Mains · GS Paper II · 15 questions

Poverty & hunger

Every question UPSC has set on this line of the GS Paper II syllabus, newest first — with an approach for each.

Asked in 8 of 11 years

UPSC syllabus (verbatim): “Issues relating to poverty and hunger.” Sub-topics in the detailed syllabus →

2026

GS Paper II 2026 · Q7

Malnutrition in India is not merely a public health concern; it is also a challenge of social equity, human development and effective welfare governance. Discuss.

🧭 How to think about this question · directive: “discuss”

Decode the demand

Directive 'discuss': UPSC has already given you four lenses: public health, social equity, human development, welfare governance. Each must get a heading with evidence; agreeing without proof scores little.
The issue in one line: stunting and anaemia persist in a grain-surplus India, so the cause lies in who eats, who is left out and how schemes reach them.
The trap: writing a health essay with NFHS numbers and a list of schemes. The marks lie in showing inequality and delivery failure as causes, not just symptoms.

Think in a structure

Open with Article 47 against one NFHS-5 figure; the gap between duty and data turns the answer to the demand.
One heading per lens, two or three one-line points each: a keyword, a reason and a rule, thinker or dataset; a sub-point for every example.
Visuals: a flowchart of the intergenerational cycle shows the human development cost faster than a paragraph; data from NFHS-5 and the Poshan Tracker anchor the other lenses.
End from the administrator's seat: convergence, targeting the margins, water with food, social audit; close on SDG 2.2 so nutrition becomes a measure of governance.

Facts checked at source (6)· open

NFHS-5 recorded modest improvement in child nutrition at the all-India level.Union Health Ministry releases NFHS-5 Phase II findings — PIB (24 Nov 2021) ↗“Stunting has declined from 38 per cent to 36 per cent, wasting from 21 per cent to 19 per cent and underweight from 36 per cent to 32 percent”
Same NFHS-5 release: anaemia remains widespread — more than half of children and women (including pregnant women) are anaemic at the all-India level.Union Health Ministry releases NFHS-5 Phase II findings — PIB (24 Nov 2021) ↗“More than half of the children and women (including pregnant women)”
Article 47 makes raising the level of nutrition and the standard of living and improving public health among the State's primary duties.The Constitution of India (as on 1 May 2024), Article 47 - Legislative Department ↗“The State shall regard the raising of the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people and the improvement of public health as among its primary duties”
SDG Target 2.2: by 2030, end all forms of malnutrition, including the internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under five.Goal 2 - Sustainable Development Goals (UN DESA) ↗“By 2030, end all forms of malnutrition, including achieving, by 2025, the internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under 5 years of age”
Amartya Sen pioneered the capability approach, which shifts the focus from resources to what people are able to do and be with them.The Capability Approach - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy ↗“the capability approach changes the focus from means (the resources people have and the public goods they can access) to ends (what they are able to do and be with those resources and goods)”
PIB factsheet (July 2026): the Poshan Tracker covers all 28 States and 8 UTs and had registered over 8.93 crore beneficiaries by May 2026.Poshan Tracker: Enabling Technology-Driven Nutrition Governance - PIB factsheet, 8 July 2026 ↗“As of May 2026, the Poshan Tracker registered over 8.93 crore beneficiaries”

Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2026, GS Paper II — paper ↗. Guidance: Minimalist IAS, checked 8 Nov 2026 (how we verify). ·

Model answer· 414words · Minimalist IAS

Article 47 asks the State to raise nutrition levels, yet NFHS-5 (2019–21) found 36% of under-fives stunted and over half of women and children anaemic. In a grain-surplus country such persistence points beyond the clinic, to inequality, lost capability and weak delivery.

A public health concern

Triple burden: undernutrition, hidden hunger and rising overweight coexist, straining the same primary health system.
- NFHS-5: stunting fell only from 38% to 36%, wasting from 21% to 19%, underweight from 36% to 32%.
Anaemia multiplies risk: anaemic mothers bear low-birth-weight babies, passing the burden to the next generation.

The full answer goes on to cover

A challenge of social equity
A question of human development
A test of welfare governance
What I would do as district officer

With 1 flowchart you can reproduce in the exam.

Read the full model answer (414 words) →

Prepared by Minimalist IAS to the answer standard of Shivam Singh (mentor, 7 years) · facts checked against official sources (how we verify) · updated 8 Nov 2026. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.

2025

GS Paper II 2025 · Q16

15 marks · 250 words X-Ray · Core #59

Inequality in the ownership pattern of resources is one of the major causes of poverty. Discuss in the context of ‘paradox of poverty’.

Approach · directive: “discuss”

What it asks · Show how unequal ownership of land, capital, skills and natural resources perpetuates poverty, and explain the 'paradox of poverty' — deprivation amid plenty and growth.

It asks 3 things — answer each

Explain: the 'paradox of poverty' — deprivation persisting amid abundant resources and rapid growth
Discuss: how unequal ownership of land, capital, human capital and natural resources causes and perpetuates poverty, with a balanced view of other causes
Way forward: remedies that widen ownership and resolve the paradox

Open with · The paradox of poverty is deprivation amid plenty; its root is who owns resources, which is why Article 39(b) and (c) direct the State to spread ownership and prevent concentration of wealth.

Cover

Paradox: growth rewards owners of assets; mineral-rich Jharkhand, Odisha and Chhattisgarh hold some of the poorest districts.
Access without ownership: multidimensional poverty fell from 29.17% (2013-14) to 11.28% (2022-23) through wider services, not wider ownership.
Land: small and marginal holders are about 86% of operational holders (Agriculture Census 2015-16); landless labourers stay poorest.
Gender and caste: women operated only about 11.72% of farm area; many Dalit households are landless.
Credit and human capital: collateral-based lending and unequal schooling and health pass poverty across generations (poverty-trap flowchart).
Balance: governance, productivity, health shocks and isolation also cause poverty.
Way forward: land records, tenancy reform, women's titles, District Mineral Foundation spending, MGNREGA and PMAY assets, universal education and health.

Close with · SDG target 1.4 seeks equal rights for the poor to economic resources and to ownership and control over land; meeting it in the spirit of Article 39 would turn growth into shared ownership.

Add value (verified)

NITI Aayog's estimates show multidimensional poverty falling steeply between 2013-14 and 2022-23 — a useful contrast between wider access to services and persisting inequality in ownership.24.82 crore Indians escape Multidimensional Poverty in last 9 years — PIB (NITI Aayog), 15 Jan 2024 ↗“Steep decline in Poverty Headcount Ratio from 29.17% in 2013-14 to 11.28% in 2022-23.”
Article 39(b) and (c), Directive Principles: the State shall direct its policy so that ownership and control of material resources subserve the common good and the economic system does not concentrate wealth.The Constitution of India (as on 1 May 2024), Article 39 - Legislative Department ↗“(b) that the ownership and control of the material resources of the community are so distributed as best to subserve the common good; (c) that the operation of the economic system does not result in the concentration of wealth and means of production to the common detriment”
Agriculture Census 2015-16: small and marginal holders were about 86% of all operational holders.PIB, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (Release ID 1906888) ↗“As per Agriculture Census 2015-16, small and marginal operational holders constituted about 86 per cent of the total operational holders in the country”
Agriculture Census 2015-16: female operational holders operated only about 11.72% of the total operated area.Women Farmers in The Country - PIB, 10 December 2021 ↗“As per the information collected in Agriculture Census 2015-16, about 11.72% of the total operated area in the country was operated by female operational holders”
The MMDR Amendment Act, 2015 introduced section 9B, creating District Mineral Foundations to work for people and areas affected by mining.Introduction of District Mineral Foundation Levy - PIB, Ministry of Mines ↗“The object of the DMF is to work for the interest and benefit of persons, and areas affected by mining related operations.”
SDG target 1.4 (by 2030): equal rights for the poor and vulnerable to economic resources and to ownership and control over land and other property.Goal 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere - UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (sdgs.un.org) ↗“By 2030, ensure that all men and women, in particular the poor and the vulnerable, have equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to basic services, ownership and control over land and other forms of property”

Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2025, GS Paper II — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 3 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·

Model answer· 372words · Minimalist IAS

The paradox of poverty is deprivation amid plenty: resource-rich regions and a fast-growing economy that still hold many poor people. Its root lies less in scarcity than in who owns resources, which is why Article 39(b) and (c) direct the State to distribute ownership of material resources for the common good and prevent concentration of wealth.

