LABOUR WELFARE JANUARY PAPER 3 2017

(Q.1-7) Read the following passage and answer the questions given at the end by picking up the appropriate answer from the given alternatives.
The past decade has upset many preconceptions about development and this, more than anything else, makes it difficult to be overly definite about what the next decade has in store. But there are a few things that one can assert with some confidence. First, education, health and productive employment are crucial both for growth and for equity. We have tended to assume that all of these are the consequences of rapid economic growth and that only growth can generate the resources required for these purposes. But, increasingly, it appears that these are better seen as the causes rather than as consequences of development. Virtually every case of successful development involves a prior improvement in literacy, technical skills, health status and access to productive work.
Second, technological competence is the most important resource endowment and it explains a far large proportion of growth in output and trade than more conventional factors like natural resources or capital accumulation. The competence required is not just in research. In fact, technological dynamism in the factory and the farm is more important than the presence of large
research establishment.
Third, the environmental imperative can no longer be ignored. Today, as an international issue, it is second only to disarmament. Nationally, the developmental consequences of environmental neglect are increasingly obvious.
In the Indian context there are atleast two further factors which reinforce the above propositions. The first is population growth. Given the pace of expansion of the population and the work force, human resource development acquires an added urgency. Population growth is also one, but not necessarily the most important factor, which underlines environmental stress in rural and urban areas. The second factor is that as a large country we cannot carve out an independent position in the global system without building up a substantial capacity for self-reliant growth. The acquisition of technical competence is crucial for this purpose. Until now we have tended to treat human resource development, technology and environment as subsidiary to the main task of planning. The thrust has been on-quantitative expansion of infrastructure and production with a focus on targets like tonnes of steel, kWh of electricity etc, capacity targets like road length, rail kilometres; and coverage targets like number of schools and students, number of villages electrified etc, catching up with known technologies-fuller use of natural resources – maximum mobilization of financial resources.
What seems to be the purpose of the author in writing this passage?

According to the author, at the national level, with passage of time, the effects of which of the following are being felt?

What seems to be the approach of the author regarding present status of research?
A) He desires that more research establishments should come up.
B) Application of new technologies in factories and field is more vital than setting upof research laboratories.

According to the author, which of the following is a less important factor resulting in environmental stress in rural and urban areas?

According to the passage, we have so far placed more emphasis on which of the following?

Which of the following statements is not true in the context of the passage?