Read the following statement about bill payment behaviour and the suggested courses of action, and then decide which courses of action logically follow, assuming the statement is fully true. Statement: People in Pratapgarh are not paying their telephone bills despite various verbal warnings and reminders. The telephone authority has now informed subscribers through a notification that those who do not pay their bills by the due date will be charged a penalty for every defaulting day. Courses of action: a. A majority of people may pay their bills by the due date to avoid the penalty. b. People generally pay attention to such statutory notifications.

Introduction / Context:
This question presents a situation involving non payment of telephone bills in a town and the introduction of a penalty through a formal notification. Although labelled as courses of action, the two statements a and b are really assumptions about how people will respond to the notification. You must decide which of these are reasonably taken for granted and therefore logically follow as underlying expectations behind the authority decision.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• People in Pratapgarh have not been paying their telephone bills despite verbal warnings and reminders.
• The telephone authority has now issued a formal notification.
• The notification states that defaulters will be charged a penalty for every day of delay after the due date.
• The authority expects that this change in policy and communication will influence behaviour.

Concept / Approach:
For such reasoning:

• A valid underlying assumption must support the action taken by the authority.
• It must be reasonable to suppose that people react to financial penalties and formal notifications.
• If the authority issues a statutory notification with penalties, it is because they expect it to be effective.

Statements a and b are both possible expectations about the effect of the notification.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Evaluate statement a. If a financial penalty is imposed for late payment, it is natural and reasonable to expect that many people will try to avoid extra cost by paying on time. Therefore, the telephone authority likely assumes that a majority of people may now pay their bills by the due date. So a follows as a logical expectation. Step 2: Evaluate statement b. The authority shifted from verbal warnings to a formal notification with a clear rule. Such notifications are statutory in nature and carry more weight. The authority would only rely on such a notification if it believed that people generally pay heed to statutory and written notices. Hence, b also follows. Step 3: Check consistency. Both a and b are supportive of the authority’s decision and are not contradictory. They jointly explain why issuing a penalty based notification is considered an effective step. Step 4: Determine the correct option. Since both assumptions are reasonable and necessary to justify the authority’s move, the correct choice is that both a and b follow.

Verification / Alternative check:
Imagine if the authority did not believe that penalties influence behaviour or that statutory notifications get attention. In that case, issuing such a notification would not make sense as a strategy. The fact that they chose this method indicates that they rely on those behavioural tendencies. This confirms that both a and b are part of the implicit reasoning behind the step taken by the telephone authority.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:

• Only a follows: This ignores the clear role of the statutory nature of the notification in influencing citizens.
• Only b follows: This fails to recognise that the specific penalty clause is meant to push people toward timely payment.
• Neither a nor b follows: This would suggest that the authority acted without any reasonable expectation of impact, which is illogical.

Common Pitfalls:
Candidates sometimes confuse assumptions with guaranteed outcomes. Here, a and b are assumptions, not certainties, but they still logically follow because they are necessary beliefs behind the decision. Another pitfall is to treat such questions as if only one statement can ever follow, even when both are clearly consistent and supportive of the action taken.

Final Answer:
Both a and b follow.