The paradox of poverty explained

Assets decide incomes: growth rewards owners of land, capital and skills; the asset-poor have only their labour to sell.
Resource curse: the mineral belt of Jharkhand, Odisha and Chhattisgarh holds some of India's poorest districts; minerals are extracted by others and local people are displaced.
Access without ownership: NITI Aayog estimates multidimensional poverty fell from 29.17% in 2013-14 to 11.28% in 2022-23, largely through wider services, while ownership of assets stayed narrow.

The full answer goes on to cover

How unequal ownership causes poverty
A balanced view
Way forward: widening ownership

With 1 flowchart you can reproduce in the exam.

Read the full model answer (372 words) →

Prepared by Minimalist IAS to the answer standard of Shivam Singh (mentor, 7 years) · facts checked against official sources (how we verify) · updated 3 Oct 2026. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.

2024

GS Paper II 2024 · Q7

10 marks · 150 words X-Ray · Core #73

Poverty and malnutrition create a vicious cycle, adversely affecting human capital formation. What steps can be taken to break the cycle ?

Approach · directive: “what”

What it asks · Explain the two-way link between poverty and malnutrition and how it erodes human capital, then propose steps across nutrition, health, water and livelihoods to break it.

It asks 2 things — answer each

Explain the vicious cycle: how poverty and malnutrition reinforce each other and erode human capital
What steps can break the cycle: concrete measures across food, nutrition, health, water and sanitation, livelihoods and governance

Open with · NFHS-5 found 35.5% of children under five stunted; stunted children grow into less productive adults, so poverty and malnutrition feed each other across generations.

Cover

The cycle: undernourished mothers, low birth weight, stunting, weaker cognition and schooling, low-wage work, and poverty again.
Scale: NFHS-5 found 35.5% of under-fives stunted and more than half of children and women anaemic.
Food security: PMGKAY free foodgrains for 81.35 crore beneficiaries for five years.
First 1,000 days: POSHAN Abhiyaan, anganwadi services, maternity benefit, fortified rice, PM POSHAN.
Nutrition-sensitive: Jal Jeevan Mission, Swachh Bharat, girls' education, millets; health: CMAM, deworming, immunisation.
Income and governance: MGNREGA, SHG livelihoods, Poshan Tracker and convergence; 24.82 crore escaped multidimensional poverty in 9 years.

Close with · Article 47 and SDG Target 2.2, ending all forms of malnutrition by 2030, demand converging food, health, water and income on the first 1,000 days.

Add value (verified)

Article 47 makes nutrition and public health a primary duty of the State.The Constitution of India (as on 1 May 2024), Article 47 — Legislative Department ↗“The State shall regard the raising of the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people and the improvement of public health as among its primary duties”
NFHS-5 (PIB): stunting among children under five fell from 38.4% to 35.5%.NFHS-5 national report release - PIB, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare ↗“Stunting has reduced from 38.4% to 35.5%, Wasting has reduced from 21.0% to 19.3%”
NFHS-5 phase 2: more than half of children and women, including pregnant women, are anaemic.NFHS-5 Phase 2 factsheets - PIB, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare ↗“Anaemia among children and women continues to be a cause of concern.More than half of the children and women (including pregnant women)”
The Cabinet decided to provide free foodgrains under PMGKAY to 81.35 crore beneficiaries for five years.Free Foodgrains for 81.35 crore beneficiaries for five years: Cabinet Decision - PIB ↗“Free Foodgrains for 81.35 crore beneficiaries for five years: Cabinet Decision”
NITI Aayog: 24.82 crore Indians escaped multidimensional poverty between 2013-14 and 2022-23.NITI Aayog discussion paper on multidimensional poverty - PIB ↗“24.82 crore Indians escape Multidimensional Poverty in last 9 years. Steep decline in Poverty Headcount Ratio from 29.17% in 2013-14 to 11.28% in 2022-23.”
SDG Target 2.2 aims to end all forms of malnutrition by 2030.Goal 2 - UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Sustainable Development ↗“By 2030, end all forms of malnutrition, including achieving, by 2025, the internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under 5 years of age”

Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2024, GS Paper II — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 3 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·

Model answer· 222words · Minimalist IAS

NFHS-5 found 35.5% of children under five stunted. A stunted child grows into a less productive adult, so poverty and malnutrition feed each other across generations.

How the vicious cycle erodes human capital

Intergenerational transfer: poor diets in pregnancy produce low-birth-weight babies.
Hidden hunger: NFHS-5 found more than half of children and women anaemic, sapping energy and attention.
Lost productivity: early stunting impairs cognition, schooling and adult earnings, locking families in low-wage work.

The full answer goes on to cover

Steps to break the cycle

Read the full model answer (222 words) →

2022

GS Paper III 2022 · Q3

10 marks · 150 words

What are the major challenges of Public Distribution System (PDS) in India ? How can it be made effective and transparent ?

Approach · directive: “what / how”

What it asks · List the main problems of the PDS (targeting, leakage, storage, quality, governance) and give reforms that make it effective and transparent.

It asks 2 things — answer each

What: the major challenges of the Public Distribution System: targeting, leakage, supply chain, governance
How: specific measures that make the PDS effective and transparent

Open with · The National Food Security Act, 2013 entitles three-fourths of rural and half of urban Indians to subsidised grain, yet the Shanta Kumar Committee (2015) found PDS leakages of 40 to 50%, and 60 to 70% in some States.

Cover

Targeting: inclusion and exclusion errors, ghost and duplicate ration cards, and stale lists that miss migrants and the newly poor.
Leakage: diversion to the open market, short-weighing and corruption at fair price shops; the Shanta Kumar Committee called TPDS leakages unacceptably high.
Supply chain and nutrition: storage and transport losses, poor-quality grain, procurement concentrated in a few States, unviable shop margins and a cereal-heavy basket.
Technology: end-to-end computerisation; 99.8% of 5.34 lakh fair price shops run on ePoS devices and 19.5 crore ration cards are digitised on transparency portals (2022).
Portability: One Nation One Ration Card, complete across all 36 States/UTs when Assam joined in June 2022, lets migrants draw rations anywhere.
Accountability and structure: social audits, vigilance committees, State Food Commissions and grievance officers; the Committee's option of cash transfers in large cities; millets and pulses; modern FCI storage.

Close with · Clean lists, tracked grain and citizen oversight can cut leakage and fiscal cost together, making the PDS the delivery arm of SDG 2: end hunger and achieve food security.

Add value (verified)

PIB (21 June 2022): Assam became the 36th State/UT to implement One Nation One Ration Card, making food security portable across the country.Assam becomes the 36th State/UT to implement One Nation One Ration Card — PIB, 21 June 2022 ↗“Assam becomes the 36th State/UT to implement One Nation One Ration Card With this, Food Security is now portable across all states/UTs through ONORC”
Shanta Kumar High Level Committee on restructuring FCI (January 2015): leakages in the PDS range from 40 to 50 per cent, and 60 to 70 per cent in some States; it recommended cutting NFSA coverage to about 40 per cent and phasing in cash transfers from large cities.PIB (22 January 2015): Recommendations of High Level Committee on restructuring of FCI ↗“Given that leakages in PDS range from 40 to 50 percent, and in some states go as high as 60 to 70 percent, GoI should defer implementation of NFSA in states that have not done end to end computerization”
The Committee also found that the benefits of procurement had not spread beyond a few States and that TPDS leakages remained unacceptably high.PIB (22 January 2015): Recommendations of High Level Committee on restructuring of FCI ↗“The benefits of procurement have not gone to larger number of farmers beyond a few states, and leakages in TPDS remain unacceptably high.”
TPDS reforms by end-2022: ration-card data fully digitised, 19.5 crore cards for nearly 80 crore beneficiaries on transparency portals, and 99.8% of fair price shops automated with ePoS devices.PIB (20 December 2022): Year-End Review of Department of Food and Public Distribution, 2022 ↗“About 99.8% (5.33 Lakh of total 5.34 Lakh) Fair Price Shops (FPSs) in the country are automated using electronic Point of Sale (ePoS) devices for transparent and ensured distribution of subsidized foodgrains”
NFSA 2013 gives a legal entitlement to subsidised foodgrains under the TPDS to three-fourths of rural and half of urban residents.National Food Security Act 2013: official NFSA portal, Department of Food and Public Distribution ↗“The Act legally entitles upto 75% of the rural population and 50% of the urban population to receive subsidized foodgrains under Targeted Public Distribution System.”
SDG 2 in the UN's wording: end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.United Nations, Sustainable Development Goals: Goal 2 ↗“End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture”

Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2022, GS Paper III — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 3 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·

Model answer· 224words · Minimalist IAS

The National Food Security Act, 2013 entitles three-fourths of rural and half of urban Indians to subsidised grain, yet the Shanta Kumar Committee (2015) found PDS leakages of 40 to 50%, and 60 to 70% in some States.

