Statement: 'Many farmers in Rajasthan are committing suicide due to crop failure and mounting debts.' Course of Action I: The government should provide crop insurance and debt relief schemes. Course of Action II: Farming should be banned in drought-prone areas. Which course(s) of action is/are appropriate?

Explanation

The statement identifies two connected causes of farmer suicides: crop failure and mounting debt. Course I is a proportionate and feasible administrative response because the cited PIB release records that farmer distress is linked to indebtedness, especially non-institutional borrowing, and that government support can include short-term crop loans, rescheduling of loans after significant crop loss, and crop insurance for crop failure caused by natural calamities. These measures reduce financial pressure without taking away the farmer's occupation. Course II fails the course-of-action test because it is extreme: banning farming in drought-prone areas does not solve debt or crop-loss risk, and it would deprive people dependent on agriculture of their livelihood. Therefore, only Course I follows logically.

Why the other options are wrong

• (B) Course II is wrong because banning farming in drought-prone areas is an extreme step that would remove livelihoods instead of addressing debt, crop failure or risk protection.
• (C) Both courses cannot be appropriate because Course I is a targeted financial-support response, while Course II is disproportionate and harms the very farmers the action is meant to help.
• (D) Neither is wrong because Course I directly tackles the stated causes through crop insurance and debt-related relief, which the PIB source recognises as government support for farmers facing crop failure and indebtedness.

Concept

This tests the RAS reasoning topic of statement and course of action: the chosen action must be practical, directly linked to the stated problem and not socially harmful. Such questions recur because administrators must distinguish feasible welfare intervention from drastic measures that create larger public harm.

Source

• Press Information Bureau, Government of India

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