Campus Recruitment – Logical Reasoning – Statements and Arguments

Campus Recruitment – Logical Reasoning – Statements and Arguments

Concepts

In this type of questions, the statement deals with all general aspects of day to day life which may include socio economic, scientific, political issues etc. A statement is followed by two arguments. One supports the statement by pointing out the positive aspects and the other deny the statement by pointing out it’s negative impact. You have to analyze given statement, arguments and decide which of the arguments strongly supports the statement by giving an appropriate opinion on the subject. Read the given arguments in the question and discard them if they are ambiguous, disproportionate, irrelevant, comparative, simplistic.
1) Ambiguous: If the given arguments does not have a clear reason or if it is not contextual or not expressing its opinion whether supporting or not. Such an argument should be discarded.
2) Disproportionate: If the given arguments are too large or too small in comparison with given statements. This kind of arguments can be discarded.
3) Irrelevant: If the given arguments are irrelevant to the context of the given statements, they can be discarded.
4) Comparative: If the argument do not state the reasons for why the proposed action is implemented and its consequences. Such arguments can be discarded.
5) Simplistic: If the given arguments do not have sufficient information to support the given statements, they cannot be considered.

Conceptual Examples

Direction: Each of the following examples consists of a statement followed by two arguments (I). and (II). Give your answer as,
a: if only argument-(I) is strong, b: if only argument-(II) is strong, c: if either argument-(I) or (II) is strong, d: if neither of the arguments is strong, e: if both the arguments are strong.

1) Statement: Should number of holidays be increased to private employees?
Arguments:
I. Yes, because employee satisfaction will be better.
II. No, it will lead to decreased productivity of private organizations.
Explanation: Though employee satisfaction is
important but this will adversely affect the productivity and revenue of the organization. So the
argument-(I) does not hold strong. Hence, only argument-(II) is strong.

2) Statement: Should taxes on air conditioners be further increased?
Arguments:
I. Yes, air conditioner is a luxury item and rich people can only buy them.
II. No, air conditioners are bought by financially backward sector also.
Explanation: Generally, taxes on any commodities or goods doesn’t depend on the financial position of the individuals so, both the arguments does not hold strong. Hence, option-d is correct choice.

3) Statement: Should Indian software professionals who are working abroad be called back?
Arguments:
I. Yes, they must serve the mother land first and forget about high pay scales or facilities etc.
II. No, we have adequate talent here, let them stay according to their will and wish.
Explanation: The demands of an individual are as important as the demands of motherland. So, argument-(I) is not strong. Argument-(II) is weak because of its complacent attitude. Hence, option-d is correct choice.

4) Statement: Should education to women be made free in India?
Arguments:
I. No, this will weaken our present social structure.
II. Yes, this is the only way to bring back glory to Indian woman hood.
Explanation: Argument-(I) is strong. It is links, providing free education to women with weakening of social structure, which is not sensible. Argument-(II) also weak because of the term ‘only’.Hence, option-d is correct choice.

5) Statement: Are joint families better than small families.
Arguments:
I) Yes, joint families provide more security and unity and also reduce the burden of work. –
II) No, small families ensure more freedom.
Explanation: In joint families, the work can be shared among themselves and also security is more. So, argument-(I) hold strong. According to the argument-
(II), in small families due to less number of people and less responsibilities leads to more freedom. Thus, argument-(II) also holds strong. So, option-e is correct.

6) Statement: Should the Indian government provide free bus pass facility to all the senior citizens?
Arguments:
I. Yes, this enables better service to them.
II. No, this will increase the economic burden on the government in the present scenario.
Explanation: The free bus pass facility to all the senior citizens is a privilege for them, but not a right. So, argument-(I) does not hold. This will increase the economic burden on the government. So, argument-(II) holds strong. Hence, option-b is correct choice.

7) Statement: Should competitive examinations for selecting candidates for jobs be of objective test only?
Arguments:
I. Yes, the assessment of objective test is reliable.
II. No, the number of questions to be answered is always very large.
Explanation.: Quality decided from the objective test is more effective than descriptive test. So, argument-(I) is strong. The number of questions to be answered is not always very large. Hence, argument-(II) is not strong. Hence, option-a is correct choice.

8) Statement: Should the tuition fee in all postgraduates courses be hiked considerably?
Arguments:
I. Yes, this will bring in some sense of seriousness among the students and will improve the quality.
II. No, this will force the meritorious poor students to stay away from post graduate courses.
Explanation: Both the given arguments are simplistic in nature. So, they both are not strong. Hence option-d is correct choice.

9) Statement: Should we scrap the system of formal education beyond graduation?
Arguments:
I. Yes. It means taking employment in the early stage.
II. No. It is not possible to gain commanding knowledge over the subject.
Explanation: Argument-(I) is ambiguous. It is not contextual to the given statement. However, eliminating the post graduate courses creates scarcity of knowledge in specialized fields. So, argument – (II) is valid.

