UPSC CSE Prelims
Central Schemes Previous Year Questions (PYQs)

Detailed Explanation:

Answer: Option 2 — 2 only

❌ Statement 1 – Incorrect: NSQF allows learners to acquire competency certification through multiple pathways, not just formal learning. It recognizes formal learning (schools/colleges), non-formal learning (skill development programs), and informal learning (on-the-job training, self-learning). This flexibility is a core feature of NSQF.

✅ Statement 2 – Correct: A key objective of NSQF is enabling mobility between vocational and general education. By establishing equivalence between vocational qualifications and general education levels (across 10 levels), NSQF allows individuals with vocational skills to pursue higher education and vice versa, creating a more flexible education ecosystem.

Detailed Explanation:

Answer: Option 1 — Certifying the skills acquired by construction workers through traditional channels.

The Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) Scheme is a key component of the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY). It aims to certify and recognize the skills acquired by workers through informal or non-formal means, particularly those gained through work experience rather than formal training. The scheme is particularly relevant for construction workers, domestic workers, and others in the unorganized sector who have learned skills through traditional channels or on-the-job experience. RPL provides them with formal certification aligned to the National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF), enhancing their employability and enabling them to access better opportunities. The scheme does not focus on distance learning enrollment (Option 2), job reservation in PSUs (Option 3), or certifying trainees under formal NSDP programs (Option 4), as those who complete formal training receive regular certification.

Detailed Explanation:

Answer: Option 1 — 1 and 2 only

✅ Statement 1 – Correct: Creating awareness about malnutrition among pregnant women and lactating mothers is a core objective of the National Nutrition Mission (POSHAN Abhiyaan), launched in 2018 to address malnutrition comprehensively.

✅ Statement 2 – Correct: Reducing anaemia among young children (6 months to 6 years), adolescent girls, and women (15-49 years) is an explicit target of the mission, with specific goals to reduce anaemia prevalence by 3% per annum.

❌ Statement 3 – Incorrect: While promoting millets, coarse cereals, and unpolished rice aligns with nutritional goals, these are not explicitly stated as objectives of the National Nutrition Mission. The mission focuses on behavior change, service delivery, and convergence rather than specific food promotion.

❌ Statement 4 – Incorrect: Promoting consumption of poultry eggs is not an objective of the National Nutrition Mission. The mission emphasizes adequate nutrition through diverse diets but does not mandate specific food items like eggs.

Detailed Explanation:

Answer: Option 4 — Neither 1 nor 2

❌ Statement 1 – Incorrect: National Career Service (NCS) is an initiative of the Ministry of Labour & Employment, not the Department of Personnel and Training. It is implemented through the Directorate General of Employment & Training under the Ministry of Labour & Employment.

❌ Statement 2 – Incorrect: NCS has been launched in Mission Mode, but it aims to improve employment opportunities for all citizens, not specifically for uneducated youth. The platform provides career-related services including job matching, career counselling, vocational guidance, information on skill development courses, apprenticeships, and internships to jobseekers across all education levels. It connects jobseekers with employers and training providers through a single digital platform.

Detailed Explanation:

Answer: Option 2 — Connecting institutions of higher education with local communities to address development challenges through appropriate technologies.

Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (UBA) is a flagship programme launched by the Ministry of Education (formerly MHRD) to enable higher educational institutions (HEIs) to work with rural communities.

The core objective is to identify local development challenges and devise appropriate, sustainable solutions using academic expertise and technology.

Under this programme, participating institutions adopt clusters of villages and engage in activities related to infrastructure development, livelihood enhancement, health, education, and skill development.

This creates a symbiotic relationship where academic institutions contribute to rural transformation while gaining practical insights for research and pedagogy. The programme emphasizes participatory rural development, leveraging institutional knowledge for inclusive growth.

Detailed Explanation:

Answer: Option 4 — Neither 1 nor 2

The National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) is India's first sovereign wealth fund established by the Government of India in February 2015 to provide long-term capital for infrastructure projects. It is registered with SEBI as a Category II Alternative Investment Fund, not an organ of NITI Aayog.

❌ Statement 1 – Incorrect: NIIF is not an organ of NITI Aayog; it is an independent sovereign wealth fund registered with SEBI as an Alternative Investment Fund.
❌ Statement 2 – Incorrect: The initial corpus was Rs. 20,000 crores from the Government of India as announced in Union Budget 2015-16, not Rs. 4,00,000 crores.

