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me/GovtAdda
Definition: (of an area of land) lacking vegetation and exposed to the elements.
2. Overwhelming
3. Linger
Usage: The crowd lingered for a long time, until it was almost dark
4. Underlay
Definition: place something under (something else), especially to support or raise it.
5. Limited
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Definition: restricted in size, amount, or extent; few, small, or short.
6. Tandem
7. Disinclined
8. Persistent
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Sentence Correction Question Asked in IBPS PO October 2017
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Reading Comprehension Asked in IBPS PO Prelims 8th Oct 2017
Massa’s story would be familiar to many coffee farmers in Uganda, and around the world.
Coffee is highly vulnerable to climate change. Rising temperatures and increasingly erratic
rainfall are already exposing trees to more pests and diseases, and decreasing both the
quantity and quality of the crop, according to a global survey of coffee research published
in September. Overall, the survey found that climate pressure could reduce the area
suitable worldwide for coffee production 50 percent by 2050. That would be a devastating
blow to the global coffee supply, which is already struggling to keep pace with rising
demand. A paper published in Nature in June made similar dire predictions for Ethiopia,
driving home the point for East Africa.
For coffee addicts in the U.S. and Europe, these impacts will likely manifest as a slightly
higher bill for a slightly worse cup of coffee. But for the world’s 25 million coffee farmers,
most of whom are smallholders like Massa whose fortunes rise and fall with the harvest,
the consequences will be much more dire.
Uganda ranks number eight worldwide in coffee production by volume, on par with Peru,
and second in Africa after Ethiopia. Uganda typically produces 3-4 million 60-kilogram
bags of coffee each year, which accounts for only two to three percent of global
production and is far below behemoths like Brazil (55 million bags) or Vietnam (25
million). The majority of what Ugandan farmers grow is Robusta, a relatively low-quality
variety that is often used for mass production—think Folgers, rather than your local hipster
roastery.
Nevertheless, over the past century, coffee here has advanced into Uganda’s most
important and valuable industry, worth more than $400 million. It’s responsible for at least
20 percent of the country’s export revenue, and according to the Uganda Coffee
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Federation, one in five Ugandans, nearly eight million people, derive most or all of their
income from coffee. Roughly 90 percent of the country’s coffee is produced by
smallholders like Massa.
President Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled Uganda since 1986 and cultivates a folky
farmer-statesman persona, refers to coffee as an “anti-poverty crop” and is pushing an
ambitious (and according to many experts here, completely unattainable) goal of
increasing production five-fold, to 20 million bags by 2020. Coffee demand worldwide is
projected to double by 2050, and Uganda wants in. It could be a solution to a variety of
chronic social problems, particularly the rural poverty and food insecurity that afflict one-
quarter of the population, and a $3.3 billion trade deficit (Uganda spends twice as much
on petroleum imports as it earns from coffee).
But challenges abound, even without climate change. Farmers often lack access to basic
equipment like fertilizer, irrigation, and high-quality seeds; services like bank loans,
agricultural training, and market data; and infrastructure like paved roads and processing
facilities. Most farms are small—the larger ones no bigger than a football field—and with a
rapidly growing rural population, the land is divided into ever-smaller pieces. Weak land
rights laws leave small farmers exposed to land grabs by wealthy neighbors or foreign
investors. Many young people would rather try their luck in Kampala than follow their
parents onto the farm. Women are frequently sidelined because land and household
finances are traditionally controlled by men.
Overall, Uganda’s coffee farming practices have not advanced much since the time of
Massa’s forebears, and farming incomes have stagnated among the lowest levels in
Africa. As a result, farmers here are at a disadvantage to compete in a global market
increasingly characterized by mechanization and unforgiving quality standards—and
they’re entering the fight against climate change with one hand tied behind their backs.
Massa’s story would be familiar to many coffee farmers in Uganda, and around the world.
Coffee is highly vulnerable to climate change. Rising temperatures and increasingly erratic
rainfall are already exposing trees to more pests and diseases, and decreasing both the
quantity and quality of the crop, according to a global survey of coffee research published
in September. Overall, the survey found that climate pressure could reduce the area
suitable worldwide for coffee production 50 percent by 2050. That would be a devastating
blow to the global coffee supply, which is already struggling to keep pace with rising
demand. A paper published in Nature in June made similar dire predictions for Ethiopia,
driving home the point for East Africa. For coffee addicts in the U.S. and Europe, these
impacts will likely manifest as a slightly higher bill for a slightly worse cup of coffee. But
for the world’s 25 million coffee farmers, most of whom are smallholders like Massa
whose fortunes rise and fall with the harvest, the consequences will be much more dire.
