Poverty and Developmental Issues — Practice Questions
UPSC-pattern practice questions on poverty: estimation committees, MGNREGA, the National Food Security Act, the capability approach and Mains frameworks.
Questions
These are original UPSC-pattern practice questions. Attempt each one before revealing the answer.
The view that poverty is best understood as the deprivation of basic capabilities, rather than merely as low income, is most closely associated with
Solution
Amartya Sen — the capability approach. Ragnar Nurkse gave the “vicious circle of poverty”; Dadabhai Naoroji made the first poverty line estimate (Poverty and Un-British Rule in India, 1901); Dandekar and Rath (1971) estimated poverty using a calorie norm.
Answer: B
With reference to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, consider the following statements:
- It guarantees at least 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.
- Priority is to be given to women so that at least one-third of the beneficiaries are women.
- If work is not provided within 15 days of an application, an unemployment allowance is payable.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Solution
All three are correct. Remember the unit — per household, not per person — and the 15-day rule for the unemployment allowance. The one-third women’s share is in the Act’s schedule.
Answer: D
Under the National Food Security Act, 2013, the coverage of the Targeted Public Distribution System extends to up to
Solution
75% rural and 50% urban, which together make about two-thirds (roughly 67%) of the population. Options C and D misuse the 67% overall figure.
Answer: A
Consider the following pairs:
| Committee | Feature |
|---|---|
| 1. Alagh Task Force | Calorie-based poverty line with separate rural and urban norms |
| 2. Tendulkar Expert Group | First introduced State-specific poverty lines |
| 3. Rangarajan Expert Group | Poverty ratio of 29.5% for 2011-12 |
How many of the pairs given above are correctly matched?
Solution
- Pair 1 — correct: 2,400 kcal (rural), 2,100 kcal (urban).
- Pair 2 — incorrect: State-specific lines came from the Lakdawala Expert Group (1993). Tendulkar is known for dropping the calorie anchor.
- Pair 3 — correct.
Answer: C
Mains
Why does poverty remain concentrated among certain social groups and regions in India despite overall decline? Explain.
Solution
Introduction: National MPI estimates show a sharp fall in multidimensional poverty (24.85% to 14.96% between 2015-16 and 2019-21, NITI Aayog), but poverty remains concentrated in some States, tribal belts and among historically disadvantaged groups.
Body:
- Structural: landlessness and small holdings among SCs; land alienation and displacement among STs.
- Social: caste discrimination in labour and credit markets; gendered constraints on women’s work and assets.
- Spatial: poorer States with high fertility and low industrialisation; remote, forested and drought-prone areas with weak services.
- Shocks: health expenditure, climate events and price rises push vulnerable households back.
- Delivery gaps: exclusion errors, weak local institutions.
Conclusion: Group- and place-specific strategies — Aspirational Districts, PM JANMAN for PVTGs, land and asset rights, social protection against shocks — are needed alongside growth.
Discuss the shift from welfare schemes to rights-based entitlements (work, food, education) in India’s approach to poverty. What are its achievements and limits?
Solution
Introduction: From the mid-2000s India moved from discretionary schemes to legally enforceable entitlements — MGNREGA (2005), the Right to Education (Article 21A, 2009 Act) and the National Food Security Act (2013).
Body:
- Rationale: rights create accountability (grievance redress, social audit, unemployment allowance); reflect DPSP goals (Articles 39, 41, 47) and Sen’s capability approach.
- Achievements: MGNREGA as a safety net in droughts and the 2020 lockdown; near-universal school enrolment; food security for about two-thirds of the population; women’s participation in MGNREGA work.
- Limits: delayed wage payments and rationed work; quality of learning lags enrolment; exclusion errors from identification and authentication; fiscal costs and dependency concerns; State capacity variations.
- Way forward: timely payments, technology with grievance redress, convergence with skilling and livelihoods (DAY-NRLM), and graduation pathways out of poverty.
Conclusion: Rights-based laws gave the poor a claim on the State; the next step is to make delivery reliable and to link entitlements to opportunities that move households permanently out of poverty.