Precis No.

01

“The very abundance of books in our days has made it important to know how to
choose promptly and judiciously among them, if one is not to spend as much time
in the mere choice as in the persual of the books that are selected. On this subject
the first advice I venture to submit is to secure and to read only the best books.
There are plenty of them, for more than you will ever find time to read. And when
a wide range of excellent work is so readily obtainable, it is surely unfortunate to
waste valuable time on any others. You may ask what I mean by the best books.
Passing by for the moment those publications which in each of the great
languages of the world we call it classics. I mean by the best books those from
which you receive most, and can carry away most in the form either of knowledge
or stimulation. When i you want to learn something about a subject in which you
are interested, do not turn to the first volume which you have heard named, or
which professes by its title too exhaustively with the subject. Consult your teacher
or any well-read friend, or the librarian of the nearest public library. I believe, on
the greatest services public libraries render is that they provide librarians who are
both competent and willing to advise the serious students.”

Title : Choice of Books

Precis : So many books are produced now-a-days that there is no time even to
read the best of them. So only those books should be chosen which would yield
the maximum of knowledge and inspiration. These are the best books. Avoiding
a faulty choice and for prompt and judicious selection, the advice of a teacher or
a well-read friend or of an efficient librarian should be sought.

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Precis No. 02

One of the means of learning by seeing is travelling. You know how long I have
entertained the idea of travelling schools. India is so large, so varied in every
respect that it is impossible to know her fully by reading Hunter’s Gazetters. At
one time it was the customs of our country to go on pilgrimage on foot, our holy
place are scattered in all parts of India. If with the object of education alone
children should be taken all over the land for five years, their education would be
of permanent value.

When the mind is active it can easily imbibe and digest the subject of study. Over
and above regular fodder, cows have to be allowed to graze; similarly in addition
to regular doses of instruction alone education by travelling is essential for the
mind. The mind’s health cannot be maintained on the ration of books within the
prison wall of the static school. Books cannot be dispensed with; the scope of
knowledge is so vast, it is impossible for us to glean it all on the field; a large part
of it has to be taken from the storehouse itself. But if the pupils can carry their
school books with them, as they go through the school of nature nothing more
remains to be desired.

Title : Learning by Travelling

Precis : India is a large country. We cannot know everything about it from

books. Like the ancient pilgrims we should let students learn about India by
travelling in the form of a ‘travelling school. Education cannot be found in books
alone ; books are important, but over and above their regular study, pupils
should be given education by travelling. The idea of a travelling school as
opposed to a static school is of great educative value.

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Life is to be lived and not wasted. We should measure our achievements not by
the wealth we have amassed but by what we have done to ad to human
happiness. To know whether our lives have been lived fruitfully, we should ask
ourselves: Have we relieved the sufferings of those who are in distress? Have we
fought injustice and cruelty in life? If the answer is in affirmative, our lives have
been lived.

Title:- Life is to be lived and not wasted

Precis:- Life lived successfully is the life which has been spent in relieving the
sufferings of others and making them happy.

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Precis No. 04

It is because I know how sweet and happy and pure and honest poverty is, how
free from perplexing care and from social envies and jealousies – how loving and
united its members are in the common interest of supporting the family-that I
sympathize with the rich man’s son and congratulate the poor man’s. It is for
these reasons that from the ranks of the poor so many strong, eminent reliant
man have always sprung and always must spring. If you will read the list of the
“Immortals who were not born to die”, you will find that most of them have born
poor.

It seems now-a-days a matter of universal desire that poverty should be

abolished. We should be quite willing to abolish luxury ; but to abolish honest,
industrious, self-denying poverty would be to destroy the soil upon which
mankind produces the virtues that will enable our race to reach still higher
civilization that it now possesses.

Title : Blessings of Poverty

Precis : Poverty has a larger share of human happiness than riches. There is a
great deal to be said about the qualities of man born poor, for they struggle for
life to become great as against those born rich who remain blissfully ignorant in
life. Honest, carefree, loving and united are the members of a poor family and
remain as such. Poverty, the breeding ground of greatness, it should not be
treated as an evil. Luxury should be abolished, not poverty.

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Precis No. 5

The real problems for me remain problems of individual and social life, of
harmonious living, of a proper balancing of an individual’s inner and outer life, of
an adjustment of the relations between individual and between groups, of a
continuous becoming something better and higher, of social development, of the
ceaseless adventure of man. In the solution of these problems the way of
observation and precise knowledge and deliberate reasoning, according to the
method of science must be followed. This method may not always be applicable in
our quest of truth, for art and poetry and certain psychic experiences seem to
belong to a different order of things and to elude the objective methods of
science. Let us therefore not rule out intuition and other methods of sensing truth
and reality. But always we must hold to our anchor of precise objective knowledge
tested by reason and even more so by experiment and practice and always we
must beware of losing ourselves in a sea of speculation unconnected with the day
to day problems of life and the needs of men and women. A living philosophy
must answer the problem of today.

Title : How to Solve the Real Problems ?

Precis : The real problems are those of individual and social development. To solve
them the methods of science, like observation and reasoning should be followed.
There are certain experiences to which these scientific methods cannot be applied.
But we should always rely on objective knowledge and should be beware of
philosophy that does not answer the needs of today.

