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Difficulty: MediumCourse of Action

Statement: Due to unseasonal torrential rains over the past month, a significant portion of the state's primary staple crop has been destroyed. Taking advantage of the anticipated shortage, middlemen have begun hoarding the remaining produce, causing retail prices in urban markets to skyrocket by nearly 300% within a week.

Courses of Action:
I. The state government should immediately impose strict stock holding limits and conduct targeted anti-hoarding inspections at major wholesale warehouses.
II. The government should immediately and permanently halt all inter-district transportation of the crop until retail prices completely normalize in the capital city.

Which of the given courses of action logically follows from the situation?

  1. Only course of action I followsAnswer
  2. B
    Only course of action II follows
  3. C
    Both courses of action I and II follow
  4. D
    Neither course of action I nor II follows

Answer

Only course of action I follows, as it provides a practical administrative remedy to the hoarding problem without introducing disproportionate harm.
The correct answer identifies that only the first proposed action is a sound administrative step. When a crisis involves hoarding and artificial price inflation, targeted regulatory enforcement (like stock limits and inspections) is a proportional and directly effective remedy. The second action is rejected because a complete transport ban is an extreme overreaction that would severely disrupt legitimate supply chains and create secondary crises in other districts.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the core problem presented in the statement.
The primary issue is a severe spike in retail food prices (300%) driven by the artificial hoarding of a staple crop by middlemen following natural crop damage.
Identifying the exact nature of the crisis ensures that the proposed administrative actions target the root cause directly.
2
Evaluate Course of Action I for feasibility and relevance.
Imposing stock limits and conducting anti-hoarding inspections directly targets the middlemen creating the artificial shortage. It is a standard, proportional, and highly effective administrative response.
A valid course of action must directly mitigate the problem in a legally and practically sound manner.
3
Evaluate Course of Action II for feasibility and side effects.
Permanently halting all inter-district transport is an extreme, draconian measure. It would completely paralyze the supply chain, artificially starve deficit districts of food, and create a worse crisis.
Courses of action that introduce disproportionate harm, violate fundamental administrative principles, or worsen the scenario must be rejected.

Key Concept

Evaluating the practicality, proportionality, and direct relevance of proposed administrative solutions to a given crisis scenario.
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Course of Action

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