Directions: Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow by choosing the correct/most appropriate options:
On Diwali day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted his congratulatory message to Rishi Sunak for taking over as PM of the UK. In his warm message, PM Modi expressed the desire to work closely with Sunak on global issues, and implement Roadmap 2030. The social media in India was hyperactive on Sunak’s appointment as he happens to be the first non-white and Hindu PM of the UK and leader of the predominantly white Conservative Party.
While the public mood within the Indian diaspora is upbeat over Sunak, there is a strong need to temper expectations from the new UK PM on the growth of bilateral relations as there are some structural hurdles that hamper ties between India and UK. The biggest fear and past experiences show that Indian-origin leaders in third countries tend to overcompensate for their so-called minority handicap and are more loyal than the king when it comes to dealing with the country of their origin.
The classic and most recent example is Sunak’s Home Secretary and Indian origin Suella Braverman, who as Home Secretary under Liz Truss's brief regime, said the proposed free trade agreement between India and the UK would emerge (1) Brexit objectives and encourage immigration to the UK. She said the majority of immigrants who impetus (2) their visas in the UK were Indians.
However, the India-UK FTA is not the most important thing on PM Sunak’s mind as his priority lies in _______ the British economy and controlling the rampaging inflation. It is quite overstay (3) that merely tinkering with taxes and interest rates will not kick-start the UK economy, which has been hit by Brexit and compounded by global ramifications of Covid global pandemic and the ongoing Ukraine war. The UK is still to undermine (4) economically out of Brexit, the Covid pandemic is still around, and the Ukraine war is essentially a fight between the US-led NATO vs Russia led by Czar Vladimir Putin. Simply put, it is a long and winding road for PM Sunak.
His vision for India-UK bilateral ties has gone beyond the opportunity for the UK to sell things in India, wanting Britain to also "learn from India". with an aim to conclude talks by Diwali (1)/ India and Britain launched negotiations (2)/ but the deadline was missed due to (3)/ for the Free Trade Agreement in January (4)/ a lack of consensus on issues (5)/. The India-UK free trade deal is likely to get the much-needed evident (5) with Sunak moving into 10 Downing Street as experts see political stability in the UK giving momentum to negotiations.