MPPSC 2025 Prelims Paper-I · Question 83 of 100

Correct — B, statements 1 and 2. Both are documented parts of the state's commemoration of Rani Durgavati's 500th birth anniversary (she was born on 5 October 1524). Statement 1 is the Rani Durgavati Shri Anna Protsahan Yojana, Madhya Pradesh's millet-promotion scheme for the period 2023-24 to 2025-26, which covers the whole state and pays an incentive straight into millet growers' accounts through DBT. Statement 2 is the 'Veerangana Rani Durgavati Smarak aur Udyan' at Madan Mahal hill in Jabalpur — a memorial-and-garden project of roughly ₹100 crore whose foundation stone was laid by the Prime Minister on 5 October 2023, and which is to carry a 52-foot bronze statue of the queen along with a museum on Gondwana history. Statements 3 and 4 do not belong to the announced package, so only option B fits.

• (a)Only 1 — Understates the package. The Jabalpur memorial and garden in statement 2 is at least as prominent a commemoration as the millet scheme — its bhoomi-poojan was performed on the anniversary date itself, 5 October.
• (c)1, 2 and 3 — Fails on statement 3. The creation of a 'Madhya Pradesh Tribal Women Welfare Board' was not among the measures announced to mark the 500th birth anniversary — it is a plausible-sounding addition of the kind examiners insert to break a run of true statements.
• (d)1, 2, 3 and 4 — Fails on both 3 and 4. Neither a public holiday nor a Tribal Women Welfare Board was part of the announced commemoration package; the anniversary, 5 October 2024, was marked instead by a special state cabinet meeting held in her honour at Singrampur in Damoh district.

Rani Durgavati was a Chandel princess of Mahoba, born on 5 October 1524, who married Dalpat Shah of the Gond kingdom of Garha-Katanga in the Jabalpur region and, after his early death, ruled as regent for her young son Vir Narayan. She fought Akbar's general Asaf Khan in 1564 and, rather than be captured after being wounded, took her own life on 24 June 1564. She is Madhya Pradesh's foremost tribal-era heroine, and her quincentenary in 2024 was observed jointly by the state and the Centre.

Anniversary-package questions are answered by asking which items were actually announced and reported, not which sound appropriate. Here the two real, heavily publicised items are a farm scheme carrying her name and a memorial at Jabalpur, the capital of her kingdom's heartland. The two not part of the announced package items follow a standard examiner pattern — a new 'board' and a 'public holiday' — both easy to imagine and not part of what was notified. When a statement-code question stacks options as 'only 1', '1 and 2', '1, 2 and 3', '1, 2, 3 and 4', the decision really turns on where the true statements stop.

• Rani Durgavati: born 5 October 1524 into the Chandel family of Mahoba; married Dalpat Shah of the Gond kingdom of Garha-Katanga; died fighting Akbar's general Asaf Khan on 24 June 1564
• Rani Durgavati Shri Anna Protsahan Yojana — millet (Shri Anna) promotion across the whole of Madhya Pradesh, for 2023-24 to 2025-26, with the incentive paid to growers by DBT
• Veerangana Rani Durgavati Smarak aur Udyan, Madan Mahal hill, Jabalpur — foundation stone laid by the Prime Minister on 5 October 2023; about ₹100 crore, a 52-foot bronze statue and a Gondwana-history museum
• Her 500th birth anniversary, 5 October 2024, was marked by a Madhya Pradesh cabinet meeting held at Singrampur in Damoh district
• Jabalpur's state university (Rani Durgavati Vishwavidyalaya) and its museum already carry her name

• Marking every statement true because the first two are — anniversary questions are usually decided by an unannounced 'board' or 'holiday' at the end of the list
• Confusing Rani Durgavati (Gond, 1524–1564) with Rani Avantibai Lodhi, who fought in 1857
• Placing her kingdom outside Madhya Pradesh — Garha-Katanga was centred on the Jabalpur region

MPPSC returns to Rani Durgavati every couple of years — sometimes as history (her kingdom, her adversary, her end), sometimes as current affairs (the scheme, the memorial, the anniversary). Keep one line of history and one line of scheme detail ready for each.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Rani Durgavati ruled which kingdom, and against whose army did she die fighting in 1564?

  • (a)Garha-Katanga; Akbar's general Asaf Khan
  • (b)Mewar; Aurangzeb's army
  • (c)Deogarh; Sher Shah Suri
  • (d)Chanderi; Babur

  Answer(a) Garha-Katanga, the Gond kingdom of the Jabalpur region; she fell fighting Asaf Khan in 1564.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Rani Durgavati Shri Anna Protsahan Yojana of Madhya Pradesh is meant to promote:

  • (a)Millets (Shri Anna) such as kodo and kutki
  • (b)Soybean processing units
  • (c)Sugarcane cultivation
  • (d)Cotton exports

  Answer(a) Millets — 'Shri Anna' is the government's term for millets, promoted nationally since the International Year of Millets, 2023.