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UPSC'19 II CSAT QUIZ II

Attempt now to get your rank among 1202 students!

Question 1

Direction: Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.

It takes a special kind of person, one with a superior will, to take to Formula I racing. And it takes a very, very special kind to endure the tension, meet the demands and end up as a legend in the sport.
“It’s like balancing an egg on a spoon while shooting the rapids,” said Graham Hill, the English driver. A very delicate balancing act, indeed.
Over the years, several heroic drivers have walked that tightrope with great success; many have lost balance and their lives, some even before achieving their potential.
But what is life without danger? Will it not be monotonous and boring if all the top sportsmen stopped taking risks, if all of them were to maintain a healthy respect for danger, salute it at first sight and keep away from it?
“The true man wants two things: danger and play,” wrote the incomparable philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.
To be sure, most of us love safety. In man, the survival instinct is the basic instinct. But in certain areas of human activity, including sport, there are deeds that call for a total defiance of that basic instinct. And in the performance of such extraordinary deeds lies great sporting glory... Formula 1 glory.
Ah, excuse me, dear readers. I am stuck in the past, a glorious past that seems a fading dream today at the end of a Formula I season underlined by predictability and boredom, one where wheel-to-wheel racing of the sort that produces seat-edge thrills was a contrived farce rather than a competitivereality.
Of course, in the last seven or eight years, ever since the death of the greatest driving talent of all time, the Brazilian Ayrton Senna, on the Imola track in Italy in 1994, Formula 1 has improved its safety standards remarkably, which is, in a way, a huge positive.
But strangely enough, during an era when television has brought in large amounts of money into the game and the sort of exposure it never before had, today Formula 1, despite the presence of Michael Schumacher, one of the greatest drivers of all time, seems to have lost a lot of its romance of old.
Last month, as Schumacher contrived a farcical climactic manoeuvre at Indianapolis, something that made a mockery of the very essence of competitive sport in the penultimate race of a season that’s been about as exciting as watching a staging of “Hamlet” back to front, last act to first act, long-time addicts of the sport might have been tempted to look back to the good old days with nostalgia ... and die-hard romantics such as this writer can hope to be forgiven.
Ah, what a fall! How badly has a great sport, one filled with the heroics of virtuoso performers behind the wheels, slipped into the morass of the predictable and the farcical!
As you grow older, the one thing that quite often strikes you is that sport is never as good as it was. It’s much like movies and music. The contemporary stuff can never match the classics of old. What on celluloid, today, can stand up to challenge “Casablanca” or “On the Waterfront”? What on the pop scene can aspire to match Elvis Presley or the Beatles?
Nostalgia, to be sure, is a disease, a disease that not even a double dose of reality can cure. It is as common as common cold in many of us who look back to our golden yesterdays and then sigh, “Ah, nothing is what it used to be.”
Ten or 20 years down the line, our sons and daughters might look back to the early years of the new millennium and say just that. And the point is, nothing can be what it used to be. For, life has no reverse gear. If our todays were like our yesterdays, we would probably die of boredom.
Then again, no matter all this, there are eras in sporting history that appear far more romantic, considerably more exciting and, in hindsight, surely more worthy of being a part of, than the present. This might seem particularly so in a sport such as Formula I racing which, for a variety of reasons — not only because of the genius of one man, Michael Schumacher, who is so much better than his nearest rival — has become predictable for the most part.
This season, long before Schumacher, in a moment of ill-advised indulgence, slowed down at Indianapolis in a botched attempt at bringing up a dead-heat with his Brazilian team-mate Rubens Barrichello, the circus had been reduced to a farce. The trapeze artists and the dare-devil performers had already disappeared behind the curtain and only the clowns were left at the climax, so to say.
The reference to the staging of ‘Hamlet’ in the passage shows that:

Question 2

Direction: Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.

