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According to the passage, rural roads should be in the domain of public sector only. Why? · UPSC CSE Prelims

Inference & Conclusion

Passage

Passage - 2

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.

Inference & Conclusion

Comprehension · PYQ 2014

According to the passage, rural roads should be in the domain of public sector only. Why?

Discussion

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  • New
  • HIHistory of India
  • GEGeography
  • IPIndian Polity & Governance
  • ESEconomic & Social Development
  • EEEnvironment & Ecology
  • GSGeneral Science & Technology
  • CACurrent Affairs
  • COComprehension
  • LRLogical Reasoning & Analytical Ability
  • DMDecision Making & Problem Solving
  • ICInterpersonal & Communication Skills
  • BNBasic Numeracy & Data Interpretation

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Regarding Peacock tarantula (Gooty tarantula), consider the following statements:

I. It is an omnivorous crustacean.

II. Its natural habitat in India is only limited to some forest areas.

III. In its natural habitat, it is an arboreal species.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

1

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Which of the following is not included in the assets of a commercial bank in India?

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Which of the following brings out the ‘Consumer Price Index Number for Industrial Workers’?

Gupta & Post-Gupta Age

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With reference to the period of Gupta dynasty in ancient India, the towns Ghantasala, Kadura and Chaul were well known as

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Atal Innovation Mission is set up under the

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Under the Indian Constitution, concentration of wealth violates

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India is a member of which among the following?

1.Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation

2.Association of South-East Asian Nations

3.East Asia Summit

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

Inference & Conclusion

Comprehension · PYQ 2016

Passage

Historically, the biggest challenge to world agriculture has been to achieve a balance between demand for and supply of food. At the level of individual countries, the demand-supply balance can be a critical policy issue for a closed economy, especially if it is a populous economy and its domestic agriculture is not growing sufficiently enough to ensure food supplies, on an enduring basis; it is not so much and not always, of a constraint for an open, and growing economy, which has adequate exchange surpluses to buy food abroad. For the world as a whole, supply-demand balance is always an inescapable prerequisite for warding off hunger and starvation. However, global availability of adequate supply does not necessarily mean that food would automatically move from countries of surplus to countries of deficit if the latter lack in purchasing power. The uneven distribution of hunger, starvation, under- or malnourishment, etc., at the world-level, thus owes itself to the presence of empty-pocket hungry mouths, overwhelmingly confined to the underdeveloped economies. Inasmuch as ‘a two-square meal’ is of elemental significance to basic human existence, the issue of worldwide supply of food has been gaining significance, in recent times; both because the quantum and the composition of demand has been undergoing big changes, and because, in recent years, the capabilities of individual countries to generate uninterrupted chain of food supplies have come under strain. Food production, marketing and prices, especially price-affordability by the poor in the developing world, have become global issues that need global thinking and global solutions.

According to the above passage, which of the following helps/help in reducing hunger and starvation in the developing economies?

1.Balancing demand and supply of food

2.Increasing imports of food

3.Increasing purchasing power of the poor

4.Changing the food consumption patterns and practices

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

Relations, Directions & Calendars

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A person facing the East travels 4 km straight and then turns right and travels 3 km, then further turns left and travels 2 km and finally turns left and travels 3 km. The minimum distance between the final point and the initial point, and the direction in which the person is facing at the final point are, respectively

International Relations & Organisations

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Consider the following statements:

The 'Stability and Growth Pact' of the European Union is a treaty that

1.limits the levels of the budgetary deficit of the countries of the European Union

2.makes the countries of the European Union to share their infrastructure facilities

3.enables the countries of the European Union to share their technologies

How many of the above statements are correct?

Number System

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Let XYZ be a three-digit number, where (X + Y + Z) is not a multiple of 3. Then (XYZ + YZX + ZXY) is not divisible by

Defence Technology

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Which one of the following statements best reflects the idea behind the "Fractional Orbital Bombardment System" often talked about in media?

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