SSC: Reading Comprehension Quiz: 16.12.2017 for SSC & Railway Exams

Question 1

Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow.

A recent finding showed that people who were sleeping on average around six hours a night had a waist measurement that was 3cm greater than individuals who were getting nine hours of sleep a night. And shorter sleepers were heavier too. The results strengthen the evidence that insufficient sleep could contribute to the development of metabolic diseases such as diabetes. The number of people with obesity worldwide has more than doubled since 1980. Obesity contributes to the development of many diseases, most notably diabetes. Understanding why people gain weight has crucial implications for public health.
Shorter sleep was also linked to reduced levels of HDL cholesterol in the participants' blood-another factor that can cause health problems. HDL cholesterol is 'good' cholesterol that helps remove 'bad' fat from the circulation. In doing so, high HDL cholesterol levels protect against conditions such as heart disease. Interestingly, the study did not find any relationship between shortened sleep and a less healthy diet. However, how much sleep we need differs between people, but the current consensus is that seven to nine hours is best for most adults.

Which of the following is the consequence of insufficient sleep?

Question 2

Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow.

A recent finding showed that people who were sleeping on average around six hours a night had a waist measurement that was 3cm greater than individuals who were getting nine hours of sleep a night. And shorter sleepers were heavier too. The results strengthen the evidence that insufficient sleep could contribute to the development of metabolic diseases such as diabetes. The number of people with obesity worldwide has more than doubled since 1980. Obesity contributes to the development of many diseases, most notably diabetes. Understanding why people gain weight has crucial implications for public health.
Shorter sleep was also linked to reduced levels of HDL cholesterol in the participants' blood-another factor that can cause health problems. HDL cholesterol is 'good' cholesterol that helps remove 'bad' fat from the circulation. In doing so, high HDL cholesterol levels protect against conditions such as heart disease. Interestingly, the study did not find any relationship between shortened sleep and a less healthy diet. However, how much sleep we need differs between people, but the current consensus is that seven to nine hours is best for most adults.

Why is HDL cholesterol good cholesterol?
I. Because it helps remove other forms of cholesterol from your bloodstream.
II. Because it helps in reducing fatty buildups in our body
III. Because it protects against heart attack and stroke.

Question 3

Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow.

A recent finding showed that people who were sleeping on average around six hours a night had a waist measurement that was 3cm greater than individuals who were getting nine hours of sleep a night. And shorter sleepers were heavier too. The results strengthen the evidence that insufficient sleep could contribute to the development of metabolic diseases such as diabetes. The number of people with obesity worldwide has more than doubled since 1980. Obesity contributes to the development of many diseases, most notably diabetes. Understanding why people gain weight has crucial implications for public health.
Shorter sleep was also linked to reduced levels of HDL cholesterol in the participants' blood-another factor that can cause health problems. HDL cholesterol is 'good' cholesterol that helps remove 'bad' fat from the circulation. In doing so, high HDL cholesterol levels protect against conditions such as heart disease. Interestingly, the study did not find any relationship between shortened sleep and a less healthy diet. However, how much sleep we need differs between people, but the current consensus is that seven to nine hours is best for most adults.

What is the risk associated with Obesity?

Question 4

Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow.

A recent finding showed that people who were sleeping on average around six hours a night had a waist measurement that was 3cm greater than individuals who were getting nine hours of sleep a night. And shorter sleepers were heavier too. The results strengthen the evidence that insufficient sleep could contribute to the development of metabolic diseases such as diabetes. The number of people with obesity worldwide has more than doubled since 1980. Obesity contributes to the development of many diseases, most notably diabetes. Understanding why people gain weight has crucial implications for public health.
Shorter sleep was also linked to reduced levels of HDL cholesterol in the participants' blood-another factor that can cause health problems. HDL cholesterol is 'good' cholesterol that helps remove 'bad' fat from the circulation. In doing so, high HDL cholesterol levels protect against conditions such as heart disease. Interestingly, the study did not find any relationship between shortened sleep and a less healthy diet. However, how much sleep we need differs between people, but the current consensus is that seven to nine hours is best for most adults.

How much sleep do we really need?

Question 5

Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow.

