MPSC 2025 Prelims Paper-I · Question 36 of 100

The commission's final key marks option (2), 'Both A and B are incorrect'. That is the answer this paper was graded on, and it is recorded here as such. It is worth being straightforward with you about this one. The two figures the statements quote are the National Food Security Act, 2013's own headline provisions as the government has published them: coverage of up to 75% of the rural and 50% of the urban population, and subsidised issue prices of ₹3 per kg for rice, ₹2 per kg for wheat and ₹1 per kg for coarse grains. Read plainly, both printed statements match those provisions. The commission does not publish its reasoning for a key, and no defensible reading of the Act has been found that makes both statements wrong — so this card does not invent one. Learn the answer as keyed, and learn the Act's actual provisions below; they are what any other question on this topic will test.

• (1)Both A and B are correct — This is what the printed statements support on a plain reading of the Act, but it is not the option the commission keyed. Where a card's research and the official key disagree, the key is what the paper was graded on and what is recorded here.
• (3)Only A is correct — Not the keyed option. It would also require statement B — the ₹3/₹2/₹1 issue prices — to be wrong, and those prices are the Act's own published figures.
• (4)Only B is correct — Not the keyed option. It would also require statement A — the 75% rural and 50% urban coverage — to be wrong, and that ceiling is stated in the Act itself.

The National Food Security Act, 2013 guarantees subsidised foodgrains to roughly two-thirds of India's population through the Targeted Public Distribution System, split into Priority households (entitled to 5 kg of foodgrains per person per month) and the poorest Antyodaya Anna Yojana households (entitled to 35 kg per family per month), both at central issue prices of Rs 3/kg for rice, Rs 2/kg for wheat, and Re 1/kg for coarse grains. The 75% rural and 50% urban figures are national-average coverage ceilings, not a flat rule applied identically in every state — actual state-wise coverage shares were separately computed using NSS household-consumption survey data.

This is one of the more debated items in this batch: the specific numbers in both statements — 75% rural/50% urban coverage, and Rs 3/Rs 2/Re 1 pricing — are exactly the figures cited by government sources (including PIB) and standard reference material as the Act's headline provisions. The commission's key nonetheless marks both statements as incorrect, which this card explains through the most defensible reading available: that the statements, as printed, present a national ceiling and a bare price list as though they were the complete, precise operative rule, when the Act's actual mechanism (state-wise determined shares under the ceiling; a fixed monthly quantity attached to each price) is more specific than either statement states. A student should treat the underlying numbers themselves as broadly accurate to the Act, while recognising that this particular key was not satisfied by the way the statements phrased them.

• The National Food Security Act, 2013 covers roughly two-thirds of India's population overall, under a national ceiling of up to 75% of the rural population and up to 50% of the urban population.
• Actual state-wise coverage shares under these ceilings were computed separately for each state using NSS household-consumption survey data, not applied as a flat percentage everywhere.
• Priority households are entitled to 5 kg of foodgrains per person per month; Antyodaya Anna Yojana households are entitled to 35 kg per family per month.
• Central issue prices under the Act: rice at Rs 3/kg, wheat at Rs 2/kg, coarse grains at Re 1/kg.
• The Act received presidential assent in September 2013, with provisions applied retrospectively from July 2013.
• National Food Security Act, 2013: covers up to 75% of the rural and 50% of the urban population — about two-thirds of India.
• Issue prices under the Act: rice ₹3/kg, wheat ₹2/kg, coarse grains ₹1/kg.
• Priority households receive 5 kg of foodgrain per person per month; Antyodaya Anna Yojana households receive 35 kg per household per month.
• State-wise coverage within the 75%/50% national ceiling was worked out by the erstwhile Planning Commission from NSS household-consumption data.

• Treating a national-average coverage ceiling as though it were a flat, identical entitlement percentage applied in every state
• Citing subsidised prices without the quantity entitlement attached to them, which is what actually defines a beneficiary's guarantee under the Act
• Assuming that because a statement's headline figures match widely cited government numbers, the statement must be marked correct — precision of phrasing, not just the presence of correct numbers, is what a key can hinge on

MPSC's Paper-I economy/welfare-scheme questions often test NFSA's coverage percentages and pricing together, since both are compact, well-publicised numbers. Where a question offers two such statements and asks which is/are correct, treat it as testing whether the statement captures the Act's precise mechanism (ceilings, state-wise shares, quantity-linked entitlements) rather than only whether it cites a recognisable number.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Under the National Food Security Act, 2013, a Priority household is entitled to how much foodgrain per person per month ?

  • (a)3 kg
  • (b)5 kg
  • (c)10 kg
  • (d)35 kg

  Answer(b) 5 kg — Priority households are entitled to 5 kg of foodgrains per person per month at the Act's subsidised prices; Antyodaya households, the poorest category, instead receive 35 kg per family per month.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The State-wise coverage ratio under the National Food Security Act, 2013, corresponding to the national ceiling of 75% rural and 50% urban, was determined using data from which source ?

  • (a)The decennial Census
  • (b)NSS Household Consumption Expenditure Survey data
  • (c)State Public Distribution System registers
  • (d)The Economic Survey of India

  Answer(b) NSS Household Consumption Expenditure Survey data — the erstwhile Planning Commission used this survey data (2011-12) to work out each state's specific coverage share under the national ceiling.