Direction (Q. 1 - 10) : Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it.
India has had encouraging success in reducing extreme poverty: the official poverty rate has halved from 45% in 1994 to 22% in 2012. It’s time to set the country’s sights on a new horizon, helping as many as 580 million people build a more economically empowered life. This will require a substantial shift in focus. Only 10% of the impact will depend on additional government spending. The rest will come from job creation, productivity and improved delivery of basic services. MGI has created the Empowerment Line, a new measure of the consumption required for an average Indian to fulfill eight basic needs: food, energy, housing, drinking water, sanitation, healthcare, education, and social security. Evaluating current consumption levels against these benchmarks and considering the value of government spending that already reaches people, we find 56% of India’s population, or 680 million Indians, lack the means to meet essential needs. The Empowerment Gap, or the additional consumption required to bring these 680 million above the Empowerment Line, is seven times higher than the cost of eliminating extreme poverty. But money isn’t the only issue. Access to social infrastructure is as important. MGI’s Access Deprivation Score measures the availability of essential services such as clinics and schools, electricity and sanitation.
Our research finds Indian households, on average, lack access to 46% of the basic services they need, and the extent of their deprivation varies across districts. From 2004-05 to 2011-12, public spending on basic services rose faster than GDP, but its impact on poverty reduction was limited by leakage, wastage or ineffectiveness. By contrast, almost three-quarters of the reduction in India’s Empowerment Gap during this period came from jobs and productivity growth. Without major reforms, our research suggests, 36% of the population could remain below the Empowerment Line in 2022 and 12% would remain trapped in extreme poverty. But by focusing on job creation, higher productivity and improved delivery of services, India can reduce the population below the Empowerment Line to 7% and extreme poverty can be virtually eradicated by 2022. For this, three pillars are essential: first, India needs to add another 115 million non-farm jobs over the next decade, with the manufacturing and construction sectors, along with labor-intensive services, such as tourism, forming the backbone. Second, India’s farms need to double their rate of productivity growth rate in order to bring farm yields in line with those in other emerging Asian countries. These two pillars contribute almost three-quarters of the improvement we envision. Finally, India needs to revamp the way it delivers basic services so that every rupee of increased public spending can go further. The nationwide efficiency of basic services can reach 75%, up from 50% currently, if all states match standards already set by India’s best-performing ones. Public spending on basic services is an important fourth level, and this needs to grow at a more modest 6.7% annually.
Beyond meeting food, energy and housing subsidy commitments, much of the increase must be channeled into expansion of healthcare, water and sanitation systems. Unleashing broad-based job and productivity growth will require reforms that remove barriers to competitiveness and investment — not just for large businesses, but for millions of small enterprises that struggle to expand. Measures can also be taken to make the labor market more flexible; states taking these steps have been more successful in creating jobs. Focused public investment can seed industrial clusters, tourism circuits and food processing parks, generating jobs in regions where the need is greatest. Similarly, farm yields can be raised by increasing investment in infrastructure, research and technology, and by streamlining agricultural bureaucracy to make its policies and extension services more farmer-centric. A shift to growth-oriented investment can pay back through higher tax revenues, helping achieve India’s combined fiscal deficit target of 6% by 2017. Better governance will also be required to transform the way India delivers basic services, as the poor feel these failures most acutely in their day-to-day lives. The time has come to put job creation, productivity improvement and effective public service delivery at the centre of India’s national agenda.
1. Which of the following is possibly the most appropriate title for the passage ?
1) Poverty reduction in India.
2) Economic growth: The impact on poverty reduction.
3) Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.
4) India : from poverty to empowerment.
5) Empowerment in India.
2. Which of the following is definitely true according to the passage ?
1) If voluntary organizations were to make a massive effort to take up the millennium development goals, the India's citizen
can make deep inroads in the fight against hunger.
2) Despite widespread poverty in the country, India is on track to meet the United Nations' MDG of poverty reduction by 2015.
3) If the current pace continues, India will meet the poverty reduction target by 2015.
4) All of the above
5) None of these
3. Which of the following can be said poverty in India as given in the passage ?
1) India is estimated to have one–third of the world's poor.
2) Many girls are married off at an early age, become servants just to survive.
3) The poorest parts of India are Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Chattisgarh and West Bengal.
4) 42.5 percent of children in India suffer from chronic malnutrition.
5) None of these
4. What do you meant by labour market ?
1) In the labor market, employers compete to hire the best and the workers compete for the best satisfying job.
2) A labour market in an economy functions with demand and supply of labor.
3) The nominal market in which workers find paying work, employers find willing workers, and wage rates are determined.
4) Only 1 and 3
5) All of the above
5. Which is not a basic need according to author ?
1) Education
2) Sanitation
3) Accommodation
4) Desire for respect and appreciation
5) Social security
3. Which of the following can be said poverty in India as given in the passage ?
1) India is estimated to have one–third of the world's poor.
2) Many girls are married off at an early age, become servants just to survive.
3) The poorest parts of India are Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Chattisgarh and West Bengal.
4) 42.5 percent of children in India suffer from chronic malnutrition.
5) None of these
4. What do you meant by labour market ?
1) In the labor market, employers compete to hire the best and the workers compete for the best satisfying job.
2) A labour market in an economy functions with demand and supply of labor.
3) The nominal market in which workers find paying work, employers find willing workers, and wage rates are determined.
4) Only 1 and 3
5) All of the above
5. Which is not a basic need according to author ?
1) Education
2) Sanitation
3) Accommodation
4) Desire for respect and appreciation
5) Social security
ANSWERS:
1.4
2.5
3.5
4.4
5.4
No comments:
Post a Comment