Agricultural MCQs from

Budget
-By Avinash Rana
1. In the Union Budget 2018-19, the government has made an
important announcement regarding the MSP of the Kharif Crops.
The MSP for all unannounced kharif crops would be atleast how
many times the production cost?
[a] 1.5 times
[b] 2 times
[c] 2.5 times
[d] 1 time
[e] 3 times
This historic decision would prove an important step towards doubling
the income of our farmers and NITI Aayog in consultation with Central
and State Governments will put in place a fool proof mechanism so that
farmers will get adequate price for their produce.
How is it different from the Procurement Price?

Sometimes, the government procures at a higher price than the MSP.

Here, the price will be referred as procurement price. The procurement
price will be announced soon after the harvest.
The price at which the procured and buffer stocked food grains are
provided through the PDS is called as issue price.
A counterpart of the MSP is the Market Intervention Scheme (MIS),
under which the state government procures perishable commodities
like vegetable items.
2. In the Union Budget 2018-19, the government has announced to
increase the institutional credit for agriculture sector to how much
for the year 2018-19 from Rs.10 lakh crore in 2017-18?
[a] Rs.12 lakh crore
[b] Rs.11.5 lakh crore
[c] Rs.12.5 lakh crore
[d] Rs.11 lakh crore
[e] Rs.10.5 lakh crore

The volume of institutional credit for agriculture sector from year-to-

year has increased from Rs.8.5 lakh crore in 2014-15 to Rs.10 lakh
crore in 2017-18 and the government has proposed to raise this to
Rs.11 lakh crore for the year 2018-19.
3. The setting up of two new funds ‘Fisheries and Aquaculture
Infrastructure Development Fund (FAIDF) for fisheries sector and an
Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) for
financing infrastructure requirement of animal husbandry sector’
has been announced in the Budget 2018-19. What is the total
corpus of the two new funds?
[a] Rs.11,000 crore
[b] Rs.12,000 crore
[c] Rs.10,000 crore
[d] Rs.9,000 crore
[e] Rs.15,000 crore

Total Corpus of these two new Funds would be Rs.10,000 crore.

What are the other announcements that would help the fisheries and
the animal husbandry sector?
In order to help the small and marginal farmers in fisheries and animal
husbandry sector meet their working capital needs, the government
has extended the facility of Kisan Credit Cards (KCC) to the sector.
4. In the Union Budget 2018-19, the government has announced the launch
of a ‘Restructured National Bamboo Mission’, which is based on a cluster-
based approach to address the complete bamboo value chain and
promote bamboo sector in a holistic manner. What has been the outlay
for this scheme?
[a] Rs.1378 Crore
[b] Rs.1290 Crore
[c] Rs.1678 Crore
[d] Rs.1190 Crore
[e] Rs.1890 Crore

The government has called Bamboo as ‘Green Gold’ and announced the
launch of the Rs.1290- crore Restructured National Bamboo Mission, which
is based on a cluster-based approach to address the complete bamboo value
chain and promote bamboo sector in a holistic manner.
The Indian Forest (Amendment) Bill, 2017

The Bills replaces the Indian Forest (Amendment) Ordinance, 2017 and
amends the Indian Forest Act, 1927.
5. In the Union Budget 2018-19, the government has announced the
launching of ‘Operation Greens’ to address price volatility of
perishable commodities like potatoes, tomatoes and onion. What is
the outlay of this scheme?
[a] Rs.250 Crore
[b] Rs.300 Crore
[c] Rs.450 Crore
[d] Rs.500 Crore
[e] Rs.550 Crore

Ans: 500 Crores

Salient features of this scheme:
‘Operation Greens’, on the lines of ‘Operation Flood’, shall promote
Farmer Producers Organizations (FPOs), agri-logistics, processing
facilities and professional management in the sector.