Major challenges of the PDS

Targeting errors: inclusion and exclusion errors, ghost and duplicate cards, and stale lists missing migrants.
Leakage: diversion to the open market, short-weighing and corruption at fair price shops, which the Committee called unacceptably high.
Supply chain and nutrition: storage and transport losses, poor-quality grain, unviable shop margins and a cereal-heavy basket.

The full answer goes on to cover

Making the PDS effective and transparent

With 1 table you can reproduce in the exam.

Read the full model answer (224 words) →

GS Paper II 2022 · Q16

15 marks · 250 words X-Ray · Core #74

Besides the welfare schemes, India needs deft management of inflation and unemployment to serve the poor and the underprivileged sections of the society. Discuss.

Approach · directive: “discuss”

What it asks · Argue why welfare schemes alone cannot protect the poor, and how controlling inflation and creating jobs completes the case, with measures.

It asks 4 things — answer each

Discuss: why welfare schemes alone cannot protect the poor
Discuss: how inflation hurts the poor and what deft management of it involves
Discuss: how unemployment hurts the poor and what job creation needs
Bring the three together: welfare, price stability and jobs as one strategy

Open with · All-India CPI inflation hit 7.79% in April 2022, with rural inflation at 8.38%; for poor households that spend most on food and fuel, such spikes can wipe out welfare gains.

Cover

Welfare alone falls short: PMGKAY cost about ₹3.45 lakh crore up to Phase VI, yet free grain cannot replace lost wages; fixed transfers lose real value.
Inflation is a regressive tax: the poor spend more on food and fuel; rural CPI inflation (8.38%) outpaced urban (7.09%) in April 2022.
Monetary anchor: RBI's 4 per cent CPI target within a 2–6 per cent band, with rate hikes from May 2022 when inflation breached it.
Supply-side management: buffer stocks, open-market sales, PDS, calibrated trade curbs and cold chains stop food shocks becoming lasting inflation.
Unemployment: informality, underemployment, youth joblessness and low female participation keep household incomes thin and fragile.
Job creation: labour-intensive manufacturing, MSME credit, infrastructure spending, demand-led skilling, with MGNREGA as the fallback.
One strategy: coordinate fiscal and monetary policy; use PLFS data and DBT for targeting; free fiscal room for job-creating investment.

Close with · SDG target 8.5, full and productive employment and decent work for all by 2030, shows the goal: welfare is the floor, stable prices and decent jobs the ladder out of poverty.

Add value (verified)

All-India CPI inflation (combined) was 7.79% in April 2022 (provisional), with rural inflation at 8.38% and urban at 7.09%.Monthly Summary, April 2022 - Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation ↗“showing an annual inflation rate of 8.38%, 7.09% and 7.79% respectively”
PMGKAY's financial implication was about ₹3.45 lakh crore up to Phase VI (PIB, 2022).Centre extends PMGKAY for another three months (October–December 2022) - PIB ↗“Financial implication for the Government of India has been about Rs. 3.45 Lakh Crore upto Phase-VI of PMGKAY.”
SDG target 8.5 seeks full and productive employment and decent work for all by 2030.Goal 8 - United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Sustainable Development ↗“By 2030, achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men”

Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2022, GS Paper II — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 3 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·

Model answer· 341words · Minimalist IAS

All-India retail (CPI) inflation reached 7.79% in April 2022, and rural inflation was higher still at 8.38% (NSO). For a poor household that spends most of its income on food and fuel, such a spike can wipe out the gains of any welfare transfer. This is why the poor need deft macroeconomic management as much as schemes.

Why welfare schemes alone fall short

Relief, not income: PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana cost about ₹3.45 lakh crore up to Phase VI; it prevented hunger, but free grain cannot replace lost wages.
Eroding transfers: cash and in-kind benefits fixed in rupees lose real value as prices rise.
Fiscal squeeze: large subsidy bills crowd out the public investment that creates jobs.

The full answer goes on to cover

Inflation: a hidden tax on the poor
Unemployment: the missing income
Welfare, prices and jobs as one strategy

With 1 flowchart you can reproduce in the exam.

Read the full model answer (341 words) →

2021

GS Paper II 2021 · Q8

10 marks · 150 words X-Ray · Core #74

Can the vicious cycle of gender inequality, poverty and malnutrition be broken through microfinancing of women SHGs? Explain with examples.

Approach · directive: “explain”

What it asks · Assess whether credit through women's SHGs can break the linked cycle of gender inequality, poverty and malnutrition, using examples and stating what else is needed.

It asks 2 things — answer each

Explain how microfinancing of women's SHGs can break the cycle of gender inequality, poverty and malnutrition, with examples
Explain the limits of credit alone and what else is needed, taking a clear position

Open with · NFHS-5 (2019-21) found 57.0% of women and 67.1% of children anaemic; poverty, gender inequality and malnutrition feed one another, and women's SHGs put credit and collective action in women's hands.

Cover

Income and assets: SHG loans finance livelihoods; DAY-NRLM has over 10 crore women in about 92 lakh SHGs (2024).
Bargaining power: women's control of money shifts spending to children's food, health and schooling.
Nutrition platform: Kudumbashree (Kerala, 1998; cited by the 2nd ARC's 9th Report) and Jeevika (Bihar) link SHGs to kitchens and health messages.
Limits: over-indebtedness (Andhra Pradesh, 2010; RBI's Malegam sub-committee on interest rates), unchanged norms, elite capture.
Way forward: convergence with ICDS, health, skills and markets, asset rights, and the Lakhpati Didi initiative (2023) for three crore SHG households.

Close with · SHG credit weakens the cycle but breaks it only in convergence with nutrition, health and skills; that is how India can meet SDG 2.2, ending all forms of malnutrition by 2030.

Add value (verified)

By September 2024 DAY-NRLM had mobilised over 10.03 crore women into more than 92.06 lakh self-help groups.Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission: backgrounder - PIB (September 2024) ↗“This mission has successfully mobilized over 10.03 crore women into more than 92.06 lakh self-help groups (SHGs).”
NFHS-5 (2019-21): anaemia affects 57.0% of women aged 15-49 and 67.1% of children aged 6-59 months.Anaemia Mukt Bharat - PIB, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare ↗“The prevalence of anaemia among six groups as per the National Family Health Survey 5 (2019-21), is 25.0 percent in men (15-49 years) and 57.0 percent in women (15-49 years).”
The 2nd ARC's 9th Report (Social Capital) records that Kerala launched the Kudumbashree poverty eradication mission in 1998, with Government of India and NABARD support.2nd Administrative Reforms Commission, Ninth Report: Social Capital - A Shared Destiny (web.archive.org copy) ↗“The State Poverty Eradication Mission - Kudumbashree was launched by the State Government of Kerala in 1998 with the active support of Government of India and NABARD.”
After the Andhra Pradesh microfinance crisis, RBI set up the Malegam sub-committee (October 2010) to study the sector, including interest rates.Sub-Committee constituted by RBI under Shri Y.H. Malegam submits its report - PIB, Ministry of Finance, 2011 ↗“In view of the developments in the Microfinance sector, particularly in Andhra Pradesh, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had in October, 2010 constituted a Sub-Committee under Shri Y.H. Malegam, Member of the Central Board of Directors of RBI, to study issues and concerns of the Micro Finance Sector including interest rates charged by the lenders in this area.”
The Lakhpati Didis initiative (2023) targets three crore SHG households earning at least Rs 1 lakh a year within three years.Economic Survey 2023-24 - Ministry of Finance ↗“The Lakhpati Didis initiative, launched in 2023, targets to uplift three crore SHG households to a minimum annual income of ₹1 lakh within three years.”
SDG target 2.2 aims to end all forms of malnutrition by 2030.Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development - United Nations ↗“2.2 By 2030, end all forms of malnutrition, including achieving, by 2025, the internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting”

Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2021, GS Paper II — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 3 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·

Model answer· 223words · Minimalist IAS

NFHS-5 (2019-21) found 57.0% of women and 67.1% of young children anaemic. Poverty, gender inequality and malnutrition feed one another: women with little income or voice eat last and least. SHGs put credit and collective voice in women's hands.