It takes a special kind of person, one with a superior will, to take to Formula I racing. And it takes a very, very special kind to endure the tension, meet the demands and end up as a legend in the sport.
“It’s like balancing an egg on a spoon while shooting the rapids,” said Graham Hill, the English driver. A very delicate balancing act, indeed.
Over the years, several heroic drivers have walked that tightrope with great success; many have lost balance and their lives, some even before achieving their potential.
But what is life without danger? Will it not be monotonous and boring if all the top sportsmen stopped taking risks, if all of them were to maintain a healthy respect for danger, salute it at first sight and keep away from it?
“The true man wants two things: danger and play,” wrote the incomparable philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.
To be sure, most of us love safety. In man, the survival instinct is the basic instinct. But in certain areas of human activity, including sport, there are deeds that call for a total defiance of that basic instinct. And in the performance of such extraordinary deeds lies great sporting glory... Formula 1 glory.
Ah, excuse me, dear readers. I am stuck in the past, a glorious past that seems a fading dream today at the end of a Formula I season underlined by predictability and boredom, one where wheel-to-wheel racing of the sort that produces seat-edge thrills was a contrived farce rather than a competitivereality.
Of course, in the last seven or eight years, ever since the death of the greatest driving talent of all time, the Brazilian Ayrton Senna, on the Imola track in Italy in 1994, Formula 1 has improved its safety standards remarkably, which is, in a way, a huge positive.
But strangely enough, during an era when television has brought in large amounts of money into the game and the sort of exposure it never before had, today Formula 1, despite the presence of Michael Schumacher, one of the greatest drivers of all time, seems to have lost a lot of its romance of old.
Last month, as Schumacher contrived a farcical climactic manoeuvre at Indianapolis, something that made a mockery of the very essence of competitive sport in the penultimate race of a season that’s been about as exciting as watching a staging of “Hamlet” back to front, last act to first act, long-time addicts of the sport might have been tempted to look back to the good old days with nostalgia ... and die-hard romantics such as this writer can hope to be forgiven.
Ah, what a fall! How badly has a great sport, one filled with the heroics of virtuoso performers behind the wheels, slipped into the morass of the predictable and the farcical!
As you grow older, the one thing that quite often strikes you is that sport is never as good as it was. It’s much like movies and music. The contemporary stuff can never match the classics of old. What on celluloid, today, can stand up to challenge “Casablanca” or “On the Waterfront”? What on the pop scene can aspire to match Elvis Presley or the Beatles?
Nostalgia, to be sure, is a disease, a disease that not even a double dose of reality can cure. It is as common as common cold in many of us who look back to our golden yesterdays and then sigh, “Ah, nothing is what it used to be.”
Ten or 20 years down the line, our sons and daughters might look back to the early years of the new millennium and say just that. And the point is, nothing can be what it used to be. For, life has no reverse gear. If our todays were like our yesterdays, we would probably die of boredom.
Then again, no matter all this, there are eras in sporting history that appear far more romantic, considerably more exciting and, in hindsight, surely more worthy of being a part of, than the present. This might seem particularly so in a sport such as Formula I racing which, for a variety of reasons — not only because of the genius of one man, Michael Schumacher, who is so much better than his nearest rival — has become predictable for the most part.
This season, long before Schumacher, in a moment of ill-advised indulgence, slowed down at Indianapolis in a botched attempt at bringing up a dead-heat with his Brazilian team-mate Rubens Barrichello, the circus had been reduced to a farce. The trapeze artists and the dare-devil performers had already disappeared behind the curtain and only the clowns were left at the climax, so to say.
According to the author, what is the significance of Schumacher’s success in relation to Formula1?

Question 3

Direction: Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.

