RC Practice Exercise - 5

Which of the following statements is/are true?

1. Agriculture is the largest job provider in any country.
2. Most of the countries derive income by processing raw food material.
3. India is one of the largest producers of milk and live stock in the world.

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Agriculture occupies a pivotal position for ensuring livelihood, food and nutritional security, sustainable development and eradication of poverty in India. It is the prime sector for generating employment opportunities for majority of the population of any country. 
The contribution of agriculture sector to the national gross domestic product (GDP) has been continuously declining over the years, while other sectors, especially the service sector, are showing an increasing trend. In 1970-71 agriculture sector contributed about 44 per cent of GDP, which declined substantially to 13.5 per cent in 2010-11 (at 2004-05).
During the last decade, there was a paradigm shift in the patterns of production, consumption, and trade in Indian agriculture through the use of new technologies. The shift in production and consumption from food-grains to high-value agricultural commodities such as fruits and vegetables, milk and milk products, meat, eggs, fish etc. took place in a big way. Now there is a declining share of traditional crops/commodities in production, consumption and trade in India. Agriculture, horticulture and other non-traditional high-value, agricultural crops occupy an important place in income growth in rural areas.
Despite being one of the largest producers of many agricultural commodities such as fruits, vegetables, milk and livestock etc. in the world, the extent of value addition to raw food material in India is only 8% while it is 23%, 45% and 188% in China, Philippines and UK respectively. Furthermore, only 2.2% of total fruits and vegetables is processed in India as compared to 30% in Thailand, 80% in Malaysia and 70% in UK.
It is pertinent to mention here that total annual loss during the post harvest operations under agriculture produce is approximately Rs. 88000 crore. This trend can be reversed by properly financing to secondary agriculture, which can lead to 2-3 times value addition to primary agriculture products. Most of the primary agriculture produce requires processing before being finally consumed and the value addition/processing of the farm production to transform it into consumable item which is called secondary agriculture. It includes processing and value addition in all food and non-food products for human, animal and industrial use.

The passage refers to a paradigm shift. It refers to

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Agriculture occupies a pivotal position for ensuring livelihood, food and nutritional security, sustainable development and eradication of poverty in India. It is the prime sector for generating employment opportunities for majority of the population of any country. 
The contribution of agriculture sector to the national gross domestic product (GDP) has been continuously declining over the years, while other sectors, especially the service sector, are showing an increasing trend. In 1970-71 agriculture sector contributed about 44 per cent of GDP, which declined substantially to 13.5 per cent in 2010-11 (at 2004-05).
During the last decade, there was a paradigm shift in the patterns of production, consumption, and trade in Indian agriculture through the use of new technologies. The shift in production and consumption from food-grains to high-value agricultural commodities such as fruits and vegetables, milk and milk products, meat, eggs, fish etc. took place in a big way. Now there is a declining share of traditional crops/commodities in production, consumption and trade in India. Agriculture, horticulture and other non-traditional high-value, agricultural crops occupy an important place in income growth in rural areas.
Despite being one of the largest producers of many agricultural commodities such as fruits, vegetables, milk and livestock etc. in the world, the extent of value addition to raw food material in India is only 8% while it is 23%, 45% and 188% in China, Philippines and UK respectively. Furthermore, only 2.2% of total fruits and vegetables is processed in India as compared to 30% in Thailand, 80% in Malaysia and 70% in UK.
It is pertinent to mention here that total annual loss during the post harvest operations under agriculture produce is approximately Rs. 88000 crore. This trend can be reversed by properly financing to secondary agriculture, which can lead to 2-3 times value addition to primary agriculture products. Most of the primary agriculture produce requires processing before being finally consumed and the value addition/processing of the farm production to transform it into consumable item which is called secondary agriculture. It includes processing and value addition in all food and non-food products for human, animal and industrial use.

