Sample Questions for CLAT 2023: Logical Reasoning

The catastrophic monsoon floods in Kerala and parts of Karnataka have revived the debate on whether political expediency trumped Science. Seven years ago, the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel issued recommendations for the preservation of the fragile western peninsular region. Madhav Gadgil, who chaired the Union Environment Ministry’s WGEEP, has said the recent havoc in Kerala is a consequence of short-sighted policymaking and warned that Goa may also be in the line of nature’s fury.

The State governments that are mainly responsible for the Western Ghats — Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Goa and Maharashtra — must go back to the drawing table with the reports of both the Gadgil Committee and the Kasturirangan Committee, which was set up to examine the WGEEP report. The foremost task before them is to initiate correctives to environmental policy decisions. This is not going to be easy, given the need to balance human development pressures with stronger protection of the Western Ghats ecology.

The issue of allowing extractive industries such as quarrying and mining to operate is arguably the most contentious. A way out could be to create the regulatory framework that was proposed by the Gadgil panel, in the form of an apex Western Ghats Ecology Authority and the State-level units, under the Environment (Protection) Act, and to adopt the zoning system that it proposed. This can keep incompatible activities out of the Ecologically Sensitive Zones (ESZs).

At issue in the Western Ghats — spread over 1,29,037 sq km according to the WGEEP estimate and 1,64,280 sq km as per the Kasturirangan panel — is the calculation of what constitutes the sensitive core and what activities can be carried out there. The entire system is globally acknowledged as a biodiversity hotspot. But population estimates for the sensitive zones vary greatly, based on interpretations of the ESZs. In Kerala, for instance, one expert assessment says 39 lakh households are in the ESZs outlined by the WGEEP, but the figure drops sharply to four lakh households for a smaller area of zones identified by the Kasturirangan panel.

The goal has to be sustainable development for the Ghats as a whole. The role of big hydroelectric dams, built during an era of rising power demand and deficits, must now be considered afresh and proposals for new ones dropped. Other low-impact forms of green energy led by solar power are available. A moratorium on quarrying and mining in the identified sensitive zones, in Kerala and also other States, is necessary to assess their environmental impact.

a) Had the Committee reports been considered seriously by the State governments, the
catastrophe could have been curbed.
b) The Kerala State government is to be solely blamed for not being cautious despite the
Committee’s recommendations.
c) Adopting a zoning system as mentioned by the Committee would have prevented the
catastrophe from happening
d) None of the above.

Correct Option: a

a) Political expediency triumphing Science
b) Sustainable development of the Western Ghats
c) The Committee reports and the catastrophe that followed its ignorance
d) All of the above.

a) Initiate correctives to environmental policy decisions
b) Assess the environmental impact of mining and quarrying
c) Constitute a panel to assess the impacts of mining and quarrying
d) Any of the above

4) What is the tone of the author of the passage?

a) Cynical
b) Vindictive
c) Neutral
d) Perturbed

a) The State governments had given more importance to sustainable development.
b) The Karnataka/Tamilnadu had urged the Kerala government to take the Committee reports seriously.
c) The Western Ghats had not been a Biodiversity Hotspot.
d) All of the above.

Nine people A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I and J stay in a building, not necessarily in the same order. The building has nine floors, and only one person stays on one floor. All of them own one car each, and each car is of a different colour, that is, Blue, Grey, White, Black, Yellow, Green, Red, Orange, and Pink, not necessarily in the same order.

The ground floor is numbered 1, the floor above it, number 2, and so on, and the topmost floor is numbered 9. H owns a black coloured car and stays on an even numbered floor. A stays on any even numbered floor below the floor on which H stays. The one who owns an Orange coloured car, stays on the fourth floor. E stays on the second floor and owns the White coloured car.

The one who owns a Pink coloured car stays on the third floor. A does not own a green coloured car. There are 2 floors between the floors on which the people owning the red and the black coloured car stay. C owns a grey coloured car. There are three floors between the floors on which C and G stay. D stays on a floor immediately above J’s floor. There is one floor between the floors on which F and G stay. F does not own the pink coloured car. The one who owns the blue car stays on the topmost floor. F does not stay on the ground floor.

a) Orange
b) Pink
c) Yellow
d) Blue

a) B
b) G
c) C
d) F

a) 1
b) 2
c) None
d) 3

a) B stays on a floor immediately below the floor on which H stays
b) G stays on a floor immediately above the floor on which A stays
c) F stays on the 8 th floor
d) D owns the orange coloured car

a) J
b) D
c) A
d) G

FLOOR-PERSON- COLOUR OF THE CAR
9-B- Blue
8-H-Black
7-F-Green
6-A-Yellow
5-G-Red
4-D-Orange
3-J-Pink
2-E-White
1-C-Grey