It takes a special kind of person, one with a superior will, to take to Formula I racing. And it takes a very, very special kind to endure the tension, meet the demands and end up as a legend in the sport.
“It’s like balancing an egg on a spoon while shooting the rapids,” said Graham Hill, the English driver. A very delicate balancing act, indeed.
Over the years, several heroic drivers have walked that tightrope with great success; many have lost balance and their lives, some even before achieving their potential.
But what is life without danger? Will it not be monotonous and boring if all the top sportsmen stopped taking risks, if all of them were to maintain a healthy respect for danger, salute it at first sight and keep away from it?
“The true man wants two things: danger and play,” wrote the incomparable philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.
To be sure, most of us love safety. In man, the survival instinct is the basic instinct. But in certain areas of human activity, including sport, there are deeds that call for a total defiance of that basic instinct. And in the performance of such extraordinary deeds lies great sporting glory... Formula 1 glory.
Ah, excuse me, dear readers. I am stuck in the past, a glorious past that seems a fading dream today at the end of a Formula I season underlined by predictability and boredom, one where wheel-to-wheel racing of the sort that produces seat-edge thrills was a contrived farce rather than a competitivereality.
Of course, in the last seven or eight years, ever since the death of the greatest driving talent of all time, the Brazilian Ayrton Senna, on the Imola track in Italy in 1994, Formula 1 has improved its safety standards remarkably, which is, in a way, a huge positive.
But strangely enough, during an era when television has brought in large amounts of money into the game and the sort of exposure it never before had, today Formula 1, despite the presence of Michael Schumacher, one of the greatest drivers of all time, seems to have lost a lot of its romance of old.
Last month, as Schumacher contrived a farcical climactic manoeuvre at Indianapolis, something that made a mockery of the very essence of competitive sport in the penultimate race of a season that’s been about as exciting as watching a staging of “Hamlet” back to front, last act to first act, long-time addicts of the sport might have been tempted to look back to the good old days with nostalgia ... and die-hard romantics such as this writer can hope to be forgiven.
Ah, what a fall! How badly has a great sport, one filled with the heroics of virtuoso performers behind the wheels, slipped into the morass of the predictable and the farcical!
As you grow older, the one thing that quite often strikes you is that sport is never as good as it was. It’s much like movies and music. The contemporary stuff can never match the classics of old. What on celluloid, today, can stand up to challenge “Casablanca” or “On the Waterfront”? What on the pop scene can aspire to match Elvis Presley or the Beatles?
Nostalgia, to be sure, is a disease, a disease that not even a double dose of reality can cure. It is as common as common cold in many of us who look back to our golden yesterdays and then sigh, “Ah, nothing is what it used to be.”
Ten or 20 years down the line, our sons and daughters might look back to the early years of the new millennium and say just that. And the point is, nothing can be what it used to be. For, life has no reverse gear. If our todays were like our yesterdays, we would probably die of boredom.
Then again, no matter all this, there are eras in sporting history that appear far more romantic, considerably more exciting and, in hindsight, surely more worthy of being a part of, than the present. This might seem particularly so in a sport such as Formula I racing which, for a variety of reasons — not only because of the genius of one man, Michael Schumacher, who is so much better than his nearest rival — has become predictable for the most part.
This season, long before Schumacher, in a moment of ill-advised indulgence, slowed down at Indianapolis in a botched attempt at bringing up a dead-heat with his Brazilian team-mate Rubens Barrichello, the circus had been reduced to a farce. The trapeze artists and the dare-devil performers had already disappeared behind the curtain and only the clowns were left at the climax, so to say.
The author is cynical about present day Formula I racing as he feels that:

Question 4

Direction: Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.

It takes a special kind of person, one with a superior will, to take to Formula I racing. And it takes a very, very special kind to endure the tension, meet the demands and end up as a legend in the sport.
“It’s like balancing an egg on a spoon while shooting the rapids,” said Graham Hill, the English driver. A very delicate balancing act, indeed.
Over the years, several heroic drivers have walked that tightrope with great success; many have lost balance and their lives, some even before achieving their potential.
But what is life without danger? Will it not be monotonous and boring if all the top sportsmen stopped taking risks, if all of them were to maintain a healthy respect for danger, salute it at first sight and keep away from it?
“The true man wants two things: danger and play,” wrote the incomparable philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.
To be sure, most of us love safety. In man, the survival instinct is the basic instinct. But in certain areas of human activity, including sport, there are deeds that call for a total defiance of that basic instinct. And in the performance of such extraordinary deeds lies great sporting glory... Formula 1 glory.
Ah, excuse me, dear readers. I am stuck in the past, a glorious past that seems a fading dream today at the end of a Formula I season underlined by predictability and boredom, one where wheel-to-wheel racing of the sort that produces seat-edge thrills was a contrived farce rather than a competitivereality.
Of course, in the last seven or eight years, ever since the death of the greatest driving talent of all time, the Brazilian Ayrton Senna, on the Imola track in Italy in 1994, Formula 1 has improved its safety standards remarkably, which is, in a way, a huge positive.
But strangely enough, during an era when television has brought in large amounts of money into the game and the sort of exposure it never before had, today Formula 1, despite the presence of Michael Schumacher, one of the greatest drivers of all time, seems to have lost a lot of its romance of old.
Last month, as Schumacher contrived a farcical climactic manoeuvre at Indianapolis, something that made a mockery of the very essence of competitive sport in the penultimate race of a season that’s been about as exciting as watching a staging of “Hamlet” back to front, last act to first act, long-time addicts of the sport might have been tempted to look back to the good old days with nostalgia ... and die-hard romantics such as this writer can hope to be forgiven.
Ah, what a fall! How badly has a great sport, one filled with the heroics of virtuoso performers behind the wheels, slipped into the morass of the predictable and the farcical!
As you grow older, the one thing that quite often strikes you is that sport is never as good as it was. It’s much like movies and music. The contemporary stuff can never match the classics of old. What on celluloid, today, can stand up to challenge “Casablanca” or “On the Waterfront”? What on the pop scene can aspire to match Elvis Presley or the Beatles?
Nostalgia, to be sure, is a disease, a disease that not even a double dose of reality can cure. It is as common as common cold in many of us who look back to our golden yesterdays and then sigh, “Ah, nothing is what it used to be.”
Ten or 20 years down the line, our sons and daughters might look back to the early years of the new millennium and say just that. And the point is, nothing can be what it used to be. For, life has no reverse gear. If our todays were like our yesterdays, we would probably die of boredom.
Then again, no matter all this, there are eras in sporting history that appear far more romantic, considerably more exciting and, in hindsight, surely more worthy of being a part of, than the present. This might seem particularly so in a sport such as Formula I racing which, for a variety of reasons — not only because of the genius of one man, Michael Schumacher, who is so much better than his nearest rival — has become predictable for the most part.
This season, long before Schumacher, in a moment of ill-advised indulgence, slowed down at Indianapolis in a botched attempt at bringing up a dead-heat with his Brazilian team-mate Rubens Barrichello, the circus had been reduced to a farce. The trapeze artists and the dare-devil performers had already disappeared behind the curtain and only the clowns were left at the climax, so to say.
What is the author’s objective in mentioning ‘Elvis Presley’ and ‘Casablanca’ in the passage?

