TOPIC: Reading comprehension
Directions (1-7): Read the passage and answer the questions below it:
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s fresh set of measures, to spur consumer demand and capital expenditure include an interestingly designed tweak to the LTC allowances of government employees. Her reckoning is that these would lend a ₹73,000 crore demand spurt to prop up the ailing economy in the second half of this year. This could rise beyond ₹1-lakh crore if private sector employers offered similar LTC incentives. With industrial output slipping for the sixth month in a row in August, the clamour for new stimulus measures had been growing ahead of a particularly bleak festive season. But this package, which will cost the exchequer about 0.2% of GDP, taking overall fiscal support through the pandemic to 1.7% of GDP, may not be as persuasive as may have been envisaged. Enhancing the Centre’s capital expenditure in specific sectors by ₹25,000 crore from the extant level of ₹4.12-lakh crore is laudable. But pandemic restrictions have affected the ability to get new projects going. Till August, just about ₹1.34-lakh crore of the budgeted capex had been spent. The same problem plagues the ₹12,000 crore offered as an interest-free 50-year loan to States for capital spending over the next six months.
While States have been allowed to use these loans to pay off existing contractors’ dues, the amounts on offer are unlikely to have an impact; ₹2,000 crore has been set aside for States that manage to complete three of four reforms mandated in the earlier Atmanirbhar Bharat package, in order to get additional borrowing leeway. Only some States may qualify for this. Too many conditions also pervade the consumption push. Linking LTC perks of government staff who have not availed them yet due to restricted travel during the pandemic to spending on non-travel items is an innovative nudge. But requiring them to spend three times their return ticket fares under LTC on goods and services attracting at least 12% GST from GST-registered vendors may be too prescriptive and overlooks the reluctance towards discretionary spending due to low visibility on the economy’s prospects. Eligible employees may find the scheme complex and too expensive to avail. One hopes the government has more in its quiver to expedite recovery. Waiting too long for the pandemic to ease before loosening the purse strings further could extend the pain. The focus should not just be on conjuring a trickle-down stimulus from those with their jobs and savings intact but also on relief measures for those without. Even the IMF has been urging countries to spend now to diminish the damage. Avoiding spending now to maintain fiscal discipline and prevent a rating downgrade seems sensible, but if the underlying edifices of the country’s growth story crumble in the process, a future downgrade will become inevitable.
Q1. What is/are the calculation(s) made by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for spurring consumer demand?
(a) The new set of measures that will provide ₹73,000 crore demand thus supporting the debilitated economy
(b) The measure will improve India-China relations
(c) A LTC scheme in the private sector, like LTC scheme for government employers, would raise more than 1 Lakh crore
(d) Both (a) and (c)
(e) none of the above
Q2. Which of the following statements cannot be inferred from the given passage?
(a) LTC perks haven’t been availed by employers during the pandemic
(b) Waiting more for easing up of the pandemic to loosen the purse strings will exacerbate the pain.
(c) The IMF has urged countries to start spending in order to mitigate the damage.
(d) It is sensible to avoid spending for maintenance of fiscal discipline and preventing a downgrade rating
(e) Due to the underlying edifice of India’s growth story fall apart in the process, the future upgrade boom will be inevitable.
Q3. Which of the following correctly state(s) the financial benefits provided to the states?
(I) States can use interest-free loans for paying off current contractor’s dues
(II) ₹2,000 crores are set aside for the states capable of managing the three out of four reforms as mandated in the previous Atmanirbhar Bharat Package
(III) All states can apply for this loan
(a) Only II
(b) Both II and III
(c) Both I and II
(d) All of the above
(e) None of these
Q4. Which of the following is similar in meaning with RECKONING as highlighted in the passage?
(a) Exaltation
(b) Compliance
(c) Resolution
(d) Evaluation
(e) Halting
Q5. Which of the following is similar in meaning with LEEWAY as highlighted in the passage?
(a) Dapper
(b) Scope
(c) Asperity
(d) Flair
(e) Mote
Q6. Which of the following words is most opposite in meaning with LAUDABLE as highlighted in the passage?
(a) Deplorable
(b) Blameworthy
(c) Creditable
(d) Shameful
(e) Vividness
Q7. Which of the following words is opposite in meaning with QUIVER as highlighted in the passage?
(a) Circumspect
(b) Gruel
(c) Stillness
(d) Cameo
(e) Gouge
Directions (8-15): Read the passage and answer the questions that follow
The history of humans’ use of technology has always been a history of coevolution. Philosophers from Rousseau to Heidegger to Carl Schmitt have argued that technology is never a neutral tool for achieving human ends. Technological innovations – from the most rudimentary to the most sophisticated – reshape people as they use these innovations to control their environment. Artificial intelligence is a new and powerful tool, and it, too, is altering humanity. Writing and, later, the printing press made it possible to carefully record history and easily disseminate knowledge, but it eliminated centuries-old traditions of oral storytelling. Ubiquitous digital and phone cameras have changed how people experience and perceive events. Widely available GPS systems have meant that drivers rarely get lost, but a reliance on them has also atrophied their native capacity to orient themselves.
