Consider the following pairs: Programme / Project — Ministry Which of the above pairs is/are correctly matched?

Answer: (d) None

DPAP and DDP → Rural Development; NWDPRA → Agriculture. Every pair is swapped.

Statement by statement

1. ✗ WRONG DPAP is run by the Department of Land Resources, Ministry of Rural Development.

2. ✗ WRONG DDP is also under the Ministry of Rural Development (Department of Land Resources).

3. ✗ WRONG NWDPRA was run by the Ministry of Agriculture, not Rural Development.

The idea

A programme’s name states its aim, not necessarily its administering ministry. Rural development can include drought and land treatment, while agricultural programmes can include soil and water conservation. Identify the department responsible in the 2014 setting instead of matching a familiar keyword.

Why the others are wrong

(a) Neither programme is under the ministry named.

(b) NWDPRA was the Agriculture Ministry’s programme.

(c) All three pairs are mismatched.

The trap

Each ministry sounds right for the programme next to it — “drought” with Agriculture, “desert” with Environment.

Elimination technique

NWDPRA was associated with the Agriculture Ministry, so statement 3 is mismatched. This removes (b) and (c); checking the Rural Development administration of DPAP and DDP then removes (a).

Also know

DPAP, DDP and IWDP were brought together under the Integrated Watershed Management Programme in 2009. Watershed work later became a component of PMKSY in 2015. NWDPRA focused on rainfed agriculture, where cropping depends mainly on rainfall rather than assured irrigation.