Question 5

Direction: Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.

It takes a special kind of person, one with a superior will, to take to Formula I racing. And it takes a very, very special kind to endure the tension, meet the demands and end up as a legend in the sport.
“It’s like balancing an egg on a spoon while shooting the rapids,” said Graham Hill, the English driver. A very delicate balancing act, indeed.
Over the years, several heroic drivers have walked that tightrope with great success; many have lost balance and their lives, some even before achieving their potential.
But what is life without danger? Will it not be monotonous and boring if all the top sportsmen stopped taking risks, if all of them were to maintain a healthy respect for danger, salute it at first sight and keep away from it?
“The true man wants two things: danger and play,” wrote the incomparable philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.
To be sure, most of us love safety. In man, the survival instinct is the basic instinct. But in certain areas of human activity, including sport, there are deeds that call for a total defiance of that basic instinct. And in the performance of such extraordinary deeds lies great sporting glory... Formula 1 glory.
Ah, excuse me, dear readers. I am stuck in the past, a glorious past that seems a fading dream today at the end of a Formula I season underlined by predictability and boredom, one where wheel-to-wheel racing of the sort that produces seat-edge thrills was a contrived farce rather than a competitivereality.
Of course, in the last seven or eight years, ever since the death of the greatest driving talent of all time, the Brazilian Ayrton Senna, on the Imola track in Italy in 1994, Formula 1 has improved its safety standards remarkably, which is, in a way, a huge positive.
But strangely enough, during an era when television has brought in large amounts of money into the game and the sort of exposure it never before had, today Formula 1, despite the presence of Michael Schumacher, one of the greatest drivers of all time, seems to have lost a lot of its romance of old.
Last month, as Schumacher contrived a farcical climactic manoeuvre at Indianapolis, something that made a mockery of the very essence of competitive sport in the penultimate race of a season that’s been about as exciting as watching a staging of “Hamlet” back to front, last act to first act, long-time addicts of the sport might have been tempted to look back to the good old days with nostalgia ... and die-hard romantics such as this writer can hope to be forgiven.
Ah, what a fall! How badly has a great sport, one filled with the heroics of virtuoso performers behind the wheels, slipped into the morass of the predictable and the farcical!
As you grow older, the one thing that quite often strikes you is that sport is never as good as it was. It’s much like movies and music. The contemporary stuff can never match the classics of old. What on celluloid, today, can stand up to challenge “Casablanca” or “On the Waterfront”? What on the pop scene can aspire to match Elvis Presley or the Beatles?
Nostalgia, to be sure, is a disease, a disease that not even a double dose of reality can cure. It is as common as common cold in many of us who look back to our golden yesterdays and then sigh, “Ah, nothing is what it used to be.”
Ten or 20 years down the line, our sons and daughters might look back to the early years of the new millennium and say just that. And the point is, nothing can be what it used to be. For, life has no reverse gear. If our todays were like our yesterdays, we would probably die of boredom.
Then again, no matter all this, there are eras in sporting history that appear far more romantic, considerably more exciting and, in hindsight, surely more worthy of being a part of, than the present. This might seem particularly so in a sport such as Formula I racing which, for a variety of reasons — not only because of the genius of one man, Michael Schumacher, who is so much better than his nearest rival — has become predictable for the most part.
This season, long before Schumacher, in a moment of ill-advised indulgence, slowed down at Indianapolis in a botched attempt at bringing up a dead-heat with his Brazilian team-mate Rubens Barrichello, the circus had been reduced to a farce. The trapeze artists and the dare-devil performers had already disappeared behind the curtain and only the clowns were left at the climax, so to say.
Which of the following may safely be inferred from the passage about the author's identity?

