With reference to the escape clauses under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act, 2003 (as amended in 2018), consider the following statements: 1. The escape clause allows the government to exceed the annual fiscal deficit target by a maximum of 0.5 percentage points of GDP. 2. Severe collapse of agriculture and structural reforms with unanticipated fiscal implications are valid grounds to invoke the escape clause. 3. The escape clause can be invoked unilaterally by the Finance Minister without any obligation to table a statement in Parliament explaining the deviation. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

Options:

• A: 1 only
• B: 1 and 2 only
• C: 2 and 3 only
• D: 1, 2 and 3

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