In the following question, a statement followed by three courses of action…
2023
In the following question, a statement followed by three courses of action numbered I, II and III are given. You have to assume everything in the statement to be true and on the basis of the information given in the statement, decide which of the suggested courses of action logically follow(s) for pursuing.
Statement: In the city, over 75 percent of the people are living in slums and sub-standard houses which is a reflection on the housing and urban development policies of the Government.
Courses of Action:
I. There should be a separate department looking after housing and urban development.
II. The policies in regard to urban housing should be reviewed.
III. The policies regarding rural housing should also be reviewed so that such problems could be avoided in rural areas.
- A.
Only I follows
- B.
Only I and II follow
- C.
Only II follows
- D.
Either II or III follows
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
A suggested course of action in this question type is valid only if it (a) is a practical step that directly addresses the problem stated, (b) follows purely from the facts given without assuming anything extra, and (c) stays within the scope — the place or subject — that the statement actually describes.
The statement here is confined entirely to conditions inside the city: over 75 percent of people live in slum and sub-standard housing, and this points to a failure of the government's own housing and urban development policies. Any course of action must act on that stated cause and must not go beyond it.
Course I — a separate department for housing and urban development: a practical administrative step aimed directly at the policy failure the statement names, so it follows.
Course II — reviewing the urban housing policies: acts directly on the very policies the statement blames for the crisis, so it follows.
Course III — also reviewing rural housing policies: the statement's facts are limited to conditions in the city; rural housing is never mentioned, so extending action to rural policy goes beyond what the statement supports, and it does not follow.
Weighed against the near-miss choices:
Restricting the answer to the administrative step alone ignores that the statement blames the policies themselves, not just the absence of a department.
Restricting the answer to the policy review alone ignores that creating a dedicated department is an equally direct, practical response to the same diagnosis.
Treating the urban and rural policy reviews as an 'either/or' wrongly assumes they exclude each other, and in any case rural policy falls outside a statement confined to the city.
Since Course I and Course II both follow directly from the stated facts while Course III does not, the courses that logically follow are I and II.