Consider the following statements about the Committee on the Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes of the Parliament of India: 1. Although members of this Committee are elected from both Houses of Parliament, the Chairperson of this Committee is appointed by the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. 2. Twenty members are elected by the Rajya Sabha and ten members by the Lok Sabha. 3. No Minister, except for the Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment, is eligible to be a member of this Committee. 4. Members are elected for a fixed term of two years from the date they enter their office. Which one of the following conclusions based on the above statements is correct?

(a) There are four correct statements.

(b) There is only one correct statement, that is statement 2.

(c) There are two correct statements, that include statement 1.

Prelims · Polity & governance · 27 questions

Constitutional, statutory & regulatory bodies

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Prelims 2026 · Q59

Medium Provisional key

Consider the following statements about the Committee on the Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes of the Parliament of India:

1.Although members of this Committee are elected from both Houses of Parliament, the Chairperson of this Committee is appointed by the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.
2.Twenty members are elected by the Rajya Sabha and ten members by the Lok Sabha.
3.No Minister, except for the Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment, is eligible to be a member of this Committee.
4.Members are elected for a fixed term of two years from the date they enter their office.

Which one of the following conclusions based on the above statements is correct?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (d) There is no correct statement.

The Committee has 30 members: twenty elected by the Lok Sabha and ten nominated by the Rajya Sabha. Its Chairperson is appointed by the Speaker, no Minister can be a member, and members serve for a term not exceeding one year. Every statement gets at least one of these facts wrong.

✗ 1. The Chairperson is appointed by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha from among the Committee's members, not by the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha; Rajya Sabha members are nominated by their House.
✗ 2. The numbers are reversed: twenty members come from the Lok Sabha and ten from the Rajya Sabha.
✗ 3. A Minister cannot be a member at all; the rule makes no exception for the Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment.
✗ 4. The term of members shall not exceed one year, not a fixed two years.

Remember · SC/ST Welfare Committee (Rule 331B): 30 members, 20 Lok Sabha + 10 Rajya Sabha; Speaker appoints the Chair; no Minister can serve; term up to one year.

Sources

Practice and Procedure of Parliament, Lok Sabha Secretariat, Chapter III (Parliamentary Committees): composition ↗ “It consists of 30 members, twenty from Lok Sabha elected from amongst its members according to the principle of proportional representation by means of single transferable vote and ten from Rajya Sabha … A Minister cannot be a member of the Committee and if a member, after election to the Committee, is appointed to such an office, she/he ceases to be a member of the Committee. … The Chairperson of the Committee is appointed by the Speaker from amongst the members of the Committee. The term of office of members of the Committee shall not exceed one year.”

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

Prelims 2026 · Q63

Medium Provisional key

With reference to the organisations under the Government of India, consider the following details:

	Organisation	Function	Controlling Union Ministry
1.	Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB)	To coordinate between various law enforcement agencies	Ministry of Home Affairs
2.	Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO)	To investigate complex corporate frauds	Ministry of Finance
3.	Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)	To preserve values in public life and ensure the health of the national economy	Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension

In how many of the above rows are the given details correctly matched?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (a) 1

Only row 3 is fully correct. The CEIB and the SFIO have the functions stated, but the CEIB works under the Department of Revenue in the Ministry of Finance (not Home Affairs), and the SFIO is under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (not Finance). The CBI is under the Department of Personnel and Training.

✗ 1. CEIB coordinates economic intelligence and enforcement agencies, but it is a subordinate organisation of the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, not the Ministry of Home Affairs.
✗ 2. The SFIO investigates and prosecutes complex corporate frauds, but it functions under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, not the Ministry of Finance.
✓ 3. The CBI functions under the Department of Personnel, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, and describes its role as preserving values in public life and ensuring the health of the national economy.

Remember · CEIB: Dept of Revenue (Finance). SFIO: Ministry of Corporate Affairs. CBI: DoPT (Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions). Match the body, then check the ministry.

