IBPS PO--INDIAN BANK PO ENGLISH--PRELIMINARY

Part III English Language

Directions (Q. Nos. 71-77) Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it.

Governments looking for easy popularity have frequently been tempted into announcing give-a-ways of all sorts; free electricity, virtually free water, subsidised food, cloth at half price. and so on. The subsidy culture has gone• to extremes. The richest farmers in the country get subsidised fertilisers, university education, typically accessed by the wealthier sections, is charged at a fraction of cost. Postal services are subsidised, and so are railway services. Bus fares cannot be raised to economical levels because there will be violent protest, so bus travel is subsidised too. In the past, price control on a variety of items, from steel to cement, meant that industrial consumer of these items got them at less than actual cost, while the losses of the public sector companies that produced them were borne by the taxpayer! A study done a few years ago, came to the conclusion that subsidies in the Indian economy total as much as 14.5% of gross domestic product. At today's level, that would work out to about Rs.150000 crore.

And who pay the bill? The theory-and the political fiction on the basis of which it is sold to unsuspecting voters-is that subsidies go the poor, and are paid for by the rich. The fact is that most subsidies go the 'rich' (defined in the Indian context as those who are above the poverty line), and much of the tab goes indirectly to the poor. Because the hefty subsidy bill results in fiscal deficits, which in turn push up rates of inflation-which, as everyone knows, hits the poor the hardest of all. That is why taxmen call inflation the most regressive form of taxation.

The entire subsidy system is built on the thesis that people cannot help themselves, therefore governments must .do so. That people cannot afford to pay for variety of goods and services, and therefore the government must step in. This thesis has been applied not just in the poor countries, but in the rich ones as well; hence the birth of the welfare State in the West, and an almost Utopian social security system; free medical care, food aid, old age security, et.al. But with the passage of time, most of the wealthy nations have discovered that their economies cannot sustain this social safety net, which in fact reduces the desire among people to pay their own way, and takes away some of the incentive to work, in short, the bill was unaffordable, and their societies were simply not willing to pay. To the regret of many, but because of the laws of economies are harsh, most Western societies have been busy pruning the welfare bill.

In India, the lessons of this experience over several decades, and in many countries-do not seem to have been learnt or they are simply ignored in the pursuit of immediate votes. People who are promised cheap food or clothing do not in most cases look beyond the gift horses-to the question of who picks up the tab. The uproar over higher petrol, diesel and cooking gas prices ignored this basic question; if the user of cooking gas does not want to pay for its cost, who should pay? Diesel in the country is subsidised, and if the user of cooking gas does not want to pay for its full cost, who does he or she think should pay the balance of the cost? It is a simple question, nevertheless if remains unasked.

The Deva Gowda government has shown some courage in biting the bullet when it comes to the price of petroleum products. But it has been bitten by much bigger subsidy bug. It wants to offer food at half its cost to everyone below the poverty line, supposedly estimated at some 380 million people.

What will be the cost? And of course, who will pick up the tab? The Andhra Pradesh government has been bankrupted by selling rice as Rs. 2 per kg. Should the Central government be bankrupted too, before facing up to the question of what is affordable and what is not? Already, India is perennially short of power because the subsidy on electricity has bankrupted most electricity boards, and made private investment wary unless it gets all manner of State guarantees. Delhi's subsidised bus fares have bankrupted the Delhi Transport Corporation, whose buses have slowly disappeared from the capital's streets. It is easy to be soft and sentimental, by looking at programmes that will be popular. After all, who does' not like a free lunch? But the evidence is surely -mounting that the lunch isn't free at all. Somebody is paying the bill. And if you want to know who, take at the country's poor economic performance over the years.

71.       Which of the following should not be subsidised over the years?

a. University education           b. Postal services         c. Steel

d. Other than those given as options                          e. All of the above options

72.       The statement that 'subsidies are paid by the rich and go to the poor' is       

a. fiction          b. fact              c. fact, according to the author

d. fiction, according to the author                  e. Other than those given as options

73.       Why do you think that the author calls the western social security system Utopian?

a. The countries belief in the efficacy of the system was bound to turn out to be false.

b. The system followed by these countries is the best available in the present context.

c. Everything under this system was supposed to be free, but people were charging money for them.

d. The theory of system followed by these countries was devised by Dr. Utopia.

e. All the options are responsible.

74.       It can be inferred from the passage that the author

a. believes that people can help themselves and do not need the government.

b. believes that the theory of helping with subsidy is very destructive.

c. believes in democracy and free speech.

d. is not a successful politician.

e. believes that subsidies are the best way to help poor.

75.       Which of the following is not a victim of extreme subsidies?

a. The poor      b. The Delhi-Transport Corporation    c. The Andhra Pradesh government

d. Other than those given as options                          e. The rich

76.       Which of the following is not true in the context of the passage?

a. Where subsidies are concerned, the poor ultimately pay the tab.

b. Inflation is caused by too much subsidies.

c. Experts call subsidies the most regressive form of taxation.

d. Fiscal deficits are caused due to heavy subsidy bills.

e. None of the following is true in the context of the passage.

77.       A suitable title to the passage would be:

a. There's No Such Thing as a Free Lunch

b. The Economic Overview

c. Deva Gowda's Government and its Follies

d. It takes Two to Tango

e. The Rich and The Poor: Extreme Partiality

Directions (Q.Nos. 78-82): Rearrange the following six sentences A, B, C, D, E and F in the proper sequence to form a meaningful paragraph and then answer the questions given below.

