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Syllabus
🏛️ UPSC CSE
Subject:General Studies Paper I

Current Affairs & Government Schemes

Syllabus Unit: Indian Economy & Current Affairs

Why it matters

Chapter overview

GS-I current affairs draws together the year's flagship welfare schemes, the annual Economic Survey and Budget cycle, ISRO's headline missions, and the summits where India engages the world — the fastest-moving, most frequently updated slice of the UPSC syllabus. This topic anchors each theme to its concrete facts, dates and figures so they stay exam-ready rather than vaguely remembered headlines.

General Studies Paper I Indian Economy & Current Affairs 10%–12% weightage
Live Animation1 / 4
15
PM-KISAN (₹/year support)
100
PM-JAY (₹ lakh cover/family)
60
PMAY (households targeted, illustrative scale)

1Major Government Schemes (PM-KISAN, Ayushman)

Three flagship schemes — direct cash support, health insurance and housing — form the core of India's current social welfare architecture, each with precise eligibility and benefit figures.

Learning Objectives

  • State PM-KISAN's launch year, benefit amount and disbursement structure.
  • State Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY's coverage amount, beneficiary base and the database used to identify beneficiaries.
  • Distinguish PMAY-Gramin from PMAY-Urban under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.
  • Identify Health & Wellness Centres (Ayushman Arogya Mandirs) as Ayushman Bharat's separate primary-care pillar.

Key Terms

PM-KISANPradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi — launched February 2019, gives eligible farmer families ₹6,000/year via direct benefit transfer in three ₹2,000 instalments.
PM-JAYPradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana — Ayushman Bharat's insurance pillar, giving ₹5 lakh/family/year hospitalisation cover to about 50 crore beneficiaries.
SECC 2011Socio-Economic Caste Census, 2011 — the database used to identify PM-JAY's economically vulnerable beneficiary households.
PMAYPradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (launched 2015) — 'Housing for All' mission split into PMAY-Gramin (rural) and PMAY-Urban sub-schemes.

India's current flagship welfare architecture rests on three schemes addressing farmer income, healthcare and housing — each launched between 2015 and 2019, and each defined by specific, testable numbers.

PM-KISAN: direct income support

Launched in February 2019, **PM-KISAN** gives eligible farmer families ₹6,000 per year, transferred directly to bank accounts in three equal instalments of ₹2,000 every four months — a pure income-support scheme with no conditionalities on how the money is spent.

Ayushman Bharat: two pillars

  • PM-JAY (insurance pillar) — launched September 2018; gives ₹5 lakh per family per year in cashless secondary/tertiary hospitalisation cover to about 50 crore beneficiaries identified via the SECC 2011 database, making it the world's largest government-funded health insurance scheme.
  • Health & Wellness Centres (renamed Ayushman Arogya Mandirs) — Ayushman Bharat's primary-care pillar, providing free essential drugs, diagnostics and screening closer to where people live.
Common MistakeExam trap: PM-JAY and the Health & Wellness Centres are both part of Ayushman Bharat but are functionally distinct — insurance cover for hospitalisation versus free primary/preventive care — don't collapse them into one scheme.

PM Awas Yojana: housing for all

Launched in 2015, **PMAY** targets 'Housing for All' through two arms — PMAY-Gramin for rural pucca housing and PMAY-Urban for affordable urban housing — using a mix of direct construction assistance, credit-linked subsidies and beneficiary-led construction.