CCEA Clears Rabi MSP Rise for 2027-28, Safflower Up Rs 675

The correct answer is safflower. For marketing season 2027-28 the floor price of safflower was raised by Rs 675 a quintal, the biggest rupee increase among the six mandated rabi crops. Rapeseed and mustard came second with a rise of Rs 413 a quintal. Option A, wheat, is wrong because wheat recorded the smallest increase of the lot, only Rs 25 a quintal, even though it enjoys the widest margin over its cost of production at 106 per cent. Option B, gram, is wrong because gram rose by Rs 83 a quintal, far below safflower. Option D, barley, is wrong because barley gained Rs 136 a quintal, again well short of the safflower figure. Lentil, also called masur, gained Rs 390 a quintal and stood third in the order of absolute increases.

The correct answer is wheat. The expected return over the all-India weighted average cost of production works out to 106 per cent for wheat, the highest among the six mandated rabi crops of the season. Option B, safflower, is wrong because safflower sits at the bottom of this list with a margin of 50 per cent, even though it drew the largest absolute rise in rupee terms. Option C, lentil or masur, is wrong because its margin is 92 per cent, below that of wheat and also below rapeseed and mustard at 96 per cent. Option D, gram, is wrong because gram carries a margin of 59 per cent, only a little above barley at 58 per cent. The margin is measured against a cost that includes hired labour, rent on leased land, seed, fertiliser, irrigation charges, depreciation, interest on working capital and the imputed value of family labour.

The correct answer is Union Budget 2018-19. The rabi price revision for marketing season 2027-28 was described as being in line with the announcement made in that Budget, which set the benchmark of fixing a floor price at no less than one and a half times the all-India weighted average cost of production. Options A, C and D name other Budget years and are wrong, because the one-and-a-half-times benchmark is tied only to the 2018-19 announcement and has been the reference point for every later revision of mandated crop prices. The cost used in the calculation is a paid-out cost with the imputed value of family labour added, covering hired human labour, bullock and machine labour, rent for leased land, seed, fertiliser and manure, irrigation charges, depreciation on implements and farm buildings, interest on working capital and fuel or power for pump sets.

The correct answer is 3,715 lakh metric tonnes. Wheat bought at the floor price over the years from 2014-15 to 2025-26 added up to that quantity. Option A, 2,254 lakh metric tonnes, is the wheat figure for the earlier stretch from 2004-05 to 2013-14 and so is wrong for the period asked about. Option B, 2,302 lakh metric tonnes, is wrong because it is the quantity of all six rabi crops taken together during that earlier stretch, not wheat alone. Option D, 3,921 lakh metric tonnes, is wrong for the same reason in reverse: it covers all six rabi crops from 2014-15 to 2025-26 rather than wheat by itself. Payments track the same pattern, with wheat growers receiving Rs 7.31 lakh crore in the later period against Rs 2.56 lakh crore in the earlier one.