Reading Comprehension
Description: Single question passages | |
Number of Questions: 48 | |
Created by: Niharika Sharma | |
Tags: reading comprehension Reading Comprehension Alphabet Test |
Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:
A struggle against this accentuation of money is absolutely essential. Linked as it is to the immanent tendencies of contemporary capitalism, this struggle cannot but set for itself the conscious objective of transcending capitalism. Though the precise manner of this transcendence, the stages through which it may come about and linkages between struggles in different countries are matters that cannot be answered speculatively but require theoretical resolution on the basis of concrete praxis, the necessity of such transcendence is indubitable for anyone who is concerned with human freedom as it is this theory of transcendence that provides illumination.
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Today science has touched every person in all walks of life. When you visit a doctor with absolute faith that he will find a cure for every illness, you see science in action. When harvest is bountiful and when you are able to make increased productivity than your forefathers in the same land, you see science in action. When you can talk to your wards in any part of the planet from your home, you see science in action. When you realize that the world is a global village and you have all the world of information available to you, you see science in action.
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The socialist collapse, one would say, has ushered in a period of transition characterized by a sharp increase in exploitation and misery. Those who had argued that 'capitalism had changed', that henceforth only humane face of welfare capitalism would be seen, and had concluded that Marxism was wrong, are themselves being proved wrong, with soaring unemployment in advanced countries and a progressive curtailment of the welfare state. Many argued that capitalism needed no colonies; that colonies were a millstone round its neck and concluded that Marxism was wrong. They too are being proved wrong, as the sovereignty of third world is being progressively throttled.
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A growing economy, the stock market booming, means more jobs. The growth has started in the cities with jobs chasing people, offering hope and guidance for those on the threshold of their careers. Ten years ago, 80 per cent of jobs were in the area of manufacturing, while today the majority of jobs come from the services sector. Government jobs are no longer an attractive destination for those looking at a wide choice of other exciting options. With governments downsizing, there are less jobs, and little of the power and status that many hopefuls once coveted.
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The other major force that has been unleashed by the information revolution that lies at the core of globalization is ethnicity. Ethnic loyalties have resurfaced not only in the newly emergent nations, where the process of nation building on the European model is far from complete, but also in many older and supposedly homogeneous nations of Europe. So, widespread is this resurgence that one can legitimately ask whether ethnic groups had ever been really homogenized or whether the political and even social expression of ethnic identities have been simply suppressed in nation states that had been built through conquest and coercion.
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Those stepping out into the vast cavernous world of work need to look ahead with purpose. They need to concentrate on the areas that are best suited. A clear focus on career direction will enable one to open one`s mind to the incredible choice of career options that exist and are being continuously created all the time, in every subject area. At the same time, these should help one figure out the skills that are required to be developed so as to be ready for the jobs in areas that are in demand today, and will hold good for the future.
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What on earth is an engaging ruffian
. He must be a creature of literary imagination, I thought, for the two words do not match in my personal experience. It has happened to me to meet a few ruffians here and there, but I never found one of them engaging
. I consoled myself, however, by reflecting that the friendly reviewer must have been talking like a parrot, which so often seems to understand what it says.
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The purpose of science, as expounded by Thomas Huxley, was not only the advancement of knowledge, but also 'the alleviation of human suffering'. If the first is to lead to the second, there is need to wed the pursuit of knowledge, i.e. education, with the humanistic impulse. Unfortunately, we divorced our education, politics and administration from this humanistic impulse; so these lost the capacity to alleviate human suffering; some of these, especially politics developed even the capacity to aggravate human sufferings by infecting and distorting our education, administration and labour movement.
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Freedom of the individual is fundamental to human growth; it is also fundamental to a democratic socio-political order. But that freedom becomes a menace, as much to the individual as to the nation and its democracy, if it fails to inspire itself with a second value, namely the sense of social responsibility. Along with its wedding to this sense of social responsibility, the freedom of the individual needs to be enriched with the democratic virtues of self-discipline and a humanly oriented will. This constitutes character, character centred in a socially oriented will. It is this training in citizenship virtues and graces that makes a people capable of enriching all inter-human relations, including all management techniques, with ethical and humanistic impulses and growth oriented practical efficiency.
