Ibps Po Prelims Exam Template With Answers
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22IBPS PO Prelims Set 4
Instructions:-
Time allowed – 60 minutes
Number of question 100
Each right answer carries one and there is negative marking of 0.25
English Language
Directions (Q. 1-13) Read the following interview and answer the given questions based on that.
Some words have been printed in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the
questions.
A pioneering new book, Gender and Green Governance, explores a central question: if women had
adequate representation in forestry institutions, would it make a difference to them their communities
and forests as a national resource? Interview with the author.
Why has access to forests been such a conflict-ridden issue?
This is not surprising. Forests constitute not just community and national wealth, but global wealth.
But for millions, forests are also critical for livelihoods and their daily lives.
Your first book, Cold Hearths and Barren Slopes (1986), was about forests. Is there an evolution of
argument here?
Yes indeed. In Cold Hearths and Barren Slopes, I had argued that social forestry, with its top-down
implementation and focus on commercial species, was neither ‘social’ nor ‘forestry’, and would
protect neither forests nor village livelihoods. The answer, I argued, lay in allowing forest
communities to manage local forests. Finally, in 1990, India launched the joint forest management
programme and Nepal also started community forestry. So, I decided to see for myself how
community forestry was actually doing.
Between 1995 and 1999, I travelled extensively across India and Nepal and found a paradox. Forests
were indeed becoming greener but women’s problem of firewood shortages persisted and in many
cases had become more acute. Also, despite their high stakes in forests, women continued to be
largely excluded from forest management. I coined the term ‘participatory exclusions’ to describe
this. However, the current book is less about women’s exclusion. I ask : what if women were present
in forest governance? What difference would that make?
But has this question not been raised before?
Economists researching environmental collective action have paid little attention to gender. Scholars
from other disciplines focusing on gender and governance have been concerned mainly with women’s
near absence from governance institutions. The presumption is that once women are present all good
things will follow. But can we assume this? No, rural women’s relationship with forests is complex.
On the one hand, their everyday dependence on forests for firewood, fodder, etc., creates a strong
stake in conservation. On the other, the same dependence can compel them to extract heavily from
forests. As one landless woman told me: ‘Of course, it hurts me to cut a green branch but what do I
do if my children are hungry? Taking an agnostic position, I decided to test varied propositions,
controlling for other factors.
What did you find?
First, women’s greater presence enhances their effective voice in decision making. And there is a
critical mass effect. If forest management groups have 25-33% female members in their executive
committees it significantly increases the likelihood of women attending meetings, speaking up and
holding office. However, the inclusion of landless women makes a particular difference. When
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