Read the passage carefully and choose the best answer for each question.
Environmental protection and management is deservedly attracting a lot of attention these days. This is a desirable development in the face of the alarming rate of natural resource degradation which greatly hampers their optimal utilization. When waste waters emanating from municipal sewage, industrial effluent, agriculture and land runoffs, find their way either to ground water reservoirs or other surface water sources, the quality of water deteriorates, rendering it unfit for use. The natural balance is disturbed when concentrated discharges of waste water is not controlled. This is because the cleansing forces of nature cannot do their job in proportion to the production of filthy matter.
According to the National Environment Engineering and Research Institute (NEERI), a staggering 70 percent of water available in the country is polluted. According to the Planning Commission, ``From the Dal lake in the North to the Chaliyar river in the South, from Damodar and Hoogly in the East to the Thane Creek in the West, the picture of water pollution is uniformly gloomy. Even our large perennial rivers, like the Ganga, are today heavily polluted."
According to one study, all the 14 major rivers of India are highly polluted. Besides the Ganga, these rivers include the Yamuna, Narmada, Godavari, Krishna and Cauvery. These rivers carry 85 percent of the surface runoff and their drainage basins cover 73 percent of the country. The pollution of the much revered Ganga is due in particular to municipal sewage that accounts for three-fourths of its pollution load. Despite India having legislation on water pollution (The Water Prevention and Control of Pollution Act, 1974) and various water pollution control boards, rivers have today become synonymous with drains and sewers.
Untreated community wastes discharged into water courses from human settlements account for four times as much waste water as industrial effluent. Out of India’s 3,119 towns and cities, only 217 have partial (209) or full (8) sewerage treatment facilities and cover less than a third of the urban population. Statistics from a report of the Central Board for Prevention and Control of Water Pollution reveal that 1,700 of 2,700 water-using industries in India are polluting the water around their factories. Only 160 industries have waste water treatment plants. One estimate suggests that the volume of waste water of industrial origin will be comparable to that of domestic sewerage in India by 2000 AD. Discharges from agricultural fields, which carry fertilizing ingredients of nitrogen, phosphorous and pesticides, are expected to be three times as much as domestic sewage. By that date, thermal pollution generated by discharges from thermal power plants will be the largest in volume.
Toxic effluents deplete the levels of oxygen in the rivers, endanger all aquatic life and render water absolutely unfit for human consumption, apart from affecting industrial production. Sometimes these effects have been disastrous. A recent study reveals that the water of the Ganga, Yamuna, Kali and Hindon rivers have considerable concentrations of heavy metals due to inflow of industrial wastes, which pose a serious health hazard to the millions living on their banks. Similarly, the Cauvery and Kapila rivers in Karnataka have been found to contain metal pollutants, which threaten the health of people in riverine towns. The Periyar, the largest river of Kerala, receives extremely toxic effluent that results in high incidence of skin problems and fish kills. The Godavari of Andhra Pradesh and the Damodar and Hoogly in West Bengal receive untreated industrial toxic wastes. A high level of pollution has been found in the Yamuna, while the Chambal of Rajasthan is considered the most polluted river in Rajasthan. Even in industrially backward Orissa, the Rushikula river is extremely polluted. The fate of the Krishna in Andhra Pradesh, the Tungabhadra in Karnataka, the Chaliyar in Kerala, the Gomti in U.P., the Narmada in M.P. and the Sone and the Subarnarekha rivers in Bihar is no different.
According to the W.H.O., eighty percent of diseases prevalent in India are water-borne; many of them assume epidemic proportions. The prevalence of these diseases heightens under conditions of drought. It is also estimated that India loses as many as 73 million man-days every year due to water prone diseases, costing Rs.600 crore by way of treatment expenditure and production losses. Management of water resources with respect to their quality also assumes greater importance especially when the country can no more afford to waste water.