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Some of the profoundest ideas relating to the philosophy of work are to be found in the Bhagvad-Gita. It is unique in its stress on work-ethics. Among the great religious books of the past, this is the only book whose central theme is work, man at work, and man achieving from work a double benefit, namely, social welfare outside, and spiritual growth within. All other religious books deal with man at worship, at prayer, at meditation, at ritual. But Gita deals primarily with man at work, and presents worship, prayer, meditation and ritual as means for man`s spiritual growth, development and realization on one hand and for increasing his work-efficiency, leading to social welfare, on the other. This is yoga.
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From the day when education and culture began to spread gradually from patricians to plebeians, distinctions grew between the modern civilization as of Western countries and the ancient civilization as of India, Egypt, and Rome, etc. Evidently, a nation is advanced in proportion as education and intelligence spreads among masses. The chief cause of a country's ruin would be the monopolizing of the whole education and intelligence of the land, by dint of pride and royal authority, among a handful of men. If they are to rise again, they will have to do it by spreading education among the masses. By what power again has the German labourer succeeded in shaking the many-century-grounded firm footing of the English labourer? It is education.
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What makes a static system of administration and management dynamic in this human orientation? There the heart is touched, not the mere intellect. It is when heart responds to heart that a static bureaucracy and management, be it in government or in service institutions like banking, become transformed into dynamic developmental administration and management. There is an appropriate strategy in everything. Our people, and even our foreign collaborators in industry, often complain that nothing moves in our bureaucracy; how many well-conceived developmental plans and programmes in our country are getting stifled by our wooden bureaucracy! All this will change when all our public service activities become infused with enlightened-citizenship awareness and the humanistic motive.
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Earning wealth by right means and honest labour is righteousness. But greed, and its impulsion to dishonesty and unscrupulousness, is opposed to what is righteous means. It is opposed to general social welfare and one`s own inner spiritual growth. It is righteousness that equalizes a strong man and a weak man in society. If the restraint of righteousness is not there, the strong will have all the riches, and the weak will be deprived of even elementary human satisfaction; and that was what obtained in the feudal social order, where the haves monopolized all the good things of life and the have-nots were left to live a near animal life. This is what we have to change fully in our democracy, by infusing moral, ethical, and human values in our society.
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Every nation, every culture, has its own approach to the subject of management, as well as to other forms of group life and activity. Today, there are two great nations which are highly specialized in the field of management and have their own philosophies relating to it: one is America and the other is Japan. Not many in India know that their own country has its own philosophy of administration and management that is second to none. And there is a positive sign today that many of our own people are eager to explore it further. Many writers have sprung up expounding this subject, basing their treatment on the great Yoga philosophy and technique of the Bhagvad-Gita.
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Unfree people, like immature children, are difficult to manage; but free and responsible people are easy to manage. All management involves commanding and obeying. But in a democracy, all commanding should avoid injuring the self-respect of the one commanded, and all obeying should be on the basis of one`s freedom and self-respect, and never degrade into cringing. It is only in this context that inter-human relationships in the management situation can evoke the best from the other person. Such free and responsible people will be naturally endowed with the citizenship virtues and graces of duty and punctuality, cooperation and commitment.
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It is obvious that, given a choice, all teachers would choose to teach in a classroom that is bright and well equipped and is limited to twenty students or thereabout with all of them having their books and materials to support their learning. That is not the situation in many classrooms in the world today, and it will probably not be the situation for years to come. In the meantime, as we have tried to show, there are ways to make learning better, more entertaining and easier for both the teacher and the students. We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sail.
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One of the great challenges for second language teachers has been the implementation of procedures that help learners process comprehensible input while at the same time giving them opportunities for language awareness. In other words, effective second language teaching requires input processing (acquisition) combined with focus on form. It matters little whether we call it language awareness, or consciousness-raising, or linguistic problem-solving. Language is no longer seen as a fixed inventory of structures prescribed by an itemized syllabus that is present in an atomistic and linear fashion. Rather, it is seen as a dynamic process in which learners themselves are involved.
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The challenges involved in teaching large classes can be daunting. The ideas presented for dealing with these challenges have been developed over a period of several years and are the result of research of the literature on teaching large classes and from long interactive sessions with teachers. These teachers brainstormed and conducted action research while trying out these ideas (and many others, not always with the same degree of success) in their classrooms. The idea of trying to manage a classroom full of noisy, often hungry, teenagers who may or may not be interested in learning English is daunting at best.