Sources

Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance: About the Department (subordinate organisations) ↗ “for the Subordinate Organizations, namely viz : Income Tax Department Customs Department Goods and Service Tax Department Directorate of Enforcement Central Bureau of Narcotics Chief Controller of Factories (GOAW Neemuch and Ghazipur) Central Economic Intelligence Bureau”
Department of Revenue: Central Economic Intelligence Bureau ↗ “The Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB) was set up in September 1985 for coordinating and strengthening the intelligence gathering activities and enforcement action by various agencies concerned with investigation into economic offences and enforcement of economic laws.”
Serious Fraud Investigation Office (sfio.gov.in), homepage ↗ “Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) under Ministry of Corporate Affairs”
Central Bureau of Investigation: About Us ↗ “The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), functioning under Dept. of Personnel, Ministry of Personnel, Pension & Public Grievances, Government of India, is the premier investigating police agency in India. … It is an elite force playing a major role in preservation of values in public life and in ensuring the health of the national economy.”

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

Prelims 2026 · Q98

Hard Provisional key

With reference to different Committees in India, consider the following details:

	Committee	Objective	Organization under which it was formed
1.	R.N. Malhotra Committee	Comprehensive reforms of Insurance sector in India	Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India
2.	L.C. Gupta Committee	Preparing a roadmap for the introduction of derivatives trading in India	Securities and Exchange Board of India
3.	Urjit R. Patel Committee	Preparing a roadmap for reforming bank lending to the Housing sector	Reserve Bank of India
4.	Y.H. Malegam Committee	Preparing a roadmap for reforms in Microfinance sector in India	Reserve Bank of India

In which of the above rows are all the details correctly matched?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (d) 2 and 4

Rows 2 and 4 are fully matched: SEBI appointed the L.C. Gupta Committee on derivatives, and the RBI constituted the Malegam sub-committee on microfinance. Row 1 fails because the Malhotra Committee (1993) came years before IRDA existed (2000), and row 3 fails because the Urjit Patel Committee dealt with the monetary policy framework, not housing credit.

✗ 1. The Malhotra Committee on insurance sector reforms was set up in 1993 and reported in 1994; IRDA was formed only in 2000 after the IRDA Act, 1999, so IRDA could not have formed it.
✓ 2. SEBI appointed the L.C. Gupta Committee, which recommended the introduction of derivatives trading.
✗ 3. The RBI’s Urjit R. Patel Committee (report January 2014) was set up to revise and strengthen the monetary policy framework, not to reform bank lending to the housing sector.
✓ 4. In October 2010 the RBI constituted a sub-committee under Y.H. Malegam to study issues and concerns of the microfinance sector; its 2011 report proposed NBFC-MFIs as a new category.

Remember · Malhotra: insurance reform (1993, before IRDA); L.C. Gupta: derivatives (SEBI); Urjit Patel: monetary policy framework (RBI, 2014); Malegam: microfinance (RBI, 2010).

Sources

IRDAI: Brief history of IRDA (Malhotra Committee, 1993) ↗ “1993: Committee on Reforms in the Insurance Sector, headed by Shri R. N. Malhotra (Retired Governor, Reserve Bank of India) set up to recommend reforms in insurance sector. … 2000: Formation of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority as an autonomous regulatory body on 19.4.2000”
SEBI: Annual Report 1997-98 (L.C. Gupta Committee on derivatives) ↗ “The SEBI appointed L. C. Gupta Committee which recommended the introduction of derivatives trading in order to provide the facility of hedging in the most cost-efficient way against market risk”
RBI: Report of the Expert Committee to Revise and Strengthen the Monetary Policy Framework (Urjit R. Patel, Jan 2014) ↗ “The main objective of the Committee is to recommend what needs to be done to revise and strengthen the current monetary policy framework with a view to, inter alia, making it transparent and predictable.”
PIB (Ministry of Finance), 25 Nov 2011: Malegam Sub-Committee constituted by RBI on microfinance ↗ “the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had in October, 2010 constituted a Sub-Committee under Shri Y.H. Malegam, Member of the Central Board of Directors of RBI, to study issues and concerns of the Micro Finance Sector”

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

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