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UPSC Civil Services Pre Exam: Daily CSAT Quiz

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Question 1

Direction: Read the following passages and answer the items that follow each passage. Your answers to these items should be based on the passages only.
Passage
Net profits are only 2.2% of their total assets for central public sector undertakings, lower than for the private corporate sector. While the public sector or the State-led entrepreneurship played an important role in triggering India's industrialization, our evolving development needs, comparatively less-than-satisfactory performance of the public sector enterprises, the maturing of our private sector, a much larger social base now available for expanding entrepreneurship and the growing institutional capabilities to enforce competition policies would suggest that the time has come to review the role of public sector.
What should the portfolio composition of the government be? It should not remain static all times. The airline industry works well as a purely private affair. At the opposite end, rural roads, whose sparse traffic makes tolling unviable, have to be on the balance-sheet of the State. If the government did not own rural roads, they would not exist.
Similarly, public health capital in our towns and cities will need to come from the public sector. Equally, preservation and improvement of forest cover will have to be a new priority for the public sector assets.
Take the example of steel. With near-zero tariffs, India is a globally competitive market for the metal. Indian firms export steel into the global market which demonstrates there is no gap in technology. Indian companies are buying up global steel companies, which shows there is no gap in capital availability. Under these conditions, private ownership works best.
Private ownership is clearly desirable in regulated industries, ranging from, finance to infrastructure, where a government agency performs the function of regulation and multiple competing firms are located in the private sector. Here, the simple and clean solution - government as the umpire and the private sector as the players is what works best. In many of these industries, we have a legacy of government ownership, where productivity tends to be lower, fear of bankruptcy is absent, and the risk of asking for money from the tax payer is ever present. There is also the conflict of interest between government as an owner and as the regulator.
The formulation and implementation of competition policy will be more vigorous and fair if government companies are out of action.
According to the passage, what is/are the reason/reasons for saying that the time has come to review the role of the public sector?
1) Now the public sector has lost its relevance in the industrialization process.
2) The public sector does not perform satisfactorily.
3) Entrepreneurship in the private sector is expanding.
4) Effective competition policies are available now.

Question 2

Direction: Read the following passages and answer the items that follow each passage. Your answers to these items should be based on the passages only.
Passage
Net profits are only 2.2% of their total assets for central public sector undertakings, lower than for the private corporate sector. While the public sector or the State-led entrepreneurship played an important role in triggering India's industrialization, our evolving development needs, comparatively less-than-satisfactory performance of the public sector enterprises, the maturing of our private sector, a much larger social base now available for expanding entrepreneurship and the growing institutional capabilities to enforce competition policies would suggest that the time has come to review the role of public sector.
What should the portfolio composition of the government be? It should not remain static all times. The airline industry works well as a purely private affair. At the opposite end, rural roads, whose sparse traffic makes tolling unviable, have to be on the balance-sheet of the State. If the government did not own rural roads, they would not exist.
Similarly, public health capital in our towns and cities will need to come from the public sector. Equally, preservation and improvement of forest cover will have to be a new priority for the public sector assets.
Take the example of steel. With near-zero tariffs, India is a globally competitive market for the metal. Indian firms export steel into the global market which demonstrates there is no gap in technology. Indian companies are buying up global steel companies, which shows there is no gap in capital availability. Under these conditions, private ownership works best.
Private ownership is clearly desirable in regulated industries, ranging from, finance to infrastructure, where a government agency performs the function of regulation and multiple competing firms are located in the private sector. Here, the simple and clean solution - government as the umpire and the private sector as the players is what works best. In many of these industries, we have a legacy of government ownership, where productivity tends to be lower, fear of bankruptcy is absent, and the risk of asking for money from the tax payer is ever present. There is also the conflict of interest between government as an owner and as the regulator.
The formulation and implementation of competition policy will be more vigorous and fair if government companies are out of action.
According to the passage, rural roads should be in the domain of public sector only. Why?