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Precis No. 06

There is no quick and easy solution to the immense and growing educated
unemployment in the country. While accelerated growth of the economy and
rapid structural; and technological change in the direction of all round
industrialisation including modernisation of agriculture creating many more
white-collar jobs somewhat ease the situation, no conceivable rate and pattern of
growth can ensure reasonable employment opportunities to the flood that is
pouring out of education institutions every year.Only a drastic reforms and
upgradation of the educational system that limits its output to the number,
categories and skills which the economy and society need, can reduce educated
unemployment to manageable proportions. But such re-shaping of educational
system cannot successfully only as part of an overall reform of the Indian society.
For the present, the needed drastic reform of the education system is not in sight.
In the event, the prospects for a significant improvement in the situation in
respect of educated unemployment are none too bright.

Solved Precis

Title : Problem of Educated Unemployed.

Precis : For the growing educated unemployed in the country, no easy solution
appears in sight. The accelerated growth of the economy and rapid
industrialisation in modernising agriculture might ease the situation a bit. No
pattern of growth can ensure reasonable employment opportunities. Only drastic
reforms and upgradation of the educational system can reduce educated
unemployment.

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Precis No. 7

Sometimes the promoters of a public company are not quite sure whether the
public response in the shape of subscription for shares would be encouraging. As
they are anxious that the company they have helped to promote should start
functioning and should not be closed for want of public support, they enter into
an arrangement which ensures the supply of adequate capital. This arrangement
is called “Underwriting Arrangement”. In this the promoters or those interested in
the formation of the company enter into an agreement usually with a firm of
brokers or financiers, called “underwriters” by which for a certain agreed
commission on the issued capital, the underwriters agree to take up that portion
of the issued capital which is not subscribed for by the public. The usual
procedure is to approach responsible firm of financiers and supply them with an
advance copy of the prospects, after studying which they can decide whether they
will guarantee or underwrite the issue if they are satisfied with the future of the
company. If the issues proves a success and there are applications for all the
shares placed on the market, the liability of the underwriter ceases. If, however,
the issue is not wholly subscribed, the balance has to be taken up and for by the
underwriter.

Title : Promoters and Underwriters

Precis : Quite often the promoters of a public company are not very sure of the
public response. So for supply of adequate capital they enter into an agreement
with, a firm of brokers called underwriters for an agreed commission on the issued
capital not subscribed by the public. For this they follow the prescribed procedure
and if the firm is satisfied only then they underwrite the issue.

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Precis No. 08

A clearly defined policy on relations with the Press is essential to every company
which is concerned with its public relations. Even if management has no wish for
publicity, it may come unsought-for instance, if an accident occurs, or a strike. It is
wise to take steps in advance to foster the goodwill of the press in general and to
handle even bad news about the company to the best advantage. There are still
businessmen who keep the Press at arm’s length on every occasion except when
they have a commercial reason for publicity, and then believe that an
advertisement or a double whiskey will ‘buy’ them editorial space for the most
blatant stuff. If you want to be well reported in the press, there is only one golden
rule-give the editor what his readers want. The extent to which you are able to do
that may be limited on occasions.

There are all sorts of reasons why a company may not be able, without harm to its
interests, to answer some newspaper man’s questions or give him access to its
factory. Nevertheless, it is usually possible to explain why the help he seeks
cannot be given at the time or in the way he wants it; to give a reasoned reply
rather than a blank refusal. There are in reality, few companies which cannot gain
by a positive approach. An obvious puff does little good either to the company
and its product or to the editor and his newspaper. Yet trouble taken to interest
editors and other journalists in the company, its management and its
achievements, will bear fruit in less obvious but for more effective way over a long
period.

Title : Company-Press Relationship

Precis : A well defined policy on relations with the Press is essential for every
company, even if it does not crave for publicity. If one wants to be well reported in
the Press, give the editors what the readers want. The extent to which one is able
to do this depends on the company. The trouble taken to interest editors and
journalists in the company is bound to bear fruits in future times.

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Precis No. 9

Some organizations in India have recently started visiting college campuses for
recruitment purposes. Examples are, the Indian Institutes of Management and
Indian Institutes of Technology. The advantages of this process are that most of
the applicants are present at one place and interviews can often be arranged at
short notice. Employers also have the opportunity to meet the teaching faculty
and obtain an idea of the course content. This system is prevalent in American
Organizations, where campus recruitment is a major activity. Both in India and
abroad, teaching institutions maintain a full-time staff to bring graduating
students and employers together. One disadvantage of this recruitment is that
organizations probably have to limit their selection to only “entry” positions. For
higher level positions, campus recruitment is neither feasible nor an attractive
proposition.

Title : Campus Recruitment

Precis : The advantages of campus recruitment are the availability of applicants at
one place, arrangement of interviews at short notice, employer’s meeting with
teachers and knowing the syllabi. The disadvantage is that organizations have to
limit their selection to entry positions only.

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Precis No. 10

To-day, the craze for advertisement of manufactured goods is on the increase. The
act of advertisement is, in fact, a modern development. It has revolutionised the
modern trade. Modern life is highly complex and mechanical. People have no time
to go into the soul of things. They want to buy largely advertised goods. The
manufacturer, in his turn, wants to popularise his goods before they are
manufactured. Such is the craze for advertised goods. We are living in the age of
advertisement. No wonder one sees shining and multi-coloured bill-boards hung
on poles displaying goods advertised. There is a spate of magazines and journals
which spare pages for latest variety of goods manufactured. Radio and television
are humming with advertisements of new products. Advertisements hold the
sway and no manufacturer can do without it. A thing may not have intrinsic value
but it must be well advertised. We live in a glamorous world of advertisement.

