Minimalist IAS
Economy & social development

Prelims · Economy & social development · 37 questions

Poverty, inclusion, demographics & social sector

Every UPSC Prelims question on this topic, 2016–2026, newest first. Tap an option to check yourself; the answer and explanation open below it.

Poverty, inclusion, demographics & social sector questions per year: 2016: 3, 2017: 2, 2018: 3, 2019: 3, 2020: 0, 2021: 2, 2022: 1, 2023: 2, 2024: 1, 2025: 0, 2026: 2 Asked in 9 of 11 years · most in 2019 (3)

UPSC syllabus: “Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.” See the full syllabus →

Prelims 2023 · Q39

Medium

With reference to ‘Scheduled Areas’ in India, consider the following statements:

  1. 1.Within a State, the notification of an area as Scheduled Area takes place through an Order of the President.
  2. 2.The largest administrative unit forming the Scheduled Area is the District and the lowest is the cluster of villages in the Block.
  3. 3.The Chief Ministers of the concerned States are required to submit annual reports to the Union Home Ministry on the administration of Scheduled Areas in the States.

How many of the above statements are correct?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (b) Only two

Scheduled Areas under the Fifth Schedule are declared by a Presidential Order, and they can be as large as a whole district or as small as a cluster of villages in a block, so statements 1 and 2 are correct. Statement 3 is wrong because the report on administering Scheduled Areas is made by the Governor to the President, not by the Chief Minister to the Home Ministry.

  • ✓ 1. Under paragraph 6 of the Fifth Schedule, the President specifies Scheduled Areas in a State by a notified order, after consulting the Governor of that State.
  • ✓ 2. The Tribal Affairs Ministry looks for a viable administrative entity such as a district, block or taluk. In practice the area varies: Rajasthan's 2018 declaration covered three whole districts as well as gram panchayats covering 227 villages in other districts.
  • ✗ 3. Paragraph 3 of the Fifth Schedule requires the Governor, not the Chief Minister, to report to the President each year (or when asked) on the administration of Scheduled Areas.

Remember · Fifth Schedule: President declares Scheduled Areas by order (para 6); Governor reports to the President annually (para 3); Tribes Advisory Council in each such State.

Sources

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

Prelims 2023 · Q51

Medium

Consider the following statements in relation to Janani Suraksha Yojana:

  1. 1.It is a safe motherhood intervention of the State Health Departments.
  2. 2.Its objective is to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality among poor pregnant women.
  3. 3.It aims to promote institutional delivery among poor pregnant women.
  4. 4.Its objective includes providing public health facilities to sick infants up to one year of age.

How many of the statements given above are correct?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (b) Only two

Only statements 2 and 3 are correct. Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) is a centrally sponsored safe motherhood scheme under the National Health Mission that promotes institutional delivery among poor pregnant women to cut maternal and newborn deaths. Free care for sick infants comes from a different scheme, JSSK.

  • ✗ 1. The Health Ministry describes JSY as a safe motherhood intervention under the National Health Mission and as a centrally sponsored scheme, not a scheme of the State Health Departments.
  • ✓ 2. Reducing maternal and neonatal mortality is the stated objective of JSY, which targets poor pregnant women.
  • ✓ 3. JSY pursues that objective by promoting institutional delivery, with cash assistance linked to delivery and post-delivery care, and ASHA workers as the link to pregnant women.
  • ✗ 4. Treatment of sick newborns and infants up to one year in public health institutions, free of charge, is the job of Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK, 2011), not JSY.

Remember · JSY (2005): centrally sponsored, under NHM, cash aid to poor women for institutional delivery. Sick infants up to one year are covered by JSSK, a separate scheme.