The recent Clean-the-Ganga Project with an action plan estimated to cost the exchequer Rs.250 crore (which has been accorded top priority) is a trendsetter in achieving this goal. The action plan evoked such great interest that offers of assistance have been received from France, UK, US and the Netherlands as also the World Bank. This is indeed laudable. Poland too has now joined this list. The very fact that these countries have volunteered themselves to contribute their mite is a healthy reflection of global concern over growing environmental degradation and the readiness of the international community to participate in what is a truly formidable task. It may be recalled that the task of cleansing the Ganga along the Rishikesh–Hardwar stretch under the first phase of the Ganga Action Plan has been completed and the results are reported to be encouraging.
The reasons for the crisis of drinking water resources are drying up and the lowering of ground water through overpumping; this is compounded by the pollution of water sources. All these factors increase the magnitude of the problem. An assessment of the progress achieved by the end of March 1985, on completion of the first phase of the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade (1981–1991) reveals that drinking water has been available to 73 percent of the urban population and 56 percent of the rural population only. This means that nearly half the country’s rural population has to get drinking water facilities. This needs to be urgently geared up especially when considered against the Government’s professed objective of providing safe drinking water and sanitation to all by the end of the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade i.e. March 1991. The foremost action in this would be to clean up our water resources.
As per surveys conducted by the NEERI, per capita drinking water losses in different cities in the country range between 11,000 to 31,000 litres annually. This indicates a waste level of 20 to 35 percent of the total flow of water in the distribution system primarily due to leaks in main and household service pipes. Preventive maintenance programme would substantially reduce losses, wastages and would certainly go a long way in solving the problem.
According to the Union Ministry of Works and Housing, of the 2.31 lakh problem villages, most have been provided with at least one source of drinking water as of March 1986. The balance (38,748) villages are expected to be covered during the seventh plan. A time-bound national policy on drinking water is being formulated by Government, wherein the task is proposed to be completed by the end of the seventh plan. An outlay of Rs.6,522.47 crores has been allotted for the water supply and sanitation sector in the seventh plan period against an outlay of Rs.3,922.02 crores in the sixth plan. Of this, outlay for rural water supply sector is Rs.3,454.47 crores. It is expected that this outlay would help to cover about 86.4 percent of the urban and 82.2 percent of the rural population with safe drinking water facilities by March 1991. Hygienic sanitation facilities would be provided to 44.7 percent and 1.8 percent of the urban and rural population respectively within the same period.
According to NEERI
Show Hint
- the extent of water pollution in the Dal Lake is grim.
- 70 percent of the total water available in the country is polluted.
- only 217 out of 3119 towns and cities have sewage treatment facilities.
- all the 14 major rivers of India are highly polluted.
The Correct Option is B
Solution and Explanation
This figure likely stems from a combination of untreated domestic sewage, industrial waste discharge, and agricultural runoff entering rivers, lakes, and groundwater. It represents a nation-wide assessment and is used often in policy-making and environmental reports.
Evaluating the other options:
- (a) refers to Dal Lake’s condition, which may be true, but it is a specific case—not the central finding mentioned.
- (c) gives a specific statistic about sewage facilities, but the 70% pollution figure is more prominently reported by NEERI.
- (d) generalizes that all 14 rivers are “highly polluted,” which is an exaggeration. NEERI's concern is about the water availability nationwide, not exclusively river pollution.
The degradation of natural resources will necessarily lead to
Show Hint
- poor economic utilization of resources.
- contamination of water from municipal sewage.
- water unfit for human consumption.
- none of the above.
The Correct Option is A
Solution and Explanation
These directly affect the economy as they hinder sustainable development, agriculture, energy, and human health.
Poor economic utilization results because the resources lose value and cannot be optimally used for national growth.
Option (b) and (c) refer to consequences of a specific type of degradation (water),
whereas the question asks for a general and necessary consequence, which is broader and economic in nature.
Which of the following statements has/ have been made by the W.H.O.?
Show Hint
- Water-borne diseases account for 80 percent of all diseases prevalent in India.
- Water-borne diseases in India create a loss of Rs.600 crores every year.