What is the most important issue for banks in India?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Indian banking has undergone a total transformation over the last decade. Moving seamlessly from a manual, scale-constrained environment to a technology-lending tradition, it has been a miracle. Nowhere in the world has such a transformation taken place in such a short span of time at such a low cost. The process began in 1999-2000, when a couple of banks signed their first core-banking transformation deal with Infosys. By 2009, about 50 banks with about 55,000 branches had completed the migration, offering their customers anywhere, anytime banking through various channels. Today, a consumer can go to an ATM across more than 44,000 locations, operate the bank account through the web, with instant reconciliation facility and all information available in a single database to help the decision makers.
Banking industry has grown at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20% during the last decade. It has grown by a factor of five times. Total deposits have grown by 4.8 times, assets by 6.6 times, income interest by 9.5 times and net-worth by 4.5 times. Employee strength has grown by a mere 5%. This is an incredible transformation of an industry with no parallel in country. During 2000-2009, the gross domestic product (GDP) nearly trebled from Rs. 19,25,000 crore to Rs. 54,75,000 crore. Return on assets (ROA) which varies between 0.25% and 1.5% worldwide has risen from 0.87% to 1.0% in 2009 in the country.
In contrast to most countries, in India retail deposit forms a sizeable chunk of gross domestic savings, creating a large potential for investment. The ratio of the total deposit to GDP, which stood at 44% in 2000, has now climbed to 74%. However, the credit to GDP ratio presents an opposite picture and at 55% India lags behind many countries whose banks lend more than the size of their economies. We also have to catch up with the world’s best run banks in the area of cost management. India’s cost-income ratio lies anywhere between 37% and 66% and it is no match for international benchmark of 30-35%.
But the transformation is remarkable and this transformation has largely been enabled by indigenously developed information technology tools. Looking forward, the journey becomes even more remarkable, possibly because of the technology transformation that the banking sector has undergone. Although impressive, these numbers pale into insignificance when compared to the projected growth in the customer base. As per an estimate, Indian banks will add another 400 million customer accounts in the next decade. The focus on financial inclusion will deepen with the government and the industry working together. This has enormous implications for the industry, which must scale up systems, processes and infrastructure as well as boost the employee productivity to manage such growth. Likewise, the industry must change its mindset and innovate to cater to the unique needs of the next generation consumers when, according to a demographic projection for 2019, 450 million Indians will be below the age of 20.
The emergence of the new class of customers is the result of this transformation process of the last decade. The emerging challenges call for a new, more dynamic, and aggressive and challenging banking culture which meets the demands of customer relationships, product differentiation, brand values, reputation, corporate governance and regulatory prescriptions. Every bank, depending on its strategy, will have to migrate to its best position in this new structure from the branch level itself. The basic aim of the above strategies will have to be to improve the business performance of the banks. The size of ubiquitous and mass market retail banking and entry of non-traditional players will result in both seeking to collaborate more. And banking will wear a totally new look as urban consumers use their hand-held devices in lieu of cash and their rural counterparts discover the benefits of smart cards and other plastic technologies.

The author attributes emergence of the new class of customers to ‘this transformation’. According to the passage ‘this transformation’ is

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Indian banking has undergone a total transformation over the last decade. Moving seamlessly from a manual, scale-constrained environment to a technology-lending tradition, it has been a miracle. Nowhere in the world has such a transformation taken place in such a short span of time at such a low cost. The process began in 1999-2000, when a couple of banks signed their first core-banking transformation deal with Infosys. By 2009, about 50 banks with about 55,000 branches had completed the migration, offering their customers anywhere, anytime banking through various channels. Today, a consumer can go to an ATM across more than 44,000 locations, operate the bank account through the web, with instant reconciliation facility and all information available in a single database to help the decision makers.
Banking industry has grown at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20% during the last decade. It has grown by a factor of five times. Total deposits have grown by 4.8 times, assets by 6.6 times, income interest by 9.5 times and net-worth by 4.5 times. Employee strength has grown by a mere 5%. This is an incredible transformation of an industry with no parallel in country. During 2000-2009, the gross domestic product (GDP) nearly trebled from Rs. 19,25,000 crore to Rs. 54,75,000 crore. Return on assets (ROA) which varies between 0.25% and 1.5% worldwide has risen from 0.87% to 1.0% in 2009 in the country.
In contrast to most countries, in India retail deposit forms a sizeable chunk of gross domestic savings, creating a large potential for investment. The ratio of the total deposit to GDP, which stood at 44% in 2000, has now climbed to 74%. However, the credit to GDP ratio presents an opposite picture and at 55% India lags behind many countries whose banks lend more than the size of their economies. We also have to catch up with the world’s best run banks in the area of cost management. India’s cost-income ratio lies anywhere between 37% and 66% and it is no match for international benchmark of 30-35%.
But the transformation is remarkable and this transformation has largely been enabled by indigenously developed information technology tools. Looking forward, the journey becomes even more remarkable, possibly because of the technology transformation that the banking sector has undergone. Although impressive, these numbers pale into insignificance when compared to the projected growth in the customer base. As per an estimate, Indian banks will add another 400 million customer accounts in the next decade. The focus on financial inclusion will deepen with the government and the industry working together. This has enormous implications for the industry, which must scale up systems, processes and infrastructure as well as boost the employee productivity to manage such growth. Likewise, the industry must change its mindset and innovate to cater to the unique needs of the next generation consumers when, according to a demographic projection for 2019, 450 million Indians will be below the age of 20.
The emergence of the new class of customers is the result of this transformation process of the last decade. The emerging challenges call for a new, more dynamic, and aggressive and challenging banking culture which meets the demands of customer relationships, product differentiation, brand values, reputation, corporate governance and regulatory prescriptions. Every bank, depending on its strategy, will have to migrate to its best position in this new structure from the branch level itself. The basic aim of the above strategies will have to be to improve the business performance of the banks. The size of ubiquitous and mass market retail banking and entry of non-traditional players will result in both seeking to collaborate more. And banking will wear a totally new look as urban consumers use their hand-held devices in lieu of cash and their rural counterparts discover the benefits of smart cards and other plastic technologies.