Question 3

Direction: Read the following passages and answer the items that follow each passage. Your answers to these items should be based on the passages only.
Passage
Net profits are only 2.2% of their total assets for central public sector undertakings, lower than for the private corporate sector. While the public sector or the State-led entrepreneurship played an important role in triggering India's industrialization, our evolving development needs, comparatively less-than-satisfactory performance of the public sector enterprises, the maturing of our private sector, a much larger social base now available for expanding entrepreneurship and the growing institutional capabilities to enforce competition policies would suggest that the time has come to review the role of public sector.
What should the portfolio composition of the government be? It should not remain static all times. The airline industry works well as a purely private affair. At the opposite end, rural roads, whose sparse traffic makes tolling unviable, have to be on the balance-sheet of the State. If the government did not own rural roads, they would not exist.
Similarly, public health capital in our towns and cities will need to come from the public sector. Equally, preservation and improvement of forest cover will have to be a new priority for the public sector assets.
Take the example of steel. With near-zero tariffs, India is a globally competitive market for the metal. Indian firms export steel into the global market which demonstrates there is no gap in technology. Indian companies are buying up global steel companies, which shows there is no gap in capital availability. Under these conditions, private ownership works best.
Private ownership is clearly desirable in regulated industries, ranging from, finance to infrastructure, where a government agency performs the function of regulation and multiple competing firms are located in the private sector. Here, the simple and clean solution - government as the umpire and the private sector as the players is what works best. In many of these industries, we have a legacy of government ownership, where productivity tends to be lower, fear of bankruptcy is absent, and the risk of asking for money from the tax payer is ever present. There is also the conflict of interest between government as an owner and as the regulator.
The formulation and implementation of competition policy will be more vigorous and fair if government companies are out of action.
What does the portfolio composition of the government refers to?

Question 4

Direction: Read the following passages and answer the items that follow each passage. Your answers to these items should be based on the passages only.
Passage
Net profits are only 2.2% of their total assets for central public sector undertakings, lower than for the private corporate sector. While the public sector or the State-led entrepreneurship played an important role in triggering India's industrialization, our evolving development needs, comparatively less-than-satisfactory performance of the public sector enterprises, the maturing of our private sector, a much larger social base now available for expanding entrepreneurship and the growing institutional capabilities to enforce competition policies would suggest that the time has come to review the role of public sector.
What should the portfolio composition of the government be? It should not remain static all times. The airline industry works well as a purely private affair. At the opposite end, rural roads, whose sparse traffic makes tolling unviable, have to be on the balance-sheet of the State. If the government did not own rural roads, they would not exist.
Similarly, public health capital in our towns and cities will need to come from the public sector. Equally, preservation and improvement of forest cover will have to be a new priority for the public sector assets.
Take the example of steel. With near-zero tariffs, India is a globally competitive market for the metal. Indian firms export steel into the global market which demonstrates there is no gap in technology. Indian companies are buying up global steel companies, which shows there is no gap in capital availability. Under these conditions, private ownership works best.
Private ownership is clearly desirable in regulated industries, ranging from, finance to infrastructure, where a government agency performs the function of regulation and multiple competing firms are located in the private sector. Here, the simple and clean solution - government as the umpire and the private sector as the players is what works best. In many of these industries, we have a legacy of government ownership, where productivity tends to be lower, fear of bankruptcy is absent, and the risk of asking for money from the tax payer is ever present. There is also the conflict of interest between government as an owner and as the regulator.
The formulation and implementation of competition policy will be more vigorous and fair if government companies are out of action.
Why does the author prefer the government as the umpire and private sector as players? 