Sources

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

Prelims 2023 · Q71

Medium

Consider the following statements with reference to India:

  1. 1.According to the 'Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development (MSMED) Act, 2006', the 'medium enterprises' are those with investments in plant and machinery between ₹15 crore and ₹25 crore.
  2. 2.All bank loans to the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises qualify under the priority sector.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (b) 2 only

Only statement 2 is correct. RBI's priority sector lending rules say that all bank loans to MSMEs qualify as priority sector loans, while the MSMED Act's medium-enterprise ceiling was never a band of ₹15 crore to ₹25 crore.

  • ✗ 1. At the time of the exam (2023), the 2020 classification under the MSMED Act treated a medium enterprise as one with investment in plant and machinery up to ₹50 crore and turnover up to ₹250 crore. The ₹15-25 crore band does not exist.
  • ✓ 2. The RBI Master Direction on priority sector lending says that all bank loans to MSMEs qualify for classification under priority sector lending.
  • • Since then Budget 2025-26 announced higher ceilings: for a medium enterprise, investment up to ₹125 crore and turnover up to ₹500 crore (PIB, 1 February 2025).

Remember · All bank loans to MSMEs qualify as priority sector lending. Medium enterprise under the 2020 norms: investment up to ₹50 crore and turnover up to ₹250 crore.

Sources

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

Prelims 2023 · Q74

Medium

Consider the following statements:

  1. 1.The Self-Help Group (SHG) programme was originally initiated by the State Bank of India by providing microcredit to the financially deprived.
  2. 2.In an SHG, all members of a group take responsibility for a loan that an individual member takes.
  3. 3.The Regional Rural Banks and Scheduled Commercial Banks support SHGs.

How many of the above statements are correct?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (b) Only two

Only statements 2 and 3 are correct. The SHG-Bank Linkage Programme was started by NABARD, not the State Bank of India, but in an SHG the group as a whole stands behind each member's loan, and banks lend to and refinance SHGs.

  • ✗ 1. NABARD launched the SHG-Bank Linkage pilot in 1992-93, linking about 500 SHGs to banks. The State Bank of India did not initiate the programme.
  • ✓ 2. The group decides on loans and is responsible for repayment, and other members follow up seriously if any one member does not repay; this collective responsibility is why banks lend to poor households without collateral.
  • ✓ 3. Banks finance SHGs with 100% refinance support from NABARD, and Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) are among the rural financial institutions that promote and link SHGs to credit. Commercial banks take part in the same bank linkage.

Remember · SHG-Bank Linkage began with NABARD in 1992-93. SHG members share responsibility for repayment, and banks (commercial banks, RRBs, cooperatives) lend to SHGs with NABARD refinance.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 10 Understanding Economic Development, Ch 3 (practise this chapter)

Sources

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

Prelims 2023 · Q75

Medium

Consider the following statements:

  1. Statement-I: India's public sector health care system largely focuses on curative care with limited preventive, promotive and rehabilitative care.
  2. Statement-II: Under India's decentralized approach to health care delivery, the States are primarily responsible for organizing health services.

Which one of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (b) Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II is not the correct explanation for Statement-I

Both statements are correct, but Statement-II does not explain Statement-I. Public health and hospitals are State subjects, so States organise health services, while the National Health Policy 2017 itself calls for moving primary care from a very selective package to a comprehensive one.

  • ✓ Statement-I The National Health Policy 2017 calls for an important change from a very selective primary care package to a comprehensive one that adds geriatric, palliative and rehabilitative care, and it treats preventive and promotive care as needing a stronger place in the system.
  • ✓ Statement-II 'Public health and sanitation; hospitals and dispensaries' is entry 6 of the State List in the Seventh Schedule, so States are primarily responsible for organising health services.
  • • link The Seventh Schedule fixes who holds the health subject; it does not say what the services must emphasise. Statement-II therefore does not by itself explain Statement-I, which rules out option (a).

Remember · Health is a State subject (State List, entry 6: public health and sanitation, hospitals and dispensaries). NHP 2017 moves primary care from selective to comprehensive, adding preventive, promotive and rehabilitative care.

Sources

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·

The same topic in Mains

Read it in NCERT

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