English Questions: Fill in the Blanks 121

Direction (1-10): In each question below a sentence is given with two blanks in each. Each question is followed by four options with two words in each. You have to select that option as your answer which can fill both the blanks of the sentence.

  1. The ‘ISRO ______________ case’ marked a disgraceful chapter in the history of police investigation in the country. The presence of a Maldivian woman in India became the pretext for a police witch-hunt against scientists belonging to the Indian Space Research Organisation in 1994. Three scientists were arrested on the grave charge of sharing official secrets ______________ to space technology and launch missions with foreign agents. The order, mercifully, lasted only for a short time, as the investigation shifted from the Kerala Police to the Central Bureau of Investigation after a few weeks.
    espial, diverse
    espionage, related
    sleuthing, distinct
    reconnoiter, remote
    All are Correct
    Option B

     

  2. The joint visit of South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un to Mount Paektu, the mythical birthplace of the Korean nation, on the last day of their landmark three-day summit is a ______________ show of unity by the two countries. At the site, which falls in North Korea, Mr. Moon said the time would come when ______________ South Koreans “will come here on tours”, in a message of normalisation of ties. While travelling to Pyongyang earlier this week, Mr. Moon’s main goals were to revive the talks between the U.S. and North Korea over denuclearisation, and infuse fresh warmth into the North-South thaw.
    etiolated, customary
    impotent, average
    forceful, ordinary
    bland, mediocre
    All are Correct
    Option C

     

  3. The Union Cabinet’s decision to take the ordinance route to enact a diluted version of its law making instant triple talaq a criminal offence is a sign of undue impatience. This is a matter that required ______________ , especially after serious objections were raised to some provisions of the Bill passed by the Lok Sabha; also, there is an ongoing debate on the desirability of criminalising instant triple talaq. The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, as approved by the Lok Sabha, sought to give ______________ form to the Supreme Court ruling of 2017 that declared talaq-e-biddat as illegal. The Bill made this form of divorce punishable by a three-year prison term and a fine.
    agreement, legitimate
    aplomb, authorized
    alacrity, legislative
    deliberation, statutory
    All are Correct
    Option D

     

  4. The rules-based world order for international trade appears to be in for a rougher ride yet after the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump ______________ this week that it would be slapping $200-billion worth of Chinese exports with 10% tariff, ratcheting it up to 25% by the year-end. In the latest round of the ongoing trade ______________ between the world’s two largest ec onomies, almost 6,000 items will be hit by the new U.S. tariffs, from September 24 onward.
    announced, skirmishes
    concealed, clashes
    esoteric, battles
    repressed, encounters
    All are Correct
    Option A

     

  5. Asking healthy banks to take over weak banks appears to be the strategy to handle the bad loans crisis. On Monday the Union government proposed the merger of three public sector banks — Bank of Baroda, Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank — to create an ______________ entity that will become the country’s third largest lender. The merger is part of the government’s efforts to consolidate the banking industry with an eye on overcoming the bad loan crisis. After the announcement of the merger, shares of Bank of Baroda and Vijaya Bank shed a significant part of their value, while Dena Bank ______________ sharply to hit upper circuit on Tuesday.
    separate, acquired
    amalgamated, gained
    elementary, accessed
    chaste, profited
    All are Correct
    Option B

     

  6. After years of arguing over whether Pluto is a planet, in 2006 the International Astronomical Union (IAU) voted to remove Pluto’s planetary status. Now some researchers are challenging this decision, citing the manner in which scientific tradition has dealt with the taxonomy of planets. The IAU, in 2006, designated Pluto a ‘dwarf planet’ along with Ceres in the asteroid belt and Xena, an object in the Kuiper belt, which is an icy ring of frozen objects that circle the solar system beyond Neptune’s orbit. It was a bid to overcome sentiment and go by scientific ______________ . The meeting defined three conditions for a celestial object to be called a planet: one, it must orbit the Sun; two, it should be ______________ enough to acquire an approximately spherical shape; three, it has to ‘clear its orbit’, that is, be the object that exerts the maximum gravitational pull within its orbit.
    reality, ponderous
    effect, enormous
    rationale, massive
    proof, tremendous
    All are Correct
    Option C

     

  7. The finding of the Central Pollution Control Board that the number of critically polluted segments of India’s rivers has risen to 351 from 302 two years ago is a strong indictment of the departments responsible for environmental protection. The data show that the plethora of laws ______________ to regulate waste management and protect water quality are simply not working. The study also ______________ the failure of many national programmes run by the Centre for river conservation, preservation of wetlands, and water quality monitoring.
    repealed, stressed
    backstreet, emphasize
    annulled, underlines
    enacted, underscores
    All are Correct
    Option D

     

  8. Despite several attempts at a reset, ties between India and Nepal continue to be a cause for concern. The ______________ between the two governments was most visible at the seven-nation Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation military exercises that concluded on Sunday. After confirming its participation in the exercises in June, the Nepalese Army was made to withdraw its ______________ due to a “political decision”; it sent only an observer mission at the last hour. Officials in Prime Minister K.P. Oli’s office said that they were upset with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “unilateral” announcement of the multilateral exercises during the BIMSTEC summit on August 30-31.
    disconnect, contingent
    couple, fortuitous
    hitch, dependent
    assemble, provisional
    All are Correct
    Option A

     

  9. The death of five young men who were employed to clean a septic tank in an upmarket residential community in New Delhi is a shocking ______________ that India’s high-profile sanitation campaign has done little to alter some basic ground realities. Around the same time as the Delhi incident, five workers died in a septic tank in Odisha. The law is not being ______________ , and there is no fear of penalties. The workers in Delhi were apparently asked to perform the task in violation of Section 7 of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013; a violation can be punished with two years of imprisonment or fine or both. Under the provision, no person, local authority or agency should engage or employ people for ______________ hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks.
    expression, forced
    reminder, enforced
    guidance, compelled
    recommendation, farfetched
    All are Correct
    Option B

     

  10. The rupee, which is currently the worst-performing currency in Asia, is finally receiving some help from the authorities. The Union government, after a meeting with Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel, on Friday announced a list of measures to arrest the sharp decline in the currency, which has lost about 12% of its value since the beginning of the year. These include steps to ______________ the import of non-essential goods and encourage the export of domestic goods, which will help in addressing the country’s burgeoning current account deficit that hit a five-year high in July. Other steps such as removing restrictions on foreign portfolio investments and encouraging Indian borrowers to issue rupee-denominated ‘masala bonds’ were also announced to ______________ the inflow of dollars and de-risk the economy from fluctuations in the exchange rate.
    support, assist
    curb, facilitate
    encourage, expedite
    drive, advance
    All are Correct
    Option B

     

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