Government Schemes for Farmers and Agriculture Notes

The correct answer is B, Gorakhpur. PM-KISAN was announced in the interim budget of February 2019 and formally launched on 24 February 2019 from Gorakhpur in eastern Uttar Pradesh, with the first instalment released there, although the scheme was given effect from 1 December 2018. It pays a landholding farmer family six thousand rupees a year in three instalments of two thousand rupees each. A is wrong because Lucknow, the State capital, was not the launch site of this scheme. C is wrong because Prayagraj is associated with the Kumbh and with other announcements of that period, not with PM-KISAN. D is wrong because Varanasi, though the site of many launches, is not where this scheme began. Remember the pairing of place with scheme, because papers often swap Gorakhpur and Varanasi.

The correct answer is B, Krishi Vikas Yojana. The National Mission for Saffron, meant to revive saffron cultivation in Jammu and Kashmir through better corms, irrigation and a spice park, runs as a sub-scheme of the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, the umbrella fund started in 2007 that lets States plan their own agricultural projects. A is wrong because the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana is a skill training scheme of the Ministry of Skill Development. C is wrong because Antyodaya Anna Yojana is a food security scheme for the poorest households under the public distribution system. D is wrong because the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana deals with rural electrification and feeder separation for agricultural power supply. Crop-specific missions are usually components of larger umbrella schemes, so trace them to their parent scheme.

The correct answer is B, six thousand rupees in three instalments. PM-KISAN pays each eligible landholding farmer family two thousand rupees every four months, that is six thousand rupees a year, straight into an Aadhaar-seeded bank account; the whole cost is borne by the Union government because it is a central sector scheme. Income tax payers, institutional landholders and certain government servants and professionals are excluded. A, C and D are wrong because they change either the amount or the number of instalments, and both figures are tested together. Keep the related numbers apart in your mind: six thousand rupees a year under PM-KISAN, a pension of three thousand rupees a month after sixty under PM Kisan Maandhan Yojana, and a crop insurance premium of two per cent for kharif crops under the Fasal Bima Yojana.

The correct answer is B, two per cent. The scheme fixed a uniform maximum premium for the farmer: two per cent of the sum insured for kharif food and oilseed crops, one and a half per cent for rabi food and oilseed crops, and five per cent for annual commercial and horticultural crops, with the balance of the actuarial premium shared by the Union and State governments. A is wrong because one and a half per cent is the rabi rate, the usual trap in this question. C is wrong because five per cent applies to commercial and horticultural crops such as cotton and potato. D is wrong because no category under the scheme charges the farmer ten per cent. Also remember that the scheme began in the kharif season of 2016, replacing the National Agricultural Insurance Scheme, and that enrolment is voluntary since 2020.

The correct answer is A, Suratgarh in Rajasthan. The scheme was launched on 19 February 2015 from Suratgarh in Sri Ganganagar district, and it gives every holding a card showing the status of the main nutrients and the physical properties of the soil, with crop-wise advice on fertiliser and manure, renewed on a fixed cycle so that the farmer can correct imbalances and reduce wasteful urea use. B is wrong because Sehore is linked with other agricultural programmes, not this launch. C is wrong because Gorakhpur is the launch site of PM-KISAN in February 2019, which is the most common confusion in this question. D is wrong because Anand in Gujarat is known as the home of the dairy cooperative movement and Amul, not of the Soil Health Card. Keep launch places and years paired for each scheme.

The correct answer is B, the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices. Set up in 1965 as the Agricultural Prices Commission and renamed in 1985, it is an attached office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare that studies costs of production and recommends the minimum support price for the mandated crops; the final decision is taken by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs. A is wrong because the Food Corporation of India, created in 1965, procures, stores and moves grain at the announced price but does not fix it. C is wrong because NITI Aayog is a policy think tank without pricing powers. D is wrong because NABARD, established in 1982, is the apex institution for rural credit and refinance. Remember also that sugarcane gets a fair and remunerative price under the Sugarcane Control Order instead of a minimum support price.

The correct answer is B, an online trading platform linking agricultural markets. The electronic National Agriculture Market was launched on 14 April 2016 to connect regulated mandis across the States on a single internet platform, so that a trader sitting anywhere can bid for a lot after it is assayed, which widens the market for the farmer and reduces the hold of local buyers; it is implemented by the Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. A is wrong because crop insurance is handled through the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana portal. C is wrong because soil testing is the work of the Soil Health Card Scheme and its laboratories. D is wrong because farm mechanisation has its own sub-mission with custom hiring centres for machinery.

The correct answer is B, 1998. Acting on the report of the R. V. Gupta committee, the scheme was introduced in 1998 and the model was prepared by NABARD for commercial banks, regional rural banks and cooperative banks. It gives the farmer a revolving credit limit for seed, fertiliser and other cultivation expenses, with a simple passbook or card, and it was later extended to investment credit and to animal husbandry and fisheries. A is wrong because 1991 is the year of the economic reforms and of the Narasimham committee on the financial system. C is wrong because 2004 is associated with the Kisan Call Centre and the start of the farm credit doubling programme. D is wrong because 2014 belongs to the Jan Dhan Yojana and the horticulture mission. Crop loans under the card also carry an interest subvention with a rebate for prompt repayment.

The correct answer is A, the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana. Launched in 2015, it brings irrigation work under one umbrella with the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme for major and medium projects, Har Khet Ko Pani for creating new sources, Per Drop More Crop for drip and sprinkler micro-irrigation, and watershed development for rainfed areas. B is wrong because the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana of 2007 is a flexible fund for State agricultural plans, the parent of missions such as the saffron mission. C is wrong because the National Food Security Mission works on the output of rice, wheat, pulses and coarse cereals. D is wrong because Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana promotes organic farming in clusters. Scheme slogans are asked very often, so learn them with their parent scheme.

The correct answer is C, three thousand rupees a month. The scheme, launched in 2019, is a voluntary and contributory pension arrangement for small and marginal farmers between eighteen and forty years of age; the farmer contributes a monthly amount that depends on the age of entry, the Union government contributes an equal amount, and a pension of three thousand rupees a month begins after the age of sixty, with a family pension of half that sum for the spouse. A is wrong because one thousand rupees is the figure often linked to other social security pensions. B is wrong because two thousand rupees is the size of one PM-KISAN instalment, not a pension. D is wrong because no central farmer pension scheme assures five thousand rupees a month. The same design of matched contribution is used for traders and for unorganised workers.

The correct answer is A, organic farming in clusters. The scheme, a component of the National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture, groups farmers into clusters, supports them with training and inputs for organic cultivation, and certifies the produce through the Participatory Guarantee System of India, in which groups of farmers inspect and vouch for one another. B is wrong because contract farming is governed by State farm market laws and model acts, not by this scheme. C is wrong because protected cultivation of flowers is supported under the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture. D is wrong because dry land and rainfed farming is handled by the rainfed area development component of the sustainable agriculture mission. Note also the Mission Organic Value Chain Development for the North Eastern Region, which works on the same idea in that region.