Since World War II, the nation-state has been regarded with approval by every political system and ideology. In the name of modernization in the West, of socialism in the Eastern bloc, and of development in the Third World, it was expected to guarantee the happiness of individuals as citizens and of peoples as societies. However the state today appears to have broken down in many parts of the world. It has failed to guarantee either security or social justice, and has been unable to prevent either international wars or civil wars. Disturbed by the claims of communities within it, the nation state tries to repress their demands and to proclaim itself as the only guarantor of security of all. In the name of national unity, territorial integrity, equality of all its citizens and non-partisan secularism, the state can use its powerful resources to reject the demands of the communities; it may even go so far as genocide to ensure that order prevails.
As one observes the awakening of communities in different parts of the world, one cannot ignore the context in which identity issues arise. It is no longer a context of sealed frontiers and isolated regions but is one of integrated global systems. In a reaction to this trend towards globalization individuals and communities everywhere are voicing their desire to exist, to use their power of creation and to play an active part in national and international life.
There are two ways to look at the current upsurge in demands for the recognition of identities can be looked up. On the positive side, the efforts by certain population groups to assert their identity can be regarded as ”liberation movements”, challenging oppression and injustice. What these groups are doing- proclaiming that they are different, rediscovering the roots of their culture or strengthening group solidarity- may accordingly be seen as legitimate attempts to escape from their state of subjugation and enjoy a certain measure of dignity. On the downside, however, militant action for recognition tends to make such groups more deeply entrenched in their attitude and to make their cultural compartments even more watertight. The assertion of identity then starts turning into self-absorption and isolation and is liable to slide into intolerance of others and towards idea of “ethnic cleansing”, xenophobia and violence.
Whereas continuous variations among peoples prevent drawing of clear dividing lines between the groups, those militating for recognition of their group’s identity arbitrarily choose a limited number of criteria such as religion, language, skin colour, and place of origin so that their members recognize themselves primarily in terms of the labels attached to the group whose existence is being asserted. This distinction between the group in question and other groups is established by simplifying the feature selected. Simplification also works by transforming groups into essences, abstractions endowed with the capacity to remain unchanged through time. In some cases, people actually act as though the groups has remained unchanged and talk, for example, about the history of nations and communities as if these entities survived for centuries without changing, with the same ways of action and thinking, the same desires, anxieties, and aspirations.
Paradoxically, precisely because identity represents a simplifying fiction, creating uniform groups out of disparate people, that identity performs a cognitive function. It enables us to put names to ourselves and others, form some idea of who we are and who others are, and ascertain the place we occupy along with the others in the world and society. The current upsurge to assert the identity of groups can thus be partly explained by the cognitive function performed by identity. However, that said, people would not go along as they do, often in large numbers, with the propositions put to them, in spite of the sacrifices they entail, if there was not a very strong feeling of need for identity, a need to take stock of things and know “who we are”, where we come from and where we are going.
Identity is thus a necessity in a constantly changing world, but it can also be a potent source of violence and disruption. How can these two contradictory aspects of identity be reconciled? First, we must bear in mind the arbitrary nature of identity categories in mind, not with a view to eliminating all forms of identification- which would be unrealistic since identity is a cognitive necessity- but simply to remind ourselves that each of us has several identities at the same time. Second, since tears of nostalgia are being shed over the past, we recognize that culture is constantly being recreated by cobbling together fresh and original elements and counter-cultures. There are in our own country a large number of surreptitious cults wherein modern elements are blended with traditional values or people of different communities venerate saints or divinities of particular faiths. Such cults and movements are characterised by a continual inflow and outflow of members which prevent them taking on a self-perpetuating existence of their own and hold out hope for the future, indeed, perhaps for any other conceivable future. Finally the nation state must respond to the identity urges of its constituent communities and their legitimate quest for security and social justice. It must do so by showing what the French philosopher and sociologist Raymond Aron called “peace through law.” That would guarantee justice both to the state as a whole and its parts and respect the claims of both the groups and individuals
According to the author, happiness of individuals was expected to be guaranteed in the name of:
Show Hint
- Development in the Third world.
- Socialism in the Third world.
- Development in the west.
- Modernisation in the Eastern Bloc.
The Correct Option is A
Solution and Explanation
Demands for recognition of identities can be viewed:
Show Hint
- Positively and negatively.
- As liberation movements and militant action.
- As efforts to rediscover cultural roots which can slide towards intolerance of others.
- All the above.
The Correct Option is D
Solution and Explanation
Going by the author’s exposition of the nature of identity, which of the following statement is untrue?
Show Hint
- Identity represents creating uniform groups out of disparate people.
- Identity is a necessity in the changing world.
