VARC Prep Tips for MBA

Direction (1-10): The passage below is accompanied by a set of questions. Choose the best answer to each question.

The government has made two crucial clarifications on the e-auction process for captive coal blocks in order to make them more attractive to potential bidders. According to the changes introduced by the coal ministry, existing or upcoming power plants that don't have power purchase agreements (PPAs) with buyers of electricity will also be eligible to bid for the coal blocks. Also, the reserve price 100/tonne payable by the successful bidder will be included in the energy charge, which means that fuel cost that will be passed through to consumers will include reserve price along with the actual rate of coal at which the bid has been won. This could translate into bidders being willing to bid more aggressively and still manage to run a profitable business. The minutes of the meeting released by the ministry said: "power projects which do not have PPAs today but would be entering into PPAs (Case I bidding) in future also need to be covered explicitly.”
"Generators without PPAs have been in dilemma for some time. This was because states are unlikely to enter into PPAs with generators that do not have coal linkage and Coal India would refuse to give linkage to generators without PPAs. We have tried to correct the situation by allowing such generators to enter into the auction fray. Apart from the scarcity of coal that has led to more than 15,000 MW of generation capacity not being able to sign coal linkage pact with Coal India, the situation has been exacerbated by the loss-making state-owned distribution companies not shying away from signing pacts with power producers for long-term supply of power because of financial health. While there will not be any deadline in place for such capacity to enter into PPA's they will not be allowed to sell more than 15% of its capacity in the open market. These bidders will also have to pay an additional reserve price for the quantum of coal used for power sold in the merchant market, over and above the reserve price for other generators with long-term PPAs which is 100/ tonne.
 The clarification significantly invigorates the auction as there's considerable generation capacity without fully covered fuel supply, and generators can create an additional profit margin between the escalation offered in Case I bidding documents and the actual cost inflation. As regards the reserve price (which is to be paid to the state government) being a pass-through. For merchant power, the reserve price is higher; the new proposal will make sure that there are no extraordinary gains from open market sales. This is a safety feature as bidders would factor in the extra reserve price in their quoted prices."

Question 1:
In the given passage for whom the reserve price is considered to be higher?

There is a sentence that is missing in the paragraph below. Look at the paragraph and decide in which blank (option 1, 2, 3, or 4) the following sentence would best fit.

Sentence: Roughly speaking, for every 10% increase in energy, the number of cosmic rays per unit area falls by a factor of 1000.

Cosmic Ray energies span a truly enormous range, from about 107 eV through to 1020 eV, but at higher energies the numbers of cosmic rays drop off dramatically. (1) __________.

Since cosmic rays are charged particles whose paths are affected by magnetic fields, determining where they originate is a challenge, and for the most part, an unsolved mystery. (2)__________. For all but the highest-energy cosmic rays (which remain largely unaffected by the magnetic fields), astronomers cannot simply trace the path of the cosmic rays back to their origin, but must infer their place of origin from their energies and composition. (3) __________. For the highest-energy cosmic rays, although in theory it should be possible to trace them back to their origin, their rate of detection is so low that there is no discernable stream of particles coming from any one particular direction. (4) ____________.

There is a sentence that is missing in the paragraph below. Look at the paragraph and decide in which blank (option 1, 2, 3, or 4) the following sentence would best fit.

Sentence: Moreover, due to the rising demand from the population, textile goods have increased, and textile mills and their wastewater have risen proportionately, leading the planet to have a big pollution problem.

The textile industry is indeed one of the world's most significant sectors. (1) ____________. This sector employs people without any extraordinary skill, which plays a crucial role in employment in developing countries, namely, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and India. (2)_____________. Hence, it plays a significant role in developing the value of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of these countries. (3)__________. Since the textile industry represents two-thirds of the total demand for dyes, approximately 10-15% of the used dyes are discharged into the wastewater during the dyeing phase. (4)_____________. Therefore, the textile industries are one of the world's leading causes of various pollution.

There is a sentence that is missing in the paragraph below. Look at the paragraph and decide in which blank (option 1, 2, 3, or 4) the following sentence would best fit.

States to the agreement.

All 197 parties in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change have agreed to be part of the Paris Agreement in some way. (1) _________. Typically, parties would sign the agreement, and then each country's governing body, such as parliament, would vote to ratify it, making an official agreement to participate. (2)__________. So far, 189 countries have completed this process; 6 have signed, but not ratified, it; and 2 have ratified it without signing it first. (3) ___________.

The United States joined the Paris Agreement after the 2015 convention. However, the U.S. withdrew from the agreement in 2019 under order from then-President Donald Trump, Live Science previously reported. (4)____________.

Four jumbled up sentences, related to a topic, are given below. Three of them can be put together to form a coherent paragraph. Identify the odd one out.

1. The genesis of Dogecoin in December 2013 lies in the sarcastic approach of the founders, Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus to create a payment system based on a joke, making fun of the wild speculation in cryptocurrencies at the time. It all started with a tweet from Palmer, a software engineer of good standing in 2013.

2. Palmer was later joined by another innovator Billy Markus who was working with IBM.

3. They both founded Dogecoin. Whether it remains a sarcastic meme coin or not, Dogecoin is taking great strides in the world of cryptocurrencies.

4. Another popular way to invest in cryptocurrencies is through financial derivatives.

Four jumbled up sentences, related to a topic, are given below. Three of them can be put together to form a coherent paragraph. Identify the odd one out.

1. The genesis of Dogecoin in December 2013 lies in the sarcastic approach of the founders, Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus to create a payment system based on a joke, making fun of the wild speculation in cryptocurrencies at the time. It all started with a tweet from Palmer, a software engineer of good standing in 2013.

2. Palmer was later joined by another innovator Billy Markus who was working with IBM.

3. They both founded Dogecoin. Whether it remains a sarcastic meme coin or not, Dogecoin is taking great strides in the world of cryptocurrencies.

4. Another popular way to invest in cryptocurrencies is through financial derivatives.

The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3 and 4) below, when properly sequenced, would yield a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper sequencing of the order of the sentences and choose the correct option.

1. The remaining 50 per cent is allocated in mid- and small-cap stocks which helps in boosting the overall return.

2. Within equity, the fund prefers to invest 50 per cent in large-cap stocks, which provides stability in volatile times.

3. Considering the higher volatility in the market, the fund is following a conservative approach by tilting the equity portfolio towards large-cap stocks.

4. As on March 31, 2023, the fund has deployed around 62 per cent of its equity portfolio in large caps.

The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3 and 4) below, when properly sequenced, would yield a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper sequencing of the order of the sentences and choose the correct option.

1. PAs, though crucial, are not enough to conserve biodiversity.

2. One of the key targets of the first draft of the Global Biodiversity Framework published recently is to conserve at least 30% of global land and sea areas as protected areas (PAs).

3. This is especially so in the case of landscapes where PAs are not well connected, and buffer areas are largely multi-use.

4. The framework is aimed at advancing the goals of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.