How SHG microfinance can break the cycle

Income and assets: loans finance dairy, tailoring and vending; DAY-NRLM has mobilised over 10 crore women into about 92 lakh SHGs (2024).
Bargaining power: women's control of money shifts spending to children's food, health and schooling.
Nutrition platform: Kudumbashree (Kerala, 1998), cited by the 2nd ARC's 9th Report, and Jeevika (Bihar) link SHGs with kitchens and health messages.
Collective voice: federations open markets and groom women for panchayat leadership.

The full answer goes on to cover

Why credit alone cannot break it
Way forward

Read the full model answer (223 words) →

GS Paper III 2021 · Q13

15 marks · 250 words X-Ray · Core #73

What are the salient features of the National Food Security Act, 2013 ? How has the Food Security Bill helped in eliminating hunger and malnutrition in India ?

Approach · directive: “what / how has”

What it asks · State the salient features of the National Food Security Act, 2013 and assess how far it has reduced hunger and malnutrition.

It asks 2 things — answer each

State the salient features of the National Food Security Act, 2013
Assess how far the Act has helped in eliminating hunger and malnutrition: gains, limits and the way forward

Open with · The National Food Security Act, 2013 turned food from a welfare scheme into a legal right for nearly two-thirds of Indians on Census 2011 estimates; the right is secure on paper, its effect on hunger and malnutrition is the harder test.

Cover

Coverage: 75% rural and 50% urban population in two categories, Antyodaya and priority households.
Entitlement: 5 kg per person per month at Rs 3, Rs 2 and Re 1 for rice, wheat and coarse grains; 35 kg per Antyodaya household.
Nutrition rights: Rs 6,000 maternity benefit and meals for pregnant and lactating women (section 4); meals for children up to 14 (section 5); eldest woman heads the ration card.
Accountability: District Grievance Redressal Officers, State Food Commissions and PDS transparency.
Gains: justiciable right, ePoS and One Nation One Ration Card portability, free grain under PMGKAY; free foodgrains for 81.35 crore beneficiaries since January 2023.
Limits: NFHS-5 (2019-21) stunting only 38.4% to 35.5%, anaemia up 58.6% to 67.1%; cereal-centric basket; Census 2011 base excludes the newly poor.
Leakage: the Shanta Kumar Committee (2015) found PDS leakages of 40-50%, up to 60-70% in some States; way forward is diversification, delivery of sections 4 and 5, computerised PDS.

Close with · Grain in the ration shop is the floor, not the ceiling; adding diet diversity, health and sanitation to the right to food moves India to the nutrition security that sections 4 and 5 of the Act promise.

Add value (verified)

The Department of Food and Public Distribution's own summary confirms the coverage and the two beneficiary categories, and that coverage rests on Census 2011 population estimates.Salient Features of NFSA, NFSA Portal (Department of Food and Public Distribution) ↗“The Act provides coverage for nearly 2/3 rd of the country's total population, basis Census 2011 population estimates. 75% of Rural and 50% of Urban population is entitled to receive highly subsidised foodgrains under two categories of beneficiaries”
The Shanta Kumar High Level Committee on restructuring FCI (January 2015) found PDS leakages of 40-50%, rising to 60-70% in some States.PIB (22 January 2015): Recommendations of High Level Committee on restructuring of FCI ↗“Given that leakages in PDS range from 40 to 50 percent, and in some states go as high as 60 to 70 percent”
The same committee held that NFSA's 67% coverage was too high and should come down to about 40%, enough to cover BPL families and some above the line.PIB (22 January 2015): Recommendations of High Level Committee on restructuring of FCI ↗“67 percent coverage of population is on much higher side, and should be brought down to around 40 percent, which will comfortably cover BPL families and some even above that”
Cabinet decision of 23 December 2022: foodgrains free of cost for about 81.35 crore NFSA beneficiaries from 1 January 2023.PIB, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution (23 December 2022): Free foodgrains to 81.35 crore beneficiaries under National Food Security Act ↗“The Central government will provide free foodgrains to about 81.35 crore beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) for one year from January 1, 2023”

Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2021, GS Paper III — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 3 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·

Model answer· 371words · Minimalist IAS

The National Food Security Act, 2013 turned food from a welfare scheme into a legal right: nearly two-thirds of Indians, on Census 2011 estimates, are entitled to subsidised grain. The right is secure on paper; its effect on malnutrition is the harder test.

Salient features of the Act

Coverage: 75% rural and 50% urban population, in two categories: Antyodaya and priority households.
Entitlement: 5 kg of foodgrains per person per month at Rs 3 for rice, Rs 2 for wheat and Re 1 for coarse grains; 35 kg per Antyodaya household.
Nutrition rights: a maternity benefit of at least Rs 6,000 and meals for pregnant and lactating women (section 4); age-appropriate meals for children up to 14 years (section 5).
Women-led: the eldest woman heads the ration card.
Accountability: District Grievance Redressal Officers, State Food Commissions and PDS transparency.

Category	Who	Entitlement
Priority	75% rural, 50% urban	5 kg per person
Antyodaya	poorest households	35 kg per household

The full answer goes on to cover

How far it has helped against hunger
Where malnutrition persists
Way forward

Read the full model answer (371 words) →

2020

GS Paper II 2020 · Q16

15 marks · 250 words

“The incedence and intensity of poverty are more important in determining poverty based on income alone”. In this context analyse the latest United Nations Multidimensional Poverty Index Report.

Approach · directive: “analyse”

What it asks · Analyse how the global MPI measures poverty through incidence and intensity across health, education and living standards, and what it shows for India compared with income-based measures.

It asks 3 things — answer each

Explain: how the MPI measures poverty through incidence and intensity, and why that goes beyond income
Analyse the latest UN MPI report (2020) and its findings for India
Analyse: what the findings imply, the limits of the index and the way forward

Open with · A household can sit above the income line yet lack clean fuel, sanitation or schooling; the UNDP–OPHI global MPI counts these overlapping deprivations through incidence and intensity.

Cover

Method: ten indicators in three equal dimensions; poor if deprived in a third or more of weighted indicators; MPI = incidence × intensity.
2020 report: 1.3 billion (22%) poor across 107 countries; 65 of 75 countries cut MPI significantly.
India halved its MPI from 2005/06 to 2015/16, the biggest fall in poor people anywhere (over 270 million).
Since then (2023): incidence 16.4%, intensity 42.0%; incidence 6.4 points above monetary poverty, so income hides deprivation.
Persistent gaps in nutrition, schooling, sanitation and housing; 18.7% vulnerable; NITI national MPI fell from 24.85% to 14.96%.
Limits: survey lags, household-level scoring, no capture of income shocks; way forward is convergent, district-targeted action.

Close with · SDG target 1.2 measures poverty 'in all its dimensions according to national definitions', so incidence and intensity, not income alone, are the yardstick of success.

Add value (verified)

UNDP's 2023 India profile notes that multidimensional incidence is 6.4 percentage points higher than monetary poverty, so income alone hides deprivations.Multidimensional Poverty Index 2023 — Briefing note for countries: India (UNDP Human Development Report Office) ↗“The headcount or incidence of multidimensional poverty is 6.4 percentage points higher than the incidence of monetary poverty.”
UNDP–OPHI 2020 global MPI: India halved its MPI between 2005/06 and 2015/16 and had the biggest reduction in poor people, over 270 million.OPHI — 2020 Release of the Global MPI ↗“India (2005/06–2015/16) did so nationally and among children and had the biggest reduction in the number of multidimensionally poor people (over 270 million).”
2020 global MPI: 1.3 billion people (22%) in 107 developing countries are multidimensionally poor.OPHI — 2020 Release of the Global MPI ↗“Across 107 developing countries and 5.9 billion people, 1.3 billion people—22 percent—live in multidimensional poverty.”
2020 global MPI: 65 of the 75 countries studied cut their MPI significantly.OPHI — 2020 Release of the Global MPI ↗“65 countries reduced their Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) significantly in absolute terms.”
SDG target 1.2 measures poverty in all its dimensions, by national definitions.UN DESA — Sustainable Development Goal 1 ↗“living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions”

Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2020, GS Paper II — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 3 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·

Model answer· 364words · Minimalist IAS

A household can sit above the income line yet lack clean cooking fuel, a toilet or a child in school. The global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) of UNDP and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) counts such overlapping deprivations. Its 2020 edition, the latest at the time, shows why incidence and intensity reveal more than income.

