NICL AO Prelims Full Mock Test 1

Read the passage and answer the question. Across rural India, a quiet movement is reviving seeds that industrial agriculture nearly erased. Community seed banks, run largely by women farmers' collectives, store and exchange indigenous varieties of millet, rice and pulses that were abandoned during the push for high-yielding hybrids. Their supporters argue that these banks are not acts of nostalgia but practical insurance against a warming climate. The logic is straightforward. Hybrid seeds, bred for maximum output under ideal conditions, often falter when rains arrive late or temperatures spike. Traditional varieties, by contrast, have been selected over centuries by farmers who planted in uncertain conditions. A drought-tolerant millet may never match a hybrid's yield in a good year, but it rarely fails completely in a bad one. For a smallholder with no crop insurance, that difference can decide whether a family eats through the lean season. Seed banks also loosen farmers' dependence on markets. Hybrid seed must be bought afresh every season because its offspring do not reliably reproduce the parent's traits. Saved seed, on the other hand, costs nothing beyond careful storage. Several collectives lend seed on the condition that the borrower returns twice the quantity after harvest, allowing stocks to grow without any outside funding. Yet the movement faces real obstacles. Storage without modern facilities exposes seed to pests and moisture, and a single bad monsoon can wipe out a collective's reserves. Many indigenous varieties also lack formal registration, which makes it difficult for farmers to sell their produce in regulated markets or claim government support. Younger farmers, drawn to the promise of higher yields, are sometimes reluctant to return to crops their parents gave up. Agricultural scientists increasingly see value in pairing the two systems rather than choosing between them. Documenting traditional varieties, testing them under controlled conditions and linking seed banks with research institutions could turn scattered local efforts into a resilient national resource. The aim is not to reject modern breeding but to stop discarding the genetic wealth that farmers built long before laboratories existed. Q. Which of the following best expresses the central idea of the passage?

Solution: The passage presents seed banks as practical insurance against climate risk and ends by recommending pairing them with modern research, not replacing it.

In the question, a word is given in capitals followed by three sentences using that word. Choose the option showing the sentence(s) in which the word is used correctly. SPARE (I) Can you spare a few minutes to review this draft? (II) Always keep a spare tyre in the boot of the car. (III) The farmer spared the field with fresh seeds yesterday.

Solution: (I) uses 'spare' as a verb meaning 'give', and (II) as an adjective meaning 'extra'; both are correct. (III) is wrong: the context needs 'sowed', not 'spared'.

Study the information and answer the question. Six persons B, D, F, H, J and K sit in a row facing north. Each likes a different colour: Red, Blue, Green, White, Pink and Black. F sits second to the left of B. The one who likes Green sits immediately to the right of F. K likes Green. Only two persons sit between H and B. D sits at one of the extreme ends. The one who likes Pink sits immediately to the left of D. The one who likes White sits second to the right of the one who likes Blue. The one who likes Black sits at an extreme end. H likes Red. J is not an immediate neighbour of K. B likes White. Q. Who likes Blue?

Solution: Row from left: H (Red), F (Blue), K (Green), B (White), J (Pink), D (Black).

Study the information and answer the question. Eight persons A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H sit around a square table. Four sit at the corners facing the centre and four sit at the middle of the sides facing outside. G sits third to the left of E. C faces outside and is an immediate neighbour of E. B sits second to the right of G. A sits opposite D. F is not an immediate neighbour of A. H faces outside. H sits immediately to the left of D. Q. Who sits second to the right of F?

Solution: Clockwise: E (corner), C (side), A (corner), G (side), F (corner), B (side), D (corner), H (side). F faces the centre, so its right is anticlockwise: G, then A.

The data shows the total number of employees in five companies and the percentage of female employees in each. A: Total 800, Female 25% B: Total 1200, Female 40% C: Total 900, Female 30% D: Total 1500, Female 20% E: Total 1000, Female 45% Q. Find the total number of male employees in B and D together.

Solution: Males in B = 60% of 1200 = 720. Males in D = 80% of 1500 = 1200. Total = 1920.