Consider the following statements : 1. NISHTHA is an integrated teacher training programme that has been extended to cover teachers at all stages of school education. 2. PM POSHAN covers only those school children who are studying in classes I-VI in Government and Government-aided schools. Which of the statements given above is/are correct ?
- (a)1 only
- (b)2 only
- (c)Both 1 and 2
- (d)Neither 1 nor 2
Answer
Why
Correct — A, (a) 1 only.
Statement 1 is correct. NISHTHA - the National Initiative for School Heads' and Teachers' Holistic Advancement - was launched by the Department of School Education and Literacy on 21 August 2019 as an integrated teacher training programme, initially for the elementary stage. It has since been extended stage by stage. NISHTHA 2.0, launched on 29 July 2021, addressed teachers and school heads at the secondary and senior secondary levels. NISHTHA 3.0, launched on 7 September 2021, covered foundational literacy and numeracy for teachers of the pre-primary stage up to class V. A further module on early childhood care and education has extended it to pre-primary teachers and anganwadi workers. Training is delivered online through the DIKSHA platform, with modules prepared by the NCERT. The statement's two claims - that it is an integrated teacher training programme, and that it has been extended to cover teachers at all stages of school education - are both accurate.
Statement 2 is not correct. PM POSHAN, the scheme formerly known as the Mid-Day Meal Scheme and renamed Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman in September 2021, covers children in classes I to VIII, not classes I to VI. The scheme grew in two stages: the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education of 1995 provided a cooked meal to children in classes I to V, and in 2007 it was extended to the upper primary stage, classes VI to VIII, beginning with educationally backward blocks and then nationally. The 2021 renaming was accompanied by a decision to extend the scheme to children receiving pre-primary education in Government and Government-aided schools as well, through Bal Vatika. So the coverage runs wider than the statement allows at both ends - up to class VIII, and downwards to the pre-primary stage.
One statement correct and one incorrect gives option (a).
Why the others are wrong
- (b)2 only — This option accepts the PM POSHAN statement and rejects the NISHTHA one, which reverses the position exactly. PM POSHAN reaches classes I to VIII, and the ceiling of class VI in the statement is simply wrong - the upper primary extension dates from 2007, long before the scheme's renaming. NISHTHA, meanwhile, is indeed an integrated programme that has been carried from the elementary stage to the secondary and senior secondary stages and down to the foundational and pre-primary stages, so there is nothing in the first statement to reject.
- (c)Both 1 and 2 — This option accepts both, and it is the likely choice of a candidate who recognises both schemes and does not test the numbers. The word that condemns the second statement is 'only': PM POSHAN's coverage is not confined to classes I to VI, and a statement about a scheme's scope that begins by restricting it is worth reading twice. This is a general point about statement sets - restrictive words such as only, solely and exclusively carry the weight of the claim and are where alterations are most often placed.
- (d)Neither 1 nor 2 — This option rejects both statements, and so rejects an accurate description of NISHTHA along with the faulty description of PM POSHAN. The NISHTHA statement is a fair summary of the programme's design: it was conceived as an integrated training initiative rather than as a series of separate courses, and it has been extended across the stages of school education in successive versions since 2019. A candidate who chooses this option has usually doubted the phrase 'all stages', which is precisely the part of the statement that the programme's later versions bear out.
Concept
Two large school-education programmes lie behind this item, and both are administered by the Department of School Education and Literacy in the Ministry of Education.
NISHTHA is the teacher-training arm. Its purpose is continuous professional development for teachers and school heads, delivered as an integrated national programme rather than as separate State initiatives, with modules developed by the NCERT and delivered online through DIKSHA. Its versions map onto the stages of school education: the original programme for the elementary stage in 2019, secondary and senior secondary in 2021, foundational literacy and numeracy from the pre-primary stage to class V in the same year, and early childhood care and education thereafter. Its design follows the structure of the National Education Policy, 2020, which reorganises school education into foundational, preparatory, middle and secondary stages.
PM POSHAN is the school-meals arm, and its history is worth holding in outline because coverage questions turn on it. The National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education began on 15 August 1995 for classes I to V. A Supreme Court order of 28 November 2001 required all Government and Government-assisted primary schools to provide cooked meals. The scheme was extended to the upper primary stage, classes VI to VIII, from 2007. It was renamed Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman - PM POSHAN - in September 2021, and its coverage was extended to children in pre-primary classes in Government and Government-aided schools.
The two together illustrate a pattern in Indian school-education policy: a scheme begins at one stage and is progressively extended across the others, so that any statement fixing its coverage at the original stage is likely to be out of date.
Government schemes are among the most heavily represented subjects on these papers, and the two-statement format used here is the standard vehicle. The statements usually pair two schemes from the same ministry, so that a candidate who knows one well can still be caught by the other.
The alteration in this item is of the commonest kind: a coverage figure. Class VI for class VIII is a small change to make and a decisive one, and it is placed inside a restrictive construction - 'covers only those school children who are studying in classes I-VI' - which is where these papers usually put their errors. Reading the qualifier as carefully as the noun is the habit that catches it.