- Both (a) and (b).
- None of the above.
The Correct Option is C
Solution and Explanation
Statement (a) is correct: 80% of all diseases in India are water-borne, as per W.H.O. data.
Diseases like cholera, diarrhea, and typhoid are directly linked to contaminated water sources.
Statement (b) is also accurate: W.H.O. reports that India loses about Rs. 600 crores annually
due to medical expenses, workdays lost, and economic productivity affected by these diseases.
Since both statements are factual and supported by W.H.O., option (c) is the correct answer.
Which of the following statements is correct?
Show Hint
- The river Periyar is in the South India.
- The river Periyar is the largest river of Kerala.
- The river Gomti is also extremely polluted.
- All of the above are correct.
The Correct Option is D
Solution and Explanation
Statement (b) is correct: It is the largest river in Kerala in terms of length and volume of discharge.
Statement (c) is correct: The Gomti river, especially in cities like Lucknow, suffers from severe pollution
due to industrial effluents, untreated sewage, and poor waste management.
All three statements are accurate, so the best choice is (d) All of the above are correct.
Municipal sewage pollutants account for
Show Hint
- the lowest percentage of water pollution
- 75 percent of the Ganga’s water pollution load.
- twice the volume of the waste water of industrial origin.
- three times as much as the discharge from agricultural fields.
The Correct Option is B
Solution and Explanation
municipal sewage is the single largest contributor to the pollution load in the Ganga River.
Roughly 75% of the total pollution in the Ganga is attributed to untreated or partially treated municipal waste.
This includes domestic waste from households, commercial establishments, and slum clusters.
Due to rapid urbanization and lack of adequate sewage treatment infrastructure,
municipal sources far outweigh the contributions of industry or agriculture.
Option (a) is incorrect because municipal sewage accounts for the highest—not the lowest—pollution.
Option (c) may be numerically close but is not as precise or authoritative as the 75% figure.
Option (d) is vague and again doesn’t match the major reported percentage.
The crisis of drinking water is caused chiefly by
Show Hint
- the green house effect.
- water pollution caused by industrial development.
- drying up of water sources and over pumping.
- increasing urbanization.
The Correct Option is C
Solution and Explanation
In both rural and urban areas, unregulated pumping has led to falling water tables.
This, coupled with the drying of natural water sources due to climate change and mismanagement,
has resulted in an acute shortage of safe and accessible drinking water.
Option (a) is related to climate change but is not a direct cause.
Option (b) is a contributor but not the main cause.
Option (d) increases demand but doesn't directly explain water source depletion.
The cost of the ‘Clean-the–Ganga Pollution’ Project Action Plan is likely to be sourced from
Show Hint
- the Indian exchequer.
- France, UK, US and the Netherlands.
- the World Bank, Poland, UK.
- the US, UK, Netherlands, Poland, France, the World Bank and India.
The Correct Option is D
Solution and Explanation
The funding is drawn from a pool that includes countries such as the US, UK, Netherlands, France, and Poland,
as well as global organizations like the World Bank.
India, as the implementing country, also allocates funds from its own exchequer.
Option (d) accurately combines all key contributors involved in funding the project.
Considerable amounts of metal pollutants are found in the river(s)
Show Hint
- Chambal of Rajasthan.
- Rushikula in Orissa.
- Damodar, Hoogly, Krishna and Gomti.
- Ganga, Yamuna, Kali, Hindon, Cauvery and Kapila.
The Correct Option is D
Solution and Explanation
Ganga and Yamuna have high levels of heavy metals like lead, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury.
The Hindon and Kali rivers, especially in Uttar Pradesh, are infamous for industrial waste pollution.
Cauvery and Kapila are also affected due to effluents from textile and tanning industries.
Option (d) includes the most extensive list of rivers where such pollutants are documented.
Out of the total outlay for water supply and sanitation in the seventh plan, rural water supply sector would receive
Show Hint
- about 53 percent.
- over 80 percent.
- between 65 to 80 percent.
- equal to 44.7 percent.