How incidence and intensity measure poverty

Three dimensions: health, education and living standards, weighted equally across ten indicators such as nutrition, schooling, sanitation and housing.
Poverty cut-off: a person is poor if deprived in a third or more of the weighted indicators.
Two lenses: MPI = incidence (share of people who are poor) × intensity (their average deprivation), so it falls only when fewer are poor or the poor are less deprived.

Aspect	Income line	Global MPI
Measures	Income or spending	Overlapping deprivations
Answers	Who is poor	How many, and how deeply
Policy use	Cash transfers	Targeted services

The full answer goes on to cover

What the latest report shows
What it implies for India
Way forward

Read the full model answer (364 words) →

GS Paper II 2020 · Q17

15 marks · 250 words X-Ray · Core #74

“Micro-Finance as an anti-poverty vaccine, is aimed at asset creation and income security of the rural poor in India”. Evaluate the role of the Self Help Groups in achieving the twin objectives along with empowering women in rural India.

Approach · directive: “evaluate”

What it asks · Evaluate how far Self Help Groups have delivered asset creation and income security for the rural poor and empowered women, and where they fall short.

It asks 3 things — answer each

Evaluate: SHGs' role in asset creation for the rural poor — gains and limits
Evaluate: their role in income security — gains and limits
Evaluate: their role in empowering rural women — gains, limits, a verdict and the way forward

Open with · Self Help Groups, small groups of poor women who save and lend together, grew through NABARD's SHG–Bank Linkage Programme (pilot 1992) and DAY-NRLM into India's main microfinance model.

Cover

Asset creation: savings, internal lending and bank linkage fund livestock, tools and micro-enterprises; Kerala's Kudumbashree (1997) and Bihar's Jeevika show scale.
Limits: much credit goes to consumption; loans are small, skills and markets weak, coverage thin in the East and North.
Income security: savings, insurance, emergency credit and MGNREGS convergence; one crore Lakhpati Didis by 2024 against a three-crore target.
Risk: multiple borrowing, as in Andhra Pradesh's 2010 MFI crisis, led to RBI norms for NBFC-MFIs after the Malegam Committee (2011).
Empowerment: financial inclusion, household decisions, mobility, federation leadership and panchayat entry; but proxy borrowing for men and exclusion of the poorest persist.
Way forward: federations into producer enterprises, market and skill links, digital finance, financial literacy and safeguards against over-indebtedness.

Close with · SHGs carry India towards SDG targets 1.4 (financial services, including microfinance) and 5.a (women's equal rights to economic resources); the shift now needed is from credit to secure incomes.

Add value (verified)

Scale: by September 2024 DAY-NRLM had mobilised over 10.03 crore women into more than 92.06 lakh SHGs.Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission: backgrounder — PIB, September 2024 ↗“This mission has successfully mobilized over 10.03 crore women into more than 92.06 lakh self-help groups (SHGs).”
Income security: one crore SHG members had become 'Lakhpati Didis' (annual income above one lakh rupees) by 2024, against a target of three crore.Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission: backgrounder — PIB, September 2024 ↗“one crore women have already been made Lakhpati Didis and the government has set a target of three crore Lakhpati Didis”
Kerala's Kudumbashree was set up in 1997 on a Task Force's recommendation.Kudumbashree — official site, About ↗“Kudumbashree was set up in 1997 following the recommendations of a three member Task Force”
Kudumbashree's women's network has three tiers, beginning with Neighbourhood Groups.Kudumbashree — official site, About ↗“Kudumbashree has a three-tier structure for its women community network, with Neighbourhood Groups (NHGs) at the lowest level”
SDG target 1.4 includes access to financial services, including microfinance.UN DESA — Sustainable Development Goal 1 ↗“appropriate new technology and financial services, including microfinance”
SDG target 5.a seeks equal rights for women to economic resources.UN DESA — Sustainable Development Goal 5 ↗“Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources”

Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2020, GS Paper II — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 3 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·

Model answer· 341words · Minimalist IAS

Self Help Groups (SHGs) are small groups of poor women who save and lend among themselves. Through NABARD's SHG–Bank Linkage Programme (pilot 1992) and the National Rural Livelihoods Mission, they became India's main microfinance model; by 2024 (since then) DAY-NRLM counted over 10 crore women in more than 92 lakh groups. Whether this 'vaccine' builds assets, secures incomes and empowers women needs testing.

SHGs and asset creation

Credit ladder: group savings and bank linkage fund livestock, tools, small trade and micro-enterprises, and cut dependence on moneylenders.
State models: Kerala's Kudumbashree (set up in 1997) works through a three-tier network of Neighbourhood Groups; Bihar's Jeevika shows similar scale.
Limits: much credit goes to consumption; loans are small, skills and markets weak, and coverage thinner in the East and North.

The full answer goes on to cover

SHGs and income security
SHGs and women's empowerment
Verdict and way forward

Read the full model answer (341 words) →

2019

GS Paper II 2019 · Q7

10 marks · 150 words X-Ray · Core #73

There is a growing divergence in the relationship between poverty and hunger in India. The shrinking of social expenditure by the government is forcing the poor to spend more on non-food essential items squeezing their food-budget. — Elucidate.

Approach · directive: “elucidate”

What it asks · Explain why poverty measured by expenditure has fallen while hunger and undernutrition persist, and how weak public provision of health, education and other services diverts household budgets from food.

It asks 2 things — answer each

Elucidate the divergence: why poverty by the expenditure line has fallen while hunger persists
Elucidate how shrinking social expenditure raises non-food spending and squeezes the poor's food budget

Open with · By the Tendulkar method, India's poverty ratio fell from 37.2% in 2004-05 to 21.9% in 2011-12, yet the Global Hunger Index 2019 put child stunting at 37.9% and wasting at 20.8%.

Cover

Calorie puzzle: rural per-person calorie intake in NSS surveys fell by nearly 9% between 1983 and 2004-05 even as incomes rose (Deaton and Drèze).
Narrow measure: expenditure-based poverty lines capture minimum consumption, not diet quality; hidden hunger from protein and micronutrient deficits escapes the count.
Absorption and inheritance: poor sanitation and infections reduce nutrient absorption; undernourished mothers pass hunger to the next generation.
Health costs: public health spending was 1.15% of GDP; NHP 2017 calls catastrophic health expenditure one of the major contributors to poverty.
Private substitutes: weak public schools and clinics push families to fees and tuition, while transport, fuel and rent take more of the budget.
Cereal-heavy safety net: food schemes supply grain more than pulses, milk, eggs and vegetables, so squeezed diets are calorie-heavy but nutrient-poor.
Counterview and remedies: NFSA 2013, PDS, mid-day meals and POSHAN Abhiyaan cushion households; raise health spending to the 2.5% target and diversify food baskets.

Close with · India's commitment under SDG 2, to 'end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition', needs the State to bear health and schooling costs so that household money goes to food.

Add value (verified)

Planning Commission (Tendulkar method): the poverty ratio was 21.9% for India in 2011-12 (rural 25.7%, urban 13.7%), down from 37.2% in 2004-05.Press Note on Poverty Estimates, 2011-12 - Planning Commission, July 2013 (web.archive.org copy; the live official page did not load) ↗“The percentage of persons below the Poverty Line in 2011-12 has been estimated as 25.7% in rural areas, 13.7% in urban areas and 21.9% for the country as a whole. The respective ratios for the rural and urban areas were 41.8% and 25.7% and 37.2% for the country as a whole in 2004-05.”
Global Hunger Index 2019: India's child wasting rate was 20.8 per cent, the highest of any country in the report, and its child stunting rate 37.9 per cent.2019 Global Hunger Index report (Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe) ↗“India's child wasting rate is extremely high at 20.8 percent—the highest wasting rate of any country in this report for which data or estimates were available. Its child stunting rate, 37.9 percent”
National Health Policy 2017 identifies catastrophic expenditure on health care as one of the major contributors to poverty.National Health Policy 2017 - Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (web.archive.org copy; the live official page did not load) ↗“the growing incidences of catastrophic expenditure due to health care costs, which are presently estimated to be one of the major contributors to poverty”
National Health Policy 2017 set a goal of raising government health spending from the existing 1.15% of GDP to 2.5% by 2025.National Health Policy 2017 - Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (web.archive.org copy; the live official page did not load) ↗“Increase health expenditure by Government as a percentage of GDP from the existing 1.15% to 2.5 % by 2025.”
SDG 2: end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.Goal 2 - United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Sustainable Development ↗“End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture”

Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2019, GS Paper II — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 3 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·

Model answer· 219words · Minimalist IAS

By the Tendulkar method, poverty fell from 37.2% (2004-05) to 21.9% (2011-12), yet the Global Hunger Index 2019 put child stunting at 37.9% and wasting at 20.8%. People have crossed the line without escaping hunger.

