UPSC Prelims 1999 · General Studies

Question 28: Economy and Social Development

The Employment Assurance Scheme envisages financial assistance to rural areas for guaranteeing employment to at least

a50 per cent of the men and women seeking jobs in rural areas

b50 per cent of the men seeking jobs in rural areas

cone man and one woman in a rural family living below the poverty line

dNone of the above

AnswerThe answer is (d).

The Employment Assurance Scheme, launched in October 1993, aimed to give up to 100 days of unskilled manual work in the lean agricultural season to rural adults who sought it, with a limit on the number of adults per family. It did not promise work to a fixed 50 per cent of job-seekers, to men alone, or to one man and one woman of every poor family. Remember: a lean-season work scheme, not a guarantee to a fixed share of job-seekers.

Why each option is right or wrong

(a) Wrong. No guarantee of work to a fixed 50 per cent of job-seekers was given.
(b) Wrong. The scheme was not limited to men or tied to a 50 per cent share.
(c) Wrong. It was not framed as one man and one woman in each below-poverty-line family.
(d) Right. None of the three describes the scheme.

Explanation: written by UPSC Grade, not by UPSC.

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Source: UPSC, Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 1999, General Studies. UPSC's own paper isn't online; the words are from a published compilation. The paper on upsc.gov.in.