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All these talks of property are foolish. We think we are leaving things behind for our children so that they could lead a comfortable life! Just think of the kings and queens who left behind so much for the succeeding generations! Where were they now? And who was enjoying their property today? Budhu was analytically more pragmatic than his station permitted him. But while he made this observation, he did not have Pheku Miyan's status in mind. Nor for that matter, Pheku Miyan gave any thought to it. The two went about their way, munching the same cud over and over again.
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A question is often asked these days by those keen to improve their English: which English to learn? Earlier, British English was the only English one needed to acquaint oneself with. It was proudly declared to be Oxford English. Things, with the arrival of computers, have radically altered. American English (some would frown at the very expression) has made a strong impact on our knowledge or non-knowledge of English. A case of no love lost between British and American English is well made out by Oscar Wilde who described Britain and America as “two great countries divided by a common language”. Americans regard British English as effete and the English regard American English as uncouth, foul and slangy. In spite of these hostilities, English language commands respect of the world.
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Having the right talent throughout the organization is a critical source of competitive advantage. The leading organizations therefore conduct assessments of their talent; they differentiate in their high performers and low performers. They reward high performers with job opportunities that excite and challenge them. This may seem simple and easy initially; in practice it requires a fundamental shift in thinking. In the process of scalability of talent, organizations recognize that poor performers are identified since they are the ones who do not fail in their own jobs, but bring down everyone else around them.
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Large investments are flowing into real estate. The average risk-averse wage earners prefer to make investment in residential property as a means of security steeped in cultural values. The demographic change and rising incomes as a result of economic growth has further added to the pressure on real estate prices which in turn is pulling down financial savings. On the other hand, the easy loans available from the banking system for purchase of residential property have led to conversion of financial savings into physical savings. With housing falling in shortage category, it is inevitable for the physical savings to increase in the coming years.
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It is a competitive world today with high attrition rates. To retain talent, there is need to offer something extra than what others offer to poach on employees of other organizations. This something extra has to be innovative non-monetary incentive or benefit which is priceless in its value. The effective talent management is essential to ensure that each organization has the right mix of people at present as also in the future and has leaders who can drive success in the organization`s unique context and culture. It is this need that has swung into action many organizations into talent scouting.
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A recent Japanese visitor to our country was struck by seeing the widespread wearing of wrist watches by our people, including even our clerks, rickshaw-pullers, and other low paid citizens. He remarked to his Indian friend: In spite of Japan being economically more advanced than India, we Japanese do not consume most of what our industry produces like wrist watches and clocks, but largely export them for strengthening our economy; and what strikes me further in India is that everyone here wears a watch, but nobody is punctual, that the watch seems to be more a status symbol than a useful instrument of punctuality!
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A conviction in the mind of its total ignorance of the nature of the specific attributes of Godhead, and a sense of the doubt respecting the real essence of the soul, give rise to feelings of great dissatisfaction with our limited powers. A notion of the existence of a supreme superintending power who regulates such an infinity of celestial and terrestrial objects, and a due estimation of that law which teaches that man should do unto others as he would wish to be done by, reconcile us to human nature, and tend to render our existence agreeable to ourselves and profitable to the rest of the mankind.
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It is a common remark that science and literature are in a progressive state of decay among the natives. From every inquiry I have been enabled to make on this interesting subject, that remark appears to me but too well-founded. The number of the learned is not only diminished, but the circle of learning, even among those who still devote themselves to it, appears to be considerably constricted. The abstract sciences are abandoned, polite literature neglected, and no branch of learning cultivated. The immediate consequence of this state of things is the disuse, and even actual loss, of many books.
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In ancient and in modern times, seeds of great truth and power have been cast abroad by the advancing tides of national life; but it has always been with the blast of war trumpets, and with the march of embattled cohorts. Each idea has to be soaked in a deluge of blood. This is what, in the main, other nations have taught; but India has, for thousands of years, peacefully existed. Here activity prevailed when even Greece did not exist, and Rome was not thought of…. Even earlier, when tradition dare not peer into the gloom of that intense past, ideas have marched out from her womb.
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It is time to censure a body which to many seems the mightiest outcome of our new national life; to some a precious urn in which are guarded our brightest and noblest hopes; to others a guiding star which shall lead us through the encircling gloom to a far distant paradise: and if we were not fully confident that this fixed idea of ours is a snare and a delusion, likely to have the most pernicious effects, we should simply have suppressed our own doubts and remained silent. As it is, we are fully confident, and hope to bring over one or two of our countrymen to our own way of thinking.