Operation Flood was launched in 1970 with the aim of transforming

India from a milk-deficient nation into the world's largest milk
producer. In 30 years it doubled milk available per person and made
dairy farming India’s largest self-sustainable rural employment
generator. It was launched to help farmers direct their own
development and placing control of the resources they create in their
own hands.
6. In the Union Budget 2018-19, it has been announced that there
would be 100% deduction in respect of profits to Farmer Producer
Companies (FPCs), having a turnover up to Rs.100 Crore. This
deduction has been announced for a period of how many years
starting from FY 2018-19?
[a] 5 Years
[b] 4 Years
[c] 3 Years
[d] 7 Years
[e] 6 Years
The Government has announced 100% deduction in respect of profits
to Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs), having turnover up to Rs. 100
crore, for a period of 5 years from FY 2018-19, in order to encourage
professionalism in post-harvest value addition in agriculture.
Farmer Producer Organization:
The concept behind Farmer Producer Organizations is that farmers, who are
the producers of agricultural products, can form groups and register
themselves under the Indian Companies Act.
To facilitate this process, the Small Farmers’ Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC)
was mandated to support the State Governments in the formation of Farmer
Producer Organizations (FPOs).
The aim is to enhance farmers’ competitiveness and increase their advantage
in emerging market opportunities.
This concept is immediate recourse for the marginal and small farmers to tide
over the state of vulnerability and deprivation, is to scale up their operations,
and provide access to technologies, credit and market.
The FPO’s major operations will include supply of seed, fertilizer and
machinery, market linkages, training and networking and financial and
technical advice.
7. In the Union Budget 2018-19, how much amount has been
allocated to support organized cultivation of highly specialized
medicinal and aromatic plants and aid small and cottage industries
that manufacture perfumes, essential oils and other associated
products?
[a] Rs.500 Crore
[b] Rs.300 Crore
[c] Rs.200 Crore
[d] Rs.100 Crore
[e] Rs.250 Crore
A sum of Rs.200 crore have been allocated to support organized
cultivation of highly specialized medicinal and aromatic plants and aid
small and cottage industries that manufacture perfumes, essential oils
and other associated products.
8. In the Union Budget 2018-19 it has been announced that an Agri-
Market Infrastructure Fund will be set up for developing and
upgrading agricultural marketing infrastructure in the 22000
Grameen Agricultural Markets (GrAMs) and 585 APMCs. How much
corpus has been setup regarding the same?
[a] Rs.1500 Crore
[b] Rs.2200 Crore
[c] Rs.1000 Crore
[d] Rs.2100 Crore
[e] Rs.2000 Crore

Ans : 2000 crores

Announcements regarding the development of Agricultural Marketing
Infrastructure:
The government has announced the development and upgradation of
existing 22,000 rural haats into Gramin Agricultural Markets (GrAMs).
In India more than 86% of farmers are small and marginal who are not
always in a position to directly transact at APMCs and other wholesale
markets.
In these GrAMs, physical infrastructure will be strengthened using
MGNREGA and other Government Schemes and would be
electronically linked to e-NAM and exempted from regulations of
APMCs.
This would provide farmers facility to make direct sale to consumers
and bulk purchasers.
9. Which of the following is the amount allocated for Ministry of Food
Processing?
[a] Rs.1000 Crore
[b] Rs.1200 Crore
[c] Rs.900 Crore
[d] Rs.1400 Crore
[e] Rs.1500 Crore

The allocation of Ministry of Food Processing has been doubled from

Rs.715 crore in 2017-18 to Rs.1400 crore in 2018-19.
The Prime Minister Krishi Sampada Yojana (Scheme for Agro-Marine
Processing and Development of Agro-Processing Clusters) is our
flagship programme for boosting investment in food processing and the
sector is growing at an average rate of 8% per annum.
The objective of the scheme is to supplement agriculture, modernize
processing and decrease agricultural-waste.
PMKSY is an umbrella scheme incorporating ongoing schemes like
Mega Food Parks, Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition
Infrastructure, Food Safety and Quality Assurance Infrastructure, etc.
and also new schemes like Infrastructure for Agro-processing Clusters,
Creation of Backward and Forward Linkages, Creation / Expansion of
Food Processing & Preservation Capacities.
With the increased allocation for the sector, the Government will
promote establishment of specialized agro-processing financial
institutions in this sector and to set up state-of-the-art testing
facilities in all the forty-two Mega Food Parks.
8. As announced in the Union Budget 2018-19, under Prime Minister
Krishi Sinchai Yojna-Har Khet ko Pani, 96 deprived irrigation districts
will be taken up with an allocation of how much amount?
[a] Rs.2100 Crore
[b] Rs.2300 Crore
[c] Rs.1600 Crore
[d] Rs.2900 Crore
[e] Rs.2600 Crore
Under Prime Minister Krishi Sinchai Yojna-Har Khet ko Pani, 96
deprived irrigation districts will be taken up with an allocation of
Rs.2600 crore.
8. What has been the allocation for the scheme ‘Pradhan Mantri Krishi
Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY)’ that has been made in the Union Budget
2018-19?
[a] 9100 Crore
[b] 8976 Crore
[c] 8700 Crore
[d] 9429 Crore
[e] 9789 Crore

