XAT 2020 — Decision Making Question 8
Read the following paragraph carefully and answer the question that follows:
A Multinational Company (MNC) sources pristine natural spring water from Bori, a village in Satpura mountains. The unprocessed natural spring water is directly bottled by the MNC. The company brands it as “Natural Spring Water” and sells at 50% premium vis-a-vis other brands that sell processed water.
The local panchayat, under the Panchayati Raj Act, 1992 controls the spring water usage. Hence, the company signed a 30-year contract with the panchayat for exclusive access to the spring water for business purposes. This contract contributes 50% to the panchayat’s revenues besides providing 250 jobs in the panchayat. The spring also meets domestic and agricultural needs of the people of Bori and the surrounding villages
Chanchala owns a small parcel of farming land in Bori. She grows cannabis in some part of her land and earns a significant amount of money from it. Soon after the bottling plant was commissioned, Chanchala, instigated by a landlord with a vested interest, starts accusing the MNC of robbing her of water and impacting her livelihood.
She threatens to take the MNC to court.
Which of the following options will BEST solve the MNC’s problem?
Answer & solution
- A
Promise to employ Chanchala’s 17-year-old son as he turns 18.
- B
Compensate the monetary loss as perceived by Chanchala.
Get the villagers employed by the MNC to persuade Chanchala not to sue.
- D
Request the panchayat to excommunicate Chanchala for cultivating cannabis.
- E
Buy Chanchala’s produce at a premium of 30% to the market price.
If option A is carried out, is possible that other villagers will also ask for similar promises. Eliminate it. Compensating the monetary loss as perceived by Chanchala is vague as what is perceived by Chanchala may or may not be true. Also, other villagers may also try to do the same.Eliminate option 2. Option 5 can also be eliminated for the same reason. Option 3 is the best solution as the villagers may try to reason with Chanchala and get the issue resolved at a local level. Also, since these villagers have been employed with the MNC, they can also ask her to reconsider her decision as their livelihoods are also at stake. Option 4 is too extreme for this problem.
Hence, option (c).