Read the following statements about agriculture in India & select the correct answer using codes given below. According to Economic Survey of 2023-24:
(i) agriculture sector provides livelihood to about 42.3 percent of population.
(ii) the share of agriculture sector in country's GDP is 18.2 percent at current prices.
(iii) the average annual growth rate of agriculture sector remained at 4.18 percent at constant prices over last 5 years.
(iv) the productivity of Indian agriculture is highest in the world.
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Question

Read the following statements about agriculture in India & select the correct answer using codes given below. According to Economic Survey of 2023-24:
 (i) agriculture sector provides livelihood to about 42.3 percent of population. 
(ii) the share of agriculture sector in country's GDP is 18.2 percent at current prices. 
(iii) the average annual growth rate of agriculture sector remained at 4.18 percent at constant prices over last 5 years. 
(iv) the productivity of Indian agriculture is highest in the world. 
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Accepted Answer

The correct option is 3:
This option states that only (i), (ii), and (iii) are correct statements about Indian agriculture as per the Economic Survey of 2023-24. The agriculture sector indeed remains a massive source of employment and sustenance, providing a livelihood to a large segment of the population, which validates statement (i) (livelihood to about 42.3 percent of the population). Statement (ii) is also accurate, reflecting that the share of the agriculture sector in the country's GDP is approximately 18.2 percent at current prices, a vital figure illustrating its contribution to the national economy. Finally, statement (iii) regarding the sector's average annual growth rate remaining at around 4.18 percent at constant prices over the last five years is consistent with the resilience and steady performance highlighted in the official economic reports for the period leading up to 2023-24 (which mention a 4.2% growth rate over the last five years in one report). Since these three statements reflect accepted statistics from the survey, Option 3 is the correct choice.

The incorrect option is 1, 2, and 4:
Options 1 and 2 are incorrect because they fail to include all the statements that are factually correct. Option 1 states only (i) is correct, while Option 2 states only (i) and (ii) are correct, ignoring the validated fact in statement (iii) regarding the multi-year average growth rate of 4.18 percent. Option 4 is incorrect because it falsely claims that statement (iv) is correct. Statement (iv), "the productivity of Indian agriculture is highest in the world," is definitively wrong. While India is a major global producer of various crops, its agricultural productivity (yield per unit of land/input) lags significantly behind many developed and developing countries due to factors like fragmented land holdings, dependence on monsoon, and low mechanization levels. Therefore, including statement (iv) makes Option 4 entirely false.