Detailed Explanation:

SWAYAM (Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds) is a Government of India initiative that provides free online courses from class 9th to post-graduation level through MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), developed by IITs, IIMs, and central universities.

The platform offers video lectures, reading materials, self-assessment tests, and discussion forums at no cost, charging only a nominal fee for certificates—thus providing affordable and quality education to citizens for free.

Detailed Explanation:

Mission Indradhanush was launched by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in December 2014 to achieve full immunization coverage for children up to two years of age and pregnant women against seven vaccine-preventable diseases: Diphtheria, Whooping Cough, Tetanus, Polio, Tuberculosis, Measles, and Hepatitis B.

Subsequent phases (IMI 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0) expanded coverage to reach unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children in remote and high-priority districts. This should not be confused with the Indradhanush Plan for Public Sector Banks.

Detailed Explanation:

Rashtriya Garima Abhiyaan is a national campaign launched in 2001 by civil society organizations to eradicate the practice of manual scavenging and rehabilitate manual scavengers by providing them dignity and alternative livelihoods.

The campaign includes initiatives like the Maila Mukti Yatra (March for Liberation from Manual Scavenging) that mobilized thousands of women to abandon this dehumanizing practice and demand their rights.

Detailed Explanation:

✅ Statement 2 – Correct: District Mineral Foundations (DMFs) were established under the MMDR Amendment Act, 2015, with the primary purpose of working for the interest and benefit of persons and areas affected by mining operations in the district.

❌ Statement 1 – Incorrect: DMFs are not meant for promoting mineral exploration; they focus on welfare of mining-affected communities.

❌ Statement 3 – Incorrect: Licensing for mineral exploration is the responsibility of State Governments, not DMFs.

Detailed Explanation:

✅ Statement 1 – Correct: Atal Pension Yojana (APY) is a minimum guaranteed pension scheme launched in 2015, primarily targeted at workers in the unorganized sector to provide old-age income security.

❌ Statement 2 – Incorrect: There is no restriction on the number of family members who can join APY. Any eligible individual (aged 18-40 years with a savings bank account) can enroll independently.

✅ Statement 3 – Correct: After the subscriber's death, the spouse receives the same pension amount for life. After both deaths, the accumulated pension wealth is returned to the nominee.

Detailed Explanation:

✅ Statement 1 – Correct: INSIMP (Initiative for Nutritional Security through Intensive Millets Promotion), launched in 2011-12 under RKVY, demonstrates improved production and post-harvest technologies and value addition techniques using a cluster approach.

✅ Statement 2 – Correct: The scheme primarily targets poor, small, marginal and tribal farmers in rainfed and arid regions where millets are traditionally cultivated, making them the largest stakeholders.

❌ Statement 3 – Incorrect: INSIMP provides minikits of nutrients and plant protection to farmers within existing millet clusters but does not aim to shift commercial crop farmers to millet cultivation or offer free micro-irrigation equipment.

Detailed Explanation:

✅ Statement 1 – Correct: Stand Up India Scheme aims to promote entrepreneurship among SC/ST and women by facilitating bank loans between ₹10 lakh to ₹1 crore per branch for setting up greenfield enterprises.

✅ Statement 2 – Correct: The scheme provides for a refinance window through SIDBI (Small Industries Development Bank of India) with an initial corpus of ₹10,000 crore to support lending institutions.

Detailed Explanation:

❌ Statement 1 – Incorrect: PMFBY prescribes differential premium rates: 2% for Kharif crops, 1.5% for Rabi crops, and 5% for commercial/horticultural crops. The premium is not uniform across all crops and seasons.

✅ Statement 2 – Correct: PMFBY covers post-harvest losses (up to 14 days from harvesting) caused by cyclones and unseasonal rains, provided crops are kept in cut and spread condition in the field.

Detailed Explanation:

The Seed Village Concept is a participatory approach where trained farmers produce quality seeds of various crops to meet their own needs and supply to neighbouring farmers at the appropriate time and affordable cost.

Option 2 correctly captures this objective of farmer training in quality seed production and ensuring timely availability to other farmers, making it a community-based seed production system rather than a commercial venture or exclusive seed zone.