A.        It is the only country in the world that is carbon negative, which means, it produces more oxygen than it consumes.

B.        Bhutan, sandwiched between the two most populous nations on Earth, suffers for their sins.

C.        So far, so good. But then, two things happened.

D.        Carbon sinks, 70% forest cover, powered almost entirely by mountain streams —Bhutan is a poster child for green living.

E.         Glaciers are beginning to melt, flash floods and heavy rains — and even droughts — are common, and temperatures are climbing,

F.         One, India and China got richer.

78.       Which of the following should be the FIRST sentence of the given paragraph?

a. E                  b. D                 c. C                  d. B                 e. A

79.       Which of the following should be the THIRD sentence of the given paragraph?

a. A                 b. B                 c. C                  d. D                 e. E

80.       Which of the following should be the LAST sentence of the given paragraph?

a. A                 b. D                 c. C                  d. B                 e. E

81.       Which of the following should be the FOURTH sentence of the given paragraph?

a. F                  b. C                 c. B                  d. E                 e. D

82.       Which of the following should be the SECOND sentence of the given paragraph?

a. B                  b. D                 c. A                 d. C                 e. E

Directions (Q.Nos. 83-90): In the following passage, you have a brief passage. In the following passage, some of the words have been left out. First read the passage over and try to understand what it is about. Then fill in the blanks with the help of the alternatives given.

Big ideas come from tackling (83) problems. When one is confronted with an overwhelming task, it's pieces. Business jargon is full of phrases about that, like "pilot projects" and "low-hanging fruit." They have their place, but in the repertory of management (84), they should share their place with bold approaches to big challenges. Much of today's most valuable management knowledge came from wrestling with such issues. The most complicated workplace in the middle of the last century was the automobile assembly plant. Drawn to its complexity where Peter F. Drucker, W. Edwards Deming, and Taiichi Ohno, among others, the work they and their disciples did, applied in industry after industry, is the basis of the best that we know, about operations, managing people, innovation, organisational design, and much more. The most complex workplaces are tertiary care hospitals. These vast (85) employ tens of thousands of people who, under one roof, do everything from neurosurgery to laundry. Each patient – that is to say, each "job" — calls on a different set of people with a different constellation of (86); even when the two patients have the same diagnosis, success may be (87) differently. This is complexity of an order of magnitude greater than automobile assembly, and anyone, who (88) hospitalized knows that management has thus far been unequal to the scope of task. The workers, managers, consultants, and scholars (89) crack this nut will reshape industries and institutions just as (90) as Drucker, Deming, and Ohno did.

83.       a. small            b. big               c. irrelevant                 d. buildings                 e. minor

84.       a. weakness     b. strength       c. power                      d. practice                   e. symptom

85.       a. houses          b. institute       c. demagogue              d. forts                        e. enterprises

86.       a. barbarity      b. talent           c. skills                        d. unskilled                 e. barbaric

87.       a. managed      b. officious      c. delivered                 d. measured                 e. postponed

88.       a. are been       b. have being   c. have been                d. has been                  e. is be

89.       a. who                         b. whom          c. whose                      d. which          e. whomsoever

90.       a. profoundly b. gradually     c. superficially             d. speciously               e. earnest

Directions (Q.Nos. 91-100): Identify the error in the sentences given below, if there is no error, choose option (e).

91.       a. The need to set-up                          

b. a good library in the locality

c. has been in the minds of people

d. for some time now

e. No error

92.       a. Most people would have

b. attended the union meeting

c. if they had

d. had longer notice of it

e. No error

93.       a. He took to

b. reading times

c. for better knowledge

d. of the facts

e. No error

94.       a. When children have difficulty understanding

b. a certain mathematical process, it is often because

c. their teachers do not understand it conceptually

d. themselves and do not present it in a way that children can understand

e. No error

95.       a. Studies show that the lives of millions of mothers

b. and their children could be saved if countries would

c. invest in programmes that ensures a healthy pregnancy

d. and safe childbirth

e. No error

96.       a. Film viewers claim that

b. the number of scenes depicting alcohol consumption

c. have increased dramatically over

d. the last decade

e. No error

97.       a. Forty percent of the people alive today have

b. never made a phone call, but

c. thirty percent still have no electricity connections

d. to their homes

e. No error

98.       a. Workers with less

b. personal problems are

c. likely to be

d. more productive in their work

e. No error

99.       a. Everyone who visits Singapore

b. is impressed by its cleanliness

c. which is mainly a result of rigorous implementation

d. of their strict laws

e. No error

100.     a. The bridal dress was

b. most unique: the prince

c. designed it and his

d. mother provided the lace fabric

e. No error

ANSWERS:

71. (d)                         72. (d)                         73. (c)              74. (b)              75. (e)

76. (a)              77. (a)              78. (b)              79. (c)              80. (e)

81. (a)              82. (c)              83. (b)              84. (b)              85. (e)

86. (c)              87. (d)                         88. (d)                         89. (a)              91. (C)

92. (d)             Replace 'for some time now' by 'from some time'. The origin of a need should be shown by the use of 'from'.

93. (c) Facts are 'understood.' It should not be collocated with 'knowledge'. Hence, (c) has error. We should use 'understanding' in place of 'knowledge'.

94. (e)

95. (b) The principal clause is in present tense. Therefore, 'cloud' should be replaced by 'can' to make the syntax correct.

96. (c)              97. (b)              98. (a)              99. (d)                         100. (b)