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Reading Comprehension for Bank Exam
This is the 8th set of the Reading Comprehension series for bank and insurance exams. Reading Comprehension plays an important role in the English section of banking exams. Because English is not subject it should be treated as a language and for this, we should read English regularly in any form like an editorial, or story.
This post is for the bank exam candidates preparing for bank exams like SBI PO, IBPS PO, and RRB PO. If any candidate has any doubt regarding any question or topic, he/she can comment in the comment section provided below the post. Our every reading comprehension post contains 2 prelims levels and one mains level passage. The aim of our platform is to provide free content that is available on Google to those students who are preparing for the banking sector.
Set-1. The pace of price rise faced by Indian consumers eased below the central bank’s upper tolerance threshold of 6% in March. The 5.66% retail inflation level recorded in March was last seen in December 2021. That was followed by a sustained spell of high inflation that escalated after the Russia-Ukraine conflict that began in February 2022 and peaked at an eight-year high of 7.8% in April. Including last November and December, March marks only the third occasion in 15 months when inflation was within the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) mandated tolerance range of 2% to 6%. The RBI, which had to send an explanation to the government on why the target was missed for three successive quarters — for the first time since the inflation targeting framework was introduced — hit a pause on interest rates this month after a streak of hikes. It now expects inflation to average 5.2% in 2023-24 (lower than the 5.3% projected in February). As it stands, the average inflation between January and March has turned out to be 6.21%, far higher than the RBI’s February projection of 5.9%. For the full year gone by, inflation averaged 6.66% vis-Ã -vis the 6.5% the RBI expected.
The central bank and the government may now be sanguine about headline inflation staying below 6%, but that is in no small measure due to the statistical effects of higher numbers from the previous year’s base. In the April to June quarter, the RBI expects inflation to average 5.1%, up from 5% predicted two months ago — the same quarter had clocked mean inflation of 7.28% in 2022. While the pace of price rise may slow down, prices are still rising at a fairly significant clip, on top of price hikes effected in the past year. There is no medium-term reversal likely in the amounts people shell out for most goods and services, barring seasonally triggered changes in items such as vegetables. In fact, excluding vegetables whose prices have been falling year-on-year since November 2022, the inflation faced by consumers in March was still 6.6%. Imported inflation fell to its lowest level since November 2019 at 2.8%, which means domestic factors are still spurring prices around 6%. Fresh global shocks from oil prices and other unknowns may cause imported inflation to spike again. With cereal, spices, and milk prices on the boil and worries about crop losses due to recent unseasonal precipitation (as well as fears of El Niño effects this year), food prices may continue to pinch households. There is no room to let the guard down on inflation, even if propping up growth is the priority. Squeezed consumption is hardly going to inspire investment.
Set-2. Myanmar’s military did it again. On Tuesday, the junta, notorious for its attacks on civilians, carried out air strikes on an opposition gathering in the rebel-held Sagaing region, killing over 100, including women and children. The National Unity Government (NUG), the parallel administration formed by opposition groups, as well as witnesses, said a fighter jet and a combat helicopter bombed the gathering, which was celebrating the opening of an administrative office of the NUG; the regime, led by Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, calls it a “terrorist entity”. The junta later confirmed the strike but said most of those killed were resistance fighters. The strikes actually show the junta’s growing vulnerabilities rather than strength in the country’s ongoing civil war. In the past, the main opposition that the military regimes faced was the non-violent democratic movement led by Aung San Suu Kyi. But after the February 2021 coup, which toppled an increasingly popular Ms. Suu Kyi (her National League for Democracy had won back-to-back elections), the country slipped into a civil war between the regime and the NUG. The NUG and its armed wing, the People’s Defence Force (PDF), have joined hands with ethnic militias to oust the military. The military has lost swathes of territories, mostly sparsely populated rural and jungle areas. Unable to recapture lost land, it has relied on air strikes to weaken the opposition.
The junta faces pressure from the resistance groups, but it still controls most of the country’s population centers. The current approach of the generals is to hold on to territories under their control while continuing to use disproportionate force against opposition fighters and civilians in rebel-held areas. With the tacit support of Russia and China and silence from India, Gen. Min Aung Hlaing does not face any regional pressure either. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) had earlier proposed a five-point peace plan, urging an end to hostilities and starting an inclusive dialogue. But the generals have refused to talk to the opposition and are not ready to share power. The status quo, however, is unsustainable. Regional powers cannot look away when a thuggish regime keeps killing its people with impunity. A peaceful resolution in Myanmar is essential for the stability of Southeast Asia, and, hence, ASEAN and regional powers such as Russia, China, and India should not see the civil strife as an internal problem of Myanmar. They should use their economic and political clout to force the generals to stop the violence and enter into talks with the opposition. The only sustainable, long-term, and just solution for Myanmar’s myriad woes is the restoration of its democracy under a federal constitutional order. The first step to achieve this goal is to end violence.
Set-3. Two recent comments of the Supreme Court of India will have a direct bearing on the concept of the independence of various constitutional authorities in India. In a hearing of the ‘Sena versus Sena’ case, the Court expressed its “serious concern” over the active role being played by Governors in State politics, observing that Governors becoming part of political processes is disconcerting. And, earlier, taking an important step in ensuring the independence of the Election Commission of India, the Court divested the executive of its sole discretion in appointing the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and Election Commissioners (ECs) by forming a committee to suggest suitable names to man these constitutional posts.
Democracy requires a system of checks and balances to prevent the arbitrary use of power by the elected government of the day. India’s democracy provides for various constitutional authorities such as the Public Service Commission, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), the ECI, the Finance Commission and the National Commissions for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Backward Classes (BC), etc. The Constituent Assembly of India had recognized the need for such independent institutions to regulate sectors of national importance without any executive interference. Such constitutional bodies must be provided with complete independence to enable them to function without fear or favor and in the larger interests of the nation. It is towards this concept of clothing them with independence that the Constitution provides for the manner in which individuals heading these institutions are to be appointed.