Title : Importance of Advertisements

Precis : The craze for advertisement is on the upswing. Advertisement is a modern

development and in this age of advertisement, newspapers, radio and television
thrive on the money spent by the advertisers to popularise their products.
Advertisements hold the sway and no manufacturer can do without it.

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Precis No. 12

No economy can grow if certain home-truths are ignored. The facts are indeed
bitter. In the first place, we have to be clear about priorities. Second, we have to
evolve a very business-like attitude to economy management. Third, we need to
go the whole hog for the development of the infrastructure in key areas like roads,
communication and power. Without the people growth of the infrastructure a
new edifice of the economy can be neither built nor sustained. Fourth, areas of
investment for swadeshi and foreign investors have to be clearly demarcated.
Fifth, it is essential that the existing unproductive administrative system is
overhauled so that the nation’s resources and energy are diverted towards
essential growth areas. Sixth, in one zeal for globalisation and the pampering of
the urban rich, it will be suicidal to ignore the needs of the rural people such as
drinking water, road networks, literacy and medical care. Seventh, equally vital is
the need for an all-out war against the baby boom.

Title : New Attitudes for Economy Management

Precis : For economy to grow, the government should be clear about its priorities.
A business-like attitude to economy management, the development of the
infrastructure in key areas and areas of investment have to be democratised.
Further, the administrative system has to be overhauled and there is a vital need
to declare an all-out effort against baby boom.

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Precis No. 13

An interview is a face to face situation. The applicant is “on guard” and careful to
present the best face possible. At the same time he is tense, nervous and possibly
frightened. Therefore, during the interview, tact and sensitivity can be very useful.
The interviewer can get a better response if he creates a sense of ease and
informality and hence uncovers clues to the interviewee’s motivation, attitudes,
feeling, temperament etc. which are otherwise difficult to comprehend.

The fundamental step is establishing “rapport”, putting the interviewee at ease;

conveying the impression that the interview is a conversation between two
friends, and not a confrontation of employer and employee. One way to achieve
this is by initially asking questions, not directly related to the job, that is, chatting
casually about the weather, journey and so on.

Once, the interviewee is put at ease, the interviewer starts asking questions, or
seeking information related to the job. Here again it is extremely important to
lead up to complex questions gradually. Asking a difficult question in the
beginning can affect subsequent interaction, particularly if the interviewee is not
able to answer the question. Thus it is advisable to follow the simple to-complex
sequence.

Solved Precis

Title : The Art of Interviewing

Precis : An interview is a face to face situation in which the interviewee should be

careful to use tact and sensitivity to be effective. On the other hand, the
interviewer can get a better response from the interviewee if he creates
atmosphere of ease and informality. Once this rapport between the interviewer
and interviewee is established, the course of interview from then on runs smooth.

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Precis No. 14
Ordinary conception of the membership of a company is that any person who
holds shares of a company is member of that company. This conception is,
however, not correct legally, as a person may be holding shares of a company and
yet he may not be considered a member of that company, if his name does not
appear in the Register of Members of that company. For instance, if a person sells
his shares to another and the transferred (buyer) continues holding the transfer
and does not get his name entered in the Register of Members of the company, he
cannot be considered a member of that company. In case of companies limited by
guarantee and without capital there may be no shareholders, yet those who
constitute the company are members of the company.

Solved Precis

Title : Essentials for becoming a member of a Company

Precis : The concept that any person holding shares of a company automatically
become a member of that company is not legally correct. He will never become a
member till he gets his name entered in the Register of Members of that
Company by applying for it.

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Precis No. 15
Minutes may be defined as the written records of the business transacted and the
decision arrived at a meeting of the directors or shareholders of a company. The
object of writing minutes is to preserve in a concise and clear manner a correct
record of the decision taken at a meeting on questions brought before it for
consideration. The minutes of a meeting when signed by the Chairman become
the permanent official record of the company. Great care should, therefore, be
taken to see that they are full, true and accurate record of the proceedings. It is
essential that just, enough information should be contained in the minutes to
enable any intelligent person to form a correct idea of the precise nature of the
business transacted at the meeting and the decision arrived at in respect of the
same. However, they should not be brief at the cost of lucidity.

Solved Precis

Title : Recording of Minutes

Precis : Minutes are the written records of the decisions arrived at a meeting of
director’s or shareholders of a company. The object of writing the minutes is to
preserve a correct and concise record of the decisions. The minutes become the
permanent official record of the company when the Chairman signs it.

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Precis No. 16
We stand at the end of an era and the threshold of a new period of history.
Standing on this watershed which divides two epochs of human history and
endeavour, we can look back on your long past and look forward to the future that
is taking shape before our eyes. Asia, after a long period of quiescence has
suddenly become important again in world affairs. If we view the millennia of
history this continent of Asia with which Egypt has been intimately connected in
cultural fellowship, has played a mighty role in the evolution of humanity. It was
here that civilization began and man started on his unending adventure of life.
Here the mind of man searched unceasingly for truth and the spirit of man shone
out like a beacon which lighted up the whole world.

