Directions: In the following passage, some of the words have been left out, each of which is indicated by a letter. Find the suitable word from the options given against each letter and fill up the blanks with appropriate words to make the paragraph meaningful.
The blockade of the national highways leading to the Manipur valley, called by the United Naga Council (UNC), has been in place since November 1. This has severely affected life in the State, with shortages and ___ A ___ costs of essential supplies such as fuel and food, even as demonetisation has ___ B ___ problems. Blockades like this are not new to Manipur. In 2011, there was initially a hundred-day-plus blockade enforced by Kuki-led groups, and countered later by Naga groups, which together had a ___ C ___ effect on life in Manipur. This time the blockade is in place to oppose the creation of new districts by the Okram Ibobi Singh government. On December 9 it issued a ___ D ___ notification for the creation of seven new districts by bifurcating seven (of a total of nine) districts. This decision had as much to do with long-pending demands — in particular, for a new Kuki-majority district to be carved out of the larger Senapati hill district — as with easing administrative access to ___ E ___ areas from the district headquarters.
Explanation:
Option C and D can be eliminated immediately because the word that would fit the blank must be an adjective while “outskirts” is a noun and “remotely” an adverb.
Usage of either “offshore” or “secluded” doesn’t make sense in the context either and options A and E can be eliminated as well.
Clearly, option B is the most suitable choice both for the blank grammatically and contextually.
Option B is hence the correct answer.