Uganda is especially vulnerable, because coffee is the country’s economic cornerstone.
Now, scientists, government officials, farmers, and entrepreneurs, from the top of Mount
Elgon to downtown Kampala to remote areas still reeling from warlord Joseph Kony, are
scrambling to save the industry from climate change.
Uganda ranks number eight worldwide in coffee production by volume, on par with Peru,
and second in Africa after Ethiopia. Uganda typically produces 3-4 million 60-kilogram
bags of coffee each year, which accounts for only two to three percent of global
production and is far below behemoths like Brazil (55 million bags) or Vietnam (25
million). The majority of what Ugandan farmers grow is Robusta, a relatively low-quality
variety that is often used for mass production—think Folgers, rather than your local hipster
roastery.
Nevertheless, over the past century, coffee here has advanced into Uganda’s most
important and valuable industry, worth more than $400 million. It’s responsible for at least
20 percent of the country’s export revenue, and according to the Uganda Coffee
Federation, one in five Ugandans, nearly eight million people, derive most or all of their
income from coffee. Roughly 90 percent of the country’s coffee is produced by
smallholders like Massa. President Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled Uganda since 1986
and cultivates a folky farmer-statesman persona, refers to coffee as an “anti-poverty crop”
and is pushing an ambitious (and according to many experts here, completely
unattainable) goal of increasing production five-fold, to 20 million bags by 2020. Coffee
demand worldwide is projected to double by 2050, and Uganda wants in. It could be a
solution to a variety of chronic social problems, particularly the rural poverty and food
insecurity that afflict one-quarter of the population, and a $3.3 billion trade deficit (Uganda
spends twice as much on petroleum imports as it earns from coffee).
But challenges abound, even without climate change. Farmers often lack access to basic
equipment like fertilizer, irrigation, and high-quality seeds; services like bank loans,
agricultural training, and market data; and infrastructure like paved roads and processing
facilities. Most farms are small—the larger ones no bigger than a football field—and with a
rapidly growing rural population, the land is divided into ever-smaller pieces. Weak land
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rights laws leave small farmers exposed to land grabs by wealthy neighbors or foreign
investors. Many young people would rather try their luck in Kampala than follow their
parents onto the farm. Women are frequently sidelined because land and household
finances are traditionally controlled by men.Overall, Uganda’s coffee farming practices
have not advanced much since the time of Massa’s forebears, and farming incomes have
stagnated among the lowest levels in Africa. As a result, farmers here are at a
disadvantage to compete in a global market increasingly characterized by mechanization
and unforgiving quality standards—and they’re entering the fight against climate change
with one hand tied behind their backs.
Direction(1-5): In the question given below, there is error in one or more sentences. Please
select the most appropriate option, out of the five options given for each of the following
sentences, which, in your view, is grammatically incorrect or structurally incorrect.
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4. (I)The teacher called on Josh.
(II)The teacher called Josh on.
(III)The teacher called on him.
(IV)The teacher called Josh on him.
select the most appropriate option
(a) ONLY I
(b) Only II
(c) Only III
(d) Only Iv
(e) both (II) and (IV)
2. In the approximately eight years since the book Nudge, by Richard Thaler and Cass
Sunstein, came out, nudges have become a widely used consumer influence
strategy.Nudge marketing refers to deliberately manipulating how choices are presented
to consumers. Its goal is to influence what consumers choose, either to steer them toward
options that the marketer believes are good for them or simply to stimulate purchases and
increase sales.
For example, a supermarket places plastic mats with huge arrows marked “Follow the
green arrow for your health” pointing shoppers toward the produce aisle. Within two
weeks, produce purchases increase by 9%. A company automatically enrols new
employees in its retirement savings plan unless they opt out. Enrolment in the plan rises
from 60% to 95%. A restaurant lists a fish entree at a clearly overpriced $35 on its menu. It
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is not interested in selling the entree; the fish is there as a decoy to make other, more
profitable items appear attractive. Over a decade of behavioral economics research shows
that such nudges are effective in influencing consumer behaviors. Many nudges have
virtuous effects, encouraging consumers to donate their organs, reduce their consumption
of energy, and save more money. However, not everything about nudge marketing is rosy.
