English Quizzes, for SBI/IBPS PO Mains 2021 – 26th December – Reading comprehension

TOPIC: Reading comprehension

Directions
(1-10): Read the following passage and answer the questions as directed. There
are some blanks given in the passage based on which some questions are framed,
and some words are highlighted as well to help you answer some of the
questions.

Just over a month after the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) won an absolute majority in the 17th Lok Sabha, Prime
Minister Narendra Modi has now urged parties to fall behind his ‘One Nation –
One Election’ (ONOE) proposition: that State and national elections be held at
a single point. The idea exposes the subversion of democracy. The ONOE puts the
nationally incumbent party at an advantage in State elections, a position that
the BJP now enjoys. The incumbent can deploy government machinery for State
campaigns, a mega persona birthed for a national campaign can be fed into State
ones, and a last-ditch sleight-of-hand that wins the Centre may land victories
in the States. Perhaps the BJP sees the ONOE as the remedy to the ______(A)______ of its losses in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh
and Rajasthan in the 18 months before a national win. Perhaps the party would
have won in those States in the currents of an exploitative military
nationalism launched in February 2019.

The ONOE catchphrase harks back to a
moniker from Mr. Modi’s rule in Gujarat, where he introduced the idea of samras
village panchayats — sarpanches selected ‘unanimously’ or by ‘consensus’. First
floated in 2002, the idea was
repeated in 2006. Sarpanches command significant resources, wield power, and
deliver development largely through clientelism, echoing the workings of
elected leaders at the highest level. Elections give voters the same chance to
oust a sarpanch who has skewed the distribution of development, as to expel a
ruling party at the State or Centre. Samras gave incumbents an advantage in
being reappointed as sarpanch (they were already panchayat leaders, had
financial and tactical resources, and were networked with government officials
and party actors).

In Dahod, a predominantly Adivasi
district bordering Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan where I was doing fieldwork on
how panchayats delivered rural development, bureaucrats confided that samras
sprang partly from the Gujarat government’s failure to respond to the floods in
Surat in 2006. The government’s incompetence was on display across national TV.
Surat could have been the tipping point in a series of anti-people policies,
including programmes of purported ‘greening’ and beautification that had
displaced the urban poor, and rural schemes such as Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana
remaining largely unimplemented, with funds later found to be ‘unavailable’ and
the scheme quietly withdrawn.

Panchayat elections were due in December
2006, and Assembly elections in 2007. Political parties mobilise votes for
Assembly elections through sarpanches, and as the ruling party, the BJP had
close ties with incumbents. Perhaps
Mr. Modi feared that new sarpanches would be more equivocal about supporting
the party in 2007. Perhaps the act of ousting a panchayat incumbent would make
people feel more adventurous about ousting the State’s incumbent. The germs of many of Mr. Modi’s ideas lie
in Gujarat, and their finessed forms have been deployed on a national scale
since he emerged as the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate in 2014. The ONOE is
the next point in the Prime Minister’s attempt to quash the Opposition that a
democratic exercise may throw up.

Multiple disenchanted constituencies (rural voters, the poor, Other Backward
Classes, Adivasis, Dalits, religious minorities, and others) voicing their
verdict in State election after another and the domino effect this may have on
the 2024 Lok Sabha poll. Assembly polls are due in Haryana, Jharkhand and
Maharashtra in 2019, Bihar and Delhi in 2020, and West Bengal in 2021. Assembly
elections are related to myriad
pressing issues, the result of complex interactions of State and national
government policies.

As the BJP enters a second term at the
Centre, several crises loom larger than before such as a banking crisis,
unemployment, an economic slowdown, agrarian distress, a water crisis, and
privatised health care and education systems. Mr. Modi appears to count on the
din of a national campaign that the ONOE would invariably produce to carry both
State and national elections for the incumbent at the Centre.

Q1. Which of the following question/s can be
answered from the information given in the passage?

(i) Why
the second term of the Modi government is going to be more challenging than
before?

(ii) Why
doesn’t Mr. Modi implement samras for his own seat?

(iii) Why does the party that has equated
punctuated electoral wins with the legitimacy of governance seek to discard punctuated
elections?

(a) I only

(b) III only

(d) II and III only

(e) I, II, and III

Q2. As per the passage, the roots of the idea of
ONOE originated from

(a) series
of anti-people policies, including programmes of trivial importance

(b) people
feeling more adventurous about ousting the State’s incumbent

(d) Both (a) and (b)

(e) None of these.

Q3. As per the passage, from the given statements,
which of the following points support the implementation of ONOE (as per the
view of a political party)?

(a) reduction in extreme spending by contestants
and a drain on the exchequer

(b) supports a party in thwarting its adversaries

(d) Both (a) and (c)

(e) None of these.