10) Statement: Should student union in universities be abolished?
Arguments:
I. Yes. So that student union can pay full attention to their career development.
II. No. All great leaders had been student union leaders.
Explanation: Abolishing students union would relieve the students from unnecessary activities and enable them to concentrate well on studies. So, argument-(I) holds. From argument-(II), it is vague because not all the great leaders had been students union leaders. Hence, option-a is correct choice.

Exercise

Directions (1-30): Read the given statements and
conclusions carefully and give your answers as:
a: If only argument-(I) is strong;
b: If only argument-(II) is strong;
c: If either argument-(I) or (II) is strong;
d: If neither argument-(I) nor (II) is strong ;
e: If both argument-(I) and (II) are strong.

1) Statement: Should there be a complete ban on strike by the government employees in India ?
Arguments:
I. Yes, this will only teach discipline and obedience to the employees.
II. No, this will violate their democratic rights.

2) Statement: Should agriculture in rural areas be mechanized and computerized ?
Arguments:
I. Yes, it would lead to higher yield and returns.
II. No, many of the villages would be left unemployed.

3) Statement: Should election expenses to central and state legislatures be met by the government? .
Arguments:
I. Yes, it will curb the political corruption. And black money circulation may decrease.
II. No, it is not good in any country with respect to election expenses.

4) Statement: Should gay marriage be abolished.
Arguments:
I. Yes, because it is against to the culture and the tradition of our country and it is mainly followed in abroad which is not our society.
II. No, It is against to their rights and desires.

5) Statement: Should Engineering departments be classified and divided?
Arguments:
I. Yes, because each and every department has it’s own importance and students can concentrate according to their interests.
II. No, because of various departments, the engineering student can have only one type of skill according to their branch.

6) Statement: Should there be no place of written test in a selection process?
Arguments:
I. No, it is necessary because screening and filtering of skilled professionals is done with written test only.
II. Yes, as the students with enough knowledge may not succeed in written test due to time management.

7) Statement: Should all news channels be controlled by government in a democracy?
Arguments:
I. Yes, variety of news and inaccurate information may misguide a listener.
II. No, such a news loses credibility and quality.

8) Statement: Should politicians with criminal background be banned?
Arguments:
I. No, they may be illegally pushed and blamed apart from their service motto.
II. Yes, they should be banned, because they show negative impact on other aristocrats, bureaucrats and corrupt them with their evil ideology.

9) Statement: Are educational institutions responsible for unrest among the youth?
Arguments:
I. Yes, there is no proper discipline to follow in educational institutions.
II. No, there are no disciplinary problems in educational institutions.

10) Statement: Can pollution be controlled?
Arguments:
I. Yes, if everyone realizes the pollution hazard and awareness created will helps to operate and get rid of it, which in other way be controlled.
II. No, due to day to day increase in population, people in need for constructing houses and usage of polluting agents will never be controlled.

11) Statement: Should India need to manufacture nuclear Bombs?
Arguments:
I. Yes, it is imperative to protect the sovereignty and integrity of the country until we live in our motherland
II. No, this will show imbalances in power to the nations in this region.

12) Statement: Should computers be used in all possible sectors in India ?
Arguments:
I. Yes, it will bring accuracy, efficiency and saves time in completing a work.
II. No, it will create injustice to unemployed human resources who are underutilized today.

13) Statement: Does ragging in colleges a good practice?
Arguments:
I. Yes, a sensible and healthy ragging makes the relationship stronger between seniors and juniors.
II. No, tortures inflicted in the name of ragging and harassment is beyond the limits.

14) Statement: Should the health care service be nationalized?
Arguments:
I. Yes, other sectors also done this and quality control is maintained.
II. No, the quality of health care service will deteriorate.

15) Statement: Shall all the remote parts of a country be connected by roads ?
Arguments:
I. No, it will disturb peaceful, simple and pleasant life of villagers.
II. Yes, it should be done immediately for various aspects

16) Statement: Should military service be made compulsory in our country?
Arguments:
I. No, it is against the policy of non violence.
II. Yes, every citizen should protect his country because it is one’s own responsibility as a citizen of India.

17) Statement: Should big new industries be started in Hyderabad?
Arguments:
I. Yes, it will create job opportunities.
II. No, it further increases the pollution in the city.

18) Statement: Should the illiterate be debarred from voting?
Arguments:
I. Yes, because they are easily misguided.
II. No, it is their constitutional right.

19) Statement: Should public holidays be declared on the names of or on the demise of eminent national leaders.
Arguments:
I. No, too many holidays will show negative impact on the national progress.
II. Yes, people would like to pay their homage to the departed soul.

20) Statement: Should religion be taught in our schools?
Arguments:
I. No, India is secular country.
II. Yes, teaching religion helps in improving ethical, moral values among the children.

