There has been an acute famine in the district, of which you are the District Collector. You have ordered government officials to procure food grains from government godowns located in adjoining districts and make them available to the public through PDS shops. This work has to be done immediately at earliest, as there is acute scarcity of food and poor people can’t afford the very high food prices of the open market. You have come to know that all truck operators have formed a cartel and are asking for double the usual transportation rate, in order to exploit the situation. This would push the food prices up and defeat your purpose of procurement of food grains from the government godowns. Which of the following options would you choose?

2.5 marks for option (d) 1.5 marks for option (a) 1 mark for option (c) 0 marks for option (b) Rationale/ Reasoning The options given above are not mutually exclusive and in real life one would like to take all of the aforesaid actions. But the issue is, if only one choice were to be exercised which one of it would be the most appropriate. (d) The obvious choice is option (d). People’s lives have to be saved, even if this implies paying a higher than usual amount for freight. Taking legal action, reporting to higher authoritiesm, etc. can be done later. (a) Choice (a) is second best, as the food grains will arrive though somewhat belatedly. This has also the potential of breaking the cartel, as transporters will see a potential loss of revenue to them, in case food grain continue to be transported by Railways. (c) Threatening may or may not work. If it doesn’t then one is back to square one. Thus it can’t be the primary option. (b) Reporting and waiting is grossly inadequate option. This either brings no solution or a solution which is too belated to be effective. Besides, the District Collector is expected to be an initiative taker and not merely a cog in the wheel.