Q. The government has powers under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 (EC Act) to declare a commodity as an essential commodity to ensure its availability to people at fair price. The Commodities covered under the Act include:

1. Paper
2. Hank Yarn
3. Fertilizers
4. Petroleum and Petroleum Products
5. Cotton and Jute seeds

Select the correct option from the codes given below:
Answer: 2, 3, 4 and 5
Notes: There are seven broad categories of essential commodities covered by the Act. These are (1) Drugs; (2) Fertilizer, inorganic, organic or mixed; (3) Foodstuffs, including edible oilseeds and oils; (4) Hank yarn made wholly from cotton; (5) Petroleum and petroleum products; (6) Raw jute and jute textile; (7) (i) seeds of food-crops and seeds of fruits and vegetables; (ii) seeds of cattle fodder; and (iii) jute seeds. Later cotton seed was also included in the list.