MAT 2012 Question Paper

Study the passage below and answer the questions.
PASSAGE - IV
The first requirement to ensure nuclear safety is technical expertise which
India has. No questions have been raised so far about the expertise in Department of
Atomic Energy (DAE). The first reactors were imported. Soon after commissioning
the original suppliers left leaving us to fend for ourselves. The reactors have been running
for decades without any serious environmental issues. More reactors have since
been built indigenously with enhanced safety features, and increased power rating.
Continuous monitoring of these shows negligible environmental impact compared to
that arising from natural background radiation. All of this as possible because of the
expertise available in DAE institutions. In the early years, there was self-regulation of
safety. It had to be so because there was no other group working in this field. It worked
very well. As the programme expanded, a full-time regulatory body was needed and,
so, the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) came into being. Continuing
absence of education and research a nuclear technology in academic institutions meant
the AERB had to be staffed with experts transferred to it from DAE units. AERB also
had to rely on expertise in DAE for various kinds of analyses. This was facilitated by
the AERB being under the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). Information that ought
to have been disseminated in the first place was not available to the public. This has
naturally tended to imputed motives on attitude of AERB and DAE to safety. An independent
regulator is being demanded as the answer. Steps have to be initiated in the
direction now. Meanwhile, reliance on expertise in DAE institutions is inevitable. If
total independence now is impractical and expertise outside DAE is unavailable, only
total transparency on the part of AERB and DAE can redeem the situation. This had
not yet come about. If a larger contribution from nuclear energy is required, more
effort is needed to effectively answer public questions on plant safety and to dispel
needless fear of radiation. A brand new independent agency to be set up now to regulate
nuclear safety may please some people, but would find it difficult to cope with the
demands of an expanding programme with new designs.

Study the passage below and answer the questions.
PASSAGE - V
Apprehensive that pharma companies may stop or reduce production of essential
drugs after they come under price control, the Government is mulling steps to
ensure that companies maintain present levels of output of these critical drugs.
Sources said the recent decision to put a price cap 348 drugs was accompanied by a
concern that the manufactures could lose interest in these medicines owing to reduced
margins of profit. It was based on the past experience when the drug price control was
first enacted. The Group of Ministers (GoM) that took the landmark decision directed
the Department of Pharmaceutical to ensure that present production levels were maintained
after the price control. As a follow-up, sources said, the Government could fix
mandatory level of production in these drugs for each company in business. The fear
over companies retaliating with decrease production revolves around the fact the price
control would check profit margins. Once the essential medicines are brought under
the Drug Price Control Order, they cannot be sold at a price highter than that fixed by
the Government. A senior official said, "We will ensure that accessibility and availability
of essential drugs does not go down". The GoM has also decided that the prices
of medicines, which are part of the price control order of 1995 but not in the National
List of Essential Medicines 2011, would be frozen for a year and thereafter a maximum
increase of 10% per annum would be permitted. Out of the 348 medicines, the
prices of 37 drugs are controlled by the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority
(NPPA). The Government, through the NPPA, controls prices of 74 bulk drugs and
their formulations.

Fill in the blanks.

Choose the order of the sentences marked A, B, C, D and E to form a logical paragraph.