English Quiz for Bank Exams 2016 – Set 10

Read the following
passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. Certain
words/phrases have been printed in bold to help you locate them while answering
some of the questions.

In India, innovation is emerging
as one of the most important rubrics in the discourse on how to bring about
greater and more consistent economic and social development. One observes
steadily growing investments in R and D across the country, the setting up of
national and state innovation bodies, as well as the introduction of
government-sponsored innovation funds.

There have also been several
conferences and debates on innovation and how to best promote and accomplish it
in India, and a number of articles on the subject, written for newspapers and
magazines, as well as more informal platforms like online forums and blogs.
Academic engagement and Indian authorship on the subject have also exploded in
the last five years. Despite widespread agreement on the importance of
innovation in India, there are wide gulfs between different conceptions of
innovation and the path India should take towards securing benefits through
investments in innovation. Many Indian conversations around innovation begin by
talking about jugaad, that uniquely Indian approach to a temporary fix when
something complex, like an automobile or a steam engine stops working.

However, many observers have
pointed out that while jugaad is certainly innovative, it is a response to the
lack of an innovation culture-more a survival or coping mechanism at a time of
need than a systematic methodology to effectively address a wideranging,
complex set of problems. Another specifically Indian approach to innovation
that has entered into wide currency of late is so-called
‘frugal innovation,’ deemed by many to be the most appropriate for the Indian
context. In its midterm assessment of the 11th five-year plan, the Planning
Commission stressed the need for innovation in India in order to ‘accelerate
its growth and to make growth more inclusive as well as environmentally
sustainable. ‘The document went on to say that’ India needs more frugal
innovation that produces more frugal cost products and services that are
affordable by people at low levels of incomes without compromising the
safety, efficiency, and utility of the products.

The country also needs processes
of innovation that are frugal in the resources required to produce the
innovations. The products and processes must also have frugal impact on the
earth’s resources’. Two people formulated a similar theory called the
More-from-Less-for-More (MLM theory of innovation) theory of Innovation, which
advocates a focus on innovations that allow for more production using fewer
resources but benefit more people. Under this rubric come products that are more
affordable versions of existing technologies. While both frugal innovation and
the MLM theory are certainly valuable in terms of bringing affordable products
and services to a greater number of people, and may even be considered a
necessary first step on India’s innovation path, they barely graze the surface
of what innovation can accomplish. That is innovation is capable of bringing
about complete paradigm-shifts and redefining the way we perceive and interact
with the world. Take the cell phone, for example : it revolutionized
communication in a previously inconceivable way, provided
consumers with a product of unprecedented value and created an entirely new
market. The cell phone was a result of years of directed, intentional
innovation efforts and large investments, and would not have ever been created
if the people responsible simply set out to make the existing telephone cheaper
and more accessible to all.

While jugaad and frugal
innovation may be indicative of the Indian potential for
innovativeness, this potential is not utilized or given opportunity to flourish
due to the lack of an enabling culture. India’s many diverse
and complex needs can be met only through systematic innovation, and major
shifts have to first take place in our educational institutions, government
policies and commercial firms in order for such an innovation enabling culture
to come about.

The one thing that India’s
innovation theorists have not said is that the absence of a culture of
innovation is intrinsically linked to many of the most
intractable problems facing India as a nation. These include poor delivery of
government services, inadequate systems of personal identification and the
absence of widely available financial services for rural poor, health and
sanitation failures.

This list can go on.
Cumulatively, the inability of India as a nation, society and economy to
adequately provide for its own population no longer reflects a failure of
implementation, but rather of a failure of innovation, for there are not
immediately-available off-the-shelf solutions that would make it possible for
these grand challenges facing India to be redressed. Rather, we
need to look at these intractable problems from the more sophisticated and
empowering lens of innovation, for them to begin to be solved.

1. Which of the
following depict/s the growing importance of innovation in India ?

A. Increased investment in research.

B. Initiation of Govt. backed funds for innovation

C. Increase in number of conferences arranged and articles
written on innovation.

1) Only B

2) Only A and B

3) Only C

4) Only B and C

5) All A, B and C

2. Which of the
following best describes the MLM theory of innovation ?

1) Maximise output by using least number of resources and
benefiting a small number of people.

2) Maximise resource utilization and cost thereby benefit
maximum number of people.

3) Minimise output and resource utilization, yet benefit the
maximum number of people.

4) Benefit most number of people through least usage of
resources and maximum output.

5) Benefit most number of people through maximum usage of
resources and minimising cost.

3. Which of the
following is possibly the most appropriate title for the passage ?

1) Innovation At Its Best

2) India And The Elixir called Innovation

3) Innovation Around The World vis-à-vis India And Other
Neighbouring Countries

4) Worldwide Developments In Innovation

5) Innovation-The History

4. What tone is the
author employing in the entire passage to get his message across ?

1) Pessimistic

2) Sarcastic

3) Urgent

4) Informative

5) Dubious

5. Why, according to
the author, is India unable to adequately provide for its people ?

1) Failure to implement schemes and initiatives meant for
the Indian populace.

2) Absence of regulatory authorities to oversee the
implementation process.

3) Failure to innovate in order to find solutions.

 4) Lack of
governmental schemes and initiatives to redress the challenges faced by India.

5) Hesitance of the Indian people in trying out different
schemes provided by the Government for upliftment.

6. Why, according to
some people, is ‘jugaad’ not the answer to India’s problems ?

1) Many a times this methodology backfires leading to
further complications.

2) ‘jugaad’ provides only cheap solutions to all problems.

3) It is reactive and not a proactive and organized method
of finding solutions to problems.

4) It can provide solutions to only simple problems and not
complex ones.

5) None of these

7. Which of the
following is/are true about the cell phone ?

A. The innovation of the cell phone required investment of
huge capital.

B. The cell phone, when invented was meant to be affordable
to all.

C. The cell phone was made available to the public in a very
short time from its ideation.

1) Only A

2) Only A and B

3) Only B and C

4) Only B

5) All A, B and C

8. What does the
author mean by ‘frugal impact on the earth’s resources’ as given in the passage
?

1) The damage to the environment should be assessable.

2) More consumption of natural resources as compared to
manmade ones.

3) Minimum impact on the environment in terms of pollution.

4) The impact on the environment should be such that it is
reversible.

5) Minimum usage of earth’s natural resources.

Directions—(Q. 9–13)
Choose the word/ group of words which is most similar in meaning to the word/group of words printed in bold as used
in the passage.

9. REDRESSED

1) addressed

2) equalised

3) restored

4) redone

5) rearranged

10. CURRENCY

1) notes 2) usage

3) money 4) cash

5) value

11. INTRINSICALLY

1) internally 2) whole-heartedly

3) fundamentally 4) virtually

5) unavoidably

12. INDICATIVE

1) causative 2) forthcoming

3) verbal 4) abstract

5) suggestive

13. COMPROMISING

1) cooperating with

2) reducing the quality

3) hampering the progress

 4) conciliating in
order to

5) adjusting for the better

Directions—(Q. 14 and
15) Choose the word/ group of words which is most opposite in meaning to the
word/group of words printed in bold as
used in the passage.

14. LACK

1) presence 2) sufficiency

3) charisma 4) adequacy

5) dearth

15. INCONCEIVABLE

1) visible 2) truthful

3) incredible 4) apparent

5) complex

Winners:

1. Srishti Bisaria – 12/15
2. The Dictator – 10/15

Use today’s “ASK THE MENTOR” Page for any query.

Please don’t post random comments, we hate to delete L