Given below are two statements one is labelled as Assertion (A) and other as Reason (R) :
Assertion (A) : The government faces a tough time tackling the bottleneck inflation.
Reason (R) : The situatio

Question

Given below are two statements one is labelled as Assertion (A) and other as Reason (R) :
Assertion (A) : The government faces a tough time tackling the bottleneck inflation.
Reason (R) : The situation is due to deficiencies existing in the economy such as supply bottleneck and inefficient distribution.
Select the correct answer from the codes given below.
Codes :

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — A, Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A). The Assertion is true: bottleneck (structural) inflation is genuinely hard for a government to tackle because it arises on the supply side and cannot be cured by demand-management tools alone. The Reason is also true — and it states precisely why: supply bottlenecks and inefficient distribution are the defining causes of bottleneck inflation. Because output cannot rise to meet demand, standard monetary tightening does little; the real fix (better production, logistics and distribution) is slow. So R correctly explains A → option (a).

Why the other options are wrong — (b) Wrong — R is not just a true side-fact; supply bottlenecks and inefficient distribution ARE the reason bottleneck inflation is hard to control, so R directly explains A.  (c) Wrong — R is true. Bottleneck inflation does stem from supply constraints and poor distribution; that is its standard definition.  (d) Wrong — A is true. Supply-side/structural inflation is indeed difficult for governments to control using conventional demand-side tools.

Concept: 'Bottleneck inflation' is a form of structural, supply-side (cost-push) inflation. It occurs when output cannot expand to meet demand because of physical constraints — shortages of inputs, infrastructure and storage gaps, and inefficient distribution. Because the cause lies on the supply side, demand-management measures (raising interest rates, tightening money supply) are relatively ineffective; the remedy is to ease the supply constraints themselves, which takes time.

State PCS 2021 Q39 — Economy PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2021 Q39 — Economy PYQ with Answer