This is the Vocab24 daily quiz of 30 April 2026, the same 26 questions the app served that day, on the day's vocabulary and editorial. One mark for a right answer, minus 0.25 for a wrong one; the explanation opens as soon as you tap.
Out of the given alternatives select the word opposite in meaning to the given word.
Mortgage
Explanation: Mortgage means a legal arrangement in which property is given as security for a loan. Therefore, pledge is the closest meaning because it also means giving something as security for repayment.
Out of the given alternatives select the word opposite in meaning to the given word.
Appellate
Explanation: Appellate relates to appeals or the authority to review decisions made by a lower court or body. Therefore, reviewing correctly expresses its meaning.
Out of the given alternatives select the word opposite in meaning to the given word.
Foreclosure
Explanation: Foreclosure refers to the legal process through which a lender takes possession of property when the borrower fails to repay a loan. Among the options, forfeiture is the closest because it means loss of property or rights due to failure to fulfil an obligation.
Out of the given alternatives select the word opposite in meaning to the given word.
Underwrite
Explanation: Underwrite means to accept financial responsibility, support, or guarantee payment or risk. Therefore, guarantee is the correct meaning.
Out of the given alternatives select the word opposite in meaning to the given word.
Depreciation
Explanation: Depreciation means a decrease in value, especially of an asset. Its opposite is appreciation, which means an increase in value.
Out of the given alternatives select the word opposite in meaning to the given word.
Rebate
Explanation: Rebate means a refund, discount, or reduction in price. Its opposite is surcharge, which means an extra charge added to the normal price.
Out of the given alternatives select the word opposite in meaning to the given word.
Stationary
Explanation: Stationary means fixed, still, or not moving. Its correct opposite is moving.
Out of the given alternatives select the word opposite in meaning to the given word.
Eviction
Explanation: Eviction means forcing someone to leave a property. Its opposite is retention, which means keeping or holding something.
Out of given alternatives, choose the word which can be substituted for the given words/ sentence.
A legal agreement in which property is given as security for a loan; to give property as security for a loan.
Explanation: A legal agreement in which property is given as security for a loan is called a mortgage. It can also be used as a verb meaning to give property as security for a loan.
Out of given alternatives, choose the word which can be substituted for the given words/ sentence.
A decrease in the value of an asset over time, usually due to use, age, or wear and tear.
Explanation: A decrease in the value of an asset due to use, age, or wear and tear is called depreciation. Therefore, this is the correct one-word substitution.
Out of given alternatives, choose the word which can be substituted for the given words/ sentence.
Not moving or not intended to be moved.
Explanation: Something that is not moving or not intended to be moved is called stationary. Therefore, it correctly substitutes the given sentence.
Out of given alternatives, choose the word which can be substituted for the given words/ sentence.
The legal act of forcing someone to leave a property or land.
Explanation: The legal act of forcing someone to leave a property or land is called eviction. Hence, this is the correct one-word substitution.
A statement with one blank is given below. Choose the set of words from the given options which can be used to fill the given blank.
Homoeopathic treatment they say cuts ________ the need for operation and risk from surgery
Explanation: The phrase cut down means to reduce. The sentence means that homoeopathic treatment reduces the need for operation and the risk from surgery, so down is correct.
A statement with one blank is given below. Choose the set of words from the given options which can be used to fill the given blank.
Tomatoes are not stocked as buffer as they are highly _______________.
Explanation: Tomatoes cannot be stored as buffer stock for long because they decay or spoil quickly. Therefore, perishable is the correct word.
A statement with one blank is given below. Choose the set of words from the given options which can be used to fill the given blank.
The governor-elect was hounded by a group of ______ lobbyists and others hoping to gain favor with her administration.
Explanation: Fawning means trying to gain favour through excessive flattery or servile behaviour. Lobbyists hoping to gain favour with the governor-elect are best described as fawning.
Out of given alternatives select the option which best expresses the meaning of given idiom/ phrase.
You can easily overcome this situation if you keep your head.
Explanation: The idiom keep your head means to stay calm and think clearly in a difficult situation. Therefore, remain calm is correct.
