UPPSC 2019 Prelims GS Paper-I · Question 38 of 150

Correct — C, I, II and III are correct. All three statements are lifted straight from the National Food Security Act, 2013. Statement I: Section 3(2) of the Act says entitlement to subsidised foodgrains under the Targeted Public Distribution System shall 'extend up to seventy-five per cent. of the rural population and up to fifty per cent. of the urban population' — the figures in the statement are the statutory ceilings, and the word 'up to' matters. Statement II: the Act does not stop at grain for the household. Section 4 provides nutritional support to pregnant women and lactating mothers, Section 5 provides nutritional support to children, and Section 6 deals with the prevention and management of child malnutrition — delivered on the ground through the ICDS anganwadi network and the mid-day meal in schools, with a maternity benefit for pregnant and lactating women. A special focus on women and children is therefore written into the statute, not merely into a scheme guideline. Statement III: Section 13(1) says 'The eldest woman who is not less than eighteen years of age, in every eligible household, shall be head of the household for the purpose of issue of ration cards.' Since every statement holds, the code covering all three is the answer.

• (a)I and II are correct — Correct as far as it goes, but it drops statement III, which is one of the Act's best-known provisions — Section 13 makes the eldest woman aged 18 or above the head of the household for issuing the ration card, so that the entitlement is registered in a woman's name.
• (b)II and III are correct — Drops statement I, which is the Act's headline coverage clause. Section 3(2) fixes the outer limits of coverage at up to 75 per cent of the rural and up to 50 per cent of the urban population.
• (d)None of these — All three statements are accurate reproductions of provisions of the 2013 Act, so this option cannot stand.

The National Food Security Act, 2013 converted food security from a discretionary welfare scheme into a legal entitlement: an eligible person can claim subsidised foodgrain as a right, and if the grain is not supplied the State must pay a food security allowance. Coverage is capped by Section 3(2) at up to 75 per cent of the rural and up to 50 per cent of the urban population, with the State Governments identifying households within the numbers worked out for each State. Beneficiaries fall into two classes — Antyodaya Anna Yojana households, the poorest, who receive a fixed quantity per household, and priority households, whose entitlement is reckoned per person. Alongside the household ration, Chapter II creates individual entitlements for pregnant women, lactating mothers and children, and Section 13 puts the ration card in the name of the household's eldest adult woman. Enforcement runs through a District Grievance Redressal Officer and a State Food Commission.

In an 'all statements look plausible' item, the productive question is not 'is this true?' but 'is anything in it subtly off?' — a swapped number, a changed age, a wrong ministry. Here nothing is tampered with: 75 and 50 are the Act's own figures, the age of 18 is the Act's own figure, and the focus on women and children is a whole chapter of the Act. When every statement survives inspection, the 'all of the above' code is the answer and hesitating costs the mark. The one place candidates go wrong is statement III: they remember something about a woman being the head of the household but not the qualifying age of 18, and mark option (a) out of caution.

• The National Food Security Act, 2013 makes access to subsidised foodgrain a statutory entitlement rather than a discretionary benefit, with a food security allowance payable if supplies fail.
• Section 3(2): coverage extends up to 75 per cent of the rural population and up to 50 per cent of the urban population under the Targeted Public Distribution System.
• Sections 4, 5 and 6 provide nutritional support to pregnant women and lactating mothers, nutritional support to children, and the prevention and management of child malnutrition — routed mainly through anganwadis under the ICDS and the mid-day meal in schools.
• Section 13(1): the eldest woman of an eligible household who is not less than eighteen years of age is the head of the household for the purpose of issue of ration cards.
• Beneficiary households are of two kinds — Antyodaya Anna Yojana households and priority households; identification within the State's coverage limit is done by the State Government.
• Grievances are handled by a District Grievance Redressal Officer, with a State Food Commission above him.

• Believing the Act covers only families 'below the poverty line' — UPSC tested exactly this misconception in 2018; coverage is by priority and AAY categories within a population share, not by the BPL list.
• Reading '75 per cent rural and 50 per cent urban' as a quota applied identically in every State — these are all-India ceilings, and State-wise coverage is worked out separately.
• Remembering the eldest-woman rule but forgetting the qualifying age of eighteen years, or reading it as 'eldest member' rather than 'eldest woman'.

UPPSC asks NFSA as a 'which statements are correct' set built on coverage percentages, the women-and-children focus and the head-of-household rule; UPSC asks the same provisions but plants one false statement (in 2018 it was the claim that only BPL families are eligible).

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Under the National Food Security Act, 2013, who is treated as the head of an eligible household for the purpose of issue of a ration card?

  • (a)The eldest male member of the household
  • (b)The eldest woman of the household who is not less than eighteen years of age
  • (c)Any adult member nominated by the household
  • (d)The eldest member of the household, irrespective of gender

  Answer(b) The eldest woman of the household who is not less than eighteen years of age — Section 13 of the Act, a deliberate device to register the entitlement in a woman's name.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following is NOT provided for under the National Food Security Act, 2013?

  • (a)Nutritional support to pregnant women and lactating mothers
  • (b)A grievance redressal mechanism at the district level
  • (c)A legal guarantee of one hundred days of wage employment in a financial year
  • (d)Identification of eligible households by the State Governments

  Answer(c) A legal guarantee of one hundred days of wage employment — that is MGNREGA, under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005; the other three are all features of the NFSA.