Q4. Which of the following statements can be
inferred from the given passage?

(a) ONOE provides the essence of freedom that an
election promises

(b) Samras act as a backdoor entrance for the incumbent
in the political system

(d) Both (b) and (c)

(e) None of these.

Q5. Which of the following represent the most
similar meaning of the phrase ‘the germ
of many’, as highlighted in the passage?

(a) The
soul of Mr. Modi’s ideas lie in Gujarat

(b) The
detailed analysis of Mr. Modi’s ideas lie in Gujarat

(d) The
early stage of Mr. Modi’s ideas lie in Gujarat

(e) None of these.

Q6. Which of the following should fill the blank
marked (A) in the given passage?

(a) Nettle

(b) Spectre

(d) Gentry

(e) None of these.

Directions (7-8): Which of the following is most
similar in meaning to the words as used in the passage?

Q7. Incumbent

(a) Cower

(b) Desolate

(d) Official

(e) None of these.

Q8. Disenchanted

(a) Laconic

(b) Disillusioned

(d) Lofty

(e) None of these.

Q9. Which of the following is most opposite to the
word ‘Floated’ as used in the
passage?

(a) Moot

(b) Posit

(d) Waft

(e) None of these.

Q10. Which of the following is most opposite to
the word ‘Myriad’ as used in the
passage?

(a) Paltry

(b) Swarm

(d) Legion

(e) None of these.

SOLUTIONS:

S1. Ans. (a)

Sol. From the given questions, only question (i)
can be answered. The answer to the given question can be inferred from the last
paragraph of the passage in which it is mentioned, ‘As the BJP enters a second term at the
Centre, several crises loom larger than before such as a banking crisis,
unemployment, an economic slowdown, agrarian distress, a water crisis, and
privatised health care and education systems.’ From this statement it can inferred that second term is going to
be more challenging. Also, there is no sufficient information to answer the
remaining two questions.

S2. Ans. (c)

Sol. The correct answer to the given question can
be inferred from the second paragraph of the passage in which it is stated
that, ‘The ONOE catchphrase harks back to a moniker from Mr. Modi’s rule
in Gujarat, where he introduced the idea of samras village panchayats’. Hence, the correct answer to the given
question is option (c)

S3. Ans. (b)

Sol. The correct answer to the given question can
be inferred from the last line of the fourth paragraph which states that, ‘The ONOE is the next point in the Prime
Minister’s attempt to quash the Opposition that a democratic exercise may throw
up.’ So from this it can be inferred that
it can be used as a tool to demolish the opposition that may arise in a
democratic country.

S4. Ans. (d)

Sol. The correct answer to the given question can
be inferred from the first and second paragraph of the passage. Looking at the
first paragraph, which states, ‘The
ONOE puts the nationally incumbent
party at an advantage in State elections’ and going through the second
paragraph, which states that, ‘Samras gave incumbents an advantage in being
reappointed as sarpanch’ both the options can be inferred. Hence, the correct
answer choice is option (d)

S5. Ans. (d)

Sol. ‘the germ of an idea’ means ‘the early stage
of an idea that may develop into something bigger and more important’. Hence,
the correct answer choice is option (d).

S6. Ans. (b)

Sol. “Spectre” which means “a ghost or something
widely feared as a possible unpleasant or dangerous occurrence” can be used in
the given sentence. All other doesn’t fit in the given sentence. Hence, the
correct answer choice to make the sentence contextually meaningful would be
option (b).

Nettle means irritate or annoy

Foist means impose an unwelcome or unnecessary
person or thing on.

Genry means people of good social position

S7. Ans. (d)

Sol. Cower means crouch down in fear.

Desolate means uninhabited and giving an
impression of bleak emptiness.

Crone means an ugly old woman

Incumbent means (of an official or regime)
currently holding office.

Hence, the correct answer choice would be option
(d)

S8. Ans. (b)

Sol. Disenchanted means disappointed by someone or
something previously respected or admired

Laconic means using very few words.

Disillusioned means disappointed in someone or
something

Labyrinth means a complicated irregular network of
passages or paths in which it is difficult to find one’s way

Lofty means of imposing height.

Hence, the correct answer choice would be option
(b)

S9. Ans. (c)

Sol. Floated means put forward (an idea) as a
suggestion or test of reactions.

From the given options, all are synonym of the
given word except ‘Revoke’ which
means officially cancel. Hence, the correct answer choice would be option (c).

S10. Ans. (a)

Sol. Myriad means a countless or extremely great
number of people or things

So from the given options all the words are
synonym of the given word except option (a) which means very small or meager.
Hence, the correct answer choice would be option (a).