Comprehension Questions for SSC GD

Banking plays a crucial role in the economic development of any country. Banks mobilise savings from the public and channel them into productive investments, thereby driving economic growth. In India, the banking sector is broadly divided into scheduled commercial banks, cooperative banks, and regional rural banks. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is the apex regulatory body that supervises and controls the entire banking system to ensure financial stability and protect depositors' interests. Over the past decade, India has witnessed a significant transformation in its banking landscape. The introduction of Jan Dhan Yojana in 2014 brought millions of unbanked citizens into the formal financial system by providing them with zero-balance bank accounts. Digital banking has seen explosive growth, with mobile banking apps, UPI payments, and internet banking becoming part of everyday life for urban and rural citizens alike. India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has become one of the largest real-time payment systems in the world, processing billions of transactions every month. However, the banking sector also faces challenges. Non-Performing Assets (NPAs), which are loans that borrowers have failed to repay, have been a persistent problem for Indian public sector banks. The government and RBI have taken several steps to address this issue, including the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) and recapitalisation of public sector banks. Financial literacy remains another challenge, as a large segment of the population still lacks adequate knowledge to make informed financial decisions. Strengthening financial literacy is therefore seen as essential to achieving inclusive economic growth. What does the word 'mobilise' most closely mean as used in the passage?

Climate change has emerged as one of the most pressing challenges of the twenty-first century. Rising global temperatures, caused primarily by the accumulation of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere, are leading to widespread consequences such as melting polar ice caps, rising sea levels, and increasingly frequent extreme weather events. Scientists warn that if global temperatures rise more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, many ecosystems and human communities will face irreversible damage. India is particularly vulnerable to climate change due to its long coastline, dependence on monsoon rains for agriculture, and large population living in flood-prone or drought-prone areas. The Himalayan glaciers, which serve as the source of major rivers like the Ganga, Yamuna, and Brahmaputra, are retreating at an alarming rate. This directly threatens the water security of hundreds of millions of people who depend on these rivers for drinking water and irrigation. Despite being a developing nation with significant energy needs, India has committed to ambitious climate goals under the Paris Agreement. The country aims to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2070 and has pledged to derive fifty percent of its electricity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030. Investments in solar energy, wind energy, and electric mobility are rising rapidly. The International Solar Alliance, founded by India, is a key initiative to promote solar energy across developing nations worldwide. India's approach demonstrates that economic development and environmental responsibility can go hand in hand. According to the passage, why are the Himalayan glaciers important for India?

Water is one of the most essential natural resources on Earth, yet it is under increasing threat from pollution, overextraction, and climate change. Freshwater, which accounts for only about 2.5 percent of all water on Earth, is becoming increasingly scarce in many regions. Groundwater, which provides drinking water to nearly half the world's population, is being extracted far faster than it can be replenished by rainfall. This has led to falling water tables in major agricultural regions of India, including parts of Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan. India is classified as a water-stressed country, meaning the demand for water exceeds the available supply for significant periods of the year. Rapid urbanisation, population growth, and industrialisation are adding to the pressure on water resources. Agriculture, which accounts for around seventy percent of India's total water usage, is one of the biggest drivers of water consumption. Flood irrigation, a traditional method still widely practised, wastes large amounts of water that could be saved through drip irrigation and sprinkler systems. The Government of India has launched several initiatives to address the water crisis. The Jal Jeevan Mission aims to provide piped water supply to every rural household by 2024. The Atal Bhujal Yojana focuses on improving groundwater management in water-stressed states. Community participation and awareness are considered vital to the success of these programmes. Water conservation techniques such as rainwater harvesting, watershed development, and reuse of treated wastewater are being promoted at the grassroots level. Sustainable water management is now seen as inseparable from sustainable development as a whole. Which of the following can be INFERRED from the passage about flood irrigation?

India's banking sector has undergone a dramatic transformation over the past decade, driven largely by the government's push for financial inclusion and digital payment infrastructure. The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), launched in 2014, opened over 50 crore bank accounts for previously unbanked citizens, bringing millions into the formal financial system for the first time. This initiative was complemented by the introduction of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which has revolutionised everyday transactions. UPI allows users to transfer money instantly between bank accounts using a smartphone, eliminating the need for cash or physical bank visits. By 2024, UPI was processing over 10 billion transactions per month, making India one of the global leaders in digital payments. Even small shopkeepers and street vendors in rural and semi-urban areas now accept payments via UPI QR codes, demonstrating the system's remarkable reach. The government has also promoted the RuPay card, an indigenous payment card network, as an alternative to foreign payment systems. RuPay cards are widely accepted at ATMs, point-of-sale terminals, and online platforms. Together, PMJDY, UPI, and RuPay form the backbone of India's digital financial ecosystem. Despite these advances, challenges remain. Financial literacy levels vary widely across regions, and cybersecurity threats targeting digital transactions are on the rise. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) continues to issue guidelines to ensure safe and inclusive banking practices for all citizens. According to the passage, which of the following best describes the role of UPI in India's banking transformation?

Education is widely regarded as the foundation of a nation's progress. An educated population is better equipped to participate in the economy, make informed decisions, and contribute to social development. In India, significant strides have been made in improving literacy rates and school enrolment over the past few decades. The Right to Education Act of 2009 made free and compulsory education a fundamental right for children between the ages of six and fourteen, leading to a dramatic increase in school attendance across the country. Despite this progress, the Indian education system faces several challenges. The quality of education in many government schools remains poor due to inadequate infrastructure, shortage of trained teachers, and high dropout rates, particularly among girls in rural areas. Learning outcomes, as measured by standardised assessments, continue to be a concern, with many children completing primary school without acquiring basic reading and arithmetic skills. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 represents a landmark reform in India's education system. It proposes a shift from rote learning to critical thinking and creativity, introduces vocational education from an early age, and emphasises the use of the mother tongue as a medium of instruction in the early years of schooling. The policy also focuses on digital learning, teacher training, and the integration of artificial intelligence tools in education. Higher education reforms under NEP 2020 include multidisciplinary learning, flexible degree structures, and greater autonomy for universities. Experts believe that if implemented effectively, NEP 2020 has the potential to transform India into a globally competitive knowledge economy. What is the TONE of the author towards the National Education Policy 2020?