UKPSC Prelims 2024 General Studies Paper-I · Question 62 of 147

Correct — D, PM-KSY.

NMSA is the agriculture mission of the National Action Plan on Climate Change, made operational in 2014-15 by what was then the Department of Agriculture & Cooperation. It began with four programme components: Rainfed Area Development, On Farm Water Management, Soil Health Management, and Climate Change and Sustainable Agriculture: Monitoring, Modelling and Networking.

PM-KSY is a different umbrella.

The Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on 1 July 2015 as an irrigation scheme; at launch its components were AIBP, Har Khet Ko Pani, Per Drop More Crop and Watershed Development. NMSA's website files it under 'Important Links', not among its components.

RAD is an NMSA component, the Soil Health Card scheme ran within NMSA's soil-health work, and RKVY is the umbrella that has carried NMSA's programmes since 2022-23. The idea to keep: NMSA is about rainfed farming systems and soil health; PMKSY is about irrigation water.

• (a)
  RAD — Rainfed Area Development is the flagship NMSA line.

  The official RAD guidelines say it was made operational from 2014-15 as a component of NMSA, promoting ICAR's Integrated Farming System models in clusters of about 20 hectares. Since the 2022-23 restructuring it runs as an RKVY component, but its identity as NMSA's rainfed programme is unchanged.

  It is the right answer to which NMSA component promotes integrated crop-livestock-tree farming in rainfed areas.

• (b)
  SHC — The Soil Health Card scheme was launched by the Prime Minister on 19 February 2015 at Suratgarh, Rajasthan, and was carried as part of NMSA's soil-health work before being folded into RKVY as the 'Soil Health & Fertility' component from 2022-23.

  Soil health is one of NMSA's stated objectives, so SHC sits squarely inside the mission's remit.

  It is the right answer to which scheme gives a farmer a card reporting 12 soil parameters with fertiliser recommendations.

• (c)
  RKVY — Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana is the umbrella that now carries NMSA's programmes. The Soil Health Card scheme has been an RKVY component since 2022-23, and the revised RAD operational guidelines are titled as the RAD component of RKVY.

  On 3 October 2024 the Cabinet re-cast it as PM-RKVY with Soil Health Management, RAD, Agroforestry and PKVY inside.

  It is the right answer to which umbrella scheme now houses NMSA's sustainable-agriculture components.

The National Action Plan on Climate Change (2008) set up eight national missions, and NMSA is the agriculture one. It is run by the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and targets rainfed farming, water-use efficiency and soil health through location-specific integrated farming systems.

Its programmes have been re-housed over time. On Farm Water Management moved into PMKSY's Per Drop More Crop in 2015-16, and the remaining lines now sit under the RKVY umbrella, renamed PM-RKVY in October 2024. The mission's purpose stayed the same; the accounting umbrella changed.

• NMSA is the agriculture mission among the eight missions of the National Action Plan on Climate Change (2008).
• NMSA was made operational in 2014-15 with four components: RAD, On Farm Water Management, Soil Health Management, and CCSAMMN.
• The official RAD guidelines describe RAD as operational from 2014-15 as an NMSA component, promoting ICAR's Integrated Farming System models in clusters of about 20 hectares.
• The Soil Health Card scheme was launched on 19 February 2015 at Suratgarh, Rajasthan, and has been an RKVY component (Soil Health & Fertility) since 2022-23.
• PMKSY was approved by the CCEA on 1 July 2015; as launched in 2015 its components were AIBP, Har Khet Ko Pani, Per Drop More Crop and Watershed Development.
• Under PMKSY 2021-26 the components are AIBP, Har Khet Ko Pani and Watershed Development, Per Drop More Crop having moved to RKVY in 2022-23.
• Per Drop More Crop was the DA&FW-run PMKSY component from 2015-16 to 2021-22; from 2022-23 it has been implemented under RKVY, and since 3 October 2024 under PM-RKVY.
• On 3 October 2024 the Cabinet merged the agriculture ministry's centrally sponsored schemes into PM-RKVY and Krishonnati Yojana; PM-RKVY includes SHM, RAD, Agroforestry, PKVY and Per Drop More Crop.
• The NMSA website lists PMKSY and RKVY under 'Important Links', not among its components.

• Reading PMKSY's takeover of NMSA's On Farm Water Management (2015-16) as PMKSY being 'under' NMSA; the transfer went the other way, out of NMSA.
• Treating RKVY as unrelated because it predates NMSA (2007-08); since 2022-23 RKVY is the umbrella funding NMSA's RAD and soil-health lines.
• Confusing SHC (Soil Health Card, the scheme) with SHM (Soil Health Management, the NMSA component it ran under).
• Expanding PM-KSY as a farm-credit or pension scheme (PM-KISAN, PM-KMY) instead of Krishi Sinchayee, which is irrigation.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  With which four programme components was the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) made operational in 2014-15?

  • (a)RAD, OFWM, SHM, CCSAMMN
  • (b)RAD, SHC, PKVY, NBM
  • (c)AIBP, Har Khet Ko Pani, Per Drop More Crop, Watershed Development
  • (d)NFSM, MIDH, NMOOP, NMAET
  Answera — NMSA started with Rainfed Area Development, On Farm Water Management, Soil Health Management, and Climate Change and Sustainable Agriculture: Monitoring, Modelling and Networking.

  (b) mixes in later additions: SHC came in February 2015, PKVY in 2015, and the National Bamboo Mission was brought under NMSA afterwards. (c) is PMKSY's launch-era set. (d) are separate missions of the Plan period, not NMSA components.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Consider the following statements about the Soil Health Card (SHC) scheme: 1. It was launched on 19 February 2015 at Suratgarh, Rajasthan. 2. Since 2022-23 it has been implemented as the 'Soil Health & Fertility' component of RKVY. 3. It is a component of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  • (a)1 only
  • (b)1 and 2 only
  • (c)2 and 3 only
  • (d)1, 2 and 3
  Answerb — Statement 1 is the launch date and place; statement 2 is the post-2022-23 arrangement under RKVY.

  Statement 3 is false: PMKSY is the irrigation umbrella (AIBP, Har Khet Ko Pani, Watershed Development) and soil-health work is NMSA's, now under RKVY. (a) drops a true statement, (c) and (d) accept the false one.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which of the following is NOT a component of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY)?

  • (a)Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme
  • (b)Har Khet Ko Pani
  • (c)Watershed Development
  • (d)Rainfed Area Development
  Answerd — RAD is a component of NMSA (and since 2022-23 of RKVY), not of PMKSY.

  AIBP, Har Khet Ko Pani and Watershed Development are the components of PMKSY 2021-26; Per Drop More Crop was a fourth from 2015-16 to 2021-22 before moving to RKVY.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which of the following were named as components of PM-Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (PM-RKVY) approved by the Union Cabinet on 3 October 2024? 1. Soil Health Management 2. Rainfed Area Development 3. Per Drop More Crop 4. Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme Select the correct answer using the code given below.

  • (a)1 and 2 only
  • (b)1, 2 and 3 only
  • (c)3 and 4 only
  • (d)1, 2, 3 and 4
  Answerb — PM-RKVY's listed components include Soil Health Management, Rainfed Area Development, Agroforestry, PKVY, Agricultural Mechanisation including Crop Residue Management, Per Drop More Crop, the Crop Diversification Programme, the RKVY DPR component and the Accelerator Fund for Agri Startups.

  AIBP is a PMKSY component outside the agriculture ministry's umbrella, so (c) and (d) fail; (a) wrongly leaves out Per Drop More Crop.