In their enthusiasm, marketers have overlooked some fundamental concerns about using
nudges. A company that doesn’t understand these minefields could adversely affect its
marketing. Nudges that are poorly thought out could be ticking time bombs waiting to
explode and damage the company’s reputation and credibility among its loyal customers.
2. It is an old saying, but true as ever: “Time is money.” A company that can produce
quality products in less time than its competitors is likely to be more profitable and
productive. An urban area where employees travel less time to get to work is likely to be
more productive than one where travel times are longer, all things being equal.
Productivity is a principal aim of economic policy. Productivity means greater economic
growth, greater job creation and less poverty. Congestion Costs: This is why such serious
attention is paid to the Texas Transportation Institute’s (TTI) Annual Mobility Report,
which estimates the costs of traffic congestion, principally the value of lost time as well
as excess fuel costs. The fundamental premise, long a principle of transportation planning
and policy, holds that more time spent traveling costs money, to employers, employees
and shippers. Mobility & Productivity: Groundbreaking Research: Yet, until fairly recently,
very little research was available to document the connection between travel times and the
productivity of urban areas. The pioneering work has now been done by Remy
Prud’homme and Chang-Woon Lee at the University of Paris. From reviewing French and
Korean urban areas, they showed that productivity improves as the number of jobs that
can be reached by employees in a particular period of time (such as 30 minutes)
increases.
Parajumble :-
1. Beijing’s annual bill for traffic congestion amounts to 70 billion yuan ($11.3 billion),
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a recent study has found. According to a 2014 survey conducted by Peking
University’s National Development Research Institute, 80 percent of total loss
relates to time wasted waiting, 10 percent to gas and 10 percent to environmental
damage. Statistics drawn up by Beijing Department of Transportation shows that in
2013, the capital’s average daily congestion time came to one hour and 55 minutes,
25 minutes longer than in 2012. The waste in gas is increasing rapidly as more and
more cars hit the road. In 2013, 21.98 million vehicles were sold in China, up by 14
percent over 2012. Idling time also adds to Beijing’s already-bad environmental
problem via increased emissions. The city started tackling the problem years ago. In
2011, it introduced a lottery system to rein in the number of vehicles people buy. It
also launched a policy to ban private cars one work-day a week based on the last
digit of the number plate. Beijing has put restrictions on the number of vehicles from
outside the city and raised parking fees in urban areas. However, such measures
have done little in reducing congestion.What’s worse, traffic jams have also become
a problem for third- and fourth-tier cities, a report jointly issued by China Central
Television, National Statistics Bureau and the Postal Service revealed. In future,
Beijing will continue studying proper economic policies and use technology to build
a smart city and improve the public traffic experience.
2. DURING the past two decades astonishing progress has been made in fighting
infectious diseases in poor countries. Polio has almost been eradicated; malaria is being
tamed (see article); HIV/AIDS is slowly being brought under control. Yet almost unnoticed,
another epidemic is raging across the developing world, this one man-made.Road crashes
now kill 1.3m people a year, more than malaria or tuberculosis. On present trends, by 2030
they will take a greater toll than the two together, and greater even than HIV/AIDS.Building
roads is a highly effective way of boosting growth: the World Bank finds many projects to
fund that do better than its minimum acceptable economic rate of return of 12%.
3. Accidents are common for many reasons. Aside from the fact that China’s population is
so large, most have to do with the fact that China is so new to the business of driving cars.
In 2013 it added more cars to its roads than were driving in the whole country in 1999. In
China, the number of vehicles has been increasing by 15m cars every single year for a
decade. The number of licence-holders has risen even faster; one in five Chinese now has
a licence. In the rich world, by contrast, the number of licence-holders is flat or falling.
Speed of development plays a large part. There had been a gradual increase in the number
of drivers in rich countries. In China, as in nations such as Indonesia, car ownership has
risen so fast that a large portion of those on the road are new drivers with limited
experience. In every country insurance premiums for new drivers are high for a reason:
people who have only just passed their test are more likely to be involved in an accident
than those who have driven for years. China certainly has some safety regulations in
place. Drivers and passengers must wear seatbelts, for example, and mobile phones can
only be used hands-free when driving. Unfortunately these laws are entirely ignored. Most
taxis value keeping their seats clean over keeping their customers safe, so they cover the
back seat and thus block the use of seat belts.
