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

The parliamentary committee on Labour on Wednesday raised doubts about the step taken by the union government to make investments from EPF corpus during the coronavirus pandemic. The issue came for discussion on Wednesday and the standing committee has asked the officials to submit all the replies in writing after found to be not satisfactory.

The meeting of the standing committee on labour called on Wednesday was on the subject of functioning of the EPFO with special reference to the EPF Pension Scheme. According to people aware of developments, one of the key concerns flagged in the meeting was over the EPF corpus investing in equities and the kind of results it has shown.

“Investments were made from EPF corpus in the month of March when it was known that situation was gloomy yet investments were made in equity and debt instruments, mainly in equity. Questions have been ___________why the concerned authorities went ahead with the investment when it was in know that economic situation was not favourable. What was the need? We are not satisfied with the oral replies of representatives of ministry of labour and that is why we have asked them to send us the replies in writing," said a person in the know of development.

Members of the standing committee also pointed out (A)/ that by March this year, it was well-known to all the assessment of the union government that (B)/there was a possibility of negative return on investments(C)/ and questioned who had sanctioned these investments made from the EPFO corpus(D)/.

“A portion of the EPF fund or the corpus, have gone to markets. That amount, we asked them what is the share of the corpus that has gone, to which companies and what is the position now and where it is available for refund by that institution. Several companies have been hit during the pandemic, their ratings have gone down so one concern was also raised whether they are in a position to refund that amount," a person aware of developments said requesting anonymity.

Another issue which got discussed in Wednesday’s meeting was that the working of the EPFO has now been subsumed in the labour code so a section of panel members wanted to know what kind of an impact this would have. The government officials also questioned how the reduced EPF contribution impact beneficiaries of the scheme. Another suggestion which came up in the meeting was whether there could be a possibility of the EPF considering a social security scheme for unorganized and home based workers.

“The government officials said that only a share of the funds has gone to public markets and there should be no cause of concern. Now, they have been asked to give a detailed written statement to the committee on it which is expected to be submitted in 15 days," the person quoted above added saying that another meeting of the committee could be called in the first week of November after which it would submit its recommendations to the centre.

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

A.In Wednesday’s meeting it was discussed that the working of the EPFO has now been subsumed in the labour code so a section of panel members wanted to know what kind of an impact this would have

B.The government officials have not questioned how the reduced EPF contribution impact beneficiaries of the scheme

C. Another suggestion which came up in the meeting was whether there could be a possibility of the EPF considering a social security scheme for unorganized and home based workers.

a) A&B

b) B&C

c) A&C

d) All

e) None

2) Which of the following ideas belong/belongs to the passage?

a)EPFO has now been subsumed in the labour code, hence a section of panel members questioned what kind of an impact this would have

b)The government of India is going to implement some new rules and regulations in the field of agriculture

c) India is going through a grave financial crisis due to the spread of corona virus and many people have lost their source of income

d) Both (a) and (b)

e) All (a), (b) and (c)

3) one of the key concerns flagged in the meeting was ______________________________?

a) Over the spread of corona

b) over The AtmaNirbhar Bharat scheme

c)over the EPF corpus investing in equities and the kind of results it has not shown.

d) over the EPF corpus investing in equities and the kind of results it has shown.

e) None of these

4) A sentence in the passage has been printed in bold and divided into four parts. Find the part that has any grammatical error. If the sentence is error free then mark “no error” as your answer.

a) C

b) D

c) A

d) B

e) No error

5) Which of the following words can fill the blank in the passage.

a) investigated

b) provoked

c)raised

d) escalated

e) None of these

Answers :

1) Answer: C

It is mentioned in the 6^th paragraph of  the passage “Another issue which got discussed in Wednesday’s meeting was that the working of the EPFO has now been subsumed in the labour code so a section of panel members wanted to know what kind of an impact this would have. The government officials also questioned how the reduced EPF contribution impact beneficiaries of the scheme. Another suggestion which came up in the meeting was whether there could be a possibility of the EPF considering a social security scheme for unorganized and home based workers.”

Hence A and B are true and C is false.

2) Answer: A

In the 6^th paragraph we can see “Another issue which got discussed in Wednesday’s meeting was that the working of the EPFO has now been subsumed in the labour code so a section of panel members wanted to know what kind of an impact this would have.”

Hence (a) is correct.

3) Answer: D

If we read the passage carefully we will be able to understand that (d) is the correct answer.

4) Answer: E

The sentence is error free.

5) Answer: C

Only (c) fits the blank given in the passage, other options don’t make any sense.