Which of the following demands, according to the passage, are required to be met by the challenging banking culture?

1. Brand values
2. Corporate governance
3. Customer relationship
4. Financial inclusion

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Indian banking has undergone a total transformation over the last decade. Moving seamlessly from a manual, scale-constrained environment to a technology-lending tradition, it has been a miracle. Nowhere in the world has such a transformation taken place in such a short span of time at such a low cost. The process began in 1999-2000, when a couple of banks signed their first core-banking transformation deal with Infosys. By 2009, about 50 banks with about 55,000 branches had completed the migration, offering their customers anywhere, anytime banking through various channels. Today, a consumer can go to an ATM across more than 44,000 locations, operate the bank account through the web, with instant reconciliation facility and all information available in a single database to help the decision makers.
Banking industry has grown at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20% during the last decade. It has grown by a factor of five times. Total deposits have grown by 4.8 times, assets by 6.6 times, income interest by 9.5 times and net-worth by 4.5 times. Employee strength has grown by a mere 5%. This is an incredible transformation of an industry with no parallel in country. During 2000-2009, the gross domestic product (GDP) nearly trebled from Rs. 19,25,000 crore to Rs. 54,75,000 crore. Return on assets (ROA) which varies between 0.25% and 1.5% worldwide has risen from 0.87% to 1.0% in 2009 in the country.
In contrast to most countries, in India retail deposit forms a sizeable chunk of gross domestic savings, creating a large potential for investment. The ratio of the total deposit to GDP, which stood at 44% in 2000, has now climbed to 74%. However, the credit to GDP ratio presents an opposite picture and at 55% India lags behind many countries whose banks lend more than the size of their economies. We also have to catch up with the world’s best run banks in the area of cost management. India’s cost-income ratio lies anywhere between 37% and 66% and it is no match for international benchmark of 30-35%.
But the transformation is remarkable and this transformation has largely been enabled by indigenously developed information technology tools. Looking forward, the journey becomes even more remarkable, possibly because of the technology transformation that the banking sector has undergone. Although impressive, these numbers pale into insignificance when compared to the projected growth in the customer base. As per an estimate, Indian banks will add another 400 million customer accounts in the next decade. The focus on financial inclusion will deepen with the government and the industry working together. This has enormous implications for the industry, which must scale up systems, processes and infrastructure as well as boost the employee productivity to manage such growth. Likewise, the industry must change its mindset and innovate to cater to the unique needs of the next generation consumers when, according to a demographic projection for 2019, 450 million Indians will be below the age of 20.
The emergence of the new class of customers is the result of this transformation process of the last decade. The emerging challenges call for a new, more dynamic, and aggressive and challenging banking culture which meets the demands of customer relationships, product differentiation, brand values, reputation, corporate governance and regulatory prescriptions. Every bank, depending on its strategy, will have to migrate to its best position in this new structure from the branch level itself. The basic aim of the above strategies will have to be to improve the business performance of the banks. The size of ubiquitous and mass market retail banking and entry of non-traditional players will result in both seeking to collaborate more. And banking will wear a totally new look as urban consumers use their hand-held devices in lieu of cash and their rural counterparts discover the benefits of smart cards and other plastic technologies.

Which according to the passage is/are the indicator(s) of an incredible transformation for which there is no parallel in the country?

1. While deposits, assets, income interest and net worth of banks have grown manifold, there has been no significant increase in the number of employees, a feat not achieved by any other industry in the country.
2. During 2000-2009, the gross domestic product (GDP) nearly trebled from Rs. 1925,000 crore to Rs. 5475,000 crore. Return on assets (ROA) which varies between 0.25% and 1.5% worldwide has risen from 0.87% to 1.0% in 2009 in the country.
3. The transformation is remarkable as this transformation has been largely enabled by indigenously developed information technology tools and this helped create a world leading banking industry in India.
4. There has been an incredible growth in young customers who have forced banking industry to work out new products to meet the growing requirements of the new and burgeoning client base in India.