Question 6

Direction: Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow. Certain words/phrases are printed in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions.

The Cabinet decision to allow spectrum trading will give a huge impetus to the on-going efforts for making broadband available in even the remotest parts of the country under the Digital India campaign. There are many compelling reasons why the time is ripe for the introduction of spectrum trading. One of the objectives of the new National Telecom Policy is to achieve a base of 600 million broadband users, with a minimum access speed of 2Mbps by 2020. The Centre wants to create digital infrastructure to provide utility services like banking, education and healthcare to every Indian citizen. These ambitious targets can be achieved only if every operator in the country has access to adequate spectrum. The more spectrums an operator holds, the more data traffic it can carry over its network. Despite several rounds of auctions in the last two years, the quantum of airwaves with Indian telecom companies is less than that of their global counterparts. Mobile companies in the US and Japan, for instance, are able to offer high speed video services because they have 30-40 MHz of spectrum. In contrast, a 3G operator in India has only 5 MHz. Spectrum trading will allow the operators to get access to a larger pool of air waves, in turn ensuring that spectrum does not lie fallow. The option to trade spectrum also introduces an element of liquidity to its value. Interest in future auctions will increase because operators can bid with the knowledge that they can get returns by further leasing the airwaves. For smaller operators who are looking for an exit, trading gives them the opportunity to monetize their key asset without going through complex merger or acquisition deals.

However, the guidelines approved by the Cabinet have some concern areas which, if not addressed, could make it difficult for operators to trade spectrum. For example, the spectrum seller will have to pay 11 to 13 per cent of the proceeds to the government in the form of licence fee and spectrum usage charge. This could be a major deterrent if the operator is debt-laden or in an exit mode. The other big concern is the rule asking operators who bought spectrum in the 800 MHz band in the 2013 auctions, to first pay the price arrived at in the 2015 auction if they want to enter into a trading deal. Though the prices arrived at in the 2013 auctions were significantly lower than in 2015, both were market-driven processes. Thus the Centre’s view that it did not receive the full price then is misplaced.

The benefits of sharing resources can be seen in the telecom tower business where operators were able to drive down costs and improve efficiencies by sharing space on towers. Similar sharing is now happening in the optical fibre cable infrastructure. Spectrum trading will benefit consumers, since at least those operators with adequate spectrum will be able to offer better quality of service. That said, quality improvement across the board will be achieved only when more spectrum is made available.

Source: https://www.thehindubusinessline.com
According to the given passage, which among the following is TRUE?

Question 7

Direction: Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow. Certain words/phrases are printed in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions.

The Cabinet decision to allow spectrum trading will give a huge impetus to the on-going efforts for making broadband available in even the remotest parts of the country under the Digital India campaign. There are many compelling reasons why the time is ripe for the introduction of spectrum trading. One of the objectives of the new National Telecom Policy is to achieve a base of 600 million broadband users, with a minimum access speed of 2Mbps by 2020. The Centre wants to create digital infrastructure to provide utility services like banking, education and healthcare to every Indian citizen. These ambitious targets can be achieved only if every operator in the country has access to adequate spectrum. The more spectrums an operator holds, the more data traffic it can carry over its network. Despite several rounds of auctions in the last two years, the quantum of airwaves with Indian telecom companies is less than that of their global counterparts. Mobile companies in the US and Japan, for instance, are able to offer high speed video services because they have 30-40 MHz of spectrum. In contrast, a 3G operator in India has only 5 MHz. Spectrum trading will allow the operators to get access to a larger pool of air waves, in turn ensuring that spectrum does not lie fallow. The option to trade spectrum also introduces an element of liquidity to its value. Interest in future auctions will increase because operators can bid with the knowledge that they can get returns by further leasing the airwaves. For smaller operators who are looking for an exit, trading gives them the opportunity to monetize their key asset without going through complex merger or acquisition deals.