The Correct Option is A
Solution and Explanation
Out of the total budget allotted for water supply and sanitation,
about 53% was designated specifically for rural water supply.
This reflects the government's aim to reduce water-borne diseases in rural areas
and improve the overall quality of life through clean drinking water.
Other options either overstate or understate the allocation.
The best remedy for shortage lies in
Show Hint
- putting up more pumps in rural areas.
- cleaning up polluted water.
- reducing the waste level of 25-30 percent of the total flow of water.
- constructing large sized dams.
The Correct Option is B
Solution and Explanation
but improving the usability of existing sources by cleaning up polluted water.
Polluted rivers, lakes, and groundwater cannot be consumed without treatment,
and with a significant portion of India's water bodies being contaminated,
restoring these to usable condition is the quickest and most sustainable solution.
Option (a) only extracts more water, not addresses usability.
Option (c) is important but doesn't recover already polluted sources.
Option (d) involves long timelines and massive ecological consequences.
Hence, option (b) is the most practical and immediate remedy.
Top Questions on Reading Comprehension
- ”In recent years, technological advancements in AI and machine learning have fundamentally altered how we approach daily tasks. The growing reliance on these systems brings both challenges and opportunities, especially in areas like automation, healthcare, and customer service.”
What is the primary concern regarding the increased use of AI in daily tasks as mentioned in the passage?
- NMAT - 2025
- English Language Comprehension
- Reading Comprehension
Meta is recalibrating content on its social media platforms as the political tide has turned in Washington, with Mark Zuckerberg announcing last week that his company plans to fire its US fact-checkers. Fact-checking evolved in response to allegations of misinformation and is being watered down in response to accusations of censorship. Social media does not have solutions to either. Community review — introduced by Elon Musk at X and planned by Zuckerberg for Facebook and Instagram — is not a significant improvement over fact-checking. Having Washington lean on foreign governments over content moderation does not benefit free speech. Yet, that is the nature of the social media beast, designed to amplify bias.
Information and misinformation continue to jostle on social media at the mercy of user discretion. Social media now has enough control over all other forms of media to broaden its reach. It is the connective tissue for mass consumption of entertainment, and alternative platforms are reworking their engagement with social media. Technologies are shaping up to drive this advantage further through synthetic content targeted precisely at its intended audience. Meta’s algorithm will now play up politics because it is the flavour of the season.
The Achilles’ Heel of social media is informed choice which could turn against misinformation. Its move away from content moderation is driven by the need to be more inclusive, yet unfiltered content can push users away from social media towards legacy forms that have better moderation systems in place. Lawmakers across the world are unlikely to give social media a free run, even if Donald Trump is working on their case. Protections have already been put in place across jurisdictions over misinformation. These may be difficult to dismantle, even if the Republicans pull US-owned social media companies further to the right.
Media consumption is, in essence, evidence-based judgement that mediums must adapt to. Content moderation, not free speech, is the adaptation mechanism. Musk and Zuckerberg are not exempt- IPMAT - 2025
- Verbal and Logical Ability
- Reading Comprehension
According to the French philosopher Jean Baudrillard, commodities available for consumption are not inherently negative things. Baudrillard tried to interpret consumption in modern societies by engaging with the ’cargo myth’ prevalent among the indigenous Melanesian people living in the South Pacific. The Melanesians did not know what aeroplanes were. However,they saw that these winged entities descended from the air for white people and appeared to make them happy. They also noted that aeroplanes never descended for the Melanesian people. The Melanesian natives noted that the white people had placed objects similar to the aeroplane on the ground. They concluded that these objects were attracting the aeroplanes in the air and bringing them to the ground. Through a magical process, the aeroplanes were bringing plenty to the white people and making them happy. The Melanesian people concluded that they would need to place objects that simulated the aeroplane on the ground and attract them from the air. Baudrillard believes that the cargo myth holds an important analogy for the ways in which consumers engage with objects of consumption.