This dynamic Asia from which great streams of culture flowed in all directions
gradually became static and unchanging. Other people and other continents came
to the force and with their new dynamism spread out and took possession of
great part of the world. This mighty continent became just a field for the rival
imperialisms of Europe, and Europe became the center of history and progress in
human affairs. A change is coming over the scene now and Asia is again finding
herself. We live in a tremendous age of transition and already the next stage takes
shape when Asia takes her rightful place with the continents.

Solved Precis
Title : Resurgent Asia

Precis : This is the age of transition. It is marked by the resurgence of Asia, once
the cradle of civilization and the fountain-head of culture. Asia had in the past
produced great seekers after truth, but her immediate past has been one of
stagnation and of exploitation by the western imperialists. The eclipse of Asia is
once again emergence of Europe, it has now passed into history. Asia is once again
asserting herself. She is destined to find her rightful place among the continents of
the world.

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Precis No. 17

Life for most of us is pretty humdrum always. Nothing exciting, dangerous or

adventurous ever seems to happen to us. Through books, children are able to live
in a highly exciting, dangerous and adventurous world. Books such as “Treasure
Island” provide the child with an exciting and dangerous world in which anything
can and does happen. Later, spy stories, stories of explorations into dark
inaccessible jungles, stories and actual accounts of wars and battles, all provide
the escape that is often necessary from one’s ordinary everyday life. These are
safety valves; they provide an outlet and are an antidote to boredom. Everyone
needs this, from Presidents to the lowest citizens. Children who read widely and
intensively are less likely to go around throwing stones at buses, breaking up
buildings and tearing down public property. They get their thrills through books
and do not seek them in dark alleys and through the senseless and mindless
cruelties of knifing and killing.

Solved Precis
Title : Books – An Antidote to Boredom

Precis : Life would be dull in the absence of books. Books provide all the
excitement that is needed to make life interesting. Children find in books an outlet
from boredom. They first read stories of children and then pass on to books of
adventures and explorations, books keep them away from unsocial activities.

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Precis No. 18

Today there are 3000 million people in the world. Fifty years ago only about 2000
million people lived in it. If earth’s population were evenly distributed over its land
surface, there would be about 550 persons to the square mile. But Earth has vast
areas of forest, mountains and desert which are almost totally inhabited. On the
other hand, it has great cities each with millions of people living in a few square
miles.

To feed the fast growing population of our earth, scientists and planners have to
discover new ways to produce more. One possible way is to bring more land not
under cultivation. This can be done only in places where there is lot of land not
used for productive purposes. In many places there is no longer possible all the
arable land is already cultivated. A second way is to make use of new types of
seeds to produce more. Already a number of new strains of paddy and wheat
have been developed in different parts f the world. India is one of the countries
where a lot of useful work has been done in the field of agriculture research.
Solved Precis

Title: World Population and Food Production

Precis : During the last fifty years, the world population has increased from 2000
to 3000 million. It is unevenly distributed with millions of people living in a few big
cities. Scientists in India and abroad are, therefore, busy with agriculture research
to find out new methods of increased food production to feed them all and they
have already developed many new strains of paddy and wheat.

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Precis No. 19

It is physically impossible for a well-educated, intellectual, or brave man to make

money the chief object of his thoughts just as it is for him to make his dinner the
principal object of them. All healthy people like their dinners, but their dinner is
not the main object of their lives. So all healthy minded people like making money
ought to like it and enjoy the sensation of winning it; it is something better than
money.
A good soldier, for instance, mainly wishes to do his fighting well. He is glad of his
pay-very properly so and justly grumbles when you keep him ten years without it
—till, his main mission of life is to win battles, not to be paid for winning them. So
of clergymen. The clergyman’s object is essentially baptize and preach not to be
paid for preaching. So of doctors. They like fees no doubt—ought to like them; yet
if they are brave and well-educated the entire object to their lives is not fees. They
on the whole, desire to cure the sick; and if they are good doctors and the choice
were fairly to them, would rather cure their patient and lose their fee than kill him
and get it. And so with all the other brave and rightly trained men: their work is
first, their fee second—very important always; but still second.

Solved Precis

Title : Placing Work Before Money

Precis : Money-making is a common attraction in life. But it cannot be the

principal aim of well educated, cultured and brave man. A brave soldier prizes
honour and victory more than his pay. A good clergyman is more interested in the
moral welfare of his people than his returns. A doctor (good) values the care of his
patient far more than his fees. Thus with all the well-educated, intellectual
persons, their work is first, money

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Precis No. 20
Home is for the young, who know nothing of the world and who would be forlorn
and sad, if thrown upon it. It is providential, shelter of the weak and
inexperienced, who have to learn as yet to cope with the temptations which lie
outside of it. It is the place of training of those who are not only ignorant, but
have not yet learnt how to learn, and who have to be taught by careful individual
trail, how to set about profiting by the lessons of teacher. And it is the school of
elementary studies—not of advances, for such studies alone can make master
minds. Moreover, it is the shrine of our best affections, the bosom of our fondest
recollections, at spell upon our after life, a stay for world weary mind and soul;
wherever we are, till the end comes. Such are attributes or offices of home, and
like to these, in one or other sense or measure, are the attributes and offices of a
college in a university.

Solved Precis

Title : Significance of Home for the Young

Precis : Home shelters the young who are weak and inexperienced and unable to
face the temptations in life. It is a centre of their elementary education and a
nursery of sweet affections and pleasant memories. Its magic lasts forever. A
weary mind turns to it for rest. Such is the function of a home and in some
measure of the universit

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Precis No. 21

Teaching is the noblest of professions. A teacher has a sacred duty to perform. It is

he on who rests the responsibility of moulding the character of young children.
Apart from developing their intellect, he can inculcate in them qualities of good
citizenship, remaining neat and clean, talking decently and sitting properly. These
virtues are not easy to be imbibed. Only he who himself leads a life of simplicity,
purity and rigid discipline can successfully cultivate these habits in his pupils.

