With reference to organic farming in India, consider the following statements: 1) The National Programme for Organic Production' (NPOP) is operated under the guidelines and directions of the Union Ministry of Rural Development. 2) The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority' (APEDA) functions as the Secretariat for the implementation of NPOP. 3) Sikkim has become India's first fully organic State. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

The correct answer is B. Statements 2 and 3 are right, and statement 1 is wrong.

• Statement 1 is wrong. NPOP is operated under the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry, not Rural Development. APEDA is also under Commerce, which is why the programme sits there. NPOP was launched in 2001 and sets the national standards and accreditation system for organic production.
• Statement 2 is right. APEDA acts as the Secretariat for NPOP. It handles the accreditation of certification agencies and the operational side of the programme.
• Statement 3 is right. Sikkim was declared India's first fully organic State in 2016, after its farming was converted to organic practices over several years.

The core concept is the organic certification architecture: NPOP standards, accredited certification bodies, and PGS-India, the Participatory Guarantee System introduced in 2011 for small farmers. For Mains, link this to soil health, reduction of chemical fertiliser use, and the export competitiveness of organic produce.

Trap: Aspirants assume that because the subject is farming, the ministry must be Agriculture or Rural Development. Remember that NPOP is run through the export-linked Commerce ecosystem.