Question

Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?

• A. The water tanker mafia’s operations, though illegal, are justified given the vital service they provide to the people of Delhi.
• B. The water supplied by the water tanker mafia is potentially contaminated.
• C. Private truck owners play the most important role in the operations of the water tanker mafia.
• D. The water supplied by the water tanker mafia is meant primarily for residential use.
• A. Entrenched
• B. Ubiquitous
• C. Long-term water security
• D. Fast-depleting common resource
• A. Delhi’s water supply infrastructure does not adequately cater to all its residents.
• B. The illegal operations of the water tank mafia do not depend on the complicity of a range of actors, including the police and city councillors.
• C. The petty profiteering of a few actors comes at the immense cost of India’s sustainable access to water.
• D. All the above
• A. Creaking
• B. Thrumming
• C. Droning
• D. Gushing
• A. Illicit
• B. Idling
• C. Subversive
• D. Covert

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

Step 1: Locate evidence in the passage.
The passage states: “Everything about this business is illegal... the water sold without testing or treatment.” This means the water has not been tested for safety, implying potential contamination.
Step 2: Eliminate incorrect options.
- (A) is wrong — although the mafia claims to provide a community service, the author’s tone does not justify their actions.
- (C) is incorrect — private truck owners are important, but the passage describes a broader network including councillors, farmers, agents, and fixers.
- (D) is wrong — the passage lists factories, hospitals, malls, hotels, and residences as buyers, so not just residential use.
Step 3: Confirm correct inference.
Lack of testing/treatment \(\Rightarrow\) possible contamination — matches (B).
\[ \boxed{\text{(B) The water supplied by the water tanker mafia is potentially contaminated}} \]

Answer 2

The question asks what can be inferred from the passage about Delhi's illegal water-tanker trade. Let's test each option against the text.

1. Option A: The passage does note that the mafia "defends its work as a community service," but the author immediately follows that with a "much darker picture," describing a "thriving black market" that exploits a depleting resource. The passage does not itself endorse or justify the illegal operations; it presents the mafia's own defence and then complicates it, so this option misreads the author's stance as agreement.
2. Option B: The passage states plainly that "the water sold without testing or treatment." Selling water that has never been tested or treated directly implies that its safety is unknown and it could well be contaminated. This is a fair, cautious inference drawn straight from that sentence.
3. Option C: The passage describes "a dispersed web of city councillors, farmers, real estate agents, and fixers," with truck owners as only "the most visible strands" of that wider network. This suggests truck owners are visible, not necessarily the most important part of the operation, since the passage frames the whole network as working together rather than singling out truck owners as most essential.
4. Option D: The passage lists the water going to "factories and hospitals, malls and hotels, apartments and hutments," a mix of commercial, institutional, and residential buyers, not a primarily residential market.

Only option B follows directly and cautiously from the passage's own words: water sold without testing or treatment is water whose safety cannot be assured, which supports an inference of potential contamination.

Therefore, the correct answer is Option B.

Answer 3

Step 1: Understand the meaning of “entrenched.”
Entrenched means something firmly established over a long period of time.
Step 2: Match with passage context.
The passage describes the water tanker mafia as an “entrenched system,” implying it has existed for many years and is deeply rooted.
Step 3: Eliminate distractors.
- (B) “Ubiquitous” means widespread, but does not imply longevity.
- (C) and (D) are related to water security and depletion, not the duration of the activity.
\[ \boxed{\text{(A) Entrenched}} \]

Answer 4

The question asks which word or phrase in the passage suggests that the illegal groundwater supply is not a recent phenomenon, meaning it points to something that has existed for a long time. Let's test each option.

1. Option A: "Entrenched" describes something firmly and deeply established, usually because it has existed and taken root over a long period. The passage calls the water-tanker mafia system "entrenched," which directly signals that this system has been operating and settling in for a long time, not that it just started recently.
2. Option B: "Ubiquitous" means widespread or found everywhere. It describes how common something is across space, not how long it has existed, so while the passage does use this word for the tanker teams, it doesn't by itself suggest the practice is old rather than new.
3. Option C: "Long-term water security" refers to a future-facing concern, India's ability to secure water resources going forward. It's about a consequence for the future, not evidence about how long the illegal supply system has already existed.
4. Option D: "Fast-depleting common resource" describes the rate at which the water itself is disappearing, a comment on the resource's decline, not on how long the illegal trade in that resource has been going on.

Only option A, "entrenched," specifically conveys that the system has become deeply rooted through a long history, which is what shows the practice isn't recent.

