Quiz on Reading Comprehension for PO, Clerk, SO, Insurance Exams

Question 1

Direction: Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow. Certain words/phrases are given in bold to help you to locate them while answering some of the questions.

Agricultural marketing covers the services involved in moving an agricultural product from the farm to the consumer. Numerous interconnected activities are involved in doing this, such as planning production, growing and harvesting, grading, packing, transport, storage, agro -and food processing, distribution advertising and sale. Businesses that have lower costs, are more efficient, and can deliver quality products, are those that prosper. Those that have high costs, fail to adapt to changes in market demand and provide poorer quality is often forced out of business. Marketing has to be customer-oriented and has to provide the farmer, transporter, trader, processor, etc. with a profit. This requires those involved in marketing chains to understand buyer requirements, both in terms of product and business conditions. The National Commission on Agriculture defined agricultural marketing as a process which starts with a decision to produce a saleable farm commodity and it involves all aspects of market structure of system, both functional and institutional, based on technical and economic considerations and includes pre and post- harvest operations, assembling, grading, storage, transportation and distribution. Agricultural marketing can be defined as the commercial functions involved in transferring agricultural products consisting of farm, horticultural and other allied products from producer to consumer. Agricultural marketing also reflect another dimension from supply of produce from rural to rural and rural to urban and from rural to industrial consumers. There are several challenges involved in marketing of agricultural produce. There is limited access to the market information, literacy level among the farmers is low, multiple channels of distribution that eats away the pockets of both farmers and consumers. The government funding of farmers is still at nascent stage and most of the small farmers still depend on the local moneylenders who are leeches and charge high rate of interest. There are too many vultures that eat away the benefits that the farmers are supposed to get. Although we say that technology have improved but it has not gone to the rural levels as it is confined to urban areas alone. There are several loopholes in the present legislation and there is no organized and regulated marketing system for marketing the agricultural produce. The farmers have to face so many hardships and have to overcome several hurdles to get fair and just price for their sweat. The agriculture sector needs well-functioning markets to drive growth, employment and economic prosperity in rural areas of India. In order to provide dynamism and efficiency into the marketing system, large investments are required for the development of post-harvest and cold-chain infrastructure nearer to the farmers’ field. A major portion of this investment is expected from the private sector, for which an appropriate regulatory and policy environment is necessary. Also, enabling policies need to be put in place to encourage the procurement of agricultural commodities directly from farmers’ fields and to establish effective linkage between the farm production and the retail chain and food processing industries. Accordingly, the state governments were requested to suitably amend their respective APMC Acts for deregulation of the marketing system in India, to promote investment in marketing infrastructure, thereby motivating the corporate sector to undertake direct marketing and to facilitate a national integrated market. The Department has recently taken the initiative to promote modern terminal markets for fruits, vegetables and other perishables in important urban centres in India. These markets would provide state-of the art infrastructure facilities for electronic auction, cold chain and logistics and operate through primary collection centres conveniently located in producing areas to allow easy access to farmers. The terminal markets are envisaged to operate on a "hub-and-spoke‟ format, wherein the terminal market (the hub) would be linked to a number of collection centres (the spokes). The terminal markets would be built, owned and operated by a corporate/private/co-operative entity, either by itself, or through the adoption of an outsourcing model. The enterprise could be a consortium of entrepreneurs from agri-business, cold chain, logistics, warehousing, agri-infrastructure and/or related background. The enterprise would charge a user charge for the services provided. The total financial outlay for implementation of the above component during the Tenth Plan Period is Rs 150 crore. The proposed expenditure will be met from the budget outlay of the National Horticulture Mission. The operational guidelines of the scheme have been circulated to the state governments, which have amended their respective APMC Acts to allow the setting up of markets in the private sector. The Department of Agriculture and Cooperation has three organisations dealing with marketing under its administrative control, namely, the Directorate of Marketing and Inspection, Faridabad; the Ch. Charan Singh National Institute of Agricultural Marketing, Jaipur; and the Small Farmers AgriBusiness Consortium, New Delhi. The Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marking) Act, 1937 empowers the central government to fix quality standards, known as „AGMARK‟ standards, and, to prescribe terms and conditions for using the seal of AGMARK. So far, grade standards have been notified for 181 agricultural and allied commodities. The purity standards under the provision of the PFA Act and the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Act, 1986, are invariably taken into consideration while framing the grade standards. International standards framed by Codex/International Standards Organization (ISO) are also considered so that Indian produce can compete in international markets. AGMARK quality control programmes as well as improvements in marketing practices and procedures are given wide publicity through mass media. The information is disseminated through documentaries, cinema slides, printed literature, exhibitions, conferences, seminars and workshops. Agricultural Marketing, a quarterly bi-lingual journal, is also published regularly. MRIN is a central sector scheme that was launched by the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation in March 2000. The scheme aims at progressively linking important agricultural produce markets spread all over India and the State Agriculture Marketing Boards/ Directorates and the DMI for effective exchange of market information. The market information network, AGMARKNET (agmarknet.nic.in), is being implemented jointly by DMI and NIC, using NICNET facilities available throughout the country. The objective of the scheme is to facilitate collection and dissemination of information for better price realisation. The scheme provides funds to state- and national-level institutions managing the markets and executing market-led extension activities and thus, has no separate gender-specific provisions under the scheme.

According to the passage, what is agricultural marketing?
1) It is the process of developing high quality crops with the help of market persons and building up relationship banking with farmers.
2) It refers to the science art of cultivating vegetables, medicinal and aromatic plants and plantation crops of different agriculture commodities across the country.
3) It is a process that involves assembling, storage, processing, transportation, packaging, grading and distribution of different agricultural commodities.

Question 2

Direction: Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow. Certain words/phrases are given in bold to help you to locate them while answering some of the questions.

