With 926 posts, Reserve Bank of India has released its notification for the post of Assistant. So to grab this opportunity here we in this section will provide you with the daily mock of ‘RBI Assistant Prelims English Daily Mock 28th January 2020’ Reading Comprehension quiz. Keep in touch with bankersadda to get daily English Quiz and boost your preparation for the upcoming bank exam. You can also prepare with the study plan for RBI Assistant available Bankersadda website.
Directions (1-5): Read the given passage and answer the following questions based on the passage.
For almost two decades, the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) has been reporting on the increasing number of over-exploited blocks across India, the ‘dark’ category blocks. The recent annual book of CGWB has reported 1,034 units, out of the 6,584 units it monitors, as over-exploited. If this is the ‘crisis’, then we have had it for long. What has this not received enough attention? Is it because these zones are not in cities?
Just to be sure how critical the ‘crisis’ is, CGWB’s 2013 estimates say that the groundwater development in India is just about 62% of the utilisable groundwater reserves. Similarly, a recent report by the Central Water Commission, prepared in collaboration with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), asserted that India is not yet in “water scarcity condition”. But it is certainly in a “water-stressed condition”, with reducing per capita water availability. Here, we certainly don’t mean to say that India can continue with the present ways of water management. We also cannot remain in a state of denial that a crisis is not in the making. However, certain steps need to be taken to ensure a more useful and productive discourse about water governance challenges.
First, India needs to reconsider the institutional processes for dissemination of knowledge about water resource management. There is a certain amount of danger inherent in the casual manner in which knowledge about water resources is legitimised and consumed, particularly in these days of ‘viral’ information.
Second, we need to recognise the crisis is not as much of scarcity as of delivery. The challenge is to ensure an adequate access to quality water, more so in urban areas where inequities over space and time are acute. We need to also realise that with the country’s rapid urbanisation, demand cannot be met by groundwater reserves alone. For instance, according to the Delhi Jal Board estimates, groundwater meets just 10% of Delhi’s drinking water needs. The rest is met by surface water sources, most of it transported from outside Delhi. The urban needs, which underpin much reporting on ‘water crises’, need to be met by robust long-term planning and preparation for droughts and other contingencies.
Finally, we need to reconsider our approaches to water governance. We must recognise that the fulcrum of change and action is with the States. For long, water resource departments in States have continued to follow the conventional approaches of supply augmentation. The challenge is that of reorienting themselves towards deploying strategies of demand management, conservation and regulation. The Centre has to work with States towards an institutional change for the necessary course-shift. The Finance Minister, in her budget, repeatedly stated that the government will work with States to address India’s national water security challenges. Let us hope that the government intends to ____________________ (A) federal governance of water resources towards long-term water security.
Q1. What could be the appropriate title of this passage?
(a) Water crisis
(b) water crisis: Inadequate rainfall
(c)Preserving water
(d) Water governance strategies
(e)None of These
Q2. What does the italicized sentence ‘we need to recognise the crisis is not as much of scarcity as of delivery’ Refers to as per the above passage?
(a)It is not about water scarcity but water availability. Water is not scarce but there is a lack of strategies to get it properly delivered
(b)With expanding urbanisation, there is a need to generate methods to access quality water as ground water is not sufficient to meet drinking water needs.
(c)Surface water is sufficient to meet the demands of drinking water
(d)Without denying the fact that water crisis is in process, necessary steps must be taken ensuring productive discourse and effective dealing with water governance challenges.
(e)All of the above
Q3. As per the passage, what are the steps taken to ensure maximum fulfilment of water governance?
(a)Spreading the knowledge about water resource management
(b)Providing adequate access to quality water
(c)Changing the conventional approaches of supply augmentation
(d)All of the above
(e)None of these
Q4. Which of the following statements are not true according to the above passage?
(a)Conventional methods of supply escalation have been acquired by water resource departments in States.
(b)The knowledge about legitimization and consumption of water resources is circulated in a casual manner.
(c)Only 10% of Delhi’s drinking water needs are fulfilled by ground water
(d)In urban areas, providing access to sufficient quality water is a challenge due to acute time and space.
(e)None of these
Q5. Which of the following is the most suitable word to fill the blank (A) as given in the passage?
(a)Approach
(b)Destruct
(c)Strengthen
(d)Uncertain
(e)Tinker
Directions (6-10): Read the given passage and answer the following questions based on the passage.
There has been much development recently with respect to the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012. With an objective of stopping the rampant sexual abuse of children, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was introduced in the Rajya Sabha in July, and later passed by both Houses of Parliament. It is all set to become the ‘law of the land’. The present bill is welcome in certain respects as it specifically defines what ‘child pornography’ is; ‘using a child for pornographic purposes’ and for ‘possessing or storing pornography involving a child’ is punishable. It has also widened the ambit of ‘Aggravated sexual assault’.