Question 5

Direction: Read the following passages and answer the items that follow each passage. Your answers to these items should be based on the passage only.
Passage

A number of empirical studies find that farmers are risk-averse, though only moderately in many cases. There is also evidence to show that farmers' risk aversion results in cropping patterns and input use designed to reduce risk rather than to maximize income. Farmers adopt a number of strategies to manage and cope with agricultural risks. These include practices like crop and field diversification, non-farm employment, storage of stocks and strategic migration of family members. There are also institutions ranging from share tendency to kinship, extended families and informal credit agencies. One major obstacle to risk sharing by farmers is that the same type of risk can affect a large number of farmers in the region. Empirical studies show that the traditional methods are not adequate. Hence there is a need for policy interventions, especially measures that cut across geographical regions. Policies may aim at tackling agricultural risks directly or indirectly. Examples of risk-specific policies are crop insurance, price stabilization and the development of varieties resistant to pests and diseases.

Policies which affect risk indirectly are irrigation, subsidized credit and access to information. No single risk-specific policy is sufficient to reduce risk and is without side-effects, whereas policies not specific to risk influence the general situation and affects risks only indirectly. Crop insurance, as a policy measure to tackle agricultural risk directly, deserves careful consideration in the Indian context and in many other developing countries – because the majority of farmers depend on rain-fed agriculture and in many areas yield variability is the predominant cause of their income instability.
Why is there a need for policy intervention to mitigate risks in agriculture? 

Question 6

Direction: Read the following passages and answer the items that follow each passage. Your answers to these items should be based on the passage only.
Passage

A number of empirical studies find that farmers are risk-averse, though only moderately in many cases. There is also evidence to show that farmers' risk aversion results in cropping patterns and input use designed to reduce risk rather than to maximize income. Farmers adopt a number of strategies to manage and cope with agricultural risks. These include practices like crop and field diversification, non-farm employment, storage of stocks and strategic migration of family members. There are also institutions ranging from share tendency to kinship, extended families and informal credit agencies. One major obstacle to risk sharing by farmers is that the same type of risk can affect a large number of farmers in the region. Empirical studies show that the traditional methods are not adequate. Hence there is a need for policy interventions, especially measures that cut across geographical regions. Policies may aim at tackling agricultural risks directly or indirectly. Examples of risk-specific policies are crop insurance, price stabilization and the development of varieties resistant to pests and diseases.

Policies which affect risk indirectly are irrigation, subsidized credit and access to information. No single risk-specific policy is sufficient to reduce risk and is without side-effects, whereas policies not specific to risk influence the general situation and affects risks only indirectly. Crop insurance, as a policy measure to tackle agricultural risk directly, deserves careful consideration in the Indian context and in many other developing countries – because the majority of farmers depend on rain-fed agriculture and in many areas yield variability is the predominant cause of their income instability.
Which of the following observations emerges from the above passage?

Question 7

Direction: Read the following passages and answer the items that follow each passage. Your answers to these items should be based on the passage only.
Passage

A number of empirical studies find that farmers are risk-averse, though only moderately in many cases. There is also evidence to show that farmers' risk aversion results in cropping patterns and input use designed to reduce risk rather than to maximize income. Farmers adopt a number of strategies to manage and cope with agricultural risks. These include practices like crop and field diversification, non-farm employment, storage of stocks and strategic migration of family members. There are also institutions ranging from share tendency to kinship, extended families and informal credit agencies. One major obstacle to risk sharing by farmers is that the same type of risk can affect a large number of farmers in the region. Empirical studies show that the traditional methods are not adequate. Hence there is a need for policy interventions, especially measures that cut across geographical regions. Policies may aim at tackling agricultural risks directly or indirectly. Examples of risk-specific policies are crop insurance, price stabilization and the development of varieties resistant to pests and diseases.

Policies which affect risk indirectly are irrigation, subsidized credit and access to information. No single risk-specific policy is sufficient to reduce risk and is without side-effects, whereas policies not specific to risk influence the general situation and affects risks only indirectly. Crop insurance, as a policy measure to tackle agricultural risk directly, deserves careful consideration in the Indian context and in many other developing countries – because the majority of farmers depend on rain-fed agriculture and in many areas yield variability is the predominant cause of their income instability.
In light of the following statements, which one of the following is true?
(i) Farmers adopt a number of strategies to deal with agricultural risks.
(ii) Policies which affect risk directly are irrigation, subsidized credit and access to information. 
(iii) One major problem to risk sharing by farmers in a certain region is that the same type of risk can affect a large number of farmers in the concerned region.

