RAS question
Food Corporation of India (FCI) role in Rajasthan:
Correct answer: (B) Procurement, storage, and distribution of food grains.
In Rajasthan, the Food Corporation of India is concerned with procurement, storage and distribution of food grains, not farming, research or food manufacturing.
Explanation
FCI's role in Rajasthan follows its national mandate: it procures wheat and rice at MSP, stores food grains in warehouses, and supports distribution through the Public Distribution System. The PIB explainer identifies FCI as the main Government of India agency for executing food policies and lists its primary functions as purchase, storage, movement, distribution and sale of foodgrains on behalf of the government. It also explains that FCI delivers food grains to State Governments and agencies from its depots for distribution through Fair Price Shops. That is why the best option is procurement, storage and distribution of food grains: it matches both the Rajasthan-specific explanation and the official description of FCI's core functions.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Farming is wrong because FCI procures food grains from the system; it is not described as an agency that cultivates crops itself.
- (C) Research is wrong because the cited PIB explainer lists operational foodgrain functions such as purchase, storage and distribution, not research, as FCI's primary role.
- (D) Manufacturing food is wrong because FCI handles food grains through procurement, storage and distribution rather than producing manufactured food items.
Concept
This tests the public food management part of Rajasthan's economy: MSP procurement, storage and PDS distribution. It recurs in RAS because FCI links agriculture, food security and welfare delivery in a single institutional question.