Poverty, inclusion, demographics & social sector

Answer: (b) price levels vary from State to State

A poverty line is the money needed to buy a fixed minimum basket of goods and services. Because the same basket costs different amounts in different States, the Planning Commission set separate State poverty lines that reflect inter-state price differences.

• ✓ (b) The Planning Commission's 2011-12 estimates (Tendulkar method) gave all-India lines of Rs 816 (rural) and Rs 1,000 (urban) per person per month and stated that these vary by State because of inter-state price differentials.
• ✗ (a) Poverty rates are the result of applying the line to consumption data; they do not set the line.
• ✗ (c) State income (GSDP) affects how many people fall below the line, not the cost of the minimum basket that defines it.
• ✗ (d) PDS quality influences household consumption, but the official line is priced from the consumption basket, not from PDS performance.

Remember · Poverty line = cost of a minimum consumption basket; State lines differ because prices differ (Tendulkar 2011-12: Rs 816 rural, Rs 1,000 urban per capita per month, all-India).

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) Fifth Schedule

The Fifth Schedule protects tribal land in Scheduled Areas: the Governor can make regulations that prohibit or restrict transfer of tribal land, and the Supreme Court has used this scheme to hold that such land cannot be leased to private parties for mining.

• ✓ (b) Paragraph 5(2) of the Fifth Schedule lets the Governor prohibit or restrict transfer of land by or among Scheduled Tribe members in a Scheduled Area. In Samatha v. State of Andhra Pradesh (1997) the Supreme Court held that tribal land in Scheduled Areas cannot be leased to non-tribals or private industries.
• ✗ (c) The Ninth Schedule lists Acts and Regulations protected from challenge on the ground of clashing with Fundamental Rights; it does not deal with tribal land.
• ✗ (a) The Third Schedule contains the forms of oaths and affirmations of officials, nothing on land.
• ✗ (d) The Twelfth Schedule lists the functions of municipalities, not protection of tribal land.

Remember · Fifth Schedule = Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes (Governor's regulations on tribal land); Samatha (1997) barred mining leases on tribal land to private parties.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 1, 2 and 4

Statements 1, 2 and 4 are correct. India has 75 PVTGs, not 95, spread over 18 States and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and a stagnant or declining population is one of the four criteria. Irular and Konda Reddi are both on the list.

• ✓ 1. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs states that 75 such groups in 18 States and one Union Territory (Andaman and Nicobar Islands) have been identified as PVTGs.
• ✓ 2. The Ministry's criteria are a pre-agriculture level of technology, a stagnant or declining population, low literacy and a subsistence level of economy.
• ✗ 3. The number notified is 75, not 95, so this statement fails.
• ✓ 4. The Ministry's state-wise list includes Konda Reddi (Andhra Pradesh and Telangana) and Irular (Tamil Nadu).

Remember · 75 PVTGs in 18 States and 1 UT; criteria: pre-agricultural technology, stagnant or declining population, low literacy, subsistence economy.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only

Statements 2 and 3 are correct. The Forest Rights Act, 2006 lists bamboo as minor forest produce and gives forest dwellers ownership of such produce. The 2017 amendment to the Indian Forest Act only freed bamboo grown on non-forest land; it gave forest dwellers no right to fell bamboo in forests.

• ✗ 1. The Indian Forest (Amendment) Act, 2017 removed 'bamboos' from the definition of 'tree' so that bamboo grown in non-forest areas needs no felling or transit permit. Bamboo in forest areas stays under the Indian Forest Act, 1927.
• ✓ 2. Section 2(i) of the Forest Rights Act, 2006 defines minor forest produce to include all non-timber forest produce of plant origin, naming bamboo among them.
• ✓ 3. Section 3(1)(c) recognises ownership of minor forest produce by forest dwellers, with rights to collect, use and dispose of it, wherever it has traditionally been gathered, inside or outside village boundaries.

Remember · FRA 2006: bamboo is minor forest produce and forest dwellers own it; the 2017 Forest Act amendment freed only bamboo grown outside forests.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 3 only

Only statement 3 is correct. The 2017 Amendment raised paid maternity leave to 26 weeks, but only for the first two children; a woman with two or more surviving children gets 12 weeks. The crèche rule allows four visits a day, not six, and the leave is 26 weeks in all, not three months before and three after.

• ✗ 1. The Act replaces the old twelve weeks with twenty-six weeks, of which not more than eight weeks may come before the expected delivery. So it is at most 8 weeks before birth and the rest after, not three months on each side.
• ✗ 2. Section 11A requires every establishment with fifty or more employees to have a crèche facility, and the employer must allow four visits a day, including the woman's rest interval. It does not say six.
• ✓ 3. For a woman with two or more surviving children the maximum maternity benefit is twelve weeks, of which not more than six weeks may precede expected delivery, which is less than the 26 weeks for the first two children.
• • Since then The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 is one of the nine social-security laws that the Code on Social Security, 2020 incorporates; the four Labour Codes were announced on 21 November 2025 (PIB).

Remember · Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017: 26 weeks (max 8 before delivery) for the first two children, 12 weeks from the third; crèche needed at 50+ employees, four visits a day.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) The level of mutual trust and harmony in the society

Social capital means the networks, shared norms and trust that let people in a society cooperate, so the level of mutual trust and harmony is part of it. Literacy, buildings and machines, and the size of the workforce are other kinds of resource, not social capital.

• ✓ (d) The World Bank defines social capital in terms of social networks and norms, and measures it through dimensions such as trust and solidarity and social cohesion.
• ✗ (a) Literacy is education and skill, which economists count as human capital, not social capital.
• ✗ (b) Buildings, infrastructure and machines are physical capital: material assets, not relationships between people.
• ✗ (c) The size of the working-age population is a demographic (labour) resource; it says nothing about how far people trust and cooperate with each other.

Remember · Social capital = networks, shared norms and trust that help people cooperate. Roads and machines are physical capital; literacy and skills are human capital.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Indian Society, Ch 5 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error