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Indian banking has undergone a total transformation over the last decade. Moving seamlessly from a manual, scale-constrained environment to a technology-lending tradition, it has been a miracle. Nowhere in the world has such a transformation taken place in such a short span of time at such a low cost. The process began in 1999-2000, when a couple of banks signed their first core-banking transformation deal with Infosys. By 2009, about 50 banks with about 55,000 branches had completed the migration, offering their customers anywhere, anytime banking through various channels. Today, a consumer can go to an ATM across more than 44,000 locations, operate the bank account through the web, with instant reconciliation facility and all information available in a single database to help the decision makers.
Banking industry has grown at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20% during the last decade. It has grown by a factor of five times. Total deposits have grown by 4.8 times, assets by 6.6 times, income interest by 9.5 times and net-worth by 4.5 times. Employee strength has grown by a mere 5%. This is an incredible transformation of an industry with no parallel in country. During 2000-2009, the gross domestic product (GDP) nearly trebled from Rs. 19,25,000 crore to Rs. 54,75,000 crore. Return on assets (ROA) which varies between 0.25% and 1.5% worldwide has risen from 0.87% to 1.0% in 2009 in the country.
In contrast to most countries, in India retail deposit forms a sizeable chunk of gross domestic savings, creating a large potential for investment. The ratio of the total deposit to GDP, which stood at 44% in 2000, has now climbed to 74%. However, the credit to GDP ratio presents an opposite picture and at 55% India lags behind many countries whose banks lend more than the size of their economies. We also have to catch up with the world’s best run banks in the area of cost management. India’s cost-income ratio lies anywhere between 37% and 66% and it is no match for international benchmark of 30-35%.
But the transformation is remarkable and this transformation has largely been enabled by indigenously developed information technology tools. Looking forward, the journey becomes even more remarkable, possibly because of the technology transformation that the banking sector has undergone. Although impressive, these numbers pale into insignificance when compared to the projected growth in the customer base. As per an estimate, Indian banks will add another 400 million customer accounts in the next decade. The focus on financial inclusion will deepen with the government and the industry working together. This has enormous implications for the industry, which must scale up systems, processes and infrastructure as well as boost the employee productivity to manage such growth. Likewise, the industry must change its mindset and innovate to cater to the unique needs of the next generation consumers when, according to a demographic projection for 2019, 450 million Indians will be below the age of 20.
The emergence of the new class of customers is the result of this transformation process of the last decade. The emerging challenges call for a new, more dynamic, and aggressive and challenging banking culture which meets the demands of customer relationships, product differentiation, brand values, reputation, corporate governance and regulatory prescriptions. Every bank, depending on its strategy, will have to migrate to its best position in this new structure from the branch level itself. The basic aim of the above strategies will have to be to improve the business performance of the banks. The size of ubiquitous and mass market retail banking and entry of non-traditional players will result in both seeking to collaborate more. And banking will wear a totally new look as urban consumers use their hand-held devices in lieu of cash and their rural counterparts discover the benefits of smart cards and other plastic technologies.

Why does the author call transition from scale constrained banking to technology lending tradition a miracle?

1. Because of the negligible cost involved in the transition
2. Because the transition happened in a short span of time
3. Because some banks migrated to CBS by aligning with Infosys
4. Because the cost involved and time taken was very little

