'Mission Indradhanush' launched by the Government of India pertains to
Answer & explanation
Answer: (a) immunization of children and pregnant women
Mission Indradhanush is the Health Ministry's catch-up vaccination drive, launched in December 2014 under the Universal Immunization Programme. It targets districts and pockets where many children are unvaccinated or partly vaccinated, and also vaccinates pregnant women, with the aim of raising full immunisation coverage of children to 90%.
- ✓ (a) In its first three phases the mission reached more than 2.1 crore children and also vaccinated 55.9 lakh pregnant women against tetanus (MoHFW).
- ✗ (b) Urban development of 100 cities is the Smart Cities Mission (2015) of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
- ✗ (c) Indradhanush ('rainbow') refers to the several vaccine-preventable diseases the drive targets; it has no link to astronomy or exoplanet searches.
Remember · Mission Indradhanush (December 2014, MoHFW): intensified vaccination of unvaccinated/partly vaccinated children and pregnant women in low-coverage areas; goal of 90% full immunisation.
Sources
- National Health Mission: Universal Immunization Programme ↗ “Mission Indradhanush (MI) was launched in December 2014 and aims at increasing the full immunization coverage to children to 90%.”
- MoHFW: Immunization note (archived copy of mohfw.nic.in PDF, 2017) ↗ “During these phases, more than 2.1 crore children were reached of which 55 lakh children were fully immunized. In addition, 55.9 lakh pregnant women were also vaccinated with Tetanus toxoid.”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2016, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·