Which of the following States/Union Territory/Region are in special focus in the National Mission on Edible Oils—Oil Palm?
- (a)Himachal Pradesh and Andaman and Nicobar Islands
- (b)North-East Region and Andaman and Nicobar Islands
- (c)North-East Region and Gujarat
- (d)Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat
Correct — B, North-East Region and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The National Mission on Edible Oils - Oil Palm was announced by the Prime Minister in the Independence Day address of 2021 and approved by the Union Cabinet on 18 August 2021, three months before this paper was set, and the special focus written into the scheme is on the north-eastern region and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The reason is agronomic rather than political: oil palm needs high and well-distributed rainfall and a humid tropical climate, and those two areas are where India's assessments put the largest untapped potential. The mission runs as a centrally sponsored scheme from 2021-22 to 2025-26 with an outlay of about eleven thousand crore rupees, of which the central share is roughly eight thousand eight hundred crore, and it aims to add 6.5 lakh hectares under oil palm to reach ten lakh hectares in all. Two design features carry the special focus — extra capital assistance for processing units set up in the north-east and the Andamans, and a viability gap payment that guarantees growers a price for their fresh fruit bunches when international crude palm oil prices fall.
- (a)Himachal Pradesh and Andaman and Nicobar Islands — Gets the islands right and the other half badly wrong. Himachal Pradesh is a temperate Himalayan state; oil palm is a humid tropical crop and cannot be grown there.
- (c)North-East Region and Gujarat — The north-east is right, but Gujarat is a largely semi-arid state whose oilseed strength is groundnut, not oil palm. The mission's second focus area is the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
- (d)Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat — Neither is a focus area. Both are major agricultural states, which is what makes the option look reasonable, but neither has the rainfall and humidity oil palm requires.
India consumes far more edible oil than it produces and imports the balance, with palm oil the largest single item in that import bill. Oil palm is attractive as a domestic answer because it yields several times more oil per hectare than any oilseed crop, but it is demanding — it needs a humid tropical climate and a great deal of water, takes about four years to come into bearing, and its fruit must reach a processing mill within a day or two of harvest, which means plantations and mills have to be planned together.
The paired-region format is the giveaway here. Reason from the crop rather than from the map: ask which of the four places named could physically grow oil palm, and Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh drop out immediately, leaving Gujarat as the only doubtful case. Gujarat is a serious oilseed state, but for groundnut in a semi-arid setting, not for a humid tropical palm. That leaves the north-east and the islands, which is the answer. It is worth knowing the counter-arguments too, since they get asked in essay and interview form — expansion of oil palm in high-rainfall, biodiversity-rich regions raises questions about water use, monoculture and land rights, and the Andaman and Nicobar proposal in particular has drawn objections on those grounds.
- The National Mission on Edible Oils - Oil Palm was approved by the Union Cabinet on 18 August 2021, after being announced in the Prime Minister's Independence Day address that year.
- It gives special focus to the north-eastern region and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which are assessed as having the highest potential for oil palm.
- The outlay is about 11,040 crore rupees, of which roughly 8,844 crore is the central share and 2,196 crore the state share.
- The mission runs from 2021-22 to 2025-26 and aims to bring an additional 6.5 lakh hectares under oil palm, reaching ten lakh hectares in total.
- It provides a viability gap payment to protect growers from falls in the international crude palm oil price, and extra capital assistance for processing units in the north-east and the Andamans.
- Answering from where oilseeds are grown today rather than from where oil palm can be grown.
- Assuming a large agricultural state must be the focus area; the constraint here is climate, not scale.
- Confusing oil palm with coconut or with groundnut in the list of edible oil sources.
As a scheme-to-region item, or inside a statements question on the mission's outlay, period and objectives.
With reference to ‘palm oil’, consider the following statements : 1. The palm oil tree is native to Southeast Asia. 2. The palm oil is a raw material for some industries producing lipstick and perfumes. 3. The palm oil can be used to produce biodiesel. Which of the statements given above are correct?
- (a) 1 and 2 only
- (b) 2 and 3 only
- (c) 1 and 3 only
- (d) 1,2 and 3
Answer(b) 2 and 3 only
The same crop, in the same year, tested on what it is and what it is used for. Note in particular that the oil palm is native to west and central Africa rather than to South-East Asia — India is planting an introduced crop, and the mission is an import-substitution measure rather than the revival of an indigenous one.
Consider the following statements: 1. The quantity of imported edible oils is more than the domestic production of edible oils in the last five years. 2. The Government does not impose any customs duty on all the imported edible oils as a special case. 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) 1 only
The reason this mission exists. India's imports of edible oil exceed its domestic production, and customs duty is in fact levied on those imports — the dependence that item measures is exactly what a domestic oil palm programme is meant to reduce.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Oil palm cultivation requires which one of the following conditions?
- (a)A cold temperate climate with winter snowfall
- (b)A humid tropical climate with high and well-distributed rainfall
- (c)A semi-arid climate with less than 500 mm of rainfall
- (d)Saline coastal soils with no irrigation
Answer(b) A humid tropical climate with high and well-distributed rainfall — which is why the mission's focus falls on the north-east and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands rather than on the northern plains or the drier west.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The National Mission on Edible Oils - Oil Palm aims to bring the total area under oil palm in India to
- (a)one lakh hectares
- (b)five lakh hectares
- (c)ten lakh hectares
- (d)fifty lakh hectares
Answer(c) ten lakh hectares — by adding about 6.5 lakh hectares over the period from 2021-22 to 2025-26.