The highlight of the Bill is the introduction of the death penalty for the rape of minors. The Bill, in its object clause, justifies this by referring to the judgments of the Supreme Court in Machhi Singh (1983) and Devender Pal Singh (2002) in which the court has held that the death penalty can be awarded only in rarest of rare cases. Thus the intention of the Bill is to have a deterrent effect; but it can be argued that the introduction of the death penalty may backfire in cases of child sexual abuse and even have a catastrophic effect. Often, the perpetrators of abuse are family members and having such penalty in the statute book may discourage the registration of the crime itself. Also, it may threaten the life of the minor as the maximum punishment for murder is also the death sentence.
The Justice J.S. Verma Committee, which was constituted in 2013 in the aftermath of the Nirbhaya case, after due deliberations found itself against the imposition of death penalty in rape cases. The 262nd Report of the Law Commission of India, 2015, also provides for abolition of the death penalty except in terror cases.
Today, the death penalty has become a prominent tool of symbolic legislation — a political statement indeed. Many a time, the Government, by introducing the death penalty, portrays itself to be strict and serious with regard to such offences. It largely diverts attention from the core issues of infrastructural apathy, procedural lapses and trial delays and conveniently evades the fact that ‘it is the certainty of punishment rather than its severity which has deterrence in real sense’. It is pertinent to note here that even a year-and-a-half after the passage of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2018, which introduced the death penalty for rape of a minor girl, such incidents have not been under check. The debate here is not about retaining or abolishing the death penalty but the probable _________________________(A) of its provision in the Act.
The Supreme Court has recently taken cognisance of the sexual abuse of children, directing its registry to file a case as writ petition with cause title “In-re Alarming Rise in The Number of Reported Child Rape Incidents”. The court has also observed that it intends having a ‘zero tolerance policy’ toward child rape. As data on sexual crimes against children collected by the court show, 24,212 FIRs were filed across India from January to June this year. According to National Crime Records Bureau data of 2016, the conviction rate in POCSO cases is 29.6% while pendency is as high as 89%. The prescribed time period of two months for trial in such cases is hardly complied with.
The court has also taken note of the delay in trials, in turn directing the Central Government to set up special courts within 60 days of the order in each district having more than 100 pending cases under the Act. It is to be seen how long it takes to comply with the order.
The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018 introduced the death penalty for rape of girls below the age of 12. At the same time, the POCSO Act, under Section 42, provides that where the same act constitutes an offence under the said Act and any other law, then the offender will be punished under the Act or such law, whichever provides for greater punishment. This has created an issue as the effect of such an amendment was death penalty for rape of minor girls but not for assault against minor boys.
The proposed Bill does away with such a discrepancy. It is gender neutral and provides for the death penalty for “aggravated penetrative sexual assault of a child”, thus bringing both these pieces of legislation on a par with each other in this respect. With these amendments and with the Supreme Court considering child abuse “intolerable”, there seems to be reasonable hope now that vulnerable children could be safer. The Bill is a step forward in preventing child abuse but the consequences of providing for the death penalty need to be closely observed.
Q6. What could be the most appropriate title of this passage?
(a)Pondering over POSCO Bill
(b)Life sentence under POSCO Bill
(c) Diverting attention from core issues under POSCO Bill
(d)All of the above
(e)None of These
Q7.In what aspects, the present Protection of Children from Sexual Offence (amendment) Bill, 2019 is welcomed?
(a)It defines child pornography specifically
(b)It has broadened the domain of aggravated sexual assault
(c)Death penalty for rape of minors is included in this Bill.
(d)All of the above
(e)None of these
Q8. Why it is said in the italicized sentence, ‘Today, the death penalty has become a prominent tool of symbolic legislation’ mean according to the above passage?
(a)The idea behind death penalty is to portray strict and serious attitude towards such offences
(b)It deviates the attention of public from main issues such as infrastructural indifference, lapse in procedural hearings and delayed trials.
(c)It vanishes the fact that death penalty is a certain punishment which otherwise is constraining in reality.
(d)All of the above
(e)None of these
Q9. Which one of the following statements is not true about POSCO Bill according to the above paragraph?
(a)Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Amendment Bill, 2019 was introduced in July in Rajya Sabha.
(b)Introduction of Death penalty may fall back in case of child abuse.
(c)The court has held the death penalty for rarest of rare cases.