Why poverty and hunger are diverging

Calorie puzzle: NSS data show rural calorie intake fell nearly 9% between 1983 and 2004-05 as incomes rose (Deaton and Drèze).
Narrow measure: expenditure lines miss diet quality and hidden hunger from micronutrient deficits.
Poor absorption: bad sanitation and infections waste nutrients.

The full answer goes on to cover

How shrinking social spending squeezes the food budget
Counterview and way forward

With 1 flowchart you can reproduce in the exam.

Read the full model answer (219 words) →

GS Paper III 2019 · Q13

15 marks · 250 words

What are the reformative steps taken by the Government to make food grain distribution system more effective?

Approach · directive: “what”

What it asks · List the reforms made to the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) to improve its reach, targeting and transparency, and note how far they have made it effective.

It asks 2 things — answer each

List the reformative steps taken to make food grain distribution more effective: legal entitlement, digitisation, shop automation, supply chain, portability, grievance redress, cash-transfer pilots
Assess how far they have made the system effective, and the gaps that remain

Open with · The Shanta Kumar High Level Committee (2015) estimated that 46.7% of PDS grain was diverted in 2011-12; the TPDS that delivers the NFSA entitlement has since been rebuilt through law, technology and portability.

Cover

Legal entitlement: NFSA, 2013 covers up to 75% rural and 50% urban people, 5 kg per person or 35 kg per Antyodaya family.
Digitisation and automation: 100% digitised, Aadhaar-seeded ration cards; 99.8% of fair price shops on ePoS with biometric authentication (2024).
Portability: One Nation One Ration Card, begun in four States in August 2019, covers all States/UTs with over 158.8 crore portability transactions.
Supply chain and accountability: GPS-tracked trucks, SMS alerts, doorstep delivery, silos; State Food Commissions, social audits, vigilance committees.
Cash and free grain: DBT pilots in Chandigarh and Puducherry (2015); PMGKAY free grain to 81.35 crore people for five years from January 2024.
Gaps and way forward: authentication failures, 2011 Census caps, weak Food Commissions; update coverage, offline fallback, phased cash option.

Close with · A PDS that authenticates without excluding and travels with the migrant is India's main instrument for SDG 2: end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition.

Add value (verified)

The Department of Food and Public Distribution's own page says the NFSA provides for TPDS reforms, and records that cash transfer of the food subsidy began in Chandigarh and Puducherry in September 2015 and in part of Dadra and Nagar Haveli in March 2016.National Food Security Act (NFSA) 2013, National Food Security Portal, Department of Food and Public Distribution ↗“National Food Security Act (2013) provides for reforms in the TPDS including schemes such as Cash transfers for provisioning of food entitlements.”
The Department's NFSA page states the entitlements: 5 kg per person per month for priority households and 35 kg per family per month for Antyodaya households.National Food Security Act (NFSA) 2013, National Food Security Portal, Department of Food and Public Distribution ↗“While AAY households, which constitute poorest of the poor are entitled to 35 kg of foodgrains per family per month, priority households are entitled to 5 kg per person per month.”
The Shanta Kumar High Level Committee on FCI (report, January 2015) estimated diversion of 46.7% of PDS grain in 2011-12, and recommended phased cash transfers starting with cities above one million people.PIB, 22 Jan 2015 — Recommendations of High Level Committee on restructuring of FCI ↗“That diversions of grains from PDS amounted to 46.7 percent in 2011-12 (based on calculations of offtake from central pool and NSSO's (68th round) consumption data from PDS)”
Year-end review 2024: 100% digitised ration cards, 99.8% of fair price shops automated with ePoS devices, and ONORC enabled in all States/UTs.PIB, 24 Dec 2024 — Year-End Review of the Department of Food and Public Distribution, 2024 ↗“100% digitized ration cards under National Food Security Act across India 99.8% Fair Price Shops (FPSs) in country automated using electronic Point of Sale (ePoS) devices for transparent distribution of subsidized food grains to beneficiaries One Nation One Ration card plan enabled in all States/UTs across the country”
ONORC began with inter-State portability in four States in August 2019 and has recorded over 158.8 crore portability transactions since.PIB, 24 Dec 2024 — Year-End Review of the Department of Food and Public Distribution, 2024 ↗“Since inception of ONORC plan in August 2019, more than 158.8 Crore portability transactions have been recorded under the ONORC plan in the country”
Cabinet (29 Nov 2023): free foodgrains to about 81.35 crore beneficiaries under PMGKAY for five years from 1 January 2024.PIB, 29 Nov 2023 — Free Foodgrains for 81.35 crore beneficiaries for five years: Cabinet Decision ↗“Free Foodgrains for 81.35 crore beneficiaries for five years: Cabinet Decision”
SDG 2's official wording.United Nations — Sustainable Development Goal 2 ↗“End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture”

Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2019, GS Paper III — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 3 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·

Model answer· 374words · Minimalist IAS

The Shanta Kumar High Level Committee (2015) estimated that 46.7% of PDS grain was diverted in 2011-12. The Targeted PDS, which serves up to 75% of rural and 50% of urban India, has since been rebuilt through law, technology and portability.

Reformative steps for more effective food grain distribution

Legal entitlement: the NFSA, 2013 made grain a right, 5 kg per person a month for priority households and 35 kg per Antyodaya family, and wrote TPDS reforms into the law itself.
Digitisation: all ration cards were digitised by end-2024, and Aadhaar seeding removes duplicate and bogus cards; the Annavitran portal tracks distribution.
Shop automation: by end-2024, 99.8% of fair price shops ran ePoS devices with biometric authentication, so the right person gets the right quantity.
Portability: One Nation One Ration Card, begun in four States in August 2019, reached all 36 States/UTs by end-2024, with over 158.8 crore portability transactions, a lifeline for migrants.
Supply chain: GPS-tracked trucks, SMS alerts to cardholders, doorstep delivery to shops and modern silos cut diversion in transit.
Accountability: State Food Commissions, district grievance officers, social audits and vigilance committees under the Act.
Cash and free grain: direct transfer pilots in Chandigarh and Puducherry (2015) and Dadra and Nagar Haveli (2016); free foodgrains to 81.35 crore people under PMGKAY for five years from January 2024.

The full answer goes on to cover

How far the system has become effective
Way forward

Read the full model answer (374 words) →

2018

GS Paper I 2018 · Q9

10 marks · 150 words X-Ray · Core #34

‘Despite implementation of various programmes for eradication of poverty by the government in India, poverty is still existing.’ Explain by giving reasons.

Approach · directive: “explain”

What it asks · Explain why poverty persists despite decades of anti-poverty programmes, pointing to weaknesses in design, delivery and the wider economy.

It asks 2 things — answer each

Explain the reasons within the programmes: targeting, delivery and design
Explain the reasons beyond the programmes: growth pattern, health shocks, social barriers and regional gaps, with the way forward

Open with · The Tendulkar poverty ratio fell from 45.3 per cent in 1993–94 to 21.9 per cent in 2011–12, yet many stayed poor or near-poor.

Cover

Targeting: inclusion and exclusion errors; overlapping schemes with benefits too small to cross the line.
Delivery: corruption, delayed wages, weak local capacity; DBT, Aadhaar and Jan Dhan have cut leakage.
Design: consumption support with few durable assets, skills or incomes.
Growth: job-poor growth and a large informal workforce with weak wages.
Health shocks: out-of-pocket spending 39.4 per cent of health expenditure in 2021–22.
Social and regional barriers: caste, gender and tribal disadvantage; less developed States with thin capacity.
Way forward: jobs and skills, convergence, health cover and social security, independent evaluation.

Close with · NITI Aayog estimates 24.82 crore people escaped multidimensional poverty in nine years; sustaining that pace serves SDG target 1.2.