Besides a teacher always remain young. He may grow old in age, but not in spite.
Perpetual contact with budding youths keeps him happy and cheerful. There are
moments when domestic worries weigh heavily on his mind, but the delightful
Company of innocent children makes him overcome his transient moods of
despair.

Title: Qualities of a Teacher

Precis : Teaching is the noblest profession. A teacher himself leading a simple pure
and disciplined life can mould the character of the young children and make them
neat and good mannered citizens. Besides he remains every young forgetting his
own domestic worries in the constant company of the young.

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Art occupies a position of great importance in the modern world. By this I do not
mean that modern art is better than the art of other generations. It is obviously
not. The quantity, not the quantity, of modern art is important. More people take
conscious interest in art as art. And more people take a devote themselves to its
practices that at any other period. Our age, though it has produced few
masterpieces, is a thoroughly aesthetic age. The increase in the number of
practitioners and of the dilettante in all the arts is not unconnected with the
decrease in the number of religious believers. To minds whose religious needs
have been denied their normal fulfillment art brings a certain spiritual
satisfaction’s in its lowest forms art is for ritual’s sake so popular. In its higher and
more significant forms it is philosophy as well as ritual. The arts including music
and certain important kinds of literature have been, at most periods, the
handmaids of religion. Their principal function was to prove religion with the
visible or audible symbols which create in themed of the beholder those feelings
which for him personally are the God. Divorced from religion, the arts are now
independently cultivated for their own sake. The aesthetic beauty which was once
devoted to the service of god has not set up a God of its own. The cultivation of
art for its own sake has become a substitute for religion.

Title: – Place of art in the Modern Word.

Precis: – In the past, the arts, including music and literature were the handmaids
of religion. Their main function was to provide religion with visible or audible
symbols. But now, the cultivation of art for its own sake has become a substitute
for religion. Art brings a certain spiritual satisfaction to those who religious needs
have been denied their normal fulfillment. Hence, in the worked today, art
occupies an important place and there is an increase in the number of people who
practice it.

==============================================================Precis
No. 22

English education and English language have done immense good to India, inspite
of their glaring drawbacks. The notions of democracy and self-government are the
born of English education. Those who fought and died for mother India’s freedom
were nursed in the cradle of English thought and culture. The West has made
contribution to the East. The history of Europe has fired the hearts of our leaders.
Our struggle for freedom has been inspired by the struggles for freedom in
England, America and France. If our leaders were ignorant of English and if they
had not studied this language, how could they have been inspired by these heroic
struggles for freedom in other lands? English, therefore, did us great good in the
past and if properly studied will do immense good in future.

English is spoken throughout the world. For international contact our commerce
and trade, for the development of our practical ideas, for the scientific studies,
English-is indispensable. English is very rich in literature; our own literature has
been made richer by this foreign language. It will really be a fatal day if we
altogether forget Shakespeare, Milton, Keats and Shaw.

Solved Precis

Title: Importance of English in India.

Precis : Notwithstanding its various defects, English education has done great
good to India. The ideas of democracy and self-government are its gifts. Nursed on
English education the Indian leaders were inspired by the Western thought,
culture and freedom struggles. They fought for and won their motherland’s
freedom. Being spoken throughout the world, English is necessary for
international contact, trade, commerce and science. English is rich in literature; its
master mind cannot be neglected.

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Precis No. 23

When we survey our lives and efforts we soon observe that almost the whole of
our actions and desires are bound up with the existence of other human beings.
We notice that whole nature resembles that of the social animals. We eat food
that others have produced, wear clothes that others have made, live in houses
that others have built. The greater part of our knowledge and beliefs has been
passed on to us by other people though the medium of a language which others
have created. Without language and mental capacities, we would have been poor
indeed comparable to higher animals.

We have, therefore, to admit that we owe our principal knowledge over the least
to the fact of living in human society. The individual if left alone from birth would
remain primitive and beast like in his thoughts and feelings to a degree that we
can hardly imagine. The individual is what he is and has the significance that he
has, not much in virtue of the individuality, but rather as a member of a great
human community, which directs his material and spiritual existence from the
cradle to grave.

Solved Precis

Title: Man the Social Animal

Precis : Being social animals, human beings have their actions and desires bound
up with society. In matter of food, clothes, knowledge and belief they are
interdependent. They use language created by others. Without language their
mental power would not grow. They are superior to beast, because they live in
human society. An individual life left alone from birth would grow utterly beast
like. So human society and not individuality guides man’s material and spiritual
existence.

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Precis No. 24
It is evident that those in the prime of life will be between the young and the old
in character, subtracting the excess of either, and neither exceedingly confident
(rashness is such) nor too fearful but having the right amount of both, neither
trusting nor distrusting everybody but rather making realistic judgments and not
directing their lives only to what is fine or what is advantageous but to both and
neither to frugality nor to extravagance but to what is fitting. Similarly in regard to
impulse and desire. And they combine prudence with courage and courage with
prudence, while among the young and the old these things are separated; for the
young are brave and lack self-restraint, the older prudent and cowardly. To speak
in general terms, whatever advantages youth and old age have separately, those
in their prime combine, and whatever the former have to excess or in deficiency,
the latter have in due measure and in a fitting way. The body is in its prime from
the age of thirty to thirty-five, the mind about age forty-nine. Let this much be
said about the kinds of character of youth and old age and the prime of life.”

