Election Commission — Electoral Process & Voting

Why This Chapter Matters

Government schemes are the single most predictable topic in RRB NTPC General Awareness. Every exam cycle, roughly 4 to 6 questions test scheme names, launch years, and objectives, because scheme facts are current, verifiable, and easy to frame as one-line MCQs. The 1991 reforms and GST also appear regularly, since both changed the shape of the Indian economy that every other economics chapter in this book assumes you already understand.

The single biggest mistake aspirants make here is memorising scheme names as a flat, undifferentiated list. Twenty scheme names with twenty years attached, all crammed the night before, collapse into a blur under exam pressure. This chapter groups schemes by the problem they solve — health, agriculture, housing, skill development, women and child welfare — so each fact has a "shelf" to sit on in your memory. It also covers the 1991 LPG reforms that opened India's economy to the world, and the basics of GST, the tax reform that unified a fractured indirect tax system into one. Read this chapter as a story of India solving problems in order, not as a list to cram.

The 1991 Economic Reforms — Liberalisation, Privatisation, Globalisation

Why 1991 Happened

By 1991, India faced its worst balance-of-payments crisis since independence. Decades of a heavily regulated economy, often nicknamed the "License Raj" for the maze of permits and licenses businesses needed for nearly every decision, had produced slow growth, inefficient industry, and a government running out of foreign exchange. Matters came to a head when India's forex reserves fell so low that they could barely cover two weeks of essential imports, forcing the government to physically airlift gold reserves to the Bank of England and the Union Bank of Switzerland as collateral for an emergency loan.

Exam trap: Students often think the 1991 crisis was purely about a fiscal deficit. The immediate trigger was a balance-of-payments crisis, meaning India could not pay for its imports and international obligations, distinct from (though connected to) the government's domestic fiscal deficit.

Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao and Finance Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh responded with a sweeping set of reforms in 1991, widely remembered by the acronym LPG: Liberalisation, Privatisation, and Globalisation. This is one of the most tested acronyms in the entire GA syllabus, and examiners like to test which reform belongs under which letter.

Liberalisation

Liberalisation means reducing government control and regulation over economic activity, letting market forces play a bigger role. In practice, this meant dismantling the License Raj: most industries no longer needed a government license to start or expand production, import restrictions eased, and private companies gained freedom to make production and investment decisions the government previously controlled.

Think of liberalisation as removing the checkpost barriers on a highway that used to require a permit stamp at every few kilometres. Traffic (business activity) that used to crawl through bureaucratic checkposts could now move at its own pace, deciding its own route.

Privatisation

Privatisation means transferring ownership or management of government-run enterprises to the private sector, either partly (disinvestment, selling a portion of government shares) or fully. The idea was that many public sector undertakings (PSUs) had grown inefficient under pure government control and could perform better with private capital, management discipline, and competitive pressure.

Exam trap: Privatisation and disinvestment are related but not identical. Disinvestment specifically means the government selling part of its shareholding in a PSU (which may or may not amount to giving up control), while full privatisation means transferring majority ownership and control to private hands. A government selling 10% of its stake in a PSU through the stock market is disinvestment; selling 51% or more, handing over management control, is closer to full privatisation.

Globalisation

Globalisation means integrating the Indian economy with the world economy — easing restrictions on foreign trade and foreign investment, encouraging Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into Indian industries, and reducing import tariffs to make India part of global supply chains rather than an economy insulated behind trade barriers. The rupee was also made more flexible against foreign currencies as part of this shift, moving away from a rigidly fixed exchange rate regime.

Memory hook: Remember LPG the way you remember the cooking gas cylinder in your own kitchen: it fuelled a completely different kind of household — a modern, faster-cooking one — after 1991, just as the reforms fuelled a faster-growing Indian economy after decades of the slow-cooking License Raj. Liberalise the rules, Privatise the ownership, Globalise the reach — three separate levers, pulled together in the same budget year.

The results, though debated in their distribution, are not debated in their direction: India's GDP growth rate accelerated meaningfully through the 1990s and 2000s compared to the pre-1991 decades (sometimes called the "Hindu rate of growth" era, referring to the roughly 3.5% average annual growth India saw for decades before 1991), FDI inflows rose sharply, and India's IT and services sector, largely freed from earlier restrictions, became a global export powerhouse.

Major Central Government Schemes

Central schemes multiply every year, and exams draw from a recurring core set. Group them by theme, not alphabetically, and each one earns a permanent slot in memory.