A recent finding showed that people who were sleeping on average around six hours a night had a waist measurement that was 3cm greater than individuals who were getting nine hours of sleep a night. And shorter sleepers were heavier too. The results strengthen the evidence that insufficient sleep could contribute to the development of metabolic diseases such as diabetes. The number of people with obesity worldwide has more than doubled since 1980. Obesity contributes to the development of many diseases, most notably diabetes. Understanding why people gain weight has crucial implications for public health.
Shorter sleep was also linked to reduced levels of HDL cholesterol in the participants' blood-another factor that can cause health problems. HDL cholesterol is 'good' cholesterol that helps remove 'bad' fat from the circulation. In doing so, high HDL cholesterol levels protect against conditions such as heart disease. Interestingly, the study did not find any relationship between shortened sleep and a less healthy diet. However, how much sleep we need differs between people, but the current consensus is that seven to nine hours is best for most adults.

Which of the following statement is untrue according to the passage?

Question 6

Direction: Read the given passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives.

There is renewed optimism about the passage of the Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill, known popularly as “the Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill” in the Rajya Sabha and hence Parliament. The original concept of the GST was to have a single tax which would subsume all central and state indirect taxes and eliminate cascading of taxes. The proposed tax does subsume the major indirect taxes, including, central excise duty, service tax, state VAT, countervailing duty / Special Additional Duty of Customs, octroi and entry tax, purchase tax, luxury tax, taxes on lottery, betting and gambling, etc. However, four critical state level taxes have been excluded from GST: tax on petroleum products, electricity duties, excise duty on alcohol, and stamp duty on immoveable property. Economists and market analysts believe that the existence of the 12% and 18% bracket – and their interactions with the 5% and 28% bracket – is problematic, giving way as it does to a lot of political arbitrariness and industry lobbying. Will it curb tax evasion and expand the tax net? There are two schools of thought here. The first is that India’s current GST regime goes against one of the more basic principles of increasing revenue: the lower the rate of taxation, the more number of people and businesses that will comply. In other words, if the ideal taxation regime is the one that taxes more items at lesser rates, our new GST regime is far from that. Another closely connected issue is the GST threshold limit, which exempts businesses that make under 20 lakhs per year from GST. Top tax lawyer Arvind Datar pointed out in a recent speech how previous exemption limits were exploited under earlier tax system. With a 20 lakh threshold, you will have multiple enterprises like this mushrooming. Mrs. Datar will have one business, my cousin will have one and my son will have one,” Datar said. On the other hand, the other school of thought is that GST inherently increases formalisation in India’s economy, whether small businesses are ready for it or not. Industries, like textiles and clothing, that have historically paid little tax (whether in the form of duty or VAT) now have a formal GST rate and will havelittle choice but to start registering, formalising and digitising their business. The GST regime is particularly good at formalising areas where India’s formal sector interacts with the informal industry through its reverse charge and input tax credit mechanisms. India’s biggest companies across various industries have incentives to bring their informal supply chain into the formalised tax net and vice versa. The other crucial aspect is that while the exemption threshold is now Rs. 20 lakh, for many small manufacturers it used to be Rs. 1.5 crore, which means that thousands of hitherto informal or unorganised MSMEs will either shut shop or come into the tax net. GST, therefore, may or may not curb tax evasion practices but will almost certainly expand India’s tax net. A big factor in what will make things more expensive or not depends on what the item in question is. For instance, soaps and toothpaste are supposed to get cheaper after the rollout of GST. They currently have an effective tax rate of 24-25% and after GST, this will come down to 18%. However, if as a consumer, you have always been paying say Rs 75 for a tube of toothpaste, it’s highly unlikely that the company that sells you the toothpaste or bar of soap will make it cheaper once you’ve gotten used to paying Rs. 75.
Source: https://thewire.in/53664/far-silver-bullet-gst-will-likely-negative-impact-growth/
https://thewire.in/152820/explained-short-medium-long-term-fallout-indias-gst/

In what context has the line ‘However, four critical state level taxes have been excluded from GST: tax on petroleum products, electricity duties, excise duty on alcohol, and stamp duty on immoveable property’ been used in the passage?

Question 7

Direction: Read the given passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives.

