Which state received the largest share of the kharif 2026-27 procurement sanction?

The correct answer is Rs 5,547.99 crore. This is the full amount sanctioned for buying pulses and oilseeds at minimum support price in Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana together for the kharif marketing season of 2026-27. Option A, Rs 3,992.57 crore, is only the share set aside for Uttar Pradesh; it is the largest of the three state shares, which makes it a tempting but partial answer. Option D, Rs 1,107 crore, is likewise only the Karnataka share, covering soybean, moong and sunflower in that state. Option C is simply a higher figure with no basis in the approval. Adding the three state shares of Rs 3,992.57 crore, Rs 1,107 crore and Rs 448.42 crore gives the sanctioned total, so only option B names the whole approval rather than a part of it.

The correct answer is paddy. The sanction covers pulses and oilseeds only, and paddy is a cereal bought through a separate central pool arrangement rather than through the Price Support Scheme. Option A, tur or arhar, is very much covered: the single biggest item in the approval is tur in Uttar Pradesh. Option D, soybean, is covered twice over, in Karnataka and again in Telangana, and is the main oilseed in the sanction. Option B, sunflower, is covered in Karnataka alone, the smallest of the three Karnataka items. Moong is the fourth crop named and appears in all three states. So the odd one out is paddy, which is not part of this pulses-and-oilseeds approval at all, and a candidate who remembers that the scheme handles pulses, oilseeds and copra can rule it out at once.

The correct answer is 14 months. The assessment is built in three stages. First comes the baseline or pre-construction survey lasting fourteen months, then a transition period of roughly twelve months, and finally the endline or post-construction survey lasting twenty-two months. Because the same households and the same roads are revisited at each stage, the design is described as longitudinal and can show change over time rather than compare unrelated samples. Option A is shorter than the stated baseline period and is wrong. Option C is the length of the endline survey that follows construction, not the baseline, so it is a common trap. Option D is longer than any single stage in the design and does not match the plan at all. The full study runs for four years and will feed into programme review and future rural infrastructure planning.

The correct answer is IIM Kolkata. The National Rural Infrastructure Development Agency, which works under the Ministry of Rural Development, signed the Memorandum of Understanding with the Indian Institute of Management Kolkata for a four-year longitudinal study of roads built under PMGSY-IV and PM-JANMAN. The signatories were NRIDA Director General Aditi Singh and IIM Kolkata Director Alok Kumar Rai, with Rural Development Secretary Rohit Kansal present. Option A, IIM Ahmedabad, is a different management institute and was not party to this agreement, so it is wrong. Option C, IIT Roorkee, is an engineering institute and was not involved here either. Option D, the National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, works in the same sector and therefore looks plausible, but it is not the partner named in this MoU, so it is also incorrect.

The correct answer is 250. The study will examine that many rural roads, spread across ten States and Union Territories, fifty districts and one hundred and fifty blocks, with a household survey of roughly five thousand families to capture changes in mobility, accessibility and socio-economic conditions. Option A is the number of blocks covered rather than the number of roads, which makes it a tempting but incorrect choice. Option B and option D are round figures that do not match the coverage announced, so both are wrong. Aspirants should keep the four coverage numbers in order, from States and Union Territories to districts, then blocks and finally roads, because questions often swap one of them for another. The States and Union Territory in the study are Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Sikkim and Uttarakhand.