Poverty, inclusion, demographics & social sector

Answer: (b) 2 only

NSQF recognises competency however it was acquired, so statement 1 is wrong. One of its stated aims is to let people move between vocational and general education, so statement 2 is correct.

• ✗ 1. NSQF levels are defined by learning outcomes that a learner must possess regardless of whether they were acquired through formal, non-formal or informal learning. Prior learning outside a classroom can therefore be certified.
• ✓ 2. The framework is meant to give multiple pathways, both horizontal and vertical, among vocational education, vocational training, general education and technical education, with academic equivalence between vocational and general education.

Remember · NSQF levels are defined by learning outcomes, whether acquired through formal, non-formal or informal learning, and the framework aims to allow movement between vocational and general education.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2017, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Both 1 and 2

Both statements are correct. NPCI is the umbrella body for retail payment systems set up with the Reserve Bank's encouragement, and RuPay is its domestic card scheme, whose debit card is issued to Jan Dhan account holders as part of the drive for financial inclusion.

• ✓ 1. NPCI operates the country's retail payment systems, and its RuPay debit card is what beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, the national financial inclusion mission, receive with their accounts. Through this card NPCI is tied into the drive for financial inclusion.
• ✓ 2. RuPay is India's own domestic card scheme, launched in March 2012 with NPCI as the body responsible for it.

Remember · NPCI: the RBI-encouraged umbrella body for retail payments (functional 2009). Its RuPay card scheme (launched 2012) is also the debit card issued under Jan Dhan.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2017, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 2 only

Vidyanjali is a school volunteer programme that brings community and private-sector volunteers into government schools to improve the quality of learning. It has nothing to do with foreign university campuses, and it works through volunteers' time, skills and materials, not cash donations.

• ✗ 1. Vidyanjali concerns volunteers in government schools. It has no link to foreign educational institutions opening campuses in India.
• ✓ 2. The programme, launched in June 2016, involves volunteers from different walks of life in government schools and rests on the idea that community engagement improves the quality of learning.
• ✗ 3. The Vidyanjali guidelines define a volunteer's contribution as non-monetary, in the form of service or of assets, materials or equipment. Money is not accepted through the platform.

Remember · Vidyanjali (launched June 2016): a school volunteer programme that brings community and private-sector volunteers into government schools. Contributions are non-monetary.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2017, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Connecting institutions of higher education with local communities to address development challenges through appropriate technologies.

Unnat Bharat Abhiyan links higher educational institutions with villages so that they use their knowledge to help solve local development problems. Its stated aim is to bring suitable technologies and solutions from institutions to rural communities.

• ✓ (b) The Ministry of HRD (now Education) flagship programme links each participating institution with at least five villages so it can contribute to their economic and social betterment. It also seeks to identify, customise and apply technologies for local needs.
• ✗ (a) UBA is not a literacy campaign and does not centre on voluntary organisations; the partners are higher educational institutions.
• ✗ (c) UBA does not aim at strengthening research institutions as such. It sends knowledge from institutions out to villages.
• ✗ (d) UBA is not a funding scheme for health care and education of the poor. Its channel is higher educational institutions working with adopted villages; skill training is only one of the ways they help.

Remember · Unnat Bharat Abhiyan: higher educational institutions adopt villages (at least five each) and help solve local problems with appropriate technology.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2017, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) eradicate the practice of manual scavenging and rehabilitate the manual scavengers

Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan ('national campaign for dignity') is a civil-society campaign to end manual scavenging and rehabilitate the people, mostly Dalit women, pushed into it. The Government of India itself named it among the NGOs associated with identifying and rehabilitating manual scavengers. 'Garima' means dignity, which is exactly what manual scavenging denies.

• ✓ (c) The campaign targets manual scavenging, the carrying of human excreta from dry latrines, which the 1993 Act prohibited and the 2013 Act (in force from 6 December 2013) outlawed together with a duty to rehabilitate.
• ✗ (d) Release of bonded labourers is governed by the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976, and is not the aim of this campaign.
• ✗ (a) Livelihoods for the homeless and destitute are addressed by government shelter and livelihood schemes, not by the Garima Abhiyan.

Remember · Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan = campaign against manual scavenging (dignity for safai workers). Law: Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013.

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). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) bringing the small entrepreneurs into formal financial system

MUDRA Yojana (announced 8 April 2015) gives loans to small and micro enterprises that were mostly left out of formal banking, so that they need not depend on informal lenders. Its purpose is to bring such small entrepreneurs into the formal credit system.

• ✓ (a) The scheme was designed for the crores of small units that stand outside the formal banking system and borrow from informal sources; it offers Shishu, Kishore, Tarun (and later Tarun Plus) loans through banks, NBFCs and micro-finance institutions.
• ✗ (b) MUDRA loans go to income-generating micro enterprises in manufacturing, trading and services. It is a business-loan scheme, not a scheme of crop loans for farmers.
• ✗ (c) MUDRA is a credit scheme for enterprises; it does not pay pensions to anyone.
• ✗ (d) MUDRA lends to enterprises through financial intermediaries; it does not fund voluntary organisations for skill development.

Remember · MUDRA = Micro Units Development & Refinance Agency: collateral-free loans up to a set limit to small enterprises, to bring them into formal credit.

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). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 1 and 3 only

Statements 1 and 3 are correct; statement 2 is wrong. Atal Pension Yojana gives a Government-guaranteed monthly pension after age 60 to subscribers, especially unorganised-sector workers, and the same pension continues to the spouse; but every eligible family member can join separately.

• ✓ 1. APY is a voluntary scheme with a guaranteed monthly pension of Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000 from age 60, meant for all citizens but especially the poor and unorganised-sector workers.
• ✗ 2. One person can hold only one APY account, but all eligible family members aged 18 to 40 can open their own accounts.
• ✓ 3. After the subscriber's death, the spouse receives the same pension for life; after both have died, the accumulated pension wealth goes to the nominee.

Remember · Atal Pension Yojana: guaranteed Rs 1,000 to 5,000 a month from 60; spouse gets the same pension; one account per person, but every eligible family member may join.

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). Permalink · Report an error