AI is being used for wide and rapidly expanding purposes. It is being used to predict which television shows or movies individuals will want to watch based on past preferences and to make decisions about who can borrow money based on past performance and other proxies for the likelihood of repayment. It’s being used to detect fraudulent commercial transactions and identify malignant tumours. It’s being used for hiring and firing decisions in large chain stores and public-school districts. And it’s being used in law enforcement – from assessing the chances of …………………. (A), to police force allocation, to the facial identification of criminal suspects.
Many of these applications present relatively obvious risks. If the algorithms used for loan approval, facial recognition and hiring are trained on biased data, thereby building biased models, they tend to perpetuate existing prejudices and inequalities. But researchers believe that cleaned-up data and more rigorous modelling would reduce and potentially eliminate algorithmic bias. It’s even possible that AI could make predictions that are fairer and less biased than those made by humans. Where algorithmic bias is a technical issue that can be solved, at least in theory, the question of how AI alters the abilities that define human beings is more fundamental. We have been studying this question for the last few years as part of the Artificial Intelligence and Experience project at UMass Boston’s Applied Ethics Center.
Aristotle argued that the capacity for making practical judgments depends on regularly making them – on habit and practice. We see the emergence of machines as substitute judges in a variety of workaday contexts as a potential threat to people learning how to effectively exercise judgment themselves. In the workplace, managers routinely make decisions about whom to hire or fire, which loan to approve and where to send police officers, to name a few. These are areas where algorithmic prescription is replacing human judgment, and so people who might have had the chance to develop practical judgment in these areas no longer will. Recommendation engines, which are increasingly prevalent intermediaries in people’s consumption of culture, may serve to constrain choice and minimize serendipity. By presenting consumers with algorithmically curated choices of what to watch, read, stream and visit next, companies are replacing human taste with machine taste.
Q8. Which of the following can be inferred from the given paragraph?
(I) Technological innovations are used by people to control their environment
(II) Artificial intelligence is the reason why humanity is being altered
(III) Being reliant on GPS systems diminishes the native orientation capacities
(a)Only I
(b) Both II and III
(c) Only III
(d) Both I and II
(e) All I, II, and III
Q9. According to the passage, which of the following is/are not the usage of AI?
(i)Prediction of individuals’ likings on the basis of their past preferences
(ii) Analysing past performance to decide if a person can borrow money or not
(iii) Detect fraudulent and life-threatening tumours
(iv) Identification of criminals using facial identification technology
(v) Deciding workforce to be assigned tasks based on their capabilities
(a) Both i and ii
(b) Both iv and v
(c) Only v
(d) Only iii
(e) Only ii
Q10. Why do the applications of AI have obvious risks according to the author of the given passage?
(a) Build-up of biased models will continue current inequalities and prejudices
(b) It would reduce algorithmic data
(c) Predictions made by human in comparison to AI are less biased and accurate
(d) AI alters human abilities fundamentally
(e) Application of AI makes life simpler and more manageable
Q11. What the author means by the line ‘companies are replacing human taste with machine taste’?
(I) Machines have emerged as a substitute for our decision making
(II) Recommendation engines constraint choice of people
(III) Companies are altering consumers’ choice through algorithmically curated choice
(a) Only I
(b) Only II
(c) Only III
(d) Both I and II
(e) Both II and III
Q12. Which of the following is most similar in meaning with UBIQUITOUS as highlighted in the passage?
(a) Scarce
(b) Rare
(c) Omnipresent
(d) Meagre
(e) Inadequate
Q13. Which of the following is most similar in meaning with SERENDIPITY as highlighted in the passage?
(a) Chance
(b) Accidental
(c) Blessing
(d) Stroke
(e) Opportunity
Q14. Which of the following words can fill in the blank (A) to make the sentence grammatically correct and contextually meaningful?
(a) Atavism
(b) Criticism
(c) Rationalism
(d) Aphorism
(e) Recidivism
Q15. Which of the following is opposite in meaning with ‘ATROPHIED’ as highlighted in the passage?
(a) Unassumed
(b) Mauled
(c) Ensconced
(d) Strengthened
(e) Sluiced
Solutions
S1. Ans. (d)
Sol. Refer to the first paragraph, the hint can be drawn from the lines, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s fresh set of measures, to spur consumer demand and capital expenditure include an interestingly designed tweak to the LTC allowances of government employees. Her reckoning is that these would lend a ₹73,000 crore demand spurt to prop up the ailing economy in the second half of this year. This could rise beyond ₹1-lakh crore if private sector employers offered similar LTC incentives.
Hence, option (d) is the right answer choice.
