Directions (1-15): Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. Certain words/phrases are printed in bold to help you to locate them while answering some of the questions.
The outside world has pet answers concerning extremely impoverished countries, especially those in Africa. Everything comes back, again and again, to corruption and misrule. Western officials argue that Africa simply needs to behave itself better, to allow market forces to operate without interference by corrupt rulers. Yet the critics of African governance have it wrong. Politics simply can’t explain Africa’s prolonged economic crisis. The claim that Africa’s corruption is the basic source of the problem does not withstand serious scrutiny. During the past decade I witnessed how relatively well-governed countries in Africa, such as Ghana, Malawi, Mali and Senegal, failed to prosper, whereas societies in Asia perceive to have extensive corruption, such as Bangladesh, Indonesia and Pakistan, enjoyed rapid economic growth.
What is the explanation? Every situation of extreme poverty around the world contains some of its own unique uses, which need to be diagnosed as a doctor would a patient. For example, Africa is burdened with malaria like to other part of the world, simply because it is unlucky in providing the perfect conditions for that disease; high temperatures, plenty of breeding sites and particular species malaria-transmitting mosquitoes that prefer to bite men rather than cattle.
Another myth is that the developed world already gives enty of aid to the world’s poor. Former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Paul O’Neil expressed a common frustration when he remarked about aid for Africa: “We’ve spent trillions dollars on these problems and we have damn near nothing show for it.” O’Neil was no foe of foreign aid. Indeed, he wanted to fix the system so that more U.S. aid could be certified. But he was wrong to believe that vast flows of aid Africa had been squandered. President Bush said in a conference in April 2004 that as “the greatest power the face of the earth, was have an obligation to help the lead of freedom. We have an obligation to feed the angry”. Yet how does the U.S. fulfill its obligation? U.S. to farmers in poor countries to help them grow more runs to around $200 million per year, far less than $1 person per year for the hundreds of millions of people in subsistence farm households.
From the world as a whole, the amount of aid per African per year is really very small, just $30 per sub-Saharan African in 2002. Of that modest amount, almost $5 was actually for consultants from the donor countries, more than $3 was for emergency aid, about $4 went for servicing Africa’s debt and $5 was for debt-relief operations. The rest, about $12, went to Africa. Since the “money down the drain” argument is heard most frequently in the U.S., it’s worth looking at the same calculations for U.S. aid alone. In 2002, the U.S. gave $3 per sub-Saharan African. Taking out the parts for U.S. consultants and technical cooperation, food and other emergency aid, administrative costs and debt relief, the aid per African came to grand total of 6 cents.
The U.S. has promised repeatedly over the decades, as a signatory to global agreements like the Monterrey Consensus of 2002, to give a much larger proportion of its annual output, specifically upto 0.7% of GNP, to official development assistance. The U.S.’s failure to follow through has no political fallout domestically, of course, because not one in a million U.S. citizens even knows of statements like the Monterrey Consensus. But no one should underestimate the salience that it has around the world. Spin as American might about their nation’s generosity, the poor countries are fully aware of what the U.S. is not doing.
Q1. The passage seems to emphasise that the outside world has:
(a) correct understanding about the reasonable aid provided by the USA to the poor countries
(b) definite information about what is happening in underdeveloped countries
(c) stopped extending any financial aid to underdeveloped countries
(d) misconceptions about the aid given to the poor nations by developed countries
(e) None of these
Q2. According to the Westerners the solution to eradicate poverty of African nations lies in:
(a) corruption
(b) improving their own national behaviour
(c) misrule
(d) prolonged economic crisis
(e) none of these
Q3. The author has given the example of Bangladesh, Indonesia and Pakistan in support of his argument that:
(a) corruption in the major culprit in the way of prosperity
(b) mis-governance hampers the prosperity of nations
(c) despite rampant corruption, nations may prosper
(d) developed nations arrogantly neglect underdeveloped countries
(e) None of these
Q4. The author has mentioned Ghana as a country with:
(a) reasonably good-governance
(b) corrupt leadership
(c) plenty of natural resources
(d) rapid economic growth
(e) None of these
Q5. The cases of malaria in Africa are mainly due to:
(A) high temperature.