Solved Precis

Title: People in their Prime

Precis : The character of those in the prime of life lies midway between that of
youth and of age. Neither rash nor timid, neither skeptical nor overtrusting, they
usually make choices on a true basis. They are not given to excess in desire, nor to
lack of feeling or parsimony. They live respecting both honor and expediency. In
short, the most useful traits of youth and age are theirs.

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Precis No. 25

A significant improvement in employment opportunities for women is linked up

with an overall improvement in the employment situation. Nevertheless, it should
be possible for the employment policy to work towards a rise in the share of
women in the organized sector which generally provides more secure and better
Paid employment than the unorganized sector. At present their share is very low
(about 12 per cent). To raise this share, it will be necessary, firstly, to induce and
encourage employers to overcome the bias against employment of women which,
to an extent, still persists though it is on the wane. Secondly, education and
training opportunities for women should be further expanded, diversified and
made more easily accessible. Thirdly, residential accommodation for working
mothers should be increased several fold. Fourthly, there should be much greater
availability of creches and other facilities for child care during the working hours
of mothers. Finally, public opinion should be educated to shed the traditional bias
against female education, training and work away from home.

Title: Women Employment

Precis : Employment opportunities for women in the organized sector must be

increased as it provides secure and better-paid employment. This can be done by
encouraging employers to hire women, expanding education and training
opportunities for women, increasing residential accommodation for working
women, making available crèches and educating public in favour of female
education and employment.

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The test of a great book is whether we want to read it only once or more than
once. Any book, which we want to read the second time even more than we
wanted to read it the first time, is really a great book. Every additional reading will
help us understand it better and we will help us understand it better and we will
find new beauties in it. A book that a person of education and good taste does not
care to read more than once is very probably not worth much.

Title:- The Test of a Good Book

Precis:- A good book is one to which we turn again and again to discover new
beauties but if we do not turn to it again it must be a bad one.

==============================================================

A good book is one of our best friends. It is the same today that it always was and
it will never change. It is the most patient and cheerful of companions. It does not
turn its back upon us in times of adversity or distress. It always receives us with
the same kindness; amusing and instructing us in youth, comforting and consoling
us in age.

Title:- Usefulness of books.

Precis:- A good book is a patient, never-changing and cheerful friend helping us in

sorrow, in youth and comforting and consoling us in old age.

==============================================================

Letters are invaluable means of keeping our friendship with those who are away.
Without the interchange of letters our absent friends and relations would be
practically dead to us. We might learn from books the surroundings in which they
dwell or hear from travelers about the prosperity or failure, but it is through
letters that we can converse with them as often as we want and obtain a clear
picture of what they are doing or thinking and of everything in the distant lands in
which they live.
Title: – Value of Letters.

Precis: – Letters help us keep our friendship. They are the means by which we
converse with our friends dwelling in far off lands and thus get in touch with
them.

==============================================================

It is of great importance for the young that they accustom themselves from their
earliest years to trust as little as possible to others for what they want. They
should learn to put on their own clothes, to wash themselves, to take their food
with their own hands and not expect mothers or servants do these things for
them. They should learn to read and write and store their minds with knowledge
so that they can earn their own bread when they go into the world.

Title: – Importance of Self-reliance

Precis: – Young person should learn to reply on themselves from their childhood
so that when they grow up, and enter life they should be able to earn their living.

================================================================

Life for most of us is pretty humdrum always. Nothing exciting, dangerous or

adventurous ever seems to happen to us. Through books, children are able to live
in a highly exciting, dangerous and adventurous world. Books such as “Treasure
Island” provide the child with an exciting and dangerous world in which anything
can and do happen. Later, spy stories and actual accounts of wars and battles, all
provide the escape that is often necessary from one’s ordinary everyday life.
These are safety valves; they provide an outlet and are an antidote to boredom.
Everyone needs this, from Presidents to the lowest citizens. Children who read
widely and intensively are less likely to go ground throwing stones at buses,
breaking up buildings and tearing down public property. They get their thrills
through books and do not seek them in dark alleys and through the senseless and
mindless cruelties of knifing and killing.
Title:- Books-An Antidote to Boredom.

Precis: – Life would be dull in the absence of books. Books provide all the
excitement that is needed to make life interesting. Children find in books an outlet
from boredom. They first read stories of children and they pass on to books of
adventures and exploitation. Books keep them away from unsocial activities.

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Water is the basis of all life. Every animal or every pliant contains a substantial
proportion of free or combined water in its body and no kind of physical activity is
possible in which water does not play an essential part. Water is necessary for
animal life, while moisture in the soil is equally imperative for life and growth of
plants and trees, though the quantity necessarily varies enormously from plant to
plant. The conservation and utilization of water is thus fundamental for human
welfare. The main source of water is rainfall or snowfall. Much of Indian
agriculture depends on seasonal rainfall and is therefore, very sensitive to any
failure or irregularly of the some. During the rainy season large quantities of rain
water flow down into the streams and rivers and ultimately find their way to the
sea, and are, therefore, lost to the country. The harassing of our rivers is,
therefore, it great national problem to be dealt with no national lines. Vast areas
of land which at present are mere scrub, jungles could be turned into fertile and
prosperous country by harassing this source of water.

