UPPSC 2019 Prelims GS Paper-I · Question 66 of 150

Correct — C, Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojna. The National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP), launched in 1995 and run by the Ministry of Rural Development, is an umbrella of exactly five sub-schemes for Below Poverty Line households: the Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS), the Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme (IGNWPS), the Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme (IGNDPS), the National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS) and the Annapurna Scheme. Every one of them hands a poor household cash or grain — non-contributory social assistance, paid out of the exchequer, giving effect to Article 41 of the Directive Principles. The Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojna (usually spelt Pariyojana) is a different kind of intervention altogether: a Ministry of Rural Development programme to raise the productivity, incomes and recognition of women farmers, belonging to the rural-livelihoods stream rather than to social assistance. It is not one of NSAP's five components, so it is the scheme the question is looking for.

• (a)National Family Benefit Scheme — NFBS is one of NSAP's five components, not an outsider. It pays a one-time lump sum of ₹20,000 to a Below Poverty Line family on the death of its primary breadwinner — a classic social-assistance transfer, exactly the kind of benefit NSAP exists to deliver.
• (b)Annapurna — Annapurna is also inside NSAP — its food-based arm. It gives 10 kg of foodgrain free every month to indigent senior citizens who are eligible for the old-age pension but are not actually receiving it, so that no eligible elderly person is left with nothing.
• (d)All of the above — This would mean NSAP includes none of the three, which is plainly false: NFBS and Annapurna are both named components of the programme. Only one of the listed schemes lies outside NSAP, so a single option is correct, not all of them. In a negative question like this, finding one genuine component is enough to kill the 'All of the above' choice.

NSAP is Article 41 of the Constitution turned into a working programme. That Directive Principle asks the State, within the limits of its economic capacity, to provide public assistance in cases of old age, sickness, disablement and other undeserved want. Launched in 1995 as a centrally sponsored scheme of the Ministry of Rural Development, NSAP delivers that assistance to Below Poverty Line households through five sub-schemes — three pensions (old age, widow, disability), one death benefit and one food entitlement. It is welfare, not insurance: the beneficiary contributes nothing.

The question is negative — it asks which scheme NSAP does NOT include — and the trap is the fourth option, which rewards panic. The fastest filter is the nature of the benefit. NSAP transfers money or grain to a poor household; the Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojna builds the livelihoods and farming capacity of women. A livelihoods, skilling or productivity programme almost never sits inside a social-assistance umbrella, however similar the ministry and the target group may be. Recognise even one real component — NFBS or Annapurna — and options (a), (b) and (d) all fall at once.

• NSAP: launched 1995, Ministry of Rural Development, centrally sponsored, targeted at Below Poverty Line households; it gives effect to Article 41 (Directive Principles).
• Its five components: IGNOAPS (old-age pension), IGNWPS (widow pension), IGNDPS (disability pension), NFBS (National Family Benefit Scheme) and Annapurna.
• NFBS: a one-time lump sum of ₹20,000 to the bereaved BPL family on the death of the household's primary breadwinner.
• Annapurna: 10 kg of foodgrain free per month to senior citizens who are eligible for, but not receiving, the old-age pension.
• Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana: a Ministry of Rural Development programme for the livelihoods and productivity of women farmers — outside NSAP, in the rural-livelihoods stream.

• Choosing 'All of the above' whenever one scheme in the list is unfamiliar — one verified component is enough to rule it out.
• Treating NSAP pensions as contributory. They are non-contributory assistance; the beneficiary pays nothing in.
• Confusing NFBS, a one-time cash benefit on a breadwinner's death, with maternity benefit schemes, which are administered separately.

UPPSC asks it as a component list — which scheme is or is not part of a named umbrella programme; UPSC prefers the conceptual angle, such as which constitutional provision a scheme fulfils or what a single component actually pays out.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) is implemented by which Ministry of the Government of India?

  • (a)Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment
  • (b)Ministry of Rural Development
  • (c)Ministry of Women and Child Development
  • (d)Ministry of Labour and Employment

  Answer(b) Ministry of Rural Development — NSAP is a centrally sponsored scheme of that ministry, launched in 1995 to give effect to Article 41 of the Directive Principles.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Under the Annapurna Scheme of NSAP, an eligible beneficiary receives

  • (a)₹20,000 as a one-time lump sum
  • (b)10 kg of foodgrain free every month
  • (c)35 kg of foodgrain per family per month at subsidised rates
  • (d)a monthly cash pension of ₹200

  Answer(b) 10 kg of foodgrain free every month — given to indigent senior citizens who are eligible for the old-age pension but are not actually receiving it. The ₹20,000 lump sum belongs to NFBS.