Statement : Financial stringency prevented the State Government from paying…
2024
Statement : Financial stringency prevented the State Government from paying salaries to its employees since April this year.
Courses of Action :
I. The State Government should immediately curtail the staff strength at least by 30%.
II. The State Government should reduce wasteful expenditure and arrange to pay the salaries of its employees.
- A.
Only I follows
- B.
Only II follows
- C.
Either I or II follows
- D.
Neither I nor II follows
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
In Statement-and-Course-of-Action reasoning, a suggested course of action FOLLOWS only when it is a practical, administratively feasible step that directly targets the cause of the stated problem and does not create a disproportionate new problem in the process. An action that merely reacts without resolving the funding or root cause, or that carries harmful side effects, does NOT follow.
Applying this to the stem:
Curtailing the staff strength by 30% does not generate funds to clear the salary arrears already due; abrupt, large-scale retrenchment is administratively disruptive and would deepen employee discontent rather than solve the stated cash shortage — so this course does not follow.
Reducing wasteful expenditure and redirecting the savings to pay employees' salaries is a practical administrative step that directly targets the financial stringency described in the statement and carries no comparable adverse side effect — so this course follows.
Cross-checking against the rule: only one of the two actions both feasibly and directly addresses the stated cause while the other does not, which also rules out the either/or and neither readings.
Hence only the course of reducing wasteful expenditure and paying salaries follows.