of ice and snow sketched upon the sky, while those that faced south looked down the plunging cliff to the plain stretching out, flat and sere to the blurred horizon.
Yes, there were some apricot trees close to the house. There were clumps of iris that had finished blooming. There was the kitchen with a wing of smoke lifting out of its chimney and a stack of wood outside its door. But these were incidental, almost unimportant.
[Extracted, with edits and revisions, from “Fire on the Mountain” by Anita Desai] - English literature is a vast and diverse field that has left an indelible mark on the world of letters. From the eloquent plays of William Shakespeare to the complex novels of Jane Austen and the profound poetry of William Wordsworth, English literature offers a window into the human experience. One of the luminaries of English literature is William Shakespeare, often hailed as the greatest playwright in the history of English language. His works, including Hamlet, Macbeth, and Romeo and Juliet, are celebrated for their exploration of human nature, love, ambition, and tragedy. His characters, such as the tormented Hamlet and the star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet, continue to captivate readers and audiences worldwide.
The 19th century ushered in a new era of literary giants. Jane Austen’s novels, such as Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, provide incisive social commentary through the lens of wit and romance. Austen’s heroines, like Elizabeth Bennet and Elinor Dashwood, remain beloved literary figures known for their intelligence and resilience. The Romantic era brought forth poets like William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who celebrated * 8 UG the beauty of nature and the emotional intensity of the individual. Wordsworth’s ‘‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’’ and Coleridge’s ‘‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’’ are testament to the power of the written words to evoke profound emotions and imagery. Moving towards 20th century, English literature continued to evolve. Virginia Woolf’s ground-breaking novel Mrs. Dalloway explored the inner thoughts and lives of its characters with a modernist narrative style. Dystopian visions, as seen in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four provided stark warnings about the dangers of totalitarianism and the erosion of individual freedom.
Today, English literature is a global phenomenon, transcending borders and languages. Indian authors like Arundhati Roy, with her novel The God of Small Things, have won prestigious international literary awards. The book not only explores intricate family dynamics but also delves into the broader socio-political landscape of India. In summary, English literature is a testament to the enduring power of storytelling and the written word. It encompasses an array of authors, themes, and styles that continue to captivate and inspire readers across the world. - On the evening of the 10th, General Dyer arrived at Amritsar, and the Deputy-Commissioner handed over the civil power to him. He issued a proclamation by word of mouth that no meetings should be held. Two days later, after there had been no sort of riot, nor murder, General Dyer heard that a meeting was to be held at the Jallianwala Bagh. He proceeded there with about fifty troops, half British, half Indian, and a certain number of Ghurkas, armed with their kukris. The Jallianwala Bagh is an open space, half a mile square, which has one entry wide enough for three persons. The troops got in and lined up on a mound of debris. The walls, seven feet high, and the surrounding houses enclosed the people. There were, too, three alleys through which the people might have been able to pass. Within thirty seconds of the troops getting in, General Dyer gave orders to fire, and the crowd of people, estimated at anything from 5,000 to 20,000, who were sitting on the ground peacefully listening to the mob oratory, were fired on. The result of the troops’ fire into the mass of people we do not know. But we do know that Dyer’s own estimate of the casualties resulting from ten minutes continual individual firing, was 400 to 500 killed and 1,500 wounded. The people were not able to escape. They were people who had not offered any violence and who had not been warned. These people were shot down. After ten minutes, the ammunition was exhausted and the troops marched off, and they left 1,500 wounded there. There were men lying there for two days, dying of thirst, eating the ground, bleeding to death and nobody to look after them. Those who lived nearby came and carried away some of the wounded from the heap of dead and dying, but the unfortunate country people died there miserably of their wounds. This is what is done in 1919 in British India…
Centuries hence you will find Indian children brought up to this spot, just as they visit now the Cawnpore Well, and you can imagine the feelings of these Indians for generations over this terrible business.
[Col. Wedgwood, MP, speaking in the British Parliament, 22 December 1919]
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