English Language Quiz For SBI Clerk Prelims 2021- 23rd May

Directions (1-10): Read the following passage to answer these questions given below it. Certain words phrases have been printed in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions:

 Access to affordable electricity for each and every household is a necessary condition for social and economic development. However, rural electrification received attention in the development agenda mostly in the last one-and-a-half decades. In 2005, the Central government launched the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) which subsumed all other ongoing schemes related to rural electrification. The scheme focused on electrification of villages through implementation of decentralized distributed generation (DDG). RGGVY was later included in the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) (recently renamed the Saubhagya scheme), which additionally focuses on feeder separation, improvement of sub-transmission and distribution network, and metering to reduce losses. All these schemes have delivered results and now only a few villages are left that have yet to achieve the target of 100% electrification. As per the latest government statistics, only 910 villages are yet to be electrified, which account for 5% of India’s un-electrified villages (as on April 2015), excluding some uninhabited villages. However, the performance of rural household electrification is not that encouraging. Around 35 million households—approximately 11% of the total rural households—are yet to be electrified.

The success of rural electrification should not be measured only on the basis of connections provided, but also on the basis of provision of reliable and quality power supply during peak hours. Both these are still persistent problems faced by a majority of India’s rural households. As per the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) recommended “Energy Plus” approach, supply of electricity only for lighting is a necessary but not sufficient condition for rural livelihood development. This framework emphasizes on energy access in combination with productive use of electricity for income generation and livelihood upliftment. However, to use electricity directly for income-generation activities, ownership of appliances plays an important role, apart from market availability, financial and technical assistance. Appliance ownership, in turn, depends on the household’s economic status and on the quality and availability of power supply. This makes the problem more challenging. Further, lack of access to energy at home and for income-generating activities is associated with higher levels of poverty, low productivity, heavy workload, women’s safety issues, missed educational opportunities and high exposure to health risks.

The cost of power supply to rural areas is also significantly high. As a majority of the rural households cannot afford high cost supply, utilities are reluctant to supply the required quality and quantity of electricity in these areas. This is apart from the issue of capacity constraint in terms of power generation/purchase. However, implementing some appropriate measures such as smart meters, infrastructure development, franchisee arrangements with local self-help-groups (for more effective billing, monitoring and collection) may improve the situation to some extent. The recent Saubhagya scheme addresses some of these issues. It aims to improve environment, public health, education and connectivity with the help of last-mile power connections across India along with providing electricity connections to over 40 million families in rural and urban areas by December. Households out of reach of the national electricity grid are proposed to be provided with solar power packs along with battery banks with the Rural Electrification Corporation as the nodal agency.

Q1. According to the passage, Saubhagya Scheme aims to
(a) Supply of electricity through dedicated feeders.
(b) improvement of metering and distribution network to reduce losses.
(c) Access to affordable electricity through implementation of decentralized distributed generation.
(d) Both (b) and (c)
(e) All are correct

Q2. What is/ are the problem(s) faced by Indian rural population nowadays?
(I) Lack of sufficient appliances to access the electricity.
(II) Lack of reliable and quality power supply.
(III) Lack of connection provided for electrification.
(a) Only (I)
(b) Both (I) and (II)
(c) Both (II) and (III)
(d) Both (I) and (III)
(e) All are correct

Q3. The need of “energy plus” approach is to
(a) use it for educational opportunities.
(b) avoiding high health risks.
(c) use electricity for income generation activities.
(d) provide women safety.
(e) All

Q4. How the problems can be resolved for easy access of electricity to rural population?
(a) By developing infrastructure
(b) By installing smart and effective machinery to the system.
(c) By launching some schemes aiming to improve rural electrification.
(d) By effective monitoring of the power supply.
(e) All of the above.

Q5. The tone of the author in context to the passage is
(a) sarcastic
(b) didactic
(c) cynical
(d) critical
(e) Analytical

Q6. Choose the word which is most same in meaning of the word printed in bold in context of the passage.
Subsume
(a) abundant
(b) variegate
(c) integrate
(d) comprise
(e) consistent

Q7. Choose the word which is most same in meaning of the word printed in bold in context of the passage.
Reluctant
(a) ardent
(b) anonymous
(c) grudging
(d) suggest
(e) enthusiastic

Q8. Choose the word which is most same in meaning of the word printed in bold in context of the passage.
Uplift
(a) extenuate
(b) pacify
(c) abet
(d) mollify
(e) elevate

Q9. Choose the word which is most opposite in meaning of the word printed in bold in context of the passage
Reliable
(a) conciliate
(b) dodgy
(c) persistence
(d) persuade
(e) incite

Q10. Choose the word which is most opposite in meaning of the word printed in bold in context of the passage
Exposure
(a) candor
(b) dire
(c) subdue
(d) safety
(e) proficient

Directions (11-15): In the following passage against each number four words are suggested in bold which may or may not fit into the sentence contextually. These numbers are printed below the passage and against each, five options are given. Find out the most appropriate alternative reflecting the word which doesn’t fit into the blank appropriately and thus fail to give a contextual meaning to the paragraph. If no such error is there mark (e) i.e. “all are correct” as your answer choice.

