← HCS syllabus
HCS (Haryana)Stage 2: Main Written Examination
Farm Subsidies, MSP, Public Distribution, Food Security, Technology Missions and Animal Rearing
What the official syllabus says
General Studies III (Main Written Examination, Paper V):
- Issues related to direct and indirect farm subsidies and minimum support prices; Public Distribution System- objectives, functioning, limitations, revamping; issues of buffer stocks and food security; Technology missions; economics of animal-rearing.
Topics in detail
Farm subsidies
- Direct subsidies: income support such as PM-KISAN (2019), direct benefit transfers
- Indirect subsidies: fertiliser (urea pricing and the Nutrient Based Subsidy scheme of 2010), power, irrigation water, seeds, credit (interest subvention), crop insurance premium
- Effects of subsidies: input overuse, groundwater depletion, fiscal burden, distributional issues
- WTO Agreement on Agriculture: amber, blue and green boxes; de minimis limits; the peace clause on public stockholding
Minimum support prices
- Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices: crops covered, cost concepts (A2, A2+FL, C2)
- Fair and remunerative price for sugarcane
- Procurement: Food Corporation of India, State agencies, decentralised procurement
- Regional concentration of procurement and its effect on cropping patterns
- Price deficiency payments and market intervention as alternatives
Public Distribution System
- Objectives: price stability, food security for the poor
- Evolution: universal PDS, Targeted PDS (1997), Antyodaya Anna Yojana (2000)
- National Food Security Act, 2013: coverage, entitlements, State food commissions, grievance redress
- Free food grains under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana
- Limitations: leakages, exclusion and inclusion errors, quality of grain
- Revamping: digitised ration cards, Aadhaar-based authentication, ePoS devices, One Nation One Ration Card, fortified rice
- Alternatives debated: cash transfers and food coupons
National Food Security Act, 2013: the main entitlements
| Item | Provision |
|---|---|
| Coverage | Up to 75% of the rural and 50% of the urban population |
| Priority households | 5 kg of food grains per person per month |
| Antyodaya Anna Yojana households | 35 kg of food grains per household per month |
| Women and children | Maternity benefit and meals for pregnant and lactating women and children, through ICDS and school meals |
| Grievances | District grievance redressal officers and State food commissions |
Buffer stocks and food security
- Buffer stock norms and strategic reserves; excess stocks and storage losses
- Open market sale scheme for price control
- High Level Committee on restructuring FCI (2015)
- Dimensions of food security: availability, access, absorption and stability; nutrition security
Technology missions
- Technology Mission on Oilseeds (1986) and later oilseed missions, including the National Mission on Edible Oils
- National Food Security Mission (2007)
- Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture
- National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture
- Missions in dairying, cotton and pulses; their mission-mode approach
Economics of animal rearing
- Livestock in the rural economy: income, insurance against crop failure, nutrition, draught power
- Livestock census; indigenous and crossbred cattle; buffaloes
- Dairy cooperatives: Operation Flood (1970), the Anand pattern, the National Dairy Development Board
- Rashtriya Gokul Mission (2014) for indigenous breeds
- Poultry, goats, sheep and pigs; fisheries (Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana, 2020)
- Animal health: vaccination drives, foot-and-mouth disease, zoonoses
- Kisan Credit Card for animal husbandry and fisheries; feed and fodder shortages; stray cattle
Overlaps
- General Studies II: the welfare side of food security and nutrition.
- Haryana: Agriculture, Water and Animal Husbandry: procurement, dairying and the Murrah buffalo.