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1. The idea that technology can revolutionise education is not new. In the 20th century
almost every new invention was supposed to have big implications for schools.
Companies promoting typewriters, moving pictures, film projectors, educational television,
computers and CD-ROMS have all promised to improve student performance. A great deal
of money went into computers for education in the dot.com boom of the late 1990s, to
little avail, though big claims were advanced for the difference they would make. These
claims were not entirely false: some bright, motivated children did use new technologies to
learn things they would have missed otherwise. In many classrooms, too, computers have
been used to improve efficiency and keep pupils engaged. But they did not transform
learning in the way their boosters predicted. It is wise, therefore, to be sceptical about the
claims made for the current wave of innovation. Yet there are also reasons to believe that
a profound shift is occurring. Over the course of the 20th century mass education
produced populations more literate, numerate and productive than any the world had seen
before. But it did so, usually, in an impersonal manner, with regimented rows of children
chanting their times-tables as Teacher tapped the blackboard with a cane. Schooling could
never be tailored to each child, unless you employed lots of teachers.
4. Teaching programs that monitor children’s progress can change that, performing a role
more like that of the private tutors and governesses employed long ago in wealthier
households. Data derived from each child’s responses can be used to tailor what he sees
or hears next on the computer screen. The same data also allow continual assessment of
his abilities and shortcomings, letting schools, teachers and parents understand both the
pupil himself and the way human beings learn.
Such learning—called “adaptive” in the trade—is not the only advantage technology offers
to today’s teachers and pupils. Online resources, from wikis to podcasts to training videos,
are allowing both children and adults to pursue education on their own, either instead of
learning in schools or colleges or as a supplement. It is, in the words of Bill Gates, who
follows developments in this area closely and whose foundation funds some of them, “a
special time in education”.
This is in part because it is a special time for information technologies in general. The
capacity, and mindset, to design systems that use and make sense of large amounts of
data gathered on the fly is coming of age. This makes it possible to track things like the
“decay curve”, which governs a pupil’s fading recall of what has been taught.
Cloze Test :-
2. Higher education is in the vanguard. Barely a year from its launch, Coursera, one of the
pioneers in offering “massive open online courses”, now boasts more than 3.9m students
worldwide, taking courses supplied by 83 partner institutions. Colleges have always been
keen to experiment with technology: Britain’s television-based Open University is now 44
years old. But this time schools are following. Four years after Salman Khan gave up his
job at a hedge fund to focus on making maths videos, the Khan Academy has 6m
registered users, who solve (or try to solve) 3m problems a day, and it has broadened its
curriculum far beyond maths. It is spreading beyond America, too. Carlos Slim, one of the
world’s richest men, is said to be paying for a version of Khan Academy’s curriculum to be
developed for schoolchildren in his native Mexico. Edtech has collected other impressive
advocates. Bill Gates calls this “a special moment” for education. Private-sector money is
piling in. Rupert Murdoch, hardly a rose-tinted-specs technophile, is allowing Amplify, his
digital education business, to run up losses of around $180m this year in hope of
dominating an edtech market that News Corporation reckons will soon be worth $44 billion
in America alone. GEMS, a Dubai-based education provider, wants to expand its use of
technology in India and Ghana to reach children in remote areas.Others are not so sure.
Many parents already blame the “dumbest generation” on too much gaming, always-on
computing and illiterate texting. Teachers may use edtech websites, but their unions are
suspicious of anything suggesting that schools could get along with fewer teachers, and
they dislike the idea of private companies such as Mr Murdoch’s News Corp making
money out of education. There are also worries about privacy: edtech companies will end
up with a vast store of personal data on pupils.Most of these fears are overdone. For-
profit companies have long been in the business of selling printed textbooks, and there is
no reason why data-privacy laws cannot extend to students. The biggest question
remains: will children learn more? That in turn relies on the teachers, because even the
best technology will get nowhere without their support.
3. Beefing up technology in the classroom doesn’t always lead to better education for
children, according to a new study from an international consortium presented Tuesday.