Agricultural marketing covers the services involved in moving an agricultural product from the farm to the consumer. Numerous interconnected activities are involved in doing this, such as planning production, growing and harvesting, grading, packing, transport, storage, agro -and food processing, distribution advertising and sale. Businesses that have lower costs, are more efficient, and can deliver quality products, are those that prosper. Those that have high costs, fail to adapt to changes in market demand and provide poorer quality is often forced out of business. Marketing has to be customer-oriented and has to provide the farmer, transporter, trader, processor, etc. with a profit. This requires those involved in marketing chains to understand buyer requirements, both in terms of product and business conditions. The National Commission on Agriculture defined agricultural marketing as a process which starts with a decision to produce a saleable farm commodity and it involves all aspects of market structure of system, both functional and institutional, based on technical and economic considerations and includes pre and post- harvest operations, assembling, grading, storage, transportation and distribution. Agricultural marketing can be defined as the commercial functions involved in transferring agricultural products consisting of farm, horticultural and other allied products from producer to consumer. Agricultural marketing also reflect another dimension from supply of produce from rural to rural and rural to urban and from rural to industrial consumers. There are several challenges involved in marketing of agricultural produce. There is limited access to the market information, literacy level among the farmers is low, multiple channels of distribution that eats away the pockets of both farmers and consumers. The government funding of farmers is still at nascent stage and most of the small farmers still depend on the local moneylenders who are leeches and charge high rate of interest. There are too many vultures that eat away the benefits that the farmers are supposed to get. Although we say that technology have improved but it has not gone to the rural levels as it is confined to urban areas alone. There are several loopholes in the present legislation and there is no organized and regulated marketing system for marketing the agricultural produce. The farmers have to face so many hardships and have to overcome several hurdles to get fair and just price for their sweat. The agriculture sector needs well-functioning markets to drive growth, employment and economic prosperity in rural areas of India. In order to provide dynamism and efficiency into the marketing system, large investments are required for the development of post-harvest and cold-chain infrastructure nearer to the farmers’ field. A major portion of this investment is expected from the private sector, for which an appropriate regulatory and policy environment is necessary. Also, enabling policies need to be put in place to encourage the procurement of agricultural commodities directly from farmers’ fields and to establish effective linkage between the farm production and the retail chain and food processing industries. Accordingly, the state governments were requested to suitably amend their respective APMC Acts for deregulation of the marketing system in India, to promote investment in marketing infrastructure, thereby motivating the corporate sector to undertake direct marketing and to facilitate a national integrated market. The Department has recently taken the initiative to promote modern terminal markets for fruits, vegetables and other perishables in important urban centres in India. These markets would provide state-of the art infrastructure facilities for electronic auction, cold chain and logistics and operate through primary collection centres conveniently located in producing areas to allow easy access to farmers. The terminal markets are envisaged to operate on a "hub-and-spoke‟ format, wherein the terminal market (the hub) would be linked to a number of collection centres (the spokes). The terminal markets would be built, owned and operated by a corporate/private/co-operative entity, either by itself, or through the adoption of an outsourcing model. The enterprise could be a consortium of entrepreneurs from agri-business, cold chain, logistics, warehousing, agri-infrastructure and/or related background. The enterprise would charge a user charge for the services provided. The total financial outlay for implementation of the above component during the Tenth Plan Period is Rs 150 crore. The proposed expenditure will be met from the budget outlay of the National Horticulture Mission. The operational guidelines of the scheme have been circulated to the state governments, which have amended their respective APMC Acts to allow the setting up of markets in the private sector. The Department of Agriculture and Cooperation has three organisations dealing with marketing under its administrative control, namely, the Directorate of Marketing and Inspection, Faridabad; the Ch. Charan Singh National Institute of Agricultural Marketing, Jaipur; and the Small Farmers AgriBusiness Consortium, New Delhi. The Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marking) Act, 1937 empowers the central government to fix quality standards, known as „AGMARK‟ standards, and, to prescribe terms and conditions for using the seal of AGMARK. So far, grade standards have been notified for 181 agricultural and allied commodities. The purity standards under the provision of the PFA Act and the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Act, 1986, are invariably taken into consideration while framing the grade standards. International standards framed by Codex/International Standards Organization (ISO) are also considered so that Indian produce can compete in international markets. AGMARK quality control programmes as well as improvements in marketing practices and procedures are given wide publicity through mass media. The information is disseminated through documentaries, cinema slides, printed literature, exhibitions, conferences, seminars and workshops. Agricultural Marketing, a quarterly bi-lingual journal, is also published regularly. MRIN is a central sector scheme that was launched by the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation in March 2000. The scheme aims at progressively linking important agricultural produce markets spread all over India and the State Agriculture Marketing Boards/ Directorates and the DMI for effective exchange of market information. The market information network, AGMARKNET (agmarknet.nic.in), is being implemented jointly by DMI and NIC, using NICNET facilities available throughout the country. The objective of the scheme is to facilitate collection and dissemination of information for better price realisation. The scheme provides funds to state- and national-level institutions managing the markets and executing market-led extension activities and thus, has no separate gender-specific provisions under the scheme.

According to the passage, what are the problems faced by the farmers in agricultural marketing?
1) Manipulation by big traders
2) Lack of market information
3) Lack of storage facilities