According to Baudrillard, the modern consumer ”sets in place a whole array of sham objects, of characteristic signs of happiness, and then waits for happiness to alight”. For instance, modern consumers believe that they will get happiness if they buy the latest available version of a mobile phone or automobile. However, consumption does not usually lead to happiness. While consumers should ideally be blaming their heightened expectations for their lack of happiness, they blame the commodity instead.
They feel that they should have waited for the next version of a mobile phone or automobile before buying the one they did. The version they bought is somehow inferior and therefore cannot make them happy. Baudrillard argues that consumers have replaced ’real’ happiness with ’signs’ of happiness. This results in the endless deferment of the arrival of total happiness. In Baudrillard’s words, ”in everyday practice, the blessings of consumption are not experienced as resulting from work or from a production process; they are experienced as a miracle”. Modern consumers view consumption in the same magical way as the Melanesian people viewed the aeroplanes in the cargo myth. Television commercials also present objects of consumption as miracles. As a result, commodities appear to be distanced from the social processes which lead to their production. In effect, objects of consumption are divorced from the reality which produces them.- IPMAT - 2025
- Verbal and Logical Ability
- Reading Comprehension
CONVERSATION ANALYSIS: Read the following transcript and choose the answer that is closest to each of the questions that are based on the transcript.
Lucia Rahilly (Global Editorial Director, The McKinsey Podcast): Today we’re talking about the next big arenas of competition, about the industries that will matter most in the global business landscape, which you describe as arenas of competition. What do we mean when we use this term?
Chris Bradley (Director, McKinsey Global Institute): If I go back and look at the top ten companies in 2005, they were in traditional industries such as oil and gas, retail, industrials, and pharmaceuticals. The average company was worth about $250 billion. If I advance the clock forward to 2020, nine in ten of those companies have been replaced, and by companies that are eight times bigger than the old guards.
And this new batch of companies comes from these new arenas or competitive sectors. In fact, they’re so different that we have a nickname for them. If you’re a fan of Harry Potter, it’s wizards versus muggles.
Arena industries are wizardish; we found that there’s a set of industries that play by very different set of economic rules and get very different results, while the rest, the muggles (even though they run the world, finance the world, and energize the world), play by a more traditional set of economic rules.
Lucia Rahilly: Could we put a finer point on what is novel or different about the lens that you applied to determine what’s a wizard and what’s a muggle?
Chris Bradley: Wizards are defined by growth and dynamism. We looked at where value is flowing and the places where value is moving. And where is the value flowing? What we see is that this set of wizards, which represent about ten percent of industries, hog 45 percent of the growth in market cap. But there’s another dimension or axis too, which is dynamism. That is measured by a new metric we’ve come up with called the ”shuffle rate.” How much does the bottom move to the top? It turns out that in this set of wizardish industries, or arenas, the shuffle rate is much higher than it is in the traditional industry.
Lucia Rahilly: So, where are we seeing the most profit?
Chris Bradley: The economic profit, which is the profit you make minus the cost for the capital you employ is in the wizard industries. It’s where R&D happens; they’re two times more R&D intensive. They’re big stars, the nebulae, where new business is born.- IPMAT - 2025
- Verbal and Logical Ability
- Reading Comprehension
- On the first day of January 2025, the Indian Meteorological Department [IMD] announced that 2024 was the hottest year on record. A study by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water shows that nearly eight out of ten Indians live in districts that are at risk of either a flood, a cyclone, or a drought. Nearly twenty three States in India are heatwave-prone. In the summer of 2024, India recorded more than 44,000 cases of heatstroke and over 300 heat-related mortalities, as per the bulletin of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Water reservoirs and the energy demand that keeps India powered are impacted too. During a ten-day long heatwave in Delhi, peak power demand was 16% higher than the previous year.