(B) climatic conditions conducive for breeding.
(C) malaria carriers’ liking for human blood in preference to that of cattle.
(a) None of these
(b) Only B and C
(c) Only A and C
(d) Only A and B
(e) All the three
Q6. The remark of former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Paul O’Neil, is according to the author.
(a) a statement of fact
(b) not factually correct
(c) an underestimation of U.S. aid
(d) a ruthless remark by an arrogant bureaucrat
(e) None of these
Q7. President Bush’s statement in a Press Conference in April 2004 indicates that:
(a) the aid given by the U.S. to the poor countries is substantial and sufficient
(b) the spread of freedom cannot be achieved through financial aid
(c) feeding the hungry millions outside the U.S. is not possible
(d) the U.S., on its own, assumes the obligation of helping the poor countries
(e) U.S. has spent trillions of dollars on aid
Q8. Which of the following statements is TRUE about U.S. aid to the sub-Saharan African countries?
(a) The U.S. aid meant for per capita African does not reach the incumbent
(b) The U.S. aid to African countries is more than that for any other developing or underdeveloped nation
(c) The U.S. aid for farmers in African countries is $200 m per year
(d) The donor country charges $5 per individual as the consultancy charges
(e) U.S. has been contributing more that 0.7% of its GNP for development assistance
Q9. The purpose of the author in writing this passage seems to:
(a) criticize USA for not providing adequate financial help
(b) make Africans realize their own problems
(c) analyse the actual quantum of aid against the perceived one
(d) highlight how American leaders are power-hungry
(e) None of these
Directions (10-12): Which of the following word/group of words is MOST NEARLY THE SAME in meaning as the word printed in bold as used in the passage?
Q10. obligation
(a) lip sympathy
(b) true empathy
(c) self pity
(d) conditional responsibility
(e) moral binding
Q11. squander
(a) use economically
(b) spend wastefully
(c) siphon judiciously
(d) donate generously
(e) donate with ulterior motive
Q12. modest
(a) humble
(b) sufficient
(c) meagre
(d) sober
(e) unpretentious
Directions (13-15): Which of the following word/group of words is most OPPOSITE in meaning of the word given in bold as used in the passage.
Q13. myth
(a) reality
(b) mystery
(c) misery
(d) misconception
(e) exaggeration
Q14. extensive
(a) intensive
(b) abominable
(c) inherent
(d) rampant
(e) negligible
Q15. prolonged
(a) immediate
(b) shortened
(c) brevity
(d) short-lived
(e) narrow
Solutions
S1. Ans.(d)
Sol. misconceptions about the aid given to the poor nations by developed countries
S2. Ans.(b)
Sol. improving their own national behaviour
S3. Ans.(c)
Sol. despite rampant corruption, nations may prosper
S4. Ans.(a)
Sol. reasonably good-governance
S5. Ans.(d)
Sol. Only A and B
S6. Ans.(b)
Sol. not factually correct
S7. Ans.(d)
Sol. the U.S., on its own, assumes the obligation of helping the poor countries
S8. Ans.(d)
Sol. The donor country charges $5 per individual as the consultancy charges
S9. Ans.(c)
Sol. analyse the actual quantum of aid against the perceived one
S10. Ans.(e)
Sol. obligation-an act or course of action to which a person is morally or legally bound; a duty or commitment.
S11. Ans.(b)
Sol. squander-waste (something, especially money or time) in a reckless and foolish manner.
S12. Ans.(c)
Sol. meagre-(of something provided or available) lacking in quantity or quality.
S13. Ans.(a)
Sol. Myth and reality are opposite in meaning.
S14. Ans.(e)
Sol. extensive-covering or affecting a large area.
S15. Ans.(d)
Sol. prolonged -continuing for a long time or longer than usual; lengthy.