Health Schemes

Ayushman Bharat, launched in 2018, is India's flagship health protection scheme, built on two pillars: Health and Wellness Centres (upgrading primary healthcare access at the local level) and the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY), which provides health insurance cover of ₹5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary hospitalisation, targeted at economically vulnerable households identified through the Socio-Economic Caste Census. PM-JAY is frequently cited as the world's largest government-funded health insurance scheme by the number of beneficiary families covered.

Exam trap: PM-JAY's cover is ₹5 lakh per family per year, not per person — a family of five shares one ₹5 lakh annual pool, a detail examiners specifically probe.

The Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY), launched in 2005 under the National Rural Health Mission, promotes institutional delivery (childbirth in a hospital or health facility rather than at home) by offering cash assistance to pregnant women, aiming to cut maternal and infant mortality.

Mission Indradhanush, launched in 2014, targets full immunisation coverage for children and pregnant women against vaccine-preventable diseases, aiming to reach children who had been missed by routine immunisation drives.

Agriculture Schemes

PM-KISAN (Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi), launched in 2019, provides direct income support of ₹6,000 per year to landholding farmer families, paid in three equal installments of ₹2,000 each directly into bank accounts, an example of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) built on the financial inclusion infrastructure discussed in Chapter 14.

Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), launched in 2016, is a crop insurance scheme protecting farmers against crop loss from natural calamities, pests, and diseases, with the government subsidising the premium heavily so farmers pay a small, fixed share.

Soil Health Card Scheme, launched in 2015, gives farmers a report on their soil's nutrient status along with recommendations on fertiliser use, aiming to improve soil quality and reduce indiscriminate fertiliser use.

Exam trap: Do not confuse PM-KISAN (a direct cash transfer scheme, no insurance component) with PMFBY (a crop insurance scheme, no direct cash transfer). They are frequently paired in "match the scheme with its description" style questions.

Housing Schemes

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), launched in 2015, aims to provide affordable housing, split into two verticals: PMAY-Urban (for urban areas) and PMAY-Gramin (for rural areas, which replaced and rebuilt on the earlier Indira Awas Yojana). The scheme's original target was "Housing for All," aiming to provide pucca houses with basic amenities to eligible beneficiaries, particularly economically weaker sections.

Exam trap: PMAY-Gramin is the successor to the Indira Awas Yojana (IAY), which had run since 1985; PMAY did not invent rural housing assistance from scratch, it restructured and expanded an older scheme.

Skill Development Schemes

Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), launched in 2015, is the flagship skill development scheme, offering short-duration skill training with a monetary reward on successful certification, aiming to make India's youth industry-ready and improve their employability.

Skill India Mission, launched in 2015 alongside PMKVY, is the broader umbrella initiative aiming to train a large number of Indians in industry-relevant skills across various sectors, of which PMKVY is one component scheme.

Startup India, launched in 2016, aims to build an ecosystem for startups through tax benefits, easier compliance, funding support, and incubation, encouraging entrepreneurship and job creation rather than only job-seeking.

Women and Child Welfare Schemes

Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, launched in 2015 in Panipat, Haryana, addresses the declining child sex ratio and promotes girls' education and welfare, combining awareness campaigns with concrete measures to improve enrollment and survival outcomes for the girl child.

Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana, launched in 2015 alongside Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, is a small savings scheme for the girl child, letting parents or guardians open an account in a daughter's name (before she turns 10) with attractive interest rates, meant to build a fund for her education or marriage expenses while also nudging families toward valuing a daughter's future financially.

Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), one of India's oldest welfare schemes, launched in 1975, provides nutrition, health check-ups, and pre-school education to children under six and to pregnant and lactating mothers, delivered through Anganwadi centres across the country — a scheme so old that many students underestimate how far back India's child welfare policy actually goes.

Exam trap: ICDS predates most schemes in this chapter by four decades. Students often assume every welfare scheme is a post-2014 creation; ICDS (1975) is a clear counter-example worth remembering precisely because it breaks that pattern.

Employment and Rural Development Schemes

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), enacted in 2005, guarantees 100 days of wage employment per year to every rural household willing to do unskilled manual work, functioning as a legal right rather than a discretionary scheme, meaning eligible households can demand work and claim compensation if it is not provided within a set time.

Exam trap: MGNREGA is an Act, not merely a scheme, which is why its guarantee is legally enforceable. Many students write "MGNREGA scheme" without realising this legal distinction matters for exam phrasing.