Question 3

Direction: Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow. Certain words/phrases are given in bold to help you to locate them while answering some of the questions.
Agricultural marketing covers the services involved in moving an agricultural product from the farm to the consumer. Numerous interconnected activities are involved in doing this, such as planning production, growing and harvesting, grading, packing, transport, storage, agro -and food processing, distribution advertising and sale. Businesses that have lower costs, are more efficient, and can deliver quality products, are those that prosper. Those that have high costs, fail to adapt to changes in market demand and provide poorer quality is often forced out of business. Marketing has to be customer-oriented and has to provide the farmer, transporter, trader, processor, etc. with a profit. This requires those involved in marketing chains to understand buyer requirements, both in terms of product and business conditions. The National Commission on Agriculture defined agricultural marketing as a process which starts with a decision to produce a saleable farm commodity and it involves all aspects of market structure of system, both functional and institutional, based on technical and economic considerations and includes pre and post- harvest operations, assembling, grading, storage, transportation and distribution. Agricultural marketing can be defined as the commercial functions involved in transferring agricultural products consisting of farm, horticultural and other allied products from producer to consumer. Agricultural marketing also reflect another dimension from supply of produce from rural to rural and rural to urban and from rural to industrial consumers. There are several challenges involved in marketing of agricultural produce. There is limited access to the market information, literacy level among the farmers is low, multiple channels of distribution that eats away the pockets of both farmers and consumers. The government funding of farmers is still at nascent stage and most of the small farmers still depend on the local moneylenders who are leeches and charge high rate of interest. There are too many vultures that eat away the benefits that the farmers are supposed to get. Although we say that technology have improved but it has not gone to the rural levels as it is confined to urban areas alone. There are several loopholes in the present legislation and there is no organized and regulated marketing system for marketing the agricultural produce. The farmers have to face so many hardships and have to overcome several hurdles to get fair and just price for their sweat. The agriculture sector needs well-functioning markets to drive growth, employment and economic prosperity in rural areas of India. In order to provide dynamism and efficiency into the marketing system, large investments are required for the development of post-harvest and cold-chain infrastructure nearer to the farmers’ field. A major portion of this investment is expected from the private sector, for which an appropriate regulatory and policy environment is necessary. Also, enabling policies need to be put in place to encourage the procurement of agricultural commodities directly from farmers’ fields and to establish effective linkage between the farm production and the retail chain and food processing industries. Accordingly, the state governments were requested to suitably amend their respective APMC Acts for deregulation of the marketing system in India, to promote investment in marketing infrastructure, thereby motivating the corporate sector to undertake direct marketing and to facilitate a national integrated market. The Department has recently taken the initiative to promote modern terminal markets for fruits, vegetables and other perishables in important urban centres in India. These markets would provide state-of the art infrastructure facilities for electronic auction, cold chain and logistics and operate through primary collection centres conveniently located in producing areas to allow easy access to farmers. The terminal markets are envisaged to operate on a "hub-and-spoke‟ format, wherein the terminal market (the hub) would be linked to a number of collection centres (the spokes). The terminal markets would be built, owned and operated by a corporate/private/co-operative entity, either by itself, or through the adoption of an outsourcing model. The enterprise could be a consortium of entrepreneurs from agri-business, cold chain, logistics, warehousing, agri-infrastructure and/or related background. The enterprise would charge a user charge for the services provided. The total financial outlay for implementation of the above component during the Tenth Plan Period is Rs 150 crore. The proposed expenditure will be met from the budget outlay of the National Horticulture Mission. The operational guidelines of the scheme have been circulated to the state governments, which have amended their respective APMC Acts to allow the setting up of markets in the private sector. The Department of Agriculture and Cooperation has three organisations dealing with marketing under its administrative control, namely, the Directorate of Marketing and Inspection, Faridabad; the Ch. Charan Singh National Institute of Agricultural Marketing, Jaipur; and the Small Farmers AgriBusiness Consortium, New Delhi. The Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marking) Act, 1937 empowers the central government to fix quality standards, known as „AGMARK‟ standards, and, to prescribe terms and conditions for using the seal of AGMARK. So far, grade standards have been notified for 181 agricultural and allied commodities. The purity standards under the provision of the PFA Act and the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Act, 1986, are invariably taken into consideration while framing the grade standards. International standards framed by Codex/International Standards Organization (ISO) are also considered so that Indian produce can compete in international markets. AGMARK quality control programmes as well as improvements in marketing practices and procedures are given wide publicity through mass media. The information is disseminated through documentaries, cinema slides, printed literature, exhibitions, conferences, seminars and workshops. Agricultural Marketing, a quarterly bi-lingual journal, is also published regularly. MRIN is a central sector scheme that was launched by the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation in March 2000. The scheme aims at progressively linking important agricultural produce markets spread all over India and the State Agriculture Marketing Boards/ Directorates and the DMI for effective exchange of market information. The market information network, AGMARKNET (agmarknet.nic.in), is being implemented jointly by DMI and NIC, using NICNET facilities available throughout the country. The objective of the scheme is to facilitate collection and dissemination of information for better price realisation. The scheme provides funds to state- and national-level institutions managing the markets and executing market-led extension activities and thus, has no separate gender-specific provisions under the scheme.

Which of the following is true in the context of the passage?

Question 4

Direction: Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow. Certain words/phrases are given in bold to help you to locate them while answering some of the questions.
Agricultural marketing covers the services involved in moving an agricultural product from the farm to the consumer. Numerous interconnected activities are involved in doing this, such as planning production, growing and harvesting, grading, packing, transport, storage, agro -and food processing, distribution advertising and sale. Businesses that have lower costs, are more efficient, and can deliver quality products, are those that prosper. Those that have high costs, fail to adapt to changes in market demand and provide poorer quality is often forced out of business. Marketing has to be customer-oriented and has to provide the farmer, transporter, trader, processor, etc. with a profit. This requires those involved in marketing chains to understand buyer requirements, both in terms of product and business conditions. The National Commission on Agriculture defined agricultural marketing as a process which starts with a decision to produce a saleable farm commodity and it involves all aspects of market structure of system, both functional and institutional, based on technical and economic considerations and includes pre and post- harvest operations, assembling, grading, storage, transportation and distribution. Agricultural marketing can be defined as the commercial functions involved in transferring agricultural products consisting of farm, horticultural and other allied products from producer to consumer. Agricultural marketing also reflect another dimension from supply of produce from rural to rural and rural to urban and from rural to industrial consumers. There are several challenges involved in marketing of agricultural produce. There is limited access to the market information, literacy level among the farmers is low, multiple channels of distribution that eats away the pockets of both farmers and consumers. The government funding of farmers is still at nascent stage and most of the small farmers still depend on the local moneylenders who are leeches and charge high rate of interest. There are too many vultures that eat away the benefits that the farmers are supposed to get. Although we say that technology have improved but it has not gone to the rural levels as it is confined to urban areas alone. There are several loopholes in the present legislation and there is no organized and regulated marketing system for marketing the agricultural produce. The farmers have to face so many hardships and have to overcome several hurdles to get fair and just price for their sweat. The agriculture sector needs well-functioning markets to drive growth, employment and economic prosperity in rural areas of India. In order to provide dynamism and efficiency into the marketing system, large investments are required for the development of post-harvest and cold-chain infrastructure nearer to the farmers’ field. A major portion of this investment is expected from the private sector, for which an appropriate regulatory and policy environment is necessary. Also, enabling policies need to be put in place to encourage the procurement of agricultural commodities directly from farmers’ fields and to establish effective linkage between the farm production and the retail chain and food processing industries. Accordingly, the state governments were requested to suitably amend their respective APMC Acts for deregulation of the marketing system in India, to promote investment in marketing infrastructure, thereby motivating the corporate sector to undertake direct marketing and to facilitate a national integrated market. The Department has recently taken the initiative to promote modern terminal markets for fruits, vegetables and other perishables in important urban centres in India. These markets would provide state-of the art infrastructure facilities for electronic auction, cold chain and logistics and operate through primary collection centres conveniently located in producing areas to allow easy access to farmers. The terminal markets are envisaged to operate on a "hub-and-spoke‟ format, wherein the terminal market (the hub) would be linked to a number of collection centres (the spokes). The terminal markets would be built, owned and operated by a corporate/private/co-operative entity, either by itself, or through the adoption of an outsourcing model. The enterprise could be a consortium of entrepreneurs from agri-business, cold chain, logistics, warehousing, agri-infrastructure and/or related background. The enterprise would charge a user charge for the services provided. The total financial outlay for implementation of the above component during the Tenth Plan Period is Rs 150 crore. The proposed expenditure will be met from the budget outlay of the National Horticulture Mission. The operational guidelines of the scheme have been circulated to the state governments, which have amended their respective APMC Acts to allow the setting up of markets in the private sector. The Department of Agriculture and Cooperation has three organisations dealing with marketing under its administrative control, namely, the Directorate of Marketing and Inspection, Faridabad; the Ch. Charan Singh National Institute of Agricultural Marketing, Jaipur; and the Small Farmers AgriBusiness Consortium, New Delhi. The Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marking) Act, 1937 empowers the central government to fix quality standards, known as „AGMARK‟ standards, and, to prescribe terms and conditions for using the seal of AGMARK. So far, grade standards have been notified for 181 agricultural and allied commodities. The purity standards under the provision of the PFA Act and the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Act, 1986, are invariably taken into consideration while framing the grade standards. International standards framed by Codex/International Standards Organization (ISO) are also considered so that Indian produce can compete in international markets. AGMARK quality control programmes as well as improvements in marketing practices and procedures are given wide publicity through mass media. The information is disseminated through documentaries, cinema slides, printed literature, exhibitions, conferences, seminars and workshops. Agricultural Marketing, a quarterly bi-lingual journal, is also published regularly. MRIN is a central sector scheme that was launched by the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation in March 2000. The scheme aims at progressively linking important agricultural produce markets spread all over India and the State Agriculture Marketing Boards/ Directorates and the DMI for effective exchange of market information. The market information network, AGMARKNET (agmarknet.nic.in), is being implemented jointly by DMI and NIC, using NICNET facilities available throughout the country. The objective of the scheme is to facilitate collection and dissemination of information for better price realisation. The scheme provides funds to state- and national-level institutions managing the markets and executing market-led extension activities and thus, has no separate gender-specific provisions under the scheme.

