Question

Arrange these rural development programmes chronologically starting from the latest to the earliest:
(A) IADP (Intensive Agricultural District Programme)
(B) IRDP (Integrated Rural Development Programme)
(C) PMGSY (Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana)
(D) SFDA (Small Farmers Development Agency)

Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

• A. (C), (D), (B), (A).
• B. (C), (B), (D), (A).
• C. (C), (A), (D), (B).
• D. (C), (A), (B), (D).

Hint:

Rural programmes timeline: PMGSY (2000) $\to$ IRDP (1978–79) $\to$ SFDA (1971) $\to$ IADP (1960).

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

The rural development programmes are arranged from latest to earliest based on their launch years:
1. PMGSY (C - 2000): Launched on December 25, 2000, the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana aims to provide all-weather road connectivity to rural areas, enhancing access to markets and services.
2. IRDP (B - 1978–79): The Integrated Rural Development Programme was rolled out nationwide in 1978–79 (piloted in 1976) to provide income-generating assets and subsidies to rural poor families, later merged into Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana in 1999.
3. SFDA (D - 1971): The Small Farmers Development Agency, established in 1971 under the Fourth Five-Year Plan, focused on providing credit, inputs, and extension services to small and marginal farmers.
4. IADP (A - 1960): The Intensive Agricultural District Programme, launched in 1960, aimed to increase agricultural productivity in select districts through modern inputs and extension services, a precursor to the Green Revolution. The order PMGSY (2000), IRDP (1978–79), SFDA (1971), IADP (1960) matches option (2).

Answer 2

Anchor and eliminate:
PMGSY is easily anchored as the most recent of the four, launched in the year 2000, so it must occupy the first, latest, position, which all four options already satisfy. The next clear anchor is IADP, the earliest of the four programmes, launched in 1960 at the very start of India's planned agricultural development effort, so it must occupy the last, oldest, position; this rules out any option that does not end with IADP, eliminating option (1) and option (3). Between the remaining two options, IRDP was rolled out nationwide in 1978-79, after SFDA was set up in 1971, so IRDP should be placed before SFDA in a latest-to-oldest reading, which matches option (2), PMGSY, IRDP, SFDA, IADP.