- Identity is a cognitive necessity.
- None of the above.
The Correct Option is A
Solution and Explanation
According to the author, the nation-state:
Show Hint
- Has fulfilled its potential.
- Is willing to do anything to preserve order.
- Generates security for all its citizens.
- Has been a major force in preventing civil and international wars.
The Correct Option is D
Solution and Explanation
Which of the following views of the nation-state cannot be attributed to the author?
Show Hint
- It has not guaranteed peace and security.
- It may go as far as genocide for self-preservation.
- It represents the demands of communities within it.
- It is unable to prevent international wars.
The Correct Option is C
Solution and Explanation
Top Questions on Reading Comprehension
Meta is recalibrating content on its social media platforms as the political tide has turned in Washington, with Mark Zuckerberg announcing last week that his company plans to fire its US fact-checkers. Fact-checking evolved in response to allegations of misinformation and is being watered down in response to accusations of censorship. Social media does not have solutions to either. Community review — introduced by Elon Musk at X and planned by Zuckerberg for Facebook and Instagram — is not a significant improvement over fact-checking. Having Washington lean on foreign governments over content moderation does not benefit free speech. Yet, that is the nature of the social media beast, designed to amplify bias.
Information and misinformation continue to jostle on social media at the mercy of user discretion. Social media now has enough control over all other forms of media to broaden its reach. It is the connective tissue for mass consumption of entertainment, and alternative platforms are reworking their engagement with social media. Technologies are shaping up to drive this advantage further through synthetic content targeted precisely at its intended audience. Meta’s algorithm will now play up politics because it is the flavour of the season.
The Achilles’ Heel of social media is informed choice which could turn against misinformation. Its move away from content moderation is driven by the need to be more inclusive, yet unfiltered content can push users away from social media towards legacy forms that have better moderation systems in place. Lawmakers across the world are unlikely to give social media a free run, even if Donald Trump is working on their case. Protections have already been put in place across jurisdictions over misinformation. These may be difficult to dismantle, even if the Republicans pull US-owned social media companies further to the right.
Media consumption is, in essence, evidence-based judgement that mediums must adapt to. Content moderation, not free speech, is the adaptation mechanism. Musk and Zuckerberg are not exempt- IPMAT - 2025
- Verbal and Logical Ability
- Reading Comprehension
According to the French philosopher Jean Baudrillard, commodities available for consumption are not inherently negative things. Baudrillard tried to interpret consumption in modern societies by engaging with the ’cargo myth’ prevalent among the indigenous Melanesian people living in the South Pacific. The Melanesians did not know what aeroplanes were. However,they saw that these winged entities descended from the air for white people and appeared to make them happy. They also noted that aeroplanes never descended for the Melanesian people. The Melanesian natives noted that the white people had placed objects similar to the aeroplane on the ground. They concluded that these objects were attracting the aeroplanes in the air and bringing them to the ground. Through a magical process, the aeroplanes were bringing plenty to the white people and making them happy. The Melanesian people concluded that they would need to place objects that simulated the aeroplane on the ground and attract them from the air. Baudrillard believes that the cargo myth holds an important analogy for the ways in which consumers engage with objects of consumption.
According to Baudrillard, the modern consumer ”sets in place a whole array of sham objects, of characteristic signs of happiness, and then waits for happiness to alight”. For instance, modern consumers believe that they will get happiness if they buy the latest available version of a mobile phone or automobile. However, consumption does not usually lead to happiness. While consumers should ideally be blaming their heightened expectations for their lack of happiness, they blame the commodity instead.
They feel that they should have waited for the next version of a mobile phone or automobile before buying the one they did. The version they bought is somehow inferior and therefore cannot make them happy. Baudrillard argues that consumers have replaced ’real’ happiness with ’signs’ of happiness. This results in the endless deferment of the arrival of total happiness. In Baudrillard’s words, ”in everyday practice, the blessings of consumption are not experienced as resulting from work or from a production process; they are experienced as a miracle”. Modern consumers view consumption in the same magical way as the Melanesian people viewed the aeroplanes in the cargo myth. Television commercials also present objects of consumption as miracles. As a result, commodities appear to be distanced from the social processes which lead to their production. In effect, objects of consumption are divorced from the reality which produces them.- IPMAT - 2025
- Verbal and Logical Ability
- Reading Comprehension
CONVERSATION ANALYSIS: Read the following transcript and choose the answer that is closest to each of the questions that are based on the transcript.
Lucia Rahilly (Global Editorial Director, The McKinsey Podcast): Today we’re talking about the next big arenas of competition, about the industries that will matter most in the global business landscape, which you describe as arenas of competition. What do we mean when we use this term?