Choose the word which is opposite in the meaning to the word ‘NASCENT ‘given in bold as used in the passage.

Question 5

Direction: Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow. Certain words/phrases are given in bold to help you to locate them while answering some of the questions.
Agricultural marketing covers the services involved in moving an agricultural product from the farm to the consumer. Numerous interconnected activities are involved in doing this, such as planning production, growing and harvesting, grading, packing, transport, storage, agro -and food processing, distribution advertising and sale. Businesses that have lower costs, are more efficient, and can deliver quality products, are those that prosper. Those that have high costs, fail to adapt to changes in market demand and provide poorer quality is often forced out of business. Marketing has to be customer-oriented and has to provide the farmer, transporter, trader, processor, etc. with a profit. This requires those involved in marketing chains to understand buyer requirements, both in terms of product and business conditions. The National Commission on Agriculture defined agricultural marketing as a process which starts with a decision to produce a saleable farm commodity and it involves all aspects of market structure of system, both functional and institutional, based on technical and economic considerations and includes pre and post- harvest operations, assembling, grading, storage, transportation and distribution. Agricultural marketing can be defined as the commercial functions involved in transferring agricultural products consisting of farm, horticultural and other allied products from producer to consumer. Agricultural marketing also reflect another dimension from supply of produce from rural to rural and rural to urban and from rural to industrial consumers. There are several challenges involved in marketing of agricultural produce. There is limited access to the market information, literacy level among the farmers is low, multiple channels of distribution that eats away the pockets of both farmers and consumers. The government funding of farmers is still at nascent stage and most of the small farmers still depend on the local moneylenders who are leeches and charge high rate of interest. There are too many vultures that eat away the benefits that the farmers are supposed to get. Although we say that technology have improved but it has not gone to the rural levels as it is confined to urban areas alone. There are several loopholes in the present legislation and there is no organized and regulated marketing system for marketing the agricultural produce. The farmers have to face so many hardships and have to overcome several hurdles to get fair and just price for their sweat. The agriculture sector needs well-functioning markets to drive growth, employment and economic prosperity in rural areas of India. In order to provide dynamism and efficiency into the marketing system, large investments are required for the development of post-harvest and cold-chain infrastructure nearer to the farmers’ field. A major portion of this investment is expected from the private sector, for which an appropriate regulatory and policy environment is necessary. Also, enabling policies need to be put in place to encourage the procurement of agricultural commodities directly from farmers’ fields and to establish effective linkage between the farm production and the retail chain and food processing industries. Accordingly, the state governments were requested to suitably amend their respective APMC Acts for deregulation of the marketing system in India, to promote investment in marketing infrastructure, thereby motivating the corporate sector to undertake direct marketing and to facilitate a national integrated market. The Department has recently taken the initiative to promote modern terminal markets for fruits, vegetables and other perishables in important urban centres in India. These markets would provide state-of the art infrastructure facilities for electronic auction, cold chain and logistics and operate through primary collection centres conveniently located in producing areas to allow easy access to farmers. The terminal markets are envisaged to operate on a "hub-and-spoke‟ format, wherein the terminal market (the hub) would be linked to a number of collection centres (the spokes). The terminal markets would be built, owned and operated by a corporate/private/co-operative entity, either by itself, or through the adoption of an outsourcing model. The enterprise could be a consortium of entrepreneurs from agri-business, cold chain, logistics, warehousing, agri-infrastructure and/or related background. The enterprise would charge a user charge for the services provided. The total financial outlay for implementation of the above component during the Tenth Plan Period is Rs 150 crore. The proposed expenditure will be met from the budget outlay of the National Horticulture Mission. The operational guidelines of the scheme have been circulated to the state governments, which have amended their respective APMC Acts to allow the setting up of markets in the private sector. The Department of Agriculture and Cooperation has three organisations dealing with marketing under its administrative control, namely, the Directorate of Marketing and Inspection, Faridabad; the Ch. Charan Singh National Institute of Agricultural Marketing, Jaipur; and the Small Farmers AgriBusiness Consortium, New Delhi. The Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marking) Act, 1937 empowers the central government to fix quality standards, known as „AGMARK‟ standards, and, to prescribe terms and conditions for using the seal of AGMARK. So far, grade standards have been notified for 181 agricultural and allied commodities. The purity standards under the provision of the PFA Act and the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Act, 1986, are invariably taken into consideration while framing the grade standards. International standards framed by Codex/International Standards Organization (ISO) are also considered so that Indian produce can compete in international markets. AGMARK quality control programmes as well as improvements in marketing practices and procedures are given wide publicity through mass media. The information is disseminated through documentaries, cinema slides, printed literature, exhibitions, conferences, seminars and workshops. Agricultural Marketing, a quarterly bi-lingual journal, is also published regularly. MRIN is a central sector scheme that was launched by the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation in March 2000. The scheme aims at progressively linking important agricultural produce markets spread all over India and the State Agriculture Marketing Boards/ Directorates and the DMI for effective exchange of market information. The market information network, AGMARKNET (agmarknet.nic.in), is being implemented jointly by DMI and NIC, using NICNET facilities available throughout the country. The objective of the scheme is to facilitate collection and dissemination of information for better price realisation. The scheme provides funds to state- and national-level institutions managing the markets and executing market-led extension activities and thus, has no separate gender-specific provisions under the scheme.