Therefore, the correct answer is Option A.

Answer 5

Step 1: Identify key concerns in the passage.
The author discusses: - Shortfall in official water supply (A).
- A network involving multiple actors in the illegal trade (B).
- Exploitation of a fast-depleting resource (C).
Step 2: Combine points.
All three concerns are central to the narrative. Hence, (D) “All the above” is correct.
\[ \boxed{\text{(D) All the above}} \]

Answer 6

The question asks what most concerns the author across this passage. Let's check what the text raises and see how each option lines up.

1. Option A: The passage opens by describing how a quarter of Delhi's households have no piped-water connection and most others get water only a few hours a day, an official supply shortfall that the author lays out clearly as part of the problem. This concern is directly supported.
2. Option B: The passage describes a wide network behind the illegal trade, including "city councillors, farmers, real estate agents, and fixers," and a resident's comment that "the police look the other way." This shows the operation runs on the involvement, or at least the tolerance, of a range of actors well beyond just the truck drivers, which is the concern this option is pointing to.
3. Option C: The passage closes on the idea of "small-time freelance agents" profiting while "threatening India's long-term water security," directly tying individual profiteering to a much larger, shared cost. This concern is also directly supported by the closing lines.
4. Option D: Since all three concerns, the supply shortfall, the network of complicit actors, and the profiteering-versus-sustainability tension, are each raised and supported in the passage, the option that covers all three is the complete answer.

The passage raises all three concerns as part of one connected picture: an inadequate official supply that opens space for an illegal trade run through a wide network, ultimately putting the country's water security at risk for the profit of a few.

Therefore, the correct answer is Option D.

Answer 7

Step 1: Identify sounds mentioned.
The passage says: “Diesel generators... begin to thrum. Submersible pumps... drone... The liquid gushes through the hoses.”
Step 2: Compare with options.
- Thrumming — mentioned.
- Droning — mentioned.
- Gushing — mentioned.
- Creaking — not mentioned in the filling context (only steel cistern’s frame was called “creaky” in a descriptive way, not as a filling sound).
\[ \boxed{\text{(A) Creaking}} \]

Answer 8

The question asks which sound is NOT among those described as the water tankers are filled. Let's check each option against what the passage actually describes during the filling process.

1. Option A: "Creaking" appears in the passage, but only to describe the truck's "creaky frame," a description of the vehicle's physical condition, not a sound heard specifically during the act of filling the tanks. Since it isn't listed among the filling-process sounds, this is the one that stands apart.
2. Option B: The passage says the diesel generators "begin to thrum" as the pumping starts, so thrumming is directly named as one of the sounds during filling.
3. Option C: The passage says the submersible pumps "drone as they disgorge thousands of gallons of groundwater," so droning is also directly named as a sound during filling.
4. Option D: The passage says "the liquid gushes through the hoses and into the trucks' tanks," so gushing is directly named as a sound during filling too.

Thrumming, droning, and gushing are all explicitly described as sounds occurring while the tankers are filled, while "creaky" is only used to describe the truck's frame in passing, not a sound of the filling process itself.

Therefore, the correct answer is Option A.

Answer 9

Step 1: Match meaning.
‘Covert’ means concealed, secret, or hidden.
Step 2: Locate in passage.
The passage describes “covert pumping station” — meaning a pumping station operating in secret.
Step 3: Eliminate others.
- Illicit — illegal, but not necessarily hidden.
- Idling — inactive or not moving.
- Subversive — intended to undermine authority.
\[ \boxed{\text{(D) Covert}} \]

Answer 10

The question asks which listed word means "hidden," in the sense of something kept out of sight or not openly shown. The way to answer this is to test each option against that exact sense of the word.

1. Illicit: This word means forbidden by law or custom, such as an illicit trade or an illicit relationship. It describes something unlawful, not something out of sight. An illicit act can happen in full view and still be illicit, so this word does not carry the sense of "hidden."
2. Idling: This describes an engine or a person running with no real work being done, staying inactive while technically switched on. It is about inactivity, not concealment, so it does not match.
3. Subversive: This word describes actions or people working to undermine an established authority or system. Subversive activity is often carried out quietly, but the word itself points to the intent to weaken authority, not to being unseen.
4. Covert: This word means kept secret or done without being openly declared, such as a covert operation or a covert glance. This is a direct, dictionary-level match for "hidden."

Among the four, only "covert" directly denotes something concealed from view or knowledge, while the other three describe unlawfulness, inactivity, and intent to undermine, none of which mean "hidden" on their own.

Therefore, the correct answer is Covert.