UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — Towards recognising women farmers
Q1. Under the Maharashtra Women Farmers' Empowerment Bill, 2026, once the Gram Sabha has by resolution recognised a woman as a Woman Farmer, within what maximum period is the Designated Officer required to issue her the Woman Farmer Certificate?
- A. Seven days from the date of the resolution
- B. Fifteen days from the date of the resolution
- C. Thirty days from the date of the resolution
- D. Forty-five days from the date of the resolution
Q2. With reference to the Maharashtra Women Farmers' Empowerment Bill, 2026, consider the following:
1. It confers the status of 'farmer' on a woman irrespective of whether any agricultural land stands in her name.
2. It provides for 30% reservation for women across the State's agricultural programmes.
3. It permits a Gram Sabha or a Nagar Panchayat to accord recognition as a woman farmer even where no individual application has been made.
4. It vests in every certified woman farmer permanent and exclusive ownership of, and inheritance rights over, the household's agricultural land.
Which of the above is/are correctly identified?
- It confers the status of 'farmer' on a woman irrespective of whether any agricultural land stands in her name.
- It provides for 30% reservation for women across the State's agricultural programmes.
- It permits a Gram Sabha or a Nagar Panchayat to accord recognition as a woman farmer even where no individual application has been made.
- It vests in every certified woman farmer permanent and exclusive ownership of, and inheritance rights over, the household's agricultural land.
- A. 1 and 4
- B. 2, 3 and 4
- C. 1, 2 and 3
- D. 3 and 4 only
Q3. The National Policy for Farmers, 2007 was framed in the light of the reports of the National Commission on Farmers. Which one of the following statements about that Commission is correct?
- A. It was chaired by the Union Minister of Agriculture and submitted a single consolidated report to the Government in October 2006
- B. It was chaired by M.S. Swaminathan and was the only farm sector commission all of whose recommendations were accepted without modification
- C. It was chaired by M.S. Swaminathan and submitted five reports, the last of them in October 2006
- D. It was chaired by Y.K. Alagh and submitted five reports to the Government between 2004 and 2006
Q4. Which one of the following correctly describes the legislative route taken by, and the fate of, the Women Farmers' Entitlements Bill moved by M.S. Swaminathan?
- A. A Government Bill introduced in the Lok Sabha by the Ministry of Rural Development, which was passed but never brought into force
- B. A Private Member's Bill introduced in the Rajya Sabha by a Member of that House, which lapsed without being passed
- C. A Government Bill introduced in the Rajya Sabha by the Ministry of Agriculture, which necessarily lapsed on the dissolution of that House
- D. A Private Member's Bill introduced in the Lok Sabha, which was referred to a Departmentally Related Standing Committee and later withdrawn
Q5. Consider the following deprivations faced by women in Indian agriculture:
1. Non-recognition of farm widows as farmers in their own right.
2. Exclusion of female agricultural labourers from institutional credit.
3. Denial of independent access to irrigation sources and water rights.
4. Absence of a statutory Minimum Support Price fixed exclusively for crops cultivated by women.
Which of the above is/are correctly identified as entitlement gaps that the Women Farmers' Entitlements Bill sought to address?
- Non-recognition of farm widows as farmers in their own right.
- Exclusion of female agricultural labourers from institutional credit.
- Denial of independent access to irrigation sources and water rights.
- Absence of a statutory Minimum Support Price fixed exclusively for crops cultivated by women.
- A. 2 and 4
- B. 1 and 2 only
- C. 1, 3 and 4
- D. 1, 2 and 3
Q6. As per the Agriculture Census 2015-16, approximately what proportion of the total operated area in the country was operated by female operational holders?
- A. About 12.78 per cent
- B. About 13.78 per cent
- C. About 11.72 per cent
- D. About 15.50 per cent
Q7. Consider the following statements regarding successive rounds of the Agriculture Census in India:
1. The share of female operational holdings rose from 12.78 per cent in 2010-11 to 13.78 per cent in 2015-16.
2. The 11th Agriculture Census takes 2021-22 as its reference year, and in its Phase-I data on holdings and area operated are collected on a complete enumeration basis.
3. Phase-III of the Agriculture Census, unlike Phase-II, collects data on input use from a randomly selected 20 per cent of villages in each tehsil.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- The share of female operational holdings rose from 12.78 per cent in 2010-11 to 13.78 per cent in 2015-16.
- The 11th Agriculture Census takes 2021-22 as its reference year, and in its Phase-I data on holdings and area operated are collected on a complete enumeration basis.
- Phase-III of the Agriculture Census, unlike Phase-II, collects data on input use from a randomly selected 20 per cent of villages in each tehsil.
- A. 1 only
- B. 1 and 2 only
- C. 2 and 3 only
- D. 1, 2 and 3
Q8. Computerisation of the Record of Rights and digitisation of cadastral maps — on which a cultivator's documentary claim to farm benefits frequently turns — are carried out under the Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme. This programme is implemented by which one of the following?
- A. The Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
- B. The Ministry of Panchayati Raj, which also runs the SVAMITVA rural land survey scheme
- C. The Department of Revenue under the Ministry of Finance, through the State revenue authorities
- D. The Department of Land Resources under the Ministry of Rural Development
Q9. 'Oral lessees' are among the categories expressly made eligible for a Kisan Credit Card. In this context, an oral lessee is best described as which one of the following?
- A. A tenant whose written lease has expired but who remains in possession with the landowner's spoken consent
- B. A landholder who has leased out their land under an unwritten arrangement and subsists on the rent received
- C. A cultivator who leases in and tills land under an unwritten tenancy that finds no entry in the land records
- D. A person permitted by a resolution of the Gram Sabha to cultivate land held in common by the village
Q10. The Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP) has been under implementation since 2011. Under which of the following is it run?
- A. As a sub-mission of the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture, by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
- B. As a sub-component of the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission, by the Ministry of Rural Development
- C. As a component of the National Food Security Mission, by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
- D. As a sub-scheme of Mission Shakti, by the Ministry of Women and Child Development
Q11. The Maharashtra Women Farmers' Empowerment Bill, 2026 creates a dedicated State Fund for Women Farmers. Which one of the following correctly describes the fund's sources and the machinery that oversees implementation of the Act?
- A. Grants from both the Central and the State Government along with donations, with implementation monitored by a State Monitoring Committee
- B. The State's share of the central agriculture infrastructure cess alone, with implementation monitored by the State Planning Board
- C. Contributions on a 60:40 Centre–State pattern as in centrally sponsored schemes, with annual audit and monitoring vested in NABARD
- D. Capitalisation solely by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, with monitoring by the District Collector of each district