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Indian banking has undergone a total transformation over the last decade. Moving seamlessly from a manual, scale-constrained environment to a technology-lending tradition, it has been a miracle. Nowhere in the world has such a transformation taken place in such a short span of time at such a low cost. The process began in 1999-2000, when a couple of banks signed their first core-banking transformation deal with Infosys. By 2009, about 50 banks with about 55,000 branches had completed the migration, offering their customers anywhere, anytime banking through various channels. Today, a consumer can go to an ATM across more than 44,000 locations, operate the bank account through the web, with instant reconciliation facility and all information available in a single database to help the decision makers.
Banking industry has grown at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20% during the last decade. It has grown by a factor of five times. Total deposits have grown by 4.8 times, assets by 6.6 times, income interest by 9.5 times and net-worth by 4.5 times. Employee strength has grown by a mere 5%. This is an incredible transformation of an industry with no parallel in country. During 2000-2009, the gross domestic product (GDP) nearly trebled from Rs. 19,25,000 crore to Rs. 54,75,000 crore. Return on assets (ROA) which varies between 0.25% and 1.5% worldwide has risen from 0.87% to 1.0% in 2009 in the country.
In contrast to most countries, in India retail deposit forms a sizeable chunk of gross domestic savings, creating a large potential for investment. The ratio of the total deposit to GDP, which stood at 44% in 2000, has now climbed to 74%. However, the credit to GDP ratio presents an opposite picture and at 55% India lags behind many countries whose banks lend more than the size of their economies. We also have to catch up with the world’s best run banks in the area of cost management. India’s cost-income ratio lies anywhere between 37% and 66% and it is no match for international benchmark of 30-35%.
But the transformation is remarkable and this transformation has largely been enabled by indigenously developed information technology tools. Looking forward, the journey becomes even more remarkable, possibly because of the technology transformation that the banking sector has undergone. Although impressive, these numbers pale into insignificance when compared to the projected growth in the customer base. As per an estimate, Indian banks will add another 400 million customer accounts in the next decade. The focus on financial inclusion will deepen with the government and the industry working together. This has enormous implications for the industry, which must scale up systems, processes and infrastructure as well as boost the employee productivity to manage such growth. Likewise, the industry must change its mindset and innovate to cater to the unique needs of the next generation consumers when, according to a demographic projection for 2019, 450 million Indians will be below the age of 20.
The emergence of the new class of customers is the result of this transformation process of the last decade. The emerging challenges call for a new, more dynamic, and aggressive and challenging banking culture which meets the demands of customer relationships, product differentiation, brand values, reputation, corporate governance and regulatory prescriptions. Every bank, depending on its strategy, will have to migrate to its best position in this new structure from the branch level itself. The basic aim of the above strategies will have to be to improve the business performance of the banks. The size of ubiquitous and mass market retail banking and entry of non-traditional players will result in both seeking to collaborate more. And banking will wear a totally new look as urban consumers use their hand-held devices in lieu of cash and their rural counterparts discover the benefits of smart cards and other plastic technologies.

What according to the passage took place in a big way?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Agriculture occupies a pivotal position for ensuring livelihood, food and nutritional security, sustainable development and eradication of poverty in India. It is the prime sector for generating employment opportunities for majority of the population of any country. 
The contribution of agriculture sector to the national gross domestic product (GDP) has been continuously declining over the years, while other sectors, especially the service sector, are showing an increasing trend. In 1970-71 agriculture sector contributed about 44 per cent of GDP, which declined substantially to 13.5 per cent in 2010-11 (at 2004-05).
During the last decade, there was a paradigm shift in the patterns of production, consumption, and trade in Indian agriculture through the use of new technologies. The shift in production and consumption from food-grains to high-value agricultural commodities such as fruits and vegetables, milk and milk products, meat, eggs, fish etc. took place in a big way. Now there is a declining share of traditional crops/commodities in production, consumption and trade in India. Agriculture, horticulture and other non-traditional high-value, agricultural crops occupy an important place in income growth in rural areas.
Despite being one of the largest producers of many agricultural commodities such as fruits, vegetables, milk and livestock etc. in the world, the extent of value addition to raw food material in India is only 8% while it is 23%, 45% and 188% in China, Philippines and UK respectively. Furthermore, only 2.2% of total fruits and vegetables is processed in India as compared to 30% in Thailand, 80% in Malaysia and 70% in UK.
It is pertinent to mention here that total annual loss during the post harvest operations under agriculture produce is approximately Rs. 88000 crore. This trend can be reversed by properly financing to secondary agriculture, which can lead to 2-3 times value addition to primary agriculture products. Most of the primary agriculture produce requires processing before being finally consumed and the value addition/processing of the farm production to transform it into consumable item which is called secondary agriculture. It includes processing and value addition in all food and non-food products for human, animal and industrial use.

