UPPSC 2024 Prelims GS Paper-I · Question 118 of 150

Correct — D, 1 and 2 are correct. Statement 1 is the Act's own coverage formula. Section 3(2) of the National Food Security Act, 2013 says the 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' — note the words 'up to', which make these ceilings for the country as a whole, not a quota every State must reach. Statement 2 is equally the Act's own design. Chapter II carries three separate sections on this: Section 4 gives every pregnant woman and lactating mother a free meal during pregnancy and six months after childbirth plus a maternity benefit of 'not less than rupees six thousand'; Section 5 entitles children up to fourteen years to age-appropriate meals — take-home ration or hot cooked meal through the anganwadi up to age six, and a free mid-day meal in government and government-aided schools from Classes I to VIII; Section 6 obliges State Governments to identify and manage child malnutrition. A chapter of the statute devoted to women and children is about as clear a 'special focus' as a law can express. Statement 3 is where the item is decided, and it is false. Section 1 of the Act provides that it 'shall be deemed to have come into force on the 5th day of July, 2013' — the Act, passed by Parliament and assented to in September 2013, was back-dated to the day the preceding National Food Security Ordinance, 2013 was promulgated and which it repealed. The examiner has kept the day and the month and moved only the year, from 2013 to 2010, which is exactly the kind of one-digit falsifier that catches a candidate skim-reading for '5 July'. Since statement 3 is wrong, every option containing it falls, and only (d) survives.

• (a)2 and 3 are correct. — Statement 2 is right but statement 3 is wrong, and this option also throws away statement 1 — the 75% rural / 50% urban coverage that is the single most quoted provision of the Act. It fails twice over: it keeps the false date and drops a true statement.
• (b)1 and 3 are correct. — Keeps the false commencement date and, worse, denies the Act's nutritional focus on women and children — which occupies Sections 4, 5 and 6 and Schedule II of the statute, covering maternity benefit, anganwadi and mid-day-meal entitlements and the management of child malnutrition. Both halves of this option are unsafe.
• (c)1, 2 and 3 are correct. — The intended trap, and the option most candidates pick. Statements 1 and 2 are indeed correct, which makes 'all three' feel natural, but the Act came into force on 5 July 2013, not 5 July 2010. In 2010 there was no National Food Security Act at all — the National Advisory Council was still drafting the proposal and the Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha only in December 2011.

The National Food Security Act, 2013 converted India's food subsidy from a scheme into a legal entitlement. Priority households get 5 kg of foodgrain per person per month and the poorest Antyodaya Anna Yojana households 35 kg per household per month, delivered through fair price shops under the Targeted Public Distribution System. The Act covers up to 75% of the rural and up to 50% of the urban population, adds a life-cycle nutrition guarantee for pregnant women, lactating mothers and children, makes the eldest woman aged 18 or above the head of the household for the ration card, and provides for a food security allowance if the entitlement is not supplied. Identification of eligible households is left to the State Governments within the Centre's coverage ceiling.

This is a date-falsifier question, and the reasoning is mechanical once you see it. Two of the three statements restate provisions every candidate has read; the third supplies a precise-looking date. Precise dates in a statement are the examiner's favourite place to hide the error, and the giveaway here is internal: the Act is universally called 'the National Food Security Act, 2013', so a commencement in 2010 would put the Act in force three years before it existed. Learn the pairing '5 July 2013 — deemed commencement, back-dated to the ordinance' and the question answers itself. Also read 'up to 75%' carefully: candidates who remember it as 'covers 75% of rural India' sometimes reject statement 1 on the ground that actual coverage differs by State, which is a misreading of a ceiling as a target.

• Section 3(2), NFSA 2013 — the entitlement shall 'extend up to seventy-five per cent. of the rural population and up to fifty per cent. of the urban population'.
• Section 1 — the Act 'shall be deemed to have come into force on the 5th day of July, 2013'; it was assented to in September 2013 and back-dated to the National Food Security Ordinance, 2013, which it repealed.
• Sections 4, 5 and 6 carry the women-and-children focus: free meals and a maternity benefit of not less than Rs 6,000 for pregnant women and lactating mothers; age-appropriate meals for children up to 14 years through anganwadis and the mid-day meal; and State duties on child malnutrition.
• Entitlement quantities: 5 kg of foodgrain per person per month for priority households; 35 kg per household per month for Antyodaya Anna Yojana households, supplied through the Targeted Public Distribution System.
• Section 13 makes the eldest woman aged 18 years or above the head of the household for the purpose of issuing the ration card — a women-empowerment provision UPPSC has tested directly (2019).

• Reading '5 July' and assuming the statement is right without checking the year. The Act commenced on 5 July 2013; '2010' is the falsifier.
• Treating 'up to 75% rural and 50% urban' as a fixed all-India coverage figure. These are ceilings; the actual State-wise coverage is determined within them.
• Assuming NFSA covers only families below the poverty line. The Act works on 'priority households' and AAY households identified by the States, not on the BPL list — a point UPSC tested in 2018.

UPPSC recycles the NFSA as a three-statement 'which are correct' item and swaps one statement each time — in 2019 the third statement was the eldest-woman-as-head provision (true, answer 'all three'), in 2024 it is a falsified commencement date. UPSC prefers to test the finer print: who is eligible, what quantity, what the take-home ration standard is.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Under the National Food Security Act, 2013, what is the monthly foodgrain entitlement of a household covered under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana?

  • (a)5 kg per person
  • (b)10 kg per household
  • (c)35 kg per household
  • (d)25 kg per person

  Answer(c) 35 kg per household — Antyodaya Anna Yojana households receive 35 kg of foodgrain per household per month, while priority households receive 5 kg per person per month.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Consider the following provisions and identify which of them are contained in the National Food Security Act, 2013 : 1. A maternity benefit of not less than Rs 6,000 for pregnant women and lactating mothers. 2. Free mid-day meal for children in Classes I to VIII in government and government-aided schools. 3. A food security allowance payable when the entitled foodgrain is not supplied. Select the correct answer using the code given below.

  • (a)1 and 2 only
  • (b)2 and 3 only
  • (c)1 and 3 only
  • (d)1, 2 and 3

  Answer(d) 1, 2 and 3 — the maternity benefit is in Section 4, the children's meal entitlement in Section 5, and the food security allowance for non-supply in Section 8 of the Act.