Under the National Food Security Act, 2013, a priority household is entitled to how much foodgrain?

The correct answer is C, 2013. The National Food Security Act, often called the Right to Food Act, was passed by Parliament in 2013 and converted the subsidised grain of the Targeted Public Distribution System from a scheme benefit into a legal entitlement, enforceable through a District Grievance Redressal Officer and a State Food Commission. A, 2005, is wrong, though it is the year of two other landmark laws, the Right to Information Act and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, which is why the option is attractive. B, 2009, is wrong because the year belongs to the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act. D, 2016, is wrong; no central food security law dates from that year, which saw the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code instead. Note too that the Act was brought into force with effect from July 2013, which is why some sources give that month with the year.

The correct answer is B, up to 75 per cent of the rural and up to 50 per cent of the urban population. Those two ceilings together work out to about two-thirds of the country, and the Union Government fixes the state-wise coverage within them while the states identify the households. A is wrong because the figures are reversed and reduced; no provision of the Act carries fifty and twenty-five per cent. C is wrong because the Act deliberately moved away from the poverty line as the test: the priority category is wider than the old Below Poverty Line list, and identification is left to state criteria rather than to a poverty estimate. D is wrong because the Act is not universal; it excludes a part of the population, and a universal distribution system is what India had before the targeting of 1997.

The correct answer is B, the eldest woman of the household aged eighteen or above. The Act provides that the ration card shall be issued in the name of the eldest woman of the household who is eighteen years of age or more, so that the entitlement is held by a woman; if there is no such woman, the eldest male member holds it until a female member turns eighteen. A is wrong because the eldest male is only the fallback and not the rule. C is wrong because income decides whether the household is covered at all, not who holds the card. D is wrong because the gram panchayat has a role in identification, social audit and vigilance but no power to nominate the head of a household for this purpose.

The correct answer is C, 3, 2 and 1. The Act fixed the issue price at three rupees a kilogram for rice, two rupees for wheat and one rupee for coarse grains, and provided that these prices would hold for three years from the date of commencement, after which the Central Government could revise them up to the minimum support price. A and B are wrong because they shuffle the same three figures, which is exactly how the option is set in examinations; remember the descending order, rice the dearest and coarse grain the cheapest. D is wrong because those are not statutory figures at all. From the start of 2023 the grain due under the Act has in practice been supplied free, but the prices written into the Act remain three, two and one.

The correct answer is C, 2000. The Antyodaya Anna Yojana was launched in December 2000 for one crore of the poorest households, which were given foodgrain at the lowest issue price; the quota was twenty-five kilograms a household a month at first and was raised to thirty-five kilograms in 2002. A, 1992, is wrong because that is the year of the Revamped Public Distribution System, which extended better terms to 1,775 blocks in drought-prone, desert, tribal and hill areas. B, 1997, is wrong because that is the year the Targeted Public Distribution System divided households into Below and Above Poverty Line. D, 2013, is wrong because that is the year of the National Food Security Act, which kept the Antyodaya category and its thirty-five kilogram entitlement intact. So fix the three years in order: 1992, 1997 and 2000, and this question becomes automatic.