Directions for 1 to 6:
Please read the paragraph and answer the questions below Passage
Essentially human weaknesses are the same the world over.Man is the same trousered ape, whether he is in Delhi or in Detroit, whether he trudges barefoot on dusty roads or flies at 600 miles an hour. Whichever degree of latitude or longitude you traverse and whether the man is in dhoti or in blue jeans, he is the same selfish, fallible creature with his irresistible impulse to put his personal or sectional interest above the national interest. No wonder the State has to control the antisocial impulses of its citizens. Nothing proliferates so rapidly and so inexorably as bureaucracy and an ever-growing civil service has become a major problem in the United States as it has in India. Dr.Moynihan, who was formerly the U.S. Ambassador to India, recently described the U.S. bureaucracy as "a pea-brained dinosaur". You find on many occasions that the bureaucracy in the United States, as in India, has more information than knowledge, more knowledge than wisdom and more intelligence than imagination. Washington D.C . has been called "the malfunction junction" and I can name another city which deserves the title equally well. Having worked with government officials for more than a year, I have no doubt that the government has at its disposal highly equipped manpower, a larger pool of talent, expertise and dedication than the private sector or any other segment of society. But unfortunately there is something in the structure or system of a bureaucratic setup which prevents the highly gifted members of the civil service from giving their best to their country. Happy is the nation which can have civil\servants without the bureaucracy! President Harry Truman used to remark wryly that a President has to learn that he could give all the orders he pleased but the federal bureaucracy would not budge. When Jimmy Carter was campaigning for president in October 1976, he said that his administration would provide "incentives to individuals who saved the government money". He was referring to a dedicated civil servant, Ernest Fitzgerald, who was discharged from service in 1969 after revealing $ 2 billion in cost overruns associated with the purchase of a certain plane by the Government. However, Fitzgerald, who sued successfully to get back his job as civilian cost-cutting expert for the Air Force, finds it difficult even now to succeed in his fresh endeavors to save the government money. If the Fitzgerald case proves anything, it is that Hyman Rickover was only too right when he said, "If you must sin, sin against God, not against the bureaucracy. God may forgive you but the bureaucracy never will." In the United States, as in India, you hear constant complaints about excessive regulation and control. A well researched recent article in Newsweek disclosed some mind boggling facts. There are now no fewer than 87 federal entities that regulate U.S. business and to complete the 4,400 different forms they dispense requires 143 million man-hours of executive and clerical effort each year. The regulators are proposing so many new rules that the Federal Register has ballooned in size to nearly 70,000 pages annually. Companies complain that many of the rules are simply unnecessary. One agency often requests information already on file with another and at times rulings of one regulator conflict with that of another. The biggest complaint against regulation, however, is its sheer cost. Murrary Weidenbaum of the C enter for the Study of American Business at Washington University estimates the total annual bill at $ 103 billion. At General Motors, for example, more than 20,000 full-time employees work solely on government regulations. Hospitals are hard hit: in New York State, one-fourth of a patient's bill is attributed to the expense of satisfying rules of 164 government agencies. However, President Carter has succeeded in reducing federally mandated paperwork by 12 percent. Bureaucracy is the same the world over. Dr. Aziz Bindari blames the "catastrophic situation" in Egypt on the bureaucracy. "It's the country's fourth great pyramid. It guarantees societal inertia."