Out of given alternatives select the option which best expresses the meaning of given idiom/ phrase.
to beat a retreat
Explanation: To beat a retreat means to withdraw from a situation, especially after failure, pressure, embarrassment, or defeat. Therefore, to withdraw in defeat or humiliation is the best answer.
Out of given alternatives select the option which best expresses the meaning of given idiom/ phrase.
to die in harness means to die while
Explanation: To die in harness means to die while still working or still in active service. Therefore, still in service is correct.
Which of phrases given below each sentence should replace the phrase printed in bold type to make the grammatically correct? If the sentence is correct as it is, mark 'd' as the answer.
The finding may help doctors(1)/ give more personalised care to patients (2)/ and modify the amount of powerful drugs (3)/ administered over their patients (4)/ No error (5)
Explanation: The error is in the phrase administered over their patients. The correct expression is administered to their patients because medicines or drugs are administered to a patient, not over a patient.
Which of phrases given below each sentence should replace the phrase printed in bold type to make the grammatically correct? If the sentence is correct as it is, mark 'd' as the answer.
He had telephoned yesterday to(1)/ ask how much of the youth (2)/ who attend our classes would be (3)/ interested in working for a textile company (4)/ No error (5)
Explanation: The error is in how much of the youth. Since the sentence refers to people, the correct usage is how many of the youth because many is used for countable persons.
Which of phrases given below each sentence should replace the phrase printed in bold type to make the grammatically correct? If the sentence is correct as it is, mark 'd' as the answer.
Sooner had he come (A)/ his colleagues (B)/ organised a get together. (C)/ No error (D)
Explanation: The correct construction is No sooner had he come than his colleagues organised a get-together. The phrase No sooner...than is the correct correlative structure, so the error lies in the opening phrase.
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below. Certain words/phrases are printed in bold to help you to locate them while answering some of the questions. <br><br><br> In February 2010 the Medical Council of India announced a major change in the regulation governing the establishment of medical colleges. With this change, corporate entities were permitted to open medical colleges. The new regulation also carried the following warning : permission shall be withdrawn if the colleges resort to commercialisation. Since the regulation does not elaborate on what constitutes resorting to commercialisation, this will presumably be a matter left to the discretion of the Government. <br><br> A basic requirement for a new medical college is a pre-existing hospital that will serve as a teaching hospital. Corporate entities have hospitals in the major metros and that is where they will have to locate medical colleges. The earlier mandated land requirement for a medical college campus, a minimum of 25 acres of contiguous land, cannot be fulfilled in the metros. Not surprisingly, yet another tweak has been made in the regulation, prescribing 10 acres as the new minimum campus size for 9 cities including the main metros. With this, the stage is set for corporate entities to enter the medical education market. <br><br> Until now, medical education in India has been projected as a not-forprofit activity to be organised for the public good. While private bodies can run medical colleges, these can only be societies or trusts, legally non-profit organisations. In opening the door to corporate colleges, thus, a major policy change has been effected without changing the law or even a discussion in Parliament, but by simply getting a compliant MCI to change the regulation on establishment of medical colleges. This and other changes have been justified in the name of addressing the shortage of doctors. At the same time, over 50 existing medical colleges, including 15 run by the government, have been prohibited from admitting students in 2010 for having failed to meet the basic standards prescribed. Ninety per cent of these colleges have come up in the last 5 years. Particularly shocking is the phenomenon of government colleges falling short of standards approved by the Government. Why are state government institutions not able to meet the requirements that have been approved by the central government? A severe problem faced by government-run institutions is attracting and retaining teaching faculty, and this is likely to be among the major reasons for these colleges failing to satisfy the MCI norms. The crisis building up on the faculty front has been flagged by various commissions looking into problems of medical education over the years. <br><br> An indicator of the crisis is the attempt to conjure up faculty when MCI carries out inspections of new colleges, one of its regulatory functions. Judging by news reports, the practice of presenting fake faculty – students or private medical