Add value (verified)

NITI Aayog: multidimensional poverty fell from 29.17% in 2013-14 to 11.28% in 2022-23; 24.82 crore people escaped it in nine years.NITI Aayog discussion paper on multidimensional poverty — PIB, 15 January 2024 ↗“24.82 crore Indians escape Multidimensional Poverty in last 9 years. Steep decline in Poverty Headcount Ratio from 29.17% in 2013-14 to 11.28% in 2022-23.”
India is likely to achieve SDG target 1.2 (halving multidimensional poverty) well before 2030.NITI Aayog discussion paper on multidimensional poverty — PIB, 15 January 2024 ↗“likely to achieve SDG Target 1.2 (reducing multidimensional poverty by at least half) much ahead of 2030”
National Health Accounts 2022-23 (NHSRC report, 2026): out-of-pocket spending was 43.4% of total health expenditure in 2022-23, up from 39.4% in 2021-22 but far below 64.2% in 2013-14.National Health Accounts Estimates for India 2022-23 (NHSRC, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare), Table 3 ↗“Out-of-Pocket Expenditures (OOPE) as a percent of THE 64.2 62.6 60.6 58.7 48.8 48.2 47.1 44.4 39.4 43.4”

Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2018, GS Paper I — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 16 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·

Model answer· 225words · Minimalist IAS

On the Tendulkar line, poverty fell from 45.3 per cent in 1993–94 to 21.9 per cent in 2011–12 (Planning Commission). Yet many stayed poor or near-poor, for reasons inside and beyond the programmes.

Weaknesses within the programmes

Targeting errors: faulty identification causes inclusion and exclusion errors; benefits are often too small to cross the line.
Leaky delivery: corruption, delays and weak local capacity; DBT, Aadhaar and Jan Dhan have cut, not ended, leakage.
Relief over assets: many schemes fund consumption but build few assets, skills or incomes.

The full answer goes on to cover

Reasons beyond the programmes
Way forward

With 1 table you can reproduce in the exam.

Read the full model answer (225 words) →

Prepared by Minimalist IAS to the answer standard of Shivam Singh (mentor, 7 years) · facts checked against official sources (how we verify) · updated 16 Oct 2026. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.

GS Paper II 2018 · Q17

15 marks · 250 words X-Ray · Core #73

How far do you agree with the view that the focus on lack of availability of food as the main cause of hunger takes the attention away from ineffective human development policies in India?

Approach · directive: “how far do you agree”

What it asks · Judge how far hunger in India stems from weak access, health, sanitation and nutrition policies rather than shortage of food, while accepting that availability still matters.

It asks 2 things — answer each

Take a position: how far hunger reflects weak access, utilisation and human development policies rather than food availability
Qualify: where food availability still matters, and what a nutrition-sensitive policy should look like

Open with · India harvested a record 284.83 million tonnes of foodgrain in 2017-18; since then, the Global Hunger Index 2018 ranked it 103rd of 119 countries: hunger amid plenty points to failures of access and absorption.

Cover

Surplus amid hunger: the Shanta Kumar Committee (2015) found grain stocks far above buffer norms.
Entitlement failure: Amartya Sen's entitlement approach; low wages and informal work keep food out of reach.
Leaky delivery: 46.7% PDS diversion in 2011-12 (Shanta Kumar), despite NFSA 2013 covering up to 75% rural and 50% urban people.
Poor absorption and weak human development delivery: sanitation, infections, ICDS, maternal care; NFHS-4 found about 38% of under-fives stunted; hidden hunger from cereal-heavy diets.
Article 47 makes raising the level of nutrition a primary duty of the State.
Where availability still matters: droughts, price spikes, post-harvest losses and remote tribal pockets; food security needs access at all times.
Way forward: POSHAN Abhiyaan (2018) convergence, cleaner PDS, diet diversity (millets, pulses, eggs, fortification), WASH and women's education.

Close with · SDG target 2.2, ending all forms of malnutrition by 2030, will be met by policies that turn food into nutrition, not by bigger granaries.

Add value (verified)

Article 47, a Directive Principle, makes raising the level of nutrition and improving public health among the State's primary duties, not only ensuring food supply.The Constitution of India (as on 1 May 2024), Article 47 — Legislative Department ↗“The State shall regard the raising of the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people and the improvement of public health as among its primary duties”
Fourth Advance Estimates put India's 2017-18 foodgrain production at a record 284.83 million tonnes.4th Advance Estimates of production of major crops for 2017-18 - PIB, 28 August 2018 ↗“total Foodgrain production in the country is estimated at 284.83 million tonnes”
The Global Hunger Index 2018 ranked India 103rd (joint, with Nigeria) of the 119 countries it ranked; India's score was 31.1.Global Hunger Index 2018 report (Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide) ↗“103 India 38.8 38.8 32.2 31.1”
The Shanta Kumar High Level Committee on restructuring FCI found PDS diversion of 46.7 per cent in 2011-12 and grain stocks far above buffer norms.Recommendations of High Level Committee on restructuring of FCI - PIB, January 2015 ↗“diversions of grains from PDS amounted to 46.7 percent in 2011-12”
The NFSA, 2013 gives a legal right to subsidised grain to up to three-quarters of rural and half of urban residents.NFSA Act - Department of Food and Public Distribution (nfsa.gov.in) ↗“The Act legally entitles upto 75% of the rural population and 50% of the urban population to receive subsidized foodgrains”
SDG target 2.2 commits to end all forms of malnutrition by 2030.Goal 2 - United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (sdgs.un.org) ↗“Target 2.2 By 2030, end all forms of malnutrition”

Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2018, GS Paper II — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 3 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·

Model answer· 340words · Minimalist IAS

In 2017-18 India harvested a record 284.83 million tonnes of foodgrain; since then, the Global Hunger Index 2018 ranked it 103rd of 119 countries. Hunger amid plenty shows the view is largely right: the binding constraints are access and absorption, which human development policy governs.

Why a focus on availability misleads

Surplus amid hunger: the Shanta Kumar Committee (2015) found grain stocks far above buffer norms while millions went hungry.
Entitlement failure: Amartya Sen's entitlement approach shows hunger arises when people lose the means to command food; low wages and informal work do exactly that.
Leaky delivery: PDS diversion was 46.7 per cent in 2011-12 (Shanta Kumar), though the NFSA, 2013 entitles up to 75% of rural and 50% of urban people.
Poor absorption: unsafe water, poor sanitation and repeated infections stop children absorbing nutrients; NFHS-4 (2015–16) found about 38 per cent of under-fives stunted.
Weak human development delivery: thin ICDS and anganwadi services, weak maternal care and low women's education pass undernutrition across generations.
Hidden hunger: cereal-heavy diets lack protein and micronutrients; pulses, milk, eggs and vegetables are costly for poor households.
Constitutional cue: Article 47 makes raising the level of nutrition and improving public health a primary duty of the State, not merely supplying grain.

The full answer goes on to cover

Where availability still matters
Way forward

Read the full model answer (340 words) →

2017

GS Paper II 2017 · Q8

10 marks · 150 words X-Ray · Core #73

Hunger and poverty are the biggest challenges for good governance in India still today. Evaluate how far successive governments have progressed in dealing with these humongous problems. Suggest measures for improvement.

Approach · directive: “evaluate”

What it asks · Assess progress on poverty reduction and food and nutrition security through major policies since Independence, note persisting gaps and suggest improvements.

It asks 2 things — answer each

Evaluate how far successive governments have reduced poverty and hunger: progress and persisting gaps
Suggest measures for improvement

Open with · Article 47 makes raising the level of nutrition and the standard of living a primary duty of the State; India has escaped famine, yet hunger and poverty remain the first test of governance.

Cover

Poverty: on the Tendulkar line the ratio fell from 37.2% in 2004-05 to 21.9% in 2011-12 (Planning Commission).
Food security: the National Food Security Act, 2013 gives subsidised grain to up to 75% of rural and 50% of urban residents.
Income support: MGNREGA guarantees rural wage work; Jan Dhan accounts and direct benefit transfer aim to cut leakages.
Nutrition: stunting fell from 48% (NFHS-3) to 38.4% (NFHS-4, 2015-16), underweight from 42.5% to 35.7%.
Gaps: Global Hunger Index 2017 ranked India 100th of 119 (score 31.4, 'serious'; GHI 2025: 102nd of 123, 25.8); exclusion errors, leakage, weak frontline accountability.
Measures: diversify PDS and ICDS towards nutrition and the first 1,000 days; inclusive targeting, grievance redressal and social audits.
Incomes: farm productivity, non-farm jobs, timely MGNREGA wages, and women's self-help groups under DAY-NRLM.

Close with · India's 2017 Voluntary National Review centred on eradicating poverty; meeting SDG target 2.1, ending hunger by 2030, now depends on delivery and nutrition more than on new schemes.

