Given below are two statements, one is labeled as Assertion (A) and other as Reason (R) : Assertion (A) : The Union Budget 2020-21 has focused on Rural Development with aim of doubling farmer income. Reason (R) : The 16 Action points announced in the budget is centred around agriculture, irrigation and rural development. Select the correct answer from the codes given below.

Both statements are true, and the Reason explains the Assertion. The Budget 2020-21 speech listed sixteen action points under agriculture, irrigation and rural development, and these were framed around the government's goal of doubling farmers' income by 2022, a target drawn from the Dalwai Committee report of 2017. So (R) is the explanation of (A), and option A is correct.

Why the other options fail:

• B is wrong because (R) does explain (A). The sixteen points are the operational content behind the farm-income aim.
• C is wrong because (A) is true. The budget did carry a rural and agriculture thrust, with schemes such as Kisan Rail and Kisan Drones.
• D is wrong because (A) is not false.

Core concept: reading the budget as a policy document, where a stated aim (farm income) is linked to specific measures. For Mains, this connects to agrarian distress, the logic of doubling farm income, and the gap between announcements and delivery. Note that the 2022 deadline has since passed, so the target is now discussed as an aspiration rather than a fixed date.

Trap: aspirants often mark B by treating the budget's rural focus as separate from the farm-income aim, when the sixteen points are the very measures meant to achieve it.