Memory hook: For the theme-based scheme groups in this section, picture a village fair with different stalls: a health stall (Ayushman Bharat, JSY, Mission Indradhanush), a farmer's stall (PM-KISAN, PMFBY, Soil Health Card), a housing stall (PMAY), a skills stall (PMKVY, Skill India, Startup India), a girl child stall (Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Sukanya Samriddhi, ICDS), and a work stall (MGNREGA). Walk through the fair stall by stall in your mind during revision, and each scheme sits exactly where it belongs instead of floating loose.

Goods and Services Tax (GST) — Taxation Basics

Why GST Was Needed

Before GST, India's indirect tax system was a patchwork: the central government collected excise duty and service tax, while states collected VAT (Value Added Tax), entry tax, octroi, and several other levies, each state setting its own rates. A good moving from a factory in one state to a shop in another could get taxed multiple times at multiple points, a problem called the cascading effect of tax, informally "tax on tax."

Think of the pre-GST system as a highway with a toll booth at every state border, each state charging its own rate, on top of tolls already paid earlier in the journey. GST tore down those internal toll booths and replaced them with a single, unified toll system covering the whole country.

What GST Is and When It Launched

GST (Goods and Services Tax) is a single, comprehensive indirect tax on the supply of goods and services, replacing most of the earlier indirect taxes (excise duty, service tax, VAT, and several others) with one unified tax structure. It was introduced through the 101st Constitutional Amendment Act, 2016, and rolled out on July 1, 2017, often described as "One Nation, One Tax."

GST is a destination-based tax, meaning the tax revenue goes to the state where the goods or services are finally consumed, not the state where they are produced — a significant shift from the earlier origin-based structure and one that reshaped how states earn tax revenue.

Exam trap: GST is destination-based, not origin-based. A product manufactured in Gujarat but consumed in Bihar sends its GST revenue largely to Bihar, the consuming state, not Gujarat, the producing state.

GST's Three-Part Structure

GST operates through three components, which examiners test as a set:

CGST (Central GST) is collected by the central government on intra-state (within one state) transactions. SGST (State GST) is collected by the state government, also on intra-state transactions, alongside CGST — meaning an intra-state sale attracts both CGST and SGST simultaneously, each going to its respective government. IGST (Integrated GST) applies to inter-state (between two states) transactions and imports, collected by the central government and then apportioned between the centre and the destination state.

Memory hook: Think of CGST and SGST as two separate collection boxes at a single local counter — one for the centre, one for the state — used whenever a sale happens within one state's own borders. IGST is a single combined box used only when goods cross a state border, later split between the centre and the receiving state. Same state, two boxes (C+S); different states, one combined box (I).

GST Council

The GST Council, chaired by the Union Finance Minister, with state finance ministers as members, is the constitutional body that decides GST rates, exemptions, and rules. It represents a genuine exercise in cooperative federalism, since GST decisions require both the centre and the states to align, unlike the earlier system where states set their own indirect tax rates independently.

Exam trap: GST does not have a single uniform rate on all goods. India uses a multi-slab structure, commonly cited as 0%, 5%, 12%, 18%, and 28%, with certain items like petroleum products, alcohol for human consumption, and electricity kept outside GST altogether, still taxed under the older separate systems. Students sometimes assume GST replaced every single indirect tax without exception; it did not fully absorb these specific categories.

Taxes GST Did Not Replace

Beyond petroleum, alcohol, and electricity (still outside GST), customs duty on imports also remains separate from GST, since it is levied at the point goods enter the country rather than on domestic supply. Direct taxes — income tax and corporate tax, which are charged directly on a person's or company's income rather than on transactions — sit entirely outside GST's scope by design, since GST is specifically an indirect tax reform, not a direct tax reform.

Exam trap: Income tax and corporate tax are direct taxes, unaffected by GST, which reformed only the indirect tax system. Students sometimes conflate "tax reform" broadly and assume GST touched income tax too; it did not.

Direct Tax vs Indirect Tax — The Broader Picture

It helps to fix this distinction once and for all, since exams test it independently of GST too. A direct tax is paid straight to the government by the person or entity on whom it is legally imposed, and its burden cannot be passed on to someone else — income tax is the clearest example, since your salary's tax liability stays with you, not your employer or a shopkeeper. An indirect tax is collected by an intermediary (a shopkeeper, a service provider) from the end consumer and then deposited with the government, meaning the person paying the tax and the person bearing its final burden are often different people. GST, excise duty in its pre-2017 form, and customs duty all fall under indirect taxes, since a trader collects the tax from you at the point of sale and passes it on, but the cost effectively lands on the buyer.