Essentially human weaknesses are the same the world over.Man is the same trousered ape, whether he is in Delhi or in Detroit, whether he trudges barefoot on dusty roads or flies at 600 miles an hour. Whichever degree of latitude or longitude you traverse and whether the man is in dhoti or in blue jeans, he is the same selfish, fallible creature with his irresistible impulse to put his personal or sectional interest above the national interest. No wonder the State has to control the antisocial impulses of its citizens. Nothing proliferates so rapidly and so inexorably as bureaucracy and an ever-growing civil service has become a major problem in the United States as it has in India. Dr.Moynihan, who was formerly the U.S. Ambassador to India, recently described the U.S. bureaucracy as "a pea-brained dinosaur". You find on many occasions that the bureaucracy in the United States, as in India, has more information than knowledge, more knowledge than wisdom and more intelligence than imagination. Washington D.C . has been called "the malfunction junction" and I can name another city which deserves the title equally well. Having worked with government officials for more than a year, I have no doubt that the government has at its disposal highly equipped manpower, a larger pool of talent, expertise and dedication than the private sector or any other segment of society. But unfortunately there is something in the structure or system of a bureaucratic setup which prevents the highly gifted members of the civil service from giving their best to their country. Happy is the nation which can have civil\servants without the bureaucracy! President Harry Truman used to remark wryly that a President has to learn that he could give all the orders he pleased but the federal bureaucracy would not budge. When Jimmy Carter was campaigning for president in October 1976, he said that his administration would provide "incentives to individuals who saved the government money". He was referring to a dedicated civil servant, Ernest Fitzgerald, who was discharged from service in 1969 after revealing $ 2 billion in cost overruns associated with the purchase of a certain plane by the Government. However, Fitzgerald, who sued successfully to get back his job as civilian cost-cutting expert for the Air Force, finds it difficult even now to succeed in his fresh endeavors to save the government money. If the Fitzgerald case proves anything, it is that Hyman Rickover was only too right when he said, "If you must sin, sin against God, not against the bureaucracy. God may forgive you but the bureaucracy never will." In the United States, as in India, you hear constant complaints about excessive regulation and control. A well researched recent article in Newsweek disclosed some mind boggling facts. There are now no fewer than 87 federal entities that regulate U.S. business and to complete the 4,400 different forms they dispense requires 143 million man-hours of executive and clerical effort each year. The regulators are proposing so many new rules that the Federal Register has ballooned in size to nearly 70,000 pages annually. Companies complain that many of the rules are simply unnecessary. One agency often requests information already on file with another and at times rulings of one regulator conflict with that of another. The biggest complaint against regulation, however, is its sheer cost. Murrary Weidenbaum of the C enter for the Study of American Business at Washington University estimates the total annual bill at $ 103 billion. At General Motors, for example, more than 20,000 full-time employees work solely on government regulations. Hospitals are hard hit: in New York State, one-fourth of a patient's bill is attributed to the expense of satisfying rules of 164 government agencies. However, President Carter has succeeded in reducing federally mandated paperwork by 12 percent. Bureaucracy is the same the world over. Dr. Aziz Bindari blames the "catastrophic situation" in Egypt on the bureaucracy. "It's the country's fourth great pyramid. It guarantees societal inertia."
1. The main drawback of bureaucracy is
A. its excessive wisdom and imagination.
B. that it prevents gifted members from giving their best.
C. that it gives quality but delayed service.
D. Both
B. that it prevents gifted members from giving their best.
C. that it gives quality but delayed service.
D. Both
2. Bureaucracy is referred to in the passage as the fourth great pyramid, since it
A. manages to attract a lot of tourists.
B. is a modern-day wonder.
C. has awesome size and is unable to move.
D. preserves antiquated rules.
A. manages to attract a lot of tourists.
B. is a modern-day wonder.
C. has awesome size and is unable to move.
D. preserves antiquated rules.
3.`Pea-brained dinosaur' implies
A. being alert like a particular dinosaur of the Jurassic age.
B. the presence of a few intelligent people amidst a large army of bureaucrats.
C. a well-rounded, cohesive organisation.
D. a bureaucracy of mammoth proportions displaying little intelligence
A. being alert like a particular dinosaur of the Jurassic age.
B. the presence of a few intelligent people amidst a large army of bureaucrats.
C. a well-rounded, cohesive organisation.
D. a bureaucracy of mammoth proportions displaying little intelligence
4. "God may forgive you but the bureaucracy never will" suggests that bureaucracies
A. exist for self-aggrandisement.
B. are often in the wrong but that no one dare point out their wrongs.
C. can digest and stomach criticism.
D. all over the world, possess massive egos
A. exist for self-aggrandisement.
B. are often in the wrong but that no one dare point out their wrongs.
C. can digest and stomach criticism.
D. all over the world, possess massive egos
5. The remark, `Bureaucracy would not budge' specifically implies that it would not
A. work, no matter what.
B. change its well-set ways.
C. change for the better.
D. change its ways and execute orders.
A. work, no matter what.
B. change its well-set ways.
C. change for the better.
D. change its ways and execute orders.
6. The author's tone can be described as
A. sarcastic
B. provocative
C. reflective
D. humorous
A. sarcastic
B. provocative
C. reflective
D. humorous
Answers
1. B
2. C
3. D
4. B
5. D
6. C