According to the passage, in agricultural marketing the dealing has high costs, are not efficient and can deliver…

Question 6

Direction: Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow. Certain words/phrases are given in bold to help you to locate them while answering some of the questions.
Agricultural marketing covers the services involved in moving an agricultural product from the farm to the consumer. Numerous interconnected activities are involved in doing this, such as planning production, growing and harvesting, grading, packing, transport, storage, agro -and food processing, distribution advertising and sale. Businesses that have lower costs, are more efficient, and can deliver quality products, are those that prosper. Those that have high costs, fail to adapt to changes in market demand and provide poorer quality is often forced out of business. Marketing has to be customer-oriented and has to provide the farmer, transporter, trader, processor, etc. with a profit. This requires those involved in marketing chains to understand buyer requirements, both in terms of product and business conditions. The National Commission on Agriculture defined agricultural marketing as a process which starts with a decision to produce a saleable farm commodity and it involves all aspects of market structure of system, both functional and institutional, based on technical and economic considerations and includes pre and post- harvest operations, assembling, grading, storage, transportation and distribution. Agricultural marketing can be defined as the commercial functions involved in transferring agricultural products consisting of farm, horticultural and other allied products from producer to consumer. Agricultural marketing also reflect another dimension from supply of produce from rural to rural and rural to urban and from rural to industrial consumers. There are several challenges involved in marketing of agricultural produce. There is limited access to the market information, literacy level among the farmers is low, multiple channels of distribution that eats away the pockets of both farmers and consumers. The government funding of farmers is still at nascent stage and most of the small farmers still depend on the local moneylenders who are leeches and charge high rate of interest. There are too many vultures that eat away the benefits that the farmers are supposed to get. Although we say that technology have improved but it has not gone to the rural levels as it is confined to urban areas alone. There are several loopholes in the present legislation and there is no organized and regulated marketing system for marketing the agricultural produce. The farmers have to face so many hardships and have to overcome several hurdles to get fair and just price for their sweat. The agriculture sector needs well-functioning markets to drive growth, employment and economic prosperity in rural areas of India. In order to provide dynamism and efficiency into the marketing system, large investments are required for the development of post-harvest and cold-chain infrastructure nearer to the farmers’ field. A major portion of this investment is expected from the private sector, for which an appropriate regulatory and policy environment is necessary. Also, enabling policies need to be put in place to encourage the procurement of agricultural commodities directly from farmers’ fields and to establish effective linkage between the farm production and the retail chain and food processing industries. Accordingly, the state governments were requested to suitably amend their respective APMC Acts for deregulation of the marketing system in India, to promote investment in marketing infrastructure, thereby motivating the corporate sector to undertake direct marketing and to facilitate a national integrated market. The Department has recently taken the initiative to promote modern terminal markets for fruits, vegetables and other perishables in important urban centres in India. These markets would provide state-of the art infrastructure facilities for electronic auction, cold chain and logistics and operate through primary collection centres conveniently located in producing areas to allow easy access to farmers. The terminal markets are envisaged to operate on a "hub-and-spoke‟ format, wherein the terminal market (the hub) would be linked to a number of collection centres (the spokes). The terminal markets would be built, owned and operated by a corporate/private/co-operative entity, either by itself, or through the adoption of an outsourcing model. The enterprise could be a consortium of entrepreneurs from agri-business, cold chain, logistics, warehousing, agri-infrastructure and/or related background. The enterprise would charge a user charge for the services provided. The total financial outlay for implementation of the above component during the Tenth Plan Period is Rs 150 crore. The proposed expenditure will be met from the budget outlay of the National Horticulture Mission. The operational guidelines of the scheme have been circulated to the state governments, which have amended their respective APMC Acts to allow the setting up of markets in the private sector. The Department of Agriculture and Cooperation has three organisations dealing with marketing under its administrative control, namely, the Directorate of Marketing and Inspection, Faridabad; the Ch. Charan Singh National Institute of Agricultural Marketing, Jaipur; and the Small Farmers AgriBusiness Consortium, New Delhi. The Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marking) Act, 1937 empowers the central government to fix quality standards, known as „AGMARK‟ standards, and, to prescribe terms and conditions for using the seal of AGMARK. So far, grade standards have been notified for 181 agricultural and allied commodities. The purity standards under the provision of the PFA Act and the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Act, 1986, are invariably taken into consideration while framing the grade standards. International standards framed by Codex/International Standards Organization (ISO) are also considered so that Indian produce can compete in international markets. AGMARK quality control programmes as well as improvements in marketing practices and procedures are given wide publicity through mass media. The information is disseminated through documentaries, cinema slides, printed literature, exhibitions, conferences, seminars and workshops. Agricultural Marketing, a quarterly bi-lingual journal, is also published regularly. MRIN is a central sector scheme that was launched by the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation in March 2000. The scheme aims at progressively linking important agricultural produce markets spread all over India and the State Agriculture Marketing Boards/ Directorates and the DMI for effective exchange of market information. The market information network, AGMARKNET (agmarknet.nic.in), is being implemented jointly by DMI and NIC, using NICNET facilities available throughout the country. The objective of the scheme is to facilitate collection and dissemination of information for better price realisation. The scheme provides funds to state- and national-level institutions managing the markets and executing market-led extension activities and thus, has no separate gender-specific provisions under the scheme.

Choose the word which is most nearly the same in the meaning to the word 'AMEND' given in bold as used in the passage.