Add value (verified)

NFHS-4 (2015-16): 38.4 per cent of children under five were stunted, down from 48 per cent in NFHS-3 — progress, but still a very high burden.Prevalence of underweight and stunting among children has come down as per NFHS-4 — PIB, 21 July 2017 ↗“as per NFHS-4 survey based on 2015-16 data the prevalence of underweight and stunting has come down to 35.7% & 38.4% from 42.5% & 48% NFSH-3”
Article 47 makes raising the level of nutrition and the standard of living, and improving public health, among the State's primary duties.The Constitution of India (as on 1 May 2024) - Legislative Department ↗“The State shall regard the raising of the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people and the improvement of public health as among its primary duties”
Global Hunger Index 2017: India's score of 31.4 is at the high end of the 'serious' category (100th of 119 countries ranked).Global Hunger Index 2017 report - Welthungerhilfe, IFPRI and Concern Worldwide (globalhungerindex.org) ↗“At 31.4, India’s 2017 GHI score is at the high end of the serious category.”
Since then: the Global Hunger Index 2025 gives India a score of 25.8, still 'serious', and ranks it 102nd of 123 countries.Global Hunger Index - India country page (GHI 2025) ↗“India is ranked 102nd out of 123 countries included in the ranking in the 2025 GHI report.”
Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission aims to bring one woman from each of a large number of poor rural households into self-help groups.India Voluntary National Review Report on Implementation of SDGs, HLPF 2017 - NITI Aayog ↗“the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana, the National Livelihoods Mission, is devoted to creating skilled employment for the poor. The Mission aims to bring one female member each from a large number of poor households in rural area”
India presented its Voluntary National Review at the 2017 High-Level Political Forum, whose focus was eradicating poverty and promoting prosperity.India Voluntary National Review Report on Implementation of SDGs, HLPF 2017 - NITI Aayog ↗“India appreciates the focus on ‘Eradicating poverty and promoting prosperity in a changing world’”
SDG target 2.1: by 2030, end hunger and ensure access by all people, especially the poor and vulnerable, to safe and nutritious food.Goal 2: Zero hunger - UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (sdgs.un.org) ↗“Target 2.1 By 2030, end hunger and ensure access by all people, in particular the poor and people in vulnerable situations, including infants, to safe, nutritio”

Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2017, GS Paper II — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 3 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·

Model answer· 226words · Minimalist IAS

Article 47 makes 'the raising of the level of nutrition and the standard of living' a primary duty of the State. India has escaped famine, yet hunger and poverty remain the first test of good governance.

How far governments have progressed

Poverty reduction: growth and social programmes sharply cut the poverty ratio (Tendulkar line).
Legal food security: the National Food Security Act, 2013 gives subsidised grain to up to 75% of rural and 50% of urban residents.
Income support: MGNREGA guarantees rural wage work; Jan Dhan and direct benefit transfer aim to cut leakages.

Indicator	Earlier	Later
Poverty ratio	37.2% (2004-05)	21.9% (2011-12)
Child stunting	48% (NFHS-3)	38.4% (NFHS-4)
Child underweight	42.5% (NFHS-3)	35.7% (NFHS-4)

The full answer goes on to cover

The gaps that persist
Measures for improvement

Read the full model answer (226 words) →

GS Paper II 2017 · Q17

15 marks · 250 words X-Ray · Core #71

“Poverty alleviation programmes in India remain mere showpieces until and unless they are backed up by political will.” Discuss with reference to the performance of the major poverty alleviation programmes in India.

Approach · directive: “discuss”

What it asks · Judge, with evidence from major programmes (MGNREGA, PDS and food security, housing, livelihood missions), how far results depend on political will and administrative delivery.

It asks 2 things — answer each

Discuss, with the performance of major programmes (MGNREGA, PDS and NFSA, livelihood missions, housing), how political will decides whether they deliver or remain showpieces
Discuss what else beyond political will decides outcomes, and the way forward

Open with · The Economic Survey 2016-17 found that Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh, with over half India's poor, accessed only a third of MGNREGS spending in 2015-16; political will decides whether a scheme reaches the poor.

Cover

MGNREGA: 100 days of guaranteed rural wage work; demand-driven by law, yet the poorest States access too little of its funds.
PDS and NFSA, 2013: Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu universalised the PDS; elsewhere targeting errors and leakage persist.
Livelihood missions: SGSY and its successor NRLM depend on State missions and bank linkage; the Survey also traces exclusion and inclusion errors to weak targeting.
Will in practice: money where the poor are; the Survey found that under no scheme did the poorest districts, home to 40% of the poor, get 40% of resources.
Beyond will: rights-based design gives citizens legal claims; targeting errors, leakages and exclusion of the poor defeat even willing governments.
Way forward: DBT and technology-enabled monitoring, social audits, need-based allocation (the Survey floated a Universal Basic Income), convergence and community participation.

Close with · Political will that follows the poor district by district is what turns SDG target 1.2, halving poverty in all its dimensions by 2030, into reality.

Add value (verified)

Economic Survey 2016-17: Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh, with over half the poor, accessed only a third of MGNREGS resources in 2015-16.Economic Survey 2016-17, Chapter 9: Universal Basic Income - Ministry of Finance ↗“consider the states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh: despite accounting for over half the poor in the country, these states access only a third of the resources spent on the MGNREGS10 in 2015-16.”
Economic Survey 2016-17: backward districts, together home to 40% of the poor, did not receive 40% of resources under any of the major schemes; allocations were regressive.Economic Survey 2016-17, Chapter 9: Universal Basic Income - Ministry of Finance ↗“the allocations are regressive: under no scheme do these poorest districts receive 40 percent of the total resources”
SDG target 1.2: by 2030, halve the proportion of people living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions.Goal 1 - Sustainable Development Goals, United Nations ↗“Target 1.2 By 2030, reduce at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions”

Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2017, GS Paper II — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 3 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·

Model answer· 344words · Minimalist IAS

The Economic Survey 2016-17 found that Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh, with over half India's poor, accessed only a third of MGNREGS spending in 2015-16. A programme on paper is not a programme on the ground; political will decides the gap.

Performance of major programmes and the role of political will

MGNREGA: it guarantees 100 days of rural wage work; by law it is demand-driven, yet the poorest States access too little of its funds.
PDS and NFSA, 2013: Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu universalised access to the Public Distribution System, as the Economic Survey notes; elsewhere targeting errors and leakage persist.
Livelihood missions: SGSY and its successor NRLM depend on State missions and bank linkage.
Targeting: the Survey traces exclusion and inclusion errors in welfare schemes to weak targeting.

Programme	Where will is strong	Where it is weak
MGNREGA	Funds reach the poor	Poor States under-served
PDS under NFSA	Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu universal PDS	Leakage, exclusion
NRLM	Staffed missions, bank linkage	Groups without credit

The full answer goes on to cover

What political will means in practice
Beyond political will
Way forward

Read the full model answer (344 words) →

The Syllabus X-Ray of this syllabus line

2 of its 6 sub-topics are Core

2 Core · 0 High · 2 Steady · 2 Rare

Core #73Hunger, malnutrition & stunting · 6 questions
Core #74Livelihoods, SHGs & poverty alleviation · 6 questions

The X-Ray ranks all 928 sub-topics of the UPSC syllabus by what UPSC has asked since 2016. The 78 Mains Core sub-topics are behind 66% of Mains questions.

See the whole X-Ray →

The same ground in Prelims

Poverty, inclusion, demographics & social sectorPrelims PYQs

From the UPSC Blog

Demographic Dividend in India: Meaning, Window of Opportunity and the Jobs Challenge — UPSC Notes6 Oct 2026

More of GS Paper II

Quick answers

How many UPSC Mains questions have been asked on Poverty & hunger?

15 questions in GS Paper II from 2016 to 2026, asked in 8 of 11 years, most recently in 2026. Each is above, newest first, with the demand, an approach and a model answer.

What does the UPSC syllabus say on Poverty & hunger?

The GS Paper II syllabus line reads, in UPSC's words: “Issues relating to poverty and hunger.”

Where are the GS Paper II PYQs topic-wise as a free PDF?

The GS Paper II syllabus-wise PDF — every question since 2016 under its syllabus line, with an approach — is a free download on the Vault's downloads page (one sign-up, no cost).

Free · Daily Updates Join Minimalist IAS on Telegram or WhatsApp A PYQ every morning, the Daily Brief and the Sunday quiz. Free, no sign-up. Join Telegram Join on WhatsApp →