Title: – Conservation and Utilization of Water.

Precis: – Water being so necessary for animal and plant life should be harnessed
to our own use. The main source of water is rain. Most of the rain water goes into
rivers. This water must be used for making our barren land fertile. The
conservation and utilization of water is, therefore, a great national problem to be
dealt with at the national level.

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Art occupies a position of great importance in the modern world. By this I do not
mean that modern art is better than the art of other generations. It is obviously
not. The quantity, not the quantity, of modern art is important. More people take
conscious interest in art as art. And more people take a devote themselves to its
practices that at any other period. Our age, though it has produced few
masterpieces, is a thoroughly aesthetic age. The increase in the number of
practitioners and of the dilettante in all the arts is not unconnected with the
decrease in the number of religious believers. To minds whose religious needs
have been denied their normal fulfillment art brings a certain spiritual
satisfaction’s in its lowest forms art is for ritual’s sake so popular. In its higher and
more significant forms it is philosophy as well as ritual. The arts including music
and certain important kinds of literature have been, at most periods, the
handmaids of religion. Their principal function was to prove religion with the
visible or audible symbols which create in themed of the beholder those feelings
which for him personally are the God. Divorced from religion, the arts are now
independently cultivated for their own sake. The aesthetic beauty which was once
devoted to the service of god has not set up a God of its own. The cultivation of
art for its own sake has become a substitute for religion.

Title: – Place of art in the Modern Word.

Precis: – In the past, the arts, including music and literature were the handmaids
of religion. Their main function was to provide religion with visible or audible
symbols. But now, the cultivation of art for its own sake has become a substitute
for religion. Art brings a certain spiritual satisfaction to those who religious needs
have been denied their normal fulfillment. Hence, in the worked today, art
occupies an important place and there is an increase in the number of people who
practice it.

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Personality is a lend itself to one possessed of self confidence. What is self

confidence? It is a state of mind entirely sure of its own thoughts and actions
whether right or wrong. Believe in yourself and in this belief you will grow more
and more confidence in yourself. Surety invokes the approval of others, the
needed encouragement to greater confidence. The most effective and beneficial
influence towards this end is the understanding gained by experience of life so
that you can see life in its true proportion and realize that it is not enough to be
fine; one must be fitting and know that alone is the fittest who takes the least
cognizance of what others opinion of him is. It is the fear of other opinion that
binds and imprisons one, while it is fearlessness of that opinion that gives one
one’s freedom. If we desire that our life should make a fascinating appeal and be
full of charm. We must have personality. It is not a thing reserved for the gifted. It
can be had by any who wills to have it. But the will must be strong enough to
endure the most discouraging experiences, for nothing that is worth hearing can
be gained with ease, and of all the goals in life, personality is the most difficult to
gain precisely as it is the greatest prize to win.

Title: – The importance of self confidence.

Precis: – Of all the goals in life, personality is the most difficult to gain. For the
development of personality, the most important thing is self-confidence. A self-
confident man is sure of his own thoughts and actions whether right or wrong. He
has a firm belief in himself and is strong enough to endure the most discouraging
experiences. His belief in himself and his fearlessness of others. Opinions give him
more and more confidence in himself. And this confidence builds up him
personality.

================================================================
As early as the sixth or seventh century B.C. Panini wrote his great grammar of the
Sanskrit language. He mentions previous grammars and already in his time
Sanskrit had crystallized and become the language of an ever growing literature.
Panini’s book is something more than a mere grammar. To has been described by
the Soviet. Professor Th. Stcherabatsky, of Leningrad, as one of the greatest
productions of the human mind Panini is still the standard authority on Sanskrit
grammar. Through subsequent grammarians have added to it and interpreted it. It
is interesting to note that Panini mentions the Greek script. This indicates that
there were some kind of contacts between India and the Greeks long before
Alexander came to the East. The study of astronomy was specially pursued and it
often merged with astrology. Medicine had its text books and there were
hospitals. Dhanwantri is the legendary found of the Indian science of medicine.
The best known old text books however, date from the early centuries of the
Christian era. These are by Charka on medicine and Sushruta bon surgery. Charka
is supposed to have been the royal court physician of kanishka who had his capital
in the north-West. These text books enumerate a large number of diseases and
give methods of diagnosis and treatment. They deal with surgery, obstetrics,
baths, diet, hygiene, infant feeding, and medical education. The approach was
experimental, and dissection of dead bodies was being practiced in course of
surgical training. Various surgical instruments are mentioned by Sushrutas, as well
as operations including amputation of limbs, abdominal, caesarean section,
cataract, etc. Wounds were sterilized by fumigator. In the third or fourth century
B.C. there were also hospitals for animals. This was probably due to the influence
of Jainism and Buddhism with their emphasis on non-violence.

Title:- India advancement in the Ancient Ages.

