Poverty, inclusion, demographics & social sector

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