practitioners hired for the day – during MCI inspections in private colleges is common. What is interesting is that even government colleges are adopting unscrupulous methods. Another indicator is the extraordinary scheme, verging on the ridiculous that is being put in place by the MCI to make inspections 'foolproof'. Faculty in all medical colleges are to be issued an RFID-based smart card by the MCI with a unique Faculty Number. The card, it is argued, will eliminate the possibility of a teacher being shown on the faculty of more than one college and establish if the qualifications of a teacher are genuine. In the future, it is projected that biometric RFID readers will be installed in the colleges that will enable a Faculty Identification, Tracking and Monitoring System to monitor faculty from within the college and even remotely from MCI headquarters. <br><br> The picture above does not even start to reveal the true and pathetic situation of medical care especially in rural India. Only a fraction of the doctors and nursing professionals serve rural areas where 70 per cent of our population lives. The Health Ministry, with the help of the MCI, has been active in proposing yet another 'innovative' solution to the problem of lack of doctors in the rural areas. The proposal is for a three-and-a-half year course to obtain the degree of Bachelor of Rural Medicine and Surgery (BRMS). Only rural candidates would be able to join this course. The study and training would happen at two different levels – Community Health Centers for 18 months, and sub-divisional hospitals for a further period of 2 years – and be conducted by retired professors. After completion of training, they would only be able to serve in their own state in district hospitals, community health centres, and primary health centres. <br><br> The BRMS proposal has invited sharp criticism from some doctors' organisations on the grounds that it is discriminatory to have two different standards of health care – one for urban and the other for rural areas, and that the health care provided by such graduates will be compromised. At the other end is the opinion expressed by some that something is better than nothing, that since doctors do not want to serve in rural areas, the government may as well create a new cadre of medics who will be obliged to serve there. The debate will surely pick up after the government formally lays out its plans. What is apparent is that neither this proposal nor the various stopgap measures adopted so far address the root of the problem of health care. <br><br> The far larger issue is government policy, the low priority attached by the government to the social sector as a whole and the health sector in particular, evidenced in the paltry allocations for maintaining and upgrading medical infrastructure and medical education and for looking after precious human resources.
What is one of the major problems faced by the government– run medical institutions ?
Explanation: The major problem faced by government-run medical institutions is the difficulty in attracting and retaining teaching faculty. Therefore, dearth of teaching faculty is correct.
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below. Certain words/phrases are printed in bold to help you to locate them while answering some of the questions. <br><br><br> In February 2010 the Medical Council of India announced a major change in the regulation governing the establishment of medical colleges. With this change, corporate entities were permitted to open medical colleges. The new regulation also carried the following warning : permission shall be withdrawn if the colleges resort to commercialisation. Since the regulation does not elaborate on what constitutes resorting to commercialisation, this will presumably be a matter left to the discretion of the Government. <br><br> A basic requirement for a new medical college is a pre-existing hospital that will serve as a teaching hospital. Corporate entities have hospitals in the major metros and that is where they will have to locate medical colleges. The earlier mandated land requirement for a medical college campus, a minimum of 25 acres of contiguous land, cannot be fulfilled in the metros. Not surprisingly, yet another tweak has been made in the regulation, prescribing 10 acres as the new minimum campus size for 9 cities including the main metros. With this, the stage is set for corporate entities to enter the medical education market. <br><br> Until now, medical education in India has been projected as a not-forprofit activity to be organised for the public good. While private bodies can run medical colleges, these can only be societies or trusts, legally non-profit organisations. In opening the door to corporate colleges, thus, a major policy change has been effected without changing the law or even a discussion in Parliament, but by simply getting a compliant MCI to change the regulation on establishment of medical colleges. This and other changes have been justified in the name of addressing the shortage of doctors. At the same time, over 50 existing medical colleges, including 15 run by the government, have been