UPPSC 2025 Prelims GS Paper-I · Question 39 of 150

Correct — D, 3, 4, 2, 1. The four programmes belong to four different moments of India's rural-development effort, and in order of starting they run: the Integrated Rural Development Programme (3), launched in 1978-79 in 2,300 development blocks and extended to every block in the country from 2 October 1980; the National Rural Employment Programme (4), restructured and renamed in October 1980 and made a regular plan programme from April 1981; the Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (2), begun in 1982-83 in fifty districts as a sub-scheme of IRDP and extended to all districts by 1994-95; and the Jawahar Rozgar Yojana (1), launched on 1 April 1989 by merging the National Rural Employment Programme with the Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme of 1983. IRDP first, NREP next, DWCRA third, JRY last — 3, 4, 2, 1.

• (a)3, 4, 1, 2 — It opens correctly with IRDP and NREP but then inverts the last pair, placing Jawahar Rozgar Yojana before DWCRA. That cannot be: JRY was created in 1989 out of NREP and RLEGP, whereas DWCRA had already been running since 1982-83 as a women's sub-scheme of IRDP. A programme that absorbs an older one is necessarily late in the sequence.
• (b)4, 3, 1, 2 — Wrong at both ends. It puts the National Rural Employment Programme ahead of IRDP, although IRDP began in 1978-79 and NREP only in 1980, and it again places JRY ahead of DWCRA. The order it produces would have the 1989 merger scheme predate the 1982-83 sub-scheme.
• (c)4, 3, 2, 1 — The most attractive of the wrong options, because its second half — DWCRA then JRY — is right. It fails on the first two only: NREP is placed before IRDP. IRDP was a Janata-period initiative of 1978-79 that was universalised on 2 October 1980, while NREP took its name and shape in October 1980, so IRDP is the earlier of the two.

These four programmes are not four versions of the same idea; they are the three distinct strategies Indian rural policy has used, in the order it adopted them. IRDP was the self-employment strategy: a package of bank credit and government subsidy given to identified families below the poverty line to buy an income-generating asset — a milch animal, a handcart, tools for an artisan trade. NREP was the wage-employment strategy: public works that pay wages, partly in foodgrain, to whoever needs work in the slack season, leaving a village asset behind. DWCRA was the group strategy: instead of assisting an individual, it organised rural women into groups of about fifteen, gave the group a revolving fund and helped it take up a common economic activity — the ancestor of the self-help-group model that DAY-NRLM runs today. JRY then consolidated the wage-employment line by folding NREP and the Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme into a single scheme, with a statutory share of the work reserved for women; it was itself replaced by later schemes and the wage-employment idea finally became a right under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005.

Chronology questions on schemes are won by anchors, not by lists. Fix three of them and the rest fall into place: 1978-79 for IRDP, 1980 for NREP, and 1 April 1989 for JRY. Two structural rules do the remaining work. First, a scheme that is created by merging others must come after all of them — JRY absorbed NREP (1980) and RLEGP (15 August 1983), so JRY cannot be third or earlier. Second, a sub-scheme comes after its parent — DWCRA was launched under IRDP, so it must follow IRDP. Applying just those two rules eliminates every option except (d). It is also worth noting the political rhythm behind the dates: IRDP belongs to the Janata period, NREP and RLEGP to Indira Gandhi's return, DWCRA to the early 1980s, and JRY to Rajiv Gandhi's government.

• IRDP was launched in 1978-79 in 2,300 development blocks and extended to all blocks in the country with effect from 2 October 1980
• NREP was restructured and renamed in October 1980 and became a regular plan programme from April 1981
• DWCRA began in 1982-83 in fifty districts as a sub-scheme of IRDP and was extended to all districts by 1994-95
• Jawahar Rozgar Yojana was launched on 1 April 1989 by merging the National Rural Employment Programme and the Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme
• RLEGP, the other component merged into JRY, had itself been launched on 15 August 1983
• JRY reserved at least 30 per cent of the person-days generated for women, and its target group was the rural — not urban — poor below the poverty line
• All four are programmes of the Ministry of Rural Development; the self-employment line later became SGSY (1999) and then the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (2011)

• Placing JRY before DWCRA because 'Jawahar' sounds older; JRY is a 1989 merger scheme and is the last of the four
• Putting NREP ahead of IRDP; IRDP dates from 1978-79 and NREP from 1980
• Confusing 2 October 1980, the date IRDP was extended to all blocks, with the date it was launched

UPPSC asks it as a pure chronological arrangement or as a scheme-to-launch-year matching item, whereas UPSC prefers a single scheme's content — its target group, its women's quota, or which ministry runs it.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Jawahar Rozgar Yojana, launched in 1989, was formed by merging which two programmes?

  • (a)IRDP and DWCRA
  • (b)NREP and RLEGP
  • (c)NREP and IRDP
  • (d)RLEGP and TRYSEM

  Answer(b) NREP and RLEGP — the National Rural Employment Programme of 1980 and the Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme of 1983.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  DWCRA, introduced in 1982-83, was launched as a sub-scheme of which programme?

  • (a)National Rural Employment Programme
  • (b)Integrated Rural Development Programme
  • (c)Jawahar Rozgar Yojana
  • (d)Minimum Needs Programme

  Answer(b) Integrated Rural Development Programme — DWCRA organised rural women into groups within the IRDP framework, anticipating the self-help-group model.