However, the guidelines approved by the Cabinet have some concern areas which, if not addressed, could make it difficult for operators to trade spectrum. For example, the spectrum seller will have to pay 11 to 13 per cent of the proceeds to the government in the form of licence fee and spectrum usage charge. This could be a major deterrent if the operator is debt-laden or in an exit mode. The other big concern is the rule asking operators who bought spectrum in the 800 MHz band in the 2013 auctions, to first pay the price arrived at in the 2015 auction if they want to enter into a trading deal. Though the prices arrived at in the 2013 auctions were significantly lower than in 2015, both were market-driven processes. Thus the Centre’s view that it did not receive the full price then is misplaced.

The benefits of sharing resources can be seen in the telecom tower business where operators were able to drive down costs and improve efficiencies by sharing space on towers. Similar sharing is now happening in the optical fibre cable infrastructure. Spectrum trading will benefit consumers, since at least those operators with adequate spectrum will be able to offer better quality of service. That said, quality improvement across the board will be achieved only when more spectrum is made available.
According to the passage, how will Spectrum trading benefit the consumers in India?

Question 8

Direction: Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow. Certain words/phrases are printed in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions.

The Cabinet decision to allow spectrum trading will give a huge impetus to the on-going efforts for making broadband available in even the remotest parts of the country under the Digital India campaign. There are many compelling reasons why the time is ripe for the introduction of spectrum trading. One of the objectives of the new National Telecom Policy is to achieve a base of 600 million broadband users, with a minimum access speed of 2Mbps by 2020. The Centre wants to create digital infrastructure to provide utility services like banking, education and healthcare to every Indian citizen. These ambitious targets can be achieved only if every operator in the country has access to adequate spectrum. The more spectrums an operator holds, the more data traffic it can carry over its network. Despite several rounds of auctions in the last two years, the quantum of airwaves with Indian telecom companies is less than that of their global counterparts. Mobile companies in the US and Japan, for instance, are able to offer high speed video services because they have 30-40 MHz of spectrum. In contrast, a 3G operator in India has only 5 MHz. Spectrum trading will allow the operators to get access to a larger pool of air waves, in turn ensuring that spectrum does not lie fallow. The option to trade spectrum also introduces an element of liquidity to its value. Interest in future auctions will increase because operators can bid with the knowledge that they can get returns by further leasing the airwaves. For smaller operators who are looking for an exit, trading gives them the opportunity to monetize their key asset without going through complex merger or acquisition deals.

However, the guidelines approved by the Cabinet have some concern areas which, if not addressed, could make it difficult for operators to trade spectrum. For example, the spectrum seller will have to pay 11 to 13 per cent of the proceeds to the government in the form of licence fee and spectrum usage charge. This could be a major deterrent if the operator is debt-laden or in an exit mode. The other big concern is the rule asking operators who bought spectrum in the 800 MHz band in the 2013 auctions, to first pay the price arrived at in the 2015 auction if they want to enter into a trading deal. Though the prices arrived at in the 2013 auctions were significantly lower than in 2015, both were market-driven processes. Thus the Centre’s view that it did not receive the full price then is misplaced.

The benefits of sharing resources can be seen in the telecom tower business where operators were able to drive down costs and improve efficiencies by sharing space on towers. Similar sharing is now happening in the optical fibre cable infrastructure. Spectrum trading will benefit consumers, since at least those operators with adequate spectrum will be able to offer better quality of service. That said, quality improvement across the board will be achieved only when more spectrum is made available.
Which of the following concerns in the guidelines approved by the Cabinet needs to be addressed by the Government?

Question 9

Direction: Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow. Certain words/phrases are printed in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions.