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There is no instance in history of a more marvellous and sudden up-surging of strength in a nation than modern Japan. There were several theories to account for the uprising, but the intellectual Japanese told us as to what were the fountains of that mighty awakening, the sources of that inexhaustible strength. They were drawn from religion. It was the Vedantic teachings of Oyomei and the recovery of Shintoism with its worship of the national Shakti of Japan in the image and person of the Mikado that enabled the little island empire to wield the stupendous weapons of Western knowledge and science with the same ease with which Arjun wielded the Gandiv.
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It is not too much of an exaggeration to say that from being artless
the poet becomes the conscious artist. Often enough the poets when faced with more difficult material tend to become obscure, and again in handling some of the difficult metres which they attempted the same result is achieved. Though humour is often enough lacking, there are touches here and there, sometimes of a grim kind. Pathos, too, of a solemn and elevated kind is to be found as well as that of a more simple genre. In the best, the style is lucid, firm, controlled, and superb; in the worst, it has every possible fault.
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In the unending revolutions of the world, as the wheel of the Eternal turns mightily in its courses, the Infinite Energy, streams forth from the Eternal and sets the wheel to work, looms up in the vision of man in various aspects and infinite forms. Each aspect creates and marks an age. Sometimes She is Love, some She is Knowledge, sometimes She is Renunciation, sometimes She is Pity. This Infinite Energy is the Mother of us all. When we raise our eyes and turn our gaze, huge masses of strength rise before our vision.
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Though the prose writing of the period is not great in bulk, it shows a profound change in style. Previous writers had done remarkable and beautiful work in prose, but clear style had not yet found itself. It was wayward and erratic, often cumbrous and often obscure, and weighted with a Latinized construction and vocabulary. In Dryden's time prose begins definitely to find its feet. It acquires a general utility and permanence; it is smoothed and straightened, simplified and harmonized. This is the age of average prose, and prepares the way for the works of those that then stood on the threshold of the modern prose style.
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Whether man is prepared to cope with the increased choice of material and cultural wares available to him is, however, a totally different question. For there comes a time when choice, rather than freeing the individual, becomes so complex, difficult and costly, that it turns into its opposite. There comes a time, in short, when choice turns into over-choice and freedom into un-freedom. To understand why we must go beyond this examination of our material and cultural choice, we have to look at what is happening to social choice as well, for this choice will have far more bearing on the other choices.
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What with a strong and intelligent public opinion here and a well meaning government, the difficulties we have to contend with are not at all commensurate with those that retard the well-being of our countrymen in that country. It is, therefore, quite the time that all public bodies should at once turn their attention to this important subject to create an intelligent public opinion with a view to organizing an agitation for the removal of the grievances under which our brethren are labouring. Indeed, these grievances have become and are day by day becoming so unbearable and offensive that the requisite agitation cannot be taken up one day too soon.
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The space between the waves and the foot of the cliffs was very broad; one might walk for half an hour before reaching the latter. Our boots crushed innumerable shells of all shapes and sizes, the remains of prehistoric creatures. We saw enormous carapaces, sometimes fifteen feet across, which had belonged to beasts of which the modern tortoise is but a greatly reduced reproduction. Besides this, the stones covering the ground were rounded, and disposed in rows and layers; from all of which we concluded that at one time the sea had covered this part, now beyond its reach.
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Savings play an important role in the economic growth of any country. Savings are also considered as backbone of investments. The neo-classical economists Robert M. Solow and T. W. Swan emphasized the role of savings which are translated into investment and investment in turn helps increase economic growth. An economy can have different forms of savings of which household savings generally constitute the largest share in aggregate savings. Other forms of savings comprise private corporate sector savings, public sector savings and foreign savings. Household savings are made either by way of direct physical assets or in the form of financial assets.
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The problem is not, therefore, to suppress change, which cannot be done, but to manage it. If we opt for rapid change in certain sectors of life, we can consciously attempt to build stability zones elsewhere. A divorce, perhaps, should not be too closely followed by a job transfer. Since the birth of a child alters all the human ties within a family, it ought not, perhaps, be followed too closely by a relocation which causes tremendous turn-over in human ties outside the family. The recent widow should not, perhaps, rush to sell her house. But to achieve this, we need far more potent tools.
