SSC
The World Food Programme (WFP), headquartered in Rome, was founded in:
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Answer: Option B — 1961
Detailed Solution
The World Food Programme (WFP) was founded in 1961.
About the founding of WFP:
It was set up in 1961 by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Nations General Assembly, at the suggestion of US President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had proposed using surplus food to help people in need.
It began operating in 1963, first on an experimental basis for three years, and was made permanent in 1965.
About WFP:
- It is the food-assistance branch of the United Nations and the world's largest humanitarian organisation fighting hunger.
- Its headquarters is in Rome, Italy.
- It is funded entirely by voluntary contributions from governments, companies and individuals.
- It provides emergency food aid during wars, natural disasters and other crises, and also supports long-term programmes for nutrition, school meals and building resilience.
- It works towards Sustainable Development Goal 2 (Zero Hunger).
- It reaches more than 100 million people in about 120 countries every year.
In 2020, it was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict".
WFP in India:
- It has worked in India since 1963.
- It now supports the Government of India in improving the efficiency of the Public Distribution System (PDS), rice fortification, and nutrition programmes.
- It helped develop the "Annapurti" grain ATM, an automatic grain dispenser for PDS beneficiaries.
Other UN food and agriculture agencies in Rome:
- Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO): 1945.
- International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD): 1977; set up after the World Food Conference (1974).
- These three agencies (FAO, WFP and IFAD) are called the "Rome-based agencies".
Related days:
- World Food Day: 16 October (FAO's founding day).
- World Hunger Day: 28 May.
Why not the other options?
- ✗1945 is the year FAO was founded.
- ✗1974 is the year of the World Food Conference in Rome.
- ✗1995 is the year the WTO was founded.
Quick tip
Remember: World Food Programme = founded 1961 (operational 1963; HQ Rome; Nobel Peace Prize 2020; "Annapurti" grain ATM in India); FAO = 1945; IFAD = 1977; all three are Rome-based.
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International Economic Organisations — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of International Economic Organisations, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers international economic and financial organisations: the IMF, the World Bank group, the WTO, the Asian Development Bank, the New Development Bank, the AIIB, OPEC, the OECD and groupings such as the G20, along with their headquarters, founding and functions. Questions usually ask where an organisation is headquartered, when it was set up, and what it does. For example, the IMF and World Bank were created at the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944, the WTO replaced GATT in 1995, and the New Development Bank, set up by the BRICS countries, is headquartered in Shanghai. Practise the international economic organisations questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.