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RAS question

Which Union Minister approved the expert committee recommendations that added Wild Animal Attack and Paddy Inundation covers under PMFBY in November 2025?

Correct answer: (D) Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan approved the expert committee recommendations that recognised Wild Animal Attack as an add-on cover and reintroduced Paddy Inundation under PMFBY.

  1. (A)

    Union Minister for Rural Development

  2. (B)

    Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change

  3. (C)

    Union Minister for Finance

  4. (D)

    Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan

Explanation

The approval came from the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan, after the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare constituted an expert committee to examine these emerging crop risks. The PIB release says the revised PMFBY framework recognises crop loss due to wild animal attack as the fifth add-on cover under the Localised Risk category. It also reintroduces Paddy Inundation as a Localised Calamity Cover, closing the protection gap noted for paddy farmers in flood-prone districts. The point is not merely the addition of two risks; it is that the agriculture ministry accepted committee-backed modalities for handling localised, sudden and severe crop damage under PMFBY.

Why the other options are wrong

  • (A) The Rural Development Minister is not the approving authority named in the release; the committee was constituted by the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and approved by its Union Minister.
  • (B) The Environment, Forest and Climate Change portfolio may sound plausible because wild animals are involved, but the cited decision concerns crop insurance under PMFBY, not an environment ministry approval.
  • (C) The Finance Minister is not mentioned as approving these PMFBY modalities; the release attributes the approval to the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.

Concept

This tests Indian Economy through the administration of PMFBY and crop-insurance risk coverage. It recurs in RAS because welfare schemes are often asked through the ministry, implementing department and newly added benefit rather than through the scheme name alone.

Source

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