Precis:- Panini wrote his great grammar of Sanskrit in the 6th century B.C. This
grammar is the standard grammar of Sanskrit language. In ancient India, the study
of astronomy was merged with astrology. Medicine was also much developed at
that time, Charka wrote books on medicine and Shushruta wrote on surgery.
These books deal with many diseases and the methods of their treatment. They
also deal with surgery, obstetrics, hygiene and medical education. Surgery was
also much developed. The sterilization of wounds was known to

================================================================

Books are a delightful society. If you go into a room filled with books even without
taking them down from the shelves, they seem to speak to you, seem to welcome
you, seem to tell you that they have something inside their covers that will be
good for you and that they are willing to impart it to you. Value them and
Endeavour to turn them to good account. As to the books which you should read
there is hardly anything definite that can be said. Any good book, that is wiser
than yourself, will teach you something a great many things directly or indirectly. If
you mind be open to lazar, the very wish and curiosity, you have to read it,
indicate that you are a person who likes to get good out of it.

Title: – Value of books.

Precis:- Books are good friends. They seem to converse with a book lover. Nothing
definite can be said about the choice of books. A book which tells you more than
you know will be beneficial for you. If you approach a book with a curious mind,
you may get good out of that.

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The spirit of sportsmanship is what we are lacking in today. Sports tell us that we
should take a defeat or disappointment with a smile. We should not go about
insisting on our success in whatever we attempt. It is not possible for every man
to succeed in every desire which he has. There may be ambitions of groups, there
may be ambitions of individuals which they set before themselves and they must
try, if they are disappointed in the carrying out of their ambitions, to take that
disappointment and that defeat with a smile and not take laws in their own hands.
What will happen if every individual in the street wishes to go his own particular
way without observing the rules of traffic, there will be clashes, there will be
accidents? What happens on the road side will also happen in the public activities,
in the public life of the country.

Title: – Sportsmanship

Precis: – Today we lack the spirit of sportsmanship. This spirit teaches us to accept
defeat and disappointments smilingly. One cannot succeed in every desire. If our
ambitions are not fulfilled we should not be disappointed. If everyone wishes to
go his own way without earring for others, there would be chaos in our life and in
the public life too.

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It is physically impossible for a well educated intellectual or brave man to make

money the chief object of his thoughts: Just as it is for him to make his dinner the
principal object of them. All healthy people like their dinner, but dinner is not the
main object of their lives. So all healthy minded people like making money, ought
to like it. And enjoy the sensation of winning it; but the main object of their life is
not money; it is something better than money. A good soldier, for instance mainly
wished to do his fighting well. He is glad of his pay very properly so, and justly
grumbles when you keep him ten years without it- still, his main notion of life is
doctors. They like fees no doubt, ought to like them; yet if they are brave and well
educated, the entire object of their lives is not the fees. They, on the whole, desire
to cure the sick, and if they are good doctors, and the choice were fairly put to
them, they would rather cure their patient, and lose the fee than kill him and get
it. And so with all other brave and rightly trained men; their work is first, their fee
second-very important no doubt but still second. But in every notion, as I said,
there are vast numbers of people who are ill educated cowardly and more or less
stupid. And with these people just as certainly the fee is first and the work second.
Title: – Work more important than Money.

Precis: – It is impossible for a well educated intellectual or braves many to make

money the chief object of his thought. It is true that money is very important. All
healthy minded people like making money. They ought to like it and enjoy the
sensation of winning it. Yet, their main object is not money, but doing their job
well. Only with ill educated, cowardly and foolish people, fee is more important
than work. But with brave and rightly trained men, their work is first, their fee
second.

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Indian culture has survived for nearly fifty centuries. Though it passed through
many ups and downs, it has come down to us with its unfathomable depths and
great capacity for devotion and service. What constitutes the national spirit or
genius springs from sources deep and ancient, all the time diverting and altering
their course. The facts of our history look stranger than fiction. We have suffered
defeat on many occasions. These misfortunes have not broken our spirit. After
every blow, Indian found herself again and made advances in spite of pain and
sorrow. Today, we are in one of the creative of our history. We are trying our best
to remold our heritage with insight into the profundities and with awareness of
the amends of our age. We have faith in the spirit of man to mould history. Let us
dedicate our energies to the building of a co-operative, concessive and
homogenous community. If we undertake this work and carry on, we will be
working in the true spirit of those cordial and dedicated servants of our country of
whom we are proud.

Title:- Indian Culture.

Precis:- Indian culture has passed through many ups and downs. We have suffered
defeat on many occasions. But these defeats have not broken our spirits. We
revived after every blow. Today we are trying to reshape our heritage according to
the demand of the age. We have faith in the spirit of man to reshape history. We
should Endeavor a build a cooperative and homogeneous community.

==============================================================

The science has become one of the most powerful factors in modern life is a
generally accepted and indeed an obvious fact. The proper role of the scientist
himself is however, a point on which there is no general agreement. On the one
hand are those die hands who , ignoring the changed circumstances of the outside
world, contend that, outside the laboratory personal influence of the scientist
should be no more than that of an ordinary citizen. On the other hand are
extremists who advocate a stage verging on a technocracy, in which scientists
would have special privileges and a large measure of control? Those who tend
towards the later view are much vociferous than their more conservative and
much more numerous colleagues with the unfortunate result that there is a wide-
spread impression that scientists generally share these views and wish to claim a
far larger share in the control of world affairs than they possess at present. It is,
therefore timely attempt. An assessment of the proper status of the scientists in
modern society.

Title:- The status of a scientist

Precis:-People have different opinions about a scientist’s role in society. Some

people think that outside his laboratory, the scientist is just an ordinary citizen.
Others say that scientists should have special privileges. Many scientists also
share this view. They wish to have more shares in controlling the world. We
should properly assess the status of a scientist.

==============================================================