Read the following passage carefully:
(1) Gossip. All humans partake in some form, despite the age-old adage, "If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all." Whether it's workplace chatter, the sharing of family news or group texts between friends, it's inevitable that anyone who participates in the above, talks about other people.
(2) People tend to think of gossip as synonymous with malicious rumours, put-downs, or the breathless propagation of a tabloid scoop. But researchers often define it more broadly as "talking about people who aren't present," says an assistant professor of psychology. "It's something that comes very naturally to us" - an integral part of conversation, information sharing, and even community building.
(3) "It's not necessarily negative," adds a professor of psychology. "It can be positive or neutral." Some researchers argue that gossip helped our ancestors survive. Evolutionary psychologists first pioneered this idea, comparing gossip to the grooming primates engage in as a means of bonding.
(4) People are usually resistant to thinking about gossip as anything but bad. It is true that there are some types of gossip that should be avoided, such as gossip that is purely harmful and serves no purpose like mean comments on someone's way of dressing. In such a scenario no one benefits. Gossip can also be both active and passive. Active gossiping refers to directly sharing negative information about someone else. An active gossiper initiates the conversation and actively spreads it. Passive gossiping on the other hand involves more subtle behaviour like hinting, dropping suggestive comments or participating in gossip by listening without actively contributing, but still allowing the gossip to spread through their presence.
(5) It's interesting to note that gossiping also says something about relationships people have with one another. The act of gossiping often implies a level of trust and closeness with someone, which are key aspects of a good friendship.
(6) Research has found that gossip can stave off loneliness, while other studies have found it can facilitate bonding and closeness and serve as a form of entertainment. So, keep on talking. And when your conversation turns to gossip, as it inevitably will, remember that some good can come of it - with the right intentions, of course.
Answer the following questions, based on the above passage:
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New Forms of Publication
By the end of the nineteenth century, a new visual culture was taking shape. With the setting up of an increasing number of printing presses. visual images could be easily reproduced in multiple copies. Painters like Raja Ravi Varma produced images for mass circulation. Poor wood gngravers who made woodblocks and were employed by print shops. Cheap prints and calendars, easily available in the bazaar, could be bought even by the poor to decorate the walls of their homes or places of work. These prints began shaping popular ideas about modernity and tradition, religion and politics, and society and culture. By the 1870s, caricatures and cartoons were being published in journals and newspapers, commenting on social and political issues. Some caricatures ridiculed the educated Indians’ fascination with Western tastes and clothes, while others expressed the fear of social change. There were imperial caricatures lampooning nationalists, as well as pationalist cartoons criticising imperial rule.
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Sacred Groves — a wealth of diverse and rare species
‘Nature worship is an age old tribal belicf based on the premisc that all creations of nature have to be protected. Such beliefs have preserved several virgin forests in pristine form called Sacred Groves (the forests of God and Goddesses). These patches of forest or parts of large forests have been left tintouched by the localpeople and any interference with them is banned, Certain socicties revere from time region worship (cadamba) trees. and the tribals (Tamarindus indica) and and Bihar worship the tamarind weddings. To many of us, (Mangifera indica) trees during o o peepal and banyan trees are considered sacred. Cly comprises several cultures, each with its own set of traditional methods of conservion are often nature and its creations.The mountain peaks, plants and animals which around many temples.“I” find troops of macaques. They are fed daily and treated as a part of temple devotees In and around Bishnoi villages in Rajasthan, herds of blackbuck. nilgai and peacocks can be seen as an integral part of the community and nobody harms them.
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LOCAL GOVERNMENT
The local government structure goes right up to the district level. A few gram panchayats are grouped together to form what is usually called a panchayat samiti or block or mandal. The members of this representative body are elected by all the panchayat members in that arca. All the panchayat samitis or mandals in a district together constitute the zilla (district) parishad. Most members of the zilla parishad are clected. Members of the Lok Sabha and MLAs of that district and some other officials of other district level bodies are also its members. Zilla parishad chairperson is the
political head of the zilla parishad. Similarly, local government bodies exist for urban areas as well. Municipalities are set up in towns. gi.ig cities are .Conslilulcd into municipal corporations. Both municipalities and municipal corporations are controlled by clected bodies consisting of people’s representatives. Municipal chairperson is the political head of the municipality. In a municipal corporation, such an officer is called the mayor. This new system of local government is the largest experiment in democracy conducted anywhere in the world.