There is renewed optimism about the passage of the Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill, known popularly as “the Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill” in the Rajya Sabha and hence Parliament. The original concept of the GST was to have a single tax which would subsume all central and state indirect taxes and eliminate cascading of taxes. The proposed tax does subsume the major indirect taxes, including, central excise duty, service tax, state VAT, countervailing duty / Special Additional Duty of Customs, octroi and entry tax, purchase tax, luxury tax, taxes on lottery, betting and gambling, etc. However, four critical state level taxes have been excluded from GST: tax on petroleum products, electricity duties, excise duty on alcohol, and stamp duty on immoveable property. Economists and market analysts believe that the existence of the 12% and 18% bracket – and their interactions with the 5% and 28% bracket – is problematic, giving way as it does to a lot of political arbitrariness and industry lobbying. Will it curb tax evasion and expand the tax net? There are two schools of thought here. The first is that India’s current GST regime goes against one of the more basic principles of increasing revenue: the lower the rate of taxation, the more number of people and businesses that will comply. In other words, if the ideal taxation regime is the one that taxes more items at lesser rates, our new GST regime is far from that. Another closely connected issue is the GST threshold limit, which exempts businesses that make under 20 lakhs per year from GST. Top tax lawyer Arvind Datar pointed out in a recent speech how previous exemption limits were exploited under earlier tax system. With a 20 lakh threshold, you will have multiple enterprises like this mushrooming. Mrs. Datar will have one business, my cousin will have one and my son will have one,” Datar said. On the other hand, the other school of thought is that GST inherently increases formalisation in India’s economy, whether small businesses are ready for it or not. Industries, like textiles and clothing, that have historically paid little tax (whether in the form of duty or VAT) now have a formal GST rate and will havelittle choice but to start registering, formalising and digitising their business. The GST regime is particularly good at formalising areas where India’s formal sector interacts with the informal industry through its reverse charge and input tax credit mechanisms. India’s biggest companies across various industries have incentives to bring their informal supply chain into the formalised tax net and vice versa. The other crucial aspect is that while the exemption threshold is now Rs. 20 lakh, for many small manufacturers it used to be Rs. 1.5 crore, which means that thousands of hitherto informal or unorganised MSMEs will either shut shop or come into the tax net. GST, therefore, may or may not curb tax evasion practices but will almost certainly expand India’s tax net. A big factor in what will make things more expensive or not depends on what the item in question is. For instance, soaps and toothpaste are supposed to get cheaper after the rollout of GST. They currently have an effective tax rate of 24-25% and after GST, this will come down to 18%. However, if as a consumer, you have always been paying say Rs 75 for a tube of toothpaste, it’s highly unlikely that the company that sells you the toothpaste or bar of soap will make it cheaper once you’ve gotten used to paying Rs. 75.
Source: https://thewire.in/53664/far-silver-bullet-gst-will-likely-negative-impact-growth/
https://thewire.in/152820/explained-short-medium-long-term-fallout-indias-gst/

Why do economists and market analysts believe that the existence of the 12% and 18% bracket – and their interactions with the 5% and 28% bracket – is problematic?

Question 8

Direction: Read the given passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives.

There is renewed optimism about the passage of the Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill, known popularly as “the Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill” in the Rajya Sabha and hence Parliament. The original concept of the GST was to have a single tax which would subsume all central and state indirect taxes and eliminate cascading of taxes. The proposed tax does subsume the major indirect taxes, including, central excise duty, service tax, state VAT, countervailing duty / Special Additional Duty of Customs, octroi and entry tax, purchase tax, luxury tax, taxes on lottery, betting and gambling, etc. However, four critical state level taxes have been excluded from GST: tax on petroleum products, electricity duties, excise duty on alcohol, and stamp duty on immoveable property. Economists and market analysts believe that the existence of the 12% and 18% bracket – and their interactions with the 5% and 28% bracket – is problematic, giving way as it does to a lot of political arbitrariness and industry lobbying. Will it curb tax evasion and expand the tax net? There are two schools of thought here. The first is that India’s current GST regime goes against one of the more basic principles of increasing revenue: the lower the rate of taxation, the more number of people and businesses that will comply. In other words, if the ideal taxation regime is the one that taxes more items at lesser rates, our new GST regime is far from that. Another closely connected issue is the GST threshold limit, which exempts businesses that make under 20 lakhs per year from GST. Top tax lawyer Arvind Datar pointed out in a recent speech how previous exemption limits were exploited under earlier tax system. With a 20 lakh threshold, you will have multiple enterprises like this mushrooming. Mrs. Datar will have one business, my cousin will have one and my son will have one,” Datar said. On the other hand, the other school of thought is that GST inherently increases formalisation in India’s economy, whether small businesses are ready for it or not. Industries, like textiles and clothing, that have historically paid little tax (whether in the form of duty or VAT) now have a formal GST rate and will havelittle choice but to start registering, formalising and digitising their business. The GST regime is particularly good at formalising areas where India’s formal sector interacts with the informal industry through its reverse charge and input tax credit mechanisms. India’s biggest companies across various industries have incentives to bring their informal supply chain into the formalised tax net and vice versa. The other crucial aspect is that while the exemption threshold is now Rs. 20 lakh, for many small manufacturers it used to be Rs. 1.5 crore, which means that thousands of hitherto informal or unorganised MSMEs will either shut shop or come into the tax net. GST, therefore, may or may not curb tax evasion practices but will almost certainly expand India’s tax net. A big factor in what will make things more expensive or not depends on what the item in question is. For instance, soaps and toothpaste are supposed to get cheaper after the rollout of GST. They currently have an effective tax rate of 24-25% and after GST, this will come down to 18%. However, if as a consumer, you have always been paying say Rs 75 for a tube of toothpaste, it’s highly unlikely that the company that sells you the toothpaste or bar of soap will make it cheaper once you’ve gotten used to paying Rs. 75.
Source: https://thewire.in/53664/far-silver-bullet-gst-will-likely-negative-impact-growth/
https://thewire.in/152820/explained-short-medium-long-term-fallout-indias-gst/