What is the central idea of the passage?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Until quite recently, scientists told us that the brain declined with age. In fact, there has never been much real evidence for this. For a long while, intelligence quotient (IQ) tests seemed to show that younger people did better than older people, giving rise to the assumption that intelligence declined with age. It turned out that this was not so for two reasons. The first was that it was simply a matter of training: younger people had had more practice doing the kinds of mental tasks set in IQ tests than older people. As soon as older people were trained in these kinds of thinking, their performance levels shot up. The second reason was that the tests were initially done against the clock. If the time pressure was removed, the older people did just as well as their younger counterparts – and it can quite reasonably be argued that older people are slower simply because their experience means they have to sift through more possibilities to reach the right answer. Age widens the mental horizons of an individual.
Now, using techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) scans, scientists have discovered that brain is a flexible living organism with an amazing capacity for change and development throughout an individual’s life. It is said to be ‘plastic’ – that is, it can go on programming and reprogramming itself almost limitlessly. It is evidence like this that is convincing scientists that, just like our body, our brain too needs exercise to stay fit.
The most powerful and important discovery of all is that our brain’s performance is under our control to a much greater extent than scientists ever realized before. It has become clear that the future of the brain is primarily in the hands of its owner, or rather, his own thoughts! The extent to which one keeps challenging one’s brain and maintains his thirst for learning has the greatest influence on how well the brain will keep on performing for him.
There is a theory on age-proofing of brain. It combines theory and practice into a training programme that helps make the most of the amazing brain, no matter what the age of the individual. One learns about different aspects of brain fitness, from mental agility and memory to physical exercise and diet. The more one learns about one’s brain and how it works, the more one is able to make use of its remarkable abilities. Even better, the very act of learning about one’s brain and thinking about how it works is a stimulus as valuable to one’s brain as good food is to one’s body. There is a whole range of techniques and tips that can help an individual in his brain-training programme and kick start him into action.
The programme is divided into sessions of varying intensity and duration. It begins with a 7-Day Get Sharp Plan, which will take just an hour for seven days. At the end of the seven days one will be noticeably sharper and mentally more agile.
The second part of the programme starts with a 7-Week Stay Sharp Plan for which one has to set aside time one day a week for seven weeks. At the end of this, one would feel mentally as slick as one was, say, 10 years ago, if not more. The final part of the programme is about maintaining and building on the progress already made. By the time one reaches the end of the programme, it can be seen that his mental abilities are developing beyond anything achieved before. Even better, because the brain is working well now, the overall quality of life will have improved making one happier, more confident, and more adventurous with renewed lust for life. (Sourced from Age-Proof Your Brain—Tony Buzan)

What according to the passage, works as a valuable stimulus to the brain?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Until quite recently, scientists told us that the brain declined with age. In fact, there has never been much real evidence for this. For a long while, intelligence quotient (IQ) tests seemed to show that younger people did better than older people, giving rise to the assumption that intelligence declined with age. It turned out that this was not so for two reasons. The first was that it was simply a matter of training: younger people had had more practice doing the kinds of mental tasks set in IQ tests than older people. As soon as older people were trained in these kinds of thinking, their performance levels shot up. The second reason was that the tests were initially done against the clock. If the time pressure was removed, the older people did just as well as their younger counterparts – and it can quite reasonably be argued that older people are slower simply because their experience means they have to sift through more possibilities to reach the right answer. Age widens the mental horizons of an individual.
Now, using techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) scans, scientists have discovered that brain is a flexible living organism with an amazing capacity for change and development throughout an individual’s life. It is said to be ‘plastic’ – that is, it can go on programming and reprogramming itself almost limitlessly. It is evidence like this that is convincing scientists that, just like our body, our brain too needs exercise to stay fit.
The most powerful and important discovery of all is that our brain’s performance is under our control to a much greater extent than scientists ever realized before. It has become clear that the future of the brain is primarily in the hands of its owner, or rather, his own thoughts! The extent to which one keeps challenging one’s brain and maintains his thirst for learning has the greatest influence on how well the brain will keep on performing for him.
There is a theory on age-proofing of brain. It combines theory and practice into a training programme that helps make the most of the amazing brain, no matter what the age of the individual. One learns about different aspects of brain fitness, from mental agility and memory to physical exercise and diet. The more one learns about one’s brain and how it works, the more one is able to make use of its remarkable abilities. Even better, the very act of learning about one’s brain and thinking about how it works is a stimulus as valuable to one’s brain as good food is to one’s body. There is a whole range of techniques and tips that can help an individual in his brain-training programme and kick start him into action.
The programme is divided into sessions of varying intensity and duration. It begins with a 7-Day Get Sharp Plan, which will take just an hour for seven days. At the end of the seven days one will be noticeably sharper and mentally more agile.
The second part of the programme starts with a 7-Week Stay Sharp Plan for which one has to set aside time one day a week for seven weeks. At the end of this, one would feel mentally as slick as one was, say, 10 years ago, if not more. The final part of the programme is about maintaining and building on the progress already made. By the time one reaches the end of the programme, it can be seen that his mental abilities are developing beyond anything achieved before. Even better, because the brain is working well now, the overall quality of life will have improved making one happier, more confident, and more adventurous with renewed lust for life. (Sourced from Age-Proof Your Brain—Tony Buzan)

When put to test, older people took more time to complete the assigned task because

