2656: Tarapore Committee was associated with which one of the following ?

(a) Special Economic Zones

(b) Fuller capital account convertibility

(c) Foreign exchange reserves

(d) Effect of oil-prices on the Indian economy

2657: Which of the following is the most important cause for the decline of Buddhism after Ashoka ?

(a) Non patronage by the kings

(b) Condemnation of animal sacrifices

(c) Growth of licentious practices in Buddhist centres

(d) Allegiance to the middle path
2658: India maintained its early cultural contacts and trade links with Southeast Asia across the Bay of Bengal. For this pre-eminence of early maritime history of Bay of Bengal, which of the following could be the most convincing explanation/explanations?

(a) As compared to other countries, India had a better ship building technology in ancient and medieval times

(b) The rulers of southern India always patronized traders, brahmin priests and buddhist monks in this context

(c) Monsoon winds across the Bay of Bengal facilitated sea voyages

(d) Both (a) and (b) are convincing explanations in this context
2659: The following figure contains three squares with areas of 100, 16 and 49 lying side by side as shown. By how much should the area of the middle square be reduced in order that the total length PQ of the resulting three squares is 19?


(a) 12
(b) 4
(c) 2
(d) root 2
2660: Strips of two metals A and B are firmly joined together as shown in the figure.