What would be the impact on informal businesses apart from more organization?

Question 9

Direction: Read the given passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives.

There is renewed optimism about the passage of the Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill, known popularly as “the Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill” in the Rajya Sabha and hence Parliament. The original concept of the GST was to have a single tax which would subsume all central and state indirect taxes and eliminate cascading of taxes. The proposed tax does subsume the major indirect taxes, including, central excise duty, service tax, state VAT, countervailing duty / Special Additional Duty of Customs, octroi and entry tax, purchase tax, luxury tax, taxes on lottery, betting and gambling, etc. However, four critical state level taxes have been excluded from GST: tax on petroleum products, electricity duties, excise duty on alcohol, and stamp duty on immoveable property. Economists and market analysts believe that the existence of the 12% and 18% bracket – and their interactions with the 5% and 28% bracket – is problematic, giving way as it does to a lot of political arbitrariness and industry lobbying. Will it curb tax evasion and expand the tax net? There are two schools of thought here. The first is that India’s current GST regime goes against one of the more basic principles of increasing revenue: the lower the rate of taxation, the more number of people and businesses that will comply. In other words, if the ideal taxation regime is the one that taxes more items at lesser rates, our new GST regime is far from that. Another closely connected issue is the GST threshold limit, which exempts businesses that make under 20 lakhs per year from GST. Top tax lawyer Arvind Datar pointed out in a recent speech how previous exemption limits were exploited under earlier tax system. With a 20 lakh threshold, you will have multiple enterprises like this mushrooming. Mrs. Datar will have one business, my cousin will have one and my son will have one,” Datar said. On the other hand, the other school of thought is that GST inherently increases formalisation in India’s economy, whether small businesses are ready for it or not. Industries, like textiles and clothing, that have historically paid little tax (whether in the form of duty or VAT) now have a formal GST rate and will havelittle choice but to start registering, formalising and digitising their business. The GST regime is particularly good at formalising areas where India’s formal sector interacts with the informal industry through its reverse charge and input tax credit mechanisms. India’s biggest companies across various industries have incentives to bring their informal supply chain into the formalised tax net and vice versa. The other crucial aspect is that while the exemption threshold is now Rs. 20 lakh, for many small manufacturers it used to be Rs. 1.5 crore, which means that thousands of hitherto informal or unorganised MSMEs will either shut shop or come into the tax net. GST, therefore, may or may not curb tax evasion practices but will almost certainly expand India’s tax net. A big factor in what will make things more expensive or not depends on what the item in question is. For instance, soaps and toothpaste are supposed to get cheaper after the rollout of GST. They currently have an effective tax rate of 24-25% and after GST, this will come down to 18%. However, if as a consumer, you have always been paying say Rs 75 for a tube of toothpaste, it’s highly unlikely that the company that sells you the toothpaste or bar of soap will make it cheaper once you’ve gotten used to paying Rs. 75.
Source: https://thewire.in/53664/far-silver-bullet-gst-will-likely-negative-impact-growth/
https://thewire.in/152820/explained-short-medium-long-term-fallout-indias-gst/

Why would companies not reduce the cost of soaps and toothpastes in spite of GST reducing their cost?