UPSC Prelims 2018 · Question 25 of 99
UPSC Prelims 2018 question on National Food Security Act
- ExamUPSC CSE
- Year2018
- PaperGeneral Studies Paper I
- SubjectInternational Relations
- TopicCurrent Affairs
- DifficultyMedium
- TypeStatement
With reference to the provisions made under the National Food Security Act, 2013, consider the following statements:
1. The families coming under the category of 'below poverty line (BPL)' only are eligible to receive subsidised food grains.
2. The eldest woman in a household, of age 18 years or above, shall be the head of the household for the purpose of issuance of a ration card.
3. Pregnant women and lactating mothers are entitled to a 'take-home ration' of 1600 calories per day during pregnancy and for six months thereafter.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Show answer
Answer: B. 2 only
Verdict
Only statement 2 is correct, so the answer is (b) 2 only.
Statement by statement
Statement 1 is INCORRECT. The National Food Security Act, 2013 provides coverage of up to 75 percent of the rural population and up to 50 percent of the urban population under the Targeted Public Distribution System, which is about two-thirds of the country, far wider than the below poverty line category alone.
Statement 2 is CORRECT. The Act provides that the eldest woman of the household, aged 18 years or above, is to be the head of the household for the purpose of issuing ration cards.
Statement 3 is INCORRECT. Pregnant women and lactating mothers are entitled to a meal during pregnancy and for six months after childbirth, and to maternity benefit of not less than 6,000 rupees. The Act does not frame the entitlement as a take home ration of 1600 calories per day.
Source
Department of Food and Public Distribution, National Food Security Act; PIB release on the Act.
How to crack it
The word only in statement 1 is the giveaway. The whole design shift of the 2013 Act was away from a narrow BPL target towards near universal coverage, so any statement restricting it to BPL contradicts the Act's central idea. Learn welfare laws by their coverage design first, because that single feature settles most statements about them.
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