Statement: On an average, about twenty people are run over by trains and die…

2024

Statement: On an average, about twenty people are run over by trains and die every day while crossing the railway tracks through the level crossing.

Courses of Action:

The railway authorities should be instructed to close all the level crossings.

Those who are found crossing the tracks, when the gates are closed, should be fined heavily

  1. A.

    Only I follows

  2. B.

    Only II follows

  3. C.

    Either I or II follows

  4. D.

    Neither I nor II follows

Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: B

Concept: In Statement–Course of Action questions, a suggested course of action follows only if it is a practical, proportionate step that a reasonable authority would take as a direct response to the problem described — not if it is an extreme, sweeping measure with disproportionate side-effects, and not if it is trivial or already implied by the statement.

Application: The statement reports about twenty deaths a day from people crossing railway tracks at level crossings. Course I proposes closing all level crossings nationwide — level crossings exist so that road traffic (vehicles, pedestrians, animals) can cross the tracks at grade, so shutting every one of them would cut off road access on a massive scale: a disproportionate, extreme reaction that goes far beyond what the stated problem calls for. Course II proposes heavily fining anyone caught crossing after the gates are closed — closed-gate crossing is a specific, especially hazardous form of the unsafe crossing behaviour the statement describes, so a targeted, enforceable penalty on it is a proportionate deterrent aimed directly at reducing such deaths, making it a reasonable course of action.

Cross-check: Applying the standard test — would a prudent policymaker actually adopt this as the immediate response? — course I fails (impractical, extreme, disrupts transport nationwide, disproportionate to the problem) while course II passes (targeted at a specific hazardous behaviour, practical, directly enforceable). So only course II follows.

  • “Only I follows” treats the extreme measure of closing every level crossing nationwide as the answer, overlooking that it is disproportionate and impractical next to a targeted fine on rule-breakers.

  • “Either I or II follows” assumes the two proposed actions are comparable, mutually exclusive alternatives of similar weight — but a nationwide closure of every crossing and a targeted fine on gate-breakers are not equivalent options, so they cannot be paired as interchangeable alternatives here.

  • “Neither I nor II follows” would require each proposed measure to independently fail as a reasonable, actionable response; a blanket rejection of both without weighing each proposal on its own specific terms draws a stronger conclusion than the evidence supports.

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