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Until quite recently, scientists told us that the brain declined with age. In fact, there has never been much real evidence for this. For a long while, intelligence quotient (IQ) tests seemed to show that younger people did better than older people, giving rise to the assumption that intelligence declined with age. It turned out that this was not so for two reasons. The first was that it was simply a matter of training: younger people had had more practice doing the kinds of mental tasks set in IQ tests than older people. As soon as older people were trained in these kinds of thinking, their performance levels shot up. The second reason was that the tests were initially done against the clock. If the time pressure was removed, the older people did just as well as their younger counterparts – and it can quite reasonably be argued that older people are slower simply because their experience means they have to sift through more possibilities to reach the right answer. Age widens the mental horizons of an individual.
Now, using techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) scans, scientists have discovered that brain is a flexible living organism with an amazing capacity for change and development throughout an individual’s life. It is said to be ‘plastic’ – that is, it can go on programming and reprogramming itself almost limitlessly. It is evidence like this that is convincing scientists that, just like our body, our brain too needs exercise to stay fit.
The most powerful and important discovery of all is that our brain’s performance is under our control to a much greater extent than scientists ever realized before. It has become clear that the future of the brain is primarily in the hands of its owner, or rather, his own thoughts! The extent to which one keeps challenging one’s brain and maintains his thirst for learning has the greatest influence on how well the brain will keep on performing for him.
There is a theory on age-proofing of brain. It combines theory and practice into a training programme that helps make the most of the amazing brain, no matter what the age of the individual. One learns about different aspects of brain fitness, from mental agility and memory to physical exercise and diet. The more one learns about one’s brain and how it works, the more one is able to make use of its remarkable abilities. Even better, the very act of learning about one’s brain and thinking about how it works is a stimulus as valuable to one’s brain as good food is to one’s body. There is a whole range of techniques and tips that can help an individual in his brain-training programme and kick start him into action.
The programme is divided into sessions of varying intensity and duration. It begins with a 7-Day Get Sharp Plan, which will take just an hour for seven days. At the end of the seven days one will be noticeably sharper and mentally more agile.
The second part of the programme starts with a 7-Week Stay Sharp Plan for which one has to set aside time one day a week for seven weeks. At the end of this, one would feel mentally as slick as one was, say, 10 years ago, if not more. The final part of the programme is about maintaining and building on the progress already made. By the time one reaches the end of the programme, it can be seen that his mental abilities are developing beyond anything achieved before. Even better, because the brain is working well now, the overall quality of life will have improved making one happier, more confident, and more adventurous with renewed lust for life. (Sourced from Age-Proof Your Brain—Tony Buzan)

The author has likened human brain to ‘plastic’ in the passage. What attribute of plastic is relevant in the given context of the passage?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Until quite recently, scientists told us that the brain declined with age. In fact, there has never been much real evidence for this. For a long while, intelligence quotient (IQ) tests seemed to show that younger people did better than older people, giving rise to the assumption that intelligence declined with age. It turned out that this was not so for two reasons. The first was that it was simply a matter of training: younger people had had more practice doing the kinds of mental tasks set in IQ tests than older people. As soon as older people were trained in these kinds of thinking, their performance levels shot up. The second reason was that the tests were initially done against the clock. If the time pressure was removed, the older people did just as well as their younger counterparts – and it can quite reasonably be argued that older people are slower simply because their experience means they have to sift through more possibilities to reach the right answer. Age widens the mental horizons of an individual.
Now, using techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) scans, scientists have discovered that brain is a flexible living organism with an amazing capacity for change and development throughout an individual’s life. It is said to be ‘plastic’ – that is, it can go on programming and reprogramming itself almost limitlessly. It is evidence like this that is convincing scientists that, just like our body, our brain too needs exercise to stay fit.
The most powerful and important discovery of all is that our brain’s performance is under our control to a much greater extent than scientists ever realized before. It has become clear that the future of the brain is primarily in the hands of its owner, or rather, his own thoughts! The extent to which one keeps challenging one’s brain and maintains his thirst for learning has the greatest influence on how well the brain will keep on performing for him.
There is a theory on age-proofing of brain. It combines theory and practice into a training programme that helps make the most of the amazing brain, no matter what the age of the individual. One learns about different aspects of brain fitness, from mental agility and memory to physical exercise and diet. The more one learns about one’s brain and how it works, the more one is able to make use of its remarkable abilities. Even better, the very act of learning about one’s brain and thinking about how it works is a stimulus as valuable to one’s brain as good food is to one’s body. There is a whole range of techniques and tips that can help an individual in his brain-training programme and kick start him into action.
The programme is divided into sessions of varying intensity and duration. It begins with a 7-Day Get Sharp Plan, which will take just an hour for seven days. At the end of the seven days one will be noticeably sharper and mentally more agile.
The second part of the programme starts with a 7-Week Stay Sharp Plan for which one has to set aside time one day a week for seven weeks. At the end of this, one would feel mentally as slick as one was, say, 10 years ago, if not more. The final part of the programme is about maintaining and building on the progress already made. By the time one reaches the end of the programme, it can be seen that his mental abilities are developing beyond anything achieved before. Even better, because the brain is working well now, the overall quality of life will have improved making one happier, more confident, and more adventurous with renewed lust for life. (Sourced from Age-Proof Your Brain—Tony Buzan)