(11) There is little surprise in the Law Commission of India recommendation that the Board of Control for Cricket in India be brought under the receipt of the Right to Information Act. (12) Over the years, the popular expectation that India’s cash-rich and commercially successful apex cricket body will have to make itself more transparent and accountable has been reliving. (13) While the BCCI is a private body that needs no financial help from the government, it is being increasingly recognised that it performs significant public functions. Even though a five-judge Bench of the Supreme Court in 2005 held by a 3-2 majority that the BCCI could not be termed an instrumentality of the ‘State’ under Article 12 of the Constitution, subsequent developments have ensured that the public character of its functioning is widely recognised. (14) In recent years, especially against the backdrop of the betting scandal that hit the Indian Premier League tournament a few years ago, the vision that the cricket board is functioning in an opaque manner and not entirely in the game’s interest has gained ground. (15) The Supreme Court’s intervention led to the constitution of the Justice R.M. Lodha Committee, which recommended sweeping reforms in the board’s structure and the rules governing its administration. Many believe that implementing these reforms at both national and State levels would impart greater transparency in its functioning and lead to an overhaul of cricket administration in the country. The apex court also reaffirmed the public character of the BCCI’s functions.

Q11.
(a) surprise
(b) recommendation
(c) brought
(d) receipt
(e) No error

Q12.
(a) expectation
(b) apex
(c) transparent
(d) reliving
(e) no error

Q13.
(a) recognised
(b) instrumentality
(c) subsequent
(d) character
(e) no error

Q14.
(a) backdrop
(b) vision
(c) opaque
(d) gained
(e) no error

Q15.
(a) sweeping
(b) governing
(c) impart
(d) overhaul
(e) no error

Practice More Questions of English for Competitive Exams:

Solutions

S1. Ans. (e)
Sol. According to paragraph 1, Saubhagya scheme, previously named as Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana focuses on feeder separation, improvement of sub-transmission and distribution network, and metering to reduce losses in addition to electrification of villages through implementation of decentralized distributed generation (DDG).
Hence option (e) is the correct choice.

S2. Ans. (c)
Sol. In reference to second paragraph of the passage, we can infer that India’s rural household are facing non- reliable power supply at peak hours and lack of connection.
Hence option (c) is the correct choice.
Refer the first few lines of second paragraph “The success of rural electrification should not be measured only on the basis of connections provided, but also on the basis of provision of reliable and quality power supply during peak hours.”

S3. Ans. (e)
Sol. All the given options are correct.
Refer third paragraph of the passage which indicates that “energy plus” approach is not just providing electricity for lighting but also for other facilities.
Hence option (e) is the correct choice.
“This makes the problem more challenging. Further, lack of access to energy at home and for income-generating activities is associated with higher levels of poverty, low productivity, heavy workload, women’s safety issues, missed educational opportunities and high exposure to health risks.”

S4. Ans. (e)
Sol. All the given statements are correct with respect to the third paragraph of the passage.

S5. Ans. (e)
Sol. The author’s tone is ‘analytical’ as the author gave a detailed treatment of the issue after undergoing deep analysis of the causes and effects.

S6. Ans. (d)
Sol. Subsumed means to consider or include. Hence it has same meaning as comprise.

S7. Ans. (c)
Sol. Reluctant means unwilling and hesitant; disinclined. Hence it has same meaning as grudging.

S8. Ans. (e)
Sol. Uplift means to lift up, elevate. Hence it has same meaning as elevate.
Extenuate means acting in mitigation to lessen the seriousness of guilt or an offence.
Mollify means appease the anger or anxiety of.
Abet means to help or encourage a person or thing to do something.

S9. Ans. (b)
Sol. Reliable means consistently good in quality or performance; able to be trusted. Hence its opposite is dodgy.
Incite meaning encourage.
Conciliate means stop (someone) being angry or discontented; placate.

S10. Ans. (d)
Sol. Exposure means the state of having no protection from something harmful. Hence it has opposite meaning as safety.
Candor means the quality of being open and honest; frankness.
Dire means extremely serious or urgent.

S11. Ans. (d)
Sol. The paragraph is describing about the functioning of BCCI and meeting the expectation of maintaining transparency with the public. However, the word ‘receipt’ means the action of receiving something or the fact of its being received thus, to make the sentence grammatically and contextually correct it should be replaced with ‘purview’ which is a noun and it means ‘the scope of the influence or concerns of something.’ Hence, option (d) is the correct choice.

S12. Ans. (d)
Sol. The paragraph is describing about the functioning of BCCI and meeting the expectation of maintaining transparency with the public. However, in order to make the sentence grammatically correct and contextually meaningful replace ‘reliving’ with ‘rising’ as the sentence of the paragraph is expressing the increase in expectation of maintaining the transparency with the public. Hence, option (d) is the correct answer choice.

S13. Ans. (e)
Sol. As, the theme of the paragraph is about the functioning of BCCI and meeting the expectation of maintaining transparency with the public. The given set of bold words are correct and provide the intended meaning to the paragraph. Since, no replacement is required option (e) becomes the most viable answer choice.

S14. Ans. (b)
Sol. The usage of the word ‘vision’ is incorrect as ‘vision’ means the ability to think about or plan the future with imagination or wisdom. It is to be noted that the sentence of the paragraph is describing about an ongoing time [in recent years] therefore the word ‘vision’ becomes incorrect as it gives an impression of a future plan to be implemented. Thus, the correct word that should make the sentence contextually correct is ‘view’. Hence, option (b) becomes the most feasible answer choice.

S15. Ans. (e)
Sol. As, the theme of the paragraph is about the functioning of BCCI and meeting the expectation of maintaining transparency with the public. The given set of bold words are correct and provide the intended meaning to the paragraph. Since, no replacement is required option (e) becomes the most viable answer choice.

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