With reference to the National Food Security Act, which of the following statements is/are correct? I. It will cover upto 75 percent rural and 50 percent urban population II. Special focus one nutritional support to women and children. III. Eldest woman of above 18 years age will be head of house hold. Select the correct answer using the codes given below :

The correct answer is C, because all three statements match the National Food Security Act, 2013.

• Statement I is correct. Section 3 provides for priority households covering up to 75% of the rural and 50% of the urban population, about two-thirds of the total population in all.
• Statement II is correct. Chapter IV (Section 4) gives special attention to nutritional support for pregnant women, lactating mothers and children up to 14 years through take-home rations and free meals under the ICDS and mid-day meal schemes.
• Statement III is correct. Section 2(7) defines the head of household as the eldest woman of the household, aged 18 or above, and the eldest man only if no such woman exists. This is the basis for issuing ration cards.

The core concept is the rights-based, legally entitled PDS, which moved food security from executive discretion to statutory entitlement. For Mains, link it to targeting errors, exclusion of eligible households, and the debate on cash transfers versus in-kind grains.

Trap: Aspirants often reject Statement III as a matter of intuition, since the male head is the default assumption in many families. Remember that the Act specifically reverses this for entitlement purposes.