Question 7

Direction: Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow. Certain words/phrases are given in bold to help you to locate them while answering some of the questions.
Agricultural marketing covers the services involved in moving an agricultural product from the farm to the consumer. Numerous interconnected activities are involved in doing this, such as planning production, growing and harvesting, grading, packing, transport, storage, agro -and food processing, distribution advertising and sale. Businesses that have lower costs, are more efficient, and can deliver quality products, are those that prosper. Those that have high costs, fail to adapt to changes in market demand and provide poorer quality is often forced out of business. Marketing has to be customer-oriented and has to provide the farmer, transporter, trader, processor, etc. with a profit. This requires those involved in marketing chains to understand buyer requirements, both in terms of product and business conditions. The National Commission on Agriculture defined agricultural marketing as a process which starts with a decision to produce a saleable farm commodity and it involves all aspects of market structure of system, both functional and institutional, based on technical and economic considerations and includes pre and post- harvest operations, assembling, grading, storage, transportation and distribution. Agricultural marketing can be defined as the commercial functions involved in transferring agricultural products consisting of farm, horticultural and other allied products from producer to consumer. Agricultural marketing also reflect another dimension from supply of produce from rural to rural and rural to urban and from rural to industrial consumers. There are several challenges involved in marketing of agricultural produce. There is limited access to the market information, literacy level among the farmers is low, multiple channels of distribution that eats away the pockets of both farmers and consumers. The government funding of farmers is still at nascent stage and most of the small farmers still depend on the local moneylenders who are leeches and charge high rate of interest. There are too many vultures that eat away the benefits that the farmers are supposed to get. Although we say that technology have improved but it has not gone to the rural levels as it is confined to urban areas alone. There are several loopholes in the present legislation and there is no organized and regulated marketing system for marketing the agricultural produce. The farmers have to face so many hardships and have to overcome several hurdles to get fair and just price for their sweat. The agriculture sector needs well-functioning markets to drive growth, employment and economic prosperity in rural areas of India. In order to provide dynamism and efficiency into the marketing system, large investments are required for the development of post-harvest and cold-chain infrastructure nearer to the farmers’ field. A major portion of this investment is expected from the private sector, for which an appropriate regulatory and policy environment is necessary. Also, enabling policies need to be put in place to encourage the procurement of agricultural commodities directly from farmers’ fields and to establish effective linkage between the farm production and the retail chain and food processing industries. Accordingly, the state governments were requested to suitably amend their respective APMC Acts for deregulation of the marketing system in India, to promote investment in marketing infrastructure, thereby motivating the corporate sector to undertake direct marketing and to facilitate a national integrated market. The Department has recently taken the initiative to promote modern terminal markets for fruits, vegetables and other perishables in important urban centres in India. These markets would provide state-of the art infrastructure facilities for electronic auction, cold chain and logistics and operate through primary collection centres conveniently located in producing areas to allow easy access to farmers. The terminal markets are envisaged to operate on a "hub-and-spoke‟ format, wherein the terminal market (the hub) would be linked to a number of collection centres (the spokes). The terminal markets would be built, owned and operated by a corporate/private/co-operative entity, either by itself, or through the adoption of an outsourcing model. The enterprise could be a consortium of entrepreneurs from agri-business, cold chain, logistics, warehousing, agri-infrastructure and/or related background. The enterprise would charge a user charge for the services provided. The total financial outlay for implementation of the above component during the Tenth Plan Period is Rs 150 crore. The proposed expenditure will be met from the budget outlay of the National Horticulture Mission. The operational guidelines of the scheme have been circulated to the state governments, which have amended their respective APMC Acts to allow the setting up of markets in the private sector. The Department of Agriculture and Cooperation has three organisations dealing with marketing under its administrative control, namely, the Directorate of Marketing and Inspection, Faridabad; the Ch. Charan Singh National Institute of Agricultural Marketing, Jaipur; and the Small Farmers AgriBusiness Consortium, New Delhi. The Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marking) Act, 1937 empowers the central government to fix quality standards, known as „AGMARK‟ standards, and, to prescribe terms and conditions for using the seal of AGMARK. So far, grade standards have been notified for 181 agricultural and allied commodities. The purity standards under the provision of the PFA Act and the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Act, 1986, are invariably taken into consideration while framing the grade standards. International standards framed by Codex/International Standards Organization (ISO) are also considered so that Indian produce can compete in international markets. AGMARK quality control programmes as well as improvements in marketing practices and procedures are given wide publicity through mass media. The information is disseminated through documentaries, cinema slides, printed literature, exhibitions, conferences, seminars and workshops. Agricultural Marketing, a quarterly bi-lingual journal, is also published regularly. MRIN is a central sector scheme that was launched by the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation in March 2000. The scheme aims at progressively linking important agricultural produce markets spread all over India and the State Agriculture Marketing Boards/ Directorates and the DMI for effective exchange of market information. The market information network, AGMARKNET (agmarknet.nic.in), is being implemented jointly by DMI and NIC, using NICNET facilities available throughout the country. The objective of the scheme is to facilitate collection and dissemination of information for better price realisation. The scheme provides funds to state- and national-level institutions managing the markets and executing market-led extension activities and thus, has no separate gender-specific provisions under the scheme.

What is the central idea of the passage?

