1. Among the following who are eligible to benefit from the National Pension System?
(a) All the citizens of the country
(b) All the citizens excluding the Government Employees
(c) All the citizens excluding the unorganised sector employees
(d) All the citizens excluding the corporate sector employees
Answer (a) Explanation :
✓ The Government of India (GOI) rolled out the NPS for all citizens of India from May 1, 2009 and corporate sector from December, 2011.
✓ The person (employee/citizen) who joins the NPS will be known as "Subscriber" in the NPS. Under the NPS, each Subscriber will open an account with Central Recordkeeping Agency (CRA) which will be identified through unique Permanent Retirement Account Number (PRAN).
2. Consider the following statements:
1. Currently, the value of milk produced in the country exceeds the total value of foodgrains produced in the country.
2. The value of horticulture produced exceeds the value of cereals produced in the country and correspondingly its area under cultivation also surpasses that of cereal cultivation.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer (a) Explanation :
✓ According to the Central Statistics Office’s (CSO) detailed crop-wise estimates of the value of output from agriculture and allied sectors, the country’s farmers produced milk worth Rs 4,95,841 crore in 2014-15. For the first time, the value of milk produced exceeded the total value of foodgrains (cereals plus pulses), which stood at Rs 4,86,846 crore, and was way above paddy at Rs 2,26,481 crore or wheat at Rs 1,28,998 crore, according to latest figures
✓ The CSO data reveals the value of fruits and vegetables production, too, crossing that of cereals. Though its area under cultivation increased it has not surpassed the area under cultivation of cereals. So statement 2 is wrong.
3. Consider the following statements:
1. Raw cotton is a commodity covered under Minimum Support Price (MSP) programme.
2. National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED) is the central nodal agency for undertaking price support operations/procurement for Cotton.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer (a) Explanation :
✓ Raw cotton is one among the 24 agricultural commodities for which Minimum Support Price (MSP) is announced.
✓ Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) is the central nodal agency for undertaking price support operations for Cotton. Therefore statement 2 is wrong.
4. Which of the following committee has recently suggested to modernise Public Distribution System (PDS)?
(a) Abhijit Sen Committee
(b) Hanumant Rao Committee
(c) Mahajan Committee
(d) Shantha Kumar Committee
Answer (d) Explanation :
✓ Shanta Kumar Committee has been appointed to restructure, reorient and reform the Food Corporation of India (FCI) by present government. One of the major recommendations of the committee was to modernise Public Distribution System (PDS) by way of computerisation.
✓ Other options: Mahajan Committee was constituted for sugar industry, Abhijit Sen Committee for Long Term Food Policy and Hanumant Rao Committee for fertilizers. Thus these committees did not recommend modernisation of PDS recently.
5. With reference to ‘Industrial Linkages within supply chain management of food processing industries’, which of the following statement is/are correct?
1. Downstream linkages refer to supply of agriculture commodities as raw material.
2. Upstream linkages are same as that of forward industrial linkages.
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer (d)
Explanation :
✓ Industrial linkages (Upstream and Downstream): The linkages of food processing industries with suppliers of inputs (raw material) and prospective output selling markets hold the key for development of this sector.
✓ Backward/Upstream linkages refers to supply of material
✓ Forward/Downstream linkages refer to product sale (hence both statements are wrong).