An amount of Rs.9429 Crore has been allocated for the Pradhan

Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) in the Union Budget 2018-19.
8. As announced in the Union Budget 2018-19, under the Pradhan
Mantri Awas Yojana, the government has set a target to build how
many houses in the rural areas in 2018-19?
[a] 51 lakh
[b] 53 lakh
[c] 58 lakh
[d] 45 lakh
[e] 61 lakh

Under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Scheme, 51 lakh houses in

2017-18 and 51 lakh more in 2018- 19 would be constructed in rural
areas.
In urban areas, assistance has been sanctioned to construct 37 lakh
houses.
So when did IAY become PMAY-Gramin?
To address the gaps in the rural housing program, the scheme of IAY
has been re-structured into Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana –Gramin
(PMAY-G) w.e.f. 1st April 2016.
8. In the Union Budget 2018-19, the beneficiaries under the Pradhan
Mantri Ujjwala scheme has been increased from 5 crores to?
[a] 7 crore
[b] 6 crore
[c] 10 crore
[d] 8 crore
[e] 9 crore

Ans: 8 Crore
Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) aims to safeguard the health
of women & children by providing them with a clean cooking fuel – LPG
(it provides free LPG connections to women from BPL households), so
that they don’t have to compromise their health in smoky kitchens or
wander in unsafe areas collecting firewood.
Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana was launched by Hon’ble Prime
Minister Shri Narendra Modi on May 1st, 2016 in Ballia, Uttar Pradesh.
This is a scheme of the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas.
Ujjwala scheme provides financial support of Rs.1,600 for each cooking
gas connection to eligible households.
The connections are given in the name of the women heads of
households. The government also provides an equated monthly
instalment facility for meeting the cost of stove and refills.
This new target is to be achieved by 2020
8. In the Union Budget 2018-19, the government has announced a
scheme to convert cattle dung and solid waste in farms to compost,
bio-gas and bio-CNG. What is the name of this scheme?
[a] RENEWABLE PUSH
[b] GOBAR-DHAN
[c] GOBAR-GAS
[d] BIO-FUEL
[e] BIO-ENERGY

In an effort to make the villages open defecation free and improving

the lives of villagers, the government has announced the launch of
Galvanizing Organic Bio-Agro Resources Dhan (GOBARDHAN).
This will manage and convert cattle dung and solid waste in farms to
compost, bio-gas and bioCNG.
8. In the Union Budget 2018-19, the allocation of National Rural
Livelihood Mission has been substantially increased to how much?
[a] Rs.4380 Crore
[b] Rs.4200 Crore
[c] Rs.5750 Crore
[d] Rs.6150 Crore
[e] Rs.6370 Crore

In the Union Budget 2018-19, the Government has substantially

increased the allocation of National Rural Livelihood Mission to
Rs.5750 crore in 2018-19 as compared to Rs.4500 Crore in 2017-18.
Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Livelihoods Mission
(NRLM) was launched by the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD),
Government of India in June 2011. The Mission aims at creating
efficient and effective institutional platforms of the rural poor enabling
them to increase household income through sustainable livelihood
enhancements and improved access to financial services.

Key Features
Universal Social Mobilisation - At least one woman member from each
identified rural poor household, is to be brought under the Self Help
Group (SHG) network in a time bound manner.
Financial Inclusion - NRLM works on both demand and supply sides of
financial inclusion.
Livelihoods - through deepening/enhancing and expanding existing
livelihoods options and tapping new opportunities in farm and non-
farm sectors
• Aajeevika Grameen Express Yojana
• Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP)
• Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Progam
In January 2018, at the 'Transformation of Aspirational Districts'
conference, NITI Aayog has announced that by April 2018, it will rank
the aspirational districts of the nation selected by the Union
government earlier in November, 2017. How many backward districts
were selected by the Union government for transformation?
[a] 120
[b] 115
[c] 135
[d] 100
[e] 122
Government to transform 115 backward districts by 2022:
In keeping with the Prime Minister’s vision of a New India by 2022,
Government has embarked upon a major policy initiative for the rapid
transformation of 115 backward districts across the country over the
next five years.
These 115 backward districts include 35 districts affected by Left Wing
Extremists (LWE) violence, 55 districts just affected by LWE and another
15 including districts in Jammu and Kashmir and northeast affected by
terrorism.
In which of the following years was the Saubhagya scheme launched by
the government?
[a] 2016
[b] 2015
[c] 2014
[d] 2013
[e] 2017
Saubhagya scheme: Saubhagya scheme was launched by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi on September 25, 2017 with an outlay of Rs.
16,320 crores in order to provide all willing households in rural areas
and poor families in urban areas free electricity connections. (Four
Crore poor households are being provided with electricity connection
free of charge).
THANK YOU!