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Difficulty: Very hardCourse of Action

Problem: Due to a decade of chronic over-extraction, the groundwater tables in a state's primary agricultural belt have reached critically depleted levels, threatening an imminent collapse of the agrarian economy. A comprehensive review by the State Agricultural Commission highlights that 85% of groundwater usage is attributed to the cultivation of water-intensive cash crops, which are heavily incentivized by the state's current Minimum Support Price (MSP) policy and unlimited free electricity subsidies for irrigation.

Proposed Course of Action: The state legislature should immediately and permanently abolish the MSP framework and terminate all agricultural electricity subsidies for these water-intensive crops, effective the next day, in order to rapidly force a state-wide transition to drought-resistant farming.

Question: Evaluate the validity of the proposed administrative remedy. Is the following statement true or false?

Statement: The proposed course of action is a logically sound, practically feasible, and valid administrative remedy to the groundwater crisis.

Answer: Answer

Answer

False. The proposed action is an extreme administrative measure that lacks practical feasibility and proportional execution.
The statement is false because the proposed course of action represents an extreme and disproportionate administrative measure. While it correctly identifies and targets the root cause of the groundwater depletion (the subsidy incentives), the 'immediate and permanent' overnight removal of fundamental economic support mechanisms lacks a necessary phased transition or safety net. In administrative logic, actions that would foreseeably cause catastrophic socio-economic collateral damage—such as mass agrarian bankruptcy and systemic unrest—are deemed invalid and practically unfeasible, regardless of their theoretical environmental efficacy.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the core problem presented in the scenario.
The primary issue is critical groundwater depletion driven by farmers growing water-intensive cash crops due to heavy government subsidies (MSP and free electricity).
Understanding the root cause is essential before evaluating the efficacy and validity of the proposed remedy.
2
Evaluate the proposed course of action for direct relevance to the problem.
Abolishing the MSP and power subsidies directly targets the root cause by removing the financial incentives for growing water-intensive crops.
A valid course of action must logically address the established problem rather than an unrelated issue.
3
Assess the practical feasibility and potential collateral damage of executing the action as described.
The proposal mandates an 'immediate and permanent' abolition of critical economic support 'effective the next day' without any transition framework or safety net.
Administrative actions must not create secondary socio-economic crises that are more severe than the primary issue being solved.
4
Determine the overall logical validity of the action based on administrative principles.
Due to the catastrophic socio-economic disruption (mass bankruptcy, severe unrest) an overnight withdrawal of all agricultural subsidies would cause, the action is administratively extreme and therefore invalid.
Extreme, unmitigated actions that lack proportionality violate the core principles of sound administrative policy-making.

Key Concept

Validity of Administrative Actions: Proportionality and Feasibility
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