SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 26 September 2024, Shift 3 · General Awareness · Question 19 of 100

Text as printed on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; answer per SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 10 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. The questions and options here are reproduced as printed on a candidate's own response sheet for this shift — the Commission's text, unchanged. Each answer is SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet; SSC allowed challenges to it and never publishes a final key. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

The National Youth Policy 2014 defines youth as population between the ages of and _.

(a)15; 25
(b)20; 29
(c)15; 29
(d)10; 19

Answer

Why

Correct — C. The National Youth Policy 2014 defines youth as the 15-29 age group.

That was a deliberate narrowing. The earlier policy of 2003 had counted 13 to 35 as youth — a 23-year band covering schoolchildren and mid-career adults at once, too wide to plan for.

15-29 is the band the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports works with, and it is what option (c) prints.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
15; 25 — The lower bound is right and the upper is not. The policy's band closes at 29, not 25.
(b)
20; 29 — The upper bound is right and the lower is not. Youth begins at 15 in this policy, which is why the school-leaving years fall inside it.
(d)
10; 19 — 10-19 is the standard definition of adolescence used by the WHO, not the youth band of an Indian policy document.

Concept

Age definitions are not trivia: they decide who gets counted in the youth population and who a youth scheme may spend on.

That is why more than one definition is in circulation. India's National Youth Policy 2014 uses 15-29. The United Nations, for statistical purposes, uses 15-24. The WHO calls 10-19 adolescence.

An SSC question names the document, so read which authority is being asked about before reaching for a number.

The 2003 policy's 13-35 band stood for more than a decade before 2014, which is what makes it the tempting wrong number here. The question names the 2014 policy, so only the 2014 band counts.

Key facts

The National Youth Policy 2014 defines youth as persons aged 15 to 29 years.
It replaced the National Youth Policy 2003, which had defined youth as 13 to 35 years.
The United Nations, for statistical purposes, defines youth as the 15 to 24 age group.
The WHO defines adolescents as the 10 to 19 age group.

Study next

The National Youth Policy 2014 and the ministry that administers itAge definitions used across Indian law: child, adolescent, youth, senior citizenYouth-focused programmes such as Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan and the National Service Scheme

Common traps

Carrying over the 13-35 band from the 2003 policy
Answering with the UN's 15-24 definition when the question names an Indian policy

The same policy is asked from the date side at 23 Sep 2024, 09:00, GA Q.10, where the key is 2014.

A document that carries a number in its definition suits the four-option format, because the wrong answers can be printed as near-identical ranges.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.