Question 8

Direction: Read the following passages and answer the question that follow the passages. Your answer to these items should be based on the passages only.
Passage
Set against a rural backdrop, 'Stench of kerosene' is the story of a couple, Guleri and Manak, who have been happily married for several years but do not have a child. Manak's mother is desperate to have a grandchild to carry on the family name. Hence, she gets Manak remarried in Guleri's absence. Manak, who acts as a reluctant but passive spectator, is meanwhile, informed by a friend that Guleri, on hearing about her husband's second marriage, poured kerosene on her clothes and set fire to them. Manak is heartbroken and begins to live as if he were a dead man. When his second wife delivers a son, manak stares at the child for a long time an blurts out, "Take him away ! He stinks of kerosene."
This is a sensitive issue-based story which tries to sensitise the readers about

Question 9

A selection is to be made for one post of Principal and two posts of Vice-Principal. Amongst the six candidates called for the interview, only two are eligible for the post of Principal while they all are eligible for the post of Vice-Principal. The number of possible combinations of selectees is

Question 10

Two cities A and B are 360 km apart. A car goes from A to B with a speed of 40 km/hr and returns to A with a speed of 60 km/hr. What is the average speed of the car?

Question 11

A worker reaches his factory 3 minutes late if his speed from his house to the factory is 5 km/hr . If he walks at a speed of 6 km/hr , then he reaches the factory 7 minutes early. The distance of the factory from his house is

Question 12

A father is nine times as old as his son and the mother is eight times as old as the son. The sum of the father's and the mother's age is 51 years. What is the age of the son ?

Question 13

As per agreement with a bank, a businessman had to refund a loan in some equal instalments without interest. After paying 18 instalments he found that 60 percent of his loan was refunded. How many instalments were there in the agreement?

Question 14

A train travels at a certain average speed for a distance of 63 km and then travels a distance of 72 km at an average speed of 6 km/hr more than its original speed. If it takes 3 hours to complete the total journey, what is the original speed of the train in km/hr?

Question 15

Consider the following information regarding the performance of a class of 1000 students in four different tests:
If a student scores 74 marks in each of the four tests, In which one of the following tests is her performance the best comparatively?

Question 16

Consider the following matrix with one empty block in the lower extreme corner:

Which of the following figures could fit in the empty block and thus complete the matrix?

Question 17

Examine the following three figures in which the numbers follow a specific pattern:

The missing number (?) in the third figure above is

Question 18

You are the head of your office. There are certain houses reserved for the allotment to the office staff and you have been given the discretion to do so. A set of rules for the allotment of the houses has been laid down by you and has been made public. Your personal secretary, who is very close to you, comes to you and pleads that as his father is seriously ill, he should be given priority in allotment of a house. The office secretariat that examined the request as per the rules turns down the request and recommends the procedure to be followed according to the rules. You do not want to annoy your personal secretary. In such circumstances, what would you do?

Question 19

Direction: Read the following passages and answer the question follow that passage. Your answers to these items should be based on the passages only.
Passage 
India accounts for nearly a fifth of the world's child deaths. In terms of numbers, it is the highest in the world - nearly 16 lakhs every year. Of these, more than half die in the first month of life. Officials believe that the reason for this is the absence of steps to propagate basic health practices relating to breast feeding and immunisation. Also the large reproductive population of 2.6 crore remains bereft of care during the critical phases of pregnancy and post-delivery. Added to this is the prevalence of child marriages, anaemia among young women and lack of focus on adolescent sanitation, all of which impact child death rates.

Which is the critical inference that can be made from the above passage?

Question 20

Examine the following statements:
1) Lady's finger is tastier than cabbage.
2) Cauliflower is tastier than lady's finger.
3) Cabbage is not tastier than peas.
The conclusion that can be drawn from these statements is that
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Aug 10Other State PSC