Daily Quiz #10 UPSC Prelims Marathon – November 12 , 2019

Explanation: The National Land Records Modernisation Programme (NLRMP), started in 2008, aims at updating and digitising land records by the end of the Twelfth Plan. Eventually, the intent is to move from presumptive title (where registration of a title does not imply the owner’s title is legally valid) to conclusive title (where it does).

Explanation: It is the introduction of new techniques of agriculture, which became popular by the name of Green Revolution (GR) in early 1960s— at first for wheat and by the next decade for rice, too. It revolutionised the very traditional idea of food production by giving a boost by more than 250 per cent to the productivity level. The Green Revolution was centred around the use of the High Yielding Variety (HYV) of seeds developed by the US agro-scientist Norman Borlaug doing research on a British Rockfellor Foundation Scholarship in Mexico by the early 1960s.

Explanation: Minimum Support Price (MSP) is a form of market intervention by the Government of India to insure agricultural producers against any sharp fall in farm prices —a guarantee price to save farmers from distress sale. The MSPs are announced at the beginning of the sowing season for certain crops on the basis of the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP, 1985).

Explanation: In 1966–67, the Government of India announced a ‘procurement price’ for wheat, a bit higher than its MSP (the purpose being security of food procurement for requirement of the PDS). The MSP was announced before sowing, while the procurement price was announced before harvesting—the purpose was to encourage farmers to sell a bit more and get encouraged to produce more. But this increased price hardly served the purpose as a suitable incentive to farmers. It would have been better had it been announced before sowing and not after harvesting. That is why since the fiscal 1968–69 the government announced only the MSP, which is also considered the effective procurement price.

Explanation: The decentralised procurement (DCP) scheme was operationalised by the government in 1997 (together with the Centre and some of the states also procure foodgrains from the farmers, locally). Under this scheme, the designated states procure, store and also issue foodgrains under the TPDS. The difference between the economic cost of the states and the central issue price (CIP) is passed on to the states by the Government of India as subsidy. The decentralised system of procurement, helps to cover more farmers under the MSP operations, improves efficiency of the PDS, provides varieties of food grains more suited to local taste, and reduces the transportation costs of the FCI.