SarkariPYQ

SSC CGL 2025 PYQ — Question 13

SSC CGL - 22 Sep 2025 - Shift 1 • English • Q13

Back to paper

In the given passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage intently and choose the most appropriate option to fill in each blank:

Global sustainability discourse has not so much evolved as ossified into a lexicon of managerial (1) ______-terms engineered more for reputational lubrication than ecological redress. What was once a moral reckoning with planetary precariousness now traffics in dashboards and metrics, calibrated less to redistribute power than to launder it. Words like “resilience,” “stakeholder engagement,” and “net-zero” populate position papers, their meanings stretched until they acquire the elasticity of (2) ______ in this semantic economy, language ceases to be revelatory and becomes performative. Reports teeter on euphemism; declarations bristle with procedural piety. Crises are not named; they are (3) ______ into “developmental challenges.” The grammar of suffering is bleached, even as the facts remain uncompromising. What emerges is not truth, but a choreography of credibility—an affective simulation of care. Meanwhile, epistemic asymmetries persist: indigenous knowledge is (4) ______ as “local insight,” offered just enough space to decorate, never to reorient. Environmental justice, once confrontational, now wears a diplomatic smile, folded neatly into intergovernmental communiqués. If sustainability is to escape the orbit of self-congratulation, it must surrender its obsession with optics and inhabit the discomfort of history. Anything less is not stewardship—it is semantic (5) ______ masquerading as progress.

What should come in the place of blank number (1)?

Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: B

Explanation

The correct answer is option 2 i.e. lubricants.

The passage discusses how the language of global sustainability has become rigid and mechanical. The blank refers to terms that are 'engineered' more for a company's reputation than for actual environmental change, suggesting they are artificial constructs or 'managerial artifacts.'

Meaning of the words:

  • Artifacts: Objects or concepts made by human beings, often remaining as a vestige of a particular period; in this context, it refers to artificial linguistic constructs.

  • Lubricants: Substances used to reduce friction; while the text mentions 'reputational lubrication,' the specific blank asks for the type of 'terms' used, not the process itself.

  • Monologues: Long speeches by one person; this does not fit the context of a 'lexicon' or specific 'terms.'

  • Alignments: The act of matching or bringing into line; this is a process rather than a description of the terms themselves.

Correct word: artifacts

Reason: After analyzing the meanings, 'artifacts' is the most appropriate fit because it describes the 'managerial terms' as artificial, engineered products of a corporate lexicon rather than genuine expressions of ecological care.

Final Sentence: Global sustainability discourse has not so much evolved as ossified into a lexicon of managerial artifacts-terms engineered more for reputational lubrication than ecological redress.

Hence, the chosen option is correct.