Social Policy and Planning Questions and Answers

Answer: A

The answer is both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A).

Social indicators, such as rates of literacy, infant mortality, unemployment or crime, are statistics that summarise the state of a society. They are needed because society is a vast web of interconnections that cannot be grasped directly (A). They meet that need by showing social status, defining social problems and tracing trends over time, which planners can then try to steer towards goals set by social planning (R).

Because what indicators do (R) is exactly why they are needed for finding a way through society's complexity (A), the Reason explains the Assertion, ruling out the other three options.

Answer: C

The Tejaswini programme is for rural women's empowerment.

Tejaswini, the Maharashtra Rural Women's Empowerment Programme, was launched in 2007 with support from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and implemented by the Maharashtra Arthik Vikas Mahamandal (MAVIM). It works through women's self-help groups to improve rural women's access to savings, credit, livelihoods and decision-making.

It is not a programme for girls' education, women's sports or rural women's health, although improved household well-being is among its outcomes.

Answer: B

The Millennium Development Goals were adopted in 2000.

The United Nations Millennium Declaration was adopted by the General Assembly at the Millennium Summit in September 2000, and the eight Millennium Development Goals, with a target date of 2015, were drawn from it. They covered poverty and hunger, primary education, gender equality, child mortality, maternal health, HIV/AIDS and other diseases, environmental sustainability and a global partnership for development.

1998, 2002 and 2004 are wrong; in 2015 the MDGs were followed by the Sustainable Development Goals.

Answer: B

In the Human Development Report 2011, India ranked 134.

The UNDP's Human Development Report 2011, 'Sustainability and Equity: A Better Future for All', placed India 134th of 187 countries, with an HDI value of 0.547, in the medium human development group.

130, 136 and 140 are close to but not India's rank in that report; ranks shift from report to report, so the year matters for questions of this kind.

Answer: B

The sequence is agenda building, formulation, adoption, implementation, evaluation and termination.

The policy cycle begins when an issue is placed on the government's agenda. Alternatives are then formulated, one is formally adopted (for example by passing a law), the adopted policy is implemented through the administration, its results are evaluated, and finally it is changed or terminated in the light of that evaluation.

A policy cannot be adopted before it is formulated, nor implemented before it is adopted, so every option that puts adoption first or places formulation after adoption or implementation reverses the logical order.

Answer: C

The answer is (A) is true but (R) is false.

The Assertion is accepted: India, once in the low human development group, is placed in the medium human development category in the UNDP's recent reports, on the strength of rising life expectancy, schooling and income.

The Reason is false. A high rate of population growth does not raise a country's HDI; if anything, rapid growth strains health, education and per capita income. India's move up came from improvements in the three HDI dimensions, so population growth cannot be the reason.

Answer: D

This is Social insurance.

Social insurance pays benefits to people who have contributed, often together with their employers and the State, to an insurance scheme, as in the Employees' State Insurance and Provident Fund schemes. Entitlement comes from the contributions made.

Social assistance, by contrast, gives benefits to people in need without prior contributions, usually after a means test, as with old age pensions for the destitute. Social welfare and social service are broader terms not tied to contributions.

Answer: B

This is an objective of Niti Ayog (NITI Aayog).

NITI Aayog, the National Institution for Transforming India, replaced the Planning Commission on 1 January 2015. Its stated aims include fostering cooperative federalism through structured engagement with the states, promoting competitive federalism among them, and enabling good governance.

The UGC regulates higher education, the PMO is the Prime Minister's secretariat, and Start Up India is a scheme for new enterprises; none has federalism among its objectives.

Answer: A

The National Policy on Education was approved in 1986.

Parliament approved the National Policy on Education in May 1986, under Rajiv Gandhi's government. It was modified in 1992 with a Programme of Action and remained in force until the National Education Policy of 2020.

1984 and 1985 come before the policy (1985 saw the document 'Challenge of Education: A Policy Perspective'), and 1990 is the year of the Ramamurti Committee that reviewed it.

Answer: C

The Gadgil Yojana is the Third Five Year Plan.

The Third Plan (1961-66) is often called the Gadgil Yojana after D.R. Gadgil, the economist who shaped its approach of self-reliant growth and agricultural development. Gadgil was later Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission and gave his name to the Gadgil formula for central assistance to states.

The First Plan was based on the Harrod-Domar model, and the Second on the Mahalanobis model, so they carry other names.