Quiz : Reading Comprehension

Directions (Q.1-10): Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below. Certain words/phrases have been printed in bold to help you locate them.

The smell of death continues to hang over the Laxmi Nagar slum in Malvani in Mumbai’s western suburbs. The first reports of deaths from spurious liquor came in last week, and over the next four days the toll has crossed 100, making it Maharashtra’s worst such tragedy. In 2004, the death toll in a similar tragedy went up to 87. The use of methanol, the highly toxic alcohol, is once again the factor in these deaths. The human scale of the tragedy is shocking. It has killed the chief bread-winners, widowed several women, some as young as 18, and orphaned small children who have no means to survive. Mainkaini Swami alias Akka, the alleged mastermind, runs a bootlegging network, and is on the run. Two of her associates were arrested, but Akka remains elusive. She was arrested five times in the past, but has continued to run the network right under the nose of law enforcement agencies. It is tragic that a mass death among the poor due to illicit liquor consumption is still prevalent. Since 2001, illicit hooch has killed over 700 people across India in 18 recorded incidents. The biggest such tragedy, which killed 180 people in May 2008, was in Karnataka. Then, 170 people were killed in West Bengal in December 2011.

The latest tragedy has been an embarrassment to the BJP-Shiv Sena government, and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will in all probability now clamp down on illicit liquor units across the State. After the 2004 tragedy the Congress-NCP government had made Section 65 of the Bombay Prohibition Act a non-bailable provision with the maximum punishment ranging from six months to three years. However, excise and police officials say bootleggers like Akka manage to get bail and return to the business. The government is now considering the application of more stringent laws such as the Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Slumlords, Bootleggers, Drug Offenders and Dangerous Persons Act, 1981, or even the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) which will make bail a difficult proposition. The government has received many representations, especially from women, to ban liquor in temple towns such as Pandharpur, and Tuljapur, Nagpur and Yavatmal, In January the government declared Chandrapur “liquor-free”, making it the third “dry” district after Gadchiroli, and Wardha, where Mahatma Gandhi’s Sevagram ashram is located. But, in Gadchiroli and Wardha districts, in the last four years the Excise Department has lodged some 2,000 cases and seized illicit alcohol worth over Rs.2,000 crore. So for now, effective police action combined with stringent laws remains the only way to stop this dance of death.

The Hindu

Q.1. Choose an appropriate title for the passage.

a) Liquor free Maharashtra

b) Dance of death

c) Bootleggers on run

d) MCOCA

e) Death toll in Maharastra

Q.2. Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A) Spurious liquor contains methanol , which is a highly toxic alcohol

B) Pandharpur,Tuljapur, Nagpur and Yavatmal are liquor free districts of Maharastra

C) Since 2001, illicit hooch has killed over 700 people across India in 18 recorded incidents.

a) All A, B and C

b) A and B

c) B and C

d) A and C

e) None of the above

Q.3. Which of the following is not true according to the passage?

A) The BJP-Shiv Sena government had made Section 65 of the Bombay Prohibition Act a non-bailable provision with the maximum punishment ranging from six monthsto three years.

B) The biggest tragedy of  death due to spurious liquor  has been reported in Kolkatta  which took life of 180 people in May 2011.

C) Recent incident of spurious liquor has been reported in the the Laxmi Nagar slum in Malvani in Mumbai’s western suburbs.

a) All 

b) A and b 

c) B and c

d) A and c

e) None of these

Q.4. Which one of the following became the 3rd dry district of Maharastra?

a) Chandrapur

b) Gadchiroli

c) Wardha

d) Nagpur

e) Yavatmal

Q.5. Which of the following states has reported the highest mass death due to illicit liquor consumption?

a) Gujarat

b) Karnataka

c) Uttar Pradesh

d) Madhya Pradesh

e) West Bengal

Q.6. Which of  he following is the synonym of the word "illicit"?

a) Secret

b) Disapprove

c) above board

d) taboo

e) unlicensed

Q.7. Which of the following is the synonym of the word "stringent"?

a) gentle

b) nice

c) willing

d) strict

e) tolerant

Q.8. Which of the following is the synonym of the word "seized"?

a) obsessed

b) entangled

c) confiscated

d) compass

e) pinch

Q.9. Which of the following is not the synonym of the word "spurious"?

a)  counterfeit

b) Pirate

c) Authentic

d) Hollow

e) Awkward 

Q.10. Which of the following is the synonym of the word "toxic"?

a) Harmless

b) Deadly

c) Noxious

d) Lethal

e) Snatched

Answers for the above questions are as follows

1. b

2. d

3. b

4. a

5. b

6. e

7. d

8. c

9. c

10. a