Which among the following agencies releases report on 'S.A.F.E. Accommodation: Worker Housing for Manufacturing Growth'?
- (a)RBI
- (b)NITI Aayog
- (c)National Housing Bank
- (d)Housing and Urban Development Corporation
Correct — B, NITI Aayog. NITI Aayog released the 'S.A.F.E. Accommodation' report on worker housing for manufacturing growth on 19 December 2024. S.A.F.E. stands for Site Adjacent Factory Employee accommodation — dormitory-style rental housing built near manufacturing clusters through public-private partnership and Viability Gap Funding to support India's factory workforce.
- (a)RBI — The Reserve Bank of India is the central bank and monetary authority; it does not publish worker-housing strategy reports of this kind.
- (c)National Housing Bank — The NHB regulates and refinances housing-finance companies; it was not the agency behind this report.
- (d)Housing and Urban Development Corporation — HUDCO finances housing and urban infrastructure but did not issue this report.
NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India), set up on 1 January 2015 to replace the Planning Commission, is the Government of India's apex public-policy think tank. It designs long-term strategies and publishes reports and indices across sectors — including manufacturing competitiveness and worker welfare. Its Governing Council is chaired by the Prime Minister.
All four options are economic or financial bodies, so the discriminator is which one is a policy think tank that would author a cross-sectoral strategy report. NITI Aayog is the standing source of such reports; the RBI, NHB and HUDCO have narrower financial-sector mandates.
- NITI Aayog released the 'S.A.F.E. Accommodation' report on 19 December 2024, ahead of the April 2025 NDA-I exam.
- S.A.F.E. = Site Adjacent Factory Employee — affordable rental housing near factories to aid manufacturing growth.
- NITI Aayog replaced the Planning Commission on 1 January 2015; the Prime Minister is its ex-officio Chairperson.
- It has a Vice-Chairperson and a CEO and issues reports and indices such as the SDG India Index.
- Do not confuse NITI Aayog (policy think tank) with financing bodies like HUDCO or the NHB.
- The report is about factory-worker housing, not a banking or monetary-policy document, which rules out the RBI.
Current-affairs GK links a named report, index or scheme to its issuing body, testing which institution publishes what.
The Government of India has established NITI Aayog to replace the
- (a) Human Rights Commission
- (b) Finance Commission
- (c) Law Commission
- (d) Planning Commission
Answer(d) Planning Commission — NITI Aayog replaced it from 1 January 2015.
UPSC prelims has directly tested the institution behind this report — NITI Aayog and the body it replaced.
Under which one of the following initiatives does the NITI Aayog support interested States to establish a State Institution for Transformation (SIT)?
- (a) NITI for States Platform
- (b) Bharat Ke Badhte Kadam
- (c) State Support Mission
- (d) Aspirational Block Programme
Answer(c) State Support Mission
A previous NDA GAT item on a NITI Aayog initiative (support to States for a State Institution for Transformation) — the same institution's policy role.
- practice — not a real PYQ
NITI Aayog replaced which of the following bodies in 2015?
- (a)Finance Commission
- (b)Planning Commission
- (c)National Development Council
- (d)University Grants Commission
Answer(b) Planning Commission — NITI Aayog succeeded it with effect from 1 January 2015.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Who is the ex-officio Chairperson of NITI Aayog?
- (a)President of India
- (b)Prime Minister
- (c)Finance Minister
- (d)Vice-President of India
Answer(b) Prime Minister — the PM chairs NITI Aayog and its Governing Council.