Question

When the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) was launched?
(A) January 1999
(B) December 2000
(C) March 2000
(D) April 2000

Answer 1

Hint: To sort out the issues of the communities that faced hunger and poverty, a scheme called ‘Antyodaya Anna Yojana’ came into being. Identifying such underprivileged communities and targeting a change for them in terms of food supply, was the main aim of this scheme.

Complete answer:
According to a National Sample Survey Exercise, approximately 5% of India's overall population lives on a daily basis, lacking two proper meals per day. The Targeted Public Distribution System (TDPS), was formed with the aim of supplying basic grains and food supply to the underprivileged. The Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) was introduced in December 2000 to transform the TDPS into a more beneficial system that targeted at the right sector of the population.

The TDPS covered the population of ‘below poverty line’ (BPL) families. Amongst the BPL population the AAY was required to carry out the process of identifying one crore of the most poor families within each state. Once identified, those families would be supplied with food grains at highly subsidized rates, like providing wheat for Rs.2 per kg and rice for only Rs.3 per kg.

Looking at the options we can say that:
Option (A) January 1999 is incorrect. This is because the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) had not been launched in the year 1999 yet. The TDPS was working towards providing food for the needy so their goals are similar to that of the goals of AAY but the scheme AAY came much later.

Option (B) December 2000 is correct. This is because, when the TDPS required to focus providing food for the below poverty line population, they launched a more controlled and effective scheme that would find the target population and serve them in the required manner. It was the Antyodaya Anna Yojana scheme and its launch took place in the December of 2000.

Option (C) March 2000 is incorrect. This is because the scheme of AAY was in the works by March but
had not been launched yet. It was launched a few months later, but in the same year 2000.

Option (D) April 2000 is incorrect. The TDPS continued to supply food for the underprivileged communities in India but the scheme AAY was more focused at providing rations to the poorest among the poor. But this scheme, AAY was launched in the end of the year 2000, and not launched in April.

Therefore the correct answer is option (B) December 2000.

Note: After its inception, the AAY Scheme has grown to cover 2.50 crore of the poorest families. In 2003-04, the AAY Scheme was enhanced by incorporating 50 lakh BPL households more that had widows, disabled population, terminally ill people or people older than or equal to 60 years of age who had no guaranteed means of livelihood or societal assistance.