Chris Bradley (Director, McKinsey Global Institute): If I go back and look at the top ten companies in 2005, they were in traditional industries such as oil and gas, retail, industrials, and pharmaceuticals. The average company was worth about $250 billion. If I advance the clock forward to 2020, nine in ten of those companies have been replaced, and by companies that are eight times bigger than the old guards.
And this new batch of companies comes from these new arenas or competitive sectors. In fact, they’re so different that we have a nickname for them. If you’re a fan of Harry Potter, it’s wizards versus muggles.
Arena industries are wizardish; we found that there’s a set of industries that play by very different set of economic rules and get very different results, while the rest, the muggles (even though they run the world, finance the world, and energize the world), play by a more traditional set of economic rules.
Lucia Rahilly: Could we put a finer point on what is novel or different about the lens that you applied to determine what’s a wizard and what’s a muggle?
Chris Bradley: Wizards are defined by growth and dynamism. We looked at where value is flowing and the places where value is moving. And where is the value flowing? What we see is that this set of wizards, which represent about ten percent of industries, hog 45 percent of the growth in market cap. But there’s another dimension or axis too, which is dynamism. That is measured by a new metric we’ve come up with called the ”shuffle rate.” How much does the bottom move to the top? It turns out that in this set of wizardish industries, or arenas, the shuffle rate is much higher than it is in the traditional industry.
Lucia Rahilly: So, where are we seeing the most profit?
Chris Bradley: The economic profit, which is the profit you make minus the cost for the capital you employ is in the wizard industries. It’s where R&D happens; they’re two times more R&D intensive. They’re big stars, the nebulae, where new business is born.- IPMAT - 2025
- Verbal and Logical Ability
- Reading Comprehension
- On the first day of January 2025, the Indian Meteorological Department [IMD] announced that 2024 was the hottest year on record. A study by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water shows that nearly eight out of ten Indians live in districts that are at risk of either a flood, a cyclone, or a drought. Nearly twenty three States in India are heatwave-prone. In the summer of 2024, India recorded more than 44,000 cases of heatstroke and over 300 heat-related mortalities, as per the bulletin of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Water reservoirs and the energy demand that keeps India powered are impacted too. During a ten-day long heatwave in Delhi, peak power demand was 16% higher than the previous year.
- IPMAT - 2025
- Verbal and Logical Ability
- Reading Comprehension
- What is a classical dance ?
A dance which is created or choreographed and performed according to the tenets of the Natya Shastra is called a classical dance. The two broad aspects of classical dancing are the tandava and the lasya. Power and force are typical of the tandava; grace and delicacy, of the lasya. Tandava is associated with Shiva, and lasya with Parvati. Dance which is pure in movement is called nritta, and dance which is interpretative in nature is called nritya. A dancer in the classical tradition has to have years of training before he or she can begin to perform on the stage.
What are the main schools of classical dancing ?
Bharata Natyam, Kathakali, Manipuri, Kathak. Bharata Natyam is the oldest and most popular dance-form of India. Earlier, it was known by various names. Some called it Bharatam, some Natyam some Desi Attam and some Sadir.
The districts of Tanjore and Kanchipuram of Tamil Nadu were the focal points in the development of Bharata Natyam. It was danced as a solo performance by devadasis (temple dancers) on all auspicious occasions. Later, kings and rich people lent their patronage to it and it started shedding its purely sacred character.- Maharashtra Class X Board - 2025
- English
- Reading Comprehension
Questions Asked in CAT exam
- If \(x\) and \(y\) are real numbers such that \(4x^2 + 4y^2 - 4xy - 6y + 3 = 0\), then the value of \((4x + 5y)\) is
- CAT - 2024
- Linear & Quadratic Equations
- If $(a + b\sqrt{n})$ is the positive square root of $(29 - 12\sqrt{5})$, where $a$ and $b$ are integers, and $n$ is a natural number, then the maximum possible value of $(a + b + n)$ is ?
- CAT - 2024
- Algebra
- Let $x$, $y$, and $z$ be real numbers satisfying
\(4(x^2 + y^2 + z^2) = a,\)
\(4(x - y - z) = 3 + a.\)
Then $a$ equals ?- CAT - 2024
- Algebra
- If x and y satisfy the equations |x| + x + y = 15 and x + |y| − y = 20, then (x − y) equals
- CAT - 2024
- Algebra
- Renu would take 15 days working 4 hours per day to complete a certain task whereas Seema would take 8 days working 5 hours per day to complete the same task. They decide to work together to complete this task. Seema agrees to work for double the number of hours per day as Renu, while Renu agrees to work for double the number of days as Seema. If Renu works 2 hours per day, then the number of days Seema will work, is
- CAT - 2024
- Time and Work