Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions based on the passage:
The Viksit Bharat - Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act (VB-GRAM G), 2025, has been replaced by the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). The goal of this modification is to improve Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, which protects the right to life. MGNREGA has improved socioeconomic conditions by facilitating wage payments, providing unemployment benefits, and promoting equal earnings. There has been sustainable development, and research has confirmed the impact of this program to raise earnings, alleviate poverty, and encourage school enrollment. In the past five years, women have comprised 58% of the workforce, significantly contributing to rural development, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Given these factors, it is important to assess both the benefits and current challenges of the system.
Despite MGNREGA’s successes, the program has faced implementation challenges, mainly due to inadequate funding, as acknowledged by the Ministry of Finance. Delays in wage payments and fewer work opportunities have resulted from this lack of funds. Recent rules, such as introducing an attendance application that uses photos, have created new problems and made corruption easier. Due to these issues, the VB-GRAM G Act has introduced important changes, including sections 5(1) and 4(5), which give the Union Government greater control over the public works program.
What does the author’s discussion of lack of funding primarily indicate?
- (a)Local administrations limit opportunities so as to have control over the release of finances.
- (b)Administrative inefficiencies and implementation challenges due to a shortage of funding.
- (c)Resource allocation practices are highly effective but seem problematic due to certain short-term fiscal fluctuations
- (d)Decentralized authority has caused divergent effects that will certainly lead to a reduction in job guarantees.
Answer
Why
Correct — B. The passage states its own cause and effect: 'the program has faced implementation challenges, mainly due to inadequate funding, as acknowledged by the Ministry of Finance.'
The next sentence gives the results: 'Delays in wage payments and fewer work opportunities have resulted from this lack of funds.'
Option (b) restates the chain: implementation challenges caused by a shortage of funding.
Why the others are wrong
- (a)Local administrations limit opportunities so as to have control over the release of finances. — Adds a motive the passage never gives. Fewer work opportunities 'resulted from this lack of funds' — a shortage, not officials holding back money to keep control.
- (c)Resource allocation practices are highly effective but seem problematic due to certain short-term fiscal fluctuations — The passage calls the funding inadequate, so it cannot be praising allocation as 'highly effective'. It mentions no short-term fiscal fluctuations either.
- (d)Decentralized authority has caused divergent effects that will certainly lead to a reduction in job guarantees. — The passage never discusses decentralized authority, and its reform moves the other way, giving the Union Government 'greater control'. 'Will certainly lead' also claims more than the text does.
Concept
When a passage names a cause and its effects outright, a primarily indicate question wants that link restated, not reinterpreted.
Here two consecutive sentences give the whole chain: inadequate funding → implementation challenges → wage delays and fewer work opportunities.
The right option reuses the passage's own words. Wrong options add a motive, deny the problem, or bring in a topic the passage never raises.
Key facts
- In the passage, the Ministry of Finance acknowledges the funding shortfall.
- The effects the passage names are delays in wage payments and fewer work opportunities.
- 'Mainly due to' marks the principal cause.
Study next
Common traps
- Choosing option (a) because 'fewer work opportunities' appears in the passage — the passage blames a lack of funds, not a plan to control them.
- Choosing option (d) for its mention of job guarantees, when the passage never discusses decentralized authority.
The key at 15 Sep 2025, 16:00, English Q.15 restates its passage the same way: 'It is central to business strategy' echoes that passage's 'integral strategic imperative'.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.