The Cabinet decision to allow spectrum trading will give a huge impetus to the on-going efforts for making broadband available in even the remotest parts of the country under the Digital India campaign. There are many compelling reasons why the time is ripe for the introduction of spectrum trading. One of the objectives of the new National Telecom Policy is to achieve a base of 600 million broadband users, with a minimum access speed of 2Mbps by 2020. The Centre wants to create digital infrastructure to provide utility services like banking, education and healthcare to every Indian citizen. These ambitious targets can be achieved only if every operator in the country has access to adequate spectrum. The more spectrums an operator holds, the more data traffic it can carry over its network. Despite several rounds of auctions in the last two years, the quantum of airwaves with Indian telecom companies is less than that of their global counterparts. Mobile companies in the US and Japan, for instance, are able to offer high speed video services because they have 30-40 MHz of spectrum. In contrast, a 3G operator in India has only 5 MHz. Spectrum trading will allow the operators to get access to a larger pool of air waves, in turn ensuring that spectrum does not lie fallow. The option to trade spectrum also introduces an element of liquidity to its value. Interest in future auctions will increase because operators can bid with the knowledge that they can get returns by further leasing the airwaves. For smaller operators who are looking for an exit, trading gives them the opportunity to monetize their key asset without going through complex merger or acquisition deals.

However, the guidelines approved by the Cabinet have some concern areas which, if not addressed, could make it difficult for operators to trade spectrum. For example, the spectrum seller will have to pay 11 to 13 per cent of the proceeds to the government in the form of licence fee and spectrum usage charge. This could be a major deterrent if the operator is debt-laden or in an exit mode. The other big concern is the rule asking operators who bought spectrum in the 800 MHz band in the 2013 auctions, to first pay the price arrived at in the 2015 auction if they want to enter into a trading deal. Though the prices arrived at in the 2013 auctions were significantly lower than in 2015, both were market-driven processes. Thus the Centre’s view that it did not receive the full price then is misplaced.

The benefits of sharing resources can be seen in the telecom tower business where operators were able to drive down costs and improve efficiencies by sharing space on towers. Similar sharing is now happening in the optical fibre cable infrastructure. Spectrum trading will benefit consumers, since at least those operators with adequate spectrum will be able to offer better quality of service. That said, quality improvement across the board will be achieved only when more spectrum is made available.
Which of the following is the MOST SIMILAR in meaning to “impetus”?

Question 10

Direction: Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow. Certain words/phrases are printed in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions.

The Cabinet decision to allow spectrum trading will give a huge impetus to the on-going efforts for making broadband available in even the remotest parts of the country under the Digital India campaign. There are many compelling reasons why the time is ripe for the introduction of spectrum trading. One of the objectives of the new National Telecom Policy is to achieve a base of 600 million broadband users, with a minimum access speed of 2Mbps by 2020. The Centre wants to create digital infrastructure to provide utility services like banking, education and healthcare to every Indian citizen. These ambitious targets can be achieved only if every operator in the country has access to adequate spectrum. The more spectrums an operator holds, the more data traffic it can carry over its network. Despite several rounds of auctions in the last two years, the quantum of airwaves with Indian telecom companies is less than that of their global counterparts. Mobile companies in the US and Japan, for instance, are able to offer high speed video services because they have 30-40 MHz of spectrum. In contrast, a 3G operator in India has only 5 MHz. Spectrum trading will allow the operators to get access to a larger pool of air waves, in turn ensuring that spectrum does not lie fallow. The option to trade spectrum also introduces an element of liquidity to its value. Interest in future auctions will increase because operators can bid with the knowledge that they can get returns by further leasing the airwaves. For smaller operators who are looking for an exit, trading gives them the opportunity to monetize their key asset without going through complex merger or acquisition deals.

However, the guidelines approved by the Cabinet have some concern areas which, if not addressed, could make it difficult for operators to trade spectrum. For example, the spectrum seller will have to pay 11 to 13 per cent of the proceeds to the government in the form of licence fee and spectrum usage charge. This could be a major deterrent if the operator is debt-laden or in an exit mode. The other big concern is the rule asking operators who bought spectrum in the 800 MHz band in the 2013 auctions, to first pay the price arrived at in the 2015 auction if they want to enter into a trading deal. Though the prices arrived at in the 2013 auctions were significantly lower than in 2015, both were market-driven processes. Thus the Centre’s view that it did not receive the full price then is misplaced.

The benefits of sharing resources can be seen in the telecom tower business where operators were able to drive down costs and improve efficiencies by sharing space on towers. Similar sharing is now happening in the optical fibre cable infrastructure. Spectrum trading will benefit consumers, since at least those operators with adequate spectrum will be able to offer better quality of service. That said, quality improvement across the board will be achieved only when more spectrum is made available.
Which of the following is the MOST OPPOSITE in meaning to “deterrent”?
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Feb 11Other State PSC