Comprehension
A Madras High Court Judge's suggestion to amend the Constitution of India mandating that every citizen also has a duty to laugh comes as a whiff of fresh air - something the country has been gasping for, of late. Justice GR Swaminathan of the Madurai Bench has a remarkably refined sense of humour, but in quashing an FIR against a man arrested for an innocuous social media post, his insightful observations only highlight the idiocy and absurdity that surround the growth and normalisation of the offence-taking tribe. Written from the perspective of cartoonists and satirists, the judgment draws attention to how what ought to be a reasonable understanding of a situation is increasingly being influenced by impulses that border on the irrational and amount to an abuse of the legal process. The petitioner tried tongue-in-cheek wordplay while captioning photographs after a sight-seeing trip with family : 'Trip to Sirumalai for shooting practice'. For the police. it appeared as a threat to wage war, though the Judicial Magistrate refused remand. 'Laugh at what?' is a serious question. the Judge said. using the 'holy cow' as a metaphor, which varies from person to person. region to region. Being funny is one thing. the Judge righty states, and poking fun at another is different altogether. Those who have been at the receiving end for their attempt at humour can draw strength from the ruling, but then. a creative process facing combative opposition because of its very nature is anything but funny.
Question: 1
What is the central idea in the passage as conveyed by the author?
What is the central idea in the passage as conveyed by the author?
Updated On: Jul 18, 2024
- People need to be sensitive towards others' sensibilities.
- Humour is often used as a garb to offend others.
- There is an unwelcome decrease in people's sense of humour.
- Judiciary should use humour to make judgments understandable to laypersons.
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The Correct Option is C
Solution and Explanation
The correct option is (C): There is an unwelcome decrease in people's sense of humour..
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Question: 2
According to the given passage, which of the following statements is true?
According to the given passage, which of the following statements is true?
Updated On: Jul 18, 2024
- Social media often popularised insensitive and offensive posts.
- It should be a right of every person to poke fun at others.
- Creative expressions are bound to be offensive to some persons.
- Every humorous expression should be understood reasonably and rationally.
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The Correct Option is D
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The correct option is (D): Every humorous expression should be understood reasonably and rationally.
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Question: 3
According to the given passage, which of the following statements is not true?
According to the given passage, which of the following statements is not true?
Updated On: Jul 18, 2024
- Each expression should be understood according to its context.
- The wuid 'sliuutitiy. used in a seilleilue is ilidiuttlive ur wayilly war.
- Legal process can be abused if the authorities act on their irrational impulses.
- The expression 'holy cow' bears different meanings for different people.
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The Correct Option is B
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The correct option is (B): The wuid 'sliuutitiy. used in a seilleilue is ilidiuttlive ur wayilly war..
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Question: 4
As per the passage, which of the following approaches can reduce the increasing 'idiocy and absurdity in responding to expressions made in jest?
As per the passage, which of the following approaches can reduce the increasing 'idiocy and absurdity in responding to expressions made in jest?
Updated On: Aug 2, 2024
- Apologising upon hurting another person's sentiments.
- Avoiding the use of controversial words and expressions.
- Using humour as a means to mitigate conflict.
- Understanding the difference between being funny and poking fun at another person.
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The Correct Option is D
Solution and Explanation
The correct option is (D): Understanding the difference between being funny and poking fun at another person.
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Question: 5
"Those who have been at the receiving end for their attempt at humour can draw strength from the ruling, but then, a creative process facing combative opposition because of its very nature is anything but funny."
Which of the following conclusions can be drawn from the above statement?
"Those who have been at the receiving end for their attempt at humour can draw strength from the ruling, but then, a creative process facing combative opposition because of its very nature is anything but funny."
Which of the following conclusions can be drawn from the above statement?
Which of the following conclusions can be drawn from the above statement?
Updated On: Jul 18, 2024
- Creativity and conflict go hand-in-hand.
- Creative freedom should not be curbed unreasonably.
- Creative expressions are strengthened due to challenges faced by their authors.
- Creativity often leads to conflict.
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The Correct Option is B
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The correct option is (B): Creative freedom should not be curbed unreasonably..
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- From a very early age, I knew that when I grew up, I should be a writer. I had the lonely child's habit of making up stories and holding conversations with imaginary persons, and I think from the very start my literary ambitions were mixed up with the feeling of being isolated and undervalued. I knew that I had a facility with words and a power of facing unpleasant facts, and I felt that this created a sort of private world in which I could get my own back for my failure in everyday life. I wanted to write enormous naturalistic novels with unhappy endings, full of detailed descriptions and arresting similes, and also full of purple passages in which words were used partly for the sake of their sound. I give all this background information because I do not think one can assess a writer's motives without knowing something of his early development.
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[Extracted with edits from George Orwell's "Why I Write"]- CLAT - 2025
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[Extracted with edits from "Education" by Swami Vivekananda]- CLAT - 2025
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(Extracted with edits from "An Astrologer's Day" by R.K. Narayan)- CLAT - 2025
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In a 2012 article 'Holding Up Half the Sky: Reservations for Women in India', Rudolf C Heredia breaks down the common misconceptions that cloud our understanding of women's political participation- "When women do attain a national leadership role it is often because they have inherited the mantle from their fathers ophusbands, rather than as persons in their own right and are then projected as matriarchs, part of the joint family, complementary to the patriarchy rather than a challenge to it."
In 'Equality versus Empowerment: Women in Indian Legislature', 2023, Soumya Bhowmick makes the case for going a step beyond quotas, and to turn our attention to the complexities that shape women's agency in the country. This, he argues, would require a bottoms-up approach, rather than merely handing out reservations in a top-down manner. "In a country like India with a considerably large heterogeneous population, the dissemination of legislative power would be insufficient to protect the interests of minority groups such as women, Scheduled Castes, and Scheduled Tribes." He concludes that "implementing the idea of reservation for women would bring about descriptive representation, but its transformation into substantive representation would depend on the change in the attitudes of the people."
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