The report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD,
tracked educational outcome among students based on their use of technology at home
and in the classroom. While student performance improves when they use technology in
moderation, the group found, overexposure to computers and the Internet causes
educational outcomes to drop. “Despite considerable investments in computers, Internet
connections and software for educational use, there is little solid evidence that greater
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computer use among students leads to better scores in mathematics and reading,” the
report said. The report suggested that “we have not yet become good enough at the kind
of pedagogues that make the most of technology; that adding 21st century technologies
to 20th century teaching practices will just dilute the effectiveness of teaching.” Report
results are based on an assessment in 2012 that tracked students in more than 40
countries and surveyed them on computer habits and conducted both written and digital
tests. On average, seven out of 10 students in countries surveyed use computers at
school and students average at least 25 minutes a day online. In some countries, like
Turkey and Mexico, about half of the students don’t have access to a computer at home.
The survey found that students with more exposure to computers do better, on average,
than those with little exposure to computers, but the OECD cautioned against drawing
conclusions based on that result. The data could simply reflect that school systems that
invest in technology also invest in better teachers and draw on students from a higher
socio-economic class, who tend to do better in school.
4. It is possible to teach every branch of human knowledge with the motion picture,”
observed Thomas Edison in 1913, predicting that books would soon be obsolete in the
classroom. In fact the motion picture has had little effect on education. The same, until
recently, was true of computers. Ever since the 1970s Silicon Valley’s visionaries have
been claiming that their industry would change the schoolroom as radically as the office—
and they have sold a lot of technology to schools on the back of that. Children use
computers to do research, type essays and cheat. But the core of the system has changed
little since the Middle Ages: a “sage on a stage” teacher spouting “lessons” to rows of
students. Tom Brown and Huckleberry Finn would recognise it in an instant—and shudder.
Now at last a revolution is under way. At its heart is the idea of moving from “one-size-fits-
all” education to a more personalised approach, with technology allowing each child to be
taught at a different speed, in some cases by adaptive computer programs, in others by
“superstar” lecturers of one sort or another, while the job of classroom teachers moves
from orator to coach: giving individual attention to children identified by the gizmos as
needing targeted help. In theory the classroom will be “flipped”, so that more basic
information is supplied at home via screens, while class time is spent embedding, refining
and testing that knowledge (in the same way that homework does now, but more
effectively). The promise is of better teaching for millions of children at lower cost—but
only if politicians and teachers embrace it.
Central to this shift were American companies seeking a foothold in the EU ahead of the
creation of the single market in goods in 1992 and lured by a well-educated, English-
speaking workforce. The state offered inducements, such as grants and a low corporate-
tax rate. Intel, a chipmaker, started production in Dublin in 1990. Other big firms followed.
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Boston Scientific, a maker of medical devices, set up shop in 1994 in Galway, an hour’s
drive from Shannon. A medical-technology and pharmaceutical cluster emerged in the
region.
Thanks to foreign direct investment (FDI) of this kind, Ireland went from the poorest of the
rich to among the richest. It was a textbook example of the benefits of capital flows. But
Ireland is also an archetype of the malign side-effects of capital mobility. As it became
richer, other countries took exception to its low corporate-tax rate, which they saw as
simply a device to allow global companies to book profits in Ireland and save tax.
The scale of the problem was highlighted in July when Ireland’s statistical office revealed
that the country’s GDP had grown by 26% in 2015. The figure said little about the health of
the Irish economy. First, it was inflated by “tax inversions” in which a small Irish company
acquires a bigger foreign one and the merged firm is registered in Ireland to benefit from
its low corporate taxes. Last year saw a rush of transactions before a clampdown by
America. Second, the GDP figures were distorted by the aircraft-leasing industry. The
world’s two largest lessor fleets are managed from Shannon, though many of the 4,000
registered aircraft will never touch down there.
But it is the damage wrought by short-term capital flows in Ireland that is most striking.
After the launch of the euro in 1999, would-be homeowners were seduced by irresistibly
low interest rates set in Frankfurt. Irish banks borrowed heavily in the euro interbank
market to fuel the property boom and to speculate on assets outside Ireland. Bank loans to
the private sector grew by almost 30% a year in 2004-06, at the peak of the boom. When
that boom turned to bust, the country suffered a brutal recession and had to be bailed out
by the IMF. Ireland still bears the scars. Preliminary figures from this year’s census show
that almost 10% of homes in Ireland are permanently empty. Some of the worst-affected
areas are in the west of Ireland, up or down the coast from Shannon. Ghost estates and
failed bed-and-breakfast places are the legacy of a building boom that by 2007 had drawn
one in eight of all workers into the construction industry.
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