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English Language RC

Here we are providing new series of English Language Questions for upcoming exams, so the aspirants can practice it on a daily basis.

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below the passage.

The Centre and Opposition-ruled states are set for another face-off on Monday when the GST Council meets to debate the constitutionally- mandated goods and services tax (GST) compensation for state governments for FY21.

The central government is in a fix as around 10 non-Bharatiya Janata Party ruled states have rejected the finance ministry’s proposal that states borrow to meet the GST revenue shortfall and have instead demanded setting up of a dispute settlement mechanism.Kerala, West Bengal, Punjab and Delhi want the Centre to fully borrow the GST revenue shortfall amount and compensate states.Thomas Isaac, the finance minister of Kerala, in an interview earlier this month, had said if the Centre presses to get the borrowing options cleared by vote and refuses to set up a dispute resolution mechanism, his state will move the Supreme Court.

Abhishek Jain, partner at EY India, said the Constitution does not specify any dispute resolution mechanism and deciding on the framework has been left to the GST Council. “Dispute settlement mechanism can be an arbitration process, possibly under a group of former Supreme Court judges. It could also be a group of ministers within the GST Council which now the opposition states have suggested. The Centre and the dissenting states need to talk and find a midway, possibly agreeing to equally dividing the borrowing requirement between the centre and states," Jain said.The Centre has drawn a distinction between what is payable to states as compensation due to implementation of the indirect tax reform, rolled out in 2017, and the revenue loss on account of the pandemic.

In the 41st meeting of the GST Council in August, the central government had given the states two borrowing options, one in which they can borrow ₹97,000 crore from the central bank through a special window which is attributable to GST implementation or raising the entire amount of revenue shortfall of ₹2.35 trillion from the market. The two options were subsequently revised to ₹1.1 trillion and ₹1.8 trillion respectively.While finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has sought to buy peace by assuring that full compensation will be paid to the states, a final call on how the compensation will be processed was deferred to the 43rd GST Council meeting.“Nobody is going to be denied compensation for losses arising out of implementation of GST or due to covid impact," Sitharaman had said.

States’ GST revenue shortfall this year,(A)/ either due to GST implementation nor due to (B)/ covid will being met completely, the minister (C)/assured in the last meeting earlier this month.(D)/Rathin Roy, managing director at Overseas Development Institute, said he can’t see how the matter can be resolved in Monday’s meeting unless the Centre offers to pick up the interest liability. “But if it does that it might as well borrow on its own account," he added.

1) Who is Thomas Isaac according to the passage?

a) A scientist from the USA

b) The finance minister of Gujrat

c) the foreign minister of India

d) the finance minister of Kerala

e) None of these

2) Which of the following statements is/are true according to the passage?

a) “Nobody is going to be denied compensation for losses arising out of implementation of GST or due to covid impact," Thomas had said

b)While finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has sought to buy peace by assuring that full compensation will be paid to the states, a final call on how the compensation will be processed was deferred to the 23rd GST Council meeting.

c)In the 41st meeting of the GST Council in August, the central government had given the states two borrowing options, one in which they can borrow ₹97,000 crore from the central bank through a special window

d) All of these

e) None of these

3) In the passage, a sentence is given in bold and divided into four parts. Find the part/parts that is/are grammatically correct.

a) A and C

b) A and D

c) B and C

d) C and D

e) A, B, C

4) Which of the following is similar in meaning to the word “shortfall” given in bold in the passage?

a) extra

b) surplus

c) deficit

d) abundance

e) None of these

5) Fill the blank with information from the passage.

Abhishek Jain, partner at EY India, said the _________________________________?

a) Constitution specifies any dispute resolution mechanism and deciding on the framework has been left to the GST Council

b) Constitution does not specify any dispute resolution mechanism and deciding on the framework has been left to the GST Council

c) Constitution does not specify any dispute resolution mechanism and deciding on the framework has not been left to the GST Council

d)Constitution does not specify any dispute resolution mechanism and deciding on the framework has been left to the Constitution Council

e) None of these

Answers :

1) Answer: D

It is mentioned in the 2nd paragraph “Thomas Isaac, the finance minister of Kerala, in an interview earlier this month, had said if the Centre presses to get the borrowing options cleared by vote and refuses to set up a dispute resolution mechanism, his state will move the Supreme Court.”

Hence (d) is correct.

2) Answer: C

Focus on the 4th paragraph of the passage “In the 41st meeting of the GST Council in August, the central government had given the states two borrowing options, one in which they can borrow ₹97,000 crore from the central bank through a special window which is attributable to GST implementation or raising the entire amount of revenue shortfall of ₹2.35 trillion from the market. The two options were subsequently revised to ₹1.1 trillion and ₹1.8 trillion respectively. While finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has sought to buy peace by assuring that full compensation will be paid to the states, a final call on how the compensation will be processed was deferred to the 43rd GST Council meeting.“Nobody is going to be denied compensation for losses arising out of implementation of GST or due to covid impact," Sitharaman had said.”

3) Answer: B

In part B, “nor” should be replaced with “or” as after “either” or should be used.

In part C, “being” should be replaced with “be” as after “will” “being” should not be used.

Hence A and D are correct.

4) Answer: C

Shortfall- a deficit of something required or expected.

Other options are opposite to the word.

5) Answer: B

It is mentioned in the 3rd paragraph of the passage “Abhishek Jain, partner at EY India, said the Constitution does not specify any dispute resolution mechanism and deciding on the framework has been left to the GST Council.”

Hence (b) is correct.