There is a huge post harvest operation loss of food materials in India. One of the ways suggested to stem this loss is through

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Agriculture occupies a pivotal position for ensuring livelihood, food and nutritional security, sustainable development and eradication of poverty in India. It is the prime sector for generating employment opportunities for majority of the population of any country. 
The contribution of agriculture sector to the national gross domestic product (GDP) has been continuously declining over the years, while other sectors, especially the service sector, are showing an increasing trend. In 1970-71 agriculture sector contributed about 44 per cent of GDP, which declined substantially to 13.5 per cent in 2010-11 (at 2004-05).
During the last decade, there was a paradigm shift in the patterns of production, consumption, and trade in Indian agriculture through the use of new technologies. The shift in production and consumption from food-grains to high-value agricultural commodities such as fruits and vegetables, milk and milk products, meat, eggs, fish etc. took place in a big way. Now there is a declining share of traditional crops/commodities in production, consumption and trade in India. Agriculture, horticulture and other non-traditional high-value, agricultural crops occupy an important place in income growth in rural areas.
Despite being one of the largest producers of many agricultural commodities such as fruits, vegetables, milk and livestock etc. in the world, the extent of value addition to raw food material in India is only 8% while it is 23%, 45% and 188% in China, Philippines and UK respectively. Furthermore, only 2.2% of total fruits and vegetables is processed in India as compared to 30% in Thailand, 80% in Malaysia and 70% in UK.
It is pertinent to mention here that total annual loss during the post harvest operations under agriculture produce is approximately Rs. 88000 crore. This trend can be reversed by properly financing to secondary agriculture, which can lead to 2-3 times value addition to primary agriculture products. Most of the primary agriculture produce requires processing before being finally consumed and the value addition/processing of the farm production to transform it into consumable item which is called secondary agriculture. It includes processing and value addition in all food and non-food products for human, animal and industrial use.

Which of the following, according to the passage, was a wrongly held view?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Until quite recently, scientists told us that the brain declined with age. In fact, there has never been much real evidence for this. For a long while, intelligence quotient (IQ) tests seemed to show that younger people did better than older people, giving rise to the assumption that intelligence declined with age. It turned out that this was not so for two reasons. The first was that it was simply a matter of training: younger people had had more practice doing the kinds of mental tasks set in IQ tests than older people. As soon as older people were trained in these kinds of thinking, their performance levels shot up. The second reason was that the tests were initially done against the clock. If the time pressure was removed, the older people did just as well as their younger counterparts – and it can quite reasonably be argued that older people are slower simply because their experience means they have to sift through more possibilities to reach the right answer. Age widens the mental horizons of an individual.
Now, using techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) scans, scientists have discovered that brain is a flexible living organism with an amazing capacity for change and development throughout an individual’s life. It is said to be ‘plastic’ – that is, it can go on programming and reprogramming itself almost limitlessly. It is evidence like this that is convincing scientists that, just like our body, our brain too needs exercise to stay fit.
The most powerful and important discovery of all is that our brain’s performance is under our control to a much greater extent than scientists ever realized before. It has become clear that the future of the brain is primarily in the hands of its owner, or rather, his own thoughts! The extent to which one keeps challenging one’s brain and maintains his thirst for learning has the greatest influence on how well the brain will keep on performing for him.
There is a theory on age-proofing of brain. It combines theory and practice into a training programme that helps make the most of the amazing brain, no matter what the age of the individual. One learns about different aspects of brain fitness, from mental agility and memory to physical exercise and diet. The more one learns about one’s brain and how it works, the more one is able to make use of its remarkable abilities. Even better, the very act of learning about one’s brain and thinking about how it works is a stimulus as valuable to one’s brain as good food is to one’s body. There is a whole range of techniques and tips that can help an individual in his brain-training programme and kick start him into action.
The programme is divided into sessions of varying intensity and duration. It begins with a 7-Day Get Sharp Plan, which will take just an hour for seven days. At the end of the seven days one will be noticeably sharper and mentally more agile.
The second part of the programme starts with a 7-Week Stay Sharp Plan for which one has to set aside time one day a week for seven weeks. At the end of this, one would feel mentally as slick as one was, say, 10 years ago, if not more. The final part of the programme is about maintaining and building on the progress already made. By the time one reaches the end of the programme, it can be seen that his mental abilities are developing beyond anything achieved before. Even better, because the brain is working well now, the overall quality of life will have improved making one happier, more confident, and more adventurous with renewed lust for life. (Sourced from Age-Proof Your Brain—Tony Buzan)