The printed stem prints the class range in Roman numerals joined by a hyphen, 'classes I-VI', set solid. It is worth reading such a range carefully in a scanned paper, because a capital I can be mistaken for the digit 1 and the range can be misread. The stem is reproduced here exactly as the booklet prints it.
Key facts
- NISHTHA - the National Initiative for School Heads' and Teachers' Holistic Advancement - was launched on 21 August 2019 for the elementary stage, as an integrated teacher training programme delivered through DIKSHA with modules from the NCERT.
- It was extended by successive versions: NISHTHA 2.0 for secondary and senior secondary teachers on 29 July 2021, NISHTHA 3.0 for foundational literacy and numeracy from pre-primary to class V on 7 September 2021, and a further module on early childhood care and education.
- PM POSHAN covers children in classes I to VIII in Government and Government-aided schools, not classes I to VI; the upper primary extension to classes VI to VIII dates from 2007.
- The scheme began as the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education on 15 August 1995 for classes I to V, and a Supreme Court order of 28 November 2001 required cooked meals in all Government and Government-assisted primary schools.
- The Mid-Day Meal Scheme was renamed Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman in September 2021, and its coverage was extended to pre-primary children in Government and Government-aided schools.
Study next
Common traps
- Accepting a coverage range without checking it; class VI for class VIII is a single-character alteration that changes the claim entirely.
- Reading past restrictive words such as 'only', which is where these papers most often place an error in a statement about scope.
- Assuming NISHTHA remains an elementary-stage programme because that is how it was launched in 2019; it has been extended in successive versions.
- Confusing PM POSHAN's renaming in 2021 with a change in its coverage; the coverage of classes I to VIII predates the new name by many years.
- Misreading the Roman numerals in the printed class range, in which a capital I can be taken for a digit.
Scheme items on these papers are two-statement sets with the Both/Neither ladder, and the statements are usually drawn from two different programmes of one ministry. The alterations are small and specific - a class range, an age band, an income ceiling, a year of launch, a ministry - and they are placed inside restrictive or quantified phrases. Preparing schemes as a table with five columns for each - launching year, ministry, target group, coverage limits and any renaming - handles nearly every version of the question, and it is more reliable than remembering scheme descriptions in prose, which preserve the purpose and lose exactly the details these items test.
Related PYQs
EPFO_EOAO_2017_Q48Which one of the following schemes is aimed at all-round development of adolescent girls in the age group of 11–18 years and making them self-reliant?
- (a) RGSEAG
- (b) IGMSY
- (c) NMEW
- (d) RMK
Answer(a) RGSEAG
Asks which scheme aims at the all-round development of adolescent girls aged 11 to 18 - the same kind of item, decided by the exact target group of a scheme.
EPFO_APFC_2016_Q100Consider the following statements in respect of Atal Pension Yojana : 1. Beneficiary must be in the age group of 18 to 40 years. 2. Beneficiary will receive the pension only after he attains the age of 60 years. 3. After the death of a beneficiary, his spouse continues to receive the pension. 4. No nominee of the beneficiary is permitted. Which of the above statements are correct ?
- (a) 3 and 4 only
- (b) 1, 3 and 4 only
- (c) 1, 2 and 3 only
- (d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
Answer(c) 1, 2 and 3 only
A statement set on the Atal Pension Yojana whose correctness turns on age bands and eligibility conditions, the same details that decide this item.
EPFO_APFC_2023_Q93‘eSanjeevani’, a scheme of the Government of India, serves which one among the following objectives?
- (a) Creates a database of people affected by COVID-19
- (b) Promotes the use of telemedicine
- (c) Establishes an electronic National Clinical Registry
- (d) Efficient promotion of health advisories
Answer(b) Promotes the use of telemedicine
Asks which objective the eSanjeevani scheme serves, testing whether a named programme is correctly matched to its purpose.
Practice
- practice — not a real PYQ
PM POSHAN, formerly the Mid-Day Meal Scheme, covers children studying in :
- (a)Classes I to V only
- (b)Classes I to VIII, and pre-primary children in Government and Government-aided schools
- (c)Classes VI to X only
- (d)Classes I to XII in all schools
Answer(b) Classes I to VIII, and pre-primary children in Government and Government-aided schools - the scheme began with classes I to V in 1995, was extended to the upper primary stage in 2007, and was extended to pre-primary children when it was renamed in 2021.
- practice — not a real PYQ
NISHTHA is best described as :
- (a)A scholarship scheme for students of Government schools
- (b)An integrated teacher training programme delivered through the DIKSHA platform
- (c)A school infrastructure and building programme
- (d)A nutrition programme for pre-primary children
Answer(b) An integrated teacher training programme delivered through the DIKSHA platform - launched in 2019 for the elementary stage and extended in later versions to the secondary, foundational and pre-primary stages.