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Most observers agree that Latin America and Africa have been severe victims of globalization
. The widespread lament about lost decades
in the context of these two continents relates to the absolute fall in per capita incomes witnessed during the years following globalization
. And it should not surprise anybody that at least seven Latin American countries have already elected left-wing governments in a bid to reverse the process of liberalization
and globalization
. But India and China are supposed to be success stories
. The example of China, with its very different economic system, may not be apposite in arguing the case of globalization. But the claim that India is shining
warrants a close look.
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The period of transition is nearly over. The English language has shaken down to a kind of average-to the standard of the East Midland speech, the language of the capital city and of the universities. The other dialects, with the exception of the Scottish branch, rapidly melt away from literature, till they become quite exiguous. French and English have amalgamated to form the Standard English tongue, which attains to its first full expression in the works of Chaucer. From the literary point of view, of greater importance are the social and intellectual movements of the period giving rise to the spirit of inquiry.
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The demand for education, and the recognition that it is vital for personal advancement and empowerment, has now penetrated all levels of society. With the economy projected to grow at an average of eight per cent, the demand for skilled labour is exploding. The transition from an agrarian/rural economy to an urban/industrial economy can be facilitated only by education. The debate over the choice between primary education on the one hand, and tertiary on the other is a spurious one: the country needs both robust primary education and innovative higher education.
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Sharp differences would quickly emerge between the society that presses technological advance selectively and blindly snatches at the first opportunity that comes along. Even sharper differences would develop between the society in which the pace of technological advance is moderated and guided to prevent future shock, and that in which masses of ordinary people are incapacitated for rational decision-making. In one, political democracy and broad-scale participation are feasible; in the other, powerful pressures lead towards political rule by a tiny techno-managerial elite. Our choice of technologies, in short, will decisively shape the cultural style of the future.
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The last five years have seen a surge in private corporate savings as companies became more efficient and increased their profitability. That has been accompanied by a rise in public sector savings on the back of increased fiscal prudence. However, the current economic situation is putting pressure on both corporate profitability and the public finances, ensuring that savings in these two sectors are unlikely to grow as rapidly as in the past. Household savings will therefore remain crucial to sustaining a strong saving rate. This means private and public sector savings will remain distant competitors to household savings.
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A calm, rational, socially sensitive approach was required to deal with most work related problems. To make good decisions people needed a peaceful mind. Heightened pressure increased their agitation, excitability and fight and flight response, which was hardly required to handle corporate situations calling for cool, calculated, well thought-out decisions. Adrenaline, which heightened their fight or flight response made them aggressive. The workplace was based on human inter-relation and team work which were quickly shattered by an aggressive approach. In situations where each person felt threatened and remained concerned about his own survival he was less likely to think of what his behaviour was doing to others.
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Mature workforce is the workforce having large exposure in an organization. This group of workforce is skilled, professional and subject expert. These have to be retained. This experienced workforce is the essence of any organization, their experience gives the confidence to the top leaders that the situations will be managed well in any crucial and crisis time. This segment of people in an organization grooms the young generations for future leadership. They can play the role of mentors for the new entrants in the organization. The mature workforce may also be hired through lateral recruitment.
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An immanent tendency under capitalism is the centralization of capital. Increasingly, in the later phases of capitalism, small numbers of persons come to control enormous amounts of finance, reflecting the emergence of finance capital. Lenin and others had traced the origin of the First World War to the conflict between rival nation-based and nation-state-aided finance capital oligarchies of the advanced countries. These financial oligarchies pressurized the state into exclusively promoting their interests rather than supposedly looking after the interests of the society as a whole. Significantly, during the Great Depression, proposals for state intervention to reduce unemployment were thwarted by opposition from the financial oligarchies.
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The voters today are so far removed from contact with their elected representatives; the issues dealt with are so technical, that even well-educated middle-class citizens feel hopelessly excluded from the goal-setting process. Because of the generalized acceleration of life, so much happens so fast between elections that the politician grows increasingly less accountable to the 'folks back home'. What's more, these folks back home keep changing. In theory, the voter unhappy with the performance of his representative can vote against him the next time around. In practice, millions find even this impossible as mass mobility removes them from the district, sometimes disenfranchising them altogether.
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In recent times there has been a major shift in HR operations in some global corporations towards applying the best of available talent that makes them to beat the market competition with renewed interest and enthusiasm. Also the amount of research being available now on HR and their direction to the growing business issues attract the attention of strategists. Rather than going for new talent acquisition that involves an additional cost, some companies are focusing more on management of internally available talent by drawing new work profiles and revamping their job description/specification and business processes.
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