Select the correct statements from the following about PM Dhan-Dhaanya Krishi Yojana. (a) The Union Cabinet approved the PM Dhan-Dhaanya Krishi Yojana on 16th July, 2025. (b) The scheme identifies 100 districts based on low productivity, low cropping intensity and less credit disbursement. (c) The scheme will be governed through a four-tier implementation structure.
- (1)Only (a), (b)
- (2)Only (b), (c)
- (3)Only (a), (c)
- (4)All of the above
Correct — option (1), 'Only (a), (b)'. Two of the three statements are straight from the scheme's announcement, and the third misstates its governance structure. Statement (a) is correct. The Prime Minister Dhan-Dhaanya Krishi Yojana was announced in the Union Budget for 2025-26 and approved by the Union Cabinet on 16 July 2025, as an umbrella programme running for six years from 2025-26. Statement (b) is correct and reproduces the selection criteria exactly. The scheme covers 100 districts, chosen on three indicators: low productivity, low cropping intensity and low credit disbursement. The design borrows openly from the Aspirational Districts Programme — instead of a new stream of money for a new activity, it identifies the places performing worst on measurable agricultural indicators and concentrates existing effort there, converging 36 existing schemes across 11 departments and also drawing on State schemes and private partnerships. Statement (c) is the false one, and it settles the question by itself. The governance architecture announced with the scheme is a three-level committee structure, not four: a committee at the national level, a nodal committee at the State level, and in each selected district a District Dhan-Dhaanya Samiti chaired by the District Collector and including progressive farmers alongside departmental officers. It is that district committee that prepares the District Agriculture and Allied Activities Plan around which the converging schemes are coordinated, with progress tracked on 117 key performance indicators reviewed monthly on a central dashboard. Because statement (c) fails, option (2) 'Only (b), (c)', option (3) 'Only (a), (c)' and option (4) 'All of the above' all fall with it. This is worth noting as a general habit for scheme questions: when a statement offers a number attached to an administrative structure — three-tier, four-tier, five-member, two-stage — that number is the falsifiable element, and it is where the examiner will usually have made the change.
- (2)Only (b), (c) — This accepts the false four-tier claim in statement (c) and additionally throws away statement (a), the approval date, which is correct — the Union Cabinet cleared the scheme on 16 July 2025. A candidate reaching this option has usually recognised the district-selection criteria, been unsure of the date, and treated the structural claim as the safer of the two.
- (3)Only (a), (c) — This keeps the false statement (c) and discards statement (b), the district-selection criteria, which is accurate: 100 districts identified on low productivity, low cropping intensity and low credit disbursement. Those three indicators are the core of the scheme's design, and any option that rejects them is rejecting the part of the announcement most likely to be examined.
- (4)All of the above — 'All of the above' is offered eleven times in this booklet, and the discipline for it never changes: it is correct only when every named statement survives inspection, and wrong the moment one fails. Here statement (c) fails, because the scheme's announced governance runs through committees at the national, State and district levels — three levels, not four — so the blanket option cannot stand however sound the other two statements are.
The Prime Minister Dhan-Dhaanya Krishi Yojana is a convergence scheme rather than a new subsidy. Its premise is that India's agricultural weakness is concentrated geographically: a set of districts persistently records low yields, grows fewer crops per year on the same land, and receives less institutional credit than the national average. Rather than launch fresh programmes, the scheme identifies 100 such districts on those three indicators and pulls 36 existing central schemes across 11 departments into a single district plan, adding State schemes and private partnerships where they fit. Its declared aims are to raise productivity, promote crop diversification and sustainable practices, strengthen post-harvest storage at the panchayat and block level, improve irrigation, and widen access to both long-term and short-term credit. The approach is directly modelled on the Aspirational Districts Programme, which established the method of ranking laggard districts on measurable indicators and publishing the comparison.
Two features make the scheme distinctive in the examiner's eyes. The first is the district plan: a District Dhan-Dhaanya Samiti chaired by the District Collector, with progressive farmers as members, prepares an agriculture and allied activities plan that is meant to be aligned with national goals on crop diversification, water and soil conservation, agricultural self-reliance and the expansion of natural and organic farming. The second is the monitoring apparatus — 117 key performance indicators tracked monthly on a central dashboard, with progress in each district visible against the others, plus central nodal officers assigned to the districts. The scheme was reported at an outlay of about 24,000 crore rupees a year for six years from 2025-26, with roughly 1.7 crore farmers expected to benefit. For the exam, the fixed points to carry are the approval date, the number of districts, the three selection indicators, the number of converging schemes and departments, and the three levels of committee.
- Announced in the Union Budget for 2025-26 and approved by the Union Cabinet on 16 July 2025, the scheme runs for six years from 2025-26
- It covers 100 districts selected on three indicators — low productivity, low cropping intensity and low credit disbursement
- It converges 36 existing central schemes across 11 departments, along with State schemes and private-sector partnerships, rather than creating a new programme stream
- Implementation runs through committees at the national and State levels and a District Dhan-Dhaanya Samiti in each district, chaired by the District Collector and including progressive farmers, which prepares the District Agriculture and Allied Activities Plan
- Progress in each district is tracked against 117 key performance indicators on a central dashboard, reviewed monthly; the design follows the method of the Aspirational Districts Programme
- National level committee
- State level nodal committee
- District Dhan-Dhaanya Samiti — Collector chairs, prepares the district plan
Statement (c) says four, so it fails — taking options (2), (3) and (4) with it. Answer: option (1).
- Accepting any number attached to an administrative structure without checking it. Tier counts, committee sizes and stage counts are the easiest thing for an examiner to alter and the hardest for a candidate to verify under time pressure
- Confusing the year of the Budget announcement with the date of Cabinet approval. The scheme was announced in the Budget for 2025-26 and approved by the Cabinet on 16 July 2025; questions have been built on both dates
- Assuming the scheme creates new money for new activities. It is a convergence scheme — its distinctive feature is that it channels 36 existing schemes into a single district plan
New flagship schemes are examined within a year of launch, and almost always through a statement set that mixes a date, a number and a design feature. The date and the number of districts are usually left true; the falsified element is typically the governance structure, the ministry in charge, or the criterion used for selection. The way to score is a one-page card per scheme carrying the launch date, the implementing ministry, the outlay and duration, the coverage number, the selection criteria and the monitoring mechanism — six lines that answer almost every version of the question.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The 100 districts under the PM Dhan-Dhaanya Krishi Yojana are identified on the basis of which set of indicators ?
- (a)Low rainfall, small landholding size and high migration
- (b)Low productivity, low cropping intensity and low credit disbursement
- (c)High indebtedness, low irrigation coverage and low literacy
- (d)Low per capita income, high tenancy and low mechanisation
Answer(b) Low productivity, low cropping intensity and low credit disbursement — these are the three published criteria for selecting the 100 districts. The scheme then converges 36 existing central schemes across 11 departments into a single district plan for each of them.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Under the PM Dhan-Dhaanya Krishi Yojana, the District Dhan-Dhaanya Samiti that prepares the district agriculture plan is chaired by :
- (a)the District Collector
- (b)the Chief Executive Officer of the Zilla Parishad
- (c)the State Agriculture Minister
- (d)a central nodal officer deputed by the Union Ministry of Agriculture
Answer(a) the District Collector — the district committee is chaired by the Collector and includes progressive farmers along with departmental officers. Central nodal officers are assigned to the districts, but they do not chair the committee, and the plan is prepared at the district level rather than by the State government.