Consider the following statements about 'Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN)' scheme: 1. It is an innovative scheme to develop the regional aviation market. 2. It creates affordability yet economically viable and profitable flight on regional routes. 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
Correct — C, both 1 and 2. Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik, launched by the Ministry of Civil Aviation on 21 October 2016 as the Regional Connectivity Scheme, was designed precisely to build a regional aviation market where routes had been left unserved or underserved, which is statement 1. Statement 2 describes the scheme's central design trick, and it is fair. On an UDAN route a large share of the seats must be sold at a capped fare, of the order of two and a half thousand rupees for a flight of about an hour, so the passenger gets affordability; the airline is then compensated for the gap through Viability Gap Funding for the first years of operation, so the route becomes commercially workable. Affordability for the flier and viability for the operator are therefore delivered together rather than traded off against each other, which is what statement 2 asserts.
- (a)1 only — It accepts the market-development aim but rejects the affordability-with-viability design, which is in fact the core of the scheme — the capped fare and the Viability Gap Funding are two halves of the same mechanism.
- (b)2 only — It accepts the mechanism but denies the objective. Developing the regional aviation market by connecting unserved and underserved airports is the stated purpose of the Regional Connectivity Scheme, so statement 1 cannot be dropped.
- (d)Neither 1 nor 2 — Both statements describe the scheme correctly, so rejecting both is wrong. Students sometimes pick this because statement 2 sounds internally contradictory — subsidised yet profitable — but the contradiction dissolves once the Viability Gap Funding is taken into account.
UDAN is the Regional Connectivity Scheme of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, launched on 21 October 2016 under the National Civil Aviation Policy, with the motto that the common citizen of the country should be able to fly. Airlines bid for regional routes; the winning bidder must sell a defined share of the seats at a capped fare, and in return receives Viability Gap Funding for a limited initial period, financed partly by a levy on departures from the major routes. Routes are awarded on an exclusive basis so that the operator has time to build traffic, and that exclusivity lapses once the route becomes commercially self-sustaining. Alongside the route awards, the scheme funds the revival and upgrading of small and disused airports and airstrips.
Statement-based questions on government schemes are usually decided by asking whether a statement is a fair summary of the scheme's own stated design rather than whether it is beautifully worded. Statement 2 reads awkwardly, and its clumsiness is the trap — a student may reject it as self-contradictory. Read it against the mechanism and it is simply the standard description of a Viability Gap Funding model. Anchoring to the exam of September 2022, UDAN had by then been through several bidding rounds since the first award of 128 routes across 70 airports in April 2017, and had brought a number of small airports and heliports into scheduled service. The scheme has continued past that date with further rounds and further routes, so quote its design rather than any particular route or airport count.
- UDAN, the Regional Connectivity Scheme, was launched by the Ministry of Civil Aviation on 21 October 2016.
- A share of the seats on an UDAN flight must be sold at a capped fare, of the order of Rs 2,500 for about an hour of flying, graded by distance.
- Airlines are compensated for operating these routes through Viability Gap Funding for the first years of operation.
- Routes are awarded exclusively to the winning bidder, and the exclusivity lapses once the route sustains a high passenger load factor.
- The first bidding round in April 2017 awarded 128 routes across 70 airports.
- Rejecting statement 2 because subsidy and profitability sound contradictory, when Viability Gap Funding is exactly what reconciles them.
- Treating the fare cap as applying to every seat on the aircraft rather than to a defined share of seats.
- Quoting a route or airport count as current, when the numbers have moved on since the September 2022 exam.
As a two-statement item testing the aim and the mechanism of a flagship scheme, or as a single-line recall of which ministry runs it.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The UDAN scheme is implemented by which one of the following ministries?
- (a)Ministry of Civil Aviation
- (b)Ministry of Road Transport and Highways
- (c)Ministry of Tourism
- (d)Ministry of Commerce and Industry
Answer(a) Ministry of Civil Aviation — UDAN is its Regional Connectivity Scheme, launched in October 2016.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Under the UDAN scheme, the difference between the capped fare paid by passengers and the cost of operating a regional route is met through
- (a)Viability Gap Funding
- (b)an interest subvention on aircraft loans
- (c)a direct cash transfer to passengers
- (d)a tax holiday for the airline
Answer(a) Viability Gap Funding — paid to the selected airline for the initial years of operation on the route.