prohibited from admitting students in 2010 for having failed to meet the basic standards prescribed. Ninety per cent of these colleges have come up in the last 5 years. Particularly shocking is the phenomenon of government colleges falling short of standards approved by the Government. Why are state government institutions not able to meet the requirements that have been approved by the central government? A severe problem faced by government-run institutions is attracting and retaining teaching faculty, and this is likely to be among the major reasons for these colleges failing to satisfy the MCI norms. The crisis building up on the faculty front has been flagged by various commissions looking into problems of medical education over the years. <br><br> An indicator of the crisis is the attempt to conjure up faculty when MCI carries out inspections of new colleges, one of its regulatory functions. Judging by news reports, the practice of presenting fake faculty – students or private medical practitioners hired for the day – during MCI inspections in private colleges is common. What is interesting is that even government colleges are adopting unscrupulous methods. Another indicator is the extraordinary scheme, verging on the ridiculous that is being put in place by the MCI to make inspections 'foolproof'. Faculty in all medical colleges are to be issued an RFID-based smart card by the MCI with a unique Faculty Number. The card, it is argued, will eliminate the possibility of a teacher being shown on the faculty of more than one college and establish if the qualifications of a teacher are genuine. In the future, it is projected that biometric RFID readers will be installed in the colleges that will enable a Faculty Identification, Tracking and Monitoring System to monitor faculty from within the college and even remotely from MCI headquarters. <br><br> The picture above does not even start to reveal the true and pathetic situation of medical care especially in rural India. Only a fraction of the doctors and nursing professionals serve rural areas where 70 per cent of our population lives. The Health Ministry, with the help of the MCI, has been active in proposing yet another 'innovative' solution to the problem of lack of doctors in the rural areas. The proposal is for a three-and-a-half year course to obtain the degree of Bachelor of Rural Medicine and Surgery (BRMS). Only rural candidates would be able to join this course. The study and training would happen at two different levels – Community Health Centers for 18 months, and sub-divisional hospitals for a further period of 2 years – and be conducted by retired professors. After completion of training, they would only be able to serve in their own state in district hospitals, community health centres, and primary health centres. <br><br> The BRMS proposal has invited sharp criticism from some doctors' organisations on the grounds that it is discriminatory to have two different standards of health care – one for urban and the other for rural areas, and that the health care provided by such graduates will be compromised. At the other end is the opinion expressed by some that something is better than nothing, that since doctors do not want to serve in rural areas, the government may as well create a new cadre of medics who will be obliged to serve there. The debate will surely pick up after the government formally lays out its plans. What is apparent is that neither this proposal nor the various stopgap measures adopted so far address the root of the problem of health care. <br><br> The far larger issue is government policy, the low priority attached by the government to the social sector as a whole and the health sector in particular, evidenced in the paltry allocations for maintaining and upgrading medical infrastructure and medical education and for looking after precious human resources.
Choose the word/group of words which is most similar in meaning to the word/group of words printed in bold as used in the passage. <br><br> FLAGGED
Explanation: In the passage, flagged means pointed out or brought to attention. Therefore, highlighted is the correct similar meaning.
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below. Certain words/phrases are printed in bold to help you to locate them while answering some of the questions. <br><br><br> In February 2010 the Medical Council of India announced a major change in the regulation governing the establishment of medical colleges. With this change, corporate entities were permitted to open medical colleges. The new regulation also carried the following warning : permission shall be withdrawn if the colleges resort to commercialisation. Since the regulation does not elaborate on what constitutes resorting to commercialisation, this will presumably be a matter left to the discretion of the Government. <br><br> A basic requirement for a new medical college is a pre-existing hospital that will serve as a teaching hospital. Corporate entities have hospitals in the major metros and that is where they will have to locate medical colleges. The earlier mandated land requirement for a medical college campus, a minimum