SECTION 1- LANGUAGE TEST- ENGLISH-(AS PER NTA NORMS)
Directions for questions 13 to 18: Read the
following passage and answer the questions that follow.
The fire at Delhi’s Mundka, with a death toll of 27
persons underscores yet again the invisibilities and insecurities of informal
workers in the city. The fact that the antecedents of those who died are still
unknown points to the invisibility and lack of identity of informal sector
workers.
Reports on buildings catching fire leading to
fatalities, followed by discussions on illegal constructions and unplanned
infrastructural development in urban centres, have become a repetitive subject.
With every such mishap, reports on how these buildings do not have required
fire clearance and no-objection certificates from concerned authorities
surface. Yet, such incidents keep on repeating; the harrowing stories of those
who lost their dear ones are matters of public attention only for a few days,
till the headlines shift.
Incidents of this sort are also opportunities for
political leaders to display their concern for those who lost their dear ones
with compensation and promises coming one after the other. Enquiry commissions
and assurances of tightening procedures are all part of a larger script, with
no substantial change at the ground level.
The root cause of the Mundka mishap is a serious
lapse in following the norms in construction as the whole building had only one
staircase. Of the 27 who lost their lives to this massive fire, 21 were women
workers, employed in a company that manufactured and assembled CCTVs and WiFi
routers. The manufacturing unit at Mundka employed about 100 people, half of
them women. Many of them are young women and the sole or primary earners in
their households.
There are thousands of unregistered/informal
industrial units in cities without any data on the number of workers employed
and the conditions of their employment. These workplaces are known to violate
basic labour laws. Informality and precarity define such workplaces where the
quality of jobs is not a concern for those who are looking for employment. The
pandemic has added to women’s difficulties in finding jobs and such workplaces
reveal the conditions under which women workers get employed. They are forced
to join the labour market in low-paid and highly-informal jobs because of their
migrant status and poor economic conditions. There is often a clear separation
of tasks for men and women. Women workers are mostly into packing or are
helpers — categories that are the lowest skilled as per the job classifications
in such units.
Owing to the perception that workers employed in
packing or as helpers undertake jobs that do not require much skill, wages are
kept very low while the labour pool remains massive. With the pandemic and the
resultant decline in work opportunities and household income, women are
compelled to join employment to compensate for the loss of employment or
declined income of male household members. These sweatshops, which are part of
our understanding of economic development, are traps for women workers. The
fact that it offers some respite from poverty and also from cultural
restrictions on women also needs to be understood. But without any
accountability of employers and a lack of political will to improve working conditions,
we might end up allowing many more such horrific accidents.
Passage summary:
The passage talks about the fire in Delhi and states
that there are many such industrial units with hazardous working conditions.
Without the accountability of owners and without the political will to improve
working conditions, we might end up allowing many such horrific accidents
Q13. Which of the following best encompasses the
main argument of the author?
(A) As
workers employed in packing do not require much skill, the wages for such jobs
are kept very low.
(B) Without
the accountability of employers and without the political will to improve
working conditions, many more accidents are likely to happen.
(C) Most
small industrial units in cities in India flout labour laws.
(D) Reports
on buildings catching fire leading to fatalities have become a repetitive
subject.
Q14. According to the passage, the pandemic has made
the situation worse for women because
(A) They
are the sole earning members of their families.
(B) The job
opportunities and family incomes have declined.
(C) There
is a separation of tasks between men and women.
(D) The
lack of accountability of employers.
Q15. Why are the wages of workers in the packing
industry kept so low? (A)because the workers do not stick to the job for very
long
(B) because
only women work in the packing industry
(C) because
of people’s idea that jobs require little skill and there is a vast pool of
workers available for such jobs
(D) because
the owners are misers and pocket all the profits
Q16. Which of the following best summarises
paragraph 2 of the passage?
(A) There
is a lot of news about buildings catching fire.
(B) Fire
accidents keep happening in buildings followed by discussions on their causes
and victims but public attention soon shifts to other issues.
(C) Public
memory is short and people repeat their mistakes.
(D) People
forget about past accidents and become careless, setting off more accidents.
Q17. Which of the following courses of action is the
author most likely to support?
(A) Building
more industrial units with hazardous working conditions.
(B) Building
fewer industrial units with hazardous working conditions.
(C) Improvement
of working conditions in industrial units including accountable owners.
(D) More
discussion on illegal constructions and the lack of fire clearance.
Q18. What is the meaning of the word ‘respite’ in
the context of the passage?
(A) Spite
(B) Inspite
(C) Despite
(D) Relief
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