Question 8

Direction: Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow. Certain words/phrases are given in bold to help you to locate them while answering some of the questions.
Agricultural marketing covers the services involved in moving an agricultural product from the farm to the consumer. Numerous interconnected activities are involved in doing this, such as planning production, growing and harvesting, grading, packing, transport, storage, agro -and food processing, distribution advertising and sale. Businesses that have lower costs, are more efficient, and can deliver quality products, are those that prosper. Those that have high costs, fail to adapt to changes in market demand and provide poorer quality is often forced out of business. Marketing has to be customer-oriented and has to provide the farmer, transporter, trader, processor, etc. with a profit. This requires those involved in marketing chains to understand buyer requirements, both in terms of product and business conditions. The National Commission on Agriculture defined agricultural marketing as a process which starts with a decision to produce a saleable farm commodity and it involves all aspects of market structure of system, both functional and institutional, based on technical and economic considerations and includes pre and post- harvest operations, assembling, grading, storage, transportation and distribution. Agricultural marketing can be defined as the commercial functions involved in transferring agricultural products consisting of farm, horticultural and other allied products from producer to consumer. Agricultural marketing also reflect another dimension from supply of produce from rural to rural and rural to urban and from rural to industrial consumers. There are several challenges involved in marketing of agricultural produce. There is limited access to the market information, literacy level among the farmers is low, multiple channels of distribution that eats away the pockets of both farmers and consumers. The government funding of farmers is still at nascent stage and most of the small farmers still depend on the local moneylenders who are leeches and charge high rate of interest. There are too many vultures that eat away the benefits that the farmers are supposed to get. Although we say that technology have improved but it has not gone to the rural levels as it is confined to urban areas alone. There are several loopholes in the present legislation and there is no organized and regulated marketing system for marketing the agricultural produce. The farmers have to face so many hardships and have to overcome several hurdles to get fair and just price for their sweat. The agriculture sector needs well-functioning markets to drive growth, employment and economic prosperity in rural areas of India. In order to provide dynamism and efficiency into the marketing system, large investments are required for the development of post-harvest and cold-chain infrastructure nearer to the farmers’ field. A major portion of this investment is expected from the private sector, for which an appropriate regulatory and policy environment is necessary. Also, enabling policies need to be put in place to encourage the procurement of agricultural commodities directly from farmers’ fields and to establish effective linkage between the farm production and the retail chain and food processing industries. Accordingly, the state governments were requested to suitably amend their respective APMC Acts for deregulation of the marketing system in India, to promote investment in marketing infrastructure, thereby motivating the corporate sector to undertake direct marketing and to facilitate a national integrated market. The Department has recently taken the initiative to promote modern terminal markets for fruits, vegetables and other perishables in important urban centres in India. These markets would provide state-of the art infrastructure facilities for electronic auction, cold chain and logistics and operate through primary collection centres conveniently located in producing areas to allow easy access to farmers. The terminal markets are envisaged to operate on a "hub-and-spoke‟ format, wherein the terminal market (the hub) would be linked to a number of collection centres (the spokes). The terminal markets would be built, owned and operated by a corporate/private/co-operative entity, either by itself, or through the adoption of an outsourcing model. The enterprise could be a consortium of entrepreneurs from agri-business, cold chain, logistics, warehousing, agri-infrastructure and/or related background. The enterprise would charge a user charge for the services provided. The total financial outlay for implementation of the above component during the Tenth Plan Period is Rs 150 crore. The proposed expenditure will be met from the budget outlay of the National Horticulture Mission. The operational guidelines of the scheme have been circulated to the state governments, which have amended their respective APMC Acts to allow the setting up of markets in the private sector. The Department of Agriculture and Cooperation has three organisations dealing with marketing under its administrative control, namely, the Directorate of Marketing and Inspection, Faridabad; the Ch. Charan Singh National Institute of Agricultural Marketing, Jaipur; and the Small Farmers AgriBusiness Consortium, New Delhi. The Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marking) Act, 1937 empowers the central government to fix quality standards, known as „AGMARK‟ standards, and, to prescribe terms and conditions for using the seal of AGMARK. So far, grade standards have been notified for 181 agricultural and allied commodities. The purity standards under the provision of the PFA Act and the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Act, 1986, are invariably taken into consideration while framing the grade standards. International standards framed by Codex/International Standards Organization (ISO) are also considered so that Indian produce can compete in international markets. AGMARK quality control programmes as well as improvements in marketing practices and procedures are given wide publicity through mass media. The information is disseminated through documentaries, cinema slides, printed literature, exhibitions, conferences, seminars and workshops. Agricultural Marketing, a quarterly bi-lingual journal, is also published regularly. MRIN is a central sector scheme that was launched by the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation in March 2000. The scheme aims at progressively linking important agricultural produce markets spread all over India and the State Agriculture Marketing Boards/ Directorates and the DMI for effective exchange of market information. The market information network, AGMARKNET (agmarknet.nic.in), is being implemented jointly by DMI and NIC, using NICNET facilities available throughout the country. The objective of the scheme is to facilitate collection and dissemination of information for better price realisation. The scheme provides funds to state- and national-level institutions managing the markets and executing market-led extension activities and thus, has no separate gender-specific provisions under the scheme.

According to the passage, what does DMI stand for?

Question 9

Direction: Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow. Certain words/phrases are given in bold to help you to locate them while answering some of the questions.
Agricultural marketing covers the services involved in moving an agricultural product from the farm to the consumer. Numerous interconnected activities are involved in doing this, such as planning production, growing and harvesting, grading, packing, transport, storage, agro -and food processing, distribution advertising and sale. Businesses that have lower costs, are more efficient, and can deliver quality products, are those that prosper. Those that have high costs, fail to adapt to changes in market demand and provide poorer quality is often forced out of business. Marketing has to be customer-oriented and has to provide the farmer, transporter, trader, processor, etc. with a profit. This requires those involved in marketing chains to understand buyer requirements, both in terms of product and business conditions. The National Commission on Agriculture defined agricultural marketing as a process which starts with a decision to produce a saleable farm commodity and it involves all aspects of market structure of system, both functional and institutional, based on technical and economic considerations and includes pre and post- harvest operations, assembling, grading, storage, transportation and distribution. Agricultural marketing can be defined as the commercial functions involved in transferring agricultural products consisting of farm, horticultural and other allied products from producer to consumer. Agricultural marketing also reflect another dimension from supply of produce from rural to rural and rural to urban and from rural to industrial consumers. There are several challenges involved in marketing of agricultural produce. There is limited access to the market information, literacy level among the farmers is low, multiple channels of distribution that eats away the pockets of both farmers and consumers. The government funding of farmers is still at nascent stage and most of the small farmers still depend on the local moneylenders who are leeches and charge high rate of interest. There are too many vultures that eat away the benefits that the farmers are supposed to get. Although we say that technology have improved but it has not gone to the rural levels as it is confined to urban areas alone. There are several loopholes in the present legislation and there is no organized and regulated marketing system for marketing the agricultural produce. The farmers have to face so many hardships and have to overcome several hurdles to get fair and just price for their sweat. The agriculture sector needs well-functioning markets to drive growth, employment and economic prosperity in rural areas of India. In order to provide dynamism and efficiency into the marketing system, large investments are required for the development of post-harvest and cold-chain infrastructure nearer to the farmers’ field. A major portion of this investment is expected from the private sector, for which an appropriate regulatory and policy environment is necessary. Also, enabling policies need to be put in place to encourage the procurement of agricultural commodities directly from farmers’ fields and to establish effective linkage between the farm production and the retail chain and food processing industries. Accordingly, the state governments were requested to suitably amend their respective APMC Acts for deregulation of the marketing system in India, to promote investment in marketing infrastructure, thereby motivating the corporate sector to undertake direct marketing and to facilitate a national integrated market. The Department has recently taken the initiative to promote modern terminal markets for fruits, vegetables and other perishables in important urban centres in India. These markets would provide state-of the art infrastructure facilities for electronic auction, cold chain and logistics and operate through primary collection centres conveniently located in producing areas to allow easy access to farmers. The terminal markets are envisaged to operate on a "hub-and-spoke‟ format, wherein the terminal market (the hub) would be linked to a number of collection centres (the spokes). The terminal markets would be built, owned and operated by a corporate/private/co-operative entity, either by itself, or through the adoption of an outsourcing model. The enterprise could be a consortium of entrepreneurs from agri-business, cold chain, logistics, warehousing, agri-infrastructure and/or related background. The enterprise would charge a user charge for the services provided. The total financial outlay for implementation of the above component during the Tenth Plan Period is Rs 150 crore. The proposed expenditure will be met from the budget outlay of the National Horticulture Mission. The operational guidelines of the scheme have been circulated to the state governments, which have amended their respective APMC Acts to allow the setting up of markets in the private sector. The Department of Agriculture and Cooperation has three organisations dealing with marketing under its administrative control, namely, the Directorate of Marketing and Inspection, Faridabad; the Ch. Charan Singh National Institute of Agricultural Marketing, Jaipur; and the Small Farmers AgriBusiness Consortium, New Delhi. The Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marking) Act, 1937 empowers the central government to fix quality standards, known as „AGMARK‟ standards, and, to prescribe terms and conditions for using the seal of AGMARK. So far, grade standards have been notified for 181 agricultural and allied commodities. The purity standards under the provision of the PFA Act and the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Act, 1986, are invariably taken into consideration while framing the grade standards. International standards framed by Codex/International Standards Organization (ISO) are also considered so that Indian produce can compete in international markets. AGMARK quality control programmes as well as improvements in marketing practices and procedures are given wide publicity through mass media. The information is disseminated through documentaries, cinema slides, printed literature, exhibitions, conferences, seminars and workshops. Agricultural Marketing, a quarterly bi-lingual journal, is also published regularly. MRIN is a central sector scheme that was launched by the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation in March 2000. The scheme aims at progressively linking important agricultural produce markets spread all over India and the State Agriculture Marketing Boards/ Directorates and the DMI for effective exchange of market information. The market information network, AGMARKNET (agmarknet.nic.in), is being implemented jointly by DMI and NIC, using NICNET facilities available throughout the country. The objective of the scheme is to facilitate collection and dissemination of information for better price realisation. The scheme provides funds to state- and national-level institutions managing the markets and executing market-led extension activities and thus, has no separate gender-specific provisions under the scheme.