of 25 acres of contiguous land, cannot be fulfilled in the metros. Not surprisingly, yet another tweak has been made in the regulation, prescribing 10 acres as the new minimum campus size for 9 cities including the main metros. With this, the stage is set for corporate entities to enter the medical education market. <br><br> Until now, medical education in India has been projected as a not-forprofit activity to be organised for the public good. While private bodies can run medical colleges, these can only be societies or trusts, legally non-profit organisations. In opening the door to corporate colleges, thus, a major policy change has been effected without changing the law or even a discussion in Parliament, but by simply getting a compliant MCI to change the regulation on establishment of medical colleges. This and other changes have been justified in the name of addressing the shortage of doctors. At the same time, over 50 existing medical colleges, including 15 run by the government, have been prohibited from admitting students in 2010 for having failed to meet the basic standards prescribed. Ninety per cent of these colleges have come up in the last 5 years. Particularly shocking is the phenomenon of government colleges falling short of standards approved by the Government. Why are state government institutions not able to meet the requirements that have been approved by the central government? A severe problem faced by government-run institutions is attracting and retaining teaching faculty, and this is likely to be among the major reasons for these colleges failing to satisfy the MCI norms. The crisis building up on the faculty front has been flagged by various commissions looking into problems of medical education over the years. <br><br> An indicator of the crisis is the attempt to conjure up faculty when MCI carries out inspections of new colleges, one of its regulatory functions. Judging by news reports, the practice of presenting fake faculty – students or private medical practitioners hired for the day – during MCI inspections in private colleges is common. What is interesting is that even government colleges are adopting unscrupulous methods. Another indicator is the extraordinary scheme, verging on the ridiculous that is being put in place by the MCI to make inspections 'foolproof'. Faculty in all medical colleges are to be issued an RFID-based smart card by the MCI with a unique Faculty Number. The card, it is argued, will eliminate the possibility of a teacher being shown on the faculty of more than one college and establish if the qualifications of a teacher are genuine. In the future, it is projected that biometric RFID readers will be installed in the colleges that will enable a Faculty Identification, Tracking and Monitoring System to monitor faculty from within the college and even remotely from MCI headquarters. <br><br> The picture above does not even start to reveal the true and pathetic situation of medical care especially in rural India. Only a fraction of the doctors and nursing professionals serve rural areas where 70 per cent of our population lives. The Health Ministry, with the help of the MCI, has been active in proposing yet another 'innovative' solution to the problem of lack of doctors in the rural areas. The proposal is for a three-and-a-half year course to obtain the degree of Bachelor of Rural Medicine and Surgery (BRMS). Only rural candidates would be able to join this course. The study and training would happen at two different levels – Community Health Centers for 18 months, and sub-divisional hospitals for a further period of 2 years – and be conducted by retired professors. After completion of training, they would only be able to serve in their own state in district hospitals, community health centres, and primary health centres. <br><br> The BRMS proposal has invited sharp criticism from some doctors' organisations on the grounds that it is discriminatory to have two different standards of health care – one for urban and the other for rural areas, and that the health care provided by such graduates will be compromised. At the other end is the opinion expressed by some that something is better than nothing, that since doctors do not want to serve in rural areas, the government may as well create a new cadre of medics who will be obliged to serve there. The debate will surely pick up after the government formally lays out its plans. What is apparent is that neither this proposal nor the various stopgap measures adopted so far address the root of the problem of health care. <br><br> The far larger issue is government policy, the low priority attached by the government to the social sector as a whole and the health sector in particular, evidenced in the paltry allocations for maintaining and upgrading medical infrastructure and medical education and for looking after precious human resources.
Choose the word/group of words which is most similar in meaning to the word/group of words printed in bold as used in the passage. <br><br> FALLING SHORT
Explanation: Falling short means failing to reach or satisfy a required level or standard. Therefore, not meeting is correct.