S2. Ans. (e)
Sol. The points are clearly mentioned in the second paragraph. However, in the (e) statement, ‘upgrade’ and ‘boom’ in the sentence make it a false statement according to the given passage.
S3. Ans. (c)
Sol. Refer to the first few lines of the second paragraph, the hint can be drawn from the lines,
While States have been allowed to use these loans to pay off existing contractors’ dues, the amounts on offer are unlikely to have an impact; ₹2,000 crore has been set aside for States that manage to complete three of four reforms mandated in the earlier Atmanirbhar Bharat package, in order to get additional borrowing leeway. Only some States may qualify for this.
Hence, option (c) is the right answer choice.
S4. Ans. (d)
Sol. Reckoning: the action or process of calculating or estimating something.
Exaltation: a feeling or state of extreme happiness.
Compliance: the action or fact of complying with a wish or command.
Resolution: a firm decision to do or not to do something.
Evaluation: the making of a judgement about the amount, number, or value of something; assessment.
Halting: slow and hesitant, especially through lack of confidence; faltering.
Hence, option (d) is the right answer choice.
S5. Ans. (b)
Sol. Leeway: the amount of freedom to move or act that is available.
Scope: the opportunity or possibility to do or deal with something.
Dapper: marked by up-to-dateness in dress and manners
Asperity: Harshness of manner
Flair: A natural talent
Mote: A tiny piece of anything
S6. Ans. (c)
Sol. Laudable: (of an action, idea, or aim) deserving praise and commendation.
Creditable: (of a performance, effort, or action) deserving public acknowledgement and praise but not necessarily outstanding or successful.
Deplorable: deserving strong condemnation; completely unacceptable.
Blameworthy: responsible for wrongdoing and deserving of censure or blame.
Shameful: worthy of or causing shame or disgrace.
Vividness: clarity or brightness
Hence, option (c) is the right answer choice.
S7. Ans. (c)
Sol. Quiver: tremble or shake with a slight rapid motion.
Stillness: the absence of movement or sound.
Circumspect: careful to consider potential consequences and avoid risk
Gruel: a thin porridge
Cameo: engraving or carving in low relief on a stone
Gouge: swindle; obtain by coercion
S8. Ans. (e)
Sol. Refer to the first paragraph, the hint can be drawn from the lines,
Technological innovations – from the most rudimentary to the most sophisticated – reshape people as they use these innovations to control their environment. Artificial intelligence is a new and powerful tool, and it, too, is altering humanity.
Widely available GPS systems have meant that drivers rarely get lost, but a reliance on them has also atrophied their native capacity to orient themselves.
Hence, option (e) is the right answer choice.
S9. Ans. (c)
Sol. Refer to the second paragraph, the hint can be drawn from the lines,
AI is being used for wide and rapidly expanding purposes. It is being used to predict which television shows or movies individuals will want to watch based on past preferences and to make decisions about who can borrow money based on past performance and other proxies for the likelihood of repayment. It’s being used to detect fraudulent commercial transactions and identify malignant tumours. And it’s being used in law enforcement – from assessing the chances of recidivism, to police force allocation, to the facial identification of criminal suspects.
Hence, option (c) is the right answer choice.
S10. Ans. (a)
Sol. Refer to the third paragraph, the hint can be drawn from the lines, Many of these applications present relatively obvious risks. If the algorithms used for loan approval, facial recognition and hiring are trained on biased data, thereby building biased models, they tend to perpetuate existing prejudices and inequalities.
Hence, option (a) is the right answer choice.
S11. Ans. (c)
Sol. Refer to the fourth paragraph, the hint can be drawn from the lines,
By presenting consumers with algorithmically curated choices of what to watch, read, stream and visit next, companies are replacing human taste with machine taste.
Hence, option (c) is the right answer choice.
S12. Ans. (c)
Sol. Ubiquitous: present, appearing, or found everywhere.
Omnipresent: widely or constantly encountered; widespread.
Hence, option (c) is the right answer choice.
S13. Ans. (b)
Sol. Serendipity: the fact of finding interesting or valuable things by chance
Accidental: happening by chance, unintentionally, or unexpectedly.
Hence, option (b) is the right answer choice.
S14. Ans. (e)
Sol. Recidivism: the tendency of a convicted criminal to reoffend.
Atavism: a reappearance of an earlier characteristic
Criticism: the expression of disapproval of someone or something on the basis of perceived faults or mistakes.
Rationalism: the doctrine that reason is the basis for regulating conduct
Aphorism: a pithy observation which contains a general truth.
Hence, option (e) is the right answer choice.
S15. Ans. (d)
Sol. Atrophied: having lost effectiveness or vigour due to underuse or neglect.
Strengthened: made or become stronger.
Unassumed: not assumed; not taken on
Mauled: treated (something) savagely or roughly.
Ensconced: established or settled (someone) in a comfortable, safe place.
Sluiced: washed or rinsed freely with a stream or shower of water.
English Quizzes For SBI PO Mains 2023 - ...
