Identify the incorrect feature of the recently declared ‘UDAN’ scheme of the Government of Rajasthan -
- (1)Under this scheme all women in the state will get free sanitary napkins from 19th November, 2021
- (2)The scheme will come into operation from 19th November, 2021
- (3)For effective implementation of the scheme 2 Brand Ambassadors at state level and 1 at district level will be engaged
- (4)The scheme aims to make women aware about better health and individual physical hygiene
Answer
Why
RPSC deleted this question in its final answer key, so no option is marked correct.
The scheme in the stem is Rajasthan's IM (Indira Mahila) Shakti Udaan Scheme, which the stem calls recently declared. The official accounts used here are Rajasthan's Economic Reviews 2021-22 and 2022-23, both published after the exam of 27 October 2021.
The Review 2021-22 says the scheme followed the Chief Minister's budget for 2021-22, which gave priority to Health and Hygiene, and that it provides free sanitary napkins to girls and women of reproductive age across the state.
On purpose, the Review's first objective is "To generate awareness through effective Communication Strategy on Menstrual Health and Hygiene Management (MHHM)", encouraging girls and women to use sanitary napkins.
The Review puts the proposed budget at about ₹200 crore a year.
Why the others are wrong
- (1)Under this scheme all women in the state will get free sanitary napkins from 19th November, 2021 — Option (1) concerns who would receive free sanitary napkins and from what date. RPSC's final key marks no option.
The beneficiary description available here comes from the Economic Review 2021-22, published after the exam: the scheme provides free sanitary napkins to girls and women of reproductive age across the state.
- (2)The scheme will come into operation from 19th November, 2021 — Option (2) concerns the date from which the scheme would operate. RPSC's final key marks no option.
The Economic Reviews quoted here were published after the exam, so they describe the scheme as it later ran. The Review 2021-22 traces the scheme to the budget for 2021-22, which gave priority to Health and Hygiene.
- (3)For effective implementation of the scheme 2 Brand Ambassadors at state level and 1 at district level will be engaged — Option (3) concerns how the scheme would be publicised: brand ambassadors at state and district levels. RPSC's final key marks no option.
The Economic Reviews describe the scheme's awareness work as an effective Communication Strategy on MHHM, with focus on remote areas where the veil system (Ghunghat Pratha) is still prevalent.
- (4)The scheme aims to make women aware about better health and individual physical hygiene — Option (4) concerns the scheme's aim. RPSC's final key marks no option.
The Economic Review 2021-22 says the budget for 2021-22 gave priority to Health and Hygiene, and lists awareness on Menstrual Health and Hygiene Management among girls and women as a major component of the scheme.
Concept
Menstrual Health and Hygiene Management (MHHM), as the Economic Review 2021-22 describes it for this scheme, spans safe sanitary napkins, encouraging their use, and an enabling environment to discuss menstrual health.
The IM Shakti Udaan Scheme addresses both sides. Its two major components, in the Economic Review 2021-22, are creating awareness on MHHM among girls and women, and availability of sanitary napkins.
Its listed objectives also include training women's self-help groups (SHGs) in producing, selling and distributing sanitary napkins, and incentives for SHGs, civil society organisations and NGOs to take up MHHM work.
RPSC's 2021 syllabus lists "Major Welfare Schemes of State Government for SC/ST/Backward Classes/ Minorities/ Disabled Persons, Destitute, Women, Children, Old Age People, Farmers & Labourers." under the Economy of Rajasthan.
The Economic Review 2021-22, published after the exam, describes the Udaan scheme in its chapter on Other Social Services/Programmes, alongside schemes for girls such as the Mukhya Mantri Rajshree Yojana, which pays ₹50,000 in six instalments for girls born on or after 1 June 2016.
The Review explains the focus on remote areas: where the veil system (Ghunghat Pratha) is still prevalent, girls and women face health problems and difficulty in discussing menstrual health.
Key facts
- Economic Review 2021-22: IM Shakti Udaan provides free sanitary napkins to girls and women of reproductive age across Rajasthan.
- Economic Review 2021-22: the scheme followed the Chief Minister's budget for 2021-22, which gave priority to Health and Hygiene.
- Economic Review 2021-22: the scheme's major components are creating awareness on MHHM among girls and women, and availability of sanitary napkins.
- Economic Review 2021-22: the proposed budget for the scheme is about ₹200 crore every year.
- Economic Review 2021-22: its objectives include training self-help groups in the production, sale, purchase and distribution of sanitary napkins.
Source: Economic Review 2021-22, Directorate of Economics & Statistics, Rajasthan (published after the exam of 27 October 2021).
Study next
Common traps
- Merging the Review's two lists: the Economic Review 2021-22 gives five objectives (among them SHG training and incentives for SHGs, CSOs and NGOs) and, separately, two major components (awareness on MHHM; availability of sanitary napkins).
- Reading a later Review as the position on the exam date: the Economic Reviews 2021-22 and 2022-23 were published after 27 October 2021, when the stem called the scheme recently declared.
- Reading 'Udaan' as the Central government's regional air connectivity scheme: this is Rajasthan's IM Shakti Udaan, on sanitary napkins and menstrual hygiene.
A question can list features of a newly announced State scheme and ask which one is incorrect.
A question can also ask the scheme's objective, its beneficiaries, or its major components.
Related PYQs
Which of the following options indicate one of the important objectives of (Indira Mahila) Shakti Udaan Scheme ?
- (1) Empowering women self-help groups.
- (2) Generating awareness about menstrual health and hygiene management.
- (3) Vocational training of women.
- (4) Improvement in education status of girls.
Answer(2)
Same scheme, its objective: that question asks which option indicates one of the important objectives of the (Indira Mahila) Shakti Udaan Scheme (RPSC's key: generating awareness about menstrual health and hygiene management). This one asked for an incorrect feature of the scheme when it had just been declared.
Practice
- practice — not a real PYQ
According to Rajasthan's Economic Review 2021-22, the IM Shakti Udaan Scheme provides free sanitary napkins to
- (a)girls enrolled in government schools only
- (b)girls and women of reproductive age across the state
- (c)women members of self-help groups only
- (d)women in urban areas only
Answer(2) — The Review describes the scheme as providing free sanitary napkins to girls and women of reproductive age across the state. Options (1), (3) and (4) each narrow the group to one category the Review does not give as the beneficiary group. - practice — not a real PYQ
According to Rajasthan's Economic Review 2021-22, which of the following is one of the two major components of the IM Shakti Udaan Scheme?
- (a)Availability of sanitary napkins
- (b)Scholarships for girls in higher education
- (c)Free bicycles for schoolgirls
- (d)Cash incentive for institutional delivery
Answer(1) — The Review lists two major components: creating awareness on MHHM among girls and women, and availability of sanitary napkins. Options (2), (3) and (4) are not among the components or objectives the Review lists for this scheme.