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below. Certain words/phrases are printed in bold to help you to locate them while answering some of the questions. <br><br><br> In February 2010 the Medical Council of India announced a major change in the regulation governing the establishment of medical colleges. With this change, corporate entities were permitted to open medical colleges. The new regulation also carried the following warning : permission shall be withdrawn if the colleges resort to commercialisation. Since the regulation does not elaborate on what constitutes resorting to commercialisation, this will presumably be a matter left to the discretion of the Government. <br><br> A basic requirement for a new medical college is a pre-existing hospital that will serve as a teaching hospital. Corporate entities have hospitals in the major metros and that is where they will have to locate medical colleges. The earlier mandated land requirement for a medical college campus, a minimum of 25 acres of contiguous land, cannot be fulfilled in the metros. Not surprisingly, yet another tweak has been made in the regulation, prescribing 10 acres as the new minimum campus size for 9 cities including the main metros. With this, the stage is set for corporate entities to enter the medical education market. <br><br> Until now, medical education in India has been projected as a not-forprofit activity to be organised for the public good. While private bodies can run medical colleges, these can only be societies or trusts, legally non-profit organisations. In opening the door to corporate colleges, thus, a major policy change has been effected without changing the law or even a discussion in Parliament, but by simply getting a compliant MCI to change the regulation on establishment of medical colleges. This and other changes have been justified in the name of addressing the shortage of doctors. At the same time, over 50 existing medical colleges, including 15 run by the government, have been prohibited from admitting students in 2010 for having failed to meet the basic standards prescribed. Ninety per cent of these colleges have come up in the last 5 years. Particularly shocking is the phenomenon of government colleges falling short of standards approved by the Government. Why are state government institutions not able to meet the requirements that have been approved by the central government? A severe problem faced by government-run institutions is attracting and retaining teaching faculty, and this is likely to be among the major reasons for these colleges failing to satisfy the MCI norms. The crisis building up on the faculty front has been flagged by various commissions looking into problems of medical education over the years. <br><br> An indicator of the crisis is the attempt to conjure up faculty when MCI carries out inspections of new colleges, one of its regulatory functions. Judging by news reports, the practice of presenting fake faculty – students or private medical practitioners hired for the day – during MCI inspections in private colleges is common. What is interesting is that even government colleges are adopting unscrupulous methods. Another indicator is the extraordinary scheme, verging on the ridiculous that is being put in place by the MCI to make inspections 'foolproof'. Faculty in all medical colleges are to be issued an RFID-based smart card by the MCI with a unique Faculty Number. The card, it is argued, will eliminate the possibility of a teacher being shown on the faculty of more than one college and establish if the qualifications of a teacher are genuine. In the future, it is projected that biometric RFID readers will be installed in the colleges that will enable a Faculty Identification, Tracking and Monitoring System to monitor faculty from within the college and even remotely from MCI headquarters. <br><br> The picture above does not even start to reveal the true and pathetic situation of medical care especially in rural India. Only a fraction of the doctors and nursing professionals serve rural areas where 70 per cent of our population lives. The Health Ministry, with the help of the MCI, has been active in proposing yet another 'innovative' solution to the problem of lack of doctors in the rural areas. The proposal is for a three-and-a-half year course to obtain the degree of Bachelor of Rural Medicine and Surgery (BRMS). Only rural candidates would be able to join this course. The study and training would happen at two different levels – Community Health Centers for 18 months, and sub-divisional hospitals for a further period of 2 years – and be conducted by retired professors. After completion of training, they would only be able to serve in their own state in district hospitals, community health centres, and primary health centres. <br><br> The BRMS proposal has invited sharp criticism from some doctors' organisations on the grounds that it is discriminatory to have two different standards of health care – one for urban and the other for rural areas, and that the health care provided by such graduates will be compromised. At the other end is the opinion expressed by some that something is better than nothing, that since doctors do not want to serve in rural areas, the government may as well create a new cadre of medics who will be obliged to serve there. The debate will surely pick up after the government formally lays out its plans. What is apparent is that neither this proposal nor the various stopgap measures adopted so far address the root of the problem of health care. <br><br> The far larger issue is government policy, the low priority attached by the government to the social sector as a whole and the health sector in particular, evidenced in the paltry allocations for maintaining and upgrading medical infrastructure and medical education and for looking after precious human resources.
Choose the word/group of words which is most opposite in meaning to the word/ group of words printed in bold as used in the passage. <br><br> UNSCRUPULOUS
Explanation: Unscrupulous means dishonest, immoral, or lacking principles. Its opposite is honest.