The purity standards are measured under the

Question 10

Direction: Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow. Certain words/phrases are given in bold to help you to locate them while answering some of the questions.
Agricultural marketing covers the services involved in moving an agricultural product from the farm to the consumer. Numerous interconnected activities are involved in doing this, such as planning production, growing and harvesting, grading, packing, transport, storage, agro -and food processing, distribution advertising and sale. Businesses that have lower costs, are more efficient, and can deliver quality products, are those that prosper. Those that have high costs, fail to adapt to changes in market demand and provide poorer quality is often forced out of business. Marketing has to be customer-oriented and has to provide the farmer, transporter, trader, processor, etc. with a profit. This requires those involved in marketing chains to understand buyer requirements, both in terms of product and business conditions. The National Commission on Agriculture defined agricultural marketing as a process which starts with a decision to produce a saleable farm commodity and it involves all aspects of market structure of system, both functional and institutional, based on technical and economic considerations and includes pre and post- harvest operations, assembling, grading, storage, transportation and distribution. Agricultural marketing can be defined as the commercial functions involved in transferring agricultural products consisting of farm, horticultural and other allied products from producer to consumer. Agricultural marketing also reflect another dimension from supply of produce from rural to rural and rural to urban and from rural to industrial consumers. There are several challenges involved in marketing of agricultural produce. There is limited access to the market information, literacy level among the farmers is low, multiple channels of distribution that eats away the pockets of both farmers and consumers. The government funding of farmers is still at nascent stage and most of the small farmers still depend on the local moneylenders who are leeches and charge high rate of interest. There are too many vultures that eat away the benefits that the farmers are supposed to get. Although we say that technology have improved but it has not gone to the rural levels as it is confined to urban areas alone. There are several loopholes in the present legislation and there is no organized and regulated marketing system for marketing the agricultural produce. The farmers have to face so many hardships and have to overcome several hurdles to get fair and just price for their sweat. The agriculture sector needs well-functioning markets to drive growth, employment and economic prosperity in rural areas of India. In order to provide dynamism and efficiency into the marketing system, large investments are required for the development of post-harvest and cold-chain infrastructure nearer to the farmers’ field. A major portion of this investment is expected from the private sector, for which an appropriate regulatory and policy environment is necessary. Also, enabling policies need to be put in place to encourage the procurement of agricultural commodities directly from farmers’ fields and to establish effective linkage between the farm production and the retail chain and food processing industries. Accordingly, the state governments were requested to suitably amend their respective APMC Acts for deregulation of the marketing system in India, to promote investment in marketing infrastructure, thereby motivating the corporate sector to undertake direct marketing and to facilitate a national integrated market. The Department has recently taken the initiative to promote modern terminal markets for fruits, vegetables and other perishables in important urban centres in India. These markets would provide state-of the art infrastructure facilities for electronic auction, cold chain and logistics and operate through primary collection centres conveniently located in producing areas to allow easy access to farmers. The terminal markets are envisaged to operate on a "hub-and-spoke‟ format, wherein the terminal market (the hub) would be linked to a number of collection centres (the spokes). The terminal markets would be built, owned and operated by a corporate/private/co-operative entity, either by itself, or through the adoption of an outsourcing model. The enterprise could be a consortium of entrepreneurs from agri-business, cold chain, logistics, warehousing, agri-infrastructure and/or related background. The enterprise would charge a user charge for the services provided. The total financial outlay for implementation of the above component during the Tenth Plan Period is Rs 150 crore. The proposed expenditure will be met from the budget outlay of the National Horticulture Mission. The operational guidelines of the scheme have been circulated to the state governments, which have amended their respective APMC Acts to allow the setting up of markets in the private sector. The Department of Agriculture and Cooperation has three organisations dealing with marketing under its administrative control, namely, the Directorate of Marketing and Inspection, Faridabad; the Ch. Charan Singh National Institute of Agricultural Marketing, Jaipur; and the Small Farmers AgriBusiness Consortium, New Delhi. The Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marking) Act, 1937 empowers the central government to fix quality standards, known as „AGMARK‟ standards, and, to prescribe terms and conditions for using the seal of AGMARK. So far, grade standards have been notified for 181 agricultural and allied commodities. The purity standards under the provision of the PFA Act and the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Act, 1986, are invariably taken into consideration while framing the grade standards. International standards framed by Codex/International Standards Organization (ISO) are also considered so that Indian produce can compete in international markets. AGMARK quality control programmes as well as improvements in marketing practices and procedures are given wide publicity through mass media. The information is disseminated through documentaries, cinema slides, printed literature, exhibitions, conferences, seminars and workshops. Agricultural Marketing, a quarterly bi-lingual journal, is also published regularly. MRIN is a central sector scheme that was launched by the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation in March 2000. The scheme aims at progressively linking important agricultural produce markets spread all over India and the State Agriculture Marketing Boards/ Directorates and the DMI for effective exchange of market information. The market information network, AGMARKNET (agmarknet.nic.in), is being implemented jointly by DMI and NIC, using NICNET facilities available throughout the country. The objective of the scheme is to facilitate collection and dissemination of information for better price realisation. The scheme provides funds to state- and national-level institutions managing the markets and executing market-led extension activities and thus, has no separate gender-specific provisions under the scheme.

According to the passage, which scheme was launched by the department of agriculture and cooperation?