1. Well-being is not just the absence of disease or illness.

It is a complex
combination of a person’s physical, mental, emotional and social health
factors. Well-being is strongly linked to happiness and life satisfaction. In
short, it could be described as how one feels about oneself and one’s life. Every
aspect of one’s life influences the state of one’s well-being. Researchers
investigating happiness have found the following factors which enhance a
person’s well-being : network of close friends, enjoyable and fulfilling career,
enough money, regular exercise, nutritious diet, sufficient sleep, fun hobbies
and leisure pursuits, healthy self-esteem, optimistic outlook and so on.
2. The factors that influence one’s well-being are interrelated. For example, a
job provides not just money but purpose, goals, friendships and a sense of
belonging. Some factors also make up for the lack of others; for example, a
good marriage can compensate for a lack of friendship, while religious beliefs
may help a person to accept physical illness. Money is linked to well-being,
because having enough money improves living conditions and increases social
status. But various international studies have shown that it is the quality of
our personal relationships, not the size of our bank balance, which has the
greatest effect on our state of well-being. Believing that money is the key to
happiness can also harm a person’s well-being.
3. Understanding the well-being of the population is very important.
Measuring well-being, however, in a population is difficult because the
interpretation of well-being is so subjective — how one feels about peoples’
lives largely depends on the way one sees it. Like the saying goes: ‘one person’s
problem is another person’s challenge.’
4. Keeping track of a population’s well-being helps governments to decide on
particular policies. It also acts as an indicator for various population trends.
For example, knowing the average weekly income of a population helps to set
the ‘poverty line’, which may then influence decisions on social welfare
reforms. Well-being can be achieved through a variety of means. Some are as
follows : developing and maintaining strong relationships with family and
friends, making regular time available for social contact, trying to find work
that is enjoyable and rewarding, rather than just working for the best pay,
eating healthy, nutritious foods, doing regular physical activity, involving
oneself in activities that interest the people, joining in local organisations or
clubs that appeal, setting achievable goals and working towards them and
trying to be optimistic and enjoying each day.
(a) On the basis of your reading of the above passage, make notes on it
using recognizable abbreviations (minimum four), wherever necessary.
Use a format you consider suitable. Give it a suitable title also. (5)
(b) Write a summary of the above passage in about 80 words. (3)
1. There is a clear dichotomy between Jayashankar Prasad’s daily life and the
one that found expression in his literature. In his literary formulations, Prasad
advocated an escape- from personality ideals and categorically stated: “An
artist‟s art, and not his person, is the touchstone to assess his work . . . it is
only after losing his personality that he emerges in his art as an artist”.
2. In Prasad‟s works – his poems, short stories, novels, dramas etc. – what
emerges is life as shaped in the writer’s inner self by his emotions, fancies,
dreams, reveries . . . His writings are a record not of outer reality, but of the
artist’s inner world. As such, of a proper appreciation and understanding of
his works more emphasis needs to be placed on the working of his mind, than
the events of his dayto-day life.
3. Prasad was born in a renowned family of Varanasi. His grand-father Shiv
RatanSahu, a dealer in high quality perfumed tobacco (snuff). Besides being
an astute businessman, he was endowed with a marked cultural taste. His
home was the meeting place of the local poets, singers, artists, scholars and
men of religion. Prasad‟s father Devi Prasad Sahu carried forward this high
tradition of family. Prasad, therefore, had a chance to study the various phases
of human nature in the light of the business traditions, artistic taste and
religious background of his family.
4. When the business had somewhat recovered, Prasad planned the
publication of a literary journal. Prasad started the “Indu”. The inaugural
number appeared in July 1909. By this time Prasad’s notions of literature had
crystallized into a credo. In the first issue of Indu, he proclaimed, “Literature
has no fixed aim; it is not a slave to rules; it is a free and all-embracing genius,
gives birth to genuine literature which is subservient to none. Whatever in the
world is true and beautiful is its subject matter. By dealing with the True and
Beautiful it establishes the one and affects the full flowering of the others. Its
force can be measured by the degree of pleasure it gives to the reader‟s mind
as also by the criticism which is free of all prejudice”. The words sound like
the manifesto of romanticism in literature.
5. Even while recognizing the social relevance of literature, Prasad insisted,
“The poet is a creator . . . he is not conditioned by his milieu; rather it is he
who moulds it and gives it a new shape; he conjures up a new world of beauty
where the reader for the time being, becomes oblivious of the outer world and
passes his time in an eternal spring garden where golden lotuses blossom and
the air is thick and pollen”. Thus, the chief aim of literature according to
Prasad is to give joy to the reader and to create a state of bliss in him. Later
under the impact of Shiv Advaitism, this faith of Prasad got further
strengthened.
(Extract from ‘Jayashankar Prasad- His mind and Art’ by Dr. Nagendra)
(a) On the basis of your understanding of the above passage, make notes
on it using headings and subheadings. Use recognizable abbreviations
(wherever necessary-minimum four) and a format you consider suitable.
Also supply an appropriate title to it. (5)
(b) Write a summary of the passage in about 80 words. (3)