Statements: 1. The employees of the biggest bank in the country have given an…

In cause-and-effect statement reasoning, two statements can relate in exactly four ways: one statement triggers the other (in either direction), both are independent originating causes, or both are effects that trace back to separate, unstated causes. A “cause” is the original triggering development with no antecedent behind it in the passage; an “effect” is a decision or outcome that an already-organised body announces in reaction to some other, unstated circumstance.

Statement I reports that the employees of the biggest bank in the country have given an indefinite strike call, and Statement II reports that the employees of the Central Government have withdrawn a week-long demonstration. Neither statement's wording ties its event to the other — the bank employees' grievance and the government employees' protest belong to two separate organisations with no stated link between them, so the two events are unrelated to each other. A strike call and a withdrawal of an ongoing demonstration are both decisions an organised body takes in reaction to its own separate, unstated circumstances, which is what marks each statement as an effect rather than a bare originating cause.

Why the other options don't fit:

• Statement I is the cause and statement II is its effect — nothing in either statement ties the Central Government employees' withdrawal to the bank employees' strike call.

• Statement II is the cause and statement I is its effect — nothing in either statement ties the bank employees' strike call to the Central Government employees' withdrawal.

• Both statements I and II are independent causes — this correctly treats the two events as unrelated to each other, but misreads a strike call and a withdrawal of protest as bare originating triggers rather than as reactions each organisation takes to its own separate circumstances.

Both statements I and II are therefore effects of independent, unrelated causes.