Indian Governance and Policy

The UK’s Department for International Development will not disburse any further budget support to Tanzania until

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the questions that follows.

Tanzania has an estimated 50 ton cubic feet of gas reserves, and is gearing up for an energy boom. Politicians worry that corruption could plague the sector while it is still in its early stages.

In October, a group of international donors said they had suspended $490mn in general budget support, which is used at the government’s discretion to fund development projects, until an official review of the scandal had been conducted. “Disbursements have not been made because we are waiting for the controller auditor general report and the government action following that,” Sinikka Antila, Finland’s ambassador to Tanzania and chair of the donors’ general budget support committee, said at the time.

A spokeswoman for the UK’s Department for International Development said: “The UK takes a zero-tolerance approach to corruption. We will not disburse any further budget support to Tanzania until we have concluded our discussions with the government of Tanzania. ”Hospitals and health centres have run out of medicine after donors withheld aid," said Irenei Kiria, executive director of national policy advocacy NGO Sikika. Donors to Tanzania’s general budget support programme include the African Development Bank, Canada, Denmark, the European commission, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Norway, Sweden, the UK and the World Bank. Kiria said Tanzania’s widening budget deficit and persistent power cuts have damaged Kikwete’s relations with donors.

Directions: The question given below is followed by two arguments numbered I and II. You have to decide which of the following arguments is/are ‘strong'.

Question: Should there be a restriction on the number of ministers in each cabinet of India? Arguments: I. Yes, as a result of this, a lot of money will be saved and the same can be used in developmental programmes. II. No, there should not be such restrictions on democratically elected representatives and it should be left to the judgement of the leader of the council of ministers.

Directions: In the following question, a statement is followed by three arguments labelled A, B and C. You have to decide which of the given arguments is/are ‘strong'.

Statement: Should there be a restriction on the construction of high rise buildings in big cities in India? Arguments: (A) No, big cities in India do not have adequate open land plots to accommodate the growing population. (B) Yes, only the builders and developers benefit from the construction of high rise buildings. (C) Yes, the Govt. should first provide adequate infrastructural facilities to existing buildings before allowing the construction of new high rise buildings.

With reference to “Look East Policy” of India, consider the following statements:

1. India wants to establish itself as an important regional player in the East Asian affairs.
2. India wants to plug the vacuum created Page 8 by the termination of Cold war.
3. India wants to restore the historical and cultural ties with its neighbors in Southeast and East Asia.

Which of the statements given above is/ correct?

Recently the USA decided to support India's membership in multi-lateral export control regimes called the “Australia Group” and the “Wassenaar Arrangements”. What is the difference between them?

1. The Australia Group is an informal arrangement which aims to allow exporting countries to minimize the risk of assiting chemical and biological weapons proliferation, whereas the Wassenaar Arrangement is a formal group under the OECD holding identical objectives.
2. The Australia Group comprises predominantly of Asian, African and Page 9 North American countries, whereas the member countries of Wassenaar Arrangement are predominantly from the European Union and American continents.

Which of the statements given above is/ correct?

Consider the following statements : In India, a Metropolitan Planning Committee.

1. is constituted under the provisions of the Constitution of India.
2. prepares the draft development plans for metropolitan area.
3. has the sole responsibility for implementing Government sponsored schemes in the metropolitan area.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

What, according to the author, is the attitude of Indians that comes in the way of India's progress?

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

Apathy in addressing community matters has held us back from making progress which is otherwise within our reach. We see serious problems around us but do not try to solve them. We believe as if the problems do not exist or as if they belong to someone else. On the other hand, in the West, people approach societal problems proactively. There are several examples of our apathetic attitude. For instance, all of us are aware of the problem of drought in India. More than four decades ago, Dr. K.L.Rao, an irrigation expert, suggested the creation of a water grid connecting all the rivers in north and south India to solve this problem. Unfortunately, nothing has been done about this. The story of power shortage in Bangalore is another instance. In 1983, it was decided that a power plant would be built to meet Bangalore’s power requirements. Sadly, we have not yet started it. The Milan subway in Bombay has been in a deplorable state for the last four decades, and no action has been taken.
We Indians would do well to remember Thomas Hunter’s words that idleness travels very slowly and poverty soon overtakes it. What could be the reason for our apathy? We were ruled by foreigners for over a thousand years. So, we have always believed that public or societal issues belong to some foreign ruler and that we have no responsibility to solve them. We have got used to just executing someone else’s orders. ‘We are what we repeatedly do,’ said Aristotle. Having waited for some foreigner to tell us what to do over the last thousand years, the decision-makers in our society are not used to taking decisions on their own. They look to somebody else to take their decisions for them. Unfortunately, there is no body to look up to, and this is our tragedy.

Consider the following statement:

1. The oldest steel plant of India is located in Jamshedpur.
2. The steel project at Bhilai was started during the second Five-Year plan.
3. The Mazagaon Dock Limited has the capability of manufacturing the rigs used in inshore drilling.
4. Karnataka is the largest silk producing state in India.

Which of the above statements are correct?

What kind of picture of India does the author paint in the opening paragraph of the passage?

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

Corruption in India has become so pervasive that it has seeped into the most revered institutions. No wonder then that Justice Bharucha was compelled to remark in 2001, “about 20 per cent of the judges in the courts are corrupt; corruption among public servants has reached monstrous dimensions in India. Its tentacles have started grappling even the institutions created for the protection of public.” Even a powerful prime minister like Rajiv Gandhi admitted defeat and bemoaned that “out of every 100 crore allocated to an anti-poverty project, I know that only about Rs. 15 crore reach the people. The remainder is gobbled up by middlemen, power brokers, contractors, and the corrupt.” As much as Rs. 37,000 crore or about 1.5 to 2 per cent of the GDP surfaced as part of the Voluntary Disclosure scheme in 1997 alone. It should surprise no one that Transparency International has ranked India among the top fifty-five corrupt countries in the world.
Is corruption the sole prerogative of the politicians and the bureaucracy? I am afraid not. In fact, the biggest corruption cases have been outside the government. The Harshad Mehta scam of around Rs. 10,000 crore and Ketan Parikh’s scam of Rs. 5,000 crore put other scandals to shame. It is estimated that non-banking financial companies have swindled over 30 million small investors. The other day, it was reported that a sizeable number of software professionals in a well-known multinational had fudged their bills. This morning, I received an e-mail from an erstwhile, dismissed colleague of mine arguing why she was not all that wrong in swiping an attendance card on behalf of another colleague! The cricket match-fixing scandal is still fresh in our memories. The list goes on. It is very clear that corruption is now an accepted phenomenon in the psyche of Indians from all walks of life.

Is there a solution to this seemingly unsolvable problem? Is there any hope at all? Will we ever see a corruption-free society? Can we at least work towards creating a corruption-free society for our children and grandchildren? I am an optimist and I believe that every problem can be solved. It requires leadership that is inspirational, selfless and courageous. We do have a few such people in India among our politicians, bureaucrats and corporate leaders. They have to come together to fight this scourge. Let me detail a few steps needed to fight corruption.
Fairness, transparency and accountability displayed by leaders are what instil confidence in a government, a community and society. Unfortunately, in our society, the government rarely practises these attributes when it comes to the elite. Only when we practise these attributes in fighting corruption among the elite and the powerful, will we succeed in rooting it out.

Regarding the domestic savings in the country, following is correct i. financial savings are more than physical savings ii. corporate savings are equal to household savings iii. scheme for monetising gold introduced in Union Budget 2015-16 added to financial savings in the country iv. relaunch of saving instrument Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) in the fiscal year 2013-14 is aimed at boosting financial savings in the country