- IPMAT - 2025
- Verbal and Logical Ability
- Reading Comprehension
Questions Asked in CAT exam
- Let $x$, $y$, and $z$ be real numbers satisfying
\(4(x^2 + y^2 + z^2) = a,\)
\(4(x - y - z) = 3 + a.\)
Then $a$ equals ?- CAT - 2024
- Algebra
- The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
Certain codes may, of course, be so widely distributed in a specific language community or culture, and be learned at so early an age, that they appear not to be constructed – the effect of an articulation between sign and referent – but to be ‘naturally’ given. Simple visual signs appear to have achieved a ‘near-universality’ in this sense: though evidence remains that even apparently ‘natural’ visual codes are culture specific. However, this does not mean that no codes have intervened; rather, that the codes have been profoundly naturalized. The operation of naturalized codes reveals not the transparency and ‘naturalness’ of language but the depth, the habituation and the near-universality of the codes in use. They produce apparently ‘natural’ recognitions. This has the (ideological) effect of concealing the practices of coding which are present.- CAT - 2024
- Para Summary
- There is a sentence that is missing in the paragraph below. Look at the paragraph and decide where (option 1, 2, 3, or 4) the following sentence would best fit.
Sentence: Comprehending a wide range of emotions, Renaissance music nevertheless portrayed all emotions in a balanced and moderate fashion.
Paragraph: A volume of translated Italian madrigals were published in London during the year of 1588. This sudden public interest facilitated a surge of English Madrigal writing as well as a spurt of other secular music writing and publication. ___(1)___. This music boom lasted for thirty years and was as much a golden age of music as British literature was with Shakespeare and Queen Elizabeth I. ___(2)___. The rebirth in both literature and music originated in Italy and migrated to England; the English madrigal became more humorous and lighter in England as compared to Italy. Renaissance music was mostly polyphonic in texture. ___(3)___. Extreme use of and contrasts in dynamics, rhythm, and tone colour do not occur. ___(4)___. The rhythms in Renaissance music tend to have a smooth, soft flow instead of a sharp, well-defined pulse of accents.- CAT - 2024
- Para Completion
- There is a sentence that is missing in the paragraph below. Look at the paragraph and decide where (option 1, 2, 3, or 4) the following sentence would best fit.
Sentence: Science has officially crowned us superior to our early-rising brethren. Paragraph: My fellow night owls, grab a strong cup of coffee and gather around: I have great news. ___(1)___. For a long time, our kind has been unfairly maligned. Stereotyped as lazy and undisciplined. Told we ought to be morning larks. Advised to go to bed early so we can wake before 5am and run a marathon before breakfast like all high-flyers seem to do. Now, however, we are having the last laugh. ___(2)___. It may be a tad more complicated than that. A study published last week, which you may have already seen while scrolling at 1am, suggests that staying up late could be good for brain power. ___(3)___. Is this study a thinly veiled PR exercise conducted by a caffeine-pill company? Nope, it’s legit. ___(4)___. Research led by academics at Imperial College London studied data on more than 26,000 people and found that “self-declared ‘night owls’ generally tend to have higher cognitive scores”.- CAT - 2024
- Para Completion
- There is a sentence that is missing in the paragraph below. Look at the paragraph and decide where (option 1, 2, 3, or 4) the following sentence would best fit.
Sentence: Understanding central Asia’s role helps developments make more sense not only across Asia but in Europe, the Americas and Africa.
Paragraph: The nations of the Silk Roads are sometimes called ‘developing countries’, but they are actually some of the world’s most highly developed countries, the very crossroads of civilization, in advanced states of disrepair. ___(1)___. These countries lie at the centre of global affairs: they have since the beginning of history. Running across the spine of Asia, they form a web of connections fanning out in every direction, routes along which pilgrims and warriors, nomads and merchants have travelled, goods and produce have been bought and sold, and ideas exchanged, adapted and refined. ___(2)___ .They have carried not only prosperity, but also death and violence, disease and disaster. ___(3)___. The Silk Roads are the world’s central nervous system, connecting otherwise far-flung peoples and places…. ___(4)___. It allows us to see patterns and links, causes and effects that remain invisible if one looks only at Europe, or North America.- CAT - 2024
- Para Completion