Directions: In making decisions about important questions, it is desirable to distinguish between “strong” argument and “weak” argument. A “strong” argument must be both important and directly relatedto the question. A“weak” argument may not be directly related to the question andmay be of minor importance or may he related to the trivial aspect of the question. Each question below is followed by twoarguments, numbered I and II. You have to decide which of the arguments is “strong” and which is `weak’. Give answer (a) if only argument I is strong, (b) if only argument II is strong, (c) if neither I nor II is strong and (d) if both I and II are strong.

1. Statement: Should there be capital punishment for those who are found guilty of rape charges

Arguments
I. Yes, this is the only way to eliminate such atrocities on women.
II. No, this will read tomore violence as culprits may even kill the rape victims.

2. Statement: Should all foreign banks immediately be asked to close down their operations in India?

Arguments
I. No, this will have an adverse impact on Indian economy.
II. Yes, this is the only way to make the Indian banks survive and proposes.

3. Statement: Should school education be made free in India ?

Arguments
I. Yes, this is the onlyway to improve the level of literacy.
II. No, it will add to the already heavy burden on the exchequer.

4. Statement: Should there be complete ban on manufacture of fire crackers in India ?

Arguments
I. No, this will gender thousands of workers jobless.
II. Yes, the fire crackermanufactures use child labour to a large extent.

5. Statement: Should a total ban be put on trapping wild animals ?

Arguments
I. Yes, trappers are making a lot of money.
II. No, bans on hunting and trapping are not effective.

6. Statement: Should religion be taught in our schools?

Arguments
I. No, ours is a secular state.
II. Yes, teaching religions helps inculcatemoral values among children.

7. Statement: Should we impart sex education in schools?

Arguments
I. Yes, all the progressive nation do so.
II. No, we cannot impart it in co-educational school.

8. Statement: Should there be a ban on product advertisement ?

Arguments
I. No, it is an age of advertising. Unless your advertisement is better than that of your other competitors, the products will not be sold.
II. Yes, themoney spend on advertising is very huge and it inflates the cost of the product.

9. Statement: Should there be a ceiling on the salary of top executives of multinationals in our country ?

Arguments
I. Yes, otherwise it would lead to unhealthy competition and comparison and our own industry would not be able to withstand that.
II. No, with the accent of liberalisation of economy, any such move would be counter productive. Once the economy picks-up, this disparity will be reduced.

10. Statement: Should the government levy tax on agricultural income also ?

Arguments
I. Yes, that is the only way to fill government’s coffer.
II. No, eighty per cent of our population live in rural areas.

11. Statement: Should public holidays be declared on demise of important national leaders ?

Arguments
I. No, such unscheduled holidays hamper national progress.
II. Yes, people would like to pay their homage to the departed soul.

12. Statement: Keeping in consideration the longevity of life in India, should the age limit for retirement in government jobs be increased ?

Arguments
I. Yes, other countries have decided so long before.
II. Yes, it is the actual demand of lakhs of employees.

13. Statement: Should young entrepreneurs be encouraged?

Arguments
I. Yes, they will help in the industrial development of the country.
II. Yes, they will reduce the burden on the employment market.

14. Statement: Should luxury hotels be banned in India?

Arguments
I. Yes, these are places from where international criminals operate.
II. No, affluent foreign tourists will have no place to stay.

15. Statement: Should the admission to professional courses in India be given only on merit without any concession to any particular group of students?

Arguments
I. Yes, this will improve the quality of the professionals as they will be able to complete the courses successfully.
II. No, this will keep large number of socially and economically backward students out of the reach of the professional courses.

16. Statement: Should the state governments be allowed to retainmajor shares of the central taxes collected in the respective states ?

Arguments
I. No, the central government should receive the major share almost of the developmental programmes are funded by the central government.
II. Yes, most of the state governments are short of funds and they badly need more funds.

17. Statement: Should all the private sector banks be immediately merged with the public sector banks ?

Arguments
I. No, the private sector banks are profit making entities and hence, they should not be merged.
II. Yes, this will safeguard the hard earned money of the customers and their interests will be secured.

18. Statement: Should the incharge of all the police stations in the country be transferred every two years ?

Arguments
I. No, this will create lot of administrative hassles and also will create lot of  inconvenience to the police officers.
II. Yes, this is the only way to eradicate the nexus between police officers and anti social elements.

19. Statement: Should election expenses to central and state legislature be met by the government ?

Arguments
I. Yes, itwill put an end to political corruption.
II. No, it is not good in any country.

20. Statement: Should all the students up to standard five be exempted from taking final examination every year ?

Arguments
I. Yes, thiswill considerably reduce the burden on the parents.
II. Yes, the teachers should evaluate such students on continuous basis throughout the year.

21. Statement: Should small States be formed out of bigger States in India ?

Arguments
I. Yes, there will be administrative convenience.
II. No, itwill be a danger to national integration.

22. Statement: Should all the government owned educational institutions be given to private sector?

Arguments
I. Yes, therewill be upgradation of educational standard in these institutions.
II. Yes, the educational standard of these institutionswill decrease.

23. Statement: Should be organizations like the UNO be abolished ?

Arguments
I. The cold war is going to an end so there is no role of such organizations.
II. No, in the absence of these organizations, there will be a world war.

24. Statement: Should religion be banned ?

Arguments
I. Yes, it increases money among people.
II. No, religion binds people together.

25. Statement: Should the tution fees in all post graduate courses be hiked considerably ?

Arguments
I. Yes, this will bring in some sense of seriousness among the students and will improve the quality.
II. No, this will force the meritorious poor students to stay away from post-graduate courses.

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