Daily Questions Challenge for IAS PRE (CSAT) Exam (10 February 2016)

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1. According to their Ruling period Arrange the following Bengal Success.

1) Shuja-ud-din
2) Murshid Kuli Khan
3) Alivardi Khan
4) Siraj-ud-daula.

(a) 1, 2, 3, 4
(b) 2, 1, 4, 3
(c) 2, 1, 3, 4
(d) 4, 3, 1, 2

2. Consider the following statements.

1) British were granted the Zamindari of Burdwan, Midnapore & Chittagon by Mir Jafar.
2) As an Nawab of Bengal Mir Kasim was the replacement of Mir Jafar.

Which of the above statements is / are true.

(a) 2 only
(b) 1 only
(c) Both 1 & 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

3.Consider the following statements.

1) ‘A nation in making’ written by Dadabhai Naoroji.
2) Hindu College was founded in Calcutta with encouragement from David Hare & Rammohan Roy.
3) Asiatic Society of Bengal founded by David Hare.

Which of the above statements is / are true.

(a) 1 & 3
(b) 2 & 3
(c) 1 & 2
(d) All of the above

4. Consider the following statements about Raja Ram Mohan Roy.

1) Raja Saheb viewed British Rule as beneficial.
2) The three main influences inthe Raja’s thought were Vedantic, Islamic & Christianity.
3) He was the founder of Brahma Samaj.

Which of the above statements is / are true.

(a) 1 & 2
(b) 2 & 3
(c) 1 & 3
(d) All of the above

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:: CSAT (Paper -2) ::

Direction : Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.

Today, with a Nobel Prize to its credit, Grameen is one of the largest microfinance organizations in the world. It started out lending small sums to poor entrepreneurs in Bangladesh to help them grow from a subsistence living to a livelihood. The great discovery its foundersmade, was that even with few assets, these entrepreneurs repaid on time. Grameen and microfinance have since become financial staples of the developing world. Grameen’s approach, unlike other microfinancers uses the group-lendingmodel. Costs are kept down by having borrowers vet one another, tying together their financial fates and eliminating expensive loan officers entirely. The ultimate promise of Grameen is to use business lending as a way for people to lift themselves out of poverty.

Recently, Grameen has taken on a different challenge-by setting up operations in the US. Money may be tight in the waning recession, but it is still a nation of 100000 bank branches. Globally, the working microfinance equation consists of borrowing funds cheaply and keeping loan defaults and overhead expenses sufficiently low. Microlenders, including Grameen, do this by charging colossal interest rates as high as 60% or 70% which is necessary to compensate for the risk and attract bank funding. But loans at rates much above the standard 15% would most likely be attacked as usurious in America.

So, the question is whether there is a role for a Third World lender in the world’s largest economy ? Grameen American believes that in a few years it will be successful and turn a profit, thanks to 9 million US households untouched by mainstream banks and 21 million using the likes of payday loans and pawn shops for financing. But enticing the unbanked won’t be easy. After all, profit has long eludedUSmicrofinanciers and if it is not lucrative, it is not microlending but charity. When Grameen first went to the US, in the late 1980s, it tripped up.Under Grameen’s tutelage,Banks started micro loans to entrepreneurs with a shocking 30% loss. But Grameen America says that this time results will be different becauseGrameen employees themselveswill be making the loans, not training an American bank to do it. More often than not, the borrowers, Grameen finds in the US already have jobs (as factory workers for example) or side businesses selling toys, cleaning houses etc.

The loans from Grameen, by and large, provide a steadier source of funding, but they don’t create businesses out of nothing. But money isn’t everything more importantly for many entrepreneurs, group members are tremendous sources of support to one another. So, even if studies are yet to determine if Grameen is a clear-cut path way out of poverty, it still achieves something useful.

1. What is the central theme of the passage ?

(a) The contention that Grameen is doomed to fail in developed countries
(b) A comprehensive evaluation of the current status of the American economy
(c) A discussion about the prospects of Grameen and microfinance in the US
(d) The role of banks in facilitating microlending efforts in developed nations