(d)It intends to have a zero tolerance policy towards child rape cases
(e)None of the above
Q10. Choose among the following most suitable word to fill the blank given in (A)
(a)Acumen
(b)Multifarious
(c) Ramifications
(d)Exacerbate
(e) Phlegmatic
Directions (11-15): Read the following passage and answer the following questions based on the given passage.
As the country celebrates 50 years since bank nationalisation, bank employees will be proud that they have contributed to nation-building. Still there are basic issues close to the bankman’s heart that are yet to find redressal, observes Jyothi KP, Vice-President, All-India Bank Officers’ Confederation, Kerala, and a National Executive Committee member.The Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Acts of 1970 and 1980 provide that the Central Government, in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India, may make a scheme, inter alia, for amalgamation of any nationalised bank with any other nationalised bank or any other banking institution. Various committees, including Narasimhan Committee (1998) constituted by the RBI, Leeladhar Committee (2008) chaired by the RBI Deputy Governor, and the Nayak Committee (2014) constituted by the RBI, have recommended consolidation of public sector banks (PSBs) given underlying benefits/synergies.
Taking note of this and potential benefits of consolidation for banks as well as the public through enhanced access to banking services, the government, in order to facilitate consolidation among PSBs to create strong and competitive banks, serving as catalysts for growth, with improved risk profile, has approved a framework for proposals to amalgamate PSBs through an Alternative Mechanism.The following amalgamation/mergers have already happened post-nationalisation and some more are reportedly in the pipeline. This creates stress for the employees since they are scared for their existence and job security, observes Jyothi.
Giving a bank employee’s perspective, Jyothi recalled that the banking sector was in the red in Q4 of 2018-19 with a loss of ₹20,817 crore. In 2017-18, they had reported a massive loss of ₹85,000 crore forcing lenders to make provisions for bad loans and clean-up of the books.
Till such time a project is commissioned in line with the approved schedule, banks should not be forced to categorise such projects as NPA, notes Jyothi. In the event of classification of big-ticket advances as NPA, the government should pro-actively help banks in realising the public money. It should initiate steps to declare suo moto 50 top NPAs of each banks as wilful defaulters and to publish their names and photos.
For implementing SARFAESI provisions, many bank officers are targeted, even personally. By merely targeting the bank officers responsible for executing the Act, the political fraternity is missing the point to bring amendments to the Act itself.
The humongous challenge of realising the NPA is telling on PSB bottomlines. This is also subjecting the desk officers to unreasonable amount of work pressure and stress.
Irregular working hours, stress on account of financial risk in routine work schedules, technical problems of software, and IT-related issues add to the worries of the already traumatised bank employees.In many cases, their retirement benefits are withheld. Many are arrested and are not aware as to why the arrest is happening in the first place, evening leading to suicides.
According to Section 5 of the Banking Regulation Act, banking means ‘accepting, for the purpose of lending and investment of deposits of money from public, repayable on demand or otherwise and withdrawal by cheque, draft, order or otherwise.’However, sale of para-banking products and implementation of government schemes take away the lion’s share of working hours of an average PSB employee.As mentioned earlier, when the balance sheet turns red, all blame is shoved on the desk-level officers for non-profitability/non- performance.
Yet, when it comes to wage revision, the question of profitability arise. The settlement takes place between Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) and United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU).
The IBA represents bank managements and the UFBU, officers, employees, and staff organisations. The Charter of demands had been submitted in a time bound manner and the IBA had agreed to complete the process of negotiations expeditiously within the time-frame so as to reach the settlement before October 2017. However, since five major bank managements have not given full mandate for negotiating wages up to scale VII , the AIBOC is not participating in the talks now.
Q11. Why amalgamation of Public sector banks has become a stress lately for the bank employees?
(a)Proposals to amalgamate PSBs via an alternative method is approved by the government
(b)The job security and existence of a bank employees becomes questionable
(c)Because such amalgamations have been done after nationalisation and still followed by more such mergers.
(d)During the year 2018-2019, banking was insolvent with a loss of 20,817 Crore Rs.
(e)All of the above
Q12. According to Section 5 of the Banking Regulation Act, what the term ‘banking’ refers to?
(a)The bank officers alone are responsible for executing the provisions of Sarfaesi Act.
(b) Accepting money from public in order to lend and invest
(c) Repaying the money when demanded or withdrawn via cheque, order, draft and other methods
(d)Both (b) and (c)
(e)None of these
Q13. What causes traumatisation of bank employees according to the passage given above?
(a)Bank officers are targeted personally for implementation of Sarfaesi Act
(b)Sometimes the retirement benefits are withheld
(c) Irregular working hours, stress due to financial risk, technical and IT issues
(d)All of the above
(e)None of these
Q14. According to the above passage, what could be the other factors apart from profitability for revising wages of bankers?
