UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — 24th Instalment of PM-KISAN

Q1. With reference to the funding design of Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) in India, consider the following statements: Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. States are ordinarily required to contribute a share of the cost of a CSS, and North-Eastern and Himalayan States get a more favourable sharing ratio than other States.
  2. A part of each CSS allocation is kept as flexi-funds, which States can use with some discretion to suit local needs.
  3. For a given State, the Central share in an optional CSS is higher than its Central share in a core CSS.
  • A. 1 and 3 only
  • B. 2 and 3 only
  • C. 1, 2 and 3
  • D. 1 and 2 only

Q2. With reference to the payment architecture used for Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) in schemes such as PM-KISAN, consider the following statements: Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. The Public Financial Management System (PFMS) validates beneficiaries' bank accounts and Aadhaar numbers before payment instructions are routed to banks.
  2. NPCI itself credits the benefit to the beneficiary, so the beneficiary's own bank plays no part in completing the transfer.
  3. Under the Aadhaar Payment Bridge, NPCI's Aadhaar mapper is used to identify the bank in which a beneficiary's benefit should be credited.
  • A. 1 and 3 only
  • B. 2 and 3 only
  • C. 1 only
  • D. 1, 2 and 3

Q3. In a Direct Benefit Transfer scheme, moving from transfers routed by account number and IFSC to transfers routed through the Aadhaar Payment Bridge System is most likely to reduce payment failures caused by which of the following?

  • A. Delays by States in approving lists of beneficiaries
  • B. Frequent changes of bank accounts by beneficiaries
  • C. Payment to persons ineligible under the scheme's criteria
  • D. Absence of any bank account in the beneficiary's name

Q4. In a village, Ramesh's family owns 3 acres of cultivable land recorded in his name, but he lives in a town and has leased the land orally to Sita, who cultivates it. Mohan, another villager, owns no land and works as a daily-wage agricultural labourer. Assuming no exclusion category applies to Ramesh's family, consider the following statements under the design of PM-KISAN: Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. The income support, if paid, goes to Ramesh's family and not to Sita.
  2. Sita cannot become eligible just by completing e-KYC and showing that she personally cultivates the land.
  3. Mohan stays outside the scheme even though agriculture is his livelihood.
  • A. 1 only
  • B. 2 and 3 only
  • C. 1, 2 and 3
  • D. 1 and 2 only

Q5. With reference to targeting errors in an income-support scheme like PM-KISAN, consider the following situations: Which of the situations given above are instances of exclusion error?

  1. A serving government employee who owns farmland continues to receive instalments.
  2. A genuine small farmer's instalments stop because the name in the land records does not match the name in the Aadhaar record.
  3. An elderly farmer whose fingerprints repeatedly fail biometric authentication cannot complete e-KYC and goes unpaid.
  • A. 2 and 3 only
  • B. 1 and 3 only
  • C. 1 and 2 only
  • D. 1, 2 and 3

Q6. Consider the following statements: Which of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?

  1. A farmer whose PM-KISAN benefits were stopped for not completing e-KYC or land seeding can, after completing them, receive the instalments that became due in the meantime.
  2. Under PM-KISAN, the Union government itself verifies each beneficiary, so it can release withheld instalments without any approval from the State.
  • A. Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II explains Statement-I
  • B. Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct, but Statement-II does not explain Statement-I
  • C. Statement-I is correct, but Statement-II is incorrect
  • D. Statement-I is incorrect, but Statement-II is correct