iQuanta has launched a Mini Mock Series covering all the sections of the CLAT exam, these questions have been handpicked by our faculty based on the latest CLAT exam pattern.
Instructions:-
1. Attempt all the questions.
2. Once you have completed all the questions of a particular section click on the submit button for scores and explanations then move to the next sections.
3. For each correct answer, you receive 1 mark. For this mock, there is no negative marking.
English Language
Directions: Read the passage and answer the following question.
In mature countries, one element of the privacy problem is well established: the need to restrict government access to information about individuals, i.e., to tie down surveillance by the government into rule-of-law procedures and limit the extent of surveillance. This has evolved in the UK and in Europe over centuries. The conflict between state access to personal information, and human freedom, is particularly seen in the authoritarian governments of the twentieth century. This is the prime problem in the field of privacy, and is a largely settled matter in mature democracies.
In recent years, there is fresh concern about the abuse of information about individuals by firms such as Facebook. European policymakers have pushed to the frontiers of the field with the ‘General Data Protection Regulation’ (GDPR) in the EU.
A simple reading of the contemporary literature on privacy in mature democracies is, then, quite misleading. Such a reader would see the bulk of the contemporary policy discourse as being the debates around GDPR and its enforcement. A reader of this literature would think that Facebook is a major problem in the field of privacy. Policy recommendations in India may flow from this study of the international experience that we have to block information access about Indians by Facebook using a legal instrument on the lines of GDPR. This position would be treated warmly by persons in India who are hostile to foreign companies.
Such transplantation of the international experience would, however, be incorrect for two reasons. First, access to personal information by the state is far more dangerous for individuals as compared with access to this information by private firms. Second, a law like GDPR makes assumptions about UK or EU state capacity. To favour creating a new privacy regulator that will coerce private firms on the question of privacy, without the checks and balances prevalent in the EU, would work out poorly in India. In the Indian discourse, we have rapidly run ahead to proposing criminal sanctions, in the hands of the proposed ‘Data Protection Authority’.
Current Affairs and General Knowledge
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) treaty on intellectual property, Genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge, is a significant win for countries of the global South and for India, which is a mega biodiversity hotspot with abundance of traditional knowledge, and wisdom.
For the first time the system of knowledge and wisdom which have supported economies, societies and cultures for centuries are now inscribed into the global IP system. For the first time the connection between local communities and their GRs and ATK is recognised in the global IP community. These are historic achievements long championed by India as a provider of traditional knowledge and wisdom and repository of biodiversity.
The treaty will not only safeguard and protect biodiversity but will increase transparency in the patent system and strengthen innovation. Through this, the IP system can continue to incentivize innovation while evolving in a more inclusive way, responding to the needs of all countries and their communities.
Legal Reasoning
On 8th March, 2018, the Supreme Court rendered its historic decision legalising, recognising and providing constitutional sanctity to Advance Medical Directives or Living Wills.
A Living Will is a written instrument executed during a person’s lifetime under which instrument, the executor expresses his/her wishes in relation to the medical treatment he/she wishes to receive or not to receive in the event of a terminal illness or incapacitation. Say a young adult, otherwise healthy, today can pen down his or her wishes to be or not to be on life sustaining machines such as ventilators in the event of a terminal illness. The Supreme Court recognised the importance of such declaration of personal autonomy and consequently legalised the same. The constitutional victory was that of personal autonomy and the right to live and die with dignity.
The Supreme Court directed that Living Wills are necessarily to be honored by Hospitals, Doctors and even a terminally ill patient’s family. The Supreme Court’s decision came as a relief to various medical practitioners as also others who understood and propounded the requirement of legal recognition to personal autonomy and the right to die with dignity. Earlier, doctors were attempting to strike a balance between their ethical obligations in fulfilling the wishes of a terminally ill patient and his/her family on the one hand and a potential legal action against doctors on the other. This was despite the fact that these doctors were acting in the best interest of a terminally ill patient.
However, whilst legalising Living Wills, the Supreme Court went a step further and laid down certain ‘Safeguards’ to be followed whilst executing Living Wills so as to ensure that they are not misused. Illustratively, the Supreme Court laid down that a Living Will should be signed by the executor in the presence of two attesting witnesses and countersigned by the jurisdictional Judicial Magistrate First Class. The witnesses and jurisdictional Judicial Magistrate First Class are to then record their satisfaction that the document has been executed voluntarily and without any coercion and/or inducement and/or compulsion, and with full understanding of all the relevant information and consequences. The Judicial Magistrate First Class shall then cause to inform the immediate family members of the executor, if not present at the time of execution, and inform them about the execution of the Living Will. Whilst these safeguards are in the author’s opinion wholly just and well thought through, they appear not to have been communicated to the various Judicial Magistrate(s) First Class across the country. Recently, a flock of eager executors of Living Wills approached their jurisdictional Judicial Magistrate First Class who when faced with a “Death Warrant” refused to validate a single Living Will.
[Extracted with edits and revision from Living Wills Have Been Recognized, columns by Livelaw]
Logical Reasoning
The National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) of India is in the process of formulating the country’s inaugural written National Security Strategy (NSS). This development marks a significant shift in India’s approach to national security, a topic that has gained prominence in discourse over the past two decades. Vice Admiral Biswajit Dasgupta (Retd), a distinguished former Commander-in-Chief of the Eastern Naval Command, sheds light on the necessity and intricacies of this strategic endeavor.
The formulation of a publicly articulated NSS is imperative for India. It serves as a foundational element for the nation’s existence and well-being, ensuring a unified understanding and approach towards national security. The absence of such a strategy has historically been attributed to a lack of strategic maturity and confidence. However, recent advancements in India’s military and strategic sectors signal a readiness to undertake this critical task.
The NSS is envisioned to be comprehensive, encompassing not just military and internal security, but also economic, diplomatic, human, climate, food, water, and other forms of security crucial for the nation’s prosperity. The multifaceted nature of the strategy necessitates extensive consultations across various ministries, reflecting the complexity and interdependence of the different security aspects.
Given the sensitive nature of the content, the NSS will likely be presented in two formats: a public version and a classified one for restricted audiences. The strategy’s formulation is a meticulous process, requiring iterative revisions and high-level governmental approval, particularly from the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS).
The NSS will be grounded in a set of guiding principles, likely derived from India’s comprehensive Constitution. These principles will inform the strategy, ensuring alignment with national values and objectives. The strategy, in turn, will influence the formulation of various doctrines at different levels, from national strategic to operational and tactical, across military and internal security domains.
The NSS is not expected to be a static document but a dynamic one, subject to continuous refinement and adaptation in response to evolving circumstances. A tentative timeframe of two years is considered reasonable for its initial release, with ongoing revisions to follow.
Quantitative Techniques
Two renowned international Software companies, namely Pollaris and Contigent, started their business in the year 2007 and both the companies were in competition with each other in profit making. Pollaris earned 30 per cent profit in the year 2007 and 2008, and further increased it to 40 per cent in 2009. However, its profit percentage decreased to 20 per cent in the year 2010. On the other hand, Contigent opened with 40 per cent profit in 2007, but slowly decreased to 35 per cent in 2008 and 30 per cent in 2009. Interestingly, both the companies increased their profit percentage in the later year considerably. Pollaris increased its profit percentage to 35 per cent in 2011 and 50 per cent in 2012; simultaneously, Contigent increased its profit percentage to 45 per cent in 2010, 50 per cent in 2011 and reached 60 per cent in the year 2012. As there is a need to understand the income and expenditure for the better performance of both companies in the future, answer the following questions.