(a)Bank employees spend a huge amount of working hours in the sale of para-banking products and implementing government schemes though it is not mentioned in the section 5 of banking regulation act.
(b)While the balance sheet becomes red due to NPAs, they are blamed for non-performance and profitability
(c) Instead of making essential amendments to SARFAESI Act that shows lack of political fraternity, bank officers are forced to implement its provisions
(d)Their retirement benefits are withdrawn in many cases and many of them get arrested without having awareness of the reason behind the arrest even resulting into suicides
(e)All of the above
Q15. According to Jyothi KP, how government should help banks in realizing the public money?
(a)Banks should not be forced to categorize bad loans as NPAs till a project through an alternative mechanism is not commissioned.
(b)The government initiate steps for declaring suo moto in which 50 Top Non Performing Assets of each banks are identified
(c)The information of such NPAs should be published publicly as wilful defaulters alongside their names and photos
(d)Both (b) and (c)
(e)None of these
Solutions
S1. Ans. (d)
Sol. Refer to the last and second last paragraph of this passage, it states that crisis of water is not due to scarcity but it is due to lack of preservation measures for delivering the same. As only groundwater is not sufficient due to expanding urbanisation, there needs to be long term planning and alongside staying prepared for drought. Also, in the last paragraph, the author says for reconsidering the strategies for water governance. For coping up with water security challenges, the Centre needs to collaborate with States strengthening the water resources governance and ensuring water security in the long term. Rest of the options are not specific enough to portray the passage as a whole. Thus, option (d) is the most suitable title for the above passage
S2. Ans. (a)
Sol. Refer to the fourth paragraph of the passage, it states that the main challenge is to deliver quality water, especially in urban areas. Lack of time and space makes it a cumbersome task to bring quality drinking water everywhere in an organized manner. To achieve this goal, there is a dire need for effective strategies. Hence, option (a) is most adequate answer.
S3.Ans. (d)
Sol. Refer to the, third, fourth and fifth paragraph of the above passage, the steps necessary to reach maximum results fulfilling challenges of water governance are given. Hence, option (d) is the right answer choice
S4. Ans. (e)
Sol. With the given information about water governance strategies, all the options are correct. Therefore, none of them is false. Option (e) is the apt choice.
S5. Ans. (c)
Sol. Option (c) , ‘Strengthen’ is the most suitable word to fit in the blank (A). It makes the sentence contextually and grammatically correct.
(a)Approach-Come near or nearer to
(b)Destruct-Cause deliberate, terminal damage to
(c)Uncertain-Not able to be relied on
(d)Tinker-An act of attempting to repair something
S6. Ans (a)
Sol. Option (a) is the most suitable answer choice. It fits as the title of the passage because it states the entire theme behind this passage in few and precise words.
S7. Ans. (d)
Sol. Refer to the introductory paragraph of this passage. The elements are mentioned due o which POSCO Bill is welcomed. Hence, option (d) is the most suitable answer choice.
S8. Ans. (d)
Sol. Refer to the third paragraph of this passage, where it elaborates the statement that death penalty is now a prominent tool symbolizing legislation. It helps politicians to divert mind of public from core issues of legislature. Hence, option (d) is the most suitable answer choice.
S9. Ans. (c)
Sol. Statement given in option (c) is not true because death penalty it is introduced in minor rape cases. Thus, option (c) is the right answer choice.
S10. Ans. (c)
Sol. Ramification- Complex or unwelcomed consequences of an action of event
(a)Acumen-Ability to make good judgments and make quick decisions
(b)Multifarious-Of various types
(c)Exacerbate- Making worse, having an unemotional and calm disposition.
S11. Ans. (b)
Sol. As it is mentioned in paragraph second, due to amalgamation of banks, the job security and existence of employees of the bank being amalgamated creates stress as their existence becomes questionable. Hence, option (b) is correct.
S12. Ans. (d)
Sol. Referring to the paragraph fifth, the provisions in the section 5 of banking regulation act are mentioned. Hence, option (d) is right answer choice.
S13. Ans. (d)
Sol. Paragraph third and fourth of this passage contains the reasons behind the traumatisation of bank employees. So, option (d) is correct answer choice.
S14. Ans. (e)
Sol. As mentioned in paragraph 5th, we can conclude that all these acts of bankers should be considered for wage revision. Since, all the points are supporting according to the facts given in the passage, so option (e) is right answer choice.
S15. Ans. (d)
Sol. Here, In the third paragraph of the passage, KP Jyothi is stating the measures how government should help banks in realising public money by initiating suo moto. Therefore, option (d) is correct answer selection.