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below. Certain words/phrases are printed in bold to help you to locate them while answering some of the questions. <br><br><br> In February 2010 the Medical Council of India announced a major change in the regulation governing the establishment of medical colleges. With this change, corporate entities were permitted to open medical colleges. The new regulation also carried the following warning : permission shall be withdrawn if the colleges resort to commercialisation. Since the regulation does not elaborate on what constitutes resorting to commercialisation, this will presumably be a matter left to the discretion of the Government. <br><br> A basic requirement for a new medical college is a pre-existing hospital that will serve as a teaching hospital. Corporate entities have hospitals in the major metros and that is where they will have to locate medical colleges. The earlier mandated land requirement for a medical college campus, a minimum of 25 acres of contiguous land, cannot be fulfilled in the metros. Not surprisingly, yet another tweak has been made in the regulation, prescribing 10 acres as the new minimum campus size for 9 cities including the main metros. With this, the stage is set for corporate entities to enter the medical education market. <br><br> Until now, medical education in India has been projected as a not-forprofit activity to be organised for the public good. While private bodies can run medical colleges, these can only be societies or trusts, legally non-profit organisations. In opening the door to corporate colleges, thus, a major policy change has been effected without changing the law or even a discussion in Parliament, but by simply getting a compliant MCI to change the regulation on establishment of medical colleges. This and other changes have been justified in the name of addressing the shortage of doctors. At the same time, over 50 existing medical colleges, including 15 run by the government, have been prohibited from admitting students in 2010 for having failed to meet the basic standards prescribed. Ninety per cent of these colleges have come up in the last 5 years. Particularly shocking is the phenomenon of government colleges falling short of standards approved by the Government. Why are state government institutions not able to meet the requirements that have been approved by the central government? A severe problem faced by government-run institutions is attracting and retaining teaching faculty, and this is likely to be among the major reasons for these colleges failing to satisfy the MCI norms. The crisis building up on the faculty front has been flagged by various commissions looking into problems of medical education over the years. <br><br> An indicator of the crisis is the attempt to conjure up faculty when MCI carries out inspections of new colleges, one of its regulatory functions. Judging by news reports, the practice of presenting fake faculty – students or private medical practitioners hired for the day – during MCI inspections in private colleges is common. What is interesting is that even government colleges are adopting unscrupulous methods. Another indicator is the extraordinary scheme, verging on the ridiculous that is being put in place by the MCI to make inspections 'foolproof'. Faculty in all medical colleges are to be issued an RFID-based smart card by the MCI with a unique Faculty Number. The card, it is argued, will eliminate the possibility of a teacher being shown on the faculty of more than one college and establish if the qualifications of a teacher are genuine. In the future, it is projected that biometric RFID readers will be installed in the colleges that will enable a Faculty Identification, Tracking and Monitoring System to monitor faculty from within the college and even remotely from MCI headquarters. <br><br> The picture above does not even start to reveal the true and pathetic situation of medical care especially in rural India. Only a fraction of the doctors and nursing professionals serve rural areas where 70 per cent of our population lives. The Health Ministry, with the help of the MCI, has been active in proposing yet another 'innovative' solution to the problem of lack of doctors in the rural areas. The proposal is for a three-and-a-half year course to obtain the degree of Bachelor of Rural Medicine and Surgery (BRMS). Only rural candidates would be able to join this course. The study and training would happen at two different levels – Community Health Centers for 18 months, and sub-divisional hospitals for a further period of 2 years – and be conducted by retired professors. After completion of training, they would only be able to serve in their own state in district hospitals, community health centres, and primary health centres. <br><br> The BRMS proposal has invited sharp criticism from some doctors' organisations on the grounds that it is discriminatory to have two different standards of health care – one for urban and the other for rural areas, and that the health care provided by such graduates will be compromised. At the other end is the opinion expressed by some that something is better than nothing, that since doctors do not want to serve in rural areas, the government may as well create a new cadre of medics who will be obliged to serve there. The debate will surely pick up after the government formally lays out its plans. What is apparent is that neither this proposal nor the various stopgap measures adopted so far address the root of the problem of health care. <br><br> The far larger issue is government policy, the low priority attached by the government to the social sector as a whole and the health sector in particular, evidenced in the paltry allocations for maintaining and upgrading medical infrastructure and medical education and for looking after precious human resources.
Choose the word/group of words which is most opposite in meaning to the word/ group of words printed in bold as used in the passage. <br><br> SHARP
Explanation: In the phrase sharp criticism, sharp means strong, severe, or harsh. Its opposite in this context is mild, not blunt.
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