21) Statement: Should judicial activism be discouraged.
Arguments:
I. No,if we leave everything in the hands of an executive, then justice may be a distant dream.
II. Yes, judiciary should mind it’s own business. Executives will takes their own course.

22) Statement: Should the age of retirement in government service be increased in view of longer life span in India?
Arguments:
I. Yes, other countries have already taken such decision.
II. Yes, it is a genuine demand of many employees.

23) Statement: Should fashionable dresses be banned?
Arguments:
I. Yes, fashions keep on changes as a result consumption of cloth increases.
II. No, fashionable clothes are a person’s self expression and therefore it is their fundamental right

24) Statement: Should India make efforts to harness solar energy to fulfill its energy requirements?
Arguments:
I. Yes, most of the energy sources used at present are exhaustible.
II. No, harnessing solar energy requires a lot of capital which India lacks in.

25) Statement: Should India create a huge petrol and diesel reserve like western countries to face difficult situations in future?
Arguments:
I. No, there is no need to block huge amount of foreign exchange and keep the money idle.
II. Yes, this will help India withstand stocks of sudden increase in petrol/ diesel prices due to unforeseen circumstances.

Explanations

1) b; Clearly, strike is not a matter of indiscipline or disobedience but is only a practice to safeguard the fundamental right. So, argument-(I) is vague. Complete ban on strikes by the employees violates their democratic right. So, argument-(II) holds.
Hence, option-b is correct choice.

2) a; Generally, mechanization increases the production in positive manner. Argument-(I) is strong enough to hold when compared with argument-(II). Mechanization doesn’t create employment, but can only eliminate unnecessary and wasteful employment.

3) a; Clearly, the policy will end the political corruption which helps to unleash the money that is earned in an illegal manner. Argument-(II) is vague.So, only argument-(I) holds.

4) a; Argument-(I) holds strong, because the gay population may increase and also the western culture impact has some bad impacts when compared with our traditions and culture. But argument-(II) is not suitable for our society and human environment.So, Argument-(I) holds strong.

5) a; Every student needs to flourish in their own field, So, departments should be there. So, argument-(I) holds strong compared to argument-(II).

6) a; Argument-(I) holds strong. Because in a profession time management is also very important besides knowledge. So, argument-(I) holds strong.

7) b; News channels under the control of government will decrease the transparency in thoughts of people and which may show bad impact on the national integrity. So, argument-(II) holds strong.

8) b; Politicians with criminal background should be banned because they are the representatives of people. Hence, argument-(II) only holds.

9) d; The arguments do not strongly support their opinion or deny it. So, both does not hold strong.

10) c; Controlling the population is impossible on one hand. But it can be controlled by creating awareness among the people. So either argument-(I) or (II) is strong.

11) a; Yes, it is important to manufacture nuclear bombs to protect the country from threats. So, argument-(I) is strong comparing to argument-(II).

12) a; Today computers are needed for better use of underutilized human resources and with computers we can accomplish this with better speed and efficiency. So, argument-(I) holds strong.

13) e;Both the arguments are strong. Relationship should be prevailed among all the batches and also it should not cross the limits.

14) d; It cannot followed just as others have done it. So, argument-(I) is not strong. Also, Nationalization will promote service but do not deteriorate it.
So, none of the arguments hold strong.

15) b; Connecting roads helps for development of the villages and people. So, argument-(II) holds strong.

16) b; Argument-II is strong compared to argument-(I).

17) e; Both the arguments art strong. Because industries may increase the pollution, bn- it also increases the employment opportunities for unemployed youth.

18) b; Even though illiterate people are not completely aware of the voting guidelines, it is their constitutional right to vote. So, they cannot be avoided.Hence, option-b is correct choice.

19) a; Argument-(I) is stronger than argument-(II).

20) b; India is a secular country and that does not mean religion and religious values should be banned. In fact, they promote good thoughts.So,argument-(II) is strong.

21) d; Clearly, none of them should be made more powerful than the other. Instead a balance should be created between executives and judiciary, so that each can exercise its influence over the other and prevent malfunctioning. So, both the arguments are not strong

22) b; Just because other countries have implemented, it may not be suitable for our country. Because every country has its own environment and people’s life style. So, argument-(I) is vague.
Increasing the age of retirement is indeed a genuine demand of most of the employees for self dependency. So, argument-(II) holds.

23) b; Imposing ban on fashionable dresses will be a restriction to freedom and personal choice of an individual. So, only argument-II is strong.

24) a; Harnessing solar energy will be helpful as it is an inexhaustible resource unlike other resources. So, argument-(I) holds. But argument-(II) is vague as solar energy is the cheapest form of energy.

25) b; Petrol/ diesel, being an essential commodity, our country must keep it in reserve. So, argument-(I) is vague. While argument-(II) is strong as it provides substantial reason for the same.