Picture the difference through a vegetable market analogy. When you pay income tax directly from your salary account, that is like paying your own house's electricity bill straight to the provider, no middleman involved. When you buy a packet of biscuits and the shopkeeper adds GST to the price before handing over your change, the shopkeeper is only a collection agent passing your money along to the government, exactly like a milkman collecting a small delivery surcharge on behalf of the dairy and passing it upward. You bore the cost either way, but the mechanism of collection is different, and that mechanism is exactly what "direct" versus "indirect" describes.

Exam trap: A tax being called "indirect" does not mean it is smaller or less important; GST alone is one of the largest single sources of government revenue today. "Direct" and "indirect" describe how the tax is collected and who ultimately bears its burden, not how much revenue it raises.

Quick Revision — One-Line Facts

• The 1991 reforms followed a severe balance-of-payments crisis, forcing India to pledge gold reserves abroad.
• P.V. Narasimha Rao was Prime Minister and Dr. Manmohan Singh was Finance Minister during the 1991 reforms.
• LPG stands for Liberalisation, Privatisation, Globalisation.
• Liberalisation reduced government control (dismantling the License Raj); Privatisation shifted PSU ownership toward private hands; Globalisation integrated India with world trade and investment.
• Disinvestment means selling part of government shareholding in a PSU, distinct from full privatisation.
• Ayushman Bharat / PM-JAY (2018) provides ₹5 lakh per family per year health cover.
• PM-KISAN (2019) gives farmers ₹6,000 per year in three installments, no insurance component.
• PMFBY (2016) is crop insurance, distinct from PM-KISAN's cash transfer.
• PMAY (2015) targets affordable housing; its rural arm replaced the older Indira Awas Yojana (1985).
• PMKVY (2015) is the flagship skill certification scheme under the broader Skill India Mission.
• Beti Bachao Beti Padhao and Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana both launched in 2015.
• ICDS, launched in 1975, is one of India's oldest welfare schemes, run through Anganwadi centres.
• MGNREGA (2005) is a legal Act guaranteeing 100 days of rural wage employment per household per year.
• GST was introduced via the 101st Constitutional Amendment Act, 2016, rolled out on July 1, 2017.
• GST is a destination-based tax; revenue goes to the consuming state, not the producing state.
• CGST and SGST apply to intra-state transactions; IGST applies to inter-state transactions and imports.
• The GST Council, chaired by the Union Finance Minister, decides GST rates and rules.
• GST's common rate slabs are 0%, 5%, 12%, 18%, and 28%.
• Petroleum products, alcohol, and electricity remain outside GST.
• Income tax and corporate tax are direct taxes, unaffected by GST.
• Janani Suraksha Yojana (2005) promotes institutional childbirth through cash incentives.
• Mission Indradhanush (2014) targets full childhood immunisation coverage.
• Soil Health Card Scheme (2015) gives farmers soil nutrient reports and fertiliser guidance.
• Startup India (2016) supports entrepreneurship through tax and compliance benefits.

Memory Tables

Table 1: LPG Reforms (1991) at a Glance

Reform	Core Meaning	Example Action
Liberalisation	Reduce government control	Ended most industrial licensing (License Raj)
Privatisation	Shift PSU ownership to private hands	Disinvestment in public sector shares
Globalisation	Integrate with world economy	Eased FDI limits, reduced import tariffs

Table 2: Major Schemes by Theme

Theme	Scheme	Launch Year	Core Benefit
Health	Ayushman Bharat / PM-JAY	2018	₹5 lakh/family/year health cover
Health	Mission Indradhanush	2014	Full childhood immunisation
Agriculture	PM-KISAN	2019	₹6,000/year direct cash transfer
Agriculture	PMFBY	2016	Crop insurance
Housing	PMAY	2015	Affordable housing (urban + rural)
Skill Development	PMKVY	2015	Skill training and certification
Women/Child	Beti Bachao Beti Padhao	2015	Girl child welfare and education
Women/Child	ICDS	1975	Nutrition and pre-school via Anganwadi
Employment	MGNREGA	2005	100 days guaranteed rural work (Act)

Table 3: GST Structure

Component	Applies To	Collected By
CGST	Intra-state transactions	Central government
SGST	Intra-state transactions	State government
IGST	Inter-state transactions and imports	Central government (apportioned to destination state)

Practice MCQs

Q1. The 1991 economic reforms were triggered immediately by: (a) A stock market crash (b) A balance-of-payments crisis (c) A banking sector collapse (d) A currency demonetisation

Q2. Who was the Finance Minister during the 1991 economic reforms? (a) P. Chidambaram (b) Dr. Manmohan Singh (c) Arun Jaitley (d) Yashwant Sinha

Q3. In the LPG reforms, "Privatisation" primarily refers to: (a) Reducing import tariffs (b) Transferring ownership/management of PSUs toward the private sector (c) Removing all government regulation permanently (d) Fixing the exchange rate of the rupee

Q4. Which term specifically means the government selling only part of its shareholding in a PSU? (a) Nationalisation (b) Disinvestment (c) Globalisation (d) Amalgamation

Q5. Ayushman Bharat's PM-JAY component provides health insurance cover of: (a) ₹1 lakh per person per year (b) ₹2 lakh per family per year (c) ₹5 lakh per family per year (d) ₹10 lakh per person per year

Q6. PM-KISAN provides direct income support to farmers of what annual amount? (a) ₹2,000 (b) ₹4,000 (c) ₹6,000 (d) ₹10,000

Q7. Which scheme is a crop insurance scheme, distinct from PM-KISAN's direct cash transfer? (a) Soil Health Card Scheme (b) PMFBY (c) PMAY-Gramin (d) MGNREGA

Q8. PMAY-Gramin, the rural housing scheme launched in 2015, is the successor to which earlier scheme? (a) Indira Awas Yojana (b) Jawahar Rozgar Yojana (c) Antyodaya Anna Yojana (d) Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana

Q9. ICDS, delivered through Anganwadi centres, was launched in which year? (a) 1975 (b) 1985 (c) 2005 (d) 2014

Q10. MGNREGA guarantees how many days of wage employment per rural household per year? (a) 50 days (b) 75 days (c) 100 days (d) 150 days

Q11. GST was rolled out across India with effect from: (a) April 1, 2016 (b) July 1, 2017 (c) January 1, 2018 (d) April 1, 2019

Q12. GST is described as a "destination-based" tax because: (a) Revenue goes to the state where goods are produced (b) Revenue goes to the state where goods/services are finally consumed (c) Revenue is shared equally among all states regardless of consumption (d) Revenue goes entirely to the central government

Q13. Which GST component applies to inter-state transactions and imports? (a) CGST (b) SGST (c) IGST (d) UTGST only

Q14. Which of the following remains outside the scope of GST? (a) Restaurant services (b) Petroleum products (c) Consumer electronics (d) Textile goods

Q15. The GST Council, which decides GST rates and rules, is chaired by: (a) The Prime Minister (b) The RBI Governor (c) The Union Finance Minister (d) The Chief Justice of India

Answer Key

Q	Answer	Reason
1	(b)	Falling forex reserves and an inability to pay for imports, a balance-of-payments crisis, forced the 1991 reforms.
2	(b)	Dr. Manmohan Singh, as Finance Minister under PM P.V. Narasimha Rao, steered the 1991 LPG reforms.
3	(b)	Privatisation means shifting PSU ownership or management toward private hands, distinct from disinvestment's partial sale.
4	(b)	Disinvestment specifically means selling part of the government's shareholding, not necessarily giving up full control.
5	(c)	PM-JAY's cover is ₹5 lakh per family per year, shared across all members of the family, not per individual.
6	(c)	PM-KISAN provides ₹6,000 annually, paid in three equal installments of ₹2,000 directly to farmer bank accounts.
7	(b)	PMFBY is the crop insurance scheme; PM-KISAN is a direct cash transfer with no insurance element.
8	(a)	PMAY-Gramin restructured and expanded the older Indira Awas Yojana, which had run since 1985.
9	(a)	ICDS launched in 1975, making it one of India's oldest continuously running welfare schemes.
10	(c)	MGNREGA legally guarantees 100 days of wage employment per rural household per year.
11	(b)	GST launched nationwide on July 1, 2017, under the 101st Constitutional Amendment Act, 2016.
12	(b)	GST is destination-based: tax revenue accrues to the state where the good or service is finally consumed.
13	(c)	IGST applies to inter-state transactions and imports, collected centrally and apportioned to the destination state.
14	(b)	Petroleum products remain outside GST's scope, still taxed under the earlier separate tax system, along with alcohol